Insights Into Isaiah: Wherefore We Have Fasted

Terry B: Welcome once again to our continuing discussion of the scriptures of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day-saints. Today we’ll be discussing once again the writings of Isaiah Chapter 58 and 59 and fasting.

I’m Terry Ball from the Department of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University. And joining me are three of my fine colleagues from the Department of Ancient Scripture. We have with us today, professor Victor Ludlow. Welcome, Vic.

Victor: Thank you. Good to be here.

Terry B: Glad to have you with us. And also, professor Terry Szink, welcome Terry.

Terry S: Good to be here.

Terry B: And we’re delighted once more to have with us, professor Ray Huntington. Welcome, Ray.

Ray: Thank you, Terry.

Terry B: Alright, Chapter 58– I suspect that this is probably, well in my estimation, because I love Isaiah so much, is the finest discourse on proper fasting I think in all the scriptures. I think if you ever have to give a talk in sacred meeting and you don’t talk about Isaiah 58, you’ve missed a wonderful opportunity to teach great Doctrine and truth.

Victor: Well, there’s no chapter anywhere on the standard works with so much material, on so many verses devoted to that topic of fasting.

Terry B: That’s true. I think Isaiah uses a very logical approach as he tries to teach them about the fast. First, he explains what they’re doing wrong, then he tells him, what you need to start doing right, then he tells them, here’s what you can expect. I like that, I think it’s the way the heavenly Father worked with this and the way parents ought to work and whenever we have to discipline people.

Ray: It’s sort of cause and effect, isn’t it? And Isaiah is really good with cause and effect. If you do this, this is what will happen. I think he’s a master of cause and effect.

Terry B: So, verses 1 through 5 – is the cause. Here’s what you’re doing wrong. The terminology here is a little bit awkward I think in our King James version. Why don’t I read those first five verses and then maybe we could have you brethren kind of explain what some of the terms mean and help explain what’s wrong with the way that they’re fasting. “Cry aloud.” This is the verse 1 of 58. “Spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” In other words, the Lord’s saying, Isaiah, tell these people what they’re doing wrong, and here we go. “Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice: they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fast fasted, say they and thou seest us not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge. Behold, in the day of your fast, ye find pleasure and exact all your labors. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, an acceptable day of the Lord.”

Victor: Verse 2 there, this imagery, they’re going about their things as though they’re still righteous and noble.

Terry B: There’s some sarcasm there, isn’t there?

Victor: Oh yeah. A little biting there. And they’re afflicting their souls; they’re angry, they’re sad. I mean, you’ll look at it and I think, oh, they’re going through such terrible tribulation in their fasting.

Ray: Is this kind of like the Pharisees in Jesus’s day who disheveled their hair and put powder on their face to appear to others as fasting.

Terry B: And they’re really angry at God because this doesn’t seem to be working. Look at all we’re doing for you, we’re just absolutely miserable. How come you’re not acknowledging what we’re doing and blessing us. That’s the first part of verse 3 anyway, that’s what they seem to be asking. From what I gathered, is this what you gather that God has given them the answer, starting with the word, ‘Behold’ there in verse 3?

Terry S: Halfway through that.

Terry B: What does this phrase mean, “In the day of your fast, ye find pleasure and exact all your labors?” Obviously, it’s wrong but what does he mean here, that they’re doing on a fast day?

Ray: I get the sense that they’re making it miserable for everyone else around them. That’s one thing I think.

Terry B: You mean, they’re fasting, and they’ve gotten cranky?

Ray: Absolutely. They’re making life miserable for everyone else.

Victor: Often fast days were considered Sabbaths, but if on a Sabbath you find pleasure, if you’re out doing leisure pleasure, recreational things and extract all your labors. If you’re going to work anyway, you’re not really honoring a Sabbath. I think that’s implied there too.

Terry B: The footnote for verse 3 has something interesting too, that I think adds an insight in regard to exactly all your labors. It’s inflicting travail on others. So, your mother comes to you and says, take out the garbage, and you say I can’t, mother I’m fasting. The attitude that I’ve dedicated this time to the Lord and I don’t want to be bothered. You’re, going to have to wait on me, hand and foot, kind of a thing.

Ray: What do you think in verse 4, it means to fast for strife and debate? That’s an odd statement to me.

Victor: Well, people sometimes are short-tempered, and they justify it because they’re fasting. We had one son, it wasn’t quite that bad. He always wondered how come we called it fast Sunday because for him it was the slowest day of the month and he just didn’t think he was going to survive.

Terry B: He was collecting offerings if he wanted a fast offering so that he could go home. There seems to be an attitude here that God is approaching. He seems to be saying, I know you’re going through the motions of fasting…

Terry S: But you’re not doing it with the right intent.

Victor: In other words, it’s hypocrisy.

Terry B: You’re drawing attention to yourself one way, on your hand and foot. You’re getting cranky.

Victor: He’s excusing the negative behavior.

Terry S: That’s exactly how Christ referred to them, he calls them hypocrites, those who fast this type of fast.

Ray: Well, I like the Lord’s statement in verse 5, “is it such a fast that I have chosen.” Is this the kind of fast that I want you to have? And the answer is absolutely not. Everything you’re doing is unacceptable to me. And then he sorts of describes what it is, a day for a man to afflict his soul as if to bow down his head as a bulrush. That’s interesting imagery. What do you think that means – to bow down his head like a bulrush?

Terry B: Have you ever seen bulrushes? You can see, particularly they have a very salacious wall, they have a hollow with the cell wall that’s really brittle, and if they get a little bruising then they’ll just all fall over, you can see them all flopped over. So, apparently there must be some group flopping over going on here, they’re all bowing down as bulrushes and they’re just being miserable. We wouldn’t really call this fasting. These folks are just going hungry. And there’s a difference between fasting and going hungry.

Ray: Then going through the motions.

Victor: So, in verse 6, he shifts beautifully. “Now is not this the fast that I’ve chosen?” And then he gives them the to-do list and this is what you should be doing.

Terry B: Verses 6 and 7. Go ahead and read those for us.

Victor: “To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free, that ye break every yoke. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bringest the poor that are cast out to thy house. When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; then that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh or family.” So, first of all, it’s to lift some kind of a burden or as he says here, to break every yoke. When you think of fasting, a true fast, we should have a purpose.

Terry B: That’s the point. There ought to be a purpose to your fast.

Victor: And Isaiah’s motto would be, is there some burden or yolk, something that’s weighing people down. Now it could be somebody else that is burdened with ignorance or hunger or something. It could be a person burdened with sin or ignorance or frustration and a church calling. Well, what can be done to lift that burden and make that the purpose of your fast? Now you’ve got a spiritual focus rather than just, oh, I’m toughing it out and don’t bother me, kind of an attitude. You’re seeing a higher spiritual purpose.

Terry S: One of the things that you can see when we look at these purposes, is they’re fasting, and they focus is all on themselves. Oh, I’m hungry, I have to suffer through this, and then he says, look, I want you to turn that focus on others, help others, help the poor, feed the naked or clothe the naked. Feed them too. But he wants them to turn their focus on others and not on themselves.

Terry B: There are two things he’s pointed out here. The one, a proper fast constitutes doing something for those less fortunate, the naked, the hungry. Another is to make sure there’s a purpose to it, and what the purpose is, he mentions here is to break the bands of wickedness. He almost seems to be saying that if you’re fasting properly, your ability to live a righteous life is increased. So, what’s the connection? How does fasting increase your ability to live a righteous life?

Ray: If you look at verse 6, Terry, just look at the words that he uses; to lose, to undo, too wet and to break. Those words all have something in common and I think spiritually to enliven yourself, to break yourself free from something, to become more spiritual, to feel the spirit, to have greater power to do things that you normally couldn’t do.

Terry B: Fasting certainly is the key to spirituality. I think of what President McKay said when he defines spirituality? I think he’s the first to use this phrase, as a consciousness of victory over self.

What he seemed to be saying is that a spiritual person is one who has conquered the physical appetites, desires and so forth and their thoughts and actions and feelings are directed by the will, desires of the spirit. And I can see a connection between fasting and that. When you’re fasting, it’s almost like lifting spiritual weights. You’re strengthening the spiritual man so that it can control the desires of the natural man.

Victor: And I found with my students, particularly freshmen students in my Book of Mormon classes as we’ve talked about fasting like with the sons of Mosiah. And we started a discussion about what purposes should we find in the fast. They usually think of things like, well, it’s to show self-discipline. It’s to take the money that you would’ve spent, and contribute it to the poor and the needy, and they don’t realize all of these other kinds of purposes as far as helping others and strengthening yourself or loosening guilt and burdens that you have. And I think those are really the ultimate higher purposes for which the Heavenly Father wants us to, at least once a month, focus on some of those things.

Ray: Who is it that loses the bands of wickedness and undoes the heavy burdens and lets the oppressed go free and breaks every yoke. Who is the acting agent? Is it us? I don’t think so.

Terry B: I don’t think so, I think God’s involved in. I think it’s a joint effort.

Ray: But then I think in return he says, I’ll do this and this and this for you, but I expect you, in verse 7 – to deal your bread to the hungry. Pay your fast offerings and remember the poor and the needy and those even amongst your own families that need help.

Terry B: A proper fast is not just going hungry. Fasting for a purpose and caring for others. That’s the point. And then starting in verse 8, this is some of the most beautiful language, poetic language describing the blessings that come from fasting properly. I think a lot of times we don’t realize what blessings are promised to its proper fasting. Let me read these verses. Starting at verse 8, “If you fast property,” he says in verse 8, “then shall thy light break forth as the morning, thine health shall spring forth, speedily, thy righteousness shall go before thee. The glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry and he shall say, here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yolk, and the putting forth the finger and the speaking vanity and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul in drought and make fat thy bones.” Powerful imagery, which supposedly means in verse 8, if you fast properly, your light will break forth as the morning. Any ideas what that imagery is intended to teach?

Victor: I would assume it’s the spiritual light he’s talking about here that will come. If you tie back to bands of wickedness and these other kinds of burdens of ignorance and all the people would have if the light breaks forth then you begin to see, you begin to understand, you begin to feel worthy to have the spirit to be with you, which otherwise you just didn’t have.

Terry B: So, it’s the light in the D&C, 93 cents of truth and knowledge and intelligence. So, what does it mean to say it breaks forth as the morning?

Terry S: It’s like the sun coming up and you see a little bit, then pretty soon it’s just everywhere and it can’t be contained.

Victor: And especially after a dark night, how much you look forward to that coming.

Terry B: You can count on it. It’s going to be there.

Ray: In the New Testament imagery here in the Sermon on the Mount, you’re the light of the earth, the light of the world. And what is that light? We learn later in the book of Mormon, the light that we hold up is Christ. And I really believe as we fast, as we invite that spirit into our lives, our testimonies of Christ will grow and then we’ll illuminate.

Victor: You see verses 11 and 12, where this what comes into us, he has little couplets here of thirst and food and, that’s you, your body kind of receives and then he talks about gardens and springs as far as your fields and your place around your home. And then the foundations and the waste places of your communities, and finally, the paths and all. I mean, it’ll start with you and that’ll be your house, your neighborhood, the whole community to receive blessings and these images of peace and prosperity.

Ray: You really have put the Lord to the test in this one, don’t you?

Terry B: Let’s look at some of the other promises before we leave this. I just love some of this other stuff, “your righteousness will go before thee.” I always think of the Armor of God. Righteousness is your breastplate, right? That protects your vital organs there. But breastplates don’t cover your back. You’re exposed in the back and you can’t see the enemy coming. But look what he says here, “Your righteousness goes before thee and what protects you in the back,” at the end of verse 8. It’s almost like your righteousness will protect you from the adversaries and the things you see in front of you, but I’ll protect you from what can come from behind. If you fast.

Victor: That you might not otherwise be aware of.

Terry B: Yea, I’m your rear guard, that’s a rearward means, I’ve got your back, the phrases today. I love the promise of verse 9 that suggest also that our prayers have become more effective. When we pray God says, “Here I am, I’ll answer.” Beautiful promises for fasting properly. If you read this, and you wonder, why would you ever just go hungry instead of fasting? Verse 13 and 14, he changes the topic. I think these could be its own chapter in itself. Although it’s two. Herein, I think he’s trying to teach us what constitutes proper Sabbath day observance as well. Terry, why don’t you read verse 13 for us?

Terry S: Sure. “If thou turn away thou foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my Holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord honorable and shall honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.”

Terry B: You do 14 also.

Terry S: Sure. “Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the Earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.”
Terry B: Wonderful promises there in verse 14, and all speak of exaltation that you qualify for if you keep the Sabbath properly. You’ve probably all had the experience of teaching a Sunday school class where the students wanted you to list on the board everything you could and couldn’t do on the Sabbath day. How many hours of Super Bowl can I watch before I would not be temple worthy? I think he’s giving us a rule of thumb here, how do we evaluate if a Sabbath day activity is appropriate or not in verse 13. As you look through that, what’s the rule?

Victor: Not doing thine own ways or thine own pleasures, or kind of your own activities. It reflects back again on chapter 55 – His ways are not our ways; His thoughts are not ours. Well, instead of doing your ways and your thoughts, concentrate on my ways and my thoughts. Those things have a higher spiritual nature, I guess.

Ray: There’s also an acknowledgment that the Sabbath is the Holy of the Lord, that it’s His day. We have the knowledge that it’s His day.

Terry B: We think of it as a day of rest often, but it really rests from other laborers. I know that you all serve at important colleges and I imagine some of your Sabbath days, you’re often weary at the end, but you’ve kept the Sabbath holy because you haven’t been seeking your own way or your own pleasures. I wonder how our Sabbath day observance would change if when we had some discretionary time, if we thought of verse 13 and asked ourselves, now what can they do during this time to serve God or to serve others? Maybe we’d make different choices. I’m glad that it’s there. Great council on Sabbath day. We need to move on now to chapter 59. 59 in some way seems to be a little bit of a throwback to some of the chapters that we read, or themes that we read in the first 35 chapters. This is a pretty powerful and scathing rebuke to the wicked, outlining some of the things they’ve done wrong but finishes with a wonderful promise to the people. He asks a question in verse 1 and 2, Ray, why don’t you read those for us and then maybe ask a question or summarize the message in your own words.

