Hey everybody.

Welcome back.

This is creative.

Come follow me for the old Testament.

Week 37, where we kick off our study of Isaiah.

And I know you have mixed feelings, probably.

So what did I, but I gotta tell you, after this week of praying and

studying my guts out, I can't wait to teach you these 12 chapters.

There are so many little bits of beauty.

You're just gonna be overwhelmed by them.

Hopefully I have time to get to all of them.

You can go into the history about Isaiah at the beginning of the notes.

I'm not gonna spend a lot of time in, in that here.

Um, but you can find out a whole bunch in the notes.

He's basically a prophet who was a prophet to Northern and Southern

Israel for four different Kings.

So for a long period of time, he's not a prophet in the wilderness.

He's a prophet who's kind of at court and often has the King's ear, but the

Kings don't necessarily listen to him.

Some do some don't.

And we're gonna hear about a lot of those today.

The best visual I can give you for what the book of Isaiah is all about.

At least this, these 12 chapter.

We have this road between my house and Jason's parents' house.

They live in midway.

We live in Draper and there's this canyon road.

That's only opened some of the year and my kids call it the nature way, cuz

it's not paved and it's kind of windy and they tend to get sick and it, but

it's just this beautiful mountain pass.

To get from one side of the mountain to the other.

And on part of this canyon road, there is this big stretch of

forest that is completely burned.

And I wondered if there was some natural disaster that had happened

and found out later that it was actually a controlled burn that the,

they intended that burned to happen so that new growth could come up.

That's how I read Isaiah, especially these 12 chapters.

It is all about.

There will be a destruction that is coming to the children of Israel because of their

choices, because they've abandoned God, there will be this burning that occurs.

Isaiah is there to warn them that it's happening so that those who can hear him

and can decipher his words can get out.

And those who choose to stay will in experience the burning, but

the beautiful part of Isaiah.

He speaks like a parent.

His whole purpose is to teach about the new growth that is coming.

So even though there will be this burning, the same way that forest that I drive

through looks awful right now in a few years, new growth will shoot up because

they've taken out all the brush and all the extra, and now there's space

and nourishment in the soil so that new growth can come so much of what Isaiah

teaches is about the savior, who will.

Who will restore, who will bring light and life and new growth.

He also talks about the restoration phase, where the restoration

of the gospel will happen.

This second time around will hear the gospel in its fullness.

We'll have a chance for new growth.

And then of course, the millennial reign of the savior where we'll see

all of that kind of come to fruition.

So you wanna keep that visual in your mind that that's Isaiah's purpose.

His job is to warn the people about the burning and also to promise about the

new growth that is coming down the road.

One of the biggest endorsements you'll get for the book of Isaiah

comes from the savior himself when he says great, are the words of Isaiah.

Nefi is another one who I love.

In fact, I love the way Nefi talks about Isaiah.

If you go, and second Nefi, you can see a bunch of em, I'll give you the references

in the notes, but he saw the savior and he, I imagine had a really hard time

describing what that experience was like.

And I wonder if.

Because Isaiah saw the savior and he was only a hundred years apart from

Nefi they bonded Nefi loved his words.

I think, cuz Nefi understood how hard it is to describe something.

So divine with such limited mortal words.

And I just think he must have marveled at Isaiah's.

Artistry in it.

So watch for that.

He does mention that it's hard to understand, but the other thing that

NFI talks about this is an 11, eight.

He talks about how in the latter days we'll have a better understanding

of Isaiah than many others.

Most of that I think comes from the fact that the book of Mormon will

have come forth and the doctrine in covenants and the priesthood keys.

But I also think a big piece of it comes from the fact that we have

lots of scholars who have studied it.

We have lots of books, you can buy things.

You can study, you can go on Google earth and figure out what

the land of Israel looks like.

And all those tools are at your disposal.

But I would tell you that the biggest two tools that helped me this week to

study Isaiah is one to look for Jesus Christ, seek him out in every chapter.

What am I learning about the savior?

Not just that he lives, but that he loves me watch for that in

everything, every single chapter.

The second thing I would tell you is to watch for your stewardship.

If you are going into this, week's study with questions about the things you are

in control over my own family, my own callings, my ministry, all those things.

If I'm thinking and praying and questioning those things.

And then I open Isaiah spiritual promptings come,

it was harder for me to try.

Be a scholar in a wide sense.

If I just narrowed down to heavenly father, how's this gonna help my family?

What does this do for me then?

Promptings came.

So keep those two things in mind.

Open up your scriptures, open up the notes, get rid of any apprehension you

have, cuz I'm telling you I got you.

This is gonna be a good week.

All right, let's get started.

Isaiah.

One is sort of an introduction and an overview to the entire book.

In fact, a lot of scholars believe that it's sort of like Dr.

I covenants one that may have even been written much later and then

was added as like a preface or a summary of what you're going to see.

I'm not sure which of those are true, but I do feel like there's

just this overarching theme of.

Let me tell you the damage that I see the Lord is coming like a

physician to the children of Israel.

And he's talking about.

The incredible damage that he can see that they can't see what it reminded me of.

And this is gonna be me oversharing.

Uh, when I was a younger mom, I went for about 10 years

without going to the dentist.

I don't have a really good excuse for this other than the fact that I was.

Embarrassed.

I don't know how to . So I knew things were not doing great in my mouth, but

I was so busy with six kids and we had all kinds of troubles and we moved a

lot and I just didn't make time for it.

And then by the time I knew I needed to go, I was so embarrassed that I

was that mom, that like took her kids to the dentist when everyone herself.

And so by the time I actually went, I was like, I had a, okay.

I'm just gonna tell you.

