I’ve been a bit busy lately, so I haven’t been able to spend as much time on Email Sunday School as I sometimes did before, so I hope you don’t mind too much if this has a little less depth or is a little shorter than some of my previous lessons. This week we are discussing 3 Nephi 20-26. In it we read, “. . .that when the words of Isaiah should be fulfilled—behold they are written, ye have them before you, therefore search them— . . .that when they shall be fulfilled then is the fulfilling of the covenant which the Father hath made unto his people, O house of Israel.”
What’s all this about the words of Isaiah being fulfilled, and why do we care? Christ tells us at least a few times throughout the scriptures how important the words of Isaiah are, and so do some of the other prophets. So if Christ himself and many of the prophets are telling us that these scriptures are very important, we should probably listen. Now, if you’re like me, Isaiah is your least favorite of all the scriptures. In fact, they’re your favorite scriptures to skip. . It’s confusing, it’s weird, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I’ve read about how important Isaiah is, and I previously bought an entire book (Isaiah for Airheads) that is supposed to help you decode what Isaiah is talking about. The thing was, is that Isaiah seems to have written this way on purpose. The people who had studied the scriptures got his messages loud and clear, but the people who hadn’t studied found him difficult to understand. This was apparently by design, pearls before swine, or something.
The book I have on Isaiah gives a bit of advice for understanding Isaiah. Obviously where it’s an entire book, I’m just going to give you a few snippets of what it talks about. First, keep in mind that Isaiah mingled a lot of things together in his prophecies, but that he’s typically talking about one of 4 things at a time even though they’re intermingled. These are the 4 C’s.
Okay, with that out of the way, let’s see what else the reading in Nephi says. Christ is talking, and he says that when we begin to see the prophecies of Isaiah fulfilled (this necessitates us knowing what those prophecies are), “then shall the remnants, which shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, be gathered in from the east and from the west, and from the south and from the north; and they shall be brought to the knowledge of the Lord their God, who hath redeemed them.”
So, when we begin to see the prophecies of Isaiah being fulfilled, then we know that the gathering of Israel has begun. We’ve also heard that the Book of Mormon is the tool of the gathering. Another prerequisite we have for understanding this reading in the Book of Mormon and Isaiah is to know what the Abrahamic Covenant is, because understanding the Abrahamic Covenant tells us who Israel is, who the House of Israel is, and what that means/why it matters.
What was Abraham promised? What are we promised if we become part of covenant Israel? This deserves it’s own lesson and it’s own book. But basically, some of the promises are that we’ll have a land to inherit, the land of promise (the Book of Mormon talks a lot about the Americas being a land of promise), and that we will have seed or descendants, and that we will be entitled to spiritual blessings. Do we just get these blessings? Not so fast, you have to qualify for them, so you have to take specific steps. Covenant Israel means you have to make covenants to get them, and covenants are promises you make between you and God saying you’ll do something, and in return you get something.
One analogy I really liked about the last days, gathering Israel, and what it means to be covenant Israel, is one that I think John Bytheway had in one of his books. He said that the world is like a giant cruise ship. And on that ship you have passengers and you have crew. Covenant Israel are the cruise ship workers. Eveyone else is a passenger. The crew is fewer in number than the passengers, they have special privileges, and they have extra responsibilities. He said in his book that step one is to gather the gatherers. And then, at that point when you have a crew amassed, you can begin in earnest to gather Israel. Again, so to truly understand the gathering of Israel or the events preceding the second coming, it would be helpful to have a background in the Abrahamic Covenant and have studied to be able to decipher the words of Isaiah.
So again, Christ reiterates in this reading, that "when these works and the works which shall be wrought among you hereafter shall come forth from the Gentiles. . . when these things come to pass that thy seed shall begin to know these things—it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of Israel.” We are reassured that God “will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.”
This reading is full of promises about how the Lord will protect his people. He says repeatedly they’ll be like a lion among sheep: “my people who are a remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.” The repetition of this imagery is, I think, to reinforce the absurdity of covenant Israel fearing the gentiles, the Second Coming, or the events preceding it. Why would a lion fear sheep (again gentiles, the wicked, or anyone)? It says a “young lion” which to me implies that the more time that passes the less the lion has to fear. The sheep never pose a threat to the lion, but the more time that passes and the bigger the lion gets, the more dangerous it gets to the flock of sheep. The lion, if it needed to, could single handedly destroy the entire flock of sheep.
