Scott Brown Wins Massachusetts Senate Seat

The people have spoken!  This was an unbelievable and totally improbable victory for the people!  Democrats and Independents turned against President Obama.

Scott Brown, an unknown state senator who filed to run in heavily Democratic Massachusetts in the special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Ted Kennedy's death won tonight.

The citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have not voted for a Republican for President since Ronald Reagan in 1984. Barack Obama carried Massachusetts by 26 points! Tonight, Brown won this special election by six points -- talk about improbable!  It's stunning.

There could be no state in America considered more "blue" than Massachusetts.  One week ago, nobody counting the votes and eying the poll numbers before the election believed that the seat held by Ted Kennedy for almost half a century could possibly fall into Republican hands.  If you calculate the time his older brother, John F. Kennedy, held the seat, it's over a half century! 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, clueless as ever, vows to plunge ahead with their agenda to pass the bill despite this outcome.  Her seat's not in jeopardy.  But Senator Harry Reid, the Senate Majority, leader trails in the polls in Nevada by 10 points, yet he too has pledged to continue the fight to put a healthcare reform bill on the President's desk.  Are they listening to the voters yet?  Apparently not.  They don't seem capable of listening to the will of the people, and their calculations haven't caught up with the poll results tonight.

Well, Scott Brown proved them all wrong. He didn’t win Ted Kennedy’s seat. He won the people’s seat. And Martha Coakley wasn’t the only one who lost tonight. Do not underestimate what this victory signals.  This outcome is a direct rejection of President Obama’s far left agenda.  On the anniversary of his first year in office his approval ratings have plummeted.  Why?  America just isn't as radical and liberal as Obama's handlers thought. 

The election tonight won't totally end the efforts to pass his disastrous health care plan, but it will certainly put a dent in the momentum that was mounting without any end in sight until tonight.

Brown campaigned on the idea that he would be the 41st vote to kill Obamacare. He made no secret of his conservative principles on health care reform and the economy. And the people of Massachusetts, a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by 3 to 1, embraced those principles in record numbers!  There can be no clearer referendum on Obamacare than this one!

That doesn’t mean the fight is over. Some reports have indicated that Democrats will scramble to keep Senator-elect Brown from being seated immediately so Congress can get Obamacare to the President's desk.  Others have suggested they will ram it through reconciliation -- that idea hasn't gone away.  However, tonight's results cannot be ignored nor misunderstood.  Americans -- at least the ones living in Massachusetts -- have spoken at the polls in a way no one could have predicted!

The only question remaining will be how quickly Reid will move to seat Brown in the Senate.  If he drags his feet while they continue to ram through Obamacare, they will do so at the risk of losing even more ground in the mid-term elections coming this November. 

Two days after the election results were in George Will put it well:

If the Democrats' congressional leaders are determined to continue their kamikaze flight to incineration, they will ignore Massachusetts' redundant evidence of public disgust. They will leaven their strategy of briberies with procedural cynicism — delaying certification of Massachusetts' Senate choice, or misusing "reconciliation" to evade Senate rules, or forcing the House to swallow its last shred of pride in order to rush the Senate bill to the president's desk. Surely any such trickery would be one brick over a load for some hitherto servile members of the Democratic House and Senate caucuses, giving them an excuse to halt their party's Gadarene rush toward the precipice.

P.S. Days after the election, someone sent me this video of one of Scott Brown's campaign ads -- pretty compelling stuff!

ZION: The Old Testament (Jeremiah 1 to Jeremiah 14)

The Old Testament (Jeremiah 1 to Jeremiah 14)

The Prophet Jeremiah

Of his prophetic ministry to Israel, about forty years in duration, culminating at about the time of the Babylonian captivity (587 B.C.), Jeremiah tells us:

Then the word of the LORD came unto me saying,
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. (Jeremiah's reluctance was not unusual, nor is his reference to his inability to speak: See Moses 6:27:34; Exodus 4:10-17; Isaiah 6:5-7).

It would seem as one studies the lives of the prophets, ancient and modern, that the acid test of their divine callings is whether or not they receive a prophet's "reward" for their labors. What is that reward? Consider the lives of Paul, Peter, Stephen, Christ, Joseph Smith, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Moses, Abraham, Noah, Alma, Nephi, or Moroni to name a few. Each is called to pass through the fires of rejection, self-doubt, persecution, and ultimately vindication only after the unfolding of history validates their prophetic utterances. Seldom does the population at large receive God’s messengers, and when welcomed at all only a relative handful recognize them.

Of these basic truths Jeremiah's life stands as a lonely powerful witness. Still a young man when called as a prophet (he was called during the thirteenth year of King Josiah's reign, about 627 or 626 B.C., making him a contemporary of Lehi in Jerusalem), he warned of an unidentified "evil" coming from the north, which would destroy Judah and Jerusalem. (See Jeremiah 1:13-16; 4:6; 6:1; 10:22).  For many years he warned of the impending doom, while even members of his own family, long wearied by the apparent non fulfillment of his prophecies, plotted against him to take his life in order to silence him. (See Jeremiah 11:18; 12:6; 18:18 23; 20:7-12).  So alone is Jeremiah in the midst of a wicked and rebellious Israel that even he begins to wonder if he has been deceived. (See Jeremiah 20:7-9).  In the midst of the crucible through which he is called to pass as he cries out in desperation to the Lord, comes this answer of little comfort:

If thou has run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee. (Jeremiah 12:5-6).

In other words, "Jeremiah, if you think things are bad now, they're only going to get worse." Not much comfort. It reminds one of the Lord's answers to Joseph Smith's outcry in Liberty Jail, when he was told his incarceration and mistreatment at the hands of his enemies, ". . .shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." (D&C 122:7). Sometimes God's answers to his prophets are the tests. Joseph also learned that his trials had not yet afflicted him as severely as they did Job (see D&C 121:10), but perhaps only Job suffered as much self-doubt as Jeremiah. So abandoned does Jeremiah feel at one point that he curses the day he was born. (See Jeremiah 20:14-18, then compare with Job 3:3-4).

Much has been written about the suffering of prophets, but seldom do we really understand the reason why they are put to death. What is it that so arouses their peers? Is it because the prophets call the world to repentance? Such a simplistic notion is not a sufficient answer. Rather than death, most such prophets are paid a substantial fee for their preaching. Billy Graham comes immediately to mind, for example. No, there must be something more, and that something more is always the fact that they bear witness of the supernatural. In Christ's case he performed miracles in the presence of witnesses who could not explain, but sought to deny his power. True prophets earn the hatred of the world for their spiritual endowments of God's power, and then having the audacity to proclaim their witness of that divine investiture. In short, the world dispatches its blasphemers to serve and please the God whom they ignorantly worship. (See John 3:11; 8:53; 10:32-33, 36, 39; Acts 5:32; Acts 7:53, 56-58; Acts 22:22; JS-H 1:22-25).

Stephen uttered the prophetic words that sealed his fate when he said, "I see." (See Acts 7:56-60). Those words were his death warrant. Had he spent his life as the philosophical Billy Grahams of the world always have, merely denouncing the vices and failings of men, he might have died peacefully in his sleep. But Stephen saw and he knew. Those in the world hate and despise such certainty.

What was it that outraged the Jews when Paul came among them? These words:

. . . suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. (Acts 22:6-8).

Had Saul the Pharisee employed his doctoral credentials among the Jews by speaking as a Talmudic scholar, rather than bearing witness of what he had both seen and heard, he would never have become Paul the Apostle, nor suffered such a torturous demise. The minute Paul became a witness of the supernatural he was asking for trouble, and he received his prophet's reward. Christ himself met with a similar fate among his neighbors when he declared he was the fulfillment of Isaiah's Messianic prophecies, as we learned earlier. (See Luke 4:14-32).

We might do well to ask ourselves the question, "What is the difference between true and false prophets?" The simple response to that inquiry is to evaluate the degree of the man's sacrifice. A true prophet will go to his grave with his testimony on his lips, asserting his witness with his last breath and forgiving his tormentors, but false prophets cling to life with all they possess. (See Philippians 3:1-15).  True prophets will always forsake the ways and praise of mortal men. False prophets by contrast are always more concerned with their "Nielsen rating" among men, or the high value of their mortal life when faced with certain death. (See Helaman 13:24-29; also read the 6th Lecture on Faith).  Few false prophets are willing to sacrifice their lives, while true prophets count it a blessing.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland recently characterized this truth in an October 2009 General Conference address ("Safety for the Soul") as evidence of his witness of the divinity of the Prophet Joseph Smith's calling.  Said he:

As one of a thousand elements of my own testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, I submit this as yet one more evidence of its truthfulness. In this their greatest — and last — hour of need, I ask you: would these men blaspheme before God by continuing to fix their lives, their honor, and their own search for eternal salvation on a book (and by implication a church and a ministry) they had fictitiously created out of whole cloth?

Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be “houseless, friendless and homeless” and that their children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor. (Joseph Smith, in History of the Church, 4:539). Never mind that legions will die and other legions live declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know the Book of Mormon and the Church which espouses it to be true. Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour of death these two men would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as imposters and charlatans until the end of time? They would not do that! They were willing to die rather than deny the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. (Ensign, November 2009, 88-90).

