Unveiling Isaiah

ISAIAH 1:5-6 Why should ye be stricken anymore? ye will revolt more and more; the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores; they have not been closed; neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. For those still living under the belief that Isaiah's writings are for some distant people in an age long past, you may be able to read this passage with pleasant curiosity and wonder how ancient Israel could have been so naive to forsake the Lord. But those of us who realize that all the words of Isaiah are pointedly glaring at us start to squirm under his descriptive and poignant symbolism. We begin to wonder how in the world we as a people degenerated to this level of condemnation. The Heart The heart is the core of the body, from which flows all blood to feed and nourish the rest of the body. As Paul spoke about the church being one body (1 Corint...

ISAIAH 1:2-3 -  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken; I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters; they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. The Lord lays it right out in the very beginning: our rebellion is the crux of the Lord’s anger and catalyst for the Lord to fulfill his covenant promises with the house of Israel. It is prophesied hat o nce the people of God rebel against the Lord , or “when the Gentiles shall sin against my Gospel, and shall reject the fulness of my Gospel,” the Lord will “bring the fulness of my Gospel from among them” (3 Nephi 7 [16:10]) and remember his covenant to “preach good tidings unto the meek,” and “bind up th...

ISAIAH 1:2 -  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken; I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.  Here is where Isaiah's story pointedly turns toward us. The Lord laments that though he has favored and nourished his children, they still rebel against him. Though the King James’ and the inspired Joseph Smith versions use the word “children”, the Hebrew text says “sons” ( בנים ). Sons, or son, is a term used in scripture to denote a covenant standing before the Lord. The Son of God was the first, not necessarily in chronology, but in greatness, according to scripture. Abraham said, “And the Lord said unto me, these two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other, there shall be another more intelligent than they: I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all” (Abraham 3:21).  Though, Jesus Christ is he Only Begotten Son, there a...

ISAIAH 1:2 -  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken; I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.  Isaiah invokes the heavens and the earth to hear and bear witness of the rebellion of the House of Israel using similar words spoken by Moses more than 500 years earlier. In doing so, he brings to the mind of the Israelites the covenant their fathers made to God facilitated by Moses before they entered their land of their inheritance. “Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers,” Moses told the Levite priests, “that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them,” (Deuteronomy 31:28). Moses was directed by the Lord to “write ye this song…and teach it the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel” (Deuteronomy 31:19). So, Moses gathered the children of Israel together. To that great gather...

ISAIAH 1:1 - The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. "The Vision of Isaiah" Near the beginning of the world, Enoch established a holy city that the Lord called Zion “because they were of one heart and of one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there were no poor among them” (Genesis 7:23 [Moses 7:18]). Now, almost 6 thousand years later we still look with hope for that city that was claimed by God. This is the vision of Isaiah: a prophecy foretelling the restoration of that hope, where man can walk with God and peace covers the earth, and what will happen prior to that time. The Vision of All The vision of Isaiah is not simply a dream, but a grand vision of all things from beginning to end. Enoch, too, had this vision, and though perhaps it was slightly different in presentation to him for his benefit and learning, it was overall the same. “And it came t...