At this point, as we see Isaiah being fulfilled, then the gathering commences. “And they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem.” This whole lesson brings to mind the 10th Article of Faith, which says, “We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built on the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.”What is the New Jerusalem then? It would be helpful to study the significance of Jerusalem in the past, but for now we’ll just equate it with establishing the Kingdom of God on the earth, establishing Christ’s Church upon the earth, or Zion. I feel like another really interesting thread to follow in this vein would be the City of Enoch, but again, I didn’t allocate as much time to Sunday School. It could be a fun thread to follow on your own. They talked about the City of Enoch a lot in conference last week, so it could be a fun topic to study.
In this new Jerusalem, Christ will dwell in the midst of the people there, and the power of heaven will be present. Eventually, he will "reign personally upon the earth." The work will commence and the Father will prepare the way. Chapter 22 is all about how glorious it’s supposed to be. “And the powers of heaven shall be in the midst of this people; yea, even I will be in the midst of you.”
Sometimes I think when we consider church, we think it’s enough to try to be a good person, or to make and keep covenants. And that’s a nice first step, but if you believe in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, that’s just the beginning. So, our responsibilities range from bringing ourselves to Christ and becoming covenant Israel, but then our responsibilities broaden and expand to bringing others to Christ’s teachings as well and inviting them to become covenant Israel too. The prophecies say that they will join. The prophecies say that we'll establish the kingdom of God on the earth, just like Enoch, and that Christ will come to the kingdom we've prepared.
One thing I really like about the LDS church is this framework. There is order in everything. Things are structured very small, and then they expand with consistency. Most of the principles and lessons are this way. They are applicable small scale, and applicable medium scale, and larger scale too. Principles apply to situations, they apply to individuals, they apply to families, communities, and nations. Covenants are the same. They apply to individuals, families, nations, and the world. The consistency is reassuring in it’s order and awesome if true. It reminds me of this scripture, which I’ll end with. “Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.”
What’s all this about the words of Isaiah being fulfilled, and why do we care? Christ tells us at least a few times throughout the scriptures how important the words of Isaiah are, and so do some of the other prophets. So if Christ himself and many of the prophets are telling us that these scriptures are very important, we should probably listen. Now, if you’re like me, Isaiah is your least favorite of all the scriptures. In fact, they’re your favorite scriptures to skip. . It’s confusing, it’s weird, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I’ve read about how important Isaiah is, and I previously bought an entire book (Isaiah for Airheads) that is supposed to help you decode what Isaiah is talking about. The thing was, is that Isaiah seems to have written this way on purpose. The people who had studied the scriptures got his messages loud and clear, but the people who hadn’t studied found him difficult to understand. This was apparently by design, pearls before swine, or something.
The book I have on Isaiah gives a bit of advice for understanding Isaiah. Obviously where it’s an entire book, I’m just going to give you a few snippets of what it talks about. First, keep in mind that Isaiah mingled a lot of things together in his prophecies, but that he’s typically talking about one of 4 things at a time even though they’re intermingled. These are the 4 C’s.
- Covenant Israel
- Christ (the Lord)
- Current Events (of his day, so typically past events like covenant Israel leaving Babylon, so to us events fulfilled anciently)
- Comng Events (or prophesies to be fulfilled in our day, or current latter day events)
- Learn the manner of prophesying among the jews
- Have the Spirit of Prophecy (Seek God’s Guidance, pray)
- Know the regions or geography of Jerusalem
- Live in the Last days
Okay, with that out of the way, let’s see what else the reading in Nephi says. Christ is talking, and he says that when we begin to see the prophecies of Isaiah fulfilled (this necessitates us knowing what those prophecies are), “then shall the remnants, which shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, be gathered in from the east and from the west, and from the south and from the north; and they shall be brought to the knowledge of the Lord their God, who hath redeemed them.”
