WEEK 38 [ISAIAH 13-14; 24-30; 35]
“A Marvelous Work and a Wonder”
September 12 – September 18
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Transcript
Welcome back everybody.
Speaker:This is week 30, eight of creative.
Speaker:Come follow me for the old Testament and it's week two of
Speaker:our five week series of Isaiah.
Speaker:So hopefully if you didn't get a chance to listen to week 37, that
Speaker:will help you get your bearings.
Speaker:Um, I'm not gonna go into a whole bunch of the history or introduction this
Speaker:week, just cuz I feel like I wanna take all the time I can in the actual verses.
Speaker:So if you missed it, jump back into 37 and listen to the first five or
Speaker:10 minutes to kinda get your footing.
Speaker:But this week I think I, I think Isaiah teaches us that he is a prophet
Speaker:for all the places and all the time.
Speaker:I can't even really imagine what it must be like to feel like you're receiving
Speaker:revelation for multiple dispensations and try to keep it all in your head
Speaker:at the same time and then find a way to condense it down into doctrine
Speaker:that could be consumed at any one of those historical points and still be
Speaker:appreciated and have it be enriching.
Speaker:I think what you'll find this week is.
Speaker:he's gonna teach a lot of positive and negative.
Speaker:Maybe it's the best way to say it.
Speaker:You're gonna see a lot of commentary about Babylon.
Speaker:He's gonna use places like Babylon and Seria and Persia to be object
Speaker:lessons, basically things that are actually happening in his time that
Speaker:will then apply forward to other times.
Speaker:The time of the savior, the time of the restoration, the time of the end of day.
Speaker:It's right before the second coming, all of those object lessons that
Speaker:he's giving us with those, you know, adversaries of the different cities.
Speaker:They're gonna apply to us in a hundred different ways.
Speaker:But for me, like I mentioned last week, the most powerful way to apply Isaiah
Speaker:is if you search for Jesus Christ, not just stories about him, but things
Speaker:that teach you about his character.
Speaker:I think for me, the most, the resonating witness I got from studying these verses
Speaker:is that there is peace and joy in studying the words of the savior, no matter
Speaker:which prophet speaks of him, that's.
Speaker:What Isaiah's trying to get across that there's all these dangers and all these
Speaker:hardships coming, but there is safe Harbor in the hope of Jesus Christ.
Speaker:So I want you to watch for that just like last week, last week, I would tell
Speaker:you also watch for your stewardship.
Speaker:If you have a prayer in your heart about whatever it is, whatever
Speaker:your little sphere of influence is, and you seek to enrich it,
Speaker:the words of Isaiah can help you.
Speaker:Uh, just keep that lens on as you study and ideas will come to your mind.
Speaker:I think Isaiah is a man of profound wisdom, and it's a
Speaker:little hard to understand him.
Speaker:So as always, this is a week where you're gonna really want the notes.
Speaker:So open those up, click on some few links to get into the actual, like
Speaker:modern revelation that applies here and hopefully between the profits of our
Speaker:day and some commentary for me and the actual scriptures themselves, you'll be
Speaker:able to enjoy this second week of Isaiah.
Speaker:So grab your scriptures, grab your notes and let's get started.
Speaker:Where we begin in chapter 13, you're gonna see Isaiah reference this
Speaker:chapter as a burden of Babylon.
Speaker:That phrase, especially if you go in the footnotes, you can see that that just
Speaker:means he has a hard message to lift up.
Speaker:I think this is powerful just right from the get go, cuz you
Speaker:know, a lot of the messages we hear from our profit are revered.
Speaker:When they post on Instagram, they get a thousand wonderful, happy comments.
Speaker:I'm sure they get a whole bunch of negative as well, but I
Speaker:don't know that Isaiah got any likes or any positive comments.
Speaker:These were hard things to hold up, but that's what he was called to do.
Speaker:So he chooses to do it.
Speaker:What I love is the message he sends right outta the gate in 13
Speaker:it's it feels like a pep rally.
Speaker:To me, like, that's what I have written at the top of the chapter.
Speaker:It's he is calling to the righteous.
Speaker:So his message is a hard one for all those who have abandoned the
Speaker:prophets and abandoned the law.
Speaker:But for those who have been consecrated and are choosing to listen, his
Speaker:message is one of rejoicing.
Speaker:It reminds me of when we would go to Ohio state football games and there would be
Speaker:hours upon hours of buildup before the actual battle that happened on the field.
Speaker:And they would fly, you know, Scarlet and gray colors.
Speaker:They would, the band would play.
Speaker:People would have games and they'd like cheer in the parking lot.
Speaker:That's what he's talking about.
Speaker:So if you look at, in verse two, lift he up a banner upon the high
Speaker:mountains, he's, he's saying there's hard things coming, and I need the
Speaker:righteous to participate in this.
Speaker:Big spiritual pep rally, lift up the banners, lift up your voices, exalt
Speaker:your voices in three, he's talking about how I've commanded my sanctified ones.
Speaker:I have also called my mighty ones.
Speaker:These are, he is calling out to the real fans of Jehovah and
Speaker:asking them to come forward.
Speaker:And what I love is what happens.
Speaker:It's the same thing that happens in the horseshoe.
Speaker:When people are getting together for a Buckeye game, there is a tumultuous noise.
Speaker:When that many saints who are ready to lift up their voices to God come
Speaker:together, there is a tumultuous noise and it is not a noise of fear and
Speaker:it is not a noise of frustration.
Speaker:It is a noise of rejoicing and hope.
Speaker:That's what he, he's asking.
Speaker:There's gonna be this shift and this change.
Speaker:And he he's asking people to rally together.
Speaker:And then he talks about what it feels like to be on the other.
Speaker:Side those who have turned against the prophets, those who have set
Speaker:aside the law, he describes what they feel in this same moment.
Speaker:So if you look from like seven on, this is where you get that feel.
Speaker:Therefore all hands shall all sorry.
Speaker:Therefore shall all hands be faint.
Speaker:And every man's heart shell melt, isn't that what you're going for?
Speaker:When you have an opposing team on a football field that your tumultuous
Speaker:noise will make the opponents fans just like melt a little bit and fear.
Speaker:I think it's, you know, that I think that's, that's what he is trying to do.
Speaker:It's it will create a recognition in the other side that wait,
Speaker:I might be on the wrong team.
Speaker:In fact, that's, what's gonna happen as they go a little bit further, you'll
Speaker:see that they recognize it in eight.
Speaker:They shall be in pain as a woman that traeth, they'll be afraid.
Speaker:There's gonna be pings of sorrows.
Speaker:It's not that he's rejoicing.
Speaker:All these people experiencing this sorrow, but I think it's, he, I think Isaiah as a
Speaker:prophet, who knows that sometimes sorrow is the only way to come to repentance
Speaker:and all of these people, even though they might be ripe for destruction at
Speaker:this point in time, they will have an opportunity to learn more down the road
Speaker:in the spirit world when they're taught.
Speaker:In fact, we'll see that in the verses this week, there is
Speaker:hope for them down the road.
Speaker:I think it's the same thing that we saw with Noah when he talked about the flood
Speaker:and Enoch and Moses, when they referenced the flood that at certain points in
Speaker:time, the wickedness has gone too far and there needs to be a destruction, but that
Speaker:there is always hope beyond that point for all those souls who, who need it.
Speaker:And, and I, anyway, you'll, you'll see that in the verses, he also warns
Speaker:about the actual destruction that will happen because of Babylon Babylon.
Speaker:Isn't a.
Speaker:Fierce enemy at this point in time, but they're this rising
Speaker:power first AER grows and gets strong and becomes this big threat.
Speaker:And then eventually Babylon consumes a Syria.
Speaker:And then over time, Persia consumes Babylon.
Speaker:And honestly, I think one of the big messages of this week's chapters
Speaker:is that it doesn't really matter who the big scary guy is in town.
Speaker:All of them eventually will be consumed.
Speaker:All of them will fall go on the right team.
Speaker:This is the only team in the history of the world where, you
Speaker:know the outcome before you even begin get on the right team.
Speaker:That's his message.
Speaker:So you're gonna see some consequences play out, like you'll see intent
Speaker:that there is a lack of light.
