That is all
As long as there is a primary program, the Church will not fall.
In part one, we saw the temporal salvation and triumph of the kingdom of God. We saw the Messiah as the King of Jerusalem.
But here we shift from judgement and salvation of nations, to individuals. From Temporal to Spiritual.
It would be folly to pigeonhole the Savior as merely one or the other. His mission is much greater than that.
In deed, while we saw the Gentile nations mentioned earlier, here the thought is given greater expansion. The Gospel is for all nations.
Universal Gospel Message
Message to Israel (40 – 41:20)
Message to the Gentiles (41:21 – 42:17)
Promises of Redemption
Temporal Redemption (42:18-43:21)
Spiritual Redemption (43:22-44:23)
Agents of Redemption
Cyrus – Temporal (44:24-48:22)
Task and Servant: Cyrus (44:24-28)
Task confirmed: To Israel & World (45:1-7)
Response: Prayer (45:8)
Israel’s Disquiet (45:9-25)
The Lord’s Care for Israel, from the past to the future (46)
Babylon: from throne to the dust (47)
Redemption from Babylon (48)
The Suffering Servant / Atonement – Spiritual (49-53)
Task and Servant: Messiah (49:1-6)
Task confirmed: To Israel & World (49:7-12)
Response: Praise (49:13)
Israel’s Despondency (49:14-50:11)
The Lord’s Care for Israel, from the past to the future (51:1-16)
Zion: from dust to the throne (51:17-52:12)
Redemption from sin (52:13-53:12)
Universal Invitation
Invitation to Israel (54)
Invitation to all the World (55)
In the chapters up until now, we have seen what was wrong with Jerusalem and all Israel and how God transformed them.
And in particular, we have seen the our enemy defeated. But were they the real enemy, or just an interim opponent, a temporary terror? But if Assyria is not the real enemy, who is? We did see in the text thus far, indications that the Lord has great plans for the latter-day Assyria. And like us, it will not be without pain. (more…)
humans like AI hallucinate all the time, but have (sometimes rapid) iterative correxion by contact with reality
-an LDS friend
Church president Russell Nelson exhorted the saints to “Think celestial!” As one point of difference between what he was encouraging and its alternative, he taught, “Thus, if we unwisely choose to live telestial laws now, we are choosing to be resurrected with a telestial body. We are choosing not to live with our families forever.” Some detractors of the prophets and Christ’s church characterize this doctrine as a threat to take away from those who won’t toe the line something important to them. The more I see of non-celestial thinking, though, the more President Nelson’s words feel like a restatement of choices, explicit or implied, that people deliberately make. For some, family life is not a desired eternity.
Some righteous people through the circumstances of their lives and bodies are for now denied the blessings of spouse or progeny, and prophets have taught that these desires will be fulfilled in the eternities if they live faithfully. Others have these blessings in mortality, but do not value them, and will not be burdened or blessed with them in eternity.
Many choose to be “childless by choice,” or cheer on those who so choose. Many who are married decide to abandon wife or husband, and others do not seek marriage. Their like-minded friends who are happy enough with their spouses for now cheer on the separateds’ and singles’ lack of attachment. Older people declare that their retired, empty-nest years are “my time” and reject any notion that they will be wasting significant swathes of it fortifying relationships with six-year-olds. Married, single, separated. Five children or two dogs. It’s all the same to them, neither good nor bad, all a compound in one. And thus dead, or as President Nelson’s taught, not celestial and alive forever. Think celestial.
Once upon a time, a youth fell in with an older companion. Soon they came to a fork.
Where are you bound? The older man said. To heaven, the youth replied cheerfully. The Road to Heaven lies on your left said the old man. It is where I am going myself.
Surely not, the youth replied. I don’t believe you because the road to the right looks more pleasant and I will go there because I will go there and nothing you say can stop me. But the youth would not meet his companion’s eye.
So they parted ways. The roads ran parallel, and soon a crack between them became a crevice became a deep canyon. Although the two travelers could still see each other and even, if they shouted, converse.
After a time, the road that the youth was on turned away and bent down towards swamp and obscurity. I was a fool, the youth said. I knew. I knew better. I deliberately chose bad, the youth said, and he wept.
The older man across the way yelled. It will be difficult, he shouted, but I see a way down. Cross, then climb up this side! I will help you! I will shout out advice about handholds. And when you come up, I will reach down and pull you up.
The youth sat down in the road and, lamenting, poured dust over his head.
What are you doing? The older man said. Sorrowing for my sins and chastising myself, said the youth.
And yet, said the man on the other side , you are no closer to getting on the road to heaven.
Thoughts: What is repentance? I literally believe it to be desire. Repentance is deliberate change in the desired better direction. Everything else one can say about repentance is window dressing. That is why Elder Bednar says repentance is not a fix for the plan, repentance is the plan. Sorrow is godly sorrow if you change. Sorrow, no matter how genuine, is not repentance if you do not change. Godly sorrow is desiring something better and working toward it.
A man in Elders Quorum volunteered he was cleaning up after his kids. The way he cleaned up their chicken mcnuggets is he popped them in his mouth. An hour old, they were disgusting. He says he craves fresh chicken mcnuggets, they are a real temptation for him, but no wonder they sit so heavy on his stomach. Once they are no longer hot, he can taste how nasty they are.
Sin, he said, is chicken mcnuggets.
A young person of my acquaintance, who may or may not be headed in the marriage direction, asked me what things I wish I’d known before marriage. Interesting question. Tough question. Here is what I came up with.
My wife adds
6. Your spouse is crazy insecure. Everyone is. Much reassurance needed.
I don’t think this advice is for everyone. For some people, maybe the opposite of what I’m saying may be what they need. But this is what I wish *I* had known before marriage.
What about you?
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring
-Alexander Pope’s once-famous couplet
How deep should you drink?
I have a feeling the only way to drink deeply enough is to go under, so far that you cannot get back to the surface in this life.
A fourteen-year old boy is speaking church. He shows his broken wrist. “I broke it diving back to first base,” he said. “I was safe,” he adds.
“Now I can’t play baseball. Or my cello. Or”–he hangs his head–“play video games.”
“I was bored so I’ve just been sleeping a lot.” Pause. “I didn’t know seminary was so spiritual!”
Here, we are closing out the first section of Isaiah. The emphasis has been on Temporal Salvation, and the Messiah as the King of Jerusalem and all Israel. The primary antagonist and geo-political foe, was Assyria, even as the Prophet rebukes the Lord’s own people. But here we are at the end. The wicked have been destroyed, or carried away, and the Assyrian armies advance on Jerusalem itself.
But in spite of the fact the Lord called Assyria to punish the wicked, the Lord Jehovah, Jesus Christ, is the King of Jerusalem. And when Sennacherib challenges the Jerusalem, the Lord shows that he, indeed, is the actual king. Thus, this historical interlude is not placed at random. It is the capstone and the historical realization of everything before it. It is the Lord demonstrating his divine patience and ultimately, his power.
JG Friend Bobdaduck had something wise to say about virtues.
there’s a virtue we have a sense of in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because we reference it often, but we don’t have a concise word for it, so I’m not sure we realize we reference it so often, but I think its fair to say Latter-Day Saints have a more attuned conscience about this, which is the virtue of stewardship, or lineage, or of “magnifying your calling”, or of “multiplying your talents”
