Hey, you guys.

Welcome back.

This is week 41 of Creative.

Come follow me for the Old Testament, and this week we are wrapping up

Isaiah . So five weeks in a row of solid Hebrew poetry from this master is a lot

to digest, but hopefully you've had a chance in the last four weeks to just

kind of, you know, weighed in a little deeper than maybe you have before.

I know I have.

I've never studied my guts out so hard, especially this.

Back to back weeks, and I feel like I'm reaping the rewards and I'm starting

to see it trickle into my family.

So hopefully you're getting a feel for that as well.

I know this is a challenging one, especially to try and translate this

into like family scripture study, but I think there are enough little

beautiful pieces that hopefully you have some, you know, some goodness to

fill up on with your families as you go.

You also, probably by the time you hear this or watch this, you've had

a chance to listen to conference.

So I actually think this is a perfect week to dovetail into general conference

because this is Isaiah's last words to us.

He is a prophet like President Nelson, who's been around for a few generations.

He's seen a lot of history in the children of Israel, and he

wants to focus their eyes forward.

In fact, I almost, you know, I don't know if you heard the.

The single adult fire side with President and Sister Nelson, where

he said he doesn't buy green bananas anymore, , because he knows he is

getting older and he only focuses on the things that matter most.

I feel like that with this last segment of Isaiah that he's, he set the stage for us.

We've learned a lot about the Messiah, and now he wants to focus their eyes forward.

He also seems to have this.

Anxiety to correct things that he sees.

Were there amis, you know, almost like you do as a parent, right before your

kid goes on a mission or to college like you're, you just wanna cram in as

much guidance as you can, and that's what you're gonna get in today's study.

He's gonna talk to those who are.

Who think they're righteous and are a little off course.

He's gonna talk to those who are righteous and have been cast

out and how they can find peace.

And then he's gonna talk far into the future to us and to give us guidance

about how to bring God's children home.

It's almost like he's trying to touch on all the generations that he's been

called to preach to, and he tries to do it all as quick as he can.

So it's a lot and it'll kind of bounce around a little bit.

There's so much goodness sort of woven into each verse that

I, I think you're gonna love it.

I, it's, it's hard.

I really loved last week's focus, but I think there is, there's profound

doctrine in these chapters, and I intend to find every bit of it.

So grab your scriptures, grab your notes, and let's get started.

In previous weeks, Isaiah starts off with words of comfort.

. That's not the case with Isaiah 58.

He comes off strong, and that's because he.

The children of Israel have some course correcting to do, and again, I

think Isaiah knows his time is getting shorter, and so he gets pretty clear.

The issue that they're having is about fasting, that they're starting

to fast in order to put on a show.

There's hypocrisy in it.

There's pride in it.

The bigger issue is that this sin of.

Breaking this commitment and not following it.

The way God would intend is creating separation.

It.

This fasting, this false fasting is becoming this wedge that Satan

is using to separate them from God.

And remember Isaiah as a prophet, he seeks to reconnect, to repair the breach.

So he's gonna teach them the right way to fast.

What I love about this is I think it has so much application for us.

So basically the issue that they're having is, They're

trying to make their voice big.

They're trying to make sure all their neighbors know that they're fasting.

You know, you've probably seen this with your kids sometimes when they

mop about and moan on Fast Sunday and tell you how hungry they are.

There's a lot of that in these verses.

Here's what I thought was really powerful.

The bulk of Isaiah's teachings about the Fast are about.

How it's in Similitude.

He doesn't necessarily used those words.

But the reason that came to mind for me is because I was thinking back on

Kane and able, remember at the very beginning, we, we studied about how

they were directed to give an offering.

It was supposed to be the first things of the flock, and Kane came with

the bounties of the field instead.

And he talked about how he was tempted by the adversary to do it.

Like he, he, he brought something that wasn't asked for.

That's basically what the children of Israel are doing in this scenario.

Bringing a, you know, they talk about how they were afflicted and things were,

you know, it was difficult to fast all day to put on this show, and they're

not understanding why God isn't blessing them the way he they think he should.

And it's the same thing we saw with Kane.

He was offended that God didn't like his offering and what.

What the Lord taught in that moment was that the reason it needed to be

the first ones of the flock is because it was in similitude of the Savior.

The same thing is happening here with the fast.

If you look at the verses like at six and seven, he's teaching you

what the fast is supposed to be and it it has the Messiah all over.

It says, Is this not the fast that I've chosen to loose the bands of

the wickedness to undo heavy burdens?

Let the oppressed go free.

Break every yo.

Deal Bread to the hungry that they'll bring the poor that are

cast out to that house when you see naked cover him, that they'll hide

out theyself from th known flesh.

That just sounds like the savior, right?

That his whole focus was on those who were without and how can he help?

That's what the fast is supposed to do for us.

I think it's why we don't just go without meals, but, and in addition,

we're encouraged to give the money that we would've used to help those

around us and to even further those, beyond the ones that are around us.