Like Isaiah before him, and all the prophets that followed including Joseph Smith, Jeremiah's prophecies have application for us. In his words to ancient Israel there is a message for the Latter-day Saints today. Are we better than they were? Are we more devout, more spiritual, and more pure? Are we married to the Bridegroom yet? Have we like ancient Israel received our bill of divorcement? Have we played the harlot? Let each answer for himself.

Are we hearkening to the voices of these ancient prophets, despite the evidence we have suggested that they speak of us? In our day we think the prophets spoke to an idolatrous and weak-kneed Israel. We see their sins and weaknesses from the pinnacle of perfect 20-20 hindsight. In their day the prophets were rejected as dreamers who spoke of the wickedness of Israel in some far-distant future day, and thus neither dispensation of Israel likens the words of prophecy to them. We think the prophets are always talking about somebody else.

There is a sobering juxtaposition at work in these last days that bears further examination before we move on. In ancient Israel the true prophets were the anti-establishment figures who came among the chosen people to discomfit the church in their sins. Even in the early days of this dispensation Joseph Smith could not be considered anything other than “anti-establishment.”

I remember asking Lowell Bennion on one occasion many years ago to come to our ward to speak in sacrament meeting. His question of me still burns in my memory to this day. He asked, “Do you want me to afflict the comfortable or to comfort the afflicted?”

There is ample evidence to suggest that modern Israel has replicated and perhaps exceeded their ancient counterparts in our love affair with the world. While it may appear to some critics of the Church (I am not one of them) that the modern prophets since the turn of the twentieth century have capitulated to the exigencies of the world in order to fulfill our mandate to take the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, like all illusions this one is also a mirage. It is not the prophets whose hearts are set upon the world, it is the hearts of the people they serve. We assume that we must make a complete break with our history in order to preach a more acceptable gospel that renounces plural marriage (the hallmark of our “weird” past).

We might do well to let go of our moral relativism and pay attention to what is going on around us. The world appears to be on a slippery downhill slope. Judge Robert Bork said it well with the title of his recent book, Slouching Toward Gomorrah. Rather than abhorrent revulsion at the ways and praise of the world today, we seem to embrace it with all our hearts. Even William Bennett, today’s moral watchdog on the national scene, expresses his concern in the title of his recent book, The Death of Outrage.

The nuances are subtle and enticing. By welcoming the world to Salt Lake City in the 2002 Winter Olympic venue, it is said we were letting our light shine and not hiding our light under a bushel. It was said this would be a good thing, to let the world know we are not the reprehensible and weird characters we have historically been painted to be. To the hard-liners – the so-called “Mormon fundamentalists” – who are still at this late date maintaining that the Manifesto was a shameful cave-in to the world, it would be well to acknowledge that we cannot go backward from where we are. Having made the decisions necessary to assimilate the Church into twentieth and twenty-first-century American civilization beginning with the Manifesto, we will play out the future by doing all within our power to bring the world to Christ to the degree that we can before the end comes, led by the inspiration of living Apostles.

President Wilford W. Woodruff put a simple question to the Latter-day Saints as he explained the reasons for giving up plural marriage. He said in part:

Some have thought that revelation had ceased. But this is not the case. The Lord is with us, and gives us revelation. . . I have received a revelation and a commandment from the Lord. . . the First Presidency of the Church and the Twelve Apostles are led and guided by the inspiration of the Lord, and the Lord will not permit me, nor any other man, to lead the people astray. (Brian H. Stuy, ed., Collected Discourses, 5 vols. [Burbank, Calif., and Woodland Hills, Ut.: B.H.S. Publishing, 1987-1992], 2: October 25, 1891 at the Brigham City Quarterly Conference).

The Olympics were a triumph. That said, the Church’s “compromise” with the world seems nearly complete. The well-documented compromises made by the participants in the 2002 Winter Olympic bid process (most are members of the Church) are witness to that fact, but despite the rough start the Games were salvaged. Perhaps only the work being cut short in righteousness in this dispensation will ultimately separate us from our ancient idolatrous cousins in Israel. (See Romans 9:28; D&C 109:59; 52:11; 84:97). The good news in our day is that the priesthood keys are here to stay and will never again be taken from the earth. (See D&C 13; 138:44; 90:2-11; JS-H: 69).

The stone cut out of the mountain as witnessed by Daniel will continue to roll forth until it fills the whole earth. The stone won’t roll back uphill, nor will it gather moss. Make no mistake – we are on a collision course with our ultimate destiny. Let us not take comfort in our alliance with Egypt, for it will as surely fail us now as it did ancient Israel. (See Jeremiah 25:15-38, for example). Our only strength and comfort can be in God and his power – not in the arm of flesh we have come to love so much in these last days. I said the nuances were subtle and enticing. They are, but I reject the assertion by some that the Church is in a complete state of apostasy.

Having commented on our current sins as a people, however, let us not become discouraged. This is not a “last days” phenomenon. It has forever been the case since Satan seduced Adam and Eve in the Garden. When confronted for partaking of the forbidden fruit by Elohim, Adam's defense was, "The woman thou gavest me, and commanded that she should remain with me, she gave me of the fruit of the tree, and I did eat." When Elohim questioned Eve, her response was, "The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." (See Moses 4:15-19).

It is always somebody else's fault, repentance is for the other guy, and our sins are only human idiosyncrasies. Whose fault is it that all mankind is fallen? Who are we blaming when each of us partakes of the forbidden fruit? Will we see ourselves in the mirror of prophecy? When will we seek God and Zion instead of Satan and Babylon? When will we stop justifying ourselves in our sins and repent? That is the question that has confronted every dispensation from the beginning. It is not merely a global question – individually it is time to re-examine our own hearts. We are nothing as a people, if not consistent.

JST Jeremiah 3:6-20

Compare Jeremiah's words, and ponder the possibility that he may be speaking to the Latter-day Saints in our day:

The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.
In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 4:3-8, 30-31

Jeremiah continues his rebuke of Israel in these verses, and warns that Israel must “circumcise the foreskins of their hearts,” a graphic metaphor to teach all men that it is not enough to confess God with our lips. We must serve him will all our hearts in addition to conforming to all the outward ordinances. (See Paul's discourse on this subject in Romans 3-4). The translation in the Jerusalem Bible is particularly excellent). The Jews stumbled at the foundation stone of Christ. Many do the same in the Church today.

Jeremiah continues his appeal to Israel in the concluding verses with a much-used metaphor of the earth likened to a woman taken in travail, struggling as with her firstborn to bring forth Zion in the last days. (See D&C 136:34-36; Moses 7:48). Any parent will verify that childbirth the first time is much more anxious and uncertain than with subsequent births. So shall it be with the establishment of Zion.

For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.
Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.

And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.
For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

Jeremiah 6:1-4, 22-25

Jeremiah continues his assertions that "evil from the north country" will fall upon Jerusalem and destroy the city for her iniquity. He describes the conquering force as "a great nation," and declares they are "cruel and have no mercy." If Jeremiah, like Isaiah, can be read typologically (that is, his words are a type for our day), one can only speculate on which nation the modern-day protagonist is. Remember, it is easy for us to discern Jeremiah's warning to Israel looking back, but he told this story about an evil from the north country for thirty years before it came to pass. He tells them to prepare for war, but they are past feeling, and he is ridiculed and rebuked.

O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.
I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.
The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.
They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.
We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.

The message of Jeremiah's life and ministry is that he was tested by the trial of his faith to the uttermost, but he remained faithful despite his self-doubt. He was a lonely man with a lonely ministry, and his was a lonely voice cast adrift on a sea of mistrust, persecution, and abominations. History is evidence of his vindication. Will we make the same mistake as the ancients?

Another parable, another message for our day:

The Parable of the Dam:

A certain village was located below a hydroelectric dam on a large river in a nearby state. The dam had been designed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in cooperation with the United States Department of the Interior. The senior project engineer assigned to the development of the dam had worked with a large staff of engineers and others, and together they had been instrumental in the design, the engineering, and ultimately the construction of the dam and the hydroelectric facility.
The years of research, development, and construction of the dam were represented by an exhaustive and comprehensive series of drawings, calculations, environmental impact studies, and blueprints that had been filed with the local public library in the event anyone should desire to verify the findings and recommendations.
From its inception the senior engineer cautioned the public about the ultimate demise of the dam, knowing as he did that the location and vulnerability of a man made dam had the potential of massive death and destruction. For over forty years after its construction the senior engineer warned of the dam's eventual failure, and as the years passed more and more evidence surfaced to affirm his conclusions. His warnings for the most part, however, fell upon deaf ears. No one in the village was interested in the possibility that their comfortable lifestyle might change, even though the warnings were coming from the man they knew had conceived, designed, and built the dam.
Then one day a young boy moved into the village with his family. He was a studious young lad, quite above average for his age, but nevertheless unschooled in the ways of the world and men. He stumbled across the detailed and complex set of plans for the dam one day while at the library. He studied them for months in his spare time, and concluded that the senior project engineer's concerns were justified. In fact he began to state his belief based upon his study of the blueprints that the dam would fail during a specific period of time in the next year. He urged the townspeople to begin making immediate preparations for the catastrophe.
Now the senior project engineer had been instructing the people for years about what to do simple things that might save their lives if they heeded his counsel but few had listened to him. They all listened to this boy's ideas, however, because they thought it was so curious that a boy would make such a precise prediction about the dam's failure.
And it came to pass that the people began to call the staff of engineers, seeking out the opinions of the experts about the things the boy was saying. Although the plans and blueprints were available to all who cared to examine them, the people thought they could save themselves some time and effort by just asking one of the staff members. Many of the people explained they were just too busy to study all those complex documents themselves, even though the engineers had invited them to do so for many years. It was so much simpler to call an expert and get somebody else's opinion.
The staff of engineers was divided on their opinion of the boy's prediction, however. There seemed to be no unanimity of thought. Dissension and confusion resulted, as accusations and insults were heaped upon the boy. Some suggested that the boy was mad, others insisted that he no longer be permitted to live in the town, and still others implied he should be put in prison to silence him. Some of the older staff members who had been part of the original team, however, knew the boy's warnings were correctly deduced from the engineering design, and merely referred their questioners to the documents in the library, hoping the people would form their own conclusions.
And it came to pass that the senior project engineer also agreed with the young boy's conclusions, but remained silent while the controversy boiled among the townspeople. And the night before the dam broke he issued a news release giving specific instructions to the townspeople about how to escape the destruction of the dam failure. Those who had listened to his consistent instruction over the years were prepared to respond to the measures he had suggested in his news release. Those who had turned a deaf ear to his warnings were swept away in the flood waters, because they could not make preparations quickly enough.
Today the world is a village downstream from a hydroelectric dam destined to fail. The senior project engineer has given counsel and specific instruction to the townspeople, and every now and again a boy discovers the crack in the dam.
He who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Jeremiah 8:18-22

Jeremiah, like all the prophets, knows destruction is inevitable, is resigned to Israel's fate, and senses the hopelessness of his situation. Still, he continues to teach the word he has been called to proclaim. (See Jeremiah 15:16; Ezekiel 3:1, 3; Revelation 10:9-10). It was not a popular message in his day, nor is it in ours. He speaks here as though he is already held captive with his people in a far country, so certain is he of the fulfillment of his prophecy:

When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Jeremiah 9:17-22

It is little wonder Jeremiah excited the passions of the people against him with rhetoric such as this passage. In their day of peace and tranquility, prosperity and great learning, it should not be surprising how unpopular he was.

Hugh Nibley offers these thoughts about recognizing the voice of a true prophet:

It was a test that few have ever passed: the humiliating test of recognizing a true prophet and taking instruction from the weak and humble things of the earth. Was the wondrous modern age of applied science that began in the nineteenth century to be excused from taking the same test of authority? Remember that the prophets of old came to generations that were very modern in their thinking, smart and sophisticated, advanced, liberated, intellectual; the Hellenistic world, if anything, surpassed our own in those qualities of social advancement. (Nibley, The World and The Prophets, [Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1974], 7).

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.
Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.
For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.

Jeremiah 14:10-12, 17-22

The message through Jeremiah to backsliding Israel in this chapter is almost the precise message to modern Israel through his Prophet Joseph Smith. Drought and famine have overtaken the land at this point because of the wickedness of the people, and Jeremiah cries out for deliverance with all the faith he can muster, yet he knows full well why the Lord has ceased to listen. When we read these prophetic verses are they a present-day mirror, or merely a window on the past to us? In 1833, gathered in Missouri and suffering great persecution at the hands of their enemies, the Lord gives this explanation to the Prophet:

They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; therefore, the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble.
In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me.
Verily I say unto you, notwithstanding their sins, my bowels are filled with compassion towards them. I will not utterly cast them off; and in the day of wrath I will remember mercy. (D&C 101:7-9).

Multiple choice question: Is the Church (a) slower to hearken, or (b) quicker to hearken to the voice of the Lord through His servants than it was in 1833? Or (c) who cares?

His words through Jeremiah in this chapter are essentially the same message:

Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.
If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.
Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!
We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.
Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.

ZION: The Old Testament (Isaiah 35 to Isaiah 66)

The Old Testament (Isaiah 35 to Isaiah 66)

JST Isaiah 35:7-10

This chapter speaks of the time when the gospel shall be restored in the last days, the blossoming of the desert, the gathering of Israel, and the establishment of Zion. We also have as one of the signs yet to be fulfilled the "highway" that shall be cast up out of the midst of the great deep, over which the believers shall pass to gain their inheritance in Zion. (See verse 8, also D&C 133:29; Isaiah 11:16; 51:10-11). It is apparent that this "highway" spoken of by so many of the prophets is likely symbolic and literal. One gains access to the "way" of eternal life through the waters of baptism (see 2 Nephi 31:17-21), the symbolic meaning, and Israel always crosses over the water on dry ground to reclaim Zion in the literal sense. (See Exodus 14:21-22; Joshua 3:14-17). Even modern Israel crossed over the mighty Mississippi on dry ground in the dead of winter when its waters were frozen. Part of being a true disciple is being considered a fool in the eyes of the world, and the "fools for Christ" who find the path of salvation are always mocked by the worldly wise. (See 1 Nephi 8:26-28, 11:34-36, 12:17-18, all scriptures pertaining to those in the “great and spacious building;” then see also Romans 1:22, 1 Corinthians 3:18, 4:10, 2 Nephi 9:42, all referring to the necessity of true disciples being characterized by the worldly wise as “fools”).

A comparative study of D&C 133:26-32 in connection with this prophecy of Isaiah is considered useful. True prophets speak with one voice:

JST Isaiah 35:7-10

And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
And a highway shall be there; for a way shall be cast up, and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over upon it; but it shall be cast up for those who are clean, and the wayfaring men, though they are accounted fools, shall not err therein.
No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

D&C 133:26-33

And they who are in the north countries shall come in remembrance before the Lord; and their prophets shall hear his voice, and shall no longer stay themselves; and they shall smite the rocks, and the ice shall flow down at their presence.
And an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep.
Their enemies shall become a prey unto them.
And in the barren deserts there shall come forth pools of living water; and the parched ground shall no longer be a thirsty land.
And they shall bring forth their rich treasures unto the children of Ephraim, my servants.
And the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their presence.
And there shall they fall down and be crowned with glory, even in Zion, by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the children of Ephraim.
And they shall be filled with songs of everlasting joy.

JST Isaiah 37:21-23, 31-36

We see in this chapter yet another type of future events. King Hezekiah seeks Isaiah's counsel concerning a blasphemous letter he has received from Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, threatening the destruction of Israel. At this point the cup of their iniquity is not yet full, and the Lord spares Israel and Jerusalem for a season, destroying 185,000 Assyrians by the hand of an angel. As it is spared on this occasion by the hand of the Lord, so will the establishment of Zion in the last days also come to pass "the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this." (Verse 32). What is the extent of God's power in the affairs of men? He speaks in no uncertain terms of his power. (See D&C 60:4; 101:10-15; 117:6).

The "remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah" is Lehi and his descendants, as well as other remnants of Israel now classified as "lost," who shall return to their inheritances in Jerusalem in a future day when Zion is established in her.

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:
This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant; and they that escape out of Jerusalem shall come upon mount Zion; the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.
Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.
By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

Isaiah 40:3-11

This is Isaiah speaking Messianically of events in preparation of the Second Coming and the establishment of Zion. He speaks of the voice in the wilderness preparing the way for the coming of the Lord (see D&C 88:66; 65:3; 34:6; 84:26; Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23. See also TPJS, 364-5, a sermon in which Joseph Smith declares himself to be God's messenger, "ordained and prepared for that purpose in the last days." It was to be Joseph's boldest declaration of his prophetic ministry among men, and his witness was sealed with his blood less than three months later when he received the "reward" of all true prophets), the highway to which we have made previous reference see Isaiah 35:8), and several other signs of the times including the upheavals that will exalt valleys and lay low the mountains. (See Luke 3:5; Helaman 14:23; D&C 109:74). Among other things, Zion shall be established in the last days. The Savior shall feed his flock like lambs, and gather them.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

JST Isaiah 41:27-29

Israel is once again condemned for her faith in her idols, and God declares that he alone will give Jerusalem the Messiah who shall declare glad tidings -- all other gods are silent and without power. Israel has never been able to leave the false gods of this world alone. Isaiah surely speaks to us in our day.

The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
For I beheld, and there was no man; even among men, and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.

Isaiah 46:5-13

This chapter is yet another condemnation of Israel's fascination with idols. God asks Israel through her prophet, Isaiah, if there is any false god that is his equal. False worship is so appealing to the carnal mind, so natural and so desirable -- but so repulsive to God. (See Mosiah 3:19).

To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?
They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.
They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:
I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

Isaiah 49:1-7, 13-17, 22-23

This chapter makes one reference to Zion in verse 14, but its content is so compelling we cannot pass by without a closer look. It is altogether possible that Isaiah, speaking under the influence of the Holy Ghost and with the authority of Jehovah, is also speaking for a future prophet of the latter days, even Joseph Smith. I do not suggest a new interpretation, only an additional one. Isaiah appears to be speaking about himself, or even the Savior, but he may just as easily be speaking of Joseph Smith, for he fits the description just as completely as either Isaiah or Christ.