Ray: “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear, but your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear.” I think he’s making a pretty blunt statement here, and that is that God’s hand is not shortened, he can save, he is here, he hears, and he doesn’t withdraw from us. It’s our inequities that separate us from God. It is our own behavior that kind of pulls us away from God. God’s hand is always outstretched. That’s what he’s saying to us.

Terry B: It makes me think of little saying that says, ‘if you find yourself further from God today than you were yesterday, you need to ask yourself who moved?’ And we know God’s always there. He then goes on to chapter 2, I’ll outline some of the things particularly that they have done, that caused him to be moved from God to put themselves away. Verse 3, “Your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with inequity.” Sounds like violence and sin. “Your lips have spoken lies, you trust in vanity and speak lies.” What do you make of this imagery in verse 5? This is intriguing. Speaking of these people, he says, “they hatched cockatrice eggs, and weave spiders’ webs.”

Victor: Cockatrice is often translated as Adder in modern English translations, but it’s a tremendously poisonous serpent. There are some poisonous snakes that take a while to grow and develop their size and their venom, but not the Adder, I mean, it is right from their hatching, they will kill an adult and yet can you imagine taking, say a clutch of these eggs, putting them in a net or sack and just tucking them under your shirt, and so your body heat will incubate them, realizing as soon as they come out, you’re going to… And yet there are some people that just seem to put their hand right in the fire. They know this is not what they should be doing, this is not the crowd they should be going with, but they just put themselves right in the situation of spiritual or moral death, just like this imagery that he uses of physical death, here.

Terry B: So, if you find a nest of hatched Cockatrice eggs, the smart thing to do is, to get away from them or destroy them, but these people are hatching or brooding them. Do you think they’re just curious?

Ray: I don’t, I think in verse 7 it sorts of sums it up. “Their feet run to evil.” They know exactly what they’re doing, and they hasten to do it. It’s the imagery that Vic brought out here a second ago. They know what they’ve got in their hands and they damn well aren’t going to let it go.

Terry B: I think of individuals who have chronic transgressions, and there are always certain events that lead up to committing the transgression and yet, all they have to do is not let themselves be involved in the precursors to the transgression, and yet they don’t do it. They’re hatching Cockatrice eggs

Victor: Set themselves up.

Terry B: And so, as it says in verse 8, “the way of peace, they know not.” We’ve seen that word peace quite often, maybe we ought to comment for a moment. What words are being translated as peace here and what that means to the Hebrew mind?

Victor: The word Shalom, it’s used as a common greeting. When they ask how a person is – [Hebrew 00:23:23.05]. It’s, how is peace with you? It’s very much, kind of the whole atmosphere of your environment, your being, is that kind of peace that one should be looking for. It’s not just a political national, it’s more of a personal kind of peace that is talked about there.

Terry B: He then talks about what they can expect if they continue in this venue starting in verse 9, “Judgments far from us.” Verse 10, “They grope for the wall like the blind.” That’s powerful imagery, that those who are spiritually blind purposely, they stumble at noonday verse 10. “They roar like bears and mourn like doves.” This part sounds pretty sad. And look where they end up. Verse 12, Terry read that for us. This is what they have to confess eventually.

Terry S: “For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us, for our transgressions are with us and as for our iniquities, we know them.”

Terry B: Can you picture that scene? Makes me think of 2nd Nephi 9 where we talked about us having a bright recollection of all our guilt. You get the feeling no one’s going to be dragged away from the judge without saying, it’s unfair, I don’t deserve this, I’ve been praying. They’ll know.

Victor: What a contrast with the last verse of that chapter, “But here is my Covenant for them, saith the Lord, my Spirit is upon me, my words which I put in thy mouth shall not depart of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed saith the Lord from henceforth and forever.” So, instead of coming before the Lord in this judgment scene like we just talked about, here is this, kind of almost sounds like a family reunion kind of a scene. A much more festive, happy occasion.

Terry S: It’s not just for the people themselves, but for all of their descendants, he goes on that your seed and your seed’s seed. That’s for henceforth and forever, which is a great promise.

Terry B: In verse 19, “You’re qualified for those things if you turn from transgression.” And then he comes as the redeemer. In contrast to verse 17, when you’re brought before him, he comes in garments of vengeance. So, you get the feeling, he can either be the avenger or the redeemer and what makes the difference, is how you’ve chosen to use your agency. It can be a tragic thing to so misuse your agency that you were afraid and wanted to run from him rather than to him when you had the opportunity to be in his presence.

Ray: So, it’s like the last statement in Narnia, where she looks out, is it Lucy, and the lion’s walking away. What is it she says…The other fellow with her says, “He’s not a tame lion,” and she says, “but he is kind.” And I think that sort of sums it up here as well too.

Terry B: So, the major themes of chapter 58 and 59 in conclusion. Someone want to summarize those for us with the major themes that we ought to take home, messages.

Terry S: 58 talks about fasting and Sabbath observance, which kind of go hand in hand and how we’re supposed to focus on others instead of ourselves. And it changes just going without food to something spiritual that helps us, and then to 59, again there’s that contrast between the wicked and the righteous and those who choose to follow God and keep his Covenant to those who deliberately choose to reject him and that kind of sums it up.

Terry B: Well said. Thank you, brethren.

Victor Ludlow on Isaiah’s Historical Background Discover with Darryl: Isaiah—Prophet, Seer, and Poet

Victor Ludlow

Darryl: Hi, this is Darryl Alder with searchisaiah.org, and we’re here again with Victor Ludlow, Today we’re going to pursue a little bit of the front end of his book, Isaiah—Prophet, Seer, and Poet, where he kind of gives us some historical background, he draws maps, he kind of does some settings to give us an overall structure to hang Isaiah on. That’s what we’re going to talk about today.

Historical Background: Who Was Isaiah?

Let’s start out with that very first question you attempted to answer, who’s Isaiah?

Victor Ludlow on Isaiah's Historical Background — Isaiah recording his prophecies

Victor: The prophet, one among many. One who was particularly insightful and profound in his prophecies, both in their message and their style. In the Hebrew Old Testament, he is to Hebrew like Shakespeare is to English, Göthe is to Germany. He is a genius.

Darryl: And obviously then schooled in the ways of the Jews.

Victor: Very much so.

Historical Background: Kings of Israel and Judah

Darryl: Did he play any role in the court of Ahaz, Hezekiah or Manasseh?

Victor: That would depend entirely upon the king. He would love to be their advisor, but some of them didn’t want him there, some of them were like earlier prophets, particularly in Israel that didn’t even want to have the prophet come into their court. Others would invite him and listen to him.

Darryl: So, Ahaz probably didn’t serve particularly long, but in the historical setting, if we look at the map of the Middle East at that time, there were players that were threatening Judah.

But wait, let’s go back. There was a Golden Age in Israel where Saul was trying to get the land and create what would be the 12 tribes legacy, and then David refined it, as did Solomon. Tell us what happened after that and how much later Isaiah is.

Victor: This is covering about two centuries.

Darryl: So almost as long as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been around. That gives us a perspective of how long of a period it was.

Victor: Or not much longer than the United States has been a nation, another perspective.

Darryl: Both of those are helpful.

Victor: So, any rate, Solomon dies around 930 BC and that’s when they split into the kingdoms.

Darryl: What’s going on there between his sons? What causes the split?

Victor: It’s not as much between his sons as between one son and one of Solomon’s officers. Jeroboam was one of Solomon’s officers that becomes the king of the northern kingdom. And Rehoboam was one of Solomon’s sons that he wanted to be the king of all of Israel, but because Rehoboam was so adamant about being strong and increase his father’s building programs and all, the northern tribes didn’t want anymore to do with that.

Darryl: And probably fairly so, if you look at the map, Jerusalem isn’t necessarily at the center of those 12 tribes, but Judah ends up with the city and the temple and that means some things. But what helped me in this, is the capital in Israel is Samaria and you think about Samaritans being looked down on at the time of Jesus, but Samaritans were just those people who lived in Sumeria with the other 10 tribes up there. So, it appears though many of the tribes are represented in what becomes Judah. What prompted that? How did we get a drifting spell?

Victor: First of all, we have all of Simeon, all of Judah, a good part of Benjamin and a lot of Levites.

Darryl: Because Levites have to be everywhere and they’re at the temple too, so we need a lot of them here.

Victor: Right, so we have roughly 10 tribes in the north and 3 tribes in the south of the 13 tribes of Israel, but later in the century after Solomon, we have the great prophets, Elijah and Elisha where northern Israel is rapidly going into very apostate wicked conditions, and they are even persecuting the righteous, the priests, and the Levites and others. And so, some of these people of the northern tribe start migrating south because of this persecution. So, during the 800’s BC into the 700’s BC, they’re moving southward.

Then as the political situation intensifies with Assyria coming into the northern kingdom of Israel and putting pressure on the people there, and the prophets, a number of them are warning Israel that her continued wickedness is going to warrant her judgment and scattering.

Darryl: So, Victor, this gets very confusing because when you use the word “Israel” there, it’s important we think of that as the northern tribes. So, the southern tribes we’ll call Judah and the northern tribes we’ll call Israel, not to be confused with the Golden Age when both were united.

Victor: Right.

Darryl: So, we’re moving here into something that’s different not the Golden Age you named. You called it the Silver Age. So, what’s happening here?

Historical Background: The Silver Age

Victor: Well what happens in the 700’s BC, to the far northeast in the Middle East, Assyria and Babylon have been at conflict and have had some major wars. And so, they were involved enough with each other that they’re not really trying to expand their empires into Israelite, Judean territory. Egypt to the southwest, the other end of the Middle East, is somewhat weak at this time.

So there is somewhat of a period where they can kind of do their own thing in Israel and in Judah. They also have to have two kings: Jeroboam, the 2nd in the north and Uzziah in the south that live long, were powerful, dynamic expansionist kings with a strong hand. So, they were able to consolidate their own reign, their own kingdoms, and the little competition between the two of them, sometimes more competition, but they were kind of free to do their own thing more or less. But there’s still this Assyrian threat that rules over Babylon and becomes imperialistic and wanting to move around the fertile crescent towards Egypt, Israel, and then Judah stands in her way.

Darryl: So, in the setting for Isaiah, Ahaz is king at the start. Is that right?

Victor: Well, in his youth, Uzziah is still the king. And so, Isaiah, in fact, the benchmark of his calling as a Prophet was, as he tells us in chapter 6, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. So, that was a benchmark event in the whole region. He had been a king for like a half a century and all of a sudden, there’s a new king.

Darryl: And was he a decent king? Did he behave?

Victor: Yes and no.

Darryl: It looks like we see a pretty good king and then a bad son who is king. And then somehow that bad king has a good son. Tell us about the kings, there’s three or four in Isaiah’s life and what they do.

Victor: Well, I don’t want to get into politics, particularly considering the current political scene because there would be some who would argue that our given Presidents were very good and others that think they were lousy.

Darryl: I want to ask this, maybe righteousness, someone who used the temple the way it was intended, someone who used the temple the way it wasn’t intended.

Historical Background: Idol Worship

Victor: Well, first of all, in the north, the kings there as a whole were all developing up their own pagan idolatrous temples.

Darryl: And every country did that.

Victor: That’s right.

Darryl: And when you say that, I always thought for some reason it was bowing down to some golden structure, but there was some kind of fornication and just awful things, sacrificing kids. This had to be pretty dreadful.

Victor: Some of it was Ba’al worship, their Asherah or high groves and all were religious prostitution, and all was taking place there, and at least in the south, there was the temple there, but it was more or less supported by different kings, sometimes by the same king at different times in their lives. And so very few of them were righteous, some were more wicked. And particularly Chronicles tends to present a rather critical view of some of the more wicked kings.

Darryl: Well, I’ve found that Hezekiah’s grandson did something with the temple after Isaiah was gone. I think his name was Josiah. Tell us about this part of the Silver Age now. What’s going on?

Victor: Well, again we had the two strong Kings: Jeroboam, the 2nd in the north, Uzziah in the south, and a somewhat political stable situation in their area. And then a couple of king’s later, you have Hezekiah, who really emphasized celebrating Passover and the religious festivals and the temple worship and things like that.

Historical Background: Political Alliances

But what happens is, their kingdom in the north becomes a little more aggressive, that is Israel. And they’re seeking to get all of the nations in the area, Jordan, and Syria and others because they can see that Assyria is growing stronger and is coming towards them. And the only way they can stop it is to have a united front through this fertile crescent area between the deserts of Arabia and the Mediterranean Sea. So, they need all these countries to come together.

Darryl: So, we’re not just talking about the 12 tribes, we’re talking about Moab and Edom and even Philistia.

Victor: Well, they’re not as much in the picture by now.

Darryl: And Egypt?

Victor: Well, Egypt could be an ally if they don’t become too strong themselves and decide, well, since our armies here, we might as well stay here and rule. So, that’s a double-edged sword there, getting Egypt to involved. But Egypt does get involved, later Ahaz, particularly during that period of time. And so, this will play into some of the dynamics of the political situation in the days of Isaiah and the beginning of the scattering of the tribes of Israel. But it starts with the Assyrian encroachment.

Darryl: So, there are two countries here, Assyria and Syria. Can you describe in today’s world map what we’re talking about?

Victor: Assyria would be Iraq and Syria would-be modern-day Syria. So, Syria is a much smaller country. Assyria, by this time, had controlled the whole Mesopotamian area. And that was one of the cradles of civilization, Mesopotamia on the east and Egypt on the west and Israel found herself in between.

Darryl: As we start looking at the Silver Age for religion, Hezekiah fosters temple worship and many appropriate things, eventually things fall apart there. But prior to Hezekiah, Ahaz was threatened by both the northern tribes and Syria. What were those two countries trying to do?

Victor: Syria to the northeast, where modern Syria is, and Israel, the northern tribes, were trying to force Judah to join this alliance of all the nations along the region.

Darryl: And Isaiah was saying don’t do it?

Victor: Don’t do it. It’s trusting in the arm of flesh and so forth. And so, these two kingdoms were both wanting to invade Judah and force her to join the coalition by deposing the king and putting somebody on the throne that would be more supportive.

Darryl: And they didn’t succeed?

Victor: They didn’t succeed.

Darryl: But nonetheless, Assyria swept through both those countries.

