Isaiah 58-66— “Come, Follow Me” With Search Isaiah

October 3-9: “The Redeemer Shall Come to Zion” Isaiah 59:20

Five weeks is never enough to do Isaiah justice during Sunday School. There is just not enough time to dig as deeply into this prophet’s works as we might. And sadly we at SearchIsaiah.org have written very little for this last unit of study in the Come, Follow Me except for these few posts:

• Insights Into Isaiah: Wherefore We Have Fasted—A panel discussion with four BYU scholars, Terry Ball, Victor Ludlow, Terry Szink, and Ray Huntington
• Isaiah’s 8 Reasons to Fast
• Fasting—Spiritual Effects of Extended Fasting—Isaiah 58 Where Isaiah Explains What Blessings We Get From a True Fast
• Fasting—Physical Effects of Extended Fasting—Fasting is an age-old alm to God. Extended fasting, for 40 days, for instance, is something many prophets did when they needed direction.
• Fasting—Dangers of Extended Fasting Diet—Did you know it’s really possible to fast from all food for 40 days? An extended fast can be effective for your health and spirituality but comes with dangers and risks.
• Old Testament 2018 Teaching Plans for Gospel Doctrine—Lesson 40
• Lesson 40: Enlarge the Place of Thy Tent Supplement to Old Testament Class Member Study…

Jesus Christ, Our Savior, and Redeemer

“In chapters 59 and 60, Isaiah describes a complete transformation of Israel as she moves from wickedness to righteousness through a sequence of changes: sin (59:1-8), repentance (59:9-15a), deliverance (59:15b-21), gathering (60:1-9), rebuilding (60:10-13), prosperity (60:14-18), and the presence of the Lord (60:19-22). Combining poetry and prophecy, Isaiah portrays a pattern of progression as Israel rises from the depths of spiritual death to eternal life in God’s presence. Isaiah speaks first about spiritual death, the separation of man from God. He recognizes that this death results solely from man’s actions and not from any arbitrary whim of God. He tells Israel why she is not receiving answers and help from the Lord.”—Victor L. Ludlow. Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, Poet (p. 505-541). Deseret Book Company.

“The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light.”

“Having promised in chapter 60 the future glory of Zion, Isaiah prophesies further in chapters 61 and 62 concerning the blessings of Zion. While these chapters find partial fulfillment in the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon and the rebuilding of their temple, they are only completely fulfilled in the ministry of Christ at the meridian of time and in the fulness of times. Isaiah begins by speaking about the earthly ministry of Christ. Jesus applied the first two verses to himself as he began his public ministry in Nazareth. He told the Jews, ‘This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.’ (Luke 4:21.) Isaiah prophesies at the end of verse 2 of the ministry of Christ in the fulness of times, speaking of Christ’s second coming.”—Victor L. Ludlow. Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, Poet (p. 505-541). Deseret Book Company.

Christ will reign during the Millennium

“After describing the exaltation of Zion and her growth through the influx of Gentiles (Isa. 62), Isaiah explains in chapter 63 the destruction of Israel’s enemies. In order for Zion to fill the entire earth, the enemies of righteousness must be displaced through the power of the Lord. After Isaiah prophesies concerning the Lord’s power to cleanse the earth, he reminds Israel of what the Lord has already done and pleads with the Lord to bring about his promised salvation. Isaiah develops his major themes in chapters 63 and 64 as follows:

A. Dialogue with Christ about his second coming (63:1-6)
B. The Lord’s former greater deed (63:7-14)
C. Isaiah’s intercessory prayer for Israel (63:15—64:12)

“Isaiah’s last two chapters comprise a set of prophecies that complement each other and serve as a bookend match to the first two chapters in Isaiah’s book. Scholars generally agree that Isaiah 65 and 66 reinforce each other since they both foretell the Lord’s judgment (65:1-16; 66:1-6), millennial blessings for Israel (65:17-25; 66:7-16), new heavens and a new earth (65:17; 66:22), and the Lord’s presence and peace in Jerusalem (65:18-19; 66:8-12). In addition, these two chapters reiterate and complement the message of chapters 1 and 2. In his first two chapters, Isaiah describes the Israelites’ religious rebellion and lists those practices that particularly displease the Lord. He also promises redemption for Zion and the establishment of the ‘mountain of the Lord’s house’ for Israel. Similarly, in chapters 65 and 66 Isaiah warns the people and lists particularly offensive religious practices; he concludes with the promise of a glorious Zion with the presence of the Lord. These two chapters contain many parallel ideas that are also scattered through other chapters of Isaiah.”—Victor L. Ludlow. Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, Poet (p. 505-541). Deseret Book Company.

---

Other Resources

Happily, the good folks at s #BookofMormonCentral have also produced a series of #ComeFollowMeInsights that my wife learned to appreciate during the recent pandemic. As most church members held worship services at home, we supplemented our Sunday School study with presentations from Tyler Griffin and Taylor Halverson‘s YouTube Channel to get their wisdom for our study of The Old Testament.

Four years ago my wife and I took an Adult Institute Course on the Book of Isaiah. And of course, I researched and wrote dozens of articles for SearchIsaiah.org, so we felt quite confident of our understanding of the powerful Old Testament prophet. But the supplementary insights offered by Tyler and Taylor were an excellent addition to our study of the Come, Follow Me curriculum from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the Book of Isaiah.

For this week, Lori Newbold joined Taylor and Tyler for a two-part series that finishes the Book of Isaiah. This is a summary of their YouTube Vidoe Presentations for Sep 26–Oct 2, 2022:

After they introduced one another, Tyler asked Lori, what she would say to someone who might be saying, “We’ve done a lot of Isaiah and I’m ready to move on. What would you say?”

She answered by saying what Nephi has written:

“2 And now I, Nephi, write ^amore of the words of ^bIsaiah, for my soul delighteth in his words. For I will liken his words unto my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children, for he verily ^csaw my ^dRedeemer, even as I have seen him.”—2 Nephi 11:2

Then she explained that there had been times in her life, and because of the difficulty understanding the language Isaiah uses, it was just too tough to study this prophet. But if Nephi thinks Isaiah helps bring his people to Jesus Chirst, then we need to try to understand this prophet.

In response Taylor said that he “loved that Lori introduced this, just to remind ourselves why we’re reading ancient prophets. It’s for this reason that we can know Jesus, that he is our redeemer, my redeemer, my savior. And I bear witness like Lori has. I know that Jesus is my redeemer. I have felt his saving power in my life.”

Following this the trio discussed principles of the Fast and keeping the Sabath day. You listen and view their discussion here:

You can also listen in to Part 2 here: