Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - Isaiah 40-49 Part 1 • Dr. Terry Ball • Sept. 19-25

Episode Date: September 14, 2022

Can studying Isaiah be like eating brussel sprouts? Dr. Terry Ball examines how studying the words, prophecies, and covenants in Isaiah can become a joy to Latter-day Saints, and all who seek the comfort the Savior offers.Please rate and review the podcast!Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/old-testament/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the follow HIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producers, SponsorsDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-h

Welcome to Follow Him, a weekly podcast dedicated to helping individuals and families with their Come Follow Me study. I'm Hank Smith and I'm John by the way. We love to learn, we love to laugh, we want to learn and laugh with you. As together, we follow him. Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith, I'm your host and I am here with my Isaiah loving co-host first half of Book of Mormon, I thought, oh my goodness, I have to learn Isaiah.

I better know this stuff, and that was a result of a lot of work and a lot of reading, even from our guests today and a lot of other great scholars. So that book is available at Goodwill and Desert Industries everywhere. John and I have our own shells. Well, John, in order to cover these sections today, we needed another person who loves Isaiah, and I think we found him. Who's joining us? Yeah, I'm very excited today to have Brother Terry Ball with us.

And Brother Terry Ball, let me tell you a little bit about him. He served a mission into Japan Kobe mission. After returning, he taught Japanese at the MTC. So a big Konichi wa to you. I also taught as a seminary in Institute teacher in Arizona and mountain home Idaho. He served in numerous collings, including a bishop twice, a stake president of the BYU 20th stake. He's married to the former Deanna Hill. They have six children and 14 grandchildren. This is the part I was excited about Hank,

because I don't know anybody who has this degree. But he holds a bachelor's degree in botany and education, a master's degree in ancient near Eastern studies, and a PhD in Archaeobotany. Archaeo. How cool does that sound? Archaeobotany. Archaeo. How cool does that sound? Archaeobotny. I mean, I just discovered in studying Isaiah,

and the whole scriptures, how often there are agricultural metaphors and parables, and how much of part of life that was. And so that's why I just loved reading from Brother Ball because of his Archaeobotny background. He became the professor of ancient scripture at BYU in 1992. In 2006, he was the dean of religious education. He's focused his research on the prophet Isaiah has continued to research in his field of Archaeobotny. He's also taught at the BYU Jerusalem Center.

I've used this one a lot, making sense of Isaiah right here. And you will notice today, as those of you who are watching on video, that Brother Bala Zelda Ball and has a name tag on, we welcome you and please tell us about your mission for the ball. Well, thank you. I'm delighted to be here. My wife and I are currently serving

as a senior couple in Utah, or mission, as MLS missionaries. It's a great opportunity to serve. We worked to strengthen new and returning members and we're assigned to about 11 stakes in Utah County that we serve. I'm high goodness. I thought you'd retire and go live your life in Jamaica, but here you are serving a mission. Terry. Really say you can't retire till you tire and I haven't tired yet. So I'm still here. I like that. Terry, how long at BYU did you teach Isaiah? If I recall, I probably taught my first course in Isaiah, probably about 1992. After I taught seminary for about 10 years, I still sort of viewed Isaiah as the Brussels sprouts

of the scriptures. You know, they were supposed to be good for you. People said you should consume them. But when they came up on my scriptural plate, I just kind of tried to gag him down, and when they were done, I'd think, oh, I'm so glad those are over. I know that was good for me, but I don't know why. Then in the late 80s, I decided I needed to repent, to follow the Savior's abination, search Isaiah diligently. And I started trying harder and working at it. And that decision has been a great blessing in my life. I've come to love this prophet. I love what he wrote.

I love the way he writes things. I love what he says. I love his teachings. I love the phrases and words now that feel like old familiar friend. I just love this prophet. I love what he's done for me. He's made me a better father and a husband and a saint and a servant. Isaiah for me now is the dessert of the scriptures. That part you can't wait to get to and just

delight in and take your time and savor every more. I just love this prophet. I'm sure a lot of the listeners share that love for Isaiah and some are probably still trying to get it. And I hope that we help. Yeah, that's a great you went from Brussels sprouts to the dessert. That's a lifetime of work and study. And that's great. We're so excited to have you because of your insight on Isaiah. So I'm really looking forward to this today.

And I hope you'll give us some archaeobotany and share with us some of these agricultural metaphors and symbols that he uses and how that works. Yeah, Terry, how do you want to approach these sections? The lesson this week is Isaiah 40 through 49. The lesson is entitled Comfort E My People. And so far, as we've read in Isaiah, not a lot of comforting. So far. Yeah, so far, as we've read in Isaiah, not a lot of comforting. So far, yeah, so far. So I was surprised to see the heading comfort, you, my people. Usually when you teach Isaiah,

what do your students need to know? What background do they need to have in coming into this? Well, comfort, you, my people, I think is an excellent title for these last 27 chapters of Isaiah. The first 35 chapters of Isaiah are primarily prophecies of warning, rebuke, repent with a little bit of restoration and hope thrown in. The last 27 chapters, starting with chapter 40, are really prophecies of redemption and the greatness of God and His plan and ability to save you and compare Nehpotens of Jehovah to the impotence of the idols. And it's like a whole different genre. There's all this hope with a little bit of warning and Rebuke throwing in. Okay. So two very different things right in the middle of those chapters 3637 we have a little historical interlude which details the Assyrian siege and attack on Judah in 701 BC.