Victor: Well, one of the problems was that Judah, seeing these two neighboring countries that are right on their borders coming in, what they had hoped to do was, well, the choices are, to either look behind me and get Egypt and have them come up and help me, or can I leap over those two countries and form some kind of an alliance with Assyria and have Assyria attack them from the rear so they’ll move their forces from attacking me. Now, either of those is wrought with high political risk.

Darryl: And costs, stripping the temple of all of its gold and taxing the people. That had to be something pretty tough. It didn’t work, did it?

Victor: No, it didn’t work.

Darryl: That’s when we’re talking about leaning on the arm of flesh, that’s the king believing that a political alliance with tribute was going to yield peace.

Victor: A long-lasting alliance that would benefit without benefiting the aggressor.

Historical Background: Assyria the Conqueror

Darryl: It didn’t seem to even benefit a king for a king. For his reign, it was always wrought with trouble. So, Assyria swept down, and there’s this craziness in Isaiah where Isaiah starts naming the cities that are going to fall, and Michmash and all these other cities. And so, if you have a map and you look at them, you can see how he’s predicting that southern march. Hezekiah was in a bad situation. Every city had been taken in Judah, hadn’t it? There was nothing left.

Victor: Not in Judah.

Darryl: Every northern city, all the way up to Nob.

Victor: Nob is like north of Jerusalem.

Darryl: It’s not very far north, it sounds like it’s a holler away because of what happened. Can you tell us that story a little bit? It’s one of my favorites. And Hezekiah was told he didn’t need to worry, but he was pretty worried.

Victor: Yeah, Isaiah tells him not an Assyrian soldier will come inside the city of Jerusalem, but Assyria was eating away around the northern and western flanks of Judah in particular. And sure enough, the Lord’s prophet and his promises were sustained. And it’s interesting to look at it from the different perspectives.

We, of course, have the account in Kings, Chronicles and in the historical chapters of Isaiah 36 to 39 that outline some of this. But we also have Greek sources taken from Egyptian sources about this.

Basically, the main Assyrian philosophy was gradual encroachment, to come close to an area to be a threatening power and say, if you’ll submit to our rule, pay tribute to us, we’ll let you stay where you’re at and live with your families. And as long as you had rulers that were willing to do that, they got along, of course, under Assyria’s terms. But if you should start to resist, then they would become more aggressive. They basically would put somebody new on the throne, and if that didn’t work, they would come in and control the country and make it a province and put their own rulers on the throne.

In these different stages, they had different ways of trying to weaken the leadership in this country, say use Israel as an example. So that around the 730’s they’d come close and are saying, come on, let’s be friends, in fact, we’ve got an excellent scholarship offer for some of your youth to come to Assyria and get training and would like to have some of your best craftsmen and artisans come and help us build a marvelous capital city, and then this will bring a lot of wealth back into your country. And that just wasn’t working. Then they became more and more forceful. So, we find these northern inhabitants of Israel, some of them by invitation and with highly lucrative opportunities for vocational experience, moving to Assyria.

Darryl: In fact, it seems like Isaiah says, the leaders and the prophets and the craftsman’s will all be gone, and you’ll be led by children and women or something.

Victor: Yeah, you just won’t have the effective trained, educated, skilled leadership available. Well, eventually Assyria just has to come in and take over and this occurs around 722 and 721, where they come in and take over the country.

Historical Background: Scattering of Israel

Darryl: So now both, Isaiah and Hezekiah are in place, right?

Victor: But they’re in the south. So, this is up in the northern kingdom when it is falling. And this begins what we call the lost 10 tribes, where Assyria takes some 30,000 families of the northern Kingdom of Israel and relocates them to the far northeast part of their empire. So, they move them from one end of their empire to the other, it’s like somebody conquering the United States and moving people from southern California to New England. And so, they move them from one end of their country, it’s not quite that far, it’s more like, say southern California to the no-man’s lands of North Dakota or something like that. But any rate, what we need to remember is that there were some Israelites that had preceded them. Now, they’re there, but they’re relocated on the edge of the empire and they don’t like living there. They can’t go back home, they don’t feel comfortable there. And so many of them flee northward and that’s the last we hear of the 10 tribes.

Darryl: Even prisoners.

Victor: The whole Assyrian Empire into Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Darryl: And I think the thing that’s heartbreaking for me here to think, is that Israel, since the day of Moses has known there’s one God, not multiple gods. And they’re kind of commissioned to bring that message to the world and instead they get lost to the world.

Victor: Because they accept both the religion and the political philosophies of the world.

Darryl: Is there are a lesson there for us?

Victor: Watch out what you want. But we lose sight of two other important groups of northern Israelites.

First of all, not everybody is cleansed off the land. In front of this invading Assyrian army, a lot of Israelites, tens and tens of thousands of them flee southward. They become refugees in the south.

Hezekiah has to build new cities and new parts of cities to absorb all of these refugees from these northern tribes, which in the Book of Mormon context might explain how Lehi and Ishmael, the two Patriarchs of the Book of Mormon community, 100 years later, what are they doing living in the southern kingdom of Judah when their ancestors were living up in the north?

Well, two or three generations earlier, they must’ve migrated southwards. Now, they may have come as early as the 800’s with these righteous people on their own fling. Others, having heard the words of the prophets warning northern Israel, if you don’t repent, you’re going to be invaded from the north and conquered. And when they see this army coming from the north, what would you do? Are you going to stay around and face him?

No, you’re going to go visit some of your distant relatives down south. If somebody were invading Utah right now out of Canada and they were just sweeping through the countryside, I’m going to go visit my daughter down in Arizona.

A lot of them fled southward and they became absorbed within that kingdom. And so now you’ve got all these northern tribes represented among the citizenship and they call themselves Jews, even as Nephi does in the Book of Mormon, because that’s the nation, they were of that nation, just like you and I call ourselves Americans, but we’re not descendants of that Portuguese navigator. But we live in this country.

Darryl: That makes good sense. So, did they keep any of their tribal identities? Did they still know their heritage?

Victor: Some of them, yes. In fact, there are some Jewish families to this day that say, we’re a Benjamin, we’re Simian, we’re this or that.

Darryl: Well, and it was apparent that was the thing for Nephi’s family, they were happy to know what was on the brass plates.

Victor: Yeah and be able to be more specific. But then there’s this last group, the ones that weren’t taken captive, weren’t killed in battle, then flee to the south. They were still living in the land. But the landscape was so decimated that the Assyrians imported Babylonians, Arabs, and others into the area to build up the population and its tax base. And those people are inter-married, and they’re known and still there as the Samaritans. So, this is where a lot of mixture and movement takes place among the house of Israel.

Darryl: So that kind of gives us a little bit of the political background and a little bit of the geographical background.

How to Read the Past Today

There’s some trickiness here with Isaiah. So, he’ll talk about Assyria. What could it represent today, and what could Babylon represent, and what could Egypt represent, and what could Philistia represent? Is it important to try and make them represent something? Are we trying too hard?

Victor: We risk the danger of pushing too hard? Assyria represents raw, brutal military might. And they were brutal. Skinning people alive was a fine art that they practiced. Babylon represents the decadent world, wealth and jewels and costumes and fabrics and commerce. That’s represented by Babylon. Now, Egypt is closer, that’s where their ancestors have lived. So, it has somewhat of a negative connotation of this imperialistic, ferocious, powerful nation that held their ancestors as slaves for a long time. And they’re still looming on the horizon, but they won’t have quite the dominance like they had in millennia earlier. And so, there’s an enticement towards Egypt, but it’s tempered because of the past experience.

Darryl: That makes sense. So, that helps us a little bit. So, when Isaiah’s writing, and you’ve already talked to us about parallelisms. Do you think when he’s talking about Assyria, he’s seeing the last days?

Victor: Not directly, but there will be analogies. There will be powers that will be brutal. And we’ve seen this with Isis and some of these forces in the battles in Iraq and Syria and parts of Lebanon in just the last few years. It seems to be ameliorating but there seems to be now some of it happening in Yemen and that sort of thing. So, the Assyrian style of intimidation and threat and brutality does seem to be still something there.

Darryl: And if you look, that’s probably replicated itself many multiple times as kingdoms and dynasties have been built clear since Isaiah’s day.

Victor: Right.

Darryl: So, if we look at Babylon, what are the messages there? I think about the twin towers coming down and how that affected us in the United States.

Victor: Well, so if you want Babylon, take a look at some of the great towers that have been built in the Persian Gulf nations. Far higher and more opulent than the Twin Towers ever was. The wealth out of some of these oil-rich countries, the per-capita income, the extravagant wealth that they have, it’s still in the region today.

Isaiah Foretells a Political Messiah in Cyrus

Darryl: So, your book, ‘Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet.’ He uses poetry, we talked about this last time, to help prophecy and to be a seer. Simple prophesy that he made was of a Babylonian king named Cyrus. Tell us about that. I’m not sure it’s that simple. It’s about 150 years out. That’s a pretty good prophecy.

Victor: He has some prophecies about the king of Babylon. I want to talk about that a little bit in chapter 14, where Babylon represents the wicked world, and the king of that world is Satan. So, whether you see it manifest in the wickedness of major cities or drug cartels or the way society morally and financially may be corrupted. That’s the king of Babylon in the background, playing his cards.

Now Isaiah does talk about Cyrus coming forward and mentions him by name over a century before his coming, because Assyria, between the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah will have a change of leadership. Babylon will rise up and defeat Assyria. That takes place just as the Book of Mormon scene is opening up.

And so, the Babylonians will come into the southern kingdom of Judah and do with them what the Assyrians have done over 100 years in the northern kingdom of Israel. Again gradually, it’s exporting people, giving them great opportunity.

Daniel and his three friends, they were there as invited guests of the king of Babylon. And yet there were others that joined with them, like Ezekiel, the priest prophet and others. But ultimately there is the biggest wave of slaves to come after the southern kingdom is destroyed.

Isaiah also foresees a time when from the further east, Persia, as it was known anciently, Iran as that region is called today, a king who would come forth, who would allow the Jews to return back to their land, to rebuild the temple and reestablish their religious life, which we read about towards the end of the Old Testament period, and the writings of Ezra and Nehemiah and some of the minor prophets.

As we finish the Old Testament with Malachi around 400 BC, it’s under Persian rule. The Persians have come in. But before the Persians, there were the Babylonians, particularly as far as destroying the southern kingdom of Judah initially. And before them, were the Assyrians destroying the northern kingdom of Israel. And through all of this, Israel starts to be scattered, not only by those that are taken and flee to the north, those who have settled throughout the region of the Middle East. Others like Jeremiah, the prophet himself and others who flee to Egypt from the Babylonians, and from there on the scattering carries on through the continents and the centuries.

Darryl: Well, Victor, I feel like this background is important. I was happy to read it in both of your books before I started in.

Studying Isaiah

Darryl: Is there anything else you think we should consider as we get ready to dive into the Sunday school study of Isaiah chapter 1?

Victor: That’s a hard question. I think if we study Isaiah, first of all, we will better understand some of these challenges the ancient prophets and the house of Israel faced, and why and how they scattered. But we also read in them, prophecies of a gathering, and Jeremiah prophesies that this gathering will take place and will be a greater miracle than the original exodus out of Egypt.

Now, when you consider parting the Red Sea and water from rocks and plagues and all kinds of signs and miracles, that has been the identity of the Jews through the centuries with their God. He delivered us out of Egypt. But, ultimately, all of Israel, the scattered tribes, the Jews, other remnants of Israel will look to the hand of the Lord and the gathering of Israel. And it’s both a literal but also a spiritual gathering, and president Nelson seems to have somewhat of a vision.

Darryl: He does, doesn’t he? It’s sort of an urgency. Maybe that happens when you’re in your 90’s and you know you don’t have a whole decade maybe to drive the point home.

Victor: But the thing is, this miracle is unfolding around us. The multiplication of temples, missionary work in countries behind the iron curtain where we wouldn’t have seen it coming…

Darryl: Neither of us could’ve dreamt that with our missionary service. Germany was just such a split country and the fact that we’re in Ukraine and all the way east is pretty amazing, even in Mongolia.

Victor: So, by reading Isaiah and how he foresaw the events of his time, and also superimposed upon them what he seems to have seen and foretold about the end of days, particularly in his last chapters, but maybe even kind of a dualistic version of what happens to Assyria, and what happens to Babylon and these nations evolved. They may have different names, countries in those regions, but similar kinds of phenomena to take place to humble the wicked and prepare the earth for the righteous. We can see that in the writings of Isaiah.

Darryl: Thank you. I really appreciate you taking time with us. I’m hoping that our readers and our audience appreciate this great sacrifice you’ve made. And your life of study of Isaiah, I just love that we can just sit and chat.

Victor: My pleasure.

Darryl: Thank you. Have a good day.

Prayers that part the veil Part I: Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer—Isaiah 58:9a

Gregorio Billikopf

Would you like to consistently receive answers to your prayers? I hope the following remarks will strengthen your ability to perceive the whisperings of the Spirit; to discern the presence of the Holy Ghost as your constant companion; and to commune with God the Eternal Father and with His Son, even the Holy One of Israel.

There is great strength, direction, joy and peace that can come into our lives as we learn to pray in such a manner that we know—while we are calling upon God—that our prayer is being heard. I value my testimony that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that the Gospel has been restored, and that we have a loving Father who hears and answers our prayers, above all else I have ever had, or could have, upon this earth.

Knowing that God has heard my prayer is more important than whether or not He will grant a specific petition. I can then say that God answers all of my prayers because I trust that He has my best interests in mind and will grant my petitions, if they are right, in due season (Leviticus 26:4). In addition to this comfort, God delights in giving us specific guidance. Prayer, then, is a sure source of comfort and guidance as we face difficult trials.

It is my hope that I can adequately transmit my understanding of the perfect pattern of prayer, even Moroni 10:3–5, so that this scripture will apply to you:

“Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am” (Isaiah 58:9a).

Breaking the barriers

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin invited:

“Do you want to know the truth of the holy scriptures? Do you wish to break the barriers that separate mortals from the knowledge of eternal verities? Do you wish to know—really know—the truth? Then follow Moroni’s counsel and you will surely find what you seek” (“Pure Testimony,” Ensign, Nov. 2000).