Speaker:You're gonna see that a few times this week that when people retreat or when
Speaker:there is a paste, there is a lack of light and that causes frustration and anger.
Speaker:And that carries you all the way into chapter 14.
Speaker:So when you go into chapter 14, this creates a bit of a shift.
Speaker:So in 14 he says, Even though all these hard things happen.
Speaker:And even though so many have of his covenant children have turned away
Speaker:from him, he will still choose them.
Speaker:So if you look in verse one for the Lord, we'll have mercy on
Speaker:Jacob and will yet choose Israel.
Speaker:This is talking about now, Isaiah has shifted his timeframe and
Speaker:he's talking about something that will happen far in the future.
Speaker:This great gathering that we're participating in.
Speaker:And he talks about what will happen, that they're gonna rule over their oppressors.
Speaker:In two, I don't think this is necessarily the ass Syrians or
Speaker:the Babylonians or the Persians.
Speaker:This is that all those things that weigh them down, all the dumb idols
Speaker:and all the misunderstandings and the changes in their ordinances and
Speaker:covenants, all of that will be clarified.
Speaker:And they'll be able to, I don't know, master the natural man a little bit.
Speaker:Those are their oppress.
Speaker:When you look in verse three, it goes even a little further.
Speaker:It says that they will rest from their sorrow, from their
Speaker:fear and their hard bondage.
Speaker:This happens a few times, literally in the Israelite history where they
Speaker:are, you know, allowed to leave exile, allowed to return home to Jerusalem,
Speaker:and they experience this feeling.
Speaker:But I think ultimately this feeling comes as their hearts
Speaker:turn to the savior Jesus Christ.
Speaker:Before the second coming, that's a big piece of what the gathering is
Speaker:that the children of Israel will turn their hearts to Jesus Christ.
Speaker:And that's where you find rest from sorrow freedom from fear
Speaker:and a release from heart bondage.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Thanks shift a little bit in the middle of 14 and you don't wanna miss it.
Speaker:So in 14 he talks about.
Speaker:The adversary, but he does it in a way that is a little bit, he uses a
Speaker:reference point of the king of Babylon.
Speaker:So in a most scripture, Babylon is used as this wicked.
Speaker:It's a symbol for wickedness.
Speaker:So the king of Babylon is the king of wickedness.
Speaker:And he uses that as a metaphor to teach you more about the adversary
Speaker:and it's fascinating to study it.
Speaker:So a few things you're gonna see is when the king of Babylon actually falls.
Speaker:In fact, when he dies, they talk about his experience that will happen in hell.
Speaker:And so he says, when he gets there, this is around verse nine, hell from beneath
Speaker:is moved for the, to meet the ethic coming it's stir up the dead for the people who
Speaker:are gonna rise to see who this great king of Babylon is, who came down to meet them.
Speaker:And then they speak 10 and they all shall speak and say, unto
Speaker:the art though also become weak.
Speaker:As we art that will become like unto, unto us, that pump is gone all of a sudden.
Speaker:All those worldly mites and powers have been stripped away.
Speaker:Death is this great equalizer, both for the righteous and for the wicked.
Speaker:And so he is now brought among all of them.
Speaker:Here's where it gets really interesting.
Speaker:When you flip the page, he shifts it directly to loose first.
Speaker:So again, we've been talking about this prince of darkness, this king of Babylon,
Speaker:and now you get a more specific reference.
Speaker:He talks about his fall and I thought it was fascinating
Speaker:to study what happens in 13.
Speaker:This is taking you almost back to those premortal counsels when Lucifer
Speaker:fell and all of these references say, I right, I will ascend him to heaven.
Speaker:This is Lucifer speaking.
Speaker:I will exalt my throne.
Speaker:I will sit upon the Mount of the congregation in the,
Speaker:in the sides of the north.
Speaker:I will ascend above the Heights in 14.
Speaker:I will be like the most high, one of the talk, the talks I read it's in this
Speaker:week's notes, but it's from El elder Oaks.
Speaker:And he talked about how.
Speaker:One of the most sinister parts of Satan's strategy is that
Speaker:he intended to be exalted.
Speaker:He really believed he could leap frog over all the sacrifice and all the trial
Speaker:and, and be like the most high, some even reference him kind of like a mocked
Speaker:savior in the, he wanted to, he wanted to take on the role that the savior did.
Speaker:He just didn't want any of the sacrifice.
Speaker:So what's fascinating to me is that teaches you a lot
Speaker:about the heart of Lucifer.
Speaker:Part of the reason I think he wanted no agency for any of us is because
Speaker:if there is no sin, then there's no need for a suffering savior.
Speaker:There's no need for him to offer anything to us.
Speaker:So of course he's gonna push us and tempt us to want to be part of his strategy,
Speaker:which is I won't let anybody sing.
Speaker:It's this great counterfeit.
Speaker:And it is hard to read for me.
Speaker:I was just like, oh, it's so blatant.
Speaker:What his motivations are.
Speaker:What I love is what you see in 15 and 16.
Speaker:So as he is brought down low, then people see him as he is.
Speaker:So in 16, they shall see the narrowly look upon me and consider these saying,
Speaker:is this the man that made the earth to tremble that did shake the kingdoms?
Speaker:I don't think it's so much that Lucifer's gonna look wildly different
Speaker:to us than I think it's that we will know truth and light in a
Speaker:way that we can't even fathom now.
Speaker:And just like we saw with Moses, when he sees Jesus Christ and he
Speaker:sees brightness in its pure form.
Speaker:Then when he encounters the adversary, he's like, who are
Speaker:you that I should worship you?
Speaker:Like it's the contrast is so stark that he knows exactly hall.
Speaker:Lucifer is and refuses to bow down to him.
Speaker:That's what I think we have to teach our teenagers as we are building them up.
Speaker:It's it can't be so much.
Speaker:Let me teach you about the adversary.
Speaker:Let me teach you about his sneaky strategies, that kind of, you know,
Speaker:like defensive strategy won't work as solidly as an offensive strategy
Speaker:of, let me tell you who you are.
Speaker:The more I can help you understand your divine nature and eternal
Speaker:destiny, the stronger you will become.
Speaker:And the more clearly you will see the adversary, this big boisterous,
Speaker:frightening creature will all of a sudden.
Speaker:Small to you because his powers are diminished when you
Speaker:increase the light of Christ.
Speaker:I just feel like that's the message of Isaiah.
Speaker:He wants us to rise up and cast this out.
Speaker:What I love is when you go into that second column on the same
Speaker:page, you see the Savior's words.
Speaker:He also uses the word I over and over again, I will rise up against them.
Speaker:Say at the Lord of host, he was, he's gonna cut off Babylon in
Speaker:24, surely as I have thought.
Speaker:So shall it come to pass?
Speaker:As I have purposed, he uses that same word, but when the savior uses
Speaker:those words, it's always in service.
Speaker:It it's not self-serving it's how can I help the greater good.
Speaker:How can I help my father in heaven's plan role forth?
Speaker:That's what the savior teaches.
Speaker:And then he promises.
Speaker:Who's gonna turn it back.
Speaker:Once I set things in motion who can turn it back, that's in 27 and then
Speaker:he wraps it all up in 32, when he talks about how he has founded Zion.
Speaker:Remember Isaiah's goal is never just to teach destruction
Speaker:it's to remind us of the hope.
Speaker:And if you are an example of the believers, if you're here
Speaker:and you're trying to learn his gospel, then this is you.
Speaker:You're, you're standing on ground that the Lord founded and it cannot fall away.
Speaker:So I think there's peace and hope at the very end of chapter.
Speaker:Remember last week, how we talked about how Isaiah's job is basically to teach you
Speaker:about the controlled burn that's coming to this forest, that there, there needs to
Speaker:be a big shift that's gonna happen so that there can be room for new growth because
Speaker:the existing growth abandoned, all things.
Speaker:That's sort of what you're gonna read about in chapter 24.
Speaker:He's talking about apostasy and how it happens, why it
Speaker:happens and how we can avoid it.
Speaker:I also think a big message of 24 is the joy that comes when you hold fast.