That's why he's asking us to do it, is because it creates in us.

A Christlike character when we go without and offer what we have

to others, we are like Christ.

And I just, I love the similitude piece of fasting.

I don't think I'm teaching that well enough to my kids, so I just really love

the, the reminder that Isaiah's offering.

I also love that the very.

Bulk of the verses are all about the blessings that come from honoring

this commandment, especially doing it in the way that the Lord has asked.

Because that's like from eight all the way down to 14.

These are the blessings that come, if you will just fast.

So if you look at eight, it says, then the light will break forth as

the morning nine says, Then thou shall call on the Lord and he shall answer.

Cause remember, they were annoyed that the Lord wasn't answering their prayers.

They were saying like in verse three, where for we have fasted

and thou see is not they.

Bugged that the Lord isn't helping them fast enough, and he's saying,

Oh no, if you, if you honor his commandment and do it in the way he's

asking with this soft heart, he will answer you as quickly as you need it.

He says 10, that if you draw out your soul to the hungry and satisfy

the afflicted soul, then shall the light rise in obscurity and

that darkness will be as noon day.

So if you feel cloudy or misunderstood, or that maybe there's a piece of the

doctrine that's not coming clear.

Honor the fast that will open up light and opens up understanding.

He also talks about how the Lord will guide you continually

in 11, that you'll be like a watered garden, a spring of water.

I mean, these are huge promises.

I really love what you find at the end of 12 where he says, If you'll do

these things and take care of my poor and my needy and my afflicted, you'll

be called the repair of the breach, the ReSTOR of paths to dwell in.

These are words that were just used to describe the savior himself

a few chapters ago that he can be the repairer of the breach.

That's what he wants you to do.

The whole purpose of mortality is to develop the characteristics of Christ.

So as we fast and as we let those hunger pings that we feel prompt us to

understand the pains and afflictions of others, and then act on those and

do what we can, we become like he is.

We become a repair of the breach, a restore of pass.

I just love that piece of it.

The idea.

A fast can be so much deeper than maybe I've given it credit for it.

It was eyeopening to.

The last couple verses focus more on honoring the Sabbath,

but he, it's that same idea.

He's pleading with the children for Israel to set aside their own

desires, their own wishes, their own things they wanna do on, on this

holy day and give more to the Lord.

And if they will just do that, then you have this big if then in 14, then shout

Now, delight in the Lord and I will cause you to ride upon the high places.

It's the same promise that President Nelson made to.

That if we turn to our families and we try to teach them in the way

that they're asking us to, this home centered, church supported curriculum,

the Sabbath will become a delight.

That was his promise.

So that's essentially what Isaiah's asking this people to do as well.

Children of Israel are not happy with the response times of the Lord, and

Isaiah is trying to help them understand.

The Lord hasn't gone anywhere.

They have, they've retreated from him and there's iniquity getting in the way.

So if you look in verse two, your iniquities have separated between you

and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear.

I love the way he phrased this one.

I can think, I can almost picture that wedge scenario that we've

been talking about, that the sin is creating this separation.

But I love the way he talks about how their sins have hid his face.

I think it's the same thing we're gonna see in the New

Testament when they talk about.

Seeing through a glass darkly.

It's this understanding that, well, to put it like Sherry Du does, Sid

makes you stupid and you, you miss up things you don't see clearly because

of the choices that you've made.

And it just seems to have so much application for our world today.

It sounds like the same problems are coming about.

So if you look in three and four, they're trusting in vanity.

They're speaking lies, they're conceiving mischief, meaning.

They're trying to concoct their own version of the doctrine cuz

they can't see clearly anymore.

They don't have the influence of the spirit the same way they used to have.

So now they're trying to create their own narrative and it's

getting everything twisted.

In fact, they talks about how they hatch cock trace's eggs.

This is in five and they weave the spiders web.

Basically what Isaiah is saying is, You're consuming things that are poisonous

and then you act surprised that, that you don't feel well . That's kind of

the idea behind this, and he talks about how they're covering their works.

That and six, that they, the web shall not become garments.

Neither shall they cover themselves with their works.

Their works are works of iniquity.

All these mortal safety nets that they're trying to create for themselves, these

doctrines that are more comfortable to them have no power to save.

And Isaiah and the Lord want these children saved.

So he's coming on strong to help them understand what's going wrong.

In eight, he clarifies it a little more.

The way of peace they know, not they no longer.

A clear path.

In fact, he calls it a crooked path.

There is no judgment in their going, so they have made crooked paths and whosoever

go with their end shall not know.

Peace.

The Lord's path is straight and narrow.

In fact, when we were in Israel, they, they talked about this when a gate

was to what gate opens up to a city.

Oftentimes they would make that.

Entryway crooked.

In fact, we went to one where it almost made this like zigzag pattern

to get into the city because they didn't want a straight shot for

horses to just charge through.

They wanted to make it a bit cumbersome.

It's the same thing I feel when I go into a place like Ikea.

I just feel like it's designed to have crooked paths on purpose.