I had a tooth break in half in the back of my.

and I had to, so then I was like, okay, I have to go in.

There's no choice.

So I went in and I on the form that you fill out in the lobby

wrote down how embarrassed I was.

And the dentist who came to talk to me was so kind, uh, he had to explain

to me all the damage that was there.

We did the x-rays, we did the whole thing and he sort of laid out for me.

Okay, Maria.

What I see, here's the things we need to take care of.

And here's the plan.

And that's sort of what I see with chapter one.

The Lord is coming to a people who have forgotten him and they're breaking

down and he's trying to say, let me show you how far gone you really are.

So he pleads with them to hear the way he pleads with them is

cuz he speaks through his prophet.

Isaiah.

So Isaiah hears.

He is inviting everyone to hear.

In fact, if you look in verse two, he says here O heavens and give ear O earth.

The Lord has spoken this great physician has seen the damage and he's he's

giving counsel and they need to hear it.

and then he talks about how he's nourished them.

I love that line into, he talks about nourishing.

It reminds me of what you read in Jacob five about the vineyard and

how he nourished it all the time.

He's been nourishing this children of Israel group for generations,

and they've turned against him.

In fact, at the end of two, they have rebelled against me.

Uh, when you go down into four, you see that it's beyond.

Not just listening anymore.

Now they're starting to go backwards.

So not only are they not progressing on the covenant

path, they're receding along it.

And we are divinely programmed to progress.

Our joy comes from progress.

I think that's why the children and youth program puts so much emphasis

on goals and making steady progress.

Cuz that's where joy comes from and they're suffering cuz they're receding.

Another thing you'll see is his initial diagnosis.

So in five and six he asks.

Why will you be stricken anymore?

I wonder if they are like me right before the tooth broke.

where, where they just don't see the damage and they don't even wanna think

about it and they don't wanna look at it.

And he's saying there is so much damage.

In fact, if you look at six from the soul of the foot, even to

the head, there is no soundness.

You're completely decaying the wounds, the bruises, the tifying source.

They have not been closed.

Neither bound.

To a God who loves to heal and to bind up wounds.

This must have been an incredibly hard thing to see that his children are

suffering and he has the treatment and they won't accept it, but that's

Isaiah's job is to remind them of where they can find healing.

It's interesting cuz the.

When you go a little further, you see that they're still going through the

motions of being a righteous people.

So from like 11 to 15, to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices?

Me, they're still making sacrifices.

They still have some semblance of a temple, although it's

become distorted and he's asking.

Why I, you know, like it's, it's essentially like taking your kids and

saying we don't watch TV on Sundays, but then not doing anything good in its place.

we probably all had those Sundays where he's basically saying, why

do you make these sacrifices?

If, if none of your heart is in it, I loved this concept, especially if you

read it alongside elder Oak doors, talk from conference where he talked about

sacrifice and consecration, both are good.

Both are holy sacrifice is good, but only if you fill up your time,

Something worthwhile you consecrate your time towards something.

Good.

So if you look in the advice he gets from Isaiah, it's similar, where he says in

15, basically they're making sacrifices and their hands are full of blood.

Cuz the sacrifices aren't holy there there's no heart behind it.

So he gives them advice.

16 wash you make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before your.

Cease to do evil.

That's the sacrifice.

The consecration comes in 17.

Learn to do well.

It's not enough to just stop doing bad things.

Do good as much.

Good as you can seek judgment, get correction from me so that we can

fix this learn to do well the same way the dentist doesn't just leave

me and take out all the cavities.

He fills them up and he gives me advice on how to not go another

decade without seeing him.

That's what happens.

And then I love 18 come now and let us reason together.

I've always read that as like a Becking of like come now and let us reason.

I honestly read it this time.

And it was like an exclamation point was after the, now it was

come now, now fix this the same way.

When the dentist finally did talk to me, it was.

No, you need to fix this tomorrow.

We're scheduling an appointment tomorrow.

it's time to get the ball rolling.

And that's what I think he's pleading with us to do as well.

There's no time to delay.

There's no time to wait.

Before we get back into scripture study, before we get back to the temple come now.

And if you come now, right when that prompting hits, the

promises are powerful though.

The skin sins be as Scarlet, they shall be white as snow.

Remember their hands were covered with this red blood, this

sacrifice that meant nothing.

And he's saying.

I promise I can make those sacrifices worth it.

If you will consecrate to me, if you will seek to do good.

And that's what he's asking them to do.

The big crux of it is in 19.

If you be willing and obedient, he shall eat of the good of the land.

Even though they've Faren fallen so far off this path, he is inviting

them to return if you're just willing.

And you're just obedient.

Same way when I had, I just had to show up for every appointment I had to swallow my

pride and I just had to get back on track.

That's the promise.

If I just follow through, he'll do the bulk of the work and

things can be cleaned again.

So you'll see all of that in that chapter.

And it's so.

When you go a little bit further, you're gonna see some guidance

about the cycle of aposty.

I'm not gonna go into it here, but it is in the notes.

If you wanna learn a little bit more, but he talks about the sins

that are happening, the cleansing that will inevitably need to occur.

And then the restoration and the judgment, it, it applies to Isaiah's day.

It applies to the restoration time.

It applies to the latter days.

Lots of fulfillments on that one, but that'll take it to the end of chapter.

Isaiah chapter two is where Nephi's writings kick off.

So we don't have chapter one in second Nefi, but starting at chapter

two, and then all the way to 12, you have all of this almost word

for word in the book of Mormon.

So that, that means I'm gonna focus a lot in these chapters, but I love the

way he compares Zion and the temple.

To being in the tops of mountains.