Even the opening verse of this chapter corresponds with the opening statements in Section 1 of The Doctrine and Covenants. It is as though the content came from the same author (Jehovah) to different prophets in different dispensations. Compare:

Isaiah 49:1-7

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far;
The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;
And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.
And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.
And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto
the end of the earth.
Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes so shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.

D&C 1:1-2

Hearken, O ye people of my church, saith the voice of him who dwells on high and whose eyes are upon all men; yea, verily I say: Hearken ye people from afar; and ye that are upon the islands of the sea, listen together.
Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was. I suppose I was ordained to this very office in that Grand Council. It is the testimony that I want that I am God's servant, and this people His people. (TPJS, 365).
I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain. . . Thus will I become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty, who will give me dominion over all and every one of them. . .(TPJS, 304). [I acknowledge these are probably Joseph Fielding Smith’s words in fleshing out Joseph’s characterization of himself, since the contemporary accounts of this sermon are sketchy, but at least now we know where the thoughts to compose it came from.]
Wherefore, I the Lord knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and gave him commandments. (D&C 1:17).
O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? How long shall thy hand be stayed? (D&C 121:1 2).
I calculate to be one of the instruments of setting up the kingdom of Daniel by the word of the Lord, and I intend to lay a foundation that will revolutionize the whole world. (TPJS, 366).
. . .I have reserved those things which I have entrusted unto you, my servant Joseph, for a wise purpose in me, and it shall be made known unto future generations;
But this generation shall have my word through you. (D&C 5:9-10).
He said unto me. . . that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people. (JS-H 1:33).

We will now consider the verses of immediate interest to us concerning Zion, but the reader is urged to study the entire chapter in depth. Isaiah laments that Israel has been forsaken, but the Lord answers that he will never altogether disown her, and gives assurances that Israel will receive the fulness of the gospel through the Gentiles in the last days. (See also 3 Nephi 21; 1 Nephi 13).

Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

JST Isaiah 51

This chapter is an earnest appeal to Israel to look to God and live. Further evidence of the Prophet's incomplete work on the JST is apparent from a study of chapters 48-54 of Isaiah, because most of the KJV Isaiah verses quoted from these chapters in The Book of Mormon text do not carry over into the JST manuscript, yet they are substantially different. (Monte S. Nyman, The Joseph Smith Translation, 130-1). It is likely the Prophet did not spend as much time as he would have liked in these chapters.

Isaiah speaks of the two prophets of the last days who will minister in Jerusalem, and be slain by the Jews who reject their ministrations. These two sons are the fulfillment of the types of Moses and Elijah, the two great prophets among Israel. (See Zechariah 4:11-14; Revelation 11:3-12).

Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness; ye that seek the Lord, look unto the rock from whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence ye are digged.
Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
For the Lord shall comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.
My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart I have written my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord, awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy and holiness shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
I am he, yea, I am he that comforteth you; behold, who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;
And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.
But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The Lord of hosts is his name.
And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Behold, thou art my people.
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.
There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.
These two sons are come unto thee; they shall be sorry for thee, thy desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword; and by whom shall I comfort thee?
Thy sons have fainted save these two, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net; they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God.
Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
Thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:
But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

JST Isaiah 52

This chapter is quoted seven times by Book of Mormon prophets, so valued were these words of Isaiah to them. Once again the idea of two separate capitols is clear, and the time these things shall all come to pass is in preparation of the millennial day. As ancient Israel was ransomed and led out without money by the power of God, so shall it yet be in the last days -- God himself shall go before the host of Israel. (See D&C 103:15-20).

With reference to the admonition by Isaiah to "put on thy strength, O Zion," Joseph received the understanding by revelation that the strength of Zion is priesthood power to bring again Zion in the last days. Those who hold the priesthood have right to it by lineage. (See D&C 113:7-10). Those who would preach the gospel of salvation, publish peace, and bring good tidings are spoken of by Joseph Smith as having their calling and election made sure. (See TPJS, 330, 366).

Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
For thus saith the Lord God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
Now therefore, what have I here, saith the Lord, that my people is taken away for naught? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.
Therefore, my people shall know my name; yea, in that day they shall know that I am he that doth speak; behold, it is I.
And then shall they say, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings unto them, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings unto them of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.
Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.
For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight; for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.
Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men;
So shall he gather many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

Isaiah 59:16-21

We have another scathing rebuke in this chapter by the Lord through his mouthpiece, Isaiah, to a rebellious Israel. Despite her sins Israel is still chosen of the Lord, who will not altogether cast them off if they repent. Only the Messiah can pay the price for sins, he will come to Zion, and redeem the repentant. He holds out his covenant to all who will embrace it, but the entire chapter is a recital of all the reasons Israel will not hearken. Will we?

And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.
According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.
So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

Isaiah 60:13-22

This entire chapter gives an almost impossible and improbable promise of conditions in Jerusalem at the coming of the Lord in the last days. We will not cite the entire chapter, but it should be considered in its entirety. Given conditions in the world today, one wonders how the Lord could make such lavish promises to Israel. (See Ether 13:1-12 as one example). It is almost inconceivable that the nations who have hated Israel, despised her, conquered and enslaved her, will one day bow down and worship at the throne of the living God of Israel, and yet the Lord has so declared. One wonders how even modern Judah could be brought to such a circumstance. In his wrath God punished Israel anciently for their rebellion, yet he holds out continual hope of redemption and restoration.

The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.
Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.
The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in my time.

Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Soon after he began his Galilean ministry, Christ returned to his hometown of Nazareth. In the congregation were friends and neighbors of Joseph and Mary and the boyhood companions of Jesus. As was the custom a portion of the scriptural canon was read to the congregation. This particular day Jesus had the privilege of delivering the text. He turned to this passage cited above in the writings of Isaiah and read the text. Luke tells us what happened next:

And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son. . ?
And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath.
And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. (See Luke 4:14-32 for the full account).

Joseph Smith had personal experiences that compared precisely to this one cited above. As he revealed the truth to the early saints in this dispensation he was summarily rejected by them, among those who questioned him even his brother Hyrum immediately after the revelation on plural marriage was recorded. Hyrum eventually came around, but the majority did not. The Prophet Joseph said:

This generation is as corrupt as the generation of the Jews that crucified Christ; and if He were here today, and should preach the same doctrine He did then, they would put Him to death. (TPJS, 328).

The problem was the same for Joseph as it had been for Jesus. The minute he began to reveal in full to the saints what had been revealed to him the people opposed him:

Many men will say, "I will never forsake you, but will stand by you at all times." But the moment you teach them some of the mysteries of the kingdom of God that are retained in the heavens and are to be revealed to the children of men when they are prepared for them they will be the first to stone you and put you to death. It was this same principle that crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, and will cause the people to kill the prophets in this generation. (TPJS, 309).

JST Isaiah 62

This chapter reiterates the now-familiar themes of Israel's gathering in the last days, and the establishment of Zion. The watchmen of Zion will teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, raise the gospel standard, and they shall be redeemed after their travail.

For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.
Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Delightful, and thy land Union; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy God marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence.
And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured:
But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.
Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.
Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
And they shall call them, The holy people. The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.

JST Isaiah 64

Isaiah prays in these verses for the Second Coming. His words are prophetic, and filled with similar content as many of the prophets who have seen the day in vision. (Compare D&C 133:22, 40-47; Revelation 16:17-21; D&C 34:8; Exodus 34:10; Micah 1:4; 1 Corinthians 2:9; D&C 76:10). Isaiah knows, and so should we all, that there is no salvation except in Christ, and he further states we have all sinned. We are fallen, and desperately in need of salvation. Let us not make the same mistake as ancient Israel in rejecting the Holy One who heals our stripes.

Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence.
For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
Thou meetest him that worketh righteousness, and rejoiceth him that remembereth thee in thy ways; in righteousness there is continuance, and such shall be saved.
But we have sinned; we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.
Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Lord? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

Isaiah 66:5-13

This chapter concludes the record of Isaiah. He has truly spoken of Zion, as we indicated at the beginning. He concludes with an allegory in which he likens God to the mother bringing forth her child, the nation of Israel in Zion, at the Second Coming. The wicked will be destroyed at his coming, and the gospel will be preached to the Gentiles.

Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.
Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.
Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:
That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.
For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.
As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

We cannot say it enough, nor overemphasize it. Isaiah is the one prophet quoted more by the Savior in Holy Writ than any other. It is his testimony we are admonished to study continually, for he speaks of us, our day, and the conditions that still await us in this dispensation prior to the Second Coming.