I have to wind a hole through the store in the hopes that I will get distracted

and buy a whole bunch more stuff.

Um, and it works.

It works on me every single time.

And, and that's what Isaiah's trying to warn about.

He's saying, You're, you're deliberately making this path so cumbersome that you're

losing focus on where you're even going.

You need the straight and narrow path.

Another thing he talked about that I thought was particularly.

Applicable to our time is in nine.

He says, Therefore, is judgment far from us Neither death.

Justice overtake us.

We wait for light, but behold, obscurity for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

To me, this is a lot like what we see today, especially on social media.

Uh, sometimes you see people who are demanding change from the brethren.

Uh, they demand that the doctrine changed, and they're basically

saying, We'll wait for the.

I'm not gonna engage until the light comes to me.

What it reminded me of this, I used to do theater as a kid.

My parents, um, were restoring an old theater for most of my childhood.

And when you would get on the stage, especially if you were blocked in, there

would be little spots, like a little ex made of painter tape on the floor so that

you would know as an actor where to stand.

Because if you stand on that spot, you get the spotlight

on you and people can see you.

If you choose to stand anywhere else on the stage, the spotlight doesn't know

where to find you, cuz it's not like they can search around and track you down.

So you had to come and stand on the spot.

And if you did, then you got this warm, bright glow.

But to stand off to the sides or even in the wings and expect the

spotlight to come seek you out didn't make a whole lot of sense.

And I think that's what's happening with the gospel as well, that it doesn't

make sense to demand change and say, I'm not gonna engage with the gospel until.

It changes.

What makes sense is to say, I'm gonna stand on my spot.

I'm gonna feel the warmth and feel the glow and trust that the Lord knows what

he's doing, that the brethren who served the Lord know what they're doing and

they, you know, I loved Elder Redland from last conference where he talked about

that speculation doesn't help you, and it's kind of arrogant for the brethren

toe demand revelation from the Lord.

He was giving a reference with Heavenly Mother.

But I think we do this in a lot of different ways, so we have to be

really careful about this idea of.

We're waiting for the lights, but we hold obscurity for brightness,

but we walk in darkness.

. I love the way it's added to intent.

We gro as if we had no eyes.

It's the is it's the As if that I thought was particularly interesting.

They actually have eyes.

They could open them, they could choose to find that little X on

the stage and stand in it, but they grope around as if they can't.

And Isaiah's saying, Open up your.

He just wants them to snap out of it and to realize who they are.

You go a little bit further and you see some warnings about truth falling by the

wayside in the street that's around 14 or so and and then you see where it's

gonna go from there around 20 and 21.

You see that the only solution that will come cuz they are gonna get scattered,

they are gonna fall and what will save them in the long run is that Zion will

come, I think Isaiah can see really clearly the same way Moroni and Mormon.

Where things are going.

And so he wants to end with this spot of hope and that hope comes

from this teaching about Zion and the redeemer that will come.

So if you're like in 20 and the redeemer shall come to Zion and unto

them that turn from transgression in Jacob, there will not be an automatic

birth for all the children of Israel.

They will need to turn their hearts to him, but if they do, then the

promise is that he will not depart from them and he will call them back.

You guys remember how the first week of Isaiah I told you about that patch of

forest that had a controlled burn between our house and Jason's parents' house?

We drove there.

Jason and I just this last weekend, we were going to his parents'

house to pick up the kids and I was looking for that patch of burn.

Cause I'm like, Oh, I talked about this.

I gotta see how it's doing.

Cause I've been a few years since I'd really paid attention to it.

The coolest part was you guys.

I couldn't tell where it was , like I, I finally, we finally found it, we

think, but it was like there was so much green that had grown where it used to be

literally just burned, charred blackness.

All of a sudden, there's this.

Surge of growth, and I'm not talking like a little bit of stub on the ground.

I'm, I'm saying like these are eight foot bushes that had grown in the

place of where those trees were.

I could still see like spikes of blackened tree trunks sort

of scattered throughout them.

But it gave me this surge of hope

That sounds sort of ridiculous, but I found myself being eager to get

back into the scriptures this week cuz I'm like, Oh, this is what I say.

It was talking about that when this growth starts to happen, it happens

fast and it happens full and lush.

And that's what you're gonna find in 60 that he is talking about that phase.

The children are are gonna get scattered, they're gonna get lost,

but then there will be this surge of growth and it's gonna happen fast.

So it invites everyone to.

For the light has come, This blackened piece of land is now getting access

to a bright, warm light, and it will react, it will grow, and it talks

about how the Gentiles will come and how we will gather people in.

I love what you see in five, it says, Then they'll shout, see, and flow together, and

then in heart shall fear and be enlarged.

You're gonna be amazed at.

The rapid growth of Zion.

I, I think that's what we're seeing now as you see temples just like dot the earth.

In fact, I love if you look in the footnotes on flow, it says

that you will be radiant together.

This I just loved.