I love it because I'm a hiker . And so in two and three, you're gonna see

this invitation for people to come and enjoy this ascent up at the mountain.

So two says that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established

in the top of the mountains.

There's lots of cool latter day application for people seeing the

temple in, in, you know, the Rocky mountains as, as an application of this.

But I love what you also see in three, it says, and many people

shall go and shall say, Comey and let us go to the mountain of Lord.

I love this cuz this is what I do.

so I'll try a new hike.

I'll test something new.

And then the first thing I wanna do is bring somebody else the next time.

Cause I'm like you guys it's great.

The views are so beautiful.

And what you have to explain to people who are not really hikers is that.

They're gonna see something gorgeous, but they're gonna come back and it's not so

much about getting to a great destination.

It's about what happens to you in the process of going on this hike?

I get sweaty.

I get tired.

Whoever I've been fighting with in my family that morning, I tend

to forget about like, I can just, I go up and down the mountain,

but I don't come back the same.

And I think that's the same intent with the temple.

We are supposed to go there to partake of the goodness of God and

then go out and then share that goodness with as many people as

we can in as many ways as we can.

It's kinda like what we're gonna read about in EZQ in Ezio.

When we read about the river that comes out of the temple and nourishes all the

land, that's what he is asking us to do.

When I read verse three, I think of president.

Nelson's talk about positive spiritual momentum.

It's this, like, it's not enough to do it for yourself.

You've gotta link arms with your family and your friends and be like, let's go.

We're gonna go learn in the house of the Lord.

I also love the millennial millennial promise in four.

This is where you see that they're gonna take swords and they're

gonna turn them into plow shares.

They're gonna take Spears and turn them into pruning hooks.

And for some reason, this time when I read it, I thought about the new

Testament, how the savior takes fishermen.

And he, he takes all those skills they developed and he

turns them into fishers of men.

And I imagine there were a lot of the talents they developed and

the core attributes that actually helped them be good fishers of men.

So I think millennially a lot of the.

Mortal skills that we are learning right now will bless us.

Then he'll just take those occupations that we have, and he'll

turn our Spears into pruny hook.

He'll find a way to take whatever your talents are and whatever your

education is, and turn it into a tool for gathering teaching.

And I can't wait to see what it comes up with.

I also love what you find in five.

This is when he says, oh, house of Jacob, come me and let us

walk in the light of the Lord.

The light of the Lord is a brilliant radiant force.

And if you are living righteously, it is a warm blow . If you are off, it's

hard at first, it's kind of like if you've stepped out of a movie theater

and out into the parking lot and you're kind of jarred, um, it's that same feel.

It's what I felt when I walked into the dentist office that day, all of a sudden

all of my weaknesses were exposed and I.

Embarrassed and it was hard.

And that's what the light of the Lord feels like.

Sometimes what I love is in the middle of this phrase is let us

walk in the light of the Lord.

That means somebody's linking my arm and they know this is gonna be hard.

All of a sudden you're gonna see every weakness and vulnerability, and it's

gonna be hard, but let us walk together.

I promise it's worth it by the end.

You'll want to be in the light of the Lord, but I think it helps me as a

parent, cuz sometimes as I'm inviting my kids to come closer to Jesus.

It, it makes them feel vulnerable and exposed.

that light is.

He's hard sometimes.

That's why I think we have to do it together.

So I love that.

It, it says, let us go, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Okay.

Flip the page.

There's even more, when you go into six through nine ish, that's when

he's advising them to drop magic.

This is where he starts talking a little bit about pride and how

they have to humble themselves.

For me.

I see these two pages of scripture as kind of linked together.

So on in the idea, two frame, he's giving warnings about pride and he's

talking about all the things that.

Generally males rely in.

So he talks about warfare.

He talks about towers and ships and things that men build in order to feel secure.

Again, this is men in Isaiah's day.

What are things they would build to make them feel secure, especially if

they've lost a connection to the Lord.

And then he invites them in 22 CC from.

This is drop the natural man.

All of these fortifications that you're building will crumble.

In fact, they're gonna battle the ASSR and literally all

of these things will crumble.

So Isaiah's trying to warn them that it's coming three is when you see, I

think the female equivalent of that.

So when you jump into three.

He's talking a little bit about how they're gonna scramble around and

have wounds that can't be healed, cuz they've learned to rely on

sources that can actually help them.

So you'll see that around verse seven, um, he talks about their

countenance being fallen in nine and then their lack of charity.

This is where it kind of.

Shifted for me.

So if you look around 12, their leaders have stopped helping them.

In fact, they're destroying the paths that they used to walk on.

And 15 is where you see their lack of charity hit what me?

Me, that you beat my people to pieces and grind the faces of the poor

sayeth the Lord, God of hosts 16.

Moreover the Lord sayeth because of the daughter's designer, hot and walk

with stretch forth next and want an eyes walking and mincing as they go

and making a tinkling with their.

this to me is approaching the female side of pride.

We each have different strengths and weaknesses, both genders.

So I feel like you get both and it's not like this is exclusively

something that women deal with any more than ships and fortifications or

something exclusively men deal with.

But I did like the comparison of the two he talks about when you start to rely

on these things, being the source of your confidence, whatever I can put on

whatever I can look like I become weak.

I really feel like the two verses are tied together, that their lack of

charity actually led them to become more.

Self focused.

They started to think about their own worth, that was on the outside

and stopped focusing on others.

And what happens is they lose their bravery.

So if you see an 18 in that day, the Lord will take away their bravery.

He's gonna strip them of all these things that will make them think things are fine.

Uh, he's gonna take all those things away until they realize how

little substance they have left.