In summary, let us cite Avraham Gileadi, who spoke about keys to understanding Isaiah at a BYU symposium:

On the basis of the key that "what has been shall be," one may therefore conclude that, with regard to prophecies concerning the events of his own day, Isaiah spoke on two levels, the first pertaining to what was then transpiring, the second to the latter days. Both periods of Israel's history were seen by the prophet in vision (cf. Sir. Isaiah 48:25), and thus he prophesied of "all things" concerning the Lord's people, according to the Savior (3 Nephi 23:2). Isaiah's literary genius, or that which made his words "great" (3 Nephi 23:1), was his inspired competence at including his own time and the last days in a single prophecy, one in which the former events served as the type of the latter.
This key of interpreting the prophecies of the book of Isaiah typologically is necessary in order to understand the modern relevance of ancient names and entities such as Assyria, characterized by Isaiah as the great world power from the north, the first to conquer the world (except Zion/Jerusalem) by military force; Egypt, the greatest political and military power up to that time, to whose vast force of horsemen and chariots other nations look for protection in the day of the Assyrian flood; Babylon, characterized as a great materialistic and idolatrous world dominion, representing all that is destroyed in a fiery holocaust; Zion, a new Israel created out of the chaos of Babylon, comprising the righteous who participate in a New Exodus out of Babylon before destruction comes. By means of this great key to the book of Isaiah, we may read the names of ancient entities as code names for latter day entities, providing an invaluable source of knowledge for those who will see the events so foreshadowed. (Avraham Gileadi, Isaiah and The Prophets, ed. Monte S. Nyman, [Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, Inc., 1984], 135-6).

To assist the serious scripture student further, I have added Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s article that appeared several years ago in the Ensign, as Appendix B to shed further light on the topic. Entitled “Ten Keys to Understanding Isaiah,” it will give insight into his prophetic book as it pertains to us today. (Ensign, October 1973, 78-83).

ZION: The Old Testament (Isaiah 1 to Isaiah 34)

The Old Testament (Isaiah 1 to Isaiah 34)

The Prophet Isaiah


Our study now brings us to the book written by the Prophet Isaiah, a record so valuable in our canon of scripture that the Savior has given a specific commandment to search its contents:

And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, A COMMANDMENT I GIVE UNTO YOU THAT YE SEARCH THESE THINGS DILIGENTLY; FOR GREAT ARE THE WORDS OF ISAIAH.
For surely he spake as touching all things concerning my people which are of the house of Israel; therefore it must needs be that he must speak also to the Gentiles.
And all things that he spake have been and shall be, even according to the words which he spake.
Therefore give heed to my words; write the things which I have told you; and according to the time and the will of the Father they shall go forth unto the Gentiles.
And whosoever will hearken unto my words and repenteth and is baptized, the same shall be saved. Search the prophets, for many there be that testify of these things. (3 Nephi 23:1-5).

Many have thought the words of Isaiah are difficult to understand, and therefore skip over the book whenever they are studying the scriptures. Nephi offers this insight concerning the prophecies of Isaiah:

Now I, Nephi, do speak somewhat concerning the words which I have written, which have been spoken by the mouth of Isaiah. For behold, Isaiah spake many things which were hard for many of my people to understand; for they know not concerning the manner of prophesying among the Jews.
For I, Nephi, have not taught them many things concerning the manner of the Jews; for their works were works of darkness, and their doings were doings of abominations.
Wherefore, I write unto my people, unto all those that shall receive hereafter these things which I write, that they may know the judgments of God, that they come upon all nations, according to the word which he hath spoken.
Wherefore, hearken, O my people, which are of the house of Israel, and give ear unto my words; for because the words of Isaiah are not plain unto you, nevertheless they are plain unto all those that are filled with the spirit of prophecy. But I give unto you a prophecy, according to the plainness which hath been with me from the time that I came out from Jerusalem with my father; for behold, my soul delighteth in plainness unto my people, that they may learn.
Yea, and my soul delighteth in the words of Isaiah, for I came out from Jerusalem, and mine eyes hath beheld the things of the Jews, and I know that the Jews do understand the things of the prophets, and there is none other people that understand the Jews like unto them, save it be that they are taught after the manner of the things of the Jews.
But behold I, Nephi, have not taught my children after the manner of the Jews; but behold, I, of myself, have dwelt at Jerusalem, wherefore I know concerning the regions round about; and I have made mention unto my children concerning the judgments of God, which hath come to pass among the Jews, unto my children, according to all that which Isaiah hath spoken, and I do not write them.
But behold, I proceed with mine own prophecy, according to my plainness; in the which I know that no man can err; nevertheless, in the days that the prophecies of Isaiah shall be fulfilled men shall know of a surety, at the times when they shall come to pass.
Wherefore, they are of worth unto the children of men, and he that supposeth that they are not, unto them will I speak particularly, and confine the words unto mine own people; for I know that they shall be of great worth unto them in the last days; for in that day shall they understand them; wherefore, for their good have I written them.
And as one generation hath been destroyed among the Jews because of iniquity, even so have they been destroyed from generation to generation according to their iniquities; and never hath any of them been destroyed save it were foretold them by the prophets of the Lord.
Wherefore, it hath been told them concerning the destruction which should come upon them, immediately after my father left Jerusalem; nevertheless, they hardened their hearts; and according to my prophecy they have been destroyed, save it be those which are carried away captive into Babylon.
And now this I speak because of the spirit which is in me. And notwithstanding they have been carried away they shall return again, and possess the land of Jerusalem; wherefore, they shall be restored again to the land of their inheritance. (2 Nephi 25:1-11).

Far from being a dusty old book of ancient gibberish, as some might suppose, Isaiah's prophecies stretch into the millennial era. As with all prophecy, there are multiple eras of fulfillment. Seldom do prophecies have only one application. The reason Isaiah's words are of value to us today is that his prophecy applies as much to us today as it did anciently when he was alive on the earth. The hearts of the children of Israel are not greatly different or more devout today than they were then. Isaiah was called to minister among Israel in a day of apostasy and rebellion. He foretold the Babylonian captivity, as Nephi reaffirms in the above quotation. The Savior commands us to study his record. His prophetic utterances are a clarion call for the Latter day Saints today.

Not only did Isaiah prophesy concerning the latter day Zion, but his doctrinal themes also include the purging of Israel, the restoration of righteous judges in Israel, the destruction of the unrighteous, the mountain of the Lord's house, the establishment of two world capitols in Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem, the judgment of the nations, and the ushering in of the Millennium. In addition to all of this he saw the Savior's reign among men during his mortal ministry, and he sought to prepare a people for that day. By any measurement he failed in the attempt, was rejected of his own, and stands as a witness to us today that the promises of the Lord are immutable and sure. Isaiah has a message for us as vital as it was in his day. Will we listen?

It had not occurred to me until compiling this study how much of the Isaiah material pertaining to Zion was included in The Book of Mormon. Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 29, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 of Isaiah are quoted by The Book of Mormon prophets. Each bolded chapter relates in whole or in part to the subject of Zion, 11 of 20 chapters! Even more compelling is the fact that Isaiah mentions Zion in these additional chapters not quoted in The Book of Mormon -- 1, 16, 18, 24, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 37, 40, 41, 46, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 66. If my math is correct, Isaiah refers to the topic of Zion in 40 of his 66 chapters! Roughly sixty percent of all that Isaiah wrote pertains directly to establishing Zion!

We will cite each of these chapters in our examination of the words of Isaiah, and we will quote extensively from the Joseph Smith Translation where applicable. As a passing foot¬note, it should be stated for the record that the words of Isaiah in the JST are precisely the words found in The Book of Mormon text with a few minor exceptions. This fact suggests that he probably used The Book of Mormon translation in compiling the Joseph Smith Translation. In all likelihood, had he had sufficient time to return to make additional improvements in the text, he may have revised The Book of Mormon text of Isaiah. Footnote 12, 2a in 2 Nephi 12:2 of the new triple combination reveals the following information:

Comparison with the King James Bible in English shows that there are differences in more than half of the 433 verses of Isaiah quoted in The Book of Mormon, while about 200 verses have the same wording as KJV.

In this first chapter of Isaiah we have a summary of God's dealings with rebellious Israel. In every dispensation the Father seeks a marriage between his Son, the Bridegroom, and the children of Israel, represented symbolically throughout scripture as the bride. Too often, however, Israel played the harlot and the bride proved unfaithful. Perhaps this simple parable will aid our understanding as we take up our study of Isaiah's ministry among a rebellious Israel who had forsaken the Bridegroom.

The Parable of the Bride:

Unto what shall I liken the Kingdom of God on the earth? Behold, I will liken it unto a bride who is betrothed to the Bridegroom, and waits at the altar for the Bridegroom to come to fulfill His promise of marriage.

And it came to pass that the bride grew weary of waiting. She told her friends she was certain she was still chosen of the Bridegroom, but when they could see the Bridegroom tarried so long they began to ridicule her and tease her, saying unto her, "Thou foolish woman. Thou art not chosen, thou hast been forsaken." And thus did they contend against her, and did attempt to persuade her to abandon her assertions that she was the chosen one. "Come with us to the party," they urged. "Exchange your white wedding gown for this more acceptable dress."

At first she resisted, because the Bridegroom had promised He would take her to the altar, and she was certain He would yet arrive. But it came to pass that the subtle and persistent invitation of her friends convinced her to join them at the party. She removed her white wedding dress, now soiled and stained as she had waited, and put on her strapless red silk evening gown. She put on her makeup and her jewels, and departed from the altar with her friends.