Speaker:So I'm gonna try and focus there, but let me set the stage a little bit by teaching
Speaker:you what I learned about apostasy.
Speaker:So he talks about how at the end of days, there will be.
Speaker:Emptiness that comes to the earth and it all comes through APOE.
Speaker:So in verse one, behold, the Lord make it the earth empty and make it, it waste
Speaker:and turn it, it upside down and scatter earth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
Speaker:This is the prophecy that they heard about for generations, that if they
Speaker:don't hold onto the word and their peculiar identity, as a people of
Speaker:God, with a, a covenant to uphold, then they will lose those blessings.
Speaker:And that's what he's teaching.
Speaker:But when he goes a little further, he talks about how they fell away.
Speaker:So after he talks about the land being emptied in four, he says the
Speaker:earth mourn and faded the way the world langu it and faded the way
Speaker:the hot people of your do languish.
Speaker:I really loved that word choice.
Speaker:Yeah, I think it.
Speaker:Something about this weak fee boldness, right?
Speaker:It it's.
Speaker:Um, when I think of something languishing, I think of like a plant that never
Speaker:gets the right amount of sunshine.
Speaker:I have a house plant that has this issue right now.
Speaker:It is not thriving.
Speaker:It is languishing cuz it's not getting the nutrients it needs.
Speaker:Um, and this one is my fault, but in the children of Israels
Speaker:situation, it's their own fault.
Speaker:They're choosing that.
Speaker:So he's warning about languishing and then he talks about where the
Speaker:aposty the root of the APOE is.
Speaker:And it's the same root that applies to our APOE today.
Speaker:So in five, the earth also is defiled of the inhabitants thereof because,
Speaker:and then there's three reasons.
Speaker:So you wanna circle these in your notes, but one, they have
Speaker:transgressed the laws two, they changed the ordinances and three,
Speaker:they broke the everlasting covenant.
Speaker:This people that were supposed to be alight to the world have started to
Speaker:manipulate and contort the words of God.
Speaker:And honestly, my heart just sort of.
Speaker:Broke forgotten.
Speaker:And as I was reading this, I just, I can't imagine what that must feel
Speaker:like to be betrayed by your posterity like that and to, to give them such
Speaker:a gift and hope so highly in their potential and, and have them twist it.
Speaker:It just kind of made my heart hurt a little bit.
Speaker:And I think that's where he is.
Speaker:He's talking about them as a vine that is just languishing.
Speaker:Um, and he talks about the results that will happen in 11.
Speaker:He says, well, 10, there's gonna be confusion.
Speaker:11.
Speaker:There's a crying for wine in the streets.
Speaker:All joy is darkened.
Speaker:Most people reference this as part of the great APOE, like before the restoration,
Speaker:that phase between the saviors apostles and when the first vision occurs, this
Speaker:great apostasy where joy is darkened.
Speaker:That doesn't mean that there is no happiness.
Speaker:I think all of us know people.
Speaker:have a darkened joy, but still experience happiness.
Speaker:It just means there's no lasting happiness, all those little joyous
Speaker:moments, the weddings, all the happy things that happen, the birth of
Speaker:children, they can't last the same way.
Speaker:If there's no ceiling power.
Speaker:And I think that's what he's trying to reference.
Speaker:The joy, the real lasting joy is darkened.
Speaker:And then in 13, you get this feeling.
Speaker:He's just not giving up on his vineyard.
Speaker:So he talks about shaking the tree, you know, it's this, I'm gonna do everything I
Speaker:can to get every last piece of fruit that is available and I'm gonna gather it in.
Speaker:And then it shifts to talking about the righteous.
Speaker:So if you looking 14, they shall lift up their voice.
Speaker:They shall sing for the majesty of the Lord and they show cry aloud
Speaker:from the sea where if our Glor Foy glorify ye the Lord in the fires.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Here's what I thought was really cool about this.
Speaker:When you go on the footnotes, you can see that this word fires also can translate
Speaker:to islands or little pockets of light.
Speaker:I kind of picture this.
Speaker:This is how I picture Zion in the last day.
Speaker:It's not so much that it'll all happen in one location.
Speaker:I think there's gonna be these incredible pockets of light that when you're in
Speaker:the commotion of the world, you'll have a chance to retreat to those
Speaker:pockets and get solace and comfort.
Speaker:I just.
Speaker:I pictured it almost like if you've walked in a big forest before, and
Speaker:then all of a sudden there's this meadow clearing and you just get light.
Speaker:That's what I think will happen as we get closer and closer to
Speaker:the Lord's second coming, that the forest will get thicker and darker.
Speaker:But those pockets of light where we gather and rejoice will get warmer.
Speaker:It reminded me of when I was thinking through that pockets of light feel,
Speaker:I thought about the waters and Mormon don't you ever wish, like you read
Speaker:about that with Alma and you think, I wish I could have been in that
Speaker:congregation, like to, they were a meadow in a thick, dark forest where they
Speaker:just had this safe Harbor for a time.
Speaker:Honestly, the first vision applies to this as well.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:He's in this thick forest where he feels increasing darkness as he's
Speaker:walking and then he hits this pocket of light and the goodness pours out.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:I just love this idea of we're gonna glorify God in these pockets
Speaker:as we approach this day of Zion.
Speaker:16 is kind of haunting.
Speaker:This is where Isaiah speaks of his leanness.
Speaker:He, despite the fact that he has warned all these people, all these times, most of
Speaker:them won't listen and he feels leanness.
Speaker:He cries out this to me is a little bit like the savior with his 99, right?
Speaker:It doesn't matter that he has such a huge proportion of his sheep with him.
Speaker:He is missing that one and he will seek it out.
Speaker:I think that's what Isaiah's feeling.
Speaker:He loves these people despite their wickedness.
Speaker:And he, he feels lean cuz none of them are coming closer and he warns
Speaker:about what's gonna happen next.
Speaker:So when you go a little bit further, you'll see that, that he talks about
Speaker:the earth is utterly broken down.
Speaker:The earth is dissolved.
Speaker:This is all talking about right before the second coming.
Speaker:And as the second coming occurs, all those things will happen.
Speaker:And then I love what you see in 22.
Speaker:Again, this is Isaiah's voice of hope.
Speaker:And as they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit,
Speaker:they shall be shut up in the prison.
Speaker:But then after many days they shall be visited.
Speaker:This is the promise that I think lets Isaiah sleep at night.
Speaker:And again, this is me just making big assumptions about Isaiah.
Speaker:But I think knowing that all these people that he's watching languish and
Speaker:eventually get destroyed, will be taught.
Speaker:It's gonna be many days and there's gonna be a lot of suffering that happens because
Speaker:of their choices, but they will be taught.
Speaker:If you wanna go learn more, go in the notes and learn more about spirit
Speaker:prison and how, how they will be taught.
Speaker:I just thought it was.
Speaker:Beautifully worded.
Speaker:He, again, talks about the light that's gonna shift.
Speaker:So if you look in 23, he talks about this Lord raining over the earth and
Speaker:the light that will come because of it, that even the sun will be ashamed.
Speaker:You know, that's how bright these pockets of light are.
Speaker:When you shift gears and you go into 25, it gets even stronger.
Speaker:So again, he's talking about the latter days and he says,
Speaker:oh Lord, thou are my God.
Speaker:I love this individual salvation message of Isaiah.
Speaker:He is teaching us to sing a song that we're gonna sing as we
Speaker:experience his redeeming love.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And it's, he is my God thou has done wonderful things for me.
Speaker:And I just think you can insert all those things that you, that he's done for you,
Speaker:all the miracles and the tender mercies.
Speaker:That's what he is asking you to remember, as you think about your Lord and your.
Speaker:And then he talks about the character of Christ.
Speaker:So if you're looking forward, that has been a strength to the poor, a strength
Speaker:to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat.
Speaker:One of the things I thought was really powerful about this is Isaiah's
Speaker:teaching us that the Lord's not removing heat and he's not removing
Speaker:storms and he's not removing distress.
Speaker:What he is doing is providing refuge.
Speaker:He's giving you shelter from those storms, cuz he knows that we need
Speaker:the storms and the winds of adversity in order to progress and to grow.