It is this promise that as we come together as children of

Zion, as we work to share his light, we will radiate goodness

in this really darkened landscape.

Remember in two, when you talked about how the earth will be engrossed, darkness

and confusion, but the people of Zion will radiate his light out and it

just gets better as you flip the page.

So when you go a little further, you'll see.

Strangers will come, We're gonna bring others into his gospel and that

they will help build these walls.

They will help do good.

And I think you see that right now.

As you know, people are being converted to the gospel and they bring their

traditions and their goodness, and even wealth into at times to

help build up the kingdom of God.

Another thing you see is that Bill, the temple will be rebuilt and it will be

rebuilt with these magnificent materials, and so he kind of details that out.

He also talks about the blessings that will come at the end in 18 violence shall

no more be heard in the land wasting or destruction within that borders.

This is talking about when the savior is here that there will be no

violence in a world full of darkness.

That's a pretty remarkable shift that will praise him and that

the reason all this happens.

What happens in 19 that we won't even need the sun and the moon

anymore because his everlasting light will be so present in Zion.

I can't even really imagine what that means.

I don't know if that means we're gonna be like Alaska where they have endless

sun for certain months of the year.

I don't know what that means.

I read a couple quotes in, I put 'em in the notes, but you can see.

Some of the earlier church history leaders talked about how you can have a meeting

and you won't even need like candles, You won't need any extra light source

because his light will radiate out.

So I'm, I'm intrigued and I'm really excited to see what

that actually plays out as.

But it's this promise of everlasting light.

That's what helps Isaiah teach this gospel still, despite the fact that

so many will fall away and that the.

Group will eventually fall because it's a promise of ever lasting light.

In fact, he says that a few times in 20 and that it will last forever.

And it's this.

I love what you see in 22.

A little one shall become a thousand and a small one.

A strong nation.

That's what I saw in the canyon this weekend, that this area that

was, that should have just had a tiny bit of growth, actually was

like surging to the point that I couldn't see the boundaries anymore.

I don't know where the controlled burn area stopped and the normal growth began.

That's the promise of Zion and we're invited to be a part of it.

Just exciting to be at this stage of.

in 61.

You see how that transition happens, how a little one becomes a thousand and

a small one, a strong nation, the way that happens is, Through the Messiah.

So in the first few verses you see Isaiah speak about the Messiah and

what he will bring to the children of Israel, especially in these last days.

These are the verses that the Savior quoted in that synagogue in Nazareth.

Remember it's, I think it's in Luke four, and he talks about how he is

the fulfillment of these verses, which was a big statement cuz.

The Jews at his day would've known that these, these were

verses about the Messiah.

So for him to claim that was a big, bold statement.

It's, it says beautiful things about his character that he's going, He's

anointed to preach good tidings.

This is all verse one that he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted to

claim liberty to the captives, open up the prisons to, He talks about

how he will comfort all that mourn.

Three, I thought was particularly beautiful because

it talks about taking away.

The hard and replacing it with something good.

You know that Maxwell quote that I love where he says that the, the cavity

that suffering carves into our heart will one day be the receptacle for joy.

I feel like you see him create that transition in verse three.

Because he says, I will appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, those

who are sad and lost and scattered to give them beauty for ashes.

I'm gonna take that carved out place that looks ash and and hollow and

I'm going to create beauty from it.

These are all morning rituals.

The ashes that they would put on the sack cloth that they would wear, and the oil

that they would remove from themselves cuz they didn't feel like they could.

Have any kind of beautiful things when they were in mourn, he's saying,

I'm gonna take off all those morning traditions and give you beauty back.

So he talks about the oil that he will give them for mourning, the

garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness that they might be

called trees of righteousness.

I love this visual of all these people who have been through incredibly hard

things and have found the savior in the process become trees of righteousness.

In my mind, I, I link this with Alma 32, where he talks about that

seed of testimony that we're trying to grow and that at some points

in that tree growing phase, it's hard to trust that it's gonna work.

We want to believe the experiment will work, but it's hard,

especially when you have no visible evidence that the seed is growing.

If you just lean in the promises that you'll become a tree.

I actually, I know people , all of us do, right?

People who have been through incredibly hard things and

have mourned deeply and lost.

Deeply, uh, become these trees of righteousness because they've

had to dig so deep and when they turn to the savior, he fills them.

And those trees have a mighty work to do.

It's, if you look from like four to nine, this is, they're gonna be sent to rebuild,

not just rebuild the actual city of Zion, but to rebuild the hearts and the people.

To me, some of the most incredible teachers are people who have been through.

Really, really hard things because they can tell me how, In fact,

I love that he tells us how.

So in seven, he talks about how.

You're shame for your shame, you shall have double meaning.

You're gonna get double back.

These again are Law Moses references that all those years

of pain that they will be doubled.

So it almost makes me think of other Maxwell's quote, that you

won't just have your cavity full.

You'll actually have your cavity full, plus an abundance more.

And he talks about how they will make an everlasting covenant

when the children of Israel are gathered and brought back to him.