Her friends welcomed her, and her former detractors now praised her lavishly for her presence at their party. And it came to pass they were more comfortable around her, because she was arrayed like unto them. She partook of their elaborate food, drank their expensive wine, and danced to their exotic music. As the night grew darker, her popularity increased in their eyes, they toasted her beauty and influence, and she was the admiration of the crowd.

Suddenly the room shook with a mighty shaking, and a loud knock was heard at the door. Everyone gasped in amazement when they saw the Bridegroom standing in the doorway. "Which one of you is my bride?" He inquired. She stepped forward, and He embarrassed her by condemning her conduct in the presence of her friends. He wiped off her rouge and eye shadow, and told her He was ashamed of her immodest dress. She left the party with Him, humiliated and repentant, but grateful He had not altogether rejected her.

And it came to pass in course of time that the wedding of the bride and the Bridegroom was accomplished. But only after the much humiliation and tribulation the bride was compelled to suffer, and this because of her willingness to hearken unto the counsel of her double-minded friends in order to please them as she had supposed, and her failure to remember the promise of the Bridegroom.

He who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

This parable is based upon a Zion motif that is at least as old as the fourth century, mentioned by Eusebius in his Church History (see 10.4). His account that follows has strong Masonic overtones, yet another echo of the ancient nature of these promises that Zion will yet be redeemed despite her infidelity. It has forever been the same with Israel -- The Father seeking a pure and virtuous bride for his Son, but the bride always defiling herself before the wedding can occur. With three notable exceptions when Zion was brought to pass on earth among Enoch's people, Melchizedek's society in Salem, the Nephites in America following Christ's visit among them, and the promise of a Zion society yet to come upon the whole earth, Israel has played the harlot. Despite becoming spiritually dead, however, the Father always holds out the promise of restoration and breathing new life into the dead corpse of the Church. (See TPJS, 129).  We observe this promise in the writings of Eusebius. Pay particular attention to the italicized words in this dominant theme of innocence, sin, death, redemption and finally restoration:

Now the Savior has come to his Holy Hill. Seeing his Bride lying desolate upon the ground, he stretches forth his hands and raises up her dead carcass, causing her to stand upright. She who was assailed by the batteries of her enemies and left for dead upon the earth becomes a restored Temple, whose chief Cornerstone is the Savior himself. In its Holy of Holies the Spouse reclaims his Wife – a woman once deserted and rejected – now clothed in glory and ornaments befitting a royal Bride. Then seeing her promised sons, she asks, “Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children and am a Widow?” Yet her promised restoration was inscribed of old on Sacred Tablets, and is now brought to reality by “Bezaleel,” the new and excellent “Zerubbabel,” our most peaceful “Solomon,” i.e. Jesus Christ, the Architect of the New Temple. Wonderful and mighty is this work, but more wonderful than wonders are these archetypes, these renewals of divine and spiritual buildings in our souls, which the Son of God himself framed and fashioned according to his own image, and to which everywhere and in all respects he imparted the likeness of God.

Then Eusebius summarizes the meaning of his parable by saying: “A kind of intellectual image on earth of those things beyond the vault of heaven. . . A Temple of celestial types, a Temple given in symbols and figures.”

The grossest of the sins of the children of Israel is idolatry – the worship of false gods. In the marriage imagery it is the equivalent of adultery. We will suspend judgment concerning the status of Israel today, but we would make a grave mistake if we were to assume that Isaiah's words of prophecy were about another people at another time. Let Nephi's words guide us unerringly toward the meaning of Isaiah's prophecies:

And I did read many things unto them which were written in the books of Moses; but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah; for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning. (1 Nephi 19:23).

Jacob recounts the history of his people, and is filled with the spirit of prophecy "for the welfare of your souls." In preparing to quote the words of Isaiah he says essentially the same thing as Nephi:

And now, the words which I shall read are they which Isaiah spake concerning all the house of Israel; wherefore, they may be likened unto you, for ye are of the house of Israel. And there are many things which have been spoken by Isaiah which may be likened unto you, because ye are of the house of Israel. (2 Nephi 6:5).

Make no mistake, Isaiah's words are meant for us today, if we have even a sliver of the spirit of prophecy:

Isaiah 1:1-9; 25-27

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. (Isaiah 1:1-9).

Despite Isaiah's stern introduction to his record in the preceding verses, the first chapter ends on a hopeful note that a purging of Israel’s sins will redeem Zion:

And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:
And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. (Isaiah 1:25-27).

JST Isaiah 2:1-9

This remarkable prophecy by Isaiah describes what he saw in vision – the “mountain of the Lord’s house” standing in the “top of the mountains” in the last days. This is a powerful symbolic image, as well as a literal fulfillment. The top of a mountain is symbolically and literally the highest point on earth that stands closest to heaven. As the Latter-day Saints worship in their temples they are reaching up to new heights of spiritual understanding and growth. Temples, often constructed on an elevated plateau in their proximity to other geographical features nearby, are mountains. The granite used to build the Salt Lake Temple, standing in the tops of the Rocky Mountains, was literally taken from a mountain to make a mountain for the Lord. In every sense the Salt Lake Temple is “the mountain of the Lord’s house,” or “the Lord’s house made of a mountain.”

Both the Kirtland Temple then later the Salt Lake Temple are types of the greatest temples yet to be built in Independence, Missouri (see D&C 57:1-5; 84:2-4; 110:9), and in Jerusalem. In reality all temples stand as the perfect loss of innocence motif in this mortal world, pointing us forward to the final scenes of reconciliation and homecoming with God. There is much, much more to come in this dispensation, and it may very well prove that the best is yet to come in temple building [remember, this was written in 1986]. When I began this compilation many years ago, no one was talking about the reality of 100 operating temples dotting the globe by the turn of the twenty-first century. Yet, all the temples symbolize the hope of a homeward journey to reclaim our inheritance with God. The vision of temples stretches far beyond the scope of one temple standing in Salt Lake City in the tops of the mountains.

Victor Ludlow offered this observation: “Since the phrase ‘top of the mountains’ can also apply to the Latter-day Saint temple sites in the Rocky Mountains, it is interesting that although the various Utah temples are built in valleys, their elevation still exceeds that of Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. That is, Jerusalem, on the top of the Judean Mountains, is more than one thousand feet lower than the cities in the valleys along the Wasatch Front of the Rockies. Therefore, the Latter-day Saint temples in Utah are even above ‘the top of the mountains’ when compared to the site of the ancient Jerusalem temple.” (Victor L. Ludlow, Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1982], 99).

The significance of this prophetic latter-day fulfillment of erecting a temple in Salt Lake City was not lost on President Wilford W. Woodruff, who said in the dedicatory prayer, “In past ages thou didst inspire with thy Holy Spirit thy servants, the prophets, to speak of a time in the latter days when the mountain of the Lord’s house should be established in the top of the mountains, and should be exalted above the hills. We thank thee that we have had the glorious opportunity of contributing to the fulfillment of these visions of thine ancient seers, and that thou hast condescended to permit us to take part in the great work.” (Cited by James E. Talmage, The House of the Lord, 135).

Numerous are the prophets since in this dispensation who have quoted verses 2-4 in this chapter and testified that these verses related to the Saints, their trek westward from Nauvoo to the Rocky Mountains, the building of their temple, the sending out of our missionaries to gather converts, the conducting of General Conference sessions and presiding over the Lord’s kingdom in the last days. (Ibid., Ludlow provided this list, for example: John Taylor, JD 6:167; 11:345; 21:32; 23:333; Joseph Fielding Smith, CHMR 4:129-30; Harold B. Lee, CR Oct. 1945, p. 47; Apr. 1966, p. 68; Oct. 1972, p. 63; Apr. 1973, p. 5; Orson Pratt, JD 14:350; Ensign Nov. 1972, p. 14; LeGrand Richards, CR Oct. 1962, p. 109; Apr. 1967, p. 22; Oct. 1970, pp. 61-62; Apr. 1971, p. 143; Oct. 1975, p. 77; and Bruce R. McConkie, CR Oct. 1967, p. 43; MD pp. 518, 690, 691, 781, 855). 

Even President Gordon B. Hinckley expanded this vision to include the newly dedicated Conference Center: “I believe that prophecy applies to the historic and wonderful Salt Lake Temple. But I believe also that it is related to this magnificent hall. For it is from this pulpit that the law of God shall go forth, together with the word and testimony of the Lord.” (Ensign, November 2000, 67).

Without the added light of the JST, these verses might have a constricted meaning. Notice the change of one word in verse 2 -- when instead of that -- gives a totally different insight. Isaiah, speaking of the establishment of Zion at the New Jerusalem and Jerusalem, says it will occur "when the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains" -- not that it will be established. Similarly, two capitols of Zion in the last days are spoken of here -- "out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." There is no end to the commentary on that verse! Note that Isaiah begins his prophecy by stating that he saw things "concerning Judah and Jerusalem." While not inaccurate to state that this prophecy deals with the building of the temple in Salt Lake City, it should be clear the prophecy may extend beyond such a narrow interpretation when studied in its full context. I suspect, as with President Hinckley’s statement in 2000, the years ahead will produce additional prophetic interpretations of these verses.