Speaker:So he is not gonna take those away, but he is gonna give us respite.
Speaker:That's what he's describing.
Speaker:And so I love how he says it in five, as the heat in a dry place, even the heat
Speaker:with the shadow of a cloud, the branch of the terrible one shall be brought low.
Speaker:There's gonna be this intense heat that burns, and those
Speaker:who are choosing righteousness will have a cloud, a covering.
Speaker:And then you get this promised blessing of a feast of fat things.
Speaker:That's in six.
Speaker:that has reference back to the tabernacle and the sacrifices when
Speaker:they would make big sacrifices.
Speaker:Then after the sacrifices were made, after the animal was burned on the altar, that
Speaker:meat was divvied up and it became a feast for the family to consume and enjoy, and
Speaker:they would, you know, have opportunities to partake of these fat things.
Speaker:That's the hope part of Isaiah's message in 25.
Speaker:But even though there will be all this leanness, he will provide this feast
Speaker:of fat things that your family can be nourished by in seven, he talks
Speaker:about a veil that will be lifted.
Speaker:I assume this is the veil of forgetfulness that will kind of eventually be pulled
Speaker:from our eyes and will see him as he is.
Speaker:And then you have to love eight, right?
Speaker:He will swallow up death in victory and the Lord, God will wipe away
Speaker:tears from all faces and the Rebus people he shall take away from all
Speaker:the earth for the Lord has spoken it.
Speaker:There's so many things in this verse that I love.
Speaker:I wish I had a whole bunch of minutes to spend on it.
Speaker:First.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:He says he will swallow up death.
Speaker:He doesn't get rid of pain.
Speaker:What he does is he takes it into himself.
Speaker:I, I like this cuz I feel like some of the pain that we all
Speaker:experience is actually sacred pain.
Speaker:It, it molds us.
Speaker:It turns us into the people that we are or that we're going to be.
Speaker:And it's not, he doesn't get rid of it.
Speaker:He, he takes it upon himself.
Speaker:I think that's how things work together for our good, he takes all
Speaker:the hard, all the cards we've been dealt and he says, let me take that
Speaker:into me and I'll just give you the good I'll give you what's back.
Speaker:He honors the sacred pain you feel and he consumes it and
Speaker:then he wipes the weight tears.
Speaker:I can tell you that there's pro I, I counted on one hand, the number
Speaker:of people who have ever touched my cheek and wiped away tears.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Because that is an intimate close gesture so that he uses that almost speaking
Speaker:like a mother with their child saying.
Speaker:There is gonna be a day where I will myself wipe away your tears.
Speaker:I love thinking about the judgment this way.
Speaker:I learned it from Michael Wilx years ago, where he talked about this experience when
Speaker:we go and present ourselves to the Lord.
Speaker:And he is our advocate with the father that it's almost more like a PPI that
Speaker:you're gonna sit in a, almost what it looks like a Bishop's office.
Speaker:He described how he envisioned it and that it's just this
Speaker:one-on-one softness and kindness.
Speaker:And tell me how this went and when, whether Wilcox would say something
Speaker:that he thought he didn't do terribly well, the savior would say back,
Speaker:I don't remember it like that.
Speaker:And it's just this kindness.
Speaker:That's what I think he's trying to help us underst.
Speaker:I also love what's at the end of eight.
Speaker:So he says the Lord had spoken it.
Speaker:This is not Isaiah's good idea.
Speaker:It's not a thought that Isaiah had, this is the Lord taught this to me.
Speaker:He will wipe away your tears.
Speaker:He will swallow up your pain.
Speaker:All death will be swallowed up in victory.
Speaker:These are his words.
Speaker:And I love that.
Speaker:He reminds us of that in that verse.
Speaker:And then there's this rejoicing.
Speaker:So if you look in verse nine and it shall be said in that day low, this is our God.
Speaker:And we have waited for him.
Speaker:When I picture sitting across from the savior in those moments, right?
Speaker:Where you're, where you feel his love and you participate in his redeeming joy.
Speaker:I think he'll, you'll recognize him as your God because you see him as he is, you
Speaker:see his boundless charity and you need it.
Speaker:And you will rejoice because you.
Speaker:Feel who he is.
Speaker:And so you waited a long time and now he's there.
Speaker:And I just, I wept when I studied, I'm still kind of
Speaker:pulling it together right now.
Speaker:You guys it's beautiful.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:We gotta jump into 26.
Speaker:It gets even better in 26.
Speaker:So this is when he encourages you to trust in the Lord forever.
Speaker:So he says something beautiful.
Speaker:He talks about the gates being open that eventually at this
Speaker:gathering that the gates will open.
Speaker:And then in three, that will keep him in perfect piece whose mind has stayed on.
Speaker:I loved the phrase perfect piece.
Speaker:I've always thought of the savior as the prince of peace, but the idea of
Speaker:perfect piece, meaning, you know, perfect.
Speaker:Like we've talked about a few times that teleos word that means whole and complete.
Speaker:You will have a piece that feels whole and that it can't be shaken anymore.
Speaker:And all you have to do in order to accomplish it is to keep your mind on him.
Speaker:I feel like this is prey always, right?
Speaker:If you pray always and you trust in him, you will have this perfect piece.
Speaker:Probably not in this life.
Speaker:In fact, I guarantee not in this life.
Speaker:But there will be a day when you can have perfect peace.
Speaker:So trust in the Lord.
Speaker:That's what you see in verse four.
Speaker:And then he talks about the way in a couple different directions.
Speaker:So if you look in seven, the way of the justice uprightness, the almost upright
Speaker:death weigh the path of the, just, if you go in the footnotes, you can learn
Speaker:that this, this version of way, like scales almost also means to make level.
Speaker:When you think about scales and weighing what they're doing is
Speaker:they're making things level.
Speaker:And that's what he's promising to do to this covenant path.
Speaker:If you commit your heart to him, if you choose to be a covenant person,
Speaker:he promises to clear the way to make that covenant path as level
Speaker:as he can get it and to remove the stones and the assembling blocks.
Speaker:That's what he promises.
Speaker:What he gives you advice on is to seek him.
Speaker:So, if you look in verse nine, it says I will seek the early I there's a great talk
Speaker:from president I in the notes where he talks about this, not procrastinating, not
Speaker:just repentance, but don't procrastinate your choice to come closer to him and
Speaker:the blessings that come from that.
Speaker:So go read president.
Speaker:I talk, I love president.
Speaker:I, okay.
Speaker:You go a little bit further in 12 and you're gonna see that
Speaker:he, they talk about his works.
Speaker:What will help the children of Israel?
Speaker:See Jesus Christ as their savior is that they're gonna finally
Speaker:set aside what was wrong.
Speaker:All the idols, all the false gods, all the misunderstandings about
Speaker:ordinances will be clarified and they'll come to know him as he is.
Speaker:So that's what he's talking about in 14, they're dead.
Speaker:They shall not live.
Speaker:These are the idols or the other things.
Speaker:They worshiped all that is deceased because we worship a living Christ.
Speaker:And they'll see that.
Speaker:We'll see that.
Speaker:Um, and if you go on the notes, you can learn more about how that document the
Speaker:living Christ and how it was built to some degree because of these verses.
Speaker:And I love what he see in the Lord's response.
Speaker:So that comes next.
Speaker:When you flip the page, he talks about how the Lord will increase the nations.
Speaker:Again, talking about the children of Israel, that Abrahamic covenant promise
Speaker:that their nation will increase.
Speaker:It'll thrive.
Speaker:There are historical applications to this, but millennially, there's
Speaker:great big applications to this.
Speaker:And then it speaks of resurrection.
Speaker:Most people don't think resurrection is in the old Testament, but you can
Speaker:see it in 26, especially around 19, where he talks about how the dead men
Speaker:will live together with my dead body.
Speaker:Meaning the, the Lord will be resurrected and others will be resurrected with him.
Speaker:And there will be a rejoicing that happens.
Speaker:So he invites you to come in in 20 come.
Speaker:My people enter that into that chambers and shut their doors about.
Speaker:I feel like this verse reminds me of that verse in the Passover, where he talks
Speaker:about the destruction that's coming, that the destroying Angel's gonna come
Speaker:by and they need to stay in their homes and they need to stay safe for a season.