It's the contrast of the tooth I thought was really interesting.

If you look, if you've ever watched like the hungry games movie, So they, they show

the capital that has this opulence and excess and fancy jewelry and fancy makeup.

And then they show all the different districts, you know,

that are poor and living like it looks depression era almost.

And it's the contrast that's so glaring.

And I think that's, what's offending God in this chapter as well.

That.

there, there is a mighty contrast in the land of Israel.

They've forgotten the poor.

They're not caring for the widow or the fatherless, and they're putting all their

effort into this shell that can't last.

And eventually by the end of chapter three, you see that they become desolate.

This is a prophecy that will happen in Isaiah's time.

And in the latter times that all those things that we've built up

to try and build our bravery on we'll disintegrate before our eyes.

And by the end, you'll sit on the ground.

DEC.

In chapters four and five of Isaiah, the tone shifts a little bit.

If you picture Isaiah, following that metaphor of the controlled burn.

If Isaiah is basically like the forest ranger who comes out and says, Hey, we're

doing a controlled burn in this area.

Please get everything out.

And you know, this is the day it's gonna happen.

Trust me, it's coming.

Those who listened.

Escaped.

They, they leave the area and that's what you see in verse two, that

there are some who will escape.

Again.

This is talking mostly about the millennial day, but I think

there's lots of applications.

And, and then he talks about the piece that they find if they did escape,

if they left all of that wickedness and chose to turn to the Lord.

They'll be washed.

So if you see that they'll those in Zion who are left in Zion in four, when the

Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and shall have

purged the blood of Jerusalem from the MI thereof, by the spirit of judgment and

by the spirit of burning, there's this.

That burning phase happened and he acknowledges that it happened,

but all those who escaped get this beautiful blessing.

So in five and the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount

Zion and upon her assemblies, a cloud of smoke by day and a, and

a shining of flaming fire by night for all the glory can be a defense.

I love this visual after what we studied with Moses and the children

of Israel, this cloud of covering that represents the Lord's presence

is promised to be over every dwelling.

The reason I thought this was so powerful is when you layer it on

top of what president Nelson taught us about our role, specifically as

parents and mothers in Israel is to create these places of refuge.

If you go in the notes, you can read his bigger quote, but he

invites us to create these places of refuge and that if we create.

Then this protective cloud can come.

Those are not his words.

That's me kind of layering other things on top of it, but he does promise protection.

He promises in times of trouble.

You will have a place of peace and refuge for your family.

I think sometimes we flip this.

We tend to think, okay, when the Lord comes again, I'm gonna have a place where

I can build a safe place for my family and what the scriptures are teaching.

And what Isaiah was trying to teach us is no, no, you build that dwelling.

You get out of the place where the fires coming.

You.

A different way and you build your home the best you can, and he will

come and seal it, protect it and give it this gauzy cloud of peace.

That's the promise.

You'll have a place of refuge.

That's what you see at the end in verse six.

When you go a little further into five, you see a parable of sorts it

again, it's kind of like Jacob five in Zen's allegory of the olive tree.

That's in the book of Warman.

He talks about a friend who's coming to a very fruitful hill.

That that part I think is important.

So highlight that in verse one, this is land that should produce beautifully.

Um, and the vineyard keeper decides to do a whole bunch

of things to prepare to plant.

So.

Puts, he takes all the stones out.

He builds hedges.

He builds a tower.

He builds a wine press so that everybody is clear on.

What's the goal of this vineyard.

It's not just gonna be a pretty Napa valley wedding spot.

It's gonna be a place that produces.

Exquisite wine.

And everybody's supposed to know that.

And then something strange happens despite all his effort and all

his work, it produces wild grapes.

That's what you see in four wild grapes means bitter grapes.

They can't be used for wine.

And then just like we saw in Jacob five, the vineyard keeper

says, what could I have done more?

he, he did everything he could to help it reminded.

I guess maybe it made me grateful, cuz I feel like before the Lord planted me

in this stewardship, this incredibly good stewardship where he planted

me, he prepared a hundred things, probably an infinite number of things.

He removed stones, he built hedges, he built tower, so

that I'd have access to help.

He, he gave me all these things that I probably will never

appreciate the fullness of.

And if I choose to become bitter, if I choose to turn away from that, then slowly

he starts to take those things away.

So that's what you're gonna see.

Starting around verse five.

He says, I, I guess I can't make what I hope to make of you.

So I'm gonna start to remove all those things I built.

I think it's really interesting that he doesn't just like torch the vineyard he

doesn't do anything really dramatic here.

He just takes away his fortifications and because of the natural

man's state of this vineyard.

Vines grow weeds, grow thistles grow, and everything gets overwhelmed.

This is a metaphor for Israel, but it's totally a metaphor for our lives.

When we turn against the commandments, he will remove those from us.

We're not compelled to keep any commandments.

Uh, we just get to choose it.

And if we don't choose it, then those are slowly pulled away

and we get the resulting fruit.

That's what we'll find.

So his pleasant plant, as he phrases it in verse seven.

Becomes this suffocated sad residue.

Remember, this is Isaiah though.

So he's never gonna end there.

He's gonna say, but that plant has seeds and that can still thrive again.

It just didn't thrive this time.

This is children in Israel.

We're talking about, he talks about in nine and 10, that

this, there it's a production.

It it's an analogy that talks about how much.

Yield they're getting out of this crop.

And not only did it not produce the amount of fruit that the vineyard

keep was hoping it would, but it also kind of goes backwards.

It consumes the fruit that it should have produced and it, nothing comes out of it.

This, I think applies to us a lot in our day, cuz I felt

like this in the new Testament.