In a historical worldwide devotional on 3 June 2018, President Russell M. Nelson pleaded with the youth to feel the joy and peace that comes from praying and learning to discern the whisperings of the Spirit.

President Nelson assured:

“I promise you that if you will sincerely and persistently do the spiritual work needed to develop the crucial, spiritual skill of learning how to hear the whisperings of the Holy Ghost, you will have all the direction you will ever need in your life… When you know your life is being directed by God … you will feel joy and peace.”

Regarding Moroni’s promise, Elder Bernard P. Brockbank (1968 October General Conference) suggested that those who have not put Moroni’s promise to the test may benefit from some additional help from those who have.

After baptizing and confirming my oldest son, David, I sent him to his room and said, “Son, do not come out until you have felt the Spirit of God.” Sadly, I offered no further explanations. David was in his room for a long time. He kept touching his chest to see if it was radiating heat.

Elder Bernard P. Brockbank suggested:

“Be sure they [friends and investigators] follow the steps given in the promise. This promise needs the testimony and the help of one who has received the witness and the answer promised by the prophet.”

While the Spirit is the ultimate teacher, I hope to remind you of things you already know and provide some helpful thoughts. We will begin by first applying Moroni’s promise and instructions to the simplest prayer, before moving on and asking about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, or about the truth of all things.

The experiment

Find a private place to meditate and pray without distractions. Immerse yourself in the Scriptures, especially in the Book of Mormon. Find passages that you particularly love to read and ponder so that you may feel of the Spirit. Another excellent way to invite the Spirit is to sing hymns of praise or watch some of the wonderful movies that the Church has made available to us. Two such examples are Only a Stonecutter (2008) or Windows of Heaven (1963, 1979). Or watch a favorite General Conference talk. The idea is to invite faith and reject fear. Elder Neil L. Andersen taught that “Fear and faith cannot coexist in our hearts at the same time” (You Know Enough). You may also wish to read Elder Quentin L. Cook’s General Conference talk, “Live by Faith and Not by Fear” (October 2007).

Meditate upon, and make a mental list of, those things for which you are intensely grateful.

If you do not have physical impediments, kneel down (see Romans 14:11).

Address the Father. It was the Son who taught that we should pray to the Father:
“At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.”

When you address the Father, remember that He is nearby. When we pray in the name of His Beloved Son, the Father parts the veil that separates us from His presence. It is a sacred moment. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught:
“It is a great thing to inquire at the hands of God, or to come into His presence” [Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Joseph Fielding Smith (1976)].

Pray with faith and confidence. The Father loves you and will listen to you. He will listen with more solicitude than the most tender and loving human father. Do not permit feelings of doubt and fear (James 1:5–6).

Pray with the humility to accept the answer that is given.

Now the time has come to thank God from the depth of your heart for those things you are most grateful for (see Step 2). This prayer is about expressing your gratitude. As you pray, do not feel apprehension for long pauses, but rather speak slowly. After expressing gratitude for those things you are thankful for, tell the Father you love Him.

Now we will ask for something. Inquire, “Father, hast thou heard my prayer?” Wait for the answer with patience. Listen with every portion of your body; with your body, with your heart, with your mind, with all.

Something very beautiful will happen next—if it has not already happened during the process of praying. You will feel tranquility, a deep joy, or a peace that is difficult to explain—such as the swelling of the breast (3 Nephi 4:33). We pray to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. It is Christ who answers through the instrumentality of the Holy Ghost. It is through the fruits of the Spirit that we recognize the answer to the question we posed in Step 9: “… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22b–23a).

Take a “spiritual snapshot,” so to speak, in terms of what you are experiencing. I feel the fruits of the Spirit in the traditional way described in D&C 8:2, “Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.” If after asking this question you feel the fruits of the Spirit, then the answer is yes, “Yes, my daughter,” or “Yes, my son, I have heard your prayer.” The veil has parted; you have received personal revelation—more valuable than anything.

If you feel fear, that is not a “no” answer. Those feelings come from that being who detests to see us on our knees praying (see JS-History 1:15).

A “no” answer is either a stupor of thought (D&C 9:9) or feeling nothing at all. Stupor, for me, is manifested by a loss of concentration—and at times even forgetting what it is that I was praying for. Do not despair. If you do not receive a “yes” answer at first, it just means that Heavenly Father wishes for you to importune Him and go through this process again (more about this is said below).

Upon reception of a positive answer, do not hurry to conclude the prayer, but rather bask in the love of the Spirit. When you are finally ready to conclude this prayer (remember we are to pray always, and “let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually,” Alma 34:27), do so by giving thanks for the sacred moment you have experienced, and do so in the revered name of Jesus Christ.

If you did not receive a “yes” answer, you may wish to plead with the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, reminding the Father that you come in the name of His Son. On this last point, imagine that in your ward or branch there is a missionary serving from a very far away land or remote nation. And imagine that you lived years ago, when Internet communication was not available, and it took weeks for missionaries to get our letters and then weeks for us to receive their answers (this was the case with our son David when he served in Uruguay). Now, imagine that coincidence dictates that you will have the opportunity to travel to that very remote place where your ward missionary comes from. Would not that missionary wish for you to stop by and visit her or his parents? And when you stopped and knocked at the door of that missionary’s home, would you not be quickly and joyfully bidden to come in by anxious parents who wish to hear every detail about their child’s mission? Although the process of praying is different than the scenario I have just painted, when we knock on heaven’s door in the name of the Beloved Son, the Father opens the door, He parts the veil, to listen to us with untold joy.

Importuning

We cannot force an answer lest we end up receiving one from the wrong source. Yet, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught that we must importune the Father and not give up so easily: “It is the privilege of the Children of God to come to God and get Revelation… God is not a respecter of persons. We all have the same privilege.” The Prophet also taught us, “Weary [the Lord] until he blesses you.” In the Book of Mormon we further read: “And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned” (Alma 32:23).

Our Father knows if we are praying with a sincere heart and with real intent (Moroni 10:4), as did Enos: “And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens” (Enos 1:4) Note some of the key terms found in Enos, such as the declaration that Enos hungered. Even so, his prayer was not answered immediately.

If at first you do not obtain a response, refuse to be discouraged. Be ready to repeat the process as many times as it takes. I reassure you that your prayers will be answered. Consider reading the suggestions in the steps outlined above once again, especially those about immersing yourself in the Scriptures.

In speaking to priesthood leaders President Ezra Taft Benson admonished:

“One of the most important things you can do as priesthood leaders is to immerse yourselves in the scriptures. Search them diligently. Feast upon the words of Christ… There are few other ways to gain greater inspiration as you serve. But that alone, as valuable as it is, is not enough. You must also bend your efforts and your activities to stimulating meaningful scripture study among the members of the Church” (The Power of the Word, April 1986 General Conference).

I wish to close this section by reminding you to speak much slower in prayer, leaving lots of pauses. When we are speaking to the Father we ought to be sensitive to the impressions of the Spirit. We listen carefully to the whisperings of the Holy Ghost before, during and after we speak, for we wish to engage the Spirit in our prayer. Just as when we converse with a loved one, we wish to encourage interruptions.

A sincere heart and real intent

To ask with a sincere heart and real intent (Moroni 10:4) is vital to obtaining a manifestation of the Spirit. It means that we are prepared to act upon the answer (faith is a principle of action). In doing so we show we are willing to become disciples of Jesus Christ—despite our shortcomings.

God does not want us to act like the people who approached Jeremiah the Prophet with false pretenses. On the surface, the community seemed quite sincere but in their hearts they just sought to have their opinions ratified.

“Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us. Whether it be good, or whether it be evil (see my article, “The Word Evil in the Bible [רַע]”), we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God” (Jeremiah 42:5–6).

The Prophet Jeremiah inquired of the Lord on behalf of the people. But the answer enraged them to the point that they insulted Jeremiah and accused him of speaking falsely (Jeremiah 43:2).

What a contrast we see in the attitude of Lamoni’s father, whose desire to become a disciple of Christ led him to exclaim:

“O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day” (Alma 22:18a).

Perfect pattern

The experiment we have outlined follows precisely the pattern set by Moroni: “Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. [This includes the steps related to gratitude.] And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ [we direct our prayer to the Father in the name of his Beloved Son, our Savior], if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent [we approach the Father with a willingness to make every required change], having faith in Christ [we cannot approach the Father but through the Son], he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:3–5).

Two lies

Satan would have us believe that when we pray we are bothering God, who is engaged in more serious affairs. Our Father, instead, wishes for us to speak to Him and tell Him of our joys and sadness. He will always have the time to listen and console us or to rejoice with us. No matter what time of the day, our location, or anything else.

Because we can only have an effective two-way communication with one person at a time—and even that we do imperfectly—we sometimes put limitations on what God can do. One of God’s characteristics is that He can listen, and respond, to each one of us at any given time—regardless of who else is speaking.

The second of Satan’s lies, is that we must be worthy enough to pray. Yet we will never be worthy enough on our own. Christ lends us of His worthiness. This is another reason why we approach the Father in the name of His Son.

President Nelson, in his address to the youth, made this magnificent declaration:

“I promise you—not the person sitting next to you, but you—that, wherever you are in the world, wherever you are on the covenant path—even if, at this moment, you are not centered on the path—I promise you that if you will sincerely and persistently do the spiritual work needed to develop the crucial, spiritual skill of learning how to hear the whisperings of the Holy Ghost, you will have all the direction you will ever need in your life. You will be given answers to your questions in the Lord’s own way and in His own time. And don’t forget the counsel of your parents and Church leaders. They are also seeking revelation in your behalf.”

No doubt we need to be engaged in “sincerely and persistently [doing] that spiritual work” and in trying to improve our lives. But the Father will never disdain a sincere prayer offered with real intent.

Special invitation

Before moving on to the second experiment, I wish to make a special invitation. I do not know if you will receive the whisperings of the Spirit immediately or if it will require a long time before you do so. I think in my case both of these things were true.

Even before I asked, the Spirit communicated sacred truths about the Gospel which one day would be part of my life (see “I was Gathered by the Book of Mormon”). But I will also admit that once I joined the Church specific questions went unanswered for a long time. It would take years for me to learn how to pray in the way I have described here.

Some decades ago auto-stereograms were all the craze. They consisted of two-dimensional printed pages that would appear three-dimensional if one looked at them for long enough. Breaking that visual barrier took much work, but after the first time it got increasingly easier.

Likewise, once we have obtained the whisperings of the Spirit once—reassuring us that God has heard us—I believe it will become easier to do so in the future. Remembering what the Prophet Joseph Smith articulated about coming into the presence of God through our prayers, may I suggest that this is not a one-time experiment. In other words, we do not carry out this experiment so that we can check a box and say that we have indeed heard the whisperings of the Spirit. Rather, we carry out the experiment and then continue to pray this way for the rest of our lives. Once we have heard the whisperings of the Spirit, all the more reason to slow down our prayers and provide the space for God to be an integral part of our prayers.

In time, we may commune with God in prayer in such a way that we can say, with Joseph Smith, “… for I had full confidence in obtaining a divine manifestation, as I previously had one” (JS-History 1:29b).

Our confidence in receiving a divine manifestation will increase. And as it does, it can become part of our lives as we incorporate this approach not only in every prayer, but even while we are giving a talk, a lesson, or a Priesthood blessing.

This, then, is the invitation I wish to make to you. Will you not invite these whisperings of the Holy Ghost into your life? Will you not incorporate this pattern into all your prayers? You will then experience the presence of the Spirit throughout each prayer. It will become the way you pray. The Spirit will often provide the words that you will speak (Isaiah 58:13b).

The Second Experiment

The second experiment will be almost identical to the first, but we will inquire specifically about the veracity of the Book of Mormon (we will do so as an example of other questions we might bring before the Father).

We will begin with precisely the same steps, all the way to the point where we obtain a confirmation from the Spirit that our prayer has been heard by the Father. At this point we will formulate two additional queries. The first, “Father, may I ask thee a question?” Our Father in heaven, who already knows what we are about to ask, will respond with a “yes” or a “no.”

If you feel that our Father has opened the door for raising an additional request, you may wish to ask something like: “Father, is the Book of Mormon an inspired book?”

I also like an adaptation to Alma 22:18: “O God, the missionaries (or my friends) have told me that the Book of Mormon is true; and that it will help guide me back to thee; I am beginning to believe these things and, if they are right, wilt thou make them known unto me? I will make whatever changes are necessary in my life to follow thee, that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day.”

When asking specific questions that require a yes or a no answer, we must be careful to avoid ambiguous phrasing. For instance, “Is the Book of Mormon true or not?” is an ambiguous question. If we get a “yes” answer, is it a “yes, it is true,” or a “yes, it is not”? When you are ready to finalize your prayer, once again, do so full of gratitude for this sacred moment and by invoking the name of Jesus Christ.

I would encourage you to write your testimony in you journal. Leaving a written record of your testimony is one form of showing gratitude to our Father for this great gift—even the treasure of a testimony. When we keep a spiritual journal, we will more clearly see the hand of the lord in our lives and it will also stand as a witness for others.

The Prophet Gideon

The Scriptures clearly warn us against wicked sign seeking (e.g., see D&C 46:9b, “for a sign that they may consume it upon their lusts”). But other scriptures encourage us to put the Lord to the test in the most positive sense of the word (e.g., Malachi 3:10b, “prove me now herewith”).

We must be careful to “judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24) in such matters. Isaiah asked King Ahaz to put the Lord to the test: “Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above” (Isaiah 7:10–11). Ahaz, through unrighteous and hypocritical indignation took offense at the Prophet’s request: “But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD” (Isaiah 7:12).

During the times of the judges, another prophet (and also a military leader) was called to lead over Israel. His name was Gideon. He was a man of great integrity. Gideon wanted to make sure that he was doing that which was right before the Lord.

Gideon is particularly significant to our study on prayer, because his experiment is very similar to ours. He asked the same question in two different ways in order to make sure that he was getting the correct answer.

“And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground” (Judges 6:36–40).

Gideon’s petition was quite logical. Someone might point out that it would be usual for the fleece to turn out to be dry normally … or wet. So Gideon tested the idea in both ways so he could be sure. Through Gideon’s experiment on prayer, we can learn much about our own prayers—and confirming the answers so that they are clear.