And to me, I think there's a purposeful structure for this, where you have these first 35 chapters that are rebuke and warning in Christ, repentance in the last 27 chapters of hope and restoration. And in the middle, there's this little case study of how King Hezekiah, the most wonderful King in my estimation, to ever rule over Judah, how he is able to access the powers of God through his faithfulness and overcome this great enemy with God's help. It's almost like it's saying, you need to be like Hezekiah. If you want to have a chapter 40 through 66 experience in relationship with God, rather than a chapter one through 35 experience in relationship with God, follow the example of King Hezekiah in chapter 36 and 37. So I believe there's

a purposeful structure there to make that very point. And so there is a very different flavor to these last 27 chapters. There's a lot more hope and restoration and testifying of the greatness and nature of God. Awesome. Chapter 40 is probably a wonderful introduction to this whole final theme. In fact, I sometimes call it the introduction to the greatness of God. As it tells us about who God is and what his attributes are, you know, in the lectures on faith, we're told that in order for a person to have faith unto salvation, you have to have a belief that there is a God, a knowledge that there is a God,

you have to have a proper understanding of his character there is a God, you have to have a proper understanding of his character and attributes. And then you have to have a confidence you're living a life that's pleasing to him. And this chapter 40 is a wonderful place to teach about the nature of God, what his real attributes are. And then the rest of the chapters, up to chapter 36, kind of illustrate this introduction that

he gives in chapter 40. One of the things I like to do is just to pick out a few lines from chapter 40 and see what it tells us about the nature of God. Shall we do that? Let's do it. So let me read a few phrases and then while I'm reading them, just kind of think, what does this tell us about the nature of God? Isaiah chapter 40 verse 4, speaking of what God does, every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain, and hill shall be made low, and a crooked shall be made straight, and a rough place is plain.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Over to verse 12, he makes this, asks this question, who has measured the waters in the hollow of God's hand and met it out the heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in the scales. In verse 15, it talks about God as being one who nations before him were as a drop of the bucket and they counted as a small dust of the earth compared to him and his greatness. Over in chapter 22 through 25 it talks about that he's doing who sits on the circle of the earth and inhabitants are like grasshoppers compared to him and he makes and sets up princes and establishes kingdoms and does all these great things and there's none equal to him we see in

25 and so if you're thinking of an adjective, I know you love adjectives, Hank, what adjective would you use to describe what that tells us about the nature of God? I'd love to what you said in verse 25, there is none equal. He is unequaled, omniscient, all powerful. You get this chapter 40 that there is nothing like him. I like what you said when he's all powerful or the word we use for that is he's omnipotent or omnipotent. Now look in verse 13 and 14 what it tells us, who had directed the Spirit of the Lord or been his counselor or had taught him with whom did he take counsel, who instructed him,

who could instruct him. You can't teach him anything because he is. He's omniscient, yes. So he's omnipotent. He's also omniscient. How about these verse? What else does it tell us that he is? Verse 7, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit will gloweth upon it, surely the people is grass, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. In verse 21 it tells us he was there from the foundations of the earth. In verse 28 we're told that he is everlasting. So not only is he omnipotent, not only is he omniscient, he's also omnipresent.

omnipresent. Now omnipresent can mean that he's always there or that he is everywhere. Which one do you think applies to God? Both. Yeah. That's a both. Yeah. So he's omnipotent. He's omniscient, he's telling us. He's omnipresent. How about verse one and two? Comparchee, my people say it's your God. Speaking comfortably to Jerusalem and cry into her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. Or verse 11, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He'll gather the lands with his arms and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead them, that are with young. And in verse 29, he gives power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increases strength. So he his omnipotent, omnipotent, synomity, present and...

All loving. Omnipinevalent is the word we sometimes use. And so, in this chapter 40 we're getting this introduction to the correct attributes of God. To me, that makes excellent sense that he needs to be these things as we learn in the lectures on faith. We want to have faith and to salvation. For example, if you didn't believe God was omnipotent, even if he wanted to save you, might think, well, I can't trust him, have faith in him because he may not have the power to save me. If you didn't believe he was omniscient, you might think, well, he may have the power to save me, but what? He may not know how to save someone

like me. If he didn't believe he was omnipresent, he might think, well, he has the power and the knowledge to save me, but he might not be there tomorrow for me, or he might not have any influence where I am. And even if you believed he had the power and the knowledge and the presence to save you, and you didn't believe he was omnipinevolent. You would think, may he may have the power and want to do all these things for me, but does he care? Yeah. Why would he care for me? What a blessing it is to know that God has the power and the knowledge and the presence and the love to save us. In fact, we know that that is his entire work and glory. And that's so chapter 40 here is just kind of introducing these things that are going to permeate the rest

of these 27 chapters. So I think in Come Follow Me to call this lesson, Compargy, Compargy My People, it's a perfect title to introduce us to this last big block of Isaiah to show how God plans to comfort and save and redeem his people. Can you talk to us about this metaphor all flesh is grass in verse six. Can you talk about the grass in the Holy Land and why that works? Well, particularly when you get into the Judean Hill country, where you have just a couple of seasons in the Holy Land. You have the winter rainy season where they get a lot of rain And then you have the summer season where it's very hot and dry and hardly ever rains in the summer and so a Lot of these herbs, particularly the annual herbs and grasses and so forth have to go to their whole life cycle during the winter rain season And so you can have a place that looks absolutely bare in the rain start

You have all these plants that grow up and the grasses, and they look really lush and green and covered with flowers, and then in a couple of months, they're totally gone. And then you have the rest of the year, there's just very, very barren terrain. And so it's a wonderful metaphor to show that some things come and go like the grass, but not God. Is it in the sermon on the Mount where Jesus says which today is and Tomorrow is cast into the oven about the nature of grass how after rain it'll spring up But then when it gets dry seasons come and go what God is ever present

You know, I had never Until just now thought oh does that phrase like a drop in a bucket? That's an Isaiah phrase? Isn't that something in verse 15? I mean, we've seen some of those proverbs, apple of thine eye, and stuff like that that you think is that where that came from, but maybe that's Isaiah originated, and with some help from the King James translators, the idea of a drop in a bucket. Yeah, and think how powerful nations are. The nations of the earth today, and Isaiah is saying they're nothing in comparison. They're a drop in the bucket.