So, when we begin to see the prophecies of Isaiah being fulfilled, then we know that the gathering of Israel has begun. We’ve also heard that the Book of Mormon is the tool of the gathering. Another prerequisite we have for understanding this reading in the Book of Mormon and Isaiah is to know what the Abrahamic Covenant is, because understanding the Abrahamic Covenant tells us who Israel is, who the House of Israel is, and what that means/why it matters.
What was Abraham promised? What are we promised if we become part of covenant Israel? This deserves it’s own lesson and it’s own book. But basically, some of the promises are that we’ll have a land to inherit, the land of promise (the Book of Mormon talks a lot about the Americas being a land of promise), and that we will have seed or descendants, and that we will be entitled to spiritual blessings. Do we just get these blessings? Not so fast, you have to qualify for them, so you have to take specific steps. Covenant Israel means you have to make covenants to get them, and covenants are promises you make between you and God saying you’ll do something, and in return you get something.
One analogy I really liked about the last days, gathering Israel, and what it means to be covenant Israel, is one that I think John Bytheway had in one of his books. He said that the world is like a giant cruise ship. And on that ship you have passengers and you have crew. Covenant Israel are the cruise ship workers. Eveyone else is a passenger. The crew is fewer in number than the passengers, they have special privileges, and they have extra responsibilities. He said in his book that step one is to gather the gatherers. And then, at that point when you have a crew amassed, you can begin in earnest to gather Israel. Again, so to truly understand the gathering of Israel or the events preceding the second coming, it would be helpful to have a background in the Abrahamic Covenant and have studied to be able to decipher the words of Isaiah.
So again, Christ reiterates in this reading, that "when these works and the works which shall be wrought among you hereafter shall come forth from the Gentiles. . . when these things come to pass that thy seed shall begin to know these things—it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of Israel.” We are reassured that God “will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.”
This reading is full of promises about how the Lord will protect his people. He says repeatedly they’ll be like a lion among sheep: “my people who are a remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.” The repetition of this imagery is, I think, to reinforce the absurdity of covenant Israel fearing the gentiles, the Second Coming, or the events preceding it. Why would a lion fear sheep (again gentiles, the wicked, or anyone)? It says a “young lion” which to me implies that the more time that passes the less the lion has to fear. The sheep never pose a threat to the lion, but the more time that passes and the bigger the lion gets, the more dangerous it gets to the flock of sheep. The lion, if it needed to, could single handedly destroy the entire flock of sheep.
At this point, as we see Isaiah being fulfilled, then the gathering commences. “And they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem.” This whole lesson brings to mind the 10th Article of Faith, which says, “We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built on the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.”What is the New Jerusalem then? It would be helpful to study the significance of Jerusalem in the past, but for now we’ll just equate it with establishing the Kingdom of God on the earth, establishing Christ’s Church upon the earth, or Zion. I feel like another really interesting thread to follow in this vein would be the City of Enoch, but again, I didn’t allocate as much time to Sunday School. It could be a fun thread to follow on your own. They talked about the City of Enoch a lot in conference last week, so it could be a fun topic to study.
In this new Jerusalem, Christ will dwell in the midst of the people there, and the power of heaven will be present. Eventually, he will "reign personally upon the earth." The work will commence and the Father will prepare the way. Chapter 22 is all about how glorious it’s supposed to be. “And the powers of heaven shall be in the midst of this people; yea, even I will be in the midst of you.”
Sometimes I think when we consider church, we think it’s enough to try to be a good person, or to make and keep covenants. And that’s a nice first step, but if you believe in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, that’s just the beginning. So, our responsibilities range from bringing ourselves to Christ and becoming covenant Israel, but then our responsibilities broaden and expand to bringing others to Christ’s teachings as well and inviting them to become covenant Israel too. The prophecies say that they will join. The prophecies say that we'll establish the kingdom of God on the earth, just like Enoch, and that Christ will come to the kingdom we've prepared.
One thing I really like about the LDS church is this framework. There is order in everything. Things are structured very small, and then they expand with consistency. Most of the principles and lessons are this way. They are applicable small scale, and applicable medium scale, and larger scale too. Principles apply to situations, they apply to individuals, they apply to families, communities, and nations. Covenants are the same. They apply to individuals, families, nations, and the world. The consistency is reassuring in it’s order and awesome if true. It reminds me of this scripture, which I’ll end with. “Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.”
No comments:
Post a Comment