Application

When I was a branch president our Spanish-speaking patriarch lived in our unit. One day I received a frantic call from his youngest daughter, pleading that I go to the hospital and administer to him. The patriarch had suffered a massive stroke. I felt much love for this man. I knew I had to seek the will of the Father in this matter and felt the need to pray before going to the hospital.

The patriarch was not young and so my first inquiry, as I kneeled before the Father, was something like: “Father, thou wilt be taking thy servant into thy presence, right?” The answer, using the model we have described, was a “no.” I was astonished at the response and proceeded with the next question, “Father, then it is thy will that he live?” The response was a “yes.” I went to the hospital and the Lord blessed the patriarch (I only acted as voice). His recovery was complete.

Some of our prayers will involve mutually exclusive answers. If the will of the Father is Option A, then it is not Option B. This was the case with our patriarch. I had wanted to know if it was the will of the Father to heal the patriarch or if he was “appointed unto death” (D&C 42:48b).

There are yet other types of questions, such as making a choice between several job offers, or deciding what university to attend. If we receive a “yes” answer (or a “no” answer) to each of the options we present in prayer, it may just be that the Lord is saying that the decision is purely ours to make. We can verify this by asking if the decision is up to us, because He has no preference for us.

It may also be that the Father wishes for us to study the alternatives more carefully before He answers. The Lord reproved Oliver Cowdery: “Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right …” (D&C 9:7–8a).

The Father will not be boxed in

Years ago, I asked our Heavenly Father if a niece, who was afflicted with cancer, would be healed. I had asked for my own comfort. I was not giving her a priesthood blessing. I felt the consoling warmth of the Spirit. I misinterpreted this manifestation of the Spirit to mean she was going to be healed. Instead, the Lord was telling me that it was in His hands, that I should not worry, and that all this was for His glory. My niece was appointed unto death, however, and a loving Heavenly Father was calling her home into His presence.

I have since noticed this pattern, in almost every single prayer, when I am looking for assurance that something will happen or will not happen—according to my understanding of what is good or bad. The Lord simply fills me with comfort and love. Thus, I now know that whatever happens is in His hands and that it will be for good. It does not mean that what I had proposed will come to pass.

Answers to prayers about (1) choices we are supposed to make, then, are very different than (2) our petitions concerning what the future will bring. The first class of questions is more likely to receive specific answers; the second, comfort. That is, reassurance that God knows of our petition and—if it be right—that it will be granted in the Lord’s time.

The Lord does not wish to be put in a box. He prefers to console us and let us know that we are not alone. He is protecting us and is aware of our worries—but the trials we are facing may not presently be removed.

Specific Offers to Help

We can increase personal revelation in our lives when we enlist ourselves to be part of the solution to challenges others are facing. The opposite of that is putting all the responsibility on God, “Father, wilt thou bless all of the poor and afflicted throughout the world, thy missionaries wherever they might be, and all those who are seeking for truth …”

Perhaps we should instead pray as follows: “Father, what can I do today to come to the rescue of one of thy children?” Or, “Father, would thou please help me discern when someone needs to be listened to with empathy, or needs a word of encouragement?” Or, “Father, wilt though help me discern what I could say or do to help others who are seeking the Gospel, but know not where to find it?” Or, “Father, wilt thou help me find ways of following President Russell M. Nelson’s invitation to help gather Israel on both sides of the veil?”

In Closing

President Russell M. Nelson taught, “Not all of our prayers will be answered as we might wish. Occasionally the answer will be no. We should not be surprised. Loving mortal parents do not say yes to every request of their children. (Even the Son of God endured such an experience, ‘saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done’ (Luke 22:42). The Father and the Son both knew what had to be done.)”

I suggest that we will receive an answer to each and every one of our prayers if we do not insist on our solutions, but instead will be content to an answer to the question, “Father, hast thou heard my prayer?” We then place our trust in the Father and in His timetable. We also increase our chances of receiving an answer when we align our requests with the will of the Father. In the next article, we will examine prayers that go beyond “yes” and “no” answers.

Prayers that part the veil will greatly help us to be guided by the Holy Ghost. Through this pattern, we may begin the process of knowing the truth of all things (Moroni 10:5, emphasis added). Furthermore, when the Father assures us that we will come to know the truth of all things, we are being promised that if we endure to the end in righteousness, that we shall obtain exaltation and eternal life.

The Lord is our Stay and our Staff Isaiah 3:1

Gregorio Billikopf

Isaiah 3:1 speaks of the (1) devastating punishment that would befall Judah for her disobedience. But our main focus will be on (2) how some translations and manuscripts coincide with the Inspired Version; and on (3) the scriptures and prayer as our stay and our staff. But ultimately, (4) it is the Lord who is our Stay and our Staff.

“For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
doth take away from Jerusalem, and from Judah,
the stay and the staff,
the whole stay staff of bread, and
the whole stay of water—”

Punishment

Such drought and famine would come about in an excruciatingly literal form, whose horrors are beyond description. It would also be a spiritual drought and famine; whose devastating effects are even more painful. The Lord would take away Jerusalem’s support in terms of food and shelter, military defense, and every semblance of dignity (see Rain in Due Season). One of the great messages of the Old Testament is that man should not lean on his own strength, nor on the philosophies of men.

Translation

“For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem, and from Judah.” The more literal translation of the Hebrew (𝔗) would be “For behold, Adonai Yahweh Tzevaoth” that is, “For behold, the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.” The Lord, He who rules the armies of heaven has decreed what devastating punishment would befall upon Jerusalem and Judah. ¶ “The stay and the staff, the whole staff of bread, and the whole stay of water.” Or rather: “…stay [מַשְׁעֵן] and staff [וּמַשְׁעֵנָה], the whole staff or bread, and the whole stay of water.”

It is interesting to note here, that the Targum (𝔗) agrees with the Prophet Joseph Smith, in keeping the parallelism between stay and staff. In Hebrew, these words are the masculine and feminine versions of מַשְׁעֵן based on the root (שׁען) that means to lean on for support. The Aramaic expression is “…stay (סָמֵיך) and support (וְסָעֵיד), the whole stay of food and the whole support of drink.” The Aramaic roots for these words are סמך and סעד respectively and mean to either give or obtain support, help, strength, and so on.

Spurrell’s Old Testament English translation (which is supposed to follow Boothroyd¹) corresponds exactly with that of the Book of Mormon: “… [Every] stay and support: The entire staff of bread, And the entire stay of water.” (I say supposed, because the Kennicott-Boothroyd manuscript I have does not include the suggested variants and rather matches the Masoretic Text (𝔐).)

The Spanish Reina Valera 2009 (also see RVA 1909 & 1960, but interestingly, not the RVA 1906) also coincides with the Book of Mormon and JST: “… quita de Jerusalén y de Judá el sustento y el socorro, todo sustento de pan y todo socorro de agua” (doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah, the sustenance and the relief, the whole sustenance of bread, and the whole relief of water).

Scriptures and Prayer

Returning to stay and staff (מַשְׁעֵן וּמַשְׁעֵנָה), we should note that many languages label words as masculine or feminine, and on occasion, some words may be both. Some languages that have female and male genders include Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Spanish and French. Stay could be translated as bastón, or walking cane. An staff, if we were to make up a word in Spanish that does not exist, we could translate as bastona. So we would have bastón y bastona, stay and staff.

In Hebrew, such usage is given to indicate completeness, ALL support of any kind would be the idea of מַשְׁעֵן וּמַשְׁעֵנָה. In Isaiah 3:1 we have the notion that Judah and Jerusalem would be completely destitute.

Back when I was spending much time on this particular chapter, around the year 2000, I was meditating one morning while I was showering on how much I loved prayer and scripture study. “How could I begin to explain how important these things are in my life?” I pondered. Then the sweet force of the Spirit brought these words to my mind, “They are your stay and your staff” (Isaiah Testifies of Christ, 3rd Edition).

A few days later I read this from Lightfoot in Geike, “The idea of eating, as a metaphor for receiving spiritual benefit, was familiar to Christ’s hearers, and was as readily understood as our expressions of ‘devouring a book,’ or ‘drinking in’ instruction. In Isaiah 3:1, the words ‘the whole stay of bread,’ were explained by the Rabbis as referring to their own teaching (Chagiga), and they laid it down as a rule, that wherever, in Ecclesiastes, allusion was made to food or drink, it meant study of the law, and the practice of good works (Midrash, Koheleth). It was a saying among them — ‘In the time of the Messiah the Israelites will be fed by Him’ (Sanhedrim). Nothing was more common in the schools and synagogues than the phrases of eating and drinking, in a metaphorical sense. ‘Messiah is not likely to come to Israel,’ said Hillel, ‘for they have already eaten Him’ — that is, greedily, received His words (Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae) — ‘in the days of Hezekiah.’ A current conventionalism in the synagogues was that the just would ‘eat the Shechinah.’² It was peculiar to the Jews to be taught in such metaphorical language. Their Rabbis never spoke in plain words, and it is expressly said that Jesus submitted to the popular taste, for ‘without a parable spake he not unto them’ (Mark 4:34).”³

We also have examples of prophets being asked to eat the scriptures in a literal way: “And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness” (Ezekiel 3:3); and “And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter” (Revelation 10:9–10).

Scripture Study

After I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the first benefit I noticed from reading the Book of Mormon before going to sleep, was that I slept better. Before joining the Church, it was the reading of the Book of Mormon from cover to cover over a four-day period that changed my stony heart into one of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).

Over the years, my love for the scriptures would increase. Elder B. H. Roberts taught that “It requires striving—intellectual and spiritual—to comprehend the things of God—even the revealed things of God. In no department of human endeavor is the aphorism ‘no excellence without labor’—more in force than in acquiring knowledge of the things of God. The Lord has placed no premium upon idleness or indifference here … the truth here contended for—achievement in divine things, progress in the knowledge of them, comes only with hard striving, earnest endeavor, determined seeking.”⁴

The Lord is our Stay and our Staff — Bird’s eye view of Yosemite Valley

I have flown over Yosemite National Park and seen the whole of it in a few minutes. Certainly, there is much to be said for this approach. But I have also climbed to the top of Half Dome using the cables

that are provided and have spent much time hiking with a backpack over this beautiful park. There have been days when we only crossed paths with one couple, as we were enjoying a less visited portion of the wilderness. And then there are spots of the park that are full of people yet the beauty is so powerful that this is not a detriment.

So also, we can read through the Scriptures quickly, as I did the first time I devoured the Book of Mormon, much like flying over Yosemite National Park; or we can take years to do the same. If my records are correct, it has taken me over eight years to complete the Book of Mormon this last reading.

The time before, I wrote in my journal, “I finished the Book of Mormon again. But there was something more powerful in this reading of the Book of Mormon than any since I have been a member of the Church. I have been trying to think and determine why it is that this happened to me. As I have begun again, I can already see that that same power in its reading is with me. I am grateful for the Lord’s tender mercies and although I am not totally sure why this may be happening, I am most grateful for this blessing.”

I think that what happened to me is that I fell in love with the Book of Mormon. Through the reading of her pages, I have seen the promises made by latter-day Prophets and General Authorities come to pass. Elder Marion G. Romney taught: “From almost every page of the book, there will come to them a moving testimony that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of the living God, our Redeemer and Savior. This witness alone will be a sustaining anchor in every storm. In the Book of Mormon, they will find the plainest explanation of Christ’s divine mission and his atonement to be found anywhere in sacred scriptures.” Perhaps because of my Jewish heritage, this testimony of the Savior is my most cherished possession—one that I do not take for granted.”

There is another reason for reading the Book of Mormon every single day. Elder K. Brett Nattress promised: “I am grateful for the gift of the Book of Mormon. I know that it is true! It contains the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am unaware of anyone who is diligently reading the Book of Mormon each day with pure intent and with faith in Christ who has lost their testimony and fallen away. Moroni’s prophetic promise carries with it the key to know the truth of all things—including having the ability to discern and avoid the deceptions of the adversary” (See Moroni 10:4–5).

President Kimball testified, “I find that all I need to do to increase my love for my Maker and the gospel and the Church and my brethren is to read the scriptures. I have spent many hours in the scriptures. … I cannot see how anyone can read the scriptures and not develop a testimony of their divinity and of the divinity of the work of the Lord, who is the spokesman in the scriptures” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball (2006), 59–68).

I suppose I inherited the Jewish approach to the study of the Scriptures. There are sometimes weeks where I will read the same passage over and over and just meditate upon these few words. In this last reading of the Book of Mormon, I have used the free app Citation Index, wherein almost every verse in the Scriptures has a link to General Conference and the Journal of Discourses, and what the Brethren have had to say about that particular verse. I also love to read and re-read the same passage over and over in one sitting, as a special sweetness comes over me when I do that.

A few weeks ago, I read this note from Rabbi Morris H. Kertzer (in Beholding the Tree of Life: A Rabbinic Approach to the Book of Mormon by Bradley J. Kramer), and it made me think of my Yosemite analogy: “[We] Jews spend a long time on a page. We do not read rapidly through a biblical text, so much as we read a single verse or two, and then let our eyes meander through various commentaries on the page, playing with the various ways Jews in times past have read the passage before us. …[In this way] any given page of the book in our hands is like a guided tour through the inner landscape of the collective Jewish soul: all the way from the ancient Aramaic alternative version of the biblical text itself, to the medieval mystics and rationalists, with stop-off points in classical rabbinic sources along the way.”

It was while I was reading the Book of Mormon over twenty years ago that the spirit impressed on me that I needed to turn to my Jewish roots and study the book of Isaiah. At first, I did not understand much of what I was reading but with time, after I began to pay the price that Elder B. H. Roberts spoke about, an increased understanding came over me. While the Spirit made it clear that the Lord would not inspire me until I had studied what others had said about any particular verse, I was astonished that toward the end of my project there were times when the Spirit testified to me, before doing the research, what the meaning of a particular chapter was. At first, it took me seven months of study for each chapter of Isaiah and it took me over twenty years to complete the book Isaiah Testifies of Christ. Now I am working on Zechariah Testifies of Christ.