Speaker:I think that's what home center learning is all about.
Speaker:That there is gonna be a time when we're gonna need to have safe Harbor
Speaker:right here and close ourselves off a little bit from the world.
Speaker:But the intent is not to stay there.
Speaker:It is to find refuge during this burning phase so that when it's
Speaker:time, you can step into the light and your family will have peace.
Speaker:So I think that kind of takes you to the end of chapter 26.
Speaker:Do you remember how last week we studied kind of that parable of the vineyard
Speaker:and the, the Lord of the vineyard was just sorrowing because the vineyard
Speaker:grew wild despite his best efforts.
Speaker:And so he had to sort of dismantle all that.
Speaker:He built.
Speaker:This chapter 27 is sort of the opposite of that.
Speaker:This is Zion and this vineyard will be fruitful in time.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:They'll take time.
Speaker:But when the savior comes again, this will be a fruitful field just as intended.
Speaker:And so that's what you'll read about as you go into the verses, this is
Speaker:written to the members of the church, to those who are covenant keeping,
Speaker:and you can feel this surge of.
Speaker:Goodness in it.
Speaker:So if you look in verse three, for example, I, the Lord do keep it.
Speaker:Speaking of the vineyard, I will water it every moment, less any hurt it.
Speaker:I will keep it night and day in the latter days.
Speaker:The promise is that this APOE will never happen again.
Speaker:There will never be another time where we languish and fall away.
Speaker:Some hearts will, but the gospel itself will not.
Speaker:The key will never be pulled again from the earth.
Speaker:He will keep it day and night and he himself will water it.
Speaker:That's what I think of when I think of our prophets and apostles getting revelation
Speaker:to give us that they are receiving this constant living water to pour out to
Speaker:the rest of us and we get our own right.
Speaker:We get our own personal revelation and we study the words in the
Speaker:scriptures so that we can, we can feel this surge of nourishing
Speaker:water that's coming day and night.
Speaker:There's no cutoff, there's no limit.
Speaker:It will constantly flow.
Speaker:And then he talks about making peace.
Speaker:So in verse five, he says he shall make peace with me.
Speaker:I actually love that.
Speaker:They separated out, make and peace.
Speaker:Sometimes we talk about peacemaker and we think about it like somebody who
Speaker:helps kind of settle down contention.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:When I, the only time I say peacemaker in my house is when there's a fight.
Speaker:And I say, can't, you guys be peacemaker.
Speaker:But when you think about these words as separate, I feel like it's even better.
Speaker:A peacemaker is someone who actually makes peace.
Speaker:So I feel like my job as a mom is to provide structure so that
Speaker:I can make space for peace.
Speaker:When I have a job chart, for example, there's far less fighting about who job
Speaker:is, what or why their job is harder, cuz there's a clear plan, right?
Speaker:We have policies Sam and will used to fight every morning about who got
Speaker:the front seat on the way to school.
Speaker:And so just this year we established a very simple rule that Sam gets
Speaker:it in the morning and will gets it in the afternoon on the pickup.
Speaker:That simple rule stopped all the contingent . So I think that's our
Speaker:job as parents is to find ways to make peace the same way a bread maker makes
Speaker:bread and a Shoemaker makes shoes.
Speaker:You need to make peace.
Speaker:I think in our bigger lives, it means making space for
Speaker:the spirit to do its work.
Speaker:If you create environments, holy places, where the spirit can be, then you
Speaker:are making peace the way the savior.
Speaker:He also promises that his teachings will take root in this latter day.
Speaker:And I love this visual.
Speaker:So in verse six, he shall cause them that show, that show
Speaker:come of Jacob to take root.
Speaker:There's this like, oh, I'm gonna sink my feet into this soil and I'm
Speaker:gonna soak up the nourishment that's here and I'm gonna stay that's.
Speaker:I think the, the profound promise of the latter days is that those
Speaker:who really sink in will stay.
Speaker:That's why I think we have to be constantly working on our testimonies
Speaker:and our understandings of scriptures so that our roots go deeper and
Speaker:they can hold despite all the, you know, crazy ideas and wins of
Speaker:doctrine that are gonna come at us.
Speaker:Our roots will be deep in this nourishing soil, this nourishing soil, and we'll
Speaker:blossom and fill the face of the earth.
Speaker:That's the promise you see in six.
Speaker:he also talks when you jump to the next page that he'll
Speaker:allow Israel to be conquered.
Speaker:So remember, we've talked about this a few times, but I really believe
Speaker:in fact, elder Holland taught this to me that God doesn't inflict harm.
Speaker:He doesn't do anything to try and be malicious or, you know,
Speaker:aggressive to towards his people.
Speaker:He does allow hard things to happen and then promises to make all
Speaker:things work together for your good.
Speaker:If you turned to him, that's what's happening with the, as Syrians, the
Speaker:Babylonians, the Persians, even the Romans in Jesus' time, he will take all those
Speaker:hard things that mortality is throwing at the Jews, and he will funnel them to work
Speaker:together for their good, in their case.
Speaker:The good isn't gonna come for a long time cuz they chose to turn away.
Speaker:But in time they will turn to him because of the experience they had in the interim.
Speaker:So I think that's a powerful message.
Speaker:I also love his one on one ministry that you get a feel for.
Speaker:This is around 12 and 13.
Speaker:So he talks about when he comes and what this great gathering will look
Speaker:like, and that it will be one by one.
Speaker:There's a great video.
Speaker:I'll give you a link in the notes of elder Bednar, who wrote a, him.
Speaker:I have no idea that even existed.
Speaker:I think it's Nathan Pacheco that sings it and then like a
Speaker:children's chorus or something.
Speaker:Um, but it's this message of one by one.
Speaker:I loved it because I actually read elder Bedner book on one by one ministry.
Speaker:And I see him exemplify this.
Speaker:He just, he is he and every other apostle and the prophet and all the female
Speaker:leaders of the church, they are seeking one by one ministering opportunities,
Speaker:cuz that's the saviors pattern.
Speaker:And I think it's ours.
Speaker:Two, this great gathering is not supposed to be a, we're gonna host
Speaker:a big, you know, stadium style event and all these hearts are gonna turn.
Speaker:It's gonna be, I talked to my neighbor and I talked to my coworker and I.
Speaker:Brought my daughter back into the gospel.
Speaker:It's this one by one, my arm goes around you and I'm gonna bring you home.
Speaker:That's the saviors pattern.
Speaker:It's the one we need to learn and apply in our life.
Speaker:So that's 27.
Speaker:Now let's go into 28, 28 is a little different cuz he's starting
Speaker:to warn those who have fallen off.
Speaker:So during this great APOE, like we talked about, one of the big
Speaker:problems they're gonna run into is that they've distorted the doctrine.
Speaker:So he's warning about that in this chapter, he's talking
Speaker:about what's happening to.
Speaker:The leaders of these religions and how things are falling apart to me, the most
Speaker:powerful part of it though comes when he talks about revelation and how it comes.
Speaker:So you can go in the notes.
Speaker:If you wanna learn more about the first five or 10 verses, but I
Speaker:love what you see in nine says, whom shall he teach knowledge?
Speaker:Because these people are limited in their site and they have chosen to turn away.
Speaker:They have a murky view of truth, and he's wondering who he can teach.
Speaker:I actually think this is a really good visual for us to remember that the
Speaker:Lord is hoping and offering truth.
Speaker:The mysteries of the universe as president Nelson taught he's.
Speaker:He wants to give them to us, but we have to be ready to receive them.
Speaker:So he teaches you how those are gonna come.
Speaker:If you turn to him, if you are seeking truth, he will give it to you.
Speaker:He's eager to give it to you, but it can't come all at once.
Speaker:I love this, this isn't.
Speaker:For precept must be upon precept precept upon precept line upon line.
Speaker:You've heard all these phrases before, but I love how it's phrased here.
Speaker:A little there and a little here to me, this is like parenting one of my
Speaker:biggest frustrations with scripture study and mothering is I feel like
Speaker:it only comes in little pockets.
Speaker:I can never take like 10 hours to study Isaiah.