I gotta be completely honest.

When come home me started in 2019.

I was.

Fully on board.

I just I'll tell you about the whole story some other time, but, uh, I

didn't do a great job, be honest.

Um, and I feel like I reaped the rewards of that.

My family didn't feel connected to the scriptures.

I didn't feel connection to the scriptures I didn't put much in, so I

certainly didn't get a whole lot out in 2020 when I shifted and started

really caring about come follow me.

All of a sudden, my vineyard.

TA changed it, it was all about what I did differently and how my family supported

it, that that made things change.

So look around your vineyards and see where there is a, a lack of fruit

and see what you do differently.

It was powerful for me, as I was thinking about that.

Another thing I'll see, when you go a little further, is

that why it's not productive?

So if you go in 12, they were garden out the work of the Lord 13.

They end up in captivity because they have no knowledge.

So much of his words have been focused on building knowledge and now it's lacking.

And of course they're, Withing because of it.

When you flip the page, there's a little bit more, it talks

about these chords of inequity.

I think what he's trying to say is that those in Israel are sort of pretending

to cut ties with their sin, but sort of dragging them along behind them.

, you know, it's like if you've ever had one of those newly or those new parents

who they don't wanna take away the kids' whole blanket, so they cut up.

Piece of it, let the kid carry that in their pocket forever.

It's that kind of idea.

Um, and he, what's interesting is they start to think that they're

gonna have the blessings anyway.

So in 19 they say, let him make speed and Hasting his work that we might see it.

They fully believed because of the Divi covenant.

The promise that somebody from the line of David would always be on the throne.

That they didn't really have to worry or even really live righteously

because there's this promise out there.

Um, but he says then very powerful words in 20 and 21 woe unto unto them that call

evil good and go to evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness, bitter

for sweet and sweet for bitter wo unto them than are wise in their own eyes.

This is an incredible, powerful message for all of us.

We all fall into this trap.

I think, especially in our day today, there are many people who are calling evil

good, and who are deeply offended that anyone even pretends that there is evil.

And I think every one of our.

Apostles and prophets who are speaking today are inviting us to stand for

something, to stand up for what you believe to do it kindly to do it, you

know, with compassion, but to stand only.

And I think you get that from Isaiah too.

The other one I love is in verse 24.

This is when he talks about the root.

So he, he basically talks about a plant that looks healthy on the top.

And then when you pull up the root it's molded and decaying underneath,

it reminds me of when I go to chop onion or a piece of garlic and I find.

It's been sitting there too long and it's got a whole like root that's

rotten or an apple, if you've ever cut into an apple and it's got a big

bruise inside, that's the same kind of feel what will happen because of

that rottenness that's inside is he will lift up an enzyme to the nations.

This enzyme that we're talking about here is more about the, as Syrians

that will come, that will like take over the land and destroy things.

But there will be another enzyme that we'll talk about in a couple chapters.

That's more about the latter days.

So we'll head that direction.

Isaiah, like so many others in the old Testament that we've studied

is a type of Christ and that shines out boldly in Isaiah six.

So this is where you find out about Isaiah's call again,

since we don't think that.

Things in Isaiah necessarily go in chronological order.

I don't know if this call came earlier or later, you know, because

of the reference to the king that this is probably earlier in Isaiah's

ministry that he receives this call.

He sees the Lord and he seems almost shocked that he sees the

Lord cause his response is, oh, no.

Uh, in one I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, so he is having a vision of the

Lord and then five, he starts to see his.

Weakness his own sin and he is a little bit afraid or maybe a lot afraid.

And I think there's powerful teaching in this.

I think oftentimes when we come closer to God, we are more aware of our.

Weaknesses.

Sometimes that can be a bit daunting.

Cuz you would think the closer I come to God, the more at peace I would do.

And I think that's how the Lord's wait.

We learned this in Proverbs.

He is here to coach us and correct us.

So that means the closer you come to him, the more correction you're

gonna get so that he can refine you.

And that's what's happening to Isaiah.

He, he feels like just like ne I did in the book of Mormon where he felt like

he had these sins and he was struggling and he wishes he didn't have them.

He, he comes to the Lord and there's this beautiful scene with

an angel who takes a cold, touches it to his lips and, and heals him.

He takes away the sins of the past.

In fact, it says in verse seven, Th iniquity is taken away.

Th sin purged, in addition to taking away what didn't belong.

Isaiah also is blessed with the ability to do something.

Remember it's sacrificed and consecration, so that purging allows

him to have this mouth that can speak with the tongue of angels.

Almost he, he is someone whose words carry through the centuries and will be

quoted by everybody in scripture that.

With this prophetic gift, this calling.

So you see him volunteer.

This is where he sounds much like Christ.

In verse eight, I heard a voice of the Lord saying, whom shall

I send, who will go for us?

And then said, I here am I send me it's this invitation to.

Step forward.

There's a great BYU devotional that kind of references this.

And he talks about how all of us will have lots of opportunities in our

life to basically do this, that maybe we even did this before we came into

mortality, we took this opportunity to say, okay, put me in coach.

I'm ready.

I can do this stewardship.

I can do this.

Um, and then we come to mortality.

But during that mortal time, we have opportunities.

Some are formal, like when I get a mission call or a certain calling where

I can say, okay, here am I send me?

Some of them, you won't even realize in the process, you will be

inadvertently serving and helping the Lord's work without even knowing it.

But because you've been sank fed because you're living a good

life, he can use you as a tool.

Um, I love also how he.

He talks about his ministry.

It's just, I think it's interesting that from like 10 to 13, basically he learns

that this calling he's gonna have to be a prophet is not gonna be a productive one.