Again, they will make a covenant with him.

They will come back home and then there is this period of rejoicing.

It's intent.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord.

My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me

with the garments of salvation.

He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.

He takes off the sack cloth, the ashes, the mourning, and he puts

on them these beautiful robes.

It's again, it's got that prodigal sun feel.

You're home and you are my son.

That's how he feels.

And when we all lean into that process, the results is what you find in 11.

That so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring

forth before all the nations.

Once this starts to happen, once this action starts rolling, it will be

visible to all nations of the earth that this, there is power happening

in Zion and it's just this electric.

That electric feel continues on in chapter 62.

This is where the Lord is saying he's not gonna rest until there's

righteousness that goes forth.

Brightness that this gonna, it's gonna catch everyone's eye.

In fact, I love in three, he talks about this crown, this crown of glory.

Thou shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord.

Speaking of Zion and a royal ddo in the hand of by God, President Nelson spoke

about this verse and he talks about how.

The jewel in the crown of Zion is the temple and will always be the temple.

And now that we see temples everywhere being announced all the time, you almost

can see these gorgeous little jewels.

You know, they're all different from each other.

Each temple looks a little different and is catered to its area, but they catch the

light just like a jewel set on a crown.

It's.

This distinct different visual that people all over the world notice and I, I

love seeing Isaiah's words kind play out with President Nelson's announcements.

I just think there's power in it.

He also talks about how there will be all this peace that will happen.

There'll be watchman on the tower, there will be peace day and night,

and that we won't give 'em any rest.

We'll be so eager for this to roll forward that we will keep the work going.

And then in 10 go through, go through the gates, prepare you the way of the

people, cast up the highway, gather up the stones, lift up a standard for the people.

This is our call to action that as we see this momentum building, we're supposed

to get engaged and lift up a standard so that all the world can come and be close.

I also love what you find in 12 where he says, and they shall

call them the holy people.

That redeemed of the Lord.

The people who live in Zion all over the world will not.

Perfect people.

They will be people who are made perfect through Christ.

Every one of us will be redeemed.

We all will have fallen short in many ways, and we will have turned

to the Lord and we will be redeemed.

And I love that.

That's how we're identified that not as someone who had never made

mistakes, but of someone who knows who to turn when they did make mistakes.

And to be a community of those kind of people is a powerful.

One of my least favorite things at Timeout for Women is the big scary

clock . I started speaking at these events this year and I was just

unaccustomed to speaking to crowds so big, and there's this clock that happens.

It's a countdown clock that goes on the great big screen.

And what's interesting is I can see the great big screen.

Like from the other side of the stage.

So on the outside you've got a couple thousand people who are watching that five

minute clock countdown and they're getting excited and settled in their seats cuz

they know the event is about to start.

I'm on the backside of that clock and I can see that same thing projected

up there and I just feel drift.

It's not that I don't love to.

Speak I do.

I just get really scared and my heart starts to pound and my stomach drops, even

though I know I'm not speaking for hours.

After that clock counts down.

As soon as I see the big, scary clock, my heart just races and it's interesting

to me that something that is so good.

To so many could represent such dread for me.

And I think that's what you see when you read chapter 63, that when the savior

comes again, there will be rejoicing, there will be people who eagerly

await his arrival and are settling in their seats to be a part of it.

And there will be people who will be afraid, who will dread that day.

And a lot of what Isaiah teaches about is that contrast.

So in the first, you see.

The savior will come and he will come in red robes, and that will create

this fear because the wicked will know that it is their time that all

these things are gonna be fulfilled and they will be trodden down.

Remember, this is a gross wickedness.

This is a rebellion on a, a deeper level, but there will be.

Destruction because of it.

I've always seen the paintings of the savior in the red robe and just assumed

that that represented the atonement that occurred, the blood that he shed.

And it does.

But if you go in the notes, you can learn that it actually represents three things.

The red robes represent the blood that he shed for us in the atonement.

The blood that comes because of the sins of the world,

especially the sins of the wicked.

And then the third is the blood that he, he takes on because of the

wicked that he has to trodden down.

That's what Isaiah's teaching us here.

He's talking about how he will look as a man who comes out of a wine press.

A wine press is a place where men will stand.

In fact, usually there's several people in the wine press and they're crushing

the grapes with their feet so that the juices can run down and inevitably

their clothing all gets red, right?

What the savior is saying is he had to do this job completely alone.

A job that normally we would associate with lots of weight for.

So lots of people have to do it.

He has to do it completely alone.

In fact, if you go in the notes, you can read Elder Holland's words on this.

They were some of the most poignant I found anywhere where he talks

about what it must have felt like to be utterly alone, a savior who

loved his father so much and had to get to this point where he.

Utterly alone.

Um, when he asked God, Why is Sal forsaken me?

I just think it, he, he worded it in a way I never could so go in the notes and

read his talk, but I love his promise that the savior chose that path for us and

that we should show gratitude for that.

Gift that we should honor those red robes.