Speaker:I have to do it like right before I'm, you know, I'm just getting in
Speaker:the zone and then I gotta go pick up and then I'm just getting in the zone.
Speaker:I gotta take it to mutual and I'm just getting in the zone and I have to like
Speaker:stop and start and stop and start.
Speaker:It took me years to realize that that's actually the Lord's way of teaching.
Speaker:He can't dump it all on me in a five hour big block.
Speaker:He needs me to have time for the spirit to teach me.
Speaker:So like I've told you guys a hundred times, there will be times where
Speaker:I don't understand scripture and then I'll go and I'll work on the
Speaker:laundry or I'll go answer emails or I'll go, you know, do my calling.
Speaker:And in that calling as I'm serving.
Speaker:Answers come clarity about the scriptures I was reading comes.
Speaker:And I think it's because of this doctrine, the doctrine, the true doctrines,
Speaker:can't be dumped on you all at once.
Speaker:They're gonna come layer upon layer upon layer.
Speaker:So don't feel so frustrated that your life is kind of a scattered mess.
Speaker:He can work with the scatteredness.
Speaker:I just think it's, there's hope in that message.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:You go a little bit further and you see some of the, the problems that the
Speaker:children of Israel got into, like around 15, that they have made lies their refuge,
Speaker:that they are turning to the wrong hope.
Speaker:I think there are people in our day who are seeking shelter in.
Speaker:False doctrine.
Speaker:You're hoping that certain doctrines will get adopted into ours and they're
Speaker:taking shelter in those peripheral things instead of what the savior actually has
Speaker:taught and what the apostles actually are saying today, they're seeking refuge
Speaker:and lies and it, it never pans out.
Speaker:He directs us to seek the cornerstone, just like we studied with that object
Speaker:lesson with the little blocks in 16, I lay, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
Speaker:a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.
Speaker:And he, that believes shall not make.
Speaker:This is a direction of, it's a building metaphor where he's saying,
Speaker:if you align yourself with this core cornerstone, you can't go wrong.
Speaker:This applies to me a lot of times, cuz I'm studying all kinds of sources
Speaker:for my gospel understanding, right?
Speaker:I'm trying to understand the old Testament.
Speaker:And that means I'm seeking a whole bunch of different sources.
Speaker:But what I have to do as I'm studying all these different resources is I make
Speaker:sure they align with the cornerstone.
Speaker:So that's why my notes are so full of prophetic quotes because
Speaker:I'll get an idea in my head.
Speaker:Sometimes it's my idea.
Speaker:Sometimes it's from a scholar or something and then I go out and I make
Speaker:sure that somebody who is an authority in the church has said something
Speaker:similar because then I know I'm aligned with the cornerstone cuz I know how,
Speaker:I mean, I don't know personally, but I can only imagine how many hours of
Speaker:time and prayer and fasting went into every one of those conference doc.
Speaker:So I feel like.
Speaker:If I can find a reference that's similar in conference, then I can feel assured
Speaker:that I'm on the right track and that the revelation I'm getting is, is
Speaker:gonna line me up with Jesus Christ.
Speaker:I think it's that cornerstone is really pivotal for us, not just in learning
Speaker:the gospel the first time, but in increasing our knowledge of the gospel.
Speaker:When you go a little bit further, he talks about his strange works.
Speaker:He phrases it that way.
Speaker:It's gonna later be called, you know, a marvelous work and a wonder,
Speaker:but we are part of that strange work that's gonna come forward.
Speaker:I love the word strange, cuz it implies that it's unexpected.
Speaker:It comes from an unexpected source.
Speaker:I think the savior exemplified this, right?
Speaker:He's the son of a carpenter.
Speaker:People said like, is this the guy from Nazareth?
Speaker:He it's a strange work, but it's his work.
Speaker:And then there is this beautiful analogy.
Speaker:I don't have time to go into it here.
Speaker:Um, but it talks about different seeds that are planted and
Speaker:how they are harvested.
Speaker:He's using this as a parable to teach us about.
Speaker:all of us are unique and we are planted differently.
Speaker:Do you remember when I talked to you about Jacob five and how, if you feel like
Speaker:you're planted in the farthest most awful part of the vineyard, that means he's
Speaker:been nourishing your soil the whole time.
Speaker:That's sort of what he's teaching here with a cumin in the fitches.
Speaker:These are different types of seeds that get planted in
Speaker:different parts of the field.
Speaker:And what he's trying to teach you is that they are, he treats
Speaker:each individual soul differently.
Speaker:So if you're planted in a rockier part of the field, it means you probably
Speaker:are gonna be harvested differently.
Speaker:The wheat that gets the most rich fertile ground of the whole field gets threshed.
Speaker:it's, it's a much harder process to get the seeds out than the Cuman or
Speaker:the fitches that are, that are planted in kind of the less desirable parts
Speaker:of the field, but are harvested G.
Speaker:I love this.
Speaker:There's a great devotional.
Speaker:I listened to it actually this summer when I was hiking and I didn't quite catch
Speaker:it, the understanding of it until this week when I was studying Isaiah again.
Speaker:So go in the notes.
Speaker:There's this BYU devotional that he talks about, understanding this in more detail,
Speaker:and I promise you're gonna love it.
Speaker:Across the top of chapter 29, I have a marvelous work.
Speaker:And a it's just amazing to me that, you know, almost like 3000 years before
Speaker:these prophecies are fulfilled, Isaiah is able to see them and capture them.
Speaker:He talks about things speaking forth from the ground voices coming up from the dust.
Speaker:And because of what we know with modern revelation, we know that this is the
Speaker:coming forth of the book of Mormon.
Speaker:And as we learn about this scattering and the fall of the children of
Speaker:Israel, we also see that same pattern in the book of Mormon.
Speaker:So he can kind of compares them in this chapter.
Speaker:He's talking about the knee fights and the Jaredites that sort of met a similar end
Speaker:and all of those voices are gonna come.
Speaker:It's one of the things I love about the way the Lord does things.
Speaker:I love that Morona is the one who brings the plates to Joseph Smith.
Speaker:Think about moron, holding those plates.
Speaker:Like I bet he grew up watching his dad compile them.
Speaker:I bet he saw all the stacks of plates in wherever Mormon kept them.
Speaker:And he watched his dad compile them over time and give his entire
Speaker:life to bring this word forward.
Speaker:So isn't it great that Morona who loves this book?
Speaker:Probably more than anyone else gets to hand it to Joseph that's what's
Speaker:coming forth out of the ground.
Speaker:It's not just a warning cry.
Speaker:It's a rejoicing that, okay.
Speaker:Now my father's words and my ancestors' words and all of those other prophets
Speaker:are coming forth and it is going to awake people from a deep sleep.
Speaker:That's what you see in verse 10, that there's this spirit of a deep sleep of
Speaker:aposty that's settled in on the world.
Speaker:And it's about to wake up.
Speaker:So that the way that wake up happens is the sealed book that comes forth.
Speaker:So this a lot of people reference, and again, it's bigger in the JST version,
Speaker:but they reference this with Martin Harris and Charles Anton, cuz he,
Speaker:he says, I can't read a sealed book.
Speaker:That's where, when we studied that in the doctor, incus, this
Speaker:is where those verses come from.
Speaker:And that's a beautiful way to read this, but I just have to teach
Speaker:you something that I learned from the spirit about sealed books.
Speaker:So just to get a little personal with you here, one of my most
Speaker:common prayers when Jason was first diagnosed was heavenly father.
Speaker:I need to know if he's gonna make it.
Speaker:And I know I talk about cancer all the time and I'm sorry for that,
Speaker:but that's the whole reason I'm in my scriptures all the time.
Speaker:um, I just needed to know, uh, because it, it was the hinge
Speaker:point on so many decisions.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Do I take a whole bunch of our money and put it towards
Speaker:this epic trip with our kids?
Speaker:Or do I take that money and put it towards their college?
Speaker:Cuz he's gonna be around a long time.
Speaker:Do I, you know, like I had all these decisions to wait in my
Speaker:head, how, how hard do we fight?
Speaker:What do we do?
Speaker:Um, and I just needed to know, is he gonna make it or is he not?