People aren't gonna listen.

It, it sounds a lot like Mormon and moron.

They, they know how things are gonna shake out, but they're

gonna speak with power and truth.

Anyway.

It feels like a parent to me.

There's I don't know how things are gonna shake out for my kids, but I know my job.

In fact, that's one of the things I learned from Isaiah is that you can

tell that he's not teaching the people in order to please the people or

even out of just love for the people.

His first love is to God.

So he'll do whatever God needs him to do.

And then, because he loves God, he experiences love for the people.

That's what I feel like as a parent, the tighter I get with my

connection to my father in heaven and understanding my savior, Jesus Christ.

The more love I feel for the people he, he has put in my care.

And that's what happens with Isaiah's call.

And you kind of see that put to the test around chapter seven.

So this is when he learns that there's gonna be an Alliance of sorts.

You can get into the history.

There's a lot more in the notes.

If you wanna go more.

Here's my very short synopsis, essentially Northern Israel and Syria

are forming an Alliance because they're afraid of us Syria, this bigger.

Remember, we're going back to like second Kings times.

Ayia is this wicked blood thirsty?

Kind of like Lamanites in the worst parts of the book of Mormon

group and they're big and they're conquering everything in their path.

So these two Syria and Northern Israel are trying to combine

forces to fight against a Syria.

That's coming in the process.

They ask Judah to join Judah's in the south and they say to the king

of Judah, a has like come and be a part of our little Confederacy, our

little Alliance, so that we have some hope of fighting the big a Syrians.

And this is when Isaiah steps in he's basically.

Giving guidance to king a has saying don't form an Alliance.

The only Alliance we should form is with God every time, all the time

form an Alliance with God, sadly, it doesn't work out very well.

Like we mentioned, none of Isaiah's proxies get picked

up by people in his time.

So he speaks to the king.

He teaches the king, but the king doesn't really listen, but you see

guidance about that in chapter seven.

That's what he's trying to.

He even does this interesting thing.

So he says ticking a has, if you don't know this, if you don't

believe this, ask for a sign.

I thought this was really fascinating cuz of what we know in the book

of Mormon, where they warn us against asking for signs, you know,

like rahho and all that stuff.

Why would he tell him to ask for a sign?

And then I was listening to president Nelson and he does this all the time.

he basically said in his last talk watch for and expect miracles,

miracles are signs, right?

It's a way to.

Big bold light.

Yes.

The Lord is here and this is his work.

When you are coming to the Lord in a position of faith and I'm ready to do.

Please help me.

He will give you a sign.

I've seen this in prayer so many times when I have to make big decisions or

Jason and I are praying about his health and we have big worries on the table.

We say to the Lord, please help us know for sure this is the right decision.

We're gonna move forward no matter what, but please give us a sign

that we're on the right track.

And he does it.

Doesn't always come the way I expect it.

Doesn't always come in the timeframe I expect it, but the Lord loves to give.

To those who are willing to carry on the work.

So don't be afraid to ask for signs when you need them.

The sign that a has his promise is that there will be this version who will have a

son and his name shall be called Emmanuel.

So this is when you start to hear, you know, Christmas songs in your head,

but he, this has multiple fulfillments.

So the Lord won't come for another like 700 plus years.

So it's not just, I mean, obviously a has, will not see the birth of Jesus Christ,

but there be multiple fulfillments, both in like, You know, he AKA will be born

and that could have been a fulfillment.

Isaiah has a son and it could be his fulfillment.

There's a whole bunch of theories.

So go read some more if you wanna learn more about it.

But the Trump card, the most important is that this is a prophecy

about the savior who will come.

That that will be a sign that this time period where the Lord's gonna.

Step in and help and save is on the horizon.

They just have to hold out their hope.

So that happens God with us.

Right?

That's the meaning behind Emmanuel.

So some other things you're gonna see as you go on this versus is the warning

about this desolate valley that will come.

There's gonna be a time of desolation, and then there's a promise.

So when you fast forward into chapter eight, you'll see.

The prophet.

Isaiah has a son with his wife and they give them a specific name.

I'm not even gonna try and pronounce, but all the names of Isaiah's sons have

meaning they're part of the prophecy.

What I thought was so cool about that is I really think this is

how our callings work today.

When you receive a calling, your whole family sort of gets that calling.

You might not have.

It's not the same, but, you know, I felt this way when Jason was

Bishop for years, that our whole family was supporting that calling.

He had the keys and he had the responsibility.

Our job was to be a part of his calling right now.

I'm the YSA Institute teacher in our stake.

So he supports me, he comes and does my zoom calls and

all that's just how it works.

So I love that you see that in Isaiah's family as well.

And then he warns about these two waters.

The first one is the waters of Shiloh.

It's.

This it's what he AKA's tunnel is gonna be built around.

It's this idea of there's this natural spring that kind of

bubbles up into Jerusalem, which makes it a good city to live in.

Cuz it's got a safe water source and he's offering that as their nourishment

and what the Jews are gonna choose instead is the Euphrates, this big,

heavy river that has a tendency to overflow its banks and be wild.

And.

That's what Isaiah's talking about in this chapter.

He's inviting them to choose the soft spring.

Remember we just studied natural spring.

So I love this, the tie together between them.

Um, and he is inviting them to choose the good, but he knows they won't pick it.

They're gonna choose to go with a Syria instead.

A has, will choose it over and over again.

Um, in fact, eventually a has, will choose to make an Alliance with the big ass

Syrians and it will be to the downfall.

Everybody that that's how that happens.

But I love that the warnings about it at the end of chapter eight, you'll see

like around 14, that Christ will be a stone of stumbling, a rock for offense.

