Welcome to Gospel Doctrine with Darryl! We’re part of the Search Isaiah team, and we are helping Sunday school teachers learn how to use the Come, Follow Me format, for our Gospel Doctrine lessons. I’d like to remind you that you can download a lesson on our blog post by clicking on this image at the right.
Today’s lesson is lesson number 38: “Besides me, there is no Savior.” It’s another discussion on the Savior’s life. The study outlines it for you this time, and it includes a lot more video than normal. Two of the videos come right from the manual itself, and one comes from me discovering some research on my own that I think will help you.
First of all, the groups today are going to be a little bit different again. They’re different every time, for that mixes it up for the classroom.
Gospel Doctrine Lesson Preparation and Study
The scriptures you should read ahead of time are all of Isaiah 40–49.
This is a wonderful series. The temptation here is because the Book of Mormon has Isaiah 48 and 49 and first Nephi 20 and 21, and you might think that’s what we should emphasize, but don’t neglect the rest of this. Remember, it’s a whole, big box of chocolates, not just a little one. There are some chapters in Matthew and Exodus for you to study and contemplate.
And I’d like to remind you that during the week if you text members of your class about what you’re studying ahead of time, that will help prompt them to take a deeper dive in the read themselves. Ask them to consider what these verses add to Isaiah’s message. There are several conference addresses, which are really good talks for this lesson and a few videos too.
I have to remind you that you can download this lesson outline at searchisaiah.org. Just click here and it will take you there!
Sunday School Gospel Doctrine Lesson Attention Activity
As we start this lesson today, the manual suggests that we write these statements on our whiteboard:
Because I made slides, I almost always use slides in the classroom because it helps me drive the Come, Follow Me format a little tighter.
Gospel Doctrine Classroom Discussions
Our discussion groups today are going to have five or six people in them with a little bit longer study time; we’re going to give you 20 minutes.
The first group is going to study how Isaiah teaches that the Savior is incomparable. The second group gets to describe His incomparable qualities. Lots of Isaiah there, so this is going to be some quick reading. Group number three is going to read about Babylon and how it competes with the Savior for our devotion. And group four is studying the mission of Latter-day Israel.
Also I’ve asked brother Hunter to add to this little search hack that helps us mark our scriptures, particularly because almost everyone in the ward is using a handheld device now.
Skyler Hunter: So, this search hack explained some differences between the manuscripts of Isaiah in Nephi verses 20 through 21, and Isaiah verses 48 through 49. Nephi here is quoting Isaiah but there are differences in the manuscripts when he quotes Isaiah and the hack tells you a little bit about where those differences came from. One came from a Joseph Smith’s translation of the Book of Mormon, and is a one-word change, one came from Nephi, where he says that the house of Israel did not stay themselves.
I just want to share that search hack with the group, so we can watch it together here:
Search Hack: “1st Nephi chapters 20 through 21 is where the reading gets tough. Nephi quotes Isaiah 48 through 49 which means more ambiguously because of the plethora of symbols Isaiah uses for subjects like Christ, his servant, and Israel. Why does Nephi quote from Isaiah for a full two chapters after settling in the Promised Land?
He tells us in chapter 19 saying, “Remember the Lord, thy redeemer.” Nephi reads Isaiah to his family, so his posterity might remember Christ’s coming in 600 years and rely on Him. He writes Isaiah, so we might remember and rely on Christ 1000’s of years after his coming and gather the house of Israel.”
President Russell M. Nelson: You were sent to Earth at this precise time, the most crucial time in the history of the world to help gather Israel.
Search Hack: But when Nephi quotes Isaiah there are key differences between their manuscripts. Let’s explore the meaning of a few of these key differences by comparing 1st Nephi 20 through 21 side by side with Isaiah 48 through 49 in the King James Bible. In the beginning of Nephi 20, Isaiah defines the House of Israel as those who come forth from the waters of Judah. The Book of Mormon version adds “out of the waters of baptism”. Joseph Smith, out of that phrase, adds prophetic clarification of what the “waters of Judah” means. We know this because the Book of Mormon translations did not include this phrase until the 1840 edition.
