Isaiah 54:1-10, part 4

"For this is the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; bu my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." (Isaiah 54:9-10)

The Lord promised He would never flood the earth again as He did in the days of Noah. It was an immutable, non-revocable covenant between the Lord and His people. (Genesis 9:8-17) Just as God entered this covenant "with all flesh," the Lord covenants with Israel that He will not be angry at Israel or rebuke her in the end.

Reference to "mountains" departing and "hills" moving have duel meaning. Persons who are faithful and devoted to God are often endowed by their creator with faith to move mountains. (JST Genesis 14:30, 1 Corinthians 13:2) Just as God promises the faithful power to move mountains and hills, God also promises not to remove from Israel His kindness or covenant of peace.

A second perspective on the movement of "mountains" and "hills" is one presented by Avraham Gileadi in his research. Avraham suggests references to "mountains" often treat the word "mountain" as a synonym for nation. Hence, the Lord pronounces through Isaiah His intent to remove all nations:

"And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations." (D&C 87:6)

The Lord is consistent in all His declaration, regardless of ancient or modern revelation. The day is rapidly coming when the kindness and mercies of our God are extending to Israel and all Gentiles who join them in their covenant relationship with God.

This will be my last installment for a while. I need to turn to another project for now. Press on see what treasures "gather" hold for you in the rest of the Standard Works.

Isaiah 54:1-10, part 3

"Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; he Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee fro a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." (Isaiah 54:4-8)

Isaiah returns to the "Bride"/"Groom" imagery discussed previously. Israel has been a widow because she failed to keep her covenant with God. "Reproach" reflects disapproval or disappointment the Lord feels due to Israel's conduct. Israel's "widowhood" reflects the consequences of Israel's lack of integrity in honoring her covenant with God and the accompanying rebellion. She is forced to live without God in this world due to covenant disobedience. This condition will shortly change. The Lord will reclaim His bride and restore Israel to her covenant relationship. Although Israel has rebelled and been forsaken for a brief period of time, with "great mercies" the Lord will again gather Israel. The Lord withdrew from Israel for a brief period but with "everlasting kindness He will again have mercy on Israel and gather her from the nations. The Lord will again reclaim His people.

Isaiah 54:1-10, part 2

"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited." (Isaiah 54:2-3)

Verse 2 uses the imagery of a tent to describe a union between repentant Gentiles who enter the covenant with God and the tribes of Israel, post-gathering. It is also the verse that gave birth to the term, "stake" as a title for groups of congregations in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Israel is told that sometime in their future, many Gentiles will come to them seeking a covenant relationship with God. Israel will not have received her permanent inheritance, hence the image of a "tent." Tents were used when people were unsettled travelers. When the covenant is fully instituted the promised blessing is the receipt of a land of their inheritance. Consequently, the Gentiles will come to Israel sometime prior to their receiving their inheritance.

The Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 21 describes this day as a time that follows the destruction of the Gentiles:

"For it shall come to pass, saith he Father, that at that day whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel; And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as hey have not heard. But if they will repent and hearken unto my words and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance." (3 Nephi 21:20-22)

The "cut-off" is not limited to the Lord's people but applies to the "heathen", (a synonym for Gentiles in scripture.) Note the Savior uses the name Jacob which is the pre-covenant name for Israel. This implies the "cut-off" occurs prior to covenant renewal between God and His people.

Isaiah gives this additional description of the same events in chapter 49:

"Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou shalt have, after thou has lost the other shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? 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 by thy nursing fathers, and heir 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." (Isaiah 49:18-23)

Isaiah 54:1-10

Our next passage is found in Isaiah 54:7 that states:

"For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee." (Isaiah 54:7)

To capture the full context of the prophecy we will examine verses 1-10.

Before we begin, if you followed this process of examining passages containing the word "gather," there have more than likely been passages that come to your attention unmentioned by me. These studies are far from comprehensive and you should note impressions you receive and listen to the whisperings of the Spirit to you. You may assimilate knowledge from this experience but the most important objective in participating in these studies is learning to listen to the Holy Spirit and give heed to what He may say to you. The Holy Ghost will tailor impressions to your individual circumstance and lead you where you need to go.

On to Isaiah 54:1-10.

"Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord." (Isaiah 54:1)

Israel/the Church is "barren" when she fails to give birth to Zion, or a people with pure hearts. (D&C 97:21) The Lord looks upon Israel as His bride. ("..., as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." Isaiah 62:5)
How does Israel give birth? The answer is found in Mosiah 5:7:

"And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters." (Mosiah 5:7)

The covenant alone was not enough to claim divine heritage. The key components were the covenant and change of heart. What evidence did the people of Mosiah have they had been "born again" and experienced a change of heart? The answer is found at the beginning of chapter 5:

"And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually. And we, ourselves, also through the infinite goodness of God, and the manifestations of his Spirit, have great views of that which is to come; and were it expedient, we could prophesy of all things." (Mosiah 5:2-3)

The conversion of Mosiah's subjects was evidenced by the witness/testimony of the Holy Spirit, a cessation of all desire to do evil, (pure in heart)and an endowment of knowledge that encompassed "all things." This is the bar or standard the Lord's people must meet to remove the term "barren" from Isaiah's description.

This doctrine was commonly taught by the Savior to His disciples:

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12-13)

And Paul taught the same doctrine as well:

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." (Romans 8:29)

The key in this verse is not to get caught up on "predestinate," but to focus on the conformation into the image of the "Son" and how that takes place. To have no more disposition to do evil is about as Christlike as one may get.

Israel, in their first covenant opportunity failed to become a people possessing these attributes and were eventually rejected as the Lord's covenant people, hence, Isaiah addresses them as "barren."

On the subject of children, the desolate referred to in verse 1 are the Gentiles who experience the change of heart and join themselves to the Lord's covenant people, Israel. Israel is under covenant with the Lord and is His bride, but the post desolation Gentile (3 Nephi 21:12-21) conversions will transcend in number the children Israel bring forward.

Isaiah 52:9-12, Part 4

"For ye shall not go out with haste, nor by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward." (Isaiah 52:12)

We discussed the "shall not go out with haste" portion of this verse so we will conclude this reference by addressing the last line, "for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward."

I am always curious when I see different names for the same person used in one verse. In this instance, the first part says, "the Lord" while the second part says, "the God of Israel." So what is the difference? I suspect it reflects a change in covenant status. Take for example this passage that uses Jacob (pre-covenant) and Israel, (post-covenant):

"For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land...," (Isaiah 14:1)

I suspect/believe the same precedence is being followed in Isaiah 52:12. The "Lord" goes before Israel and prepares the way and then, (after Israel resumes covenant status/obedience in their relationship with God), the "God of Israel" has Israel's back, in a manner of speaking.

Having the Lord "go before" is illustrated in Numbers 10:33-35:

"And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days journey: and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days journey, to search out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day, when they went out of the camp. And it came to pass when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee."

The Lord agreed to go before Israel and disperse her enemies before her. Next we look for an example where the Lord is Israel's "rereward."

The term means rear guard,so the God of the covenant, (ie, God of Israel) will guard behind Israel to thwart unsuspected attacks when all of Israel has their sites on forward progress. There is an obvious military application to this but there is also a more subtle, spiritual application as well. If Israel maintains their covenant relationship with the Lord He protects them from all enemies, both seen and unseen.

Isaiah 52:9-12, Part 3 (revised)

"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." (Isaiah 52:11)

Where is the place the Lord is commanding His people to leave? He pleads with them to "go out of the midst of her", (a woman.) In Isaiah 1:21 Isaiah accuses Jerusalem of becoming a harlot:

"How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it but now murderers." (Isaiah 1:21)

If we were Jews and likened this scripture unto ourselves as Nephi counseled all readers to do, (1 Nephi 19:23) we might assume the "she" in Isaiah 52:11 was a reference to Jerusalem. But we are not Jews and the "harlot" we are to flee is "Babylon", whom John called "the mother of all harlots." (Revelation 17:5)

The Doctrine & Covenants provides a clearer definition of who "Babylon" is in the last days:

"Go ye out from among the nations, even from Babylon, from the midst of wickedness, which is spiritual Babylon. But verily, thus saith the Lord, let not your flight be in hast, but let all things be prepared before you; and he that goeth, let him not look back lest sudden destruction shall come upon him." (D&C 133:14-15)

Babylon is not a geographical location or individual nation. Babylon lives within the borders of all nations and the cry of our Lord is to flee Babylon, which is a condition of spiritual wickedness. While in flight, those fleeing Babylon are counseled "touch no unclean thing." Their flight is not to be done in haste, but slow, gradual and methodical. In Jacob's explanation of the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees, he describes the process as follows:

"For it grieveth me that I should lose the trees of my vineyard; wherefore ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow, that the root and the top may be equal in strength, until the good shall overcome the bad, and the bad be hewn down and cast into the fire, that they cumber not the ground of my vineyard; and thus will I sweep away the bad out of my vineyard." (Jacob 5:66)

The Lord is patient with His people and gradually prepares His people in flight from Babylon. During the preparatory period the good is nurtured in their spiritual growth while the bad are gradually rejected.