It's tempting sometimes to only see the comforting and kind version of the savior,

but I think we have to trust in Isaiah's prophecies about him that this work that

he has to do to eradicate wickedness is also a work that we should honor.

That is a hard work that he has to do alone and that we

should revere him for it.

That that he.

He's creating that controlled burn so that the rest of us can thrive in the

area that's left and we can't carve out that part of the Saviors ministry.

It's, it's an important piece, so you can study that in 60.

But I do love that Isaiah doesn't fixate on the destruction.

Instead, he opens up understanding about the good that will come.

In fact, if you're looking forward, it talks about how there is a day of

vengeance, but a year of redeemed, and you kinda get that theme throughout.

In seven, he talks about how I will mention the loving kindnesses of

the Lord and praises of the Lord.

He certainly shines a brighter spotlight on the good that comes because the Lord

was willing to do all these hard things.

He says, he talks about.

Difficulty of the relationship between the savior and the children of Israel

because they simply won't stay.

In 10, they rebelled and they vexed his Holy Spirit.

They pulled away from him and lost their connection to the spirit,

but he still remembers them.

He, they eventually will come home and he will look down from heaven.

That's what it says in 15, that Isaiah is basically pleading.

He, I think like moron, I and Mormon.

Knows what's gonna happen to his people and he pleads with

the Lord to still see them.

What I thought was so powerful about this is he sounds like a dad to me.

Who knows?

His kid has gone astray and he's still pleading, he's still praying.

You know, I think if you pictured.

I don't know if you picture the Sons of Moza, he's dad, you know,

like when they were praying and Al Monsignor praying for Alma the younger.

That's what this sounds like to me.

It sounds like a dad who knows.

Their kids have gone way astray and he's just pleading for the Lord to

save them anyway, and it's sweet and tender and totally worth your

reading, so don't miss the end of 60.

Isaiah's father, like prayer continues in 64.

This is where he pleads that the second coming will come, that

he will render the separation.

So if you look in verse one, it says, Oh, that, that would just render the

heavens that that would've calmed down.

He, he wants that veil that separates Earth and having, Split so that they

can see the glory of God come and there's changes to the landscape that

will happen, changes to the people.

But I love the visual of the veil partying.

I was teaching my ysa about this a week or two ago about how the.

One of the things I love about the, the imagery of a veil is it's

made deliberately translucent.

It's not like this.

I was comparing it to that, you know, those zigzag curtains

that we have in our churches.

The veil isn't like that.

It's not this fully opaque, impossible to see through thing.

It is.

It is translucent, it lets light through and even, you know,

sometimes it's made of panels.

There are these beautiful panels of fabric and you can kind of catch

glimpses of what's on the other side.

The reason this came to mind is the day after I was teaching my ysa, is I listened

to a BYU devotional from, um, elder L He's in the young men's general presidency, and

he taught about these flashes of light.

Oh, it was such a good talk, you guys.

There's no transcript of it yet cause it was just from a couple weeks ago,

but you should go and listen to it.

It was so well done and he talked about that's essentially what

we have in this earth life.

There are times when the veil part's just a little bit, you know, you catch

a glimpse of the divine in your life.

He, he mentioned some of the miracles that have happened to him and his family.

These little flashes of light that over the course of a lifetime

accumulate into this vibrant testimony of what's on the other side.

Even though you never got the full picture in this mortal life of the other side of

the veil, because you have these flashes of light and they accumulate over time.

You can testify of what is there, and I feel like that's what Isaiah is pleading

for us to understand that there will be a time when the heavens are fully

visible and in the interim we should seek these little bursts of light.

I love the way he goes on.

He talks about miracles.

So if you're looking for, for since the beginning of the world, men have

not heard nor perceived by the ear.

Neither have I seen, oh God, beside the what he has prepared

for him that waited for him.

This is a promise that Isaiah's trying to teach us that God has

woven into our mortal story.

These little.

Pockets of joy.

My kids, we have this tradition in our family for years when they were

little, that I would hide their birthday presents in the morning so that they

would have to f solve like a scavenger hunt to actually find their presence.

Unlike all the kids will in the family will go and try and seek out

these presents throughout the day.

And if they don't know where to look, then they struggle.

But if they will follow the clues, then they can find these little

presents tucked all over the house.

And that's kind of what I see in this verse.

He's basically saying, Your heavenly parents have.

Have thought about this and prepared things, blessings

that you can't even fathom.

Things you didn't even know were there.

And I have totally seen that in my life where we'll be going through incredibly

hard things and out of nowhere we stumble on this miracle, right, this

tender mercy that we didn't deserve.

And it's kind of like my kids finding a birthday gift in a

house plant or in a box of cereal.

It's this idea.

He prepared this so long ago and you had no idea it was there

and now open it up and enjoy.

That's what Isaiah wants them to understand.

I also love what he says in five says, Thou meet is him that rejoice

it and work with righteousness.

Those who choose him, those who choose to follow him, he will meet.