So as he moves on in the text now, these next few verses clear up through about chapter 46, he's going to get some illustrations of how God is working to save his people and all that he has done. And as he does so, he really likes to compare Jehovah, this God of the Old Testament, and his great power and knowledge and presence and love to the idols that these people are constantly building and wanting to worship. And he's showing, like I say, he wants to show the omnipotence of God, to the impotence of idols. And you'll see him do that, powerfully in chapter 41, chapter 43, and chapter 44, especially, showing that Jehovah can and will do all of these wonderful things for you, and idols can do nothing. So as you move into chapter 41, I kind of give this title, Jehovah the idols as you start showing all the things

that God has done and can do for you. I found the helpful way to look at chapter 41, to look at the verbs that it says God does and compare it to the things that idols cannot do, the list of verbs. For example, in 41, you see that God can deliver, he can choose, he can strengthen, he can help, he can uphold, he can defend, he can lead, he can protect, he can nourish, he can nurture, he can provide, and he can prophesy. Wow. All of those things are verbs in this that God does. And in contrast, the idols in chapter 41 cannot create, they cannot move, they cannot act, they cannot choose, they cannot prophesy.

It's kind of fun the way that he brings this message out so powerfully. I like verse 10, the words start verse 10 of 41 should sound familiar to folks, fear not. I am with E OBE not dismayed for I am with thee, O be ye not dismayed. Yeah, for I'm my God, I'll help thee, I'll uphold thee by the right hand. Verse 13, I will help thee, verse 14, I will help thee, verse 15, I can make, verse 17, I can nourish you, I can give you water, I can care for you. where you, very interesting in verse 17, where he makes the point that Jehovah is the one who can give them water when they thirst.

One of the gods to which the Israelites often apostatize was to the God, Baal, B-A-A-L, no relation of mine. I'm B-A-L-L, but be Baal. Some of us pronounce that Baal. We know that Baal was a God of thunderlightening and rain, a storm God. And whenever in the Old Testament you see them making the point that is Jehovah who controls and gives this water, that's really an argument against Baal trying to make the point that is Jehovah who controls these things rather than Baal.

So in verse 17 when the poor needy seek water, Nersan none, and their tongue very little for thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I'll open rivers in the high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys, and I'll make the wilderness a pool of water. That idea. That's why, for example, when Elijah becomes the prophet to Israel, just about the time that they have Mary's Jezebel and makes Baalism, the worship of Baal, the state religion. One of the first things that Elijah does is to seal the heavens in the name of Jehovah for three years. So that won't reign. He's making the point that Jehovah is God and controls the waters, not Baal. Isaiah's modern day reader would have picked up on that. Yeah, they would have understood. They would have understood very well. When you have something that

showing that Jehovah is God rather than Baal, the academics call that a Baal, polemic. A polemic means an argument against. And there are a lot of Baal polemics in Isaiah. As he tries to make this point that Jehovah is God rather than Baal. The listeners might want to know, in chapter 41 verse 2, as he's listing the great things that Jehovah does for people. One of the things he does is he raises up the righteous man from the east, a righteous man from the east. This man's going to be mentioned several times. He's called the righteous man from the east there. He's the man who comes from the North in verse 25, elsewhere he's called the Ravenous Bird from the East. This is all referring to some man who's going to come and he's going to conquer Babylon and set the covenant people free. Scholars like to debate who

that could be. Some say maybe it was Father Abraham and some say maybe it was Isaiah himself. Most think that Cyrus, a man named Cyrus, see why R.U.S. and we'll read about him in chapter 45 here who conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews to return and rebuild Jerusalem is at the film of that prophecy. And all of those are true, but on a spiritual sense, who really does give us the ability to conquer Babylon, the world, and set ourselves free. So they Cyrus, or Isaiah, Abraham ought to be viewed as a type for Christ, the one who comes from the east and conquers Babylon, it sets us free. Anything else in chapter 41 we want to talk about? Yeah, I think that verse 10, one of those verses that I think Jacob would say the word of God which heals the wounded soul. Fear thou not,

I am with thee, be not this maid, I am thy God, I will strengthen thee, ye, I will help thee, ye, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. That's one that I can see someone in suffering grabbing onto that verse and believing it, having faith in that I don't need to be scared of the future. I trust in my God. There's another verse in that hymn, I think it's one of the verses that is maybe four or five that we don't usually sing, but I like to read it

to my students whenever we talk about a refiner's fire, like perhaps the earlier chapters of Isaiah, though through fiery trials thy pathway may lie, my grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply. The flame will not hurt thee, I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine. I only design, I draw to consume and I go to refine. And when the Zoramites in the book Mormon say, we are as draws, I like to point out that's a smelting term. And we use that in one of our hymns. I'm going to consume the draws and refine the gold. And that's the refiner's fire idea that's also in that song, how firm a foundation. And chapter 43 verse 2

is another stanza from how firm a foundation. When they'll pass us through the waters, I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not or float thee. When through the deep waters I cause you to go the rivers of Sarosunati or flow. When the walk is through the fire, that shall not be burned neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. That particular hymn draws a lot from these chapters of Isaiah. Yeah, for I am the Lord thy God, right out of the hymn. Then he throws down the challenge in verse 22 of 41 to the idols. He's talked about all these great things Jehovah does, and now he turns to them. And he says, let them bring forth them being the idols. These man-made things you've done,