Another analogy I have shared with some of you is that the Scriptures are like a room in a house, but these rooms have doors and windows waiting to be opened so that we can explore additional rooms and discover more truth. But we do not study the Scriptures just so that we can know more; we also immerse ourselves in them so that we might be converted (Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families) and so we can come into the presence of God. We can try and live our lives so we have a double portion of the Spirit (2 Kings 2:9). When we come into the presence of God and when we are converted, we can better minister to those who are around us.

elucidated: “Since the scriptures come from the mind of Christ, they help us to have the Spirit, which brings us to a oneness of mind and heart with the Lord. Therefore, as you read and study and assimilate the words of the Lord through the scriptures, you are in the process of absorbing the mind of Christ. You begin to think as he thinks. You begin to feel as he feels. You begin to speak as he speaks. How can we know how well we are doing in our scripture reading? We can know we are doing well when we hear his voice (both in the scriptures directly and through revelation), when our hearts burn within us at hearing his word, when we receive the words of Christ into our bosoms, and when we receive them into our minds (and thus we learn how to feel as he feels and think as he thinks)” (Searching the Scriptures: Bringing Power to Your Personal and Family Study, p.122-123).

Prayer

Scripture study and prayer go hand in hand. Truly they are twin sisters; our stay and our staff (מַשְׁעֵן וּמַשְׁעֵנָה). It is through prayer that we are also transported into the presence of God. President Russell M. Nelson told the youth, last June, that they needed to learn how to pray and how to receive answers to their prayers, “And nothing will make a bigger difference in your life than that!”

President Nelson further urged: “I promise you—not the person sitting next to you, but you—that, wherever you are in the world, wherever you are on the covenant path—even if, at this moment, you are not centered on the path—I promise you that if you will sincerely and persistently do the spiritual work needed to develop the crucial, spiritual skill of learning how to hear the whisperings of the Holy Ghost, you will have all the direction you will ever need in your life. You will be given answers to your questions in the Lord’s own way and in His own time. And don’t forget the counsel of your parents and Church leaders. They are also seeking revelation in your behalf.”

As a youth, decades ago, I was greatly blessed to hear these whisperings even before I joined the Church (although I have matching weaknesses in my life, along with this wonderful gift). But I am waxing loquacious, so I will explore the issue of prayer more in-depth on another occasion. For the moment I will just say that the whisperings of the Spirit are priceless. What price can we put on knowing that the Book of Mormon is true, that we belong to the Lord’s true Church, that God has heard our prayer, or that we are making the correct decision about something vital in our lives?

The Lord is My Stay and My Staff (יהוה משען לי ומשענתי)

Although the Spirit whispered to me years ago that Scripture study and prayer were my stay and my staff, I have come to the realization that truly the Lord is my Stay and my Staff (יהוה משען לי ומשענתי). This week I came across this wonderful statement from Elder Marion G. Romney: “You remember the occasion when Brother Newell K. Whitney … could not see the qualifications of a bishop in himself. The Prophet [Joseph Smith] said: ‘You need not take my word alone. Go and ask Father for yourself.’ At that slight rebuke, Brother Whitney went and asked the Lord. He heard a voice speak to him saying: ‘Thy strength is in me.’” Bishop Whitney accepted the call. Truly, the Lord is our Stay and our Staff.

Notes:

[1] Boothroyd, Benjamin. Biblia Hebraica, or, the Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament : without points, after the text of Kennicott, with the chief various readings, selected from his collation of Hebrew mss., from that of De Rossi, and from the ancient versions: accompanied with English notes, critical, philological, and explanatory. There may be other Kennicott manuscripts that may include the Targum and Book of Mormon variation.

[2] Transliteration of the non-Biblical Hebrew word שְׁכִינָה, from the root שׁכן meaning, “to dwell” or “reside”, and often used for the Divine Presence of the Lord (ISBE, Holman, Jastrow).

[3] Geike, Cunningham. Life and Words of Christ. Revised Edition, Volume II, 1896, p. 184.

[4] Elder Brigham Henry Roberts, The Seventy’s Course in Theology (1907-1912). Fifth year, p. iv.

John Bytheway—a Christmas Message from Isaiah

John Bytheway

Hi, this is John Bytheway, and I have a little Christmas message for you today from the book of Isaiah. One of the things about the book of Isaiah is that most of us know a verse here or there in Isaiah. I call it ‘drive by’ scripture study. We know a verse and we use it and we get it.

Here is one that we often hear quoted at Christmas. This is from 2 Nephi 17, or Isaiah 7.

14 “Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign—
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and shall bring forth a son and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Now, the name Immanuel is mentioned in the New Testament as the fulfillment of this, but if you read the whole backstory to Isaiah 7 or 2 Nephi 17, it sounds less and less like a prophecy of the Savior.

When I was writing my book, Isaiah for Airheads, (airheads was about me not the readers) I did research on this chapter, and I’ll explain. Here’s what was happening. Isaiah was an advisor to the kings of the Kingdom of Judah, and he went to see Ahaz because the Lord told him. Because Syria, a kingdom north of Judah and Israel, a kingdom north of Judah, had both been conquered by Assyria, and puppet kings had been installed, these two kings wanted king Ahaz to join an alliance with them.

Ahaz refused. So they, the two kings, thought, we will attack Judah and force them to form the alliance. So Isaiah goes to find Ahaz, who’s at the conduit looking at a pool (probably checking the water supply for the city in preparation for battle). And Isaiah says, hey, don’t worry about this alliance. It’s not going to stand. It’s going to fall. Then Isaiah says, ask for a sign. And Ahaz replies, I’m not going to ask for a sign.

So Isaiah says, all right, then the Lord himself shall give you a sign. A virgin shall conceive and bear a son and call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.¹

When you see that backstory, you’re like, how in the world would this help Ahaz? He’s talking about an event that’s not going to come for 700 more years. When this child that’s born reaches the age of accountability or before he does, those two kings in Israel and Syria will be gone. So it makes even less sense when you look at it closely. It doesn’t sound very much at all like a prophecy of Christ. This is where understanding Isaiah’s multiple and dual fulfillments of prophecies is really helpful. Who was he talking about?

When we back up and get the big picture, we see 2 Nephi 17, 18, and 19. We notice all three of those chapters, or Isaiah 7, 8, and 9, all three of them have a prophecy of a son being born. 2 Nephi 17 or Isaiah 7 is the first fulfillment, and is probably referring to Isaiah’s son. This is like what Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, “there are plural or parallel elements to this prophecy. As with much of Isaiah’s writing, the most immediate meaning was probably focused on Isaiah’s wife, a pure and good woman who brought forth a son about this time; the child becoming a type and shadow of a greater later fulfillment of the prophecy that would be realized in the birth of Jesus Christ.”^{2 (}That is from Elder Holland’s book, Christ in the New Covenant).

One way to look at this is that 2 Nephi 17 is the Immanuel prophecy. 2 Nephi 18 is the first fulfillment—when Isaiah’s son is born, Maher-shalal-hash-baz.³

That is the longest word in the Bible, which is his name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
The later fulfillment is 2 Nephi 19 or Isaiah 9. Let me go there and read to you what is probably very familiar to you, much more sounding like the birth of Christ. 2 Nephi 19: 6 or Isaiah 9:6:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

It is much more clear that this is the ultimate fulfillment of the birth of the Son of God.

Whenever I read that verse, it reminds me of course, of Handel’s Messiah. A tradition that we used to have was to go down to the Messiah singing and bring our sheet music, for Handel’s Messiah, down to the Utah Symphony and orchestra at Abravanel Hall. This was so much fun because the soloists would be there: a soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. The chorus would be there also and they would sing some solos. Then, every once in a while, the conductor would look at the audience and have us all stand up, and we would all sing together. It was really fun. Nobody was performing for anybody. It was just all of us singing, and we sang: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. It is so fun. Nobody’s performing. We’re all singing this together.

At the end of the program, it ends with the Hallelujah chorus, and you have to watch the conductor because there’s a big fermata at the end as we’re all singing: Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And he stops, and you have to wait for him, and then he comes back in. Well, one time, my father in law came in a little early, so he jokes with people that he soloed with the Utah Symphony. But you have to watch the conductor for this big Hallelujah.

I’ve wondered on several occasions when I was there, wow, why is this music so powerful? Why is it so wonderful? And it dawned on me, it’s obvious, the lyrics were solid scripture from start to finish. Some Isaiah, some New Testament, some all over the place, but they were all scripture.

At the very end, the conductor does something wonderful. He has the chorus stand up and all of us in the audience applaud the chorus. Then the symphony and all of us applaud the symphony. Then, the conductor turns, he acknowledges the audience, and the chorus and the professionals, the real singers, and musicians, clap for the audience (kind of with that bless their hearts look on their face). Then, my favorite part is when the conductor picks up the score for Handel’s Messiah and holds it up. That’s the biggest cheer of the night—for this wonderful, classic, piece of music that we all enjoy and love so much every year.

Nothing brings that Christmas spirit to me as much as singing that verse from Isaiah: unto us, a son is born, unto us, a child is given. That’s the ultimate fulfillment of the Immanuel Prophecy. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. That’s the Christmas spirit I feel when we talk about that.

My friends that have helped put this together, SearchIsaiah, they’re going to give away a few copies of my book, Isaiah for Airheads.

In there, you can read how I learned to discover these things from the real scholars who helped me understand that yes, that Immanuel Prophecy really is about Christ.

With 2 Nephi 17, I always thought, what do I do with this? This is talking about Syria and Israel and Assyria, ancient kingdoms. Then, I finally figured out the geography, and who was who and what capitals were who, but I thought, I don’t think that’s what the Lord wants us to remember.

I think he wants us to remember the message of Immanuel. God is with us.

Don’t worry if Israel or Syria or Assyria is with you, because God is with you. That is the message of Immanuel.

I hope you have a wonderful and joyous Christmas. Thank you.

Footnotes
¹ Isaiah 7:14–16
²Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ in the New Covenant.
³HEBREW: To speed to the spoil, he hasteneth the prey.

The Savior’s Birth, Life, and Death All Foretold Through Isaiah’s Words Isaiah in the New Testament

Darryl Alder

Using the words of Isaiah during Advent to prepare for Christmas makes sense. Among the authors of the four Gospels, Isaiah is cited twice as often as any other Old Testament prophet, which makes him the perfect source for study and celebrations.

In the New Testament, Isaiah is quoted at least 57 times. His words are paraphrased 64 more times. It is clear New Testament writers had respect for Isaiah’s teachings and used them often; probably much like members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often cite Joseph Smith.

“This event offers at least three insights into the Savior’s use of the Old Testament scripture: first, Jesus confirmed the words of Old Testament prophets and His role in fulfilling them; second, He affirmed the events of the Old Testament as historical fact and used them to teach eternal truths; and third, Jesus exemplified great respect for the law of Moses as given in the Old Testament.”—Thomas F. Olmstead, Ensign, July 2002

Of course, as recorded in the King James Bible, the best use of Isaiah was the day when Jesus “went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read” (Luke 4:16). An attendant there handed him the scroll of Isaiah. He unrolled it until He came to this passage from Isaiah 61; He read:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,“

To preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18–19 [see Isaiah 61:1-2]). ,

Then the Savior rolled the scroll up and stated: “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21). At that moment those there knew that Jesus was proclaiming Himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s 750-year-old Messianic prophecy. Following His example, the apostles and other New Testament writers often quoted from Isaiah.

But for this season of the year, Isaiah is also a great source of verses about the Nativity. In Matthew’s case, for example, Isaiah is in Chapter 1, but Matthew also cites the prophet in many others chapters to help show Jesus fulfilling scripture.

Larger numbers indicate chapters, smaller their verses.Larger numbers indicate chapters, smaller verses

Gospel of Matthew (The New Testament: A New Translation for Latter-day Saints)

The Birth of Jesus

118 Now, the birth of Jesus Christ happened in this manner. When his mother was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and not wanting to make a public example of her, wanted to send her away privately. 20 While Joseph was pondering these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you will name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All of this took place to fulfill the word of the Lord through the prophet, saying, 23 “ Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel ,”[see Isaiah 7:14] which is interpreted “God with us.” 24 Joseph arose from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife…¹

John the Baptist

3 1 In those days, John the Baptist came near the wilderness of Judea, declaring, 2 “Repent for the kingdom of heaven draws near.” 3 This is the one spoken of by Isaiah the prophet when he said,
“A voice shouting in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his pathways straight.” [see Isaiah 40:3] …Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around Jordan went to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, professing their sins.²

Jesus Begins His Ministry in Galilee

413 And he left Nazareth and came to reside in Capernaum near the lake in the region of Zebulon and Naphtali 14 so that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 15 “ The land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, near the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, 16 the people residing in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death a light has dawned .” [see Isaiah 9:1 ] 17 After those things, Jesus began to declare, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”³

Jesus Heals the Sick as the Lords Servant

8 14 And Jesus came to Peter’s house and saw his mother-in-law cast down with fever. 15 And he took her hand, and the fever left her, and she began to minister to him. 16 When evening came, they brought to him many under the power of demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word, and he healed all those who were ill, 17 that the word of the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, saying, “ He took away our weaknesses and bore our sicknesses.”[see Isaiah 53.4] ⁴

12 15 Jesus…departed from that place. And a large crowd followed him, and he healed all of them. 16 And he admonished them that they would not make him manifest 17 so that the words of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 18 “ Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved who delights my soul, I will place my Spirit on him, and judgment to the nations will he declare . 19 He will not strive or shout out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets . 20 He will not break a shaken reed, or extinguish a smoldering flax plant, until he establishes judgment to victory . 21 And in his name shall the nations hope.”[see Isaiah 42:1-4] ⁵

Jesus Teaches in Parables

13 13 For this reason I speak to them in parables, so that seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, nor do they understand. 14 The prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled in them when he said, ‘ Hearing you will hear but you will not understand, and seeing you will see but not perceive . 15 The heart of this people grew fat, and their ears heavy, and they closed their eyes so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand in their heart and turn that I might heal them.’[see Isaiah 6:9-10] ⁶

Jesus Calls Out the Scribes and Pharisees for Vain Worship

15 6 …Therefore, you violate the word of God because of your precepts. 7 Hypocrites, Isaiah rightly prophesied of you, saying, 8 ‘ This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain they honor me, teaching things that are the precepts of men .’”[see Isaiah 29:13] ⁷

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

21 12 Then Jesus entered the temple, and he threw out all the sellers and buyers in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of the dove sellers. 13 And he said to them, “It is written, ‘ My house will be called a house of prayer ,’ but you have made it ‘ a den of robbers .’” [see Isaiah 56:7] ⁸

In many of these chapters, it is actually the Savior quoting Isaiah and not Matthew using the prophet. But the interesting thing is that “since Jesus Christ and Jehovah, the Lord God of the Old Testament, are, in fact, the same person, when Jesus quoted the words of the prophets He was often actually quoting Himself! The Savior quoted from the writings of Jeremiah, Daniel, Zechariah, Hosea, and Malachi. He was especially fond of using the words of the prophet Isaiah.”⁹

Gospel of Mark (King James Version)

When it comes to Gospel authors, Mark is the briefest. He skips Jesus birth, gets Him baptized and moves quickly through His ministry to get to the tomb and His resurrection. But like others, he cites Isaiah.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

12 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my ^amessenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
3 The ^avoice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. [see Isaiah 40:3]
4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and ^apreach the ^bbaptism of ^crepentance for the ^dremission of sins.