Leaving Babylon is not to be done quickly. It is not a straight line between two points. Those who leave Babylon are traversing a mine field and may trigger a fatal encounter by touching anything unclean while in flight.

I am reminded of the many disciplinary councils I have participated in where a seemingly innocuous perusal of pornographic material led to the abuse of a child, loss of self respect and destruction of families. We cannot risk touching anything unclean in our flight from Babylon. We should be constantly assessing the manner in which we use our time. What occupies our thoughts in idle moments. Are we walking as close to the line as we possibly can, always coming as close as possible without crossing over? When we leave Babylon will we take our eyes off our goal ahead only to be turned to a pillar of salt when we look back longingly for the sinful world we are leaving behind. Establishing Zion will never be done by half hearted measures. To find the Lord and invite Him to dwell again with us in Zion will require full commitment of heart.

Another story from my mission is relevant to this passage. It was told by John Lund at a mission conference in Seattle, Washington. John spoke of a mission president in Canada who was struggling with recent set backs in the mission he presided over. In answer to his prayers he began to have a reoccurring dream. In the dream he saw his missionaries approaching people with buckets of water to drink from. When the missionaries raised the buckets up the people declined to drink. After many nights of seeing the same dream, the mission president prayed for the interpretation to the dream. The following night the president saw the same dream with one significant variation. As he witnessed a missionary raising the bucket up to offer a drink, the president was shown a view of the inside of the bucket. He too was repulsed when he saw dirt and filth in the bottom of the bucket. He was then given to understand the missionaries were guilty of sin and in need of repentance before people would drink the water they were offering. A call for repentance went out and baptisms in the mission resumed.

The Lord expects each of us to become clean vessels so others will "see our good works and glorify our Father, who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16) We need to follow the Lord's counsel to Isaiah:

"Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil." (Isaiah 1:16)

Ceasing to do evil is our passport out of Babylon and a key to bringing power to our testimony of Christ and His gospel.

We must prepare for our flight out of Babylon, for if we prepare, we shall not fear. (D&C 38:30)

Isaiah 52:9-12, Part 2

"The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." (Isaiah 52:10)

Isaiah's prophecy is looking at the aftermath of the Lord exposing his "holy arm" in a manner all nations will see and know it for what it is, or rather, who it is.

D&C 1 explains the same event in the future context as if the event is still in the future. See the post on May 19, ("arm of the Lord") for a detailed explanation of section 1, the "Moses Prophecy" and the "arm of the Lord." The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith the following:

"And the anger of the Lord is kindled, and his sword is bathed in heaven, and it shall fall upon the inhabitants of the earth. And the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people." (D&C 1:13-14)

The day the Lord becomes angry and unsheathes the sword of vengeance against the enemies of His people is the same time the Lord reveals "his arm." In the post on May 19 we reviewed the fulfillment of this prophecy in 3 Nephi 21:8-11. The "arm of the Lord" revealed is a servant of Christ who brings forward words of Christ that have not yet been revealed. Isaiah 52:10 tells us all nations will be aware of this momentous event. So what might this event be?

3 Nephi 21:11 tells us:

"Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant."

The "all nations" mentioned in Isaiah 52 includes the Gentiles (non-covenant) people for who this person brings forward the words of Christ. What kindles the wrath of God on the people is their gross negligence of revelations given to them that are great and precious. The wrath of the Lord begins with the people of the Church for they should know better and show greater appreciation for all revelation the Lord seems fit to grant them:

"Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord. And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord. First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house." (D&C 112:24-26)

We reviewed the Lord's declaration of condemnation upon the Church and I shared with you earlier the reiteration of that condemnation by President Benson and Elder Oaks of the Twelve as recently as 1994. We also noted in a previous post the test in 3 Nephi 26:9 said the current edition the Book of Mormon would be a test for the Church to determine if they are worthy or not:

"And when they shall have received this, which is expedient that they should have first, to try their faith, and if it shall so be that they shall believe these things then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them. And if it so be that they will not believe these things, then shall the greater things be withheld from them, unto their condemnation." (3 Nephi 26:9-10)

Section 84 warned us that vanity, unbelief and treating lightly the scriptures we had been given would lead to condemnation of the Church and its people. When the "arm of the Lord" is revealed, he will bring forth the greater portions of the Book of Mormon that will prove to be a great blessing to those who humbly and graciously accept it. In contrast, those who will not receive it will be cursed and fall under condemnation for their unbelief and pride. That is when "all the ends of the earth shall see their salvation of our God." (Isaiah 52:10) It will also be the time the Lord's wrath is poured out upon the earth, beginning with His saints.