and the ball, and so forth. Let them bring forth, show us what will happen. Let them show former things that they, we may consider them and know the latter end or declare us things to come. Show things that are to come here after that. We may know that your gods do, ye do good or do evil, do something. Anything that we may be dismayed and be hold it together, behold, you are nothing. Your work is of not an abomination is he that chooses you. Yeah, and then he goes back and talks about what Jehovah does. He raises up, he brings forth, he helps, and all those things. That idea, Isaiah is going to bring this idea that what God can do

and what idols can't do several times in these chapters. Someone wants to liken Isaiah to a fugue. A fugue is for the musical people. It's where you have a particular theme or melody and then you have different sections of the orchestra give different variations of it and weave it all together into this beautiful masterpiece. And Isaiah does that often.

And in this particular fugue, the idea is the greatness of God and the nothingness of idols. And he goes back and forth showing all the things that God can do to all the things that idols cannot do. For example, go to chapter 46. If you look at chapter 46, here he's talking again about here he starts talking about what idols can't do and compares it to what God does. In verse one, it talks about Bell and Nebo, those are gods of the ancient Near East. He says, Bell boweth down, Nebo stoopeth. Their idols are upon beasts and upon cattle. Your carriages were laden with them.

They're burdened to the weary beast. They stooped. They bowed down together. They could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity. These idols are just just heavy burdened to the weary beast, they stooped, they bowed down together, they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity. These idols are just heavy burdened, the animals have to carry around. And then how about Jehovah in verse 3? Harken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the rendered in the house of Israel which are born by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb. Even to your old age, I am he. Even to a whore, that means white hair here. White hair. Will I carry you? I make. I bear.

I will carry and will deliver you. What do you want for your God? This thing that you have to put upon animals that carry around, that can't do anything? Or would you rather be carried by your God? It reminds me of the, is it one of the Psalms or is it Proverbs? They have eyes, but they see not ears have they, but they hear not mouths have they, but they speak not and then it makes this funny comment. They that worship them or like unto them. Yeah, but President Kimball might say, okay, so we can think those silly ancient people and their idols, but what might President Kimball say to us today? They have our idols of our own. Yeah. One of the most profound comparisons between Jehovah and the worshiping of idols is found in chapter 44, much like he does in chapter 41 and in chapter 46. He again bears testimony of all that Jehovah can do for us and has done, and there's no God like him. And then in the middle of the chapter, he talks about how these people make an idol to compare them. And he kind of pokes fun at them. He notes down in verse 14 and 15, that

they have this tree they cut down. And then after he's cut it down, you see in verse 15, he takes part of it to burn for heating fuel. You see that? Then shall he be for a man to burn, and he'll take part of for cooking to warm himself, and then he'll take part of for cooking fuel. Yeah, he kindle of did and bake it bread, yeah, he make it the God, and he worship with it. And to him, that's just absurd. You cut down this tree, part of it used to heating fuel, part of it used for cooking

fuel, and the rest of it, you worship. And that sounds so ludicrous to him that he repeats this three times. Verse 16, he says it again, he burns part thereof in the fire. With part he rose, just rose and is satisfied. He warms himself and says, ah, I am warned. And the residue thereof, he make it the God. Even his gravedh's image, he followed down to it and worshiped it and pray to him to it and say, deliver me for the hour of my God. And then he says at the third time in 18 and 19, they've not known or understand.

He shut their eyes. They can't see their hearts. They can't understand. Not consider this heart. Neither is your knowledge nor understanding. They say, I've burned part of it in the fire. You have also break bread with the coals are up. I've roasted flesh and eaten it.

Shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock or stump of a tree? And then he uses this incredible metaphor. Tell me what you make of this. Talking about the person who makes an idol and worships it out of a tree, he says, he, the one who worships idols, he feeds it on ashes. So that makes a question.

How is worship being false gods and idols like eating ashes? There's zero. Yeah. There's nothing there. Yeah. So you're hungry and you want to get rid of the hunger pains and you choose to eat ashes. Could you read enough ashes that your hunger was satiated?

Could you say, I'm so full, I couldn't eat another ash. But on the same hand, could you have a belly full of ashes and die of malnutrition? Yeah, yeah. So they're going through all these acts of putting all their confidence in something that's not going to satiate their real needs.

I always like to ask my students, so what are some modern day ashes that people feed upon? Oh, good application. Yeah. Your God can't feed you social media. I can devour and devour and devour social media and yet have nothing. Nothing to show for it. Come away hungry. Maybe even hungerier than I was when I started. Yeah, that's great. So someday Hank, you'll be walking through your living room and your kids will be watching

a football game and a commercial come on. It'll show a bunch of half-dressed people dancing on the beach drinking some kind of alcohol looking like they have a great time and you'll just point out and say they're feeding on ashes and they'll say what do you mean and then you'll be able to explain to them. They're going to the motions to satisfy their desire to be happy but in the end they're feeding on ashes. And it is quite a metaphor Terry. I mean it's to picture someone feeding on the ashes of a fire. I can see he's going for repulsiveness here. And absurdity, too. Just why would you do that?

Fall down to the stock of a tree? Why would you do that? The rest of that verse is talking about the one who feeds on ashes. He says, a deceived heart has turned him aside. Did he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand? That's the hand you're eating with.

So the lie in your right hand is this handful of ashes sitting there thinking if I consume this, it's going to take care of my knees. It's going to help me. Yeah. Yeah. And it's not. And there's my phone in my right hand, Terry. That's right.