If nothing else, it is obvious Isaiah saw more than his own day in the closing verses of this excerpt. Some authors suggest that the vision of the future in this chapter shifts back to local events in Isaiah’s generation, but who would limit Isaiah’s scope? Idolatry has forever been Israel's most consistent sin. He must have inevitably seen our day too.

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
And it shall come to pass in the last days, when the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it;
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; [see also Micah 4:2, where Micah uses essentially the same language in describing his vision of futurity].
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord; yea, come, for ye have all gone astray, everyone to his wicked ways.
Therefore, O Lord, thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and hearken unto the soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.
Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.
Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.
And the mean man boweth not down, and the great man humbleth himself not; therefore, forgive them not.

JST Isaiah 3:13-17

The daughters of Zion are condemned and tormented for their worldliness, and the verses that follow these quoted give graphic detail of their suffering in the last days as the judgments are poured out upon the earth.

The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.
The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof; for ye have eaten up the vineyard; and the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
What mean ye? ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, saith the Lord God of hosts.
Moreover, the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet;
Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts.

JST Isaiah 4

In this short chapter we are given tremendous insight into millennial conditions. The key phrase "in that day," applies to the seventh thousand-year period of the earth's history as it is used by all the Lord's prophets. (See D&C 77:7). Similar references include "the day of the Lord," "the Sabbath," "the Millennium," "the Sunday of time," "the Son's day," and "the great day of the Lord." A description of the glorious city of Zion, the New Jerusalem, is given in the closing verses.

In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely to them that are escaped of Israel.
And it shall come to pass, they that are left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone that is written among the living in Jerusalem;
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all the glory of Zion shall be a defense.
And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain. (This reference to a covering seems to correlate with "the veil of the covering of my temple, in my tabernacle, which hideth the earth [and] shall be taken off," mentioned in D&C 101:23, when "all flesh shall see me together").

Isaiah 8:13-18

Isaiah prophesies that many will stumble at the "stumblingstone" of Christ among the house of Israel. He holds Christ up as our ideal, "our sanctuary," then specifies his dwelling place in mount Zion.

Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.

JST Isaiah 10:5-12, 20-25, 30-32

These verses specify the destruction of the Assyrians as a type and shadow of the consumption decreed for the world in the last days prior to the Second Coming. The Lord reaffirms again that the remnant of Jacob will return to reclaim her inheritance in Zion, and that there is nothing to fear in the eternal sense for those who are faithful to the gospel. The concept of two world capitols is again restated -- Zion and Jerusalem. Note Isaiah says destruction will come "when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and Jerusalem." Since the apparent demise of the Soviet Union, speculation once again abounds over which nation(s) might someday qualify as the latter day Assyria. Focus is now shifting to the Muslim nations.

O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is their indignation.
I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but in his heart it is to destroy and cut off nations not a few.
For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?
Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
As my hand hath founded the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;
Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and to her idols?
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
The remnant shall return, yea even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.
For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return; the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in all the land.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian; he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.
For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.

Lift up the voice, O daughter of Gallim; cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
As yet shall he remain at Nob that day; he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

Isaiah 12

This chapter could well be called "The Psalm of Isaiah." He speaks of the millennial day when all men shall praise the Lord, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as with a flood, and the Lord shall dwell once more among men. It is no wonder the Jews had such a hard time identifying Christ when he came to earth the first time. In their expectation of the Millennial Messiah, as foretold here and elsewhere, they did not recognize Christ among them.

And in that day thou shalt say: O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.
Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.
Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

JST Isaiah 14:32

This chapter gives the promise once again that Israel will be gathered in the last days, and that the Millennium will bring the peace for which the earth has pled in her travail (see Moses 7:48), "The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing (verse 7)."

The only reference we have to the name of Lucifer in the KJV Old Testament is made in this chapter, "O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!" (See footnote 12c in the LDS edition of the KJV, which says, referring to the name of Lucifer, "morning star, son of dawn. The ruler of the wicked world [Babylon] is spoken of as Lucifer, the ruler of all wickedness").  At some future day the inhabitants of the earth who were obliged to feel his influence while clothed upon with flesh will exclaim together, "Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?" (Verses 16-17).

Babylon (the world, meaning the people of the world who are steeped in worldly traditions and practices contrary to Zion and her people) will be destroyed before Zion is fully established again. (See JS-M 4, where Joseph Smith links the destruction of the wicked to the synonymous thought of the destruction of the “world”).  “The world” pertains to people. “The earth” pertains to the terra firma upon which we stand. Joseph Smith said, "The world and earth are not synonymous terms. This world is the human family. This earth was actually organized, or formed, or created out of other planets which were broken up and remodeled and made into the one on which we now live." (Joseph Smith, Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, comp. Alma P. Burton, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1965, 207).

What shall then answer the messengers of the nation? That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

Isaiah 16:1-5

Isaiah speaks Messianically of throne of David being established in "the mount of the daughter of Zion," reference once again to the temple mount at Jerusalem. In his mercy, Christ will judge the nations.

Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.
Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; betray not him that wandereth.
Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.

Isaiah 18:7

Isaiah prophesies that the gospel ensign will be raised to all the nations of the earth in the last days, and foretells the gathering to mount Zion. It should be clear at this point, having now examined many scriptures, that the term "mount Zion" is both symbolic and literal symbolic in the sense that it represents the fullness of the blessings available in the gospel plan, and literal in its reference to the temple mount at Jerusalem and ". . .Mount Zion, which shall be the city of New Jerusalem." (D&C 84:2).  Once again, we see reference here to two world capitols in the last days – Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem in Independence.

In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.

Isaiah 24:18-23

These verses describe conditions and events that will come to pass before the Second Coming. Throughout the scriptures we find the subject matter of the earth reeling to and fro linked with signs in the heavens, "the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed." (Verse 20, and 23. See also Revelation 6:12-17; Joel 2:28-32; D&C 34:7-9; D&C 45:39-42; D&C 88:86-91. The Prophet Joseph Smith also understood the correlation between earthquakes and the signs in the heavens. See TPJS, 17, 29, 71, 160-1, 219, 286-7). These events are still future. They will be fulfilled as part of the fulfillment of the sixth seal of John's Revelation, or the time in which we are now living.

Once again Isaiah reiterates the themes of the gathering and two world capitols. The reference by Isaiah to those who are "shut up in the prison," pertains to the wicked who will be destroyed in the upheavals that precede the Second Coming. (D&C 88:100-101). Note the constant distinction between mount Zion and Jerusalem.

And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

Isaiah 28:1-22

This chapter is a direct and unequivocal message to Israel. As we learned in the introduction to Isaiah's writings, we are to liken these words to ourselves, our time, our church, and our day. Those who have eyes to see and ears to hear will recognize the familiar themes in Isaiah's warnings to a rebellious Israel. They will repent, acknowledge Christ as their personal Savior, build upon the rock and foundation of Christ and his gospel (see also Helaman 5:12; 1 Corinthians 3:9-16), and will seek an alliance with the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. Those who seek the pride of the world will make a covenant with death, for all things temporal will surely pass away.

Brigham Young, speaking in the Tabernacle on April 8, 1862, said it this way:

There is nothing that would so soon weaken my hope and discourage me as to see this people in full fellowship with the world, and receive no more persecution from them because they are one with them. In such an event, we might bid farewell to the Holy Priesthood with all its blessings, privileges and eternities of the Gods. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, reported by G. D. Watt and J. V. Long, [Liverpool: Daniel H. Wells, 1865], Vol. X, 32, hereafter cited as "JD").

In the same sermon a little later on, Brigham Young speaks of the true riches in these words:

The possession of all the gold and silver in the world would not satisfy the cravings of the immortal soul of man. The gift of the Holy Spirit of the Lord alone can produce a good, wholesome, contented mind. Instead of looking for gold and silver, look to the heavens and try to learn wisdom until you can organize the native elements for your benefit; then, and not until then, will you begin to possess the true riches. (Ibid., 35).

It is so short sighted to think we can win the world to Christ by competing with them on their terms. Fame, fortune, prominence, and recognition among men in this fallen world is like the fading flower of BYU football supremacy in 1984 -- here today, gone tomorrow -- and yet we persist because there seems to be no other way than to play the world’s game by the world’s rules. The reference to wine and strong drink is not an allusion to disobeying the Word of Wisdom, but the imbibing of false doctrines (see also JS-M 1:49-55; JST Isaiah 29:9-10), and the leaders of Israel are admonished to give the saints "meat in due season," rather than strong drink. Isaiah truly speaks to us.

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are over-come with wine!
Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.
In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people.
And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night; and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

JST Isaiah 29:1-8

It is obvious by comparing the KJV and the JST that the Prophet Joseph added much material to chapter 29. Eight additional verses found in the JST have no corresponding material in the KJV. The enemies of the restoration and Joseph Smith have concluded he fabricated scripture that speaks of him. One only need compare the text of The Book of Mormon to see that Nephi had the complete account in his day from the brass plates, but that presupposes a belief in The Book of Mormon as scripture. Even if one were to assert that Joseph in essence “wrote his own patriarchal blessing” in these verses, consider that he somehow acquired the power to fulfill it in every particular! How improbable is that? Isn’t it easier, really, to believe that Joseph was translating from an earlier record?