Many times you're gonna see this kind of conflict of the savior is a help.

And he is a stumbling block.

Again, his light is warm and radiant and intended for.

But if you've just come out of a dark movie theater, it's gonna burn

your eyes a little and that's what you're gonna see in the verses.

I love how it ends in 20, where it says to the law and to the testimony, if they

speak, not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

He's referring to the magicians and things that they're turning to for guidance.

But I, I think it's this warning to us, all the other sources that you choose,

no matter what those sources are, if it's not from the true source of light

and knowledge, It's insufficient.

There's no light in them and he doesn't want them to turn to those sources.

So there's big warnings at the end of chapter.

You can always count on Isaiah for finding something we can hope in.

And in chapter nine, you get a feel for it.

Uh, there is a great light coming and he's speaking about the Messiah.

This is where you get handles Messiah's lines come out of chapter nine.

He says in verse two, the people that walked in darkness have

seen a great light and they shall dwell in the shadow of death.

Upon them has this light shin.

He talks about what will happen if you look in verse four, that a yolk

will be broken, the bondage will end.

The rod of the oppressor will be taken away and you can start to

see how the Jews in Jesus' time.

Expected a conqueror.

They were under the thumb of Rome when Jesus came to the earth and

they expected someone who would liberate them from this captor.

And Jesus didn't do that.

In fact, he said that to them, to his disciples who were following

him, he said, I came to relieve you of sin and death, not the Romans.

And some of his disciples said that, why aren't we following you?

You must not be the savior.

And.

Here's why I think that's powerful.

I listen to someone teach this once and for life, for me, I can't find

the reference, but they invited me to find out what my Romans are.

Um, it's something that you're so fixated on the Lord fixing for you, that you

sometimes miss other bigger miracles.

So I can get in this mindset about Jason's cancer.

Sometimes.

Um, his pancreatic cancer can be something that I fixate so much on

the Lord fixing for me that I miss.

The 800 miracles he has put into my life to help me navigate Jason's cancer,

help our family navigate his cancer.

I, if I only expect the Lord to come and take away that Roman that if I just want

a cure and that's all I will accept, then I'm missing the real miracles.

Maybe he didn't come to deliver me from that trouble.

Maybe he came to deliver me from every other one and I just, I thought

it was worth pondering as you read.

what I love about it is it feeds right into the verses from handles

Messiah six for unto, unto us, a child is born and unto us.

A son is given and the government will be upon his shoulders.

And then he gives him four names, a wonderful counselor, a mighty God

everlasting father, that princes of peace.

Isaiah's trying to teach us the character of Jesus Christ and to teach.

The people in his day, what to watch for that, he wasn't

gonna be this mighty conquer.

He's gonna be a prince of peace.

He's gonna be a counselor, someone who is warm and intimate and close to you.

So that this is what I wonder if, when Neva read these words, if he was like,

yes, that's what I wish I could have said.

You know, if you've seen the Lord and you've seen his countenance and you know

what he looks like to try and articulate, that must have been so difficult.

And I wonder if NFI just rejoiced to hear somebody put some words to it and

that they're so succinct is powerful.

And a, it gets a little deeper.

He says the Lord sent a word unto Jacob, and it has lighted upon Israel.

Jesus Christ is the word.

So when he is brought forth, And given to Israel, a light burst forth.

Um, but the people don't listen it's in 13, the people's turn is not unto him.

And they that SMI at them, neither did they seek the Lord of hosts.

They talk about the leadership of the people that was going

astray and that there is this darkening that happens in the land.

In fact, in 18, it's called a fire.

That's the verse that brought about that forest fire reference.

Isaiah promised there would be a burning and now it's here.

So the land becomes dark.

When you flip the page, you see that things get ugly.

Um, when there is devastation, there is social chaos, and

that's kind of what's happening.

And then you have this key phrase at the end of verse 21, where it

says his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

And we can tend to read that phrase and think he's always merciful.

His hand is always backing and that's accurate, but you can't dissect that

from what happens before recess.

His anger is not his anger's turned away.

He's saying.

He, if you are choosing to turn to him, his hand is one of beckoning

and warmth and friendship.

If you are choosing to rebel against that, offering his hand is

stretched out still in consequence.

It will Dole out the punishments that he's promised are coming.

It's both that Lord's hand is both and we can't just paint him one way.

You need to see him both.

When you go into 10, it gets a little deeper where this is where

Isaiah basically says you're gonna get to a point where you're gonna.

I need help.

if you stay in the forest, after the Rangers have said, we're doing a

controlled burn here, you you're gonna get to a point where you want help.

Uh, cuz there's no way out.

And he says it it'll be too late.

You won't be able to salvage what you hope because the ass Syrians are coming.

So that mighty forest is gonna come.

In fact, they're gonna be a tool in the hand of the Lord.

Allow this consequence to happen for the Jews.

They're gonna get conquered Syria, Northern Israel.

They'll all are gonna get conquered.

Eventually they'll conquer most of Juda, except for that one holdout in Jerusalem.

Remember that's where we learned about heza Kaya.

Was he?

Everything else had been conquered and he was just trying to hold on the holy city.

So that's what he's trying to prophesy about.

And then he talks a little bit about what those Zion can expect

if they stay stalwart there's hope.

So go to like 24, 25, 26.

This is where he teaches them that this scouring is only

gonna happen for a little while.

And then if you change, things will shift has AIA who's the son of this

wicked king, a has, is righteous.

Josiah comes next and he's righteous.

There's hope for Israel.

And that's what Isaiah's promising about.

I love that he use.

The examples of Midian.

Cause that's Gideon.