Right. Right. The ashes in my hands. It's a lie. It's absolute deception. Isn't that second Nephi, right? He leadeth their souls carefully down to hell. He does just a marvelous job here of explaining how Jehovah is a God. He doesn't have to be made.

Jehovah is a God who can choose. He doesn't have to be chosen. Jehovah is a God who loves you. It's not a one-way relationship. You can love him, and he can return your love. This is such a powerful, powerful metaphor to show the greatness of God. All in a context of showing that God has this power to redeem and will save his people. Jehovah is a God who makes and doesn't need to be made. I like that.

Yeah, he can create and doesn't need to be made, I like that. Yeah, he can create, he doesn't need to be created. That's important to know, one of the things that some of our other Christian brothers and sisters struggle with in our own, in a Latter-day Saint theology, is a notion that we can become like our Father in heaven, that God's work in glory really is to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life.

And that man and God are the same species that we can become like God. In fact, a whole purpose for our creation is to become like our Father in heaven. The academic term for that is theosis. Some people, not of our faith, like to look at chapter 43 verse 10 where God is trying to explain that he's greater than the idols. And they look at the end of verse 10 and they read this verse and say, this is saying that the latter day, Saint belief that God, that we can become God is not true because it says, at the end of verse 10, Jehovah says, I am he before me there was no God formed and neither shall there be after me. And you can kind of see how they would read that and think, well, therefore, man really cannot become like God. But to put that interpretation upon it is taking it out of

context. Really, he's not arguing that we can't become like God. He's arguing that man-made idols you made are not gods. Yeah. And so this is an argument against the worshiping of man-made and false idols. Not an argument against our potential to become like God. And those who want to take this argument and can screw it into an argument against our ability to become like God are really misreading the scripture

and taking it out of context. So these man-made gods cannot become gods. Yeah, there is no other God for them. Right. I like to use this analogy. You have one biological father. No other biological fathers. There'll be no before none before them and none after. There's only one man that is your biological father that you should love and honor. That in no way precludes that idea that other men can become fathers and that their children should love and honor them. But as far as you are concerned, you have one father.

Besides him, there is no other. There is none before him and there'll be none after him you have one father. Besides him there is no other, there is none before him, and there will be none after him, one biological father. And that's really the kind of point that I think Isaiah is making here in 43. You have one father in heaven who created the earth and is your God, and there's none before and none after. That's a great way to explain that. These chapters definitely have a different tone to them than the ones we've studied previously. Yeah, so much hope in them. Right. He softened a little bit maybe. Well, he's done plenty of yelling at him in those first 35 chapters. It's nice to afterward show an increase of love. Yeah to whom, whom now has approved.

Let me just mention in 43 that again, he makes this point that he's a God so involved in their lives. He makes the point in verse one of 43 that God is the one who redeems him. He is there. Goel, that's a Hebrew word, GOEL. A goel is usually a near relative who does something for you.

You can't do for yourself to redeem you from some mess you've got yourself into. That makes really good sense when we think about our savior. He is our goel. He is our redeemer. Yeah, we've talked about that with other Kinsman redeemer, right, Hank? Yeah, with Ruth. Yeah, called that goel as a Kinsman redeemer, which really, I love that because it's a family

thing. He's our Kinsman. I like the closeness that kind of reflects that phrase, Kinsman Redeemer. Yeah. In verse 11, it says, I even, I am the Lord and beside me, there is no Savior. This is one of the places where we come to understand that Jesus Christ is Jehovah, this God of the Old Testament, because he is our Savior. If you ask Isaiah, who is our Savior, he'll say the Lord.

If you ask a Christian who is our Savior, they'll say Jesus Christ. So if you do the math, if the Savior equals Jesus Christ and Savior equals the Lord, then the Lord is the Savior equals Jesus Christ and Savior equals the Lord, then the Lord is the Jesus Christ. Perhaps the listeners would want to know that if they see in verse 11, that the word Lord is written in small capital letters. I don't know if you've ever discussed what that means in an Old Testament context. Repetition is always good. When you see the word Lord in small capital letters in the King James version, that is the way the King James people chose to translate the name of the God of the Old Testament. The actual word there is

the third person future tense of the verb to be. It's YHWH and was probably pronounced Yahweh. Yahweh. That's a very sacred name to our Jewish brothers and sisters. They don't speak it. When they're reading this text and they come to this phrase Yahweh, it's called the Tetrogrammaton in academic circles. When they come to that, when a Jewish reading is, they won't say Yahweh instead, they'll say Hashem, which means the name, or they'll say Auto-Nai, which means Lord. And so in deference to that, whenever they come say, auto-ni, which means Lord. And so, in deference to that, whenever they come to this name of God in the Old Testament, the King James translated it to the right Lord

and small capital letters rather than writing the name Yahweh, when Moses spoke to God on Mount Sinai, as he was called to go deliver Israel, he said, who shall I say sent me? And God said, remember, I am. He would have used the first person, future tents of the verb to be. He would have said, echoe, but we would refer to him in the third person, which is Yahweh.

When the Mazarites added the vowels to the Hebrew text, the Hebrew text was originally written just consonants. When they added the vowels to the Hebrew text. The Hebrew text was originally written just consonants. When they added the vowels to the text, when they came to this tetragramatant, the name of God, Yahweh, they actually wrote in the vowels for the word auto-ni to alert the reader to say auto-ni, rather than Yahweh. If you take the consonants from Yahweh

and read it with the vowels from Ato Nai, you come up with the name Yahoa, which we turn into English to the name Jehovah. And that's where the name Jehovah comes from. It's a combination of the vowels from Yahweh and the from Ato Nai and the consonants from Yahweh, Jehovah. And William Tyndale first coined the word Jehovah. Of course, in Latter-day Saint terminology now, we use Jehovah to refer to God the Son and Elohim to refer to God the Father.