Once again in the opening verses of this chapter Isaiah speaks to all the house of Israel. The prophets apparently recognized the applicability of prophecy to their respective branches of Israel, for Isaiah makes reference to "Ariel," a Hebrew word meaning "Hearth of God," i.e. the temple, translated as "the altar" in Ezekiel 43:15 (see footnote 29b, Isaiah 29:1, LDS edition of the KJV); and Nephi translates the word as "Zion" in his record. (2 Nephi 27:3).  In the JST Joseph Smith leaves the word Ariel in the text with no changes. Monte S. Nyman has suggested three alternatives as an explanation for these textual disparities. He concludes they relate to dual prophecy pertaining both to Zion and Jerusalem, since both cultures were brought low, and their records speak as if from the dust of their destruction, and the reality that the Prophet could not complete the text in his lifetime. (The Joseph Smith Translation, 126).

Were Joseph Smith an impostor trying to cover his tracks in everything he professed to have come from God, I suggest he certainly would have had the presence of mind to clean up the record a little better, rather than leaving a lot of obvious inconsistencies. It is far more palatable and believable to assert as we do that he was God's chosen instrument and was martyred in his prime by assassins, than to condemn his work as the product of a deranged egocentric.

Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; for thus hath the Lord said unto me, It shall be unto Ariel;
That I the Lord will camp against her round about, and will lay siege against her with a mount, and I will raise forts against her.
And she shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and her speech shall be low out of the dust; and her voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and her speech shall whisper out of the dust.
Moreover the multitude of her strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away; yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
For they shall be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.
And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
Yea, is shall be unto them even as unto a hungry man who dreameth, and behold, he eateth, but he awaketh and his soul is empty; or like unto a thirsty man who dreameth, and behold, he drinketh, but he awaketh, and behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite. Yea, even so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against mount Zion.

Isaiah 30:1-3, 8-14, 18-22

Israel anciently rejected her prophets and seers, and trusted in the arm of flesh. The types and shadows of those earlier events as they point to the future day in which we live are compelling as we examine our circumstances in the world today. Isaiah, speaking for the Lord, condemns Israel for her lack of faith but inevitably holds out the promises of the establishment of Zion in the last days for those who are faithful to the call of the gathering. In that future day Israel will finally cast away her idols. The closing verses of this chapter are filled with the promise that the Lord will destroy the wicked in a future day (then and now) of apostasy. But the earlier verses describe in detail how completely the people had rejected the prophets God sent to them.

The modern type in similitude of ancient Egypt’s power and glory is the American economy today, the only “superpower” left in the world. To forsake our trust in the illusory power of the mortal arm of flesh and to turn to God is the ideal. Consider how far ancient Israel had slipped when all they wanted from the prophet was to hear “smooth things” and prophecies that were full of “deceit.” Israel today, it would seem, wants a cheerleader instead of the warning voice God gives through Isaiah and the modern prophet about the destruction of the last days that will come upon Israel “suddenly at an instant.” It should be of particular concern to the Latter-day Saints when we hear today’s Prophet almost apologize for even seeming to prophesy.

President Gordon B. Hinckley said in the General Priesthood Session, October 2, 1998, “Now, brethren, I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in the future. But I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order.” We need only examine our own hearts here – the Prophet is not on trial. We need to ask, “Is my rebellion against the word of the Lord causing His mouthpiece on the earth in my day to be reduced from ‘prophesying’ to ‘suggesting?’” [At this writing, one week after terrorists toppled the World Trade Center twin towers on September 11, 2001, many and varied are the predictions of economic difficulties that lie ahead for America. The stock market has plunged, America is now at war against terrorists, and there are compelling evidences of troubled times ahead. The airline industry – manufacturers and carriers – for example, immediately laid off close to 100,000 workers in response to the immediate decrease in passengers, and the leaders in that industry asked Congress for $40 billion in financial assistance to stay afloat (they received $15 billion). It would appear that President Hinckley was indeed prophesying! Now, one year later, the airline industry is near bankruptcy].  When I wrote that last editorial note in 2001, little could I imagine then the depth and breadth of the Bush and Obama adminstration's bailout orgy of 2008-09, now amounting not to mere billions but trillions of dollars!  It boggles the logical mind to think that such a path of deficit spending and borrowing is sustainable.

The promise that the people will "dwell in Zion at Jerusalem" (verse 19) gives rise to the speculation in my heart that Enoch and his society were perhaps translated from the American continent as the type and shadow of Zion in New Jerusalem to be established at Independence, Jackson County. Further, Melchizedek and his society were likely "taken up" (the JST says, "his people wrought righteousness, and obtained heaven" -- see JST 14:34) from Salem as the type and shadow of Zion to be established in Jerusalem. I've never heard anyone offer that explanation, so I've tried to bury it in the middle of this text and label it appropriately as "speculation." In all the events of the Restoration, however, it strikes me as odd that both Enoch and Melchizedek, two of the greatest patriarchs we know anything about, are conspicuously absent.

Knowing our glorious destiny, why do we linger on the desert floor of the love of this world, when Zion is calling to us to exercise our faith and call upon God to deliver us from bondage? There is the usual bad news – Israel’s rejection of God – then the good news: Zion will be reclaimed and established in our day:

Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.

And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

Isaiah 31

The Lord chastises Israel again for leaning upon Egypt, the type for worldliness throughout the scriptures. The message is consistent -- Isaiah says again that we must turn away from the world and all it allurements, not rely upon the things that fail, but put our faith in the God of Israel who is about to destroy the wickedness of the works of men's hands. The pattern of this chapter is consistent with all Isaiah's writings -- first comes the rebuke, then the promise of future redemption. The metaphor "like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey" (see verse 4) deserves closer attention in yet another parallel in The Book of Mormon. (See 3 Nephi 21:12-29, where Christ speaking to the Nephites gives commentary concerning this metaphor. He says the remnant of Jacob, "my people" as he calls them, will be as the young lion that is the instrument of destruction among the Gentiles who possess America, the land of their inheritance, if the Gentiles do not repent and embrace the gospel. The Gentiles who do repent are numbered with the house of Israel, and given the blessing of assisting in the building of New Jerusalem. In the dedicatory prayer at the Kirtland Temple Joseph Smith identifies us with the Gentiles [see D&C 109:60]. How can we be referred to as “Gentiles” and yet we know we are Israelites? By way of clarification, Joseph speaks of us [most of whom are of the tribe of Ephraim by spiritual birthright] as Gentiles in the nationalistic sense, in that America is a Gentile nation. The rough equivalent would be like saying we are Utah Mormons who live in America).

Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.
Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.
As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.
Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.
For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.
Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited.
And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 33:5, 14, 20

Isaiah's themes are now familiar to us, and they repeat themselves again in this chapter. Apostasy and wickedness precede the Second Coming, judgment will be poured out upon the world, Zion and her stakes shall never be removed, and they shall be perfected. The imagery of the stakes of Zion is more easily understood given a mental picture of the portable tabernacle of Moses that served as the predecessor of Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem. (See Exodus 25-27; D&C 101:16-21; Isaiah 54:2-7). The outlying stakes surround the "centerstake," and the promise is that none "shall ever be removed." (See D&C 101:17).

The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.

The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.

Isaiah 34:8, 16-17

Isaiah warns that the Second Coming will occur after vengeance and judgment, his indignation shall be upon all nations, and his sword will fall upon the world. The doctrinal themes of the signs preceding the Lord's coming include the heavens being rolled together as a scroll (see verse 4, and JST Revelation 6:14; D&C 88:95; 101:23), the stars falling, or appearing as though they are falling (see verse 4, and Revelation 6:13; D&C 88:87), and the sword of God being "bathed in heaven" and poised to fall upon Idumea. (Idumea is the Hebrew translation of "Edom," yet another type like Egypt and Babylon, meaning the world. This definition is upheld by Joseph Smith's use of the word in D&C 1:36. The phrase "his sword is bathed in heaven," is an idiomatic expression used in fencing parlance to describe an unsheathed sword, drawn and prepared for battle).  The visions of futurity given to all prophets in every dispensation are one continuous appeal for obedience, repentance, and sacrifice, for surely God's words will all be fulfilled.

For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.

I am including verses 16 and 17 in this compilation, for surely they relate to our subject of Zion. On the surface it would appear that Joseph made only a slight variation in changing the pronouns, but the doctrinal implications relate to those who have their callings and elections made sure, a shared experience between husband and wife. For comparison's sake I have shown the texts side by side of the KJV and the JST. While this may not seem a significant point, it is yet another insight into the depth of understanding the Prophet was accumulating even in the developmental stages of the sealing doctrines and ordinances of the Kingdom.

KJV Isaiah 34:16-17

Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.
And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

JST Isaiah 34:16 17

Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read the names written therein; no one of these shall fail; none shall want their mate; for my mouth it hath commanded, and my Spirit it hath gathered them.
And I have cast the lot for them, and I have divided it unto them by line; they shall possess it for ever; from generation to generation they shall dwell therein.