When you own the footnotes and you learn a little bit more about this phrase, it

means that he will make intercession four.

So to meet.

It.

Well, it's the same thing we hear in the him, right?

The him.

What is it called?

Oh, where can I turn for peace?

That's in my margins because it says he will.

He reaches our reaching, right?

It's this idea of no matter how little my reach is towards him, he will close

the gap and he will find me if I'm, if my trajectory is correct, then he will.

He will reach me.

He will find me.

That's what it means to have him meet.

And then Isaiah talks about how they will all be in need of redemption.

He compares them to filthy rags that they all will need help, help from the savior

and invites them to use their agency.

So in seven and eight he talks about how they will need to use their agency

to let the Lord mold them in eight.

It talks about the, the potter and that they are clay.

There have been phases of the children of Israel's.

Course where they have become hardened and stiff and Isaiah wants them to

be malleable again, workable, so that the Lord can craft them back

into the children of the covenant that they were intended to be.

And so he promises that, He says, But now, oh Lord, now art our father, we

are the clay, and now are our potter and we are all the work of the.

All of us were intended to be something and if we will submit our

will and use our agency to follow his plan, we can get crafted to

be whatever he intended us to be.

And his, he just invites them.

He pleads with the Lord to listen.

So in nine, be not Roth.

Very so sore.

Oh Lord, neither.

Remember inequity forever.

Behold, we bes the we are the people.

Again.

This sounds like the dad praying for his kids to me, he's saying.

Yes, we, they were lost for a season, but they are coming home.

Please let them in.

And of course the Lord does.

But you learn more about that in 60.

You guys remember that part in the doctrine in Covenants where Joseph Smith

asked the Saints to catalog the things that the abuses they had suffered,

that they were gonna take that to the leadership in like Washington DC to just

have a record of all the things that.

Had gone wrong and that that was an important piece of their story

to catalog those injustices.

That's kind of the feel I get when I read Chapter 65 cuz he's

basically cataloging how the children of Israel rejected him Here.

The Lord is talking about all the ways he reached after them and they rebuffed

him, and I don't think he's just giving us this laundry list of hard things.

I think he's trying to help them understand why there is this big gap in.

Between them, why it takes so long for them to be gathered again,

because the offenses were great and there's a list of them in Chapter 65.

In one.

He says, I'm, I've thought of them, the As not of me, or I'm

found of them that sought me not.

And then in two, I've spread out my hands all the day onto of rebellious people.

I love that phrase cuz it just reminds me of third Nefi that when

he came to the people on that side of the world, he opened up his hands

and he showed them the wounds and they came and they believed and.

Oftentimes with the children of Israel in that same kind of gesture, when

he did miracles and he fulfilled prophecy, they would not see.

And so he reminds them of that.

He talks in three of people that provoke with me to anger continually to my face.

I think his parents, we can get this, you know, like when you see your kids rebel

to your face, it's just a harsh blow.

And so this is part of his catalog of reasons why it took

a while for things to come.

Um, it's interesting what you see in five, which they stand by self come not

nearing to me for I am holier than now.

They got prideful and they got to the point where they were

saying, I don't need you close.

I think we fall into the same trap today.

I know I do.

Where you start to kind of get comfortable in darkness.

I had this closet, our master closet for years, guys, I

think it was like two years.

I didn't replace the light bulb.

Like the light went out.

We just had one of those cheap little lights in there and the light bulb

went out and I never put it back.

Cause we had enough natural light that kind of came in from the

bathroom that you could still see.

But I found myself getting really comfortable in the darkness.

I couldn't see all the mess, I didn't really have to organize

it or clean it a lot because you couldn't really see it all that well.

And I got kind of comfortable in the darkness to the point where I, even

when I finally did replace the light bulb, I would forget to turn on the

switch because I was so used to it.

That's sort of what's happening here with the children of Israel.

They've, they're getting comfortable in the darkness and they don't

want him too close, cuz when he's close, You have to do something,

you know, you have to make a choice.

I think this sometimes happens with our teenagers.

They sort of get into this state where they want to not feel anything.

Cuz if they feel something then they'll have to act.

And there's this apathy that seems more comfortable.

But it's that same lesson we've learned over and over again in every book of

scripture that there is no neutral ground.

You're either coming closer to God or you're retreating.

And St.

Loves to make you think that that little, you know, That space in the

middle is you're just standing still and you can pop back on anytime.

But Isaiah teaches the opposite, uh, that they were pulling away from him.

They were hiding from him.

They didn't want him near, But then of course, this is Isaiah, so he's

gonna bring us around around eight.

He talks about how, how they weren't destroyed , basically.

There was goodness in them.

That needed to be preserved.

This is that remnant that we've been talking about, that seed that's deep in

the ground that he's gonna nourish and it's gonna come forth at a later time.

Um, but he talks about the distance 12.

He says, I called you, did not answer when I speak.

You did not hear in 13.

He warns about the results of that.

You'll be hungry.

You hold.

My servant shall drink, but they shall be thirsty.