Joseph Smith kind of used those terms interchangeably to refer to one of the other or both, but by the time we get to Brigham Young, we're finding that Elohim is used primarily to refer to God the Father and Jehovah to God the Son, and they answer to that and it works very very well to show the distinction between the two but You know that somehow even before Christ attained a mortal body He At a attain into the stature of God was divinely invested with the authority to be the God of the Old Testament to be Yahweh or Jehovah.

So as you read verse 11 and chapter 43, you can see that I, even I am Jehovah, besides me there is no Savior. And so Jehovah is Jesus Christ, He is our Savior and the God of the Old Testament. Anyway, that's along the side. No, no, that was perfect. That was more detailed than I think we've had before. I didn't know the part about Adonai and taking the consonants from Yahweh and coming up with Yahweh.

And for Tendale to do that, I didn't know that. That's awesome. Well, you know, the King James people relied so heavily on William Tendale. We owe such a debt of gratitude to that martyr. No, I'm unbelievable. Yeah, the more I study, the more inspired I am. In the context of trying to show the greatness of God and all that he does for people, one of the things that these latter chapters do is to point out that God is going to raise up this particular servant. Scatter throughout these chapters of Isaiah, their collection of passages that we sometimes call the servant

songs or the servant songs. And they're called that because they all deal with this servant who comes and will actually suffer for the people and through his suffering perform a great work for them. And again, and the context is, is I'm the one who gives you this servant. Of course, the academics like to discuss who the servant is, and some say, well, maybe it's the nation of Israel as a whole, or maybe it's Isaiah himself. Sometimes Joseph Smith seems to be a fulfillment of some of these servant songs.

But in the end, all those others, and Cyrus as well as it is perhaps an example of servant, but all of them should be viewed as a type or simple because in the end, the real servant is Jesus Christ. Only he fulfills all the servant songs and some of them only he can fulfill. There's a servant song that starts chapter 42. There's a servant song that begins chapter 49. There's a servant song in chapter 50, a servant song in chapter 52, and then the most wonderful servant song of all that you'll discuss it a future podcast is Isaiah chapter 53. That's the best. But the first servant song is actually found in Isaiah 42, and perhaps it would be helpful just to look at the two servant songs that appear in the scripture block. Would that be all right? Absolutely. Chapter 42, I found a helpful way to study the servant songs is to

read them and then try to see how this particular prophecy is fulfilled by Jesus Christ during his mortal ministry. And so if you start with chapter 42 and read down through verse 4 to start with, read that carefully and then ask, what does this tell us about Jesus Christ and how did he fulfill it? As it begins, behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. I put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment or justice to the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break and a smoking or smoldering flak that's a wick in a candle, a smoldering candle, shall he not quench? He shall bring forth judgment unto truth, and he'll not fail nor be discouraged till he set justice in the earth, and the ills shall wait for his law. So as you look at those verses, first we learn

that this particular entity is a servant of God, and our servant as well, huh? He is upheld by God, and you can think of all the ways that the Father upheld the Son. How would you explain what elect means in that verse verse? Mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth. It reminds me of what is it Moses chapter 4? He was my chosen from the beginning. From the very beginning. So he wasn't as some of the Nostek Christians would later teach just a good man that God put his spirit into, and I had his baptism and took it away just as a crucifixion, but he was chosen from the very beginning.

I suspect we were part of what elected him. He certainly had the spirit of God. He'll bring forth judgment to the Gentiles, but it doesn't necessarily mean punishment, but it means reward as well. What do you make about verse 2 and 3 in regards to the mortal ministry of Christ? He'll not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. I just think his ministry will not be loud and out there like some others are. I think the next one goes to it. He'll not harm nor hurt a bruised reed shall he not break. Maybe it's just kind of that humble circumstance is he's born

in a manger and maybe it's that sort of a thing. A gentle ministry. Yeah, so this is very different than the millennial Messiah, isn't it? And when he comes, they'll be quite a stir. Everyone will know. Yeah, but this one, you think about Jesus as he's born to this impoverished couple in a tiny obscure section of the Roman Empire and the humblest of circumstances. And most of the world didn't know he came and went. Can anything good come out of Nazareth type of thing? Yeah. But I love verse four, he shall not fail. And the Isles shall wait for his law in the end of verse 4.

Isles, we know in Isaiah, almost always refers to the scattered covenant people. We know that because when Nephi quotes Isaiah chapter 49, he tells us what the islands are. Oh, Isles. Yeah, and maybe we can talk about that in a moment. But I like to extend the servant song down to verse seven, because I think it's continued to talk about what this servant will do. In verse six, I will call the in righteousness and hold thine hand, and I will keep the in give the or covenant of the people or a light to the Gentiles. And he'll open the blind eyes and bring out the prisoners from prison,

and those that sit in darkness out of the prison house. Think about DNC 138 and Peter 3 and talking about how Christ organized the spirits to minister to those that were imprisoned during the time before his death and resurrection. And so if you're kind of summarizing what this teaches us about Christ, we learned that he's the servant of the Father, that he was chosen from the very beginning and upheld by him, that his ministry was not only to Israel, but to the Gentiles as well, and to give them light, that it would be a quiet and humble and obscure ministry that would not create much a stir in most of the world. And yet it would be a successful ministry and a scattered covenant people would come and

be waiting for it. And that this ministry would give sight to the blind and that it would be work on both sides of the veil, the living and those who had passed away. All great and wonderful truths about Armassaya, about Jesus Christ. And such a gentle way to say it. It's almost as if the way he describes it is the way he lived it. Gentle and successful. Gentle and moving forward.

