Book of Mormon Papers - a series of posts
containing papers I wrote for a
BYU Religion class my freshman year of college.
(Note: It’s ironic that I just wrote about how Isaiah has been on my mind – since I’ve been trying to slog through Isaiah in the Book of Mormon – and then here I come to post the next Book of Mormon paper and it’s about Isaiah. Maybe I need to pull out my Old Testament seminary manual or institute manual and have it by my bedside so I can get something out of Isaiah this time around. I actually love Isaiah, but I don’t always understand it without having to do tons of research, which is time consuming, and I read my Book of Mormon right before bed which doesn’t leave time for a lot of research. I usually read a page or two and write my thoughts in the margins. My scripture study usually comes during the day, and that’s when I do some major researching. But I keep feeling bugged to study Isaiah, so I think I’m going to have to start sooner rather than later… I’ve been putting it off so that I can finish my study of the Character of Christ in the gospels, so either I need to hurry up and finish my study of the gospels, or I need to postpone that and jump head first into Isaiah… )
The words of Isaiah are valuable sources of plain and precious truths of the gospel. When Nephi quoted Isaiah he included many prophesies of Christ’s first and second comings. What are some of the important things that Isaiah prophesied concerning the coming of Christ and what do these things mean? Isaiah prophesied of the destruction that would come to the wicked and the saving of the righteous and the peace that would come from Christ’s reign.
The fate of the wicked, or those members of the great and abominable church, has been compared by prophets to several tragic historical incidences. Isaiah relates the destruction of Assyria as a type for the destruction of the wicked during the second coming. Isaiah prophesied that the Lord would “punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.”(2 Nephi 20:12) Assyria was destroyed because of the worldliness of its people, and so shall the members of the great and abominable church be destroyed at the second coming of Christ.
When Isaiah prophesied of Christ’s birth he prophesied that Christ should be called “Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” (2 Nephi 19:12) The peace that will come from the Savior is everlasting and will dwell upon those who are righteous at the day of his coming. The Lord said “O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid…” (2 Nephi 20:24) The Lord will destroy those who contend against His people, and he will leave them with an everlasting peace. The state of the earth during the reign of Christ will be peaceful and righteous when “the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and fatling together and a little child shall lead them.” (2 Nephi 21:6)
Innocence, peace, and righteousness will characterize the world while Christ reigns, and those who are righteous at His coming will be spared to live at that time, while the wicked will be destroyed according to the prophesies of Isaiah and the word of the Lord.
What do the prophecies of Isaiah mean to you? How do you “liken” Isaiah to yourself?
My vote: take a break from the Character of Christ study, and get into Isaiah, because you'll get even more out of the return to the first study with Isaiah more comfortably under your belt.
ReplyDeleteI love Isaiah. His writings are, to me, confirmation that Heavenly Father has, in the past, imparted to individuals the knowledge of all things, and those individuals struggled mightily to distill the message and meaning for us. I'm hoping I get to meet him in the post-mortal realms, and talk to him about the amazing poetry he used to share it all with us.
I love Isaiah, for some reason I always have. I love how in the latter chapters he emphasizes that the Lord is forgiving to those who repent. It starts out kind of doom and gloom but the recurrent theme is repent! To me it is saying no one is perfect and there is salvation for everyone that is willing to repent. It reiterated how loving the Lord actually is, no matter how hardened an individuals heart has become, or how corrupt and bad they have been there is always hope. You need only take control of your own destiny and thoughts and repent, do whatever you need to do to become pure again and get back on the path. I think it is a beautiful message. I know that he is talking about Judah, I think its Judah I don't have it right here, but I see so many parrallels to our society today. I have been feeling really bad lately about the state of things, especially involving politics. Maybe it is because its an election year so its all being reported on more, I have no clue. For me, and I have no doubt that most of the people on this blog will disagree with me which is fine, but I feel like Satan has almost taken over the politics in our country. To me it is in the form of the Republican Party, or Tea Party, Conservatism. My criticism goes for our current President as well, to me he acts too conservative. They are all one big mess, both political parties! I feel so hopeless when I think about it. Then I am reminded that there is always hope, pretty awesome really. Okay I got it out read Isaiah 53:5-12, talking about the saviors sacrifice. One thing I do, and I learned this from my Mother, is listen to this on CD while cleaning or doing other things. I find that if I am listening to scripture on CD, or my Mother has it on her I pod, while I am doing things they seem to click or make more sense, or I'll have those a ha moments. Maybe it is something to do with listening while doing boring menial tasks like housework I don't know but maybe give it a try? Maybe while your kids are down for their nap?
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