My servant shall Joyce.

But they shall be as ashamed.

There will be some who will.

This is like that big clock that I was telling you about that.

In the last days, there will be some who get it and there will be some who come

and rejoice, and there will be some who still stoically stand on their faulty

sandy soil and reap the rewards of it.

What I love is what you see in 16, he talks about at the end of 16 that because

of the former troubles are forgotten and because they're hid from my eyes,

I create a new heavens and a new earth.

That promise that our, those sins that we repent of will be fully.

Forgotten by the Lord is a remarkable one to me.

There's some great quotes in the notes if you wanna go deeper on that, but

I love this idea of a new thing, that there will be a new world and we won't

even really think back on the old one.

I think that's part of the reason things are gonna be

forgotten and old sins cast off.

Cuz there's this whole new world and we won't really think

too much about the old one.

There won't be crying anymore, there won't be mourning each act.

These are millennial promises that.

Children will live to be a hundred, and then they'll change.

Like twinkling of an eye, I think is how the doctrine covenants puts

it, that there will be this shift.

No more death, no more pain, no more loss.

And I love the proactive piece of these millennial promises.

This is around 21 and 22.

They'll build houses and inhabit them.

They'll plant fields and they'll rejoice in them.

I went to a conference this weekend.

I talked to a girl.

Her husband was an attorney, and then they shifted into being potato farmers

because it was the family business and about the joy that they feel in this

work that it's so different, but so good.

And, and I, that's when I read this first I thought of her and

I thought, Oh, I think I get it.

I, I can see where there is joy and delight in.

Partaking of the things you built and you grew, and that's what he's promising the,

the things that they plant that they'll be able to harvest and reap at the end.

He talks about how they'll find answers to their prayers.

This is 24 and it shall come to pass that before they call.

I will answer and while they are yet speaking, I will hear that

is a closeness with the spirit that all of us should crave.

That before we even know what to ask.

He's answered and before we even finish our plea, he's delivered us.

I just think there's power in that kind of connection with the.

Okay, we're on the very last chapter, you guys.

This is 66 and he's coming full circle to where we began.

Again, talking about the state of your heart, where is your heart?

He is referencing a temple that needs to be built.

That's part of the second coming that that temple will be rebuilt, but he

talks about who needs to be there, and it's those that he will look.

The poor, contrary heart and those that tremble at his word, the

humble, the teachable, all those things we've talked about with Zion,

that's who will be in this place.

He also offers some warnings, so in four he talks about those who didn't

hear him when he called them, and then five, it almost sounds like they have a

division happening within them because he reference his brothern that hated

you and cast you out, that if any, are.

Not caring for the poor, or maybe even as similar to what we saw with the

Zora mites in the Book of Mormon, how they built the Rammy Eton and then they

wouldn't let the poor come into worship.

They wouldn't allow them to worship among them.

I wonder if something similar is happening, cuz he talks about

how they will be cared for and how there will be a change.

Around seven is where you see this shift.

This is where he use.

An analogy or an object lesson of a woman who is expecting

a child to represent Zion.

Basically, the child that will come forth is Zion, and he speaks about this woman

who traeth or she should be in pain.

She should be dealing with struggle, but doesn't, In

fact, the baby becomes so fast.

That's the idea of Zion that.

That growth that we've been waiting for to come out of that burn field will be rapid.

That going back to the female analogy, that that will happen without pain.

It will be surprising to her how quickly the baby comes forth, and

then he promises incredible blessings.

12 for let's say, at the Lord, behold, I will extend peace to her like a river.

And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream.

They will have these sources of nourishment that will feed them just like

we've studied all throughout Isaiah, and you just have to love the word choices.

It makes me think that Isaiah was either a really good dad or just fully

appreciated the women in his life, cuz he uses these really intimate.

Gestures of motherhood, the nurturing, the caring, the

nourishing that happens with mothers.

I, I wonder if he was watching his wife or his daughters as they had children.

I don't know.

And that, that brought these visuals to mind cuz he talks about how.

They will give suck.

They will be born on her sides.

They'll be dangled upon her knees.

They, it's this relationship between the children of Israel and their Lord that

will be nourishing and warm and close.

Um, I will comfort you, You shall be comforted in Jerusalem 16.

He warns more about the fires that are coming and how there will.

Difficulty coming, but that there will be a promise that there will be a sign.

We've read this all throughout Isaiah, so it seems really fitting that he

finds a way to inject it into this last chapter, but he talks about a

sign among them that this enzyme to the nations is what the footnotes teach you.

And then it talks about the gathering that these children who

have been lost for a season will be brought back as an offering, as

as this gift back to the savior.

Back to this.

They will come back to Zion, and the biggest promise I think happens

in the end of 22 so that your seed and your name shall remain.

Once they are gathered again, this covenant children of

Israel will not be broken apart.

They will not be lost.

Their posterity will continue.

Just like those promises that the Lord made to Abraham so many

generations ago that they will be fulfilled in the last days.