Yeah. That's a good way to summarize it. In chapter 49 to first few verses, we have the second servant song. And it actually kind of gives a second witness to the first servant song. Is it repeat some of the same themes and promises about what Jehovah will do and can do? We mentioned that there's a significant addition to chapter 49 of Isaiah when it was quoted by Nephi to his brother and from the brass plate. In first Nephi 21? First Nephi 21, 1. The King James version and the Hebrew text, I'll begin with this imperative. Listen, O Isles unto me. But here's the phrase that begins first Nephi 21, 1,

that was on the brass plates and somehow was removed from the text by the time we get to the King James version Here's how that read on the brass plates Harkin O.E. House of Visual All ye that are broken off and are driven out because of the wickedness of the pastors of my people Ye all ye that are broken off and that are scattered abroad who are of my people O house of Israel Listen O Isles unto me. So there it makes it clear that the Isles are the people

who are the house of Israel who've been broken and scattered abroad because of the wickedness of the pastors of my people. You can see why someone wanted that deleted. I mean, I'm responsible for the scattering of Israel for the diaspora. Well, yeah. I mean, I'm responsible for the scattering of Israel for the diaspora. Well, yeah.

I have always loved just that they consider themselves upon an Isle of the Sea and the fact that he would grab those chapters that talk about, I haven't forgotten those on the Isles of the Sea. I think it would be encouraging for Nephite to read to his people. Yeah. Chapter 48 and 49 are the very first two chapters quoted in the book of Mormon. Nephi said he's going to quote from Isaiah to them that they could more fully be persuaded to believe in their redeemer, that they might have hope as a people that have been broken off. And chapters 48 and 49 really given that whole. The first part of 49 is this powerful servant song again,

where the servant here speaks in first person. And you can feel it. Here's these Nephites, uh, Leehites, I guess we could say, who have been driven off and probably wondering, have I been forgotten? And Isaiah is speaking to them long before they're scattered

that they have not been forgotten. Is that the essence of what we're about to jump into here? It is, particularly the end of 49. The first part of 49 helps to fulfill what Nephi said when he said that they might, I'm redized to them, they could know of their redeemer better, could because the first part of 49 is the servant song it teaches us about the redeemer. The last

part of 49 talks about how he's going to gather as people in the end. Shall we look at the first part? Yeah, let's do it. Start with. As you read the first part of 49, you see that some of what he says sound very similar to what he said about the Messiah in the servant song in 42. The servant says, the Lord hath what he said about the Messiah in the servant song in 42. The servant says, the Lord had called me from the womb and from the bowels of my mother had. He made mention of my name. In other words, he was elect from the very beginning.

There's a imagery that suggests some tension in verse 2. Can you make any sense out of this? He has made my mouth, this is a servant speaking. He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He had in the shadow of his hand had hit me. He has made me a polished shaft and his quiver had to hit me. Yeah, that's interesting. I'm ready to go. I'm this strong tool and yet he's not using me. Or my ministry is going to be somewhat hidden or quiet. I'm held back. He's coming in a way you don't expect.

Yeah. I could come and power and glory and smite you down, but that's not my purpose here. Verse 3, and he said, thou art my servant. And here's one of the reasons why people think that Israel is a fulfillment of this as well. Oh, Israel and whom I will be glorified. That could also be translated as thou art my servant in whom I will glorify Israel. And that makes sense too, doesn't it? Verse 4 and 5 get confusing to people, but I love what it teaches about the mortal ministry of Christ. It says, then I said, I've labored in vain, this is the servant speaking. I spent my strength for not and in vain. In other words, it looks like I might have been a failure, then he makes his qualifier. Surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work is with my God.

And now say at the Lord that formed 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, my God shall be my strength. So on one level, you get decided that, boy, it looks like on one layer, I've been a failure. I haven't gathered Israel and redeemed them

and set them up, but on the other, I've been a failure. I haven't gathered Israel and redeemed them and set them up. But on the other, I've done what God wanted me to do. Every time I read this, I think about what happened on Palm Sunday. You remember the Messianic expectation the time of Christ is that he would show up during a Passover. And on that particular Passover, the rumor was going around

that there's this man, Jesus of Nazareth, who some believe, is the Messiah. And they wondered if he was going to show up because they'd raised Lazarus, the Sanhedrin, who was determined to have him assassinated. And they wondered if he was going to show up and that on that Palm Sunday, Jesus, who had been staying at Mary and Martha's house in Bethany, climbed up to the top of the Mount of Valleys to a city called Bethage. And there he mounted a cult, the full of an ass, and began riding it towards Jerusalem. And apparently people recognize that this was Jesus of Nazareth, and he was coming riding the cult, the full of an ass and fulfillment of prophecy.

Here it comes, right? You gotta be thinking, here it comes. Here it comes, Here comes the Messiah. Yeah. In fact, they get so excited. They leave the city. They've lined the path leading into the city of Jerusalem. Do you remember what they were doing? Yeah, throwing down Palm Frans, clothes, and taking out their outer garments and strewn them before him as you would a conquering king who was returning. So he comes into Jerusalem writing in and being called the son of David and they're yelling

you remember Hoshana, which means save us now. When he comes in the gates of Jerusalem, the gate that he entered into, he has two choices. He could turn to the right and that would put him into the Antonio Fortress, this big Roman garrison that the Romans built really tall so they could keep an eye on the people and see what was going on in the temple, or he could turn to the left, which would take him right into the temple complex. These people who were yelling, Hoshana, save us now, it seems that they're expecting him to right into Jerusalem, turn to the right, wipe out the Roman garrison and usher in the millennial theocracy.