Jesus Teaches in Parables

4 11 …Unto you it is given to know the ^amystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in ^bparables:
12 That seeing they may see, and not ^aperceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be ^bforgiven them.’[see Isaiah 6:9-10]

Worship in Vain

7 6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, “This people ^ahonoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” [see Isaiah 29:13]

Tortures of Hell

946 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched…

48 Where their ^aworm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. [see Isaiah 66:24]

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

1117 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, “My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? “but ye have made it a den of thieves.” [see Isaiah 56:7]

In Death, Christ is Numbered with Transgressors

15

27 And with him they crucify two ^athieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.
28 And the scripture was ^afulfilled, which saith, “And he was numbered with the transgressors.” [see Isaiah 53:12]

Gospel of Luke (Joseph Smith New Translation of the Bible)

Luke, of course, records one of the best of all the Isaiah quotes as described above in the synagogue at Nazareth, when Jesus said that He fulfilled the words of Isaiah 61. But Luke also uses Isaiah seven times in other verses.

Simeon Blesses Jesus

2 28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, 29 Lord, now lettest thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; 30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; 32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, [Isaiah 42:6, 49:6] and the glory of thy people Israel.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

32 Now in this same year, the word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. 3 And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the prophet Esaias; and these are the words, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight. [see Isaiah 40:3] 5 For behold, and lo, he shall come, as it is written in the book of the prophets …

Jesus Announces His Divine Sonship in Nazareth

417 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and the recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised; 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. [see Isaiah 61:1-2] 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and he sat down. 21 And the eyes of all those who were in the synagogue, were fastened on him, And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears

Jesus Teaches in Parables

89 And when he had said these things, he cried, He who hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? 10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.’[see Isaiah 6:9-10]

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

1944 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought, 45 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is a house of prayer [see Isaiah 56:7]; but ye have made it a den of thieves. 46 And he taught daily in the temple.

Christ is Numbered with Transgressors

22

37 For I say unto you, That this is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors; [see Isaiah 53:12] for the things concerning me have an end.

Gospel of John (New Revised Standard Version)

John was one of Jesus’ original Twelve Apostles and was “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7,20,24). John probably wrote his Gospel later than the other three but developed his words to explain certain doctrines more clearly. He included Isaiah’s words just four times.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

122 Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23
He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,’ ” as the prophet Isaiah said. [see Isaiah 40:3]

All Shall Be Taught of God

645 It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. . [see Isaiah 54:13]

Despite His Miracles, They Will Not Believe

1237 Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” [see Isaiah 53:1] 39 And so they could not believe, because Isaiah also said, 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they might not look with their eyes, and understand with their heart and turn— and I would heal them.” ’[see Isaiah 6:9-10] 41 Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke about him.

We can see that the Gospel authors and Christ himself all used Isaiah words. It was all part of their gospel knowledge; his words lived in the hearts of those who themselves were authoring holy writ. Together they quoted Isaiah 25 times, but he is quoted at least 27 more times in the New Testament. Among those quoting him, Paul is his chief disciple, calling upon his word some twenty times in his various epistles. Peter uses him as an authority in seven instances.

In Part 2 to this series, we will look at the other apostles’ use of Isaiah. Look for it in an upcoming newsletter. Not subscribed yet, then leave us this info and we will take care of that.

FOOTNOTES

^1–8Thomas Wayment, The New Testament: A New Translation for Latter-day Saints, Kindle Edition.
⁹ Thomas F. Olmstead, The Savior’s Use of the Old Testament, Ensign, July 2002

Isaiah & The Book of Mormon in 21 Verses

Darryl Alder

The Discover Isaiah posts are complete for those found in the Book of Mormon, all 478 verses of them. But even after all that, it feels like too much for most of our readers. After all, our survey shows that more than two-thirds of you will only skip or skim the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon.

So to help you get a good sampling of all 21 chapters of Isaiah within the Book of Mormon, I have found about two dozen verses that encapsulate each individual chapter so that you can put your arms around the prophet’s message:

1 Nephi 20:17 (Isaiah 48:17) Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
1 Nephi 21:16 (Isaiah 49:16) Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
2 Nephi 7:6 (Isaiah 50:6) I gave my back to the smiter, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
2 Nephi 8:11 (Isaiah 51:11) Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away,
2 Nephi 12:3 (Isaiah 2:3) And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
2 Nephi 13:5 (Isaiah 3:5) And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor; the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable.
2 Nephi 14:2 (Isaiah 4:2) In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious; the fruit of the earth excellent and comely to them that are escaped of Israel.
2 Nephi 15:26 (Isaiah 5:26) And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth; and behold, they shall come with speed swiftly; none shall be weary nor stumble among them.
2 Nephi 16:10 (Isaiah 6:10) Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
2 Nephi 17:14 (Isaiah 7:14) Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel

2 Nephi 18:20 (Isaiah 8:20) To the law and to the testimony; and if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
2 Nephi 19:6 (Isaiah 9:6) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
2 Nephi 20:22 (Isaiah 10:22) For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return; the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
2 Nephi 21:9 (Isaiah 11:9) They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
2 Ne 22:3 (Isaiah 12:3) Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
2 Nephi 23:3 (Isaiah 13:3) I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones, for mine anger is not upon them that rejoice in my highness.
2 Nephi 24:7 (Isaiah 14:7) The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet; they break forth into singing; 22 …For I will destroy her speedily; yea, for I will be merciful unto my people, but the wicked shall perish.
2 Nephi 27:26,29 (Isaiah 29:14) …I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom thier wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.18 ¶ And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
Mosisah 14:5 (Isaiah 53:5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
3 Nephi 20:34 (Isaiah 52:9) Then shall they break forth into joy—
Sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Father hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem
3 Nephi 22:10 (Isaiah 54:10) For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

This was just a quick “taste” of Isaiah as he is found in the Book of Mormon, but please don’t stop there. Remember as the Savior commanded in 3 Nephi 23:

Jesus approves the words of Isaiah—He commands the people to search the prophets

1 And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to searchthese things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah.

2 For surely he spake as touching all things concerning my people which are of the house of Israel; therefore it must needs be that he must speak also to the Gentiles.

3 And all things that he spake have been and shall be, even according to the words which he spake.

4 Therefore give heed to my words; write the things which I have told you; and according to the time and the will of the Father they shall go forth unto the Gentiles.

5 And whosoever will hearken unto my words and repenteth and is baptized, the same shall be saved. Search the prophets, for many there be that testify of these things

What Are Isaiah’s “Types” and What Do They Reveal?

Kenichi Shimokawa

“Review the prophecies of the events of old! I am God, there is none other. I am divine; nothing resembles me” (Isaiah 46:9—Isaiah Institute Translation). Do you believe the prophecies of Isaiah are of more than just historical interest? Have you sensed that they may contain an immense body of truth we have hardly conceived even exists? Did you know that besides prophesying directly about the last days, Isaiah foretells the future mostly by drawing on the past? Persons and events in Israel’s ancient history, in other words, act as types of what the world will see happen again as history repeats itself (see Isaiah 44:7). That being so, how do we identify these types in Isaiah’s writings?

Identifying Types

Isaiah’s types consist of “precedents of persons and events from Israel’s past that function as models or patterns of end-time ones” (Avraham Gileadi, Windows on the Prophecy of Isaiah: Study Tools for Understanding Isaiah, 319). Just as the Savior declared, “All things that he [Isaiah] spake have been and shall be” (3 Nephi 23:3; emphasis added), so all ancient events Isaiah chose to talk about act as types of the last days. Even the names of persons, objects, and nations serve as types. In short, everything in the Book of Isaiah is there for a reason. Dr. Avraham Gileadi explains how Isaiah carefully selected historical types to serve his prophetic purpose:

Having seen the end from the beginning in a great cosmic vision, Isaiah is able to view these two contexts—Israel’s ancient history, particularly his own day; and also the last days, the time of the end—and frame his words in such a way as to capture both in a single prophecy. . . . Isaiah takes pains to be selective in what he says about nations, persons, and events. He mentions only those things that apply on two levels at one time.

… In short, we must accept entities and events as Isaiah describes them. Reading history back into his writings is not a key to understanding Isaiah. That approach leads to confusion because Isaiah’s message is ahistorical—his book is typologically oriented (Avraham Gileadi, The Book of Isaiah: A New Translation with Interpretive Keys from the Book of Mormon, 92–94).

Isaiah’s prophecy about Egypt, the ancient world’s superpower on which smaller nations relied for defense against Assyria, for example (Isaiah 30:1–2; 31:1-3), matches perfectly the world’s end-time superpower—America. Assyria, the ancient militaristic nation from the North and its alliance, perfectly match Russia and its allies. And so forth with other names of nations in Isaiah’s day that function as codenames of end-time ones. Isaiah’s prominent new exodus event similarly parallels Israel’s ancient exodus out of Egypt (Isaiah 11:15–16; 43:14–17; 51:10–11; 63:11–13). And that includes the saints’ end-time trek to the New Jerusalem we read of in Doctrine & Covenants 103:15–20:

Behold, I say unto you, the redemption of Zion must needs come by power; Therefore, I will raise up unto my people a man, who shall lead them like as Moses led the children of Israel. For ye are the children of Israel, and of the seed of Abraham, and ye must needs be led out of bondage by power, and with a stretched-out arm. And as your fathers were led at the first, even so shall the redemption of Zion be. Therefore, let not your hearts faint, for I say not unto you as I said unto your fathers: Mine angel shall go up before you, but not my presence. But I say unto you: Mine angels shall go up before you, and also my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land.

Composites of Types

Many of Isaiah’s types of the last days consist of combinations of more than one ancient type. As Dr. Gileadi notes, “When something in the past isn’t an exact type of the end-time, …Isaiah may combine several types from the past to round out his prediction of the future. That is, he may use composites of types to portray a single end-time person or event” (Avraham Gileadi, Windows on the Prophecy of Isaiah: Study Tools for Understanding Isaiah, 215). Isaiah’s Babylon, for example, is a composite entity made up of the ancient types of the Old Babylonian Empire of Hammurabi, the Neo-Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar, and the worldwide shipping and merchandising empire of Tyre and Sidon (Isaiah 23). In short, as Isaiah defines it, Babylon is an idolatrous materialistic world civilization consisting of all that is not Zion (Avraham Gileadi, Windows on the Prophecy of Isaiah: Study Tools for Understanding Isaiah, 25–29). Its destruction by fire rained from the sky Isaiah likens to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: “And Babylon, the most splendid of kingdoms, the glory and pride of Chaldeans, shall be [thrown down] as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isaiah 13:19; compare 14:22–23; 47:11).

Ancient Types of End-Time Events

Searching Isaiah’s types further reveal that all end-time events are interlinked, forming a great composite of types of their own that Isaiah calls the “Day of the Lord.” A single scenario that characterizes Isaiah’s “whole vision” or “vision of all” (Isaiah 48:6) spells out God’s Day of Judgment that is coming upon the world and his deliverance from the destruction of his elect. So what are the typological events we find in the Book of Isaiah that comprise this grand vision? Thirty such events include, but are not limited to, the following list that is taken from Avraham Gileadi’s The Book of Isaiah: A New Translation with Interpretive Keys from the Book of Mormon (91–92). A fuller description of these events also appears in Dr. Gileadi’s book, Windows on the Prophecy of Isaiah: Study Tools for Understanding Isaiah (53–144):

Israel’s Apostasy (Isaiah 1:2–4; compare Amos 3–9; Hosea 1–14)
The Babylonian Captivity (Isaiah 47:6; 52:5; compare Jeremiah 20:4–6)
The Tower of Babel (Isaiah 2:15; 30:25; compare Genesis 11:4–9)
The Call of Abraham (Isaiah 41:8–9; 51:2; compare Genesis 12:1–3)
Lot’s Deliverance from Sodom (Isaiah 33:14–16; 57:1–2; compare Genesis 19:15–17)
Israel’s Exodus out of Egypt (Isaiah 43:2, 16–17; 51:9–11; compare Exodus 14:21–31)
Israel’s Wandering in the Wilderness (Isaiah 40:3–4; 49:9–12; compare Numbers 14:33)
Israel’s Pilgrimage to Zion (Isaiah 30:29; 35:8–10; compare Psalm 122:1–4)
The Lord’s Protective Cloud (Isaiah 4:5–6; 60:2; compare Exodus 14:19–20)
The Destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah (Isaiah 3:9–11; 13:19; compare Genesis 19:24–25)
Cosmic Cataclysm (Isaiah 13:10, 13; 24:19–20; compare Joshua 10:11–14)
A Return to Chaos (Isaiah 24:19–20; 34:9–10; compare Genesis 1:2).
The Flood (Isaiah 8:7; 28:2; compare Genesis 7:10–24)
Assyria’s World Conquest (Isaiah 10:5–14; 37:11, 17; compare 2 Kings 19:11, 18)
Assyria’s Invasion of the Promised Land (Isaiah 5:26–30; 10:28–32; compare 2 Kings 18:9–10, 13)
The Egyptian Bondage (Isaiah 10:24; 52:4; compare Exodus 1:8–14)
Assyria’s Siege of Zion (Isaiah 36:1–2; 37:33–35; compare 2 Kings 19:32–34
The Passover (Isaiah 26:20–21; 31:5; compare Exodus 12)
The Lord’s Descent on the Mount (Isaiah 30:30; 31:4; compare Exodus 19:10–20)
The Lord’s Consuming Fire (Isaiah 10:16–17; 66:15–16; compare Numbers 11:1; 26:10)
Israel’s Victory over Midian (Isaiah 9:4; 10:26; compare Judges 7–8)
Cyrus’ Universal Conquests (Isaiah 41:2, 25; 45:1–2; compare Ezra 1:2)
Israel’s Conquest of the Promised Land (Isaiah 11:14; 54:2–3; compare Joshua 1–12)
The Rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple (Isaiah 44:28; 61:4; compare Haggai 1–2)
The Reign of the Judges (Isaiah 1:26; 32:1; compare Judges 2:16–18)
The Davidic Monarchy (Isaiah 9:6–7; 11:1–5; compare 2 Samuel 2:4; 5:3)God’s Covenant with Israel (Isaiah 54)
Zion as the Lord’s Residence (Isaiah 12:6; 24:23; compare Psalm 132:13)
The Creation (Isaiah 65:17–18; 66:22; compare Genesis 1)
Paradise (Isaiah 11:6–9; 51:3; compare Genesis 2:8)

