Isaiah part trois

 Welcome! This is part three of the Isaiah reading

Isaiah 40

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Isaiah 41

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Isaiah 42

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Isaiah 43

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Isaiah 44

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Isaiah 45

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Isaiah 46

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Isaiah 47

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Isaiah 48

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Isaiah 49

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Isaiah 50

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Isaiah 51

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Isaiah 52

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Isaiah 53

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Isaiah 54

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Isaiah 55

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Isaiah 56

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Isaiah 57

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Isaiah 58

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Isaiah 59

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Isaiah 60

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Isaiah 61

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Isaiah 62

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Isaiah 63

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Isaiah 64

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Isaiah 65

Isaiah 65 feels to me like a last call to repentance before Isaiah 66, and a tying up of loose ends. Throughout this chapter, and through out Isaiah, there is a constant plea to listen to God. God warns that when He came, there was no man, when he called, there was none to answer, that his people consistently abandoned their relationship with Him. It seems as though in Isaiah 65, he says for those who continue down that path, they will receive the reward of those actions but those that serve God with all their might will receive the fulfillment of their works and of their blessings and the day will come where before they call, God will answer, and while they are yet speaking, God will hear.

Isaiah 66

I like to read the last chapter of Isaiah in context of the first chapter of Isaiah. As Isaiah opened with the hypocrisy of the church, so he closes with the sincerement (the burning away of all the impurity) of the righteous and the fulfilling of the promises of zion. Isaiah closes with a great and terrible assurance that God will overcome the corruption of the world, and the saints will over come with Him, those that give up everything and leave only their contrite spirit and eyes to God. God will ultimately deliver His people and they shall both conquer their inward demons and the external destruction of all false foundations.

Closing Note

Isaiah can be a difficult book. It is difficult to read, it is difficult to understand, to appreciate, and, once understanding the message for one seeking to be better, it can be a very bitter pill to swallow.

This struggle is intrinsic to its beauty. Isaiah hits the breadth and depth of the wickedness of the world, the churches' apostasy, the glory of the Lord, the redeeming power, the healing, deliverance, and the breaking forth of Zion. Isaiah wove the entire plan of salvation into a poetic piece in a way that, through revelation, can give us the higher view of who God is, who we are, who we can become, the price we need to pay for that, and the price that was paid for that already. It is no wonder that Moroni finally closed the Book of Mormon with Isaiah's words. In that spirit, I would like to end these Isaiah chapters with the same cheer for the millennial day when all can know and live these words.

And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on they beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge they borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the coevenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.