Destroy these nations and kingdoms that have oppressed them for so many years and start the millennium. And he could have done that, right? He could have wiped out the Romans at what cost? We read that instead of turning to the right, he turned to the left and he went to the temple. Mark records that he just looked around and then went back to Bethany, went home. Now if you're standing there and you've got palm flippers in your fingers and you're not wearing your outer coat because you've thrown it before Christ and you see he just came and looked around and then went home. How do you feel?

That's the road to Emmaus, right, Terry? We thought it was him. So some Messiah, you, are, you couldn't even wipe out the Romans? Yeah. Because they didn't understand. They didn't know they didn't come to overthrow nations. He came to overthrow something far greater. And this mortal ministry came to conquer sin and death. I think that's part of the reason why these people who on this Palm Sunday are saying, Hoshana, save us now, they'll son of David. They're so disappointed that they didn't fulfill their messianic

expectation that by the time they get the Friday, and they say, what shall we do with them? They say crucify him, crucify him because he's a phony. He wasn't what we expected. So there's that tension there. And I wonder if that's part of what verses 4 and 5 of chapter 49 are trying to show that while he doesn't do what some of the people thought to come and use his sharp sword and his poly shaft and to wipe out the Romans, that's okay because in verse 4, his judgment is with God, his work is with God. He came to conquer sin and death, not Romans, or at the end of, or in chapter 5. He didn't come to gather the people into the theocracy at that time. He came to do the glorious work of God.

And so, and that's one way to understand that it kind of makes sense to me. I've heard it described Terry in Luke that here he comes, all that's left to do is to write into Jerusalem and crown him king. That's the last step and he'll wipe out the Romans and instead he goes into Jerusalem and he does get crowned. He's now king over death, something much grander than they had in mind. I don't want to be the king over this small Israel. I'm the Messiah of the whole world. I have conquered death, not just the Romans. That's a beautiful way to summarize it,

yeah. As the servant song continues in verse 6, he makes the point again that it's not just for Israel, but also for the Gentiles to whom he will be a light. It was so much bigger, his mission was so much bigger than what they had in mind. And in verse 9, he's there to set prisoners free again, much like we saw in a servant song in chapter 42, it's for the living and the dead in this world and in the spirit world, and then he comes as a covenant. This servant song, if you're summarizing, it tells us again that he's forerudained, that he's very, very powerful, but this ministry is going to be quiet and hidden, that in some levels people may think that he didn't do what he was supposed to, because he doesn't fulfill their messy any expectation, but he does the work that God wants him to do,

and that this work will bless Gentiles and Israel alike, and those on this side of the veil and those on the other alike. Just a powerful witness of the mortal Messiah, and those on this side of the valley and those on the other alike. I'm just a powerful witness of the mortal Messiah, and that's really helpful way to look at that particular servant's son. It may seem like a failure, but it was a grand victory. I've heard it described as the Messiah of popular expectation, like you said. I'm going to redeem Israel, political Israel by throwing off the Romans. And am I correct in thinking even all the way up until Peter taking out his sword and cutting off the ear of the high-presurban? I mean, even then it seems like, okay, here we go. And Jesus is to turn, not that kind of Messiah. You too are thinking I'm the Messiah that will redeem

political Israel by throwing off the Romans, but we've got tougher enemies like death and sin to conquer. Yeah. When you study Isaiah 53, that servant song, it makes it clear again that this particular servant is the mortal Messiah who has this quiet humble ministry that yet conquer something far greater. You'll read that he has no form, no comeliness, there's no beauty that we should desire him. We hit his it where our face is from him. Dispised rejected. Yeah.

And wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our inequities. I tell my students, you know, since it seems so obvious, this is talking about Christ. How do our Jewish brothers and sisters look at these servant songs? Do they see it as this is talking about us? The House of Israel and we are the suffering servant or how how might they look at Isaiah 53 or some of these other servant songs? Well, I'm not sure I'm qualified to explain how The Jews mostly understand it. My sense is is that there's probably a wide variety of ways to understand it because there's a wide spectrum of Judaism and levels of observation.

I think that there's certainly the idea that Israel itself is the servant who serves the whole world. I think you'll find many who think that Cyrus is a fulfillment of this as he comes and conquers Babylon, sets the people free. It's a difficult thing for academics to think that this is talking about Christ, because if that's the case, then it would mean prophets can prophesy. I remember reading one author who wrote that the events of the life of Jesus of Nazareth were fabricated after his death to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 53. That seemed like a simpler explanation than to say, well, no, Jesus, a prophets can prophesy, and this is a prophecy of Isaiah 53. That's like a simpler explanation than they will know Jesus. A prophets can prophesy and this is a prophecy of him. Well, and clearly a benedite interpreted as this is the Messiah. It's not the law that saves. It's redemption comes because of Christ. Haven't you read and he gives him

Isaiah 53? I've always just wondered. it seems so obvious. How can you miss? And that seems to be a five paraphrase of Benadai. How could you miss this? Yeah. Redemption comes because of this sermon. And when we make his soul and offering for our sins, we become his seed. Then we'll see his seed. Yeah.

And how beautiful upon the mountains are those that declare that. Which is so cool, because that was the original Isaiah question they tried to stump Abinadi with and he gets there. He finally gets to the answer after he prophesies of Christ. It's kind of fun to see how that all flows in the Book of Mormon. Like Elder Packer used to say he answered the questions they should have asked before the answer is the question they did ask. a question they do ask. Please join us for Part 2 of this podcast.