You will notice that each of these events is significant in Israel’s ancient history. If we are to prepare for the Second Coming of our Savior and for all that precedes his glorious return, wouldn’t it be important to acquaint ourselves with Isaiah’s end-time version of these events? Can we sense how such knowledge will be of “great worth unto the children of men” who live “in the last days” when “the prophecies of Isaiah shall be fulfilled” (2 Nephi 25:7-8)? Do we realize that complete reliance on the Lord and his power is the only way for deliverance and salvation from such globally destructive phenomena (Isaiah 1:9; 31:5–6; 35:4; 37:33–36; 45:21–22; 59:1–4)? Even if it seems difficult to fathom the unfolding of these worldwide events, let us not account the “oracles of God … as a light thing” (Doctrine & Covenants 90:5) lest we be “brought under condemnation” (Doctrine & Covenants 84:54–59). Using the literary tools now available, our diligent searching of the words of Isaiah and determining the meaning of his types will expose God’s grand picture of the last days to our view. As we do our part, the Holy Ghost will testify of the truth of Isaiah’s words to us individually (Moroni 10:5).

Read other posts in this series by clicking here.

Before they call, I will answer Searching the Scriptures Series

Gregorio Billikopf

ocean-swiming — Before they call I will answer

“And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24)

“And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer.” Cowles suggests: “A more precise translation of this verse is, ‘And it shall be that they shall not yet have called, and I will answer; they shall be yet speaking, and I will hear.’”

Rawlinson beautifully says: “God is always ‘more ready to hear than we to pray.’ In the ‘new Jerusalem’ he will be prompt to answer his people’s prayers almost before they are uttered. It is involved in this, as Delitzsch notes, that the will of the people shall be in harmony with the will of Jehovah, and that their prayers will therefore be acceptable prayers.”

And while they are yet speaking, I will hear. Kay has: “yet speaking] Literally so in Daniel’s case (Daniel 9:20–23).

Yosemite

I had a similar experience in the summer of 1991, just after I was called to be a seminary teacher. Linda & I and Brother Gary McDaniel took my seminary class up to Yosemite, before the start of the school year. As we were walking up the trail Brother McDaniel was overcome by an insulin shock and we almost lost him, were it not by the influence of the Lord.

A number of events all combined at exactly the right moment, so his life could be spared. Brother McDaniel, earlier in the hike, shared with Linda that he was a diabetic. While I normally insist that an adult leader stay in front, one in the back, and in this case one in the middle, at the instant that this happened all three adults came together for an instant.

Brother McDaniel’s eyes started rolling and next thing we knew he fainted and dropped to the ground. In an instant, Linda was administering sugar to him via drops of soda from Brother McDaniel’s backpack (by ‘mistake,’ he had miraculously packed a regular soda along with a sugar free one).

Just as quickly, I pulled out my consecrated oil and began to administer to him. Through the power of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood I blessed a man who was closer to death than to life, as he was pale white, cold and clammy. As I was performing this ordinance, I was cold with fear. I was not far along into the blessing, truly while I was yet speaking, I heard people coming down the trail. Having pronounced the essential parts of the blessing, I closed as I did not want to make a mockery of the Priesthood in front of others.

It turned out to be a French doctor and his wife. They encouraged Linda to continue to feed Gary McDaniel more sugar, which had burnt up through the strenuous hike. Brother Gary came to, and with the French physician and Linda’s help, went back to the bottom.

I took the rest of the seminary class up to Nevada Falls, once it was clear that he would be totally well. Later, Brother McDaniel bore his testimony that he could hear the words of the blessing as he was administered to.

San Clemente

In 1993, my sister-in-law’s family and ours went camping by the beach in San Clemente, southern California. Linda and Donna had to go shopping and left Steve and me in charge of the children. ‘Be careful of the ocean,’ Linda warned. I acknowledged Linda’s request. But internally I reacted, much like children often do when they are told to be careful, by brushing away any concerns.

Steve stayed out in the beach with the younger children while I went in with my boys, David and Miguel, and with Bryce, Donna’s eldest son. We had much fun diving under the incoming waves and little by little we got braver. Soon we could no longer touch bottom, but it did not matter as swimming in the ocean is so much easier, with the salt helping one stay afloat.

At one point I told the boys it would be a good idea to turn around and swim back. Bryce asked, “What for?” He kept swimming away from the beach. David soon warned me that Miguel was experiencing trouble. I could not see Miguel, as I am so blind without glasses; I had to lean on David’s vision to see what was going on.

A great fear that Miguel or David could drown overcame me. But the rip tide was separating us from the beach and every effort to swim back was quite unproductive. (I later found out that one should not try swimming directly against a rip tide, but rather, swim with it and diagonally, until it loses its strength.)

What would I tell my wife or my sister in law if one, or all, of the children that they entrusted to me perished? How foolish I had been. Because I was worrying about them I did not pay attention to my surroundings and a large wave fell upon me pushing me down into the water where it was dark and I had to really battle to make it out on time to catch a breath.

I only had time to get a little air when the same thing happened again. I was exhausted and beginning to think I would perish in the ocean. I only cared for the life of the children. I felt so impotent now; I had put their lives in danger and was feeling the guilt and bitterness of my actions. How often do we consider how our physical or spiritual course might affect those we love?

After receiving the great gift of a testimony of the Gospel of Christ we have a responsibility to hold on to the iron rod and endure to the end. Else, as sometimes happens, people occasionally take a vacation from the truths and values they cherish. But when they come back—assuming they have not drowned or died first—there may be people in their lives who could have grown strong in the gospel but did not. Those hurt through this spiritual tragedy are often the most cherished: spouse and children. It is my most ardent desire and prayer that I may live righteously; that I may endure to the end. But let me continue with my awful predicament.

The ocean was furious. I was so worried about my sons that I cared about little else. It was evident we had drifted quite a ways out as people in the beach seemed so small. I felt quite dumb asking for assistance, but the moment came, when I thought my boys or I would die, and with all my strength I shouted “Help!”

What a joke, with the sound of the waves no one could hear me. Suddenly, I saw a lifesaver, a man swimming towards me with a determined look in his eye. It is not possible he could have heard my plea for help as he was there in an instant. As he approached, I begged him to take care of Miguel and not worry about me. Instead, he tackled me with both hands.

The next moment we both found ourselves in the deep of the ocean, pushed down by the next wave. I thought this man would drown me. I did not want to expend my energy in trying to get rid of this lifeguard as I did not wish to lose energy and oxygen. Nor did I want him to fight me. When it was clear I would not try and drown him, and we had gone as deep as it seemed we would go, I had to bring both of us back to the surface with my hands and legs while he held on to me. When we got to the surface the lifeguard gave me the lifesaver and I thanked him a thousand times for his help. Without the help of this young man I believe I would have perished in the ocean because of my lack of experience.

Meanwhile, I had no hint of what could have happened to David, Miguel or Bryce. Concern for the children was the uppermost in my mind. As it turned out, David and another lifeguard had helped Miguel, who was closer to the beach. Miguel later told me that he was tired of trying to get oxygen and that he spent more time under the ocean that on the surface. He explained that somehow he was able to get a breath of air under the water (and if I recall properly, I had understood him to say that an angel helped him breath).

A third lifeguard helped Bryce, who was not at all concerned with any of this and only panicked when he was informed that he was swimming over a dangerous submerged rock that had sucked people in. It appears we were all going in the direction of this rock when it occurred to me that we should turn back.

I felt much joy to know all were safe, but also much agony to sense that I almost lost my sons or my nephew, and that it would have been my fault. How could I have ever faced Linda and told her how I had mishandled my stewardship? How would I have ever faced myself? I was quite depressed for about a day until several scriptures helped me think about this in a different way. One of them was Isaiah 65:24, ‘And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.’

The lifeguard who helped me explained that even before we knew we were in trouble, they had called for additional help from a coastguard boat. And even before that, it is clear that God knew we were in trouble and sent help even before we thought to pray.

After that, we set some very specific rules: if the lifeguard left his or her post, we would get out of the water immediately; if we drifted past a mark we had set, we would get out of the water and walk back to the other side before we would reenter. Likewise, the Lord has given us commandments and we will be spiritually safe if we stay within the boundaries He has given us. God is continually aware of us and sends angels to minister to us even before we realize we are in trouble. Truly, before we call, the Lord will answer. We need not wait for the Millennium for this to happen.

Connecting Networks: How Isaiah 51 Clarifies my Modern Struggles.

Sarah Holmes

Sarah Holmes is the latest addition to team Search Isaiah. She is 
from small-town Salmon, Idaho and joined the team to give millennials 
a new perspective and use social media to build God's kingdom.

There is a common scriptural roadblock among my millennial generation when reading the book of Isaiah. The language patterns are difficult, the historical and cultural allusions muddle our understanding, and yet the words in 3^rd Nephi read clear: “For great are the words of Isaiah.”¹

So how do we reconcile the two? In seeking to know the words of Isaiah, I often find my understanding delivered through the truths and lessons that help me to navigate my life in the modern world.

As I followed Victor Ludlow’s advice to choose a chapter in Isaiah by reading the section heading, I was brought to two truths in Isaiah 51, or as I have come to understand them, two tips to survive social media.

Find his comfort in the waste places

Over the past couple of months, I have become more aware of the negativity and darkness that often times clouds my news feeds. Social media became less of an escape from physical life—it became a discouraging witness of the state of the world. I couldn’t accurately describe it until I read Isaiah 51 verse 3 for the second time: “For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places” Social media to me had become a “waste place,” and it was in desperate need of some comfort.

For me, this comfort surprisingly does not come from the absence of social media but rather a shift in focus—as is often a necessary remedy in life. For all the negativity, the disputes, the put downs that clutters my feed, there are lines and pictures of light, understanding, and truth to keep the balance—I just need to understand where to look. We are often advised to look for the good in people, and I was similarly humbled with the need to look for the positive in my own feed. While changing my perspective does not dissipate the negative media influences, it provides me with cleanser to wipe away the film of dirt from my media lens.

For some, waste places are found in other aspects of our lives and within the world. As we find ourselves trapped in these waste places, his comfort will be there to help us find “joy and gladness” as explained in the ending of the third verse.

Fear ye not, the reproach of men

A common criticism of social media asserts that platforms such as Facebook and Instagram promote an unrealistic view of a person’s life—an altered reality in filtered pictures. However, when we use social media wisely as a tool as well as entertainment, I have found these platforms award us a connection and influence we cannot deny.

We are individually given the ability to create an online identity in which we choose the content we promote and seek out. When choosing our social media content, we tailor our statuses and pictures to an audience: our friends and followers. In this process, our considerations are contingent upon the thoughts and ideas of those online. Often times, this can lead us to share or create damaging content. In chapter 51, verse 7, we are warned to “fear ye not the reproach of men.” In our social media, we must remain steadfast and fearless in promoting our beliefs and standards.

We are given a mask of sorts in which to operate online. Nevertheless, as Elder Bednar warns in his address, “Things as They Really Are”, “The Lord knows who we really are, what we really think, what we really do, and who we really are becoming.” We must ask ourselves who we want to approve our online content and personas.

We, in the generations of today, are surrounded by information. From the internet and education, to the sheer number of books at our disposal, we have the unique opportunity to participate and indulge in this consumption of knowledge. Technology and social media bless us with opportunities to strengthen and share our beliefs. It strengthens us as we attempt to overcome the expectations of the world and as we find his comfort and word among the waste places of social media.

FOOTNOTES

¹ Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 23: 1-5

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Historical Background: Who Was Isaiah?

Historical Background: Kings of Israel and Judah

Historical Background: The Silver Age

Historical Background: Idol Worship

Historical Background: Political Alliances

Historical Background: Assyria the Conqueror

Historical Background: Scattering of Israel

How to Read the Past Today

Isaiah Foretells a Political Messiah in Cyrus

Studying Isaiah

Footnotes 1 Isaiah 7:14–16 2 Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ in the New Covenant. 3 HEBREW: To speed to the spoil, he hasteneth the prey.

Gospel of Matthew (The New Testament: A New Translation for Latter-day Saints)

The Birth of Jesus

John the Baptist

Jesus Begins His Ministry in Galilee

Jesus Heals the Sick as the Lords Servant

Jesus Teaches in Parables

Jesus Calls Out the Scribes and Pharisees for Vain Worship

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

Gospel of Mark (King James Version)

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

Jesus Teaches in Parables

Worship in Vain

Tortures of Hell

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

In Death, Christ is Numbered with Transgressors

Gospel of Luke (Joseph Smith New Translation of the Bible)

Simeon Blesses Jesus

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

Jesus Announces His Divine Sonship in Nazareth

Jesus Teaches in Parables

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

Christ is Numbered with Transgressors

Gospel of John (New Revised Standard Version)

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

All Shall Be Taught of God

Despite His Miracles, They Will Not Believe

FOOTNOTES

Identifying Types

Composites of Types

Ancient Types of End-Time Events

Find his comfort in the waste places

Fear ye not, the reproach of men

FOOTNOTES

Footnotes
¹ Isaiah 7:14–16
²Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ in the New Covenant.
³HEBREW: To speed to the spoil, he hasteneth the prey.