Remember Gideon who fought with like lamps and 300 men and the red sea partying.

They're these weird miracles that don't involve a lot of bloodshed.

That's that's, that's what he uses as a reference point.

And I kinda love that.

That's the power of it.

Okay.

Let's go to 11 and 12 next.

Above my margins in 11 and 12, I have let God prevail.

in big letters.

That's the message of 11 and 12 that after this burning, after this dark,

Burning of this forest, there will be new growth and the new growth is magnificent.

In fact, it's a marvelous work and a wonder, that's what you see in 11.

There is a stem of Jesse that will come forth.

If you've ever seen a chopped down tree trunk that has like a

new shoot that grows out of it.

That's what they're trying to describe.

It's what seemed to be.

Will come again.

This throne of David that seems to have been cut off a new shoot, will grow out

of it and it will become this mighty Oak.

Um, and you'll read about it.

What he'll do this, that that's a representation of the savior himself

and that he will come and he'll judge righteously he'll protect the poor.

All those things that have been lacking will be restored and fixed because

this, you know, stem of Jesse comes.

He talks about how he'll judge, he talks about there's a lot

of references to animals.

If you've ever heard the references about these, you know, predator

and prey animals, who will be together, this isn't just.

You know, literally animals like this will be able to stay together.

It also represents those in the world.

Waring nations that have hated each other for generations will be

together in peace because they'll find a common something to believe in.

It's not that their differences all go away it's that they all

look to the savior as their king.

And when you have that central focus.

All other differences can kind of fall by the wayside.

That's the promise that you'll see in the millennial day that there

will be peace because we're so focused on the king of the Kings.

Another prophecy that comes in this chapter is the root of Jesse.

So if you've ever seen, um, a tree that's dying or that's weakening,

oftentimes if you look around it, you'll see these shoots they're called.

Root sprouts, I think is what they're called.

I put it in the notes.

I was studying about this this week in my botanical studies on this chapter.

And basically what happens is kind of far away from the tree, like within a few feet

or so, you'll see a new root sprout up.

So it's almost like growth occurred under the ground in the root and

then sprouts up out of nowhere.

People see these as obnoxious because in a yard, for example, they come

up and write through your grass.

But in a forest setting where everything has been burned, Having new life

shoot up from this root is powerful.

That means the tree can thrive and the forest will grow again.

This a lot of times people reference as Joseph Smith or just the restoration

in general, that it is like this.

It's almost like the natural spring that we studied in our object lessons.

It's that same idea of, of an unexpected place.

New.

Comes out and it will be an enzyme to the nations in 12, he shall

set up an enzyme for the nations.

He shall assemble the outcast of Israel.

This is the gathering that president Nelson can't stop talking about

because he's the prophet who is called to do this gathering work.

And we're all on his team and his battalion.

So if you look a little further, you can.

The miracles that are gonna come in order for this gathering to occur.

We're seeing it right now in the incredible temple growth and

the missions that went on, even though COVID tried to stop them.

I love the way it's phrased in 15.

He talks about he compares it to.

The miracle of the red sea party that the Lord will do miracles like that,

that there will, men will go over a dry S shot 11 in 16, and there shall be a

highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left in order for these

people to come home in order for the gathering for them to physically come

home to Jerusalem and also spiritually to turn to their savior, Jesus Christ.

There will be highways made, and these are not highways on the land.

These are highways through red sea.

In my margins, I drew parting ways.

drew a highway in the middle.

That's what he promises that he will come up with unexpected solutions

that will provide a wide birth for his faithful people to come home.

And I just love it.

And the result of that is what he seen 12, it's a song of praise.

This is when we get there.

The millennial day, a lot of people believe will actually sing these songs of.

There's two of them in here.

The first three verses are one and the second three verses are another

and they teach me something powerful because of how they're written.

The first group of three verses is me focused.

It's what I will do, how I feel, how I will participate in salvation,

how I will partake of salvation.

It's very individual.

And then the second group of three is all about us.

How, as a congregation, we will sing.

It felt like acquired to.

When you describe a choir, it's all these individual unique voices who

are coming together and harmonizing to create this reverberating

sound that will just ring out.

That's the promise.

So if you look in one, you were angry with me, that anger is turned away

and now has comforted to me, no matter how many mistakes I've made, I'm

turning to you and you will comfort me.

Two Jehovah is my strength.

My song he's become my salvation three, therefore with joy, shall

you draw water out of the well of S.

One of the translations I read about well of salvation actually talks about

it being a natural spring, that it is something that we get to is not dormant.

It's something that is flowing and clean and pure, and it never stops.

That's what we're drawing from.

And then I love what you see in for the Claire is doing.

When you have this witness, you have this testimony, your job is to

declare it out and think about it.

What are his doings in our day?

It's big things like the coming forth of the book of Mormon and the first vision

and the priesthood keys being restored.

But it's also the small things.

It's all the little miracles that I've witnessed in my life that my job is

to testify of to teach that, yes, God is real and living in this big way.

And he is real and living in this little way in.

And let me tell you about it.

In fact, I love it so much that let me sing about it.

That's what he is asking.

There are excellent things to sing about.

Like you see in.

and for me, the crux of all of it comes at the very last verse of this

week's study, where he promises to be in the midst of the Zion is not just

a place of beauty and peace and unity.

It's a place where God is.

So if you haven't read elder, Udo's talk about God among us.

I give you big links in the notes, so you can read it.

That's the promise.

That's what we're seeking for.

Zion is a place where we all individually praise God, where we

collectively praise God and where we know him, because he's right there.

Oh, you just love the seat.

I'm telling you.

We're gonna have a really good five weeks.