Lesson 38--Alison

Lesson 38 Isaiah 40–49 “Beside Me There Is No Saviour”

Basic premises:

o   “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me (John 5:39)

o   What does this lesson teach us about the Savior?

o   What are the parallels in the Book of Mormon that help us understand better?

o   How can we apply this to our own lives?

Quotes “Trying to please others before pleasing God is inverting the first and second great commandments (see Matthew 22:37–39). It is forgetting which way we face. And yet, we have all made that mistake because of the fear of men. In Isaiah the Lord warns us, “Fear ye not the reproach of men” (Isaiah 51:7; see also 2 Nephi 8:7)” (Lynn G. Robbins, “Which Way Do You Face,” October 2014 Gen Conference).

Question:  “What Think Ye of Christ?”

·       “What think ye of Christ?” (Matthew 22:42).

·       “What manner of men ought ye to be?” (3 Nephi 27:27).

·       “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? … Whom say ye that I am?” (Matthew 16:13, 15).

·       “Who is on the Lord’s side?” (Exodus 32:26).

·       “Have ye received his image in your countenances?” (Alma 5:14).

The Lord through Isaiah repeatedly asks this question, see

·       Isaiah 40:18 (“To whom then will ye liken God?”)

·       Isaiah 44:8 (“Is there a God beside me?”)

·       Isaiah 46:5 (“To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me?”)

**Three very strong images in these chapters

1.     Christ stands alone and supreme against false gods/graven images (40:18–23; 41:21–24; 44:21–28; 45:20–25; 46:5–9; 48:3–6;

2.     The temple is where we should be heading (40:9; 43:22–24 [abandoned temple rites]; 49:16–20)

3.     Babylon is where we should not! ( Isaiah 47: 7–15; “[T]he end of the world is the destruction of the wicked” and not “of the earth, as many have imagined” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 100). “This world … belongs to Satan. He created it; he is its father and its god.… The earth itself is the Lord's, and he is its ruler; but the world (the corrupt society on earth) is under the rule of him who is the god of this world” (Elder Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 324). “The world … although it belongs to God, has never been under His control” (President John Taylor, The Government of God, 85).]

Idolatry in the Book of Mormon: Helaman 6:31–32, Satan “had got great hold upon the hearts of the Nephites; yea, insomuch that they had become exceedingly wicked; yea, the more part of them had turned out of the way of righteousness, and did trample under their feet the commandments of God, and did turn unto their own ways, and did build up unto themselves idols of their gold and their silver.”

Isaiah 40

2: Comfort ye—after time, with repentance (iniquity pardoned).

4: Pastoral references to removal of obstacles/trials

6: mortality is fleeting; the word of the Lord is eternal

9: TEMPLE=WORD—contrast with 4—physical obstacles flattened so we can ascend to the Temple.

12–17: Greatness of the Lord in control of elements

18–28: Analogy of idols/graven images—“have ye not understood” (21).

24: Earthly rulers wither and blown by whirlwind

26: Creator calls us by individual names

28–31 Hast thou not heard—He fainteth not. Even strongest faint, except those that wait upon the Lord.

Isaiah 41

1: Islands?

2: Who is righteous man from the East—Cyrus. See 46:11

2–7: Recognizing the Lord’s hand, they were obedient.

9: Israel is the servant of Jehovah, called, covenanted, protected

10: Fear not! Once repentant and returning, thresh the mountains (15)

17: I will not forsake them. Fertile ground out of a desert

20: That they may see

21–29 Futility of graven images—Question who is the “one from the north?”

29: Vanity, works nothing, images of wind and confusion.

Isaiah 42

1: Mine elect—who is this? Savior—see 1 Ne 13:33–34/Matt 12:18

6: open blind eyes, free prisoners

8: graven images, AGAIN

9: All things new, prophesied of.

10: Sing praises

14: no holding back

16: not forsake them

17: graven images

22: Jacob and Israel now—Assyrian captivity; lost 10 tribes—Babylonian captivity

Isaiah 43

1: However—Atonement

3–7: Israel will be gathered

8–13: Yesterday, today, and forever—everlasting; before the day was (13)

14–17 destruction of unrighteous/enemies of Israel

19: New! Rivers in the desert.

22: Israel has abandoned Jehovah—no sacrifices (no temple rites)

26: REMEMBER ME!

27: Golden calf.

Isaiah 44

Lord declares Himself:

6: Alpha and Omega

8: Fear Not

9–20 graven images; futility and inanity

21: Thou art my servant

22: Return

23: Sing

25: Frustrated  the tokens of the liars

28: Cyrus

Isaiah 45

4: Foretold and guided (even though you do not know me)

5–20: Creator; Maker

9: Shall the clay . . .?

10: “I didn’t ask to be born!”

14: Nations once feared will come to Israel (millennium)

19: not spoken in secret

20–25: No Other God—Look unto me and be saved

25: All seed of Israel will be justified.

Isaiah 46

Bel and Nebo—idol gods; no power, have to be carried

3–4 The Lord carries us

5: waste gold on things that cannot move Question: How much money do we waste on things that cannot move]

9: I am God

10: a seer prophesies

11: Ravenous bird from the east—Cyrus?

13: Place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory

Isaiah 47

1–5: Babylon—Chaldea destroyed by Cyrus

6–11: They took advantage of God’s wrath and gloried in their own strength

12– those who dabble in forbidden practices will be destroyed

Isaiah 48 (see 