Nephi Key to Isaiah Part 1 The Book of Mormon Lecture 13 by Hyrum Andrus
Channel: Light and Truth
Date: 2016-06-11

Hyrum L Andrus
All rights reserved August 10-12, 1989
Lecture – 13 NEPHI--KEY TO ISAIAH, Part 1
I’ve had the opportunity to travel a little bit around the world. I've been to the Orient, I've been to Africa, I've been all through the Americas, North and South, Europe, I spent time in Greece and Rome, Istanbul and other places. I even tried to spend one summer lying on the beach in Hawaii, and I miserably failed. If there were one place I would like to return to and I had my choice, it would be to Jerusalem and to Israel. It is there that you see history, current events, and prophecy combined. You get a flavor of them all as you walk the streets where Jesus walked and as you see things in the light not only of the past, but of the present, and the prophetic vision of the future in relation to that land.
My love for Isaiah, and it's been a difficult challenge, the love began years ago. When I was in the mission field, I determined that I was going to read and master Isaiah. I remember one time studying alone by myself and receiving a very beautiful experience. It seemed as though he was there personally and that he opened the vision so that as I read about Zion, I could almost see what he was saying. I acquired a love for him and a love for Zion and a love for the Lord's work. It is in that sense that I would like to talk to you tonight about one of the great prophetic themes of the Book of Mormon.
I found in some notes that my wife, Helen Mae, had written a choice little statement that I'd like to read to you. It's the digest of her thinking. She says, "Nephi in vision saw what would happen to Lehi's family. He saw the gathering of Israel, the marvelous work and a wonder. He saw wars and rumors of wars. He saw the day when the Father's work would commence in preparing the way for fulfilling the covenants. He saw the final scenes that John the Revelator would write. In that perspective, he knew which Isaiah passages would be of the greatest importance in the book that would go to Joseph's descendants."
Now, my brothers and sisters, the Book of Mormon is a tailor-made book. It is drawn from a thousand years of Nephite gospel teaching. It's not just a book to dabble with to find out where Cumorah was and where Bountiful was and all of that, and where the narrow neck of land was. It's not a book to do that, it's a book to testify that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, and to testify that God has not forgotten his covenants to ancient Israel, and that he will bring to pass those covenants, and that Isaiah is probably the chief prophet of all time who spoke about it, who loved Zion so much and who just literally plead with the Lord to know about Zion and spent his whole time in concentration to where the Lord finally opened the vision of the latter- day Zion to that man. And he saw it. And he wrote about it. And he wrote about it in a distinct and a unique way. And that's what I would like to talk about.
That vision of Zion has been given to the righteous of all ages of time. It was given to ancient Israel, it was given to the Nephites. I'm sure it was given to the ten tribes. And now it has come to us with the special benefits of inspired commentary by another great prophet who saw our day, who knew our day because he had seen it and had seen it as God sees it, not as we see it. And believe me, the Lord sees it differently than we see it. He's not too happy with many members of the Church--just literally is not too happy with many members of the Church. We are walking in darkness at noonday! And he sees us entirely differently.
As we approach the subject of Isaiah, let me suggest from the Book of Mormon as a key and Nephi's inspired commentaries and those of the Savior's, these inspired commentaries to help us to understand this vital work. Let's first of all give a few keys of understanding, of how to approach this challenging study of Isaiah so that you can understand it, so that it unfolds and so that we can get some vision and some relationship of what he is saying to our day and to our time, and begin to fulfill our responsibility in the great vision that he had.
O.K., point number one: Isaiah spoke to all Israel in all generations of time. That means that the Jews could read Isaiah, and he wrote in such an ingenious way that the Jews could say that he is talking to us. The Nephites could read Isaiah, the same passage, and he wrote in such an ingenious way that the Nephites could say, "He is talking to us." And he did that for all twelve tribes of Israel for all generations of time down to the modern age. He writes by revelation, not just to one person, to one group, but he is writing to the whole.
For example, here in 1 Nephi 19, Nephi's commentary on the subject as he explains. He says: "I did read many things unto them [v. 23] …Get the full transcription from www.hyrumandrus.com!