Last time we highlighted references to Christ in red. This time use pink on Joseph additions because it is close to the red of Christ and that it has righteous prophetic origin. Underline instead of highlight to note that Joseph or Nephi speaking these words instead of someone referring to them.
In the next verse, Isaiah says, the children of Israel to stay themselves upon the God of Israel. The Book of Mormon version says they do not stay themselves upon the God of Israel. Based on the context, Nephi’s reading makes much more sense because the Lord chastises Israel for forgetting him. This discrepancy is most likely a scribe error passing into the King James Bible.
Later, in chapter 21, there’s a bigger change. Nephi adds 48 words to verse 1, saying that the House of Israel is broken off, driven out and scattered abroad because of the wickedness of the pastors and my people. Nephi’s addition seemed to be a huge clarification for who the isles of people from afar are in Isaiah’s version, providing us with a better understanding of the house of Israel.
As you study, ask yourself, who made each change and what are they trying to tell us?
Darryl: So, brothers and sisters, as instructors, it’s important after each of the discussion groups that you get around and visit them to see what they’re working on. This search hack could distract them because there are other things to do, but remember, every group this time has a video to listen to and that’s going to take a lot of time. And they might not feel like they want to actually share the video with the group instead of promote it for home evening or a couple of studies later on and that’s fairly important to notice.
Now, if you feel like those discussion groups are too big, then I’d suggest that you look at other discussion topics that are at the end of the lesson manual, and I’ve put them up here:
Symbols used by Isaiah
Isaiah repeatedly used blindness as a symbol of wickedness and spiritual ignorance (Isaiah 29:10, 18; 32:3; 42:6–7, 16–18; 43:8; 44:9). As you ponder these verses, remember that the Savior often proclaimed that he was the Light of the World (John 8:12). How can we more fully open our spiritual eyes to the Light of the World?
What does it mean to “wait upon the Lord”? (Isaiah 40:31). In what ways does the Lord renew the strength of those who wait upon him?
(See Isaiah 41:10.) Invite class members to share experiences about the Lord renewing a person’s spiritual or physical strength.
“But thou hast not called upon me”
Why do some of us occasionally feel that the Lord has forsaken us? If we feel the Lord has withdrawn from us, what is likely the cause? (See Isaiah 43:22–26; Mosiah 5:13.) What can we do to feel close to him again?
President Spencer W. Kimball said: “I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball,ed. Edward L. Kimball [1982], 135).
These other discussion topics are at the end of the lesson plan; the first one is on symbols used by Isaiah. It’s really quite fascinating to help people understand some of the symbolism. The second one is the definition of waiting on the Lord. The last one is, “but thou hath not called upon me.” And if you added these three in to the other four, you’d have seven discussion groups.
In our ward’s Gospel Doctrine classroom the size tends to run between 35 and 42, but I can’t always predict that. So I often have one of these other discussion topics up my sleeve, just in case. I’m recommending to you that you always plan on a few more discussion groups than you need, and that you never ever get so married to your syllabus or your lesson manual that you feel defeated.
Your job in the Come, Follow Me format is to be a discussion facilitator. Whatever discussion emerges from any of the study groups is exactly right for your group. So, I don’t want you to worry about that at all.
Gospel Doctrine Lesson Conclusion
As the conclusion comes up today, I’d like you to think back on how you’ve developed a love for the Savior and how you might share that with others. And we’re going to listen as we leave today after our closing prayer to “How Firm a Foundation” because we’re finishing just a little bit early and I’d like you to hear all of this hymn.
Let’s go ahead and have the closing prayer now, and then we’ll go straight to the hymn.
Last time we highlighted references to Christ in red. This time use pink on Joseph additions because it is close to the red of Christ and that it has righteous prophetic origin. Underline instead of highlight to note that Joseph or Nephi speaking these words instead of someone referring to them.
After teaching this class using PowerPoint, I made this Prezi for this week’s course of study
Prezi: Lesson 38—Beside Me There is No Savior (http://prezi.com/b0i3jwcdg54t/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share)