Speaker:And I couldn't get an answer.
Speaker:I couldn't get an answer over and over and over again.
Speaker:And it wasn't till I was studying about the book of Mormon and this
Speaker:understanding of a sealed book that the spirit taught me that there are some
Speaker:revelations that are simply sealed.
Speaker:What was hard for me about not getting an answer to that.
Speaker:As I started to doubt myself, I started to doubt my ability to receive revelation.
Speaker:I started to doubt my worthiness to receive revelation.
Speaker:So the further I got along that path and the more, I didn't get an answer to this
Speaker:big epic question, the more I was like, maybe it's because I didn't do scripture
Speaker:study last night, maybe it's cuz I probably should do my ministering better.
Speaker:Maybe, you know like, and you start to exhaust yourself thinking it's
Speaker:my fault that this book is sealed.
Speaker:What I learned from Joseph Smith's story is he was an incredibly virtuous
Speaker:good man who never got to crack the seal on those plates because it's
Speaker:a sealed book and it wasn't time for that knowledge to come forth.
Speaker:And that's how I felt about the revelation with Jason, this piece of revelation
Speaker:about how things will go, will be sealed.
Speaker:Once I understood that I felt relief that I just, he wants me to go on faith.
Speaker:He wanted me to choose to live righteously, no matter which
Speaker:end goal there was, he wants me just to do good and to be good.
Speaker:And it, then it won't matter, right.
Speaker:It doesn't matter how the end of the story plays out.
Speaker:If I choose to do good and to be good, then it will all
Speaker:work together for my good.
Speaker:So don't be afraid of sealed books.
Speaker:Uh, I think it's part of the plan, cuz we have to act on faith and I love that these
Speaker:verses reminded me of that revelation.
Speaker:There's also in 13, this warning about those who drawn near end
Speaker:to them, to him, with their lips, but their hearts are far from him.
Speaker:I, this is certainly a warning to the people in Isaiah's day and the
Speaker:saviors day and Joseph Smith's.
Speaker:In fact, the Xavier references this in the first vision, um, that the,
Speaker:the world is in this same state where people pretend to be close, but they're
Speaker:not actually close, but I think it's also a warning for us that sometimes
Speaker:we're going through the motions of the gospel, but our hearts just aren't.
Speaker:Deep, our hearts aren't fully engaged and he doesn't want that.
Speaker:In fact, it's one of the things I love about the Savior's character is
Speaker:that he wants a close relationship.
Speaker:He doesn't want a peripheral, you know, I know you, you know me, he wants closeness.
Speaker:And so his warning about hypocrisy and he always warns about hypocrisy.
Speaker:It's one of his big messages of his mortal ministry.
Speaker:And then he talks about the marvelous work.
Speaker:So around 14, this is when you start to see this.
Speaker:Bright burst of light in the verses about the goodness that is coming, that why
Speaker:is men shall perish that there will be knowledge that comes to the earth and
Speaker:all of it will become because of the love of Christ for his people and his
Speaker:desire to shine forth in the darkness.
Speaker:So as the book, a Mormon rolls forward, you see these blessings
Speaker:come everyone from like 17 to 24.
Speaker:This, these I've like written a big, you know, I don't know what, like a big
Speaker:parentheses on the side and talked about the blessings of the book of Mormon,
Speaker:cuz that's what comes, not just the book of Mormon, but as the keys are restored
Speaker:and the ceiling ordinances are restored.
Speaker:It's, it's this fullness of the gospel, the blessings that pour out there
Speaker:will be a fruit full field where there was before there, the blind shall
Speaker:see the meek will increase their joy.
Speaker:The poor among men will rejoice.
Speaker:The terrible one is brought to not we'll have a clearer vision of who the
Speaker:adversary is and he'll be weakened in his power because of the truthfulness
Speaker:of the book of Mormon that comes forth.
Speaker:I just loved it.
Speaker:In fact, if you look at 23 and 24, it talks about how understanding.
Speaker:those who are airing in their understandings will have clarity.
Speaker:And I think these are incredible promises.
Speaker:What I loved about them is sometimes I have a bit of holy envy for those
Speaker:who got to see the ministry of the savior on earth, to see him heal the
Speaker:blind, to see him make the lame walk.
Speaker:I wish I could have been there to watch that in person.
Speaker:What I love about this promise that you get in chapter 29 is that he's basically
Speaker:saying that as you help the book, a Mormon come forth, as you bring the
Speaker:fullness of the gospel to your family and your friends and your neighbors,
Speaker:you get to see these miracles occur.
Speaker:You get to see blind men.
Speaker:See for the first time you get to see the meek rejoice.
Speaker:You get to see those who are poor and afflicted find comfort.
Speaker:That's the promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker:So if you wish you could have seen the miracles of Jesus in his day, Watch
Speaker:them today, watch them physically happen in front of you as hearts
Speaker:and minds turned to their savior.
Speaker:For the first time, it's a beautiful promise.
Speaker:In 30, it goes even further.
Speaker:He's warning about the scattering and the gathering.
Speaker:So he talks about those who are taking counsel verse one just made me laugh,
Speaker:cuz it reminds me of being a parent to adult kids or older teenage kids that.
Speaker:Take counsel from any source, but not from me.
Speaker:that's kind of how I feel.
Speaker:Sometimes then they'll listen to me and they'll nod their head, but then
Speaker:they'll take their guidance from anyone that is not their parent.
Speaker:And that's just that age, right?
Speaker:I'm sure I was the same way, but they're, he's warning them about Egypt.
Speaker:They're leaning on Egypt as their wisdom source and their protection source.
Speaker:Instead of making alliances with God, like we talked about last week,
Speaker:they think Egypt is gonna save them.
Speaker:And of course it doesn't.
Speaker:In fact, you see in seven for the Egyptians shall
Speaker:help in vain to no purpose.
Speaker:Therefore I have cried concerning this.
Speaker:Their strength is to sit still.
Speaker:I think it's hard, especially with your own kids, as you see them
Speaker:turn to other sources for comfort.
Speaker:If they start to walk away from the truths that really can tie them to
Speaker:Jesus Christ, they turn to other sources of comfort, lots of different ones.
Speaker:It could be their work.
Speaker:It could be their education.
Speaker:It could be a pet.
Speaker:It could be who hosts what any other source.
Speaker:Uh, but they, all of those things simply sit still.
Speaker:They won't engage you.
Speaker:They won't help you grow.
Speaker:It is this.
Speaker:Warning.
Speaker:Don't sit still.
Speaker:Don't rely on a source that can't bring you strength.
Speaker:Then he gives Isaiah guidance that he needs to write these things down.
Speaker:I thought this was good guidance for me as a parent, because I think it's part
Speaker:of the reason I keep such extensive notes and even make these videos cause I feel
Speaker:like I want my kids to know my heart.
Speaker:I want their kids to know my heart.
Speaker:And I feel like if I capture it, if Jason and I work together and
Speaker:we capture this, even in, just in these few years, we have hope right,
Speaker:that this at least will be there.
Speaker:And I think that's what Isaiah felt to the thing he captures is about profits.
Speaker:So if you go 10, he says at the end of days, people will say to the Sears, see
Speaker:not, and to the prophets prophesy, not tell us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
Speaker:I loved those verses cuz I just sort of laughed at it.
Speaker:It's like making God in your own image.
Speaker:And I think we see this all the time in our world.
Speaker:There are people I just heard a podcast the other day that.
Speaker:From a faith filled perspective started to kind of say to the brethren you're
Speaker:in the way it was a big red flag to me and I couldn't listen anymore.
Speaker:Cause I, they were basically saying like, oh, if we could just educate the
Speaker:brethren on this one issue, they'd get out of the way the doctrine would change.
Speaker:And we'd be able to see the gospel more clearly what what's
Speaker:supposed to be the gospel.
Speaker:And then that to me was like, oh no, you just bypassed that
Speaker:cornerstone that we talked about.
Speaker:So there's warnings in there that you shouldn't seek smooth
Speaker:things from the prophets.
Speaker:You should never say to the prophets don't gimme advice.
Speaker:In fact, I want different advice because that causes a breach.
Speaker:So, as you can see, this breach is talked about in 13, that basically
Speaker:he uses the metaphor of a wall that's crumbling and has a big crack in it.
Speaker:And that at some point in time, it's gonna break forth.
Speaker:It's gonna crumble and fall apart.
Speaker:This literally happens to the children of Israel as the walls of Jerusalem crumble.
Speaker:And eventually, you know, they have to come back and restore
Speaker:the walls like we studied, but he's warning about that happening
Speaker:spiritually in our lives as well.
Speaker:Neil E Marriot has a great talk on this.
Speaker:She talks about repairing the breach.
Speaker:So go in the notes, seeing find that one.
Speaker:I loved it.
Speaker:Um, as.
Speaker:At the second part of chapter 30, you'll see these promises of, if you're obedient,
Speaker:here are the blessings that come.
Speaker:So for me, I actually circled these and I linked them together like 18 and 19.
Speaker:I chain linked together 20 and 21, 22 and 23.
Speaker:They talk about something you should be obedient in.
Speaker:And then the blessings that come.
Speaker:So in 18, if you're wait on the Lord and you're gracious, the promise that
Speaker:comes in 19 is you'll weep no more.
Speaker:You'll be a part of Zion.
Speaker:If you partake of the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,
Speaker:I loved those word choices.
Speaker:If you choose to endure it.
Speaker:Well, basically the promise that comes is that you will hear
Speaker:words behind you saying walk.
Speaker:This is the way walkie in it.
Speaker:When you choose to.
Speaker:Follow the path he puts before you, no matter how hard it is, the promise
Speaker:is you'll have guidance along the way.
Speaker:You'll have words behind you saying you're on the right track and why
Speaker:doesn't every one of us want that 22 and 23 is if you set aside grave images,
Speaker:not just images in their day, but our idols things we worship in place of God
Speaker:are things we put in between ourselves and our bigger testimony that we need.
Speaker:If you set those aside, then there's rain that's coming.
Speaker:This is that living water.
Speaker:That's gonna make seeds grow and make your crops plentiful.
Speaker:That's the promise.
Speaker:He's offering you go a little further in 26 and he talks about the light of
Speaker:the moon and how, when he comes again, that the light of the moon will be like
Speaker:the light of the sun and the light of the sun will be even bigger than it is.
Speaker:I think this is the light of Christ just pouring out, but not just
Speaker:because it's beaming out from him because he fills other people with it.
Speaker:I think before the savior comes again, as hearts turn to Jesus Christ, you
Speaker:will see an outpouring of spiritual gifts, miracles, things that people
Speaker:see that they hadn't seen before.
Speaker:I think it's the nature of Christ to fill us with light and
Speaker:that's gonna create brightness.
Speaker:All over the place.
Speaker:These pockets that we talked about before are gonna start to come together.
Speaker:The forest gets thinner and thinner and the pockets get bigger and bigger.
Speaker:And we rejoice in the light that's coming, and then you're gonna sing this song.
Speaker:That's the end of this chapter is he talks about a song of holy celebrity is coming.
Speaker:And then my favorite part in 30 is that the Lord shall cause
Speaker:his glorious voice to be heard.
Speaker:He will be part of this song and we will rejoice in it together.
Speaker:That takes you to the end of third.
Speaker:If you're looking for a message of peace and hope and rejoicing
Speaker:do not miss chapter 35, this is.
Speaker:The promises of the restoration that will come forth, that the
Speaker:desert will blossom as rose.
Speaker:There's a bunch of verses in here that are gonna be familiar
Speaker:to, and they're powerful.
Speaker:Honestly, I marked almost every single one to talk about, but
Speaker:we're gonna be out of time.
Speaker:I just love the message of it.
Speaker:It has a lot of literal applications.
Speaker:Like we saw the desert of, you know, the salt lake valley blossom, as
Speaker:rose, as the saints came in to, you know, to live here, we use, you're
Speaker:gonna see it in many manifestations.
Speaker:My favorite is on a spiritual level though.
Speaker:I feel like there's a lot of hard things that all of us are gonna experience.
Speaker:And the promise is whatever spiritual desert you feel like you're walking in.
Speaker:If you come to him and partake more fully of the gospel of Jesus
Speaker:Christ, you participate in this restoration that is occurring.
Speaker:Your deserts will blossom.
Speaker:I love that promise.
Speaker:I just think there's power in understanding that that's not
Speaker:something we have to wait till the end of time to happen.
Speaker:Personally, individually, my deserts can blossom right now.
Speaker:If I turn to the Lord, especially as I participate in the, the works
Speaker:of the restoration, I participate in the work of gathering the dead.
Speaker:I participate in studying the book of Mormon and understanding its teachings.
Speaker:I participate with my priesthood leaders and I learn from their teachings.
Speaker:All those things will help my deserts blossom.
Speaker:When you go a little further, you see one of the most epic promises of
Speaker:this restoration that will happen, that they shall see the glory of the
Speaker:Lord and the excellency of our God.
Speaker:I don't know that this necessarily means all people will see God.
Speaker:Um, during this restoration phase, what it means is that we will see.
Speaker:Who he is, will see God more clearly because we have not just the Bible,
Speaker:but also the book Mormon and the doctrine covenants and the poorly
Speaker:great price to round out our vision of who God is and how much he loves us.
Speaker:So then he gives us strength, right?
Speaker:He says our work right here.
Speaker:I think at the beginning, he's talking about his work is to have
Speaker:this great restoration occur.
Speaker:Our work starts around verse three, where he says your job is to strengthen
Speaker:the weekends, confirm the feeble needs be strong, fear not speak good.
Speaker:That's the message I got out of this was our job is to help people see
Speaker:the restoration to be this light.
Speaker:So the other people will it'll catch their eye and they'll be
Speaker:like, what is making you so joyful?
Speaker:Why do you feel this way?
Speaker:Despite your adversities?
Speaker:Tell me more about your church.
Speaker:That's the message that he's trying to get us to underst.
Speaker:and then you'll see these same miracles, just like we talked about.
Speaker:If you missed the miracles of Jesus in his mortal ministry, this is
Speaker:where you get to see them play out.
Speaker:As you help people turn to Christ, you see eyes that were blind start
Speaker:to see and wilderness break out.
Speaker:In fact, I love what you see in six.
Speaker:It says that we're gonna start to sing because the wilderness will break out.
Speaker:The reason the wilderness shifts is because of the waters that come.
Speaker:We've made a lot of references to this lately, but these living waters that
Speaker:naturally come up out of the earth and spring forth to heal all things.
Speaker:Wilderness is the opposite of garden.
Speaker:So when you think of the garden of Eden, when they reference wilderness,
Speaker:it means the opposite of a garden.
Speaker:It means there is.
Speaker:There's parched earth and it needs nourishment and these
Speaker:waters are gonna break forth and will never be pulled back again.
Speaker:So then seven, the parched ground will become a pool, the
Speaker:thirsty land Springs of water.
Speaker:Then he talks about this highway.
Speaker:We've referenced this a couple weeks in a row now, but as this gathering has
Speaker:to occur, there has to be this highway.
Speaker:Remember he referenced a highway being the, the road that goes
Speaker:between the big waves of the red sea.
Speaker:That's the highway.
Speaker:These miraculous openings for people to come to Christ will be available.
Speaker:I think every time we see a big step forward in like family search and how you
Speaker:can index and all those things, those are highways opening up so that more people
Speaker:can access these saving ordinances.
Speaker:I there's a lot of application, but that's just one of them.
Speaker:And then he promises that on this highway, which aren't gonna be
Speaker:any dangers there that it will be the redeemed that walk there.
Speaker:Those who understand those who are willing to come will have
Speaker:safe passage through these.
Speaker:Big waves, uh, on this highway and that they shall obtain joy and gladness.
Speaker:And at the very end of 10 sorrow and Zion, Chale away as we go along this
Speaker:highway, as we rejoice together and we sing as we come to understand the fullness
Speaker:of the restoration and what a blessing it is to be planted in this vineyard.
Speaker:At this time, we will have joy.
Speaker:We'll have gladness, no matter what our circumstances are.
Speaker:We will have our sorrow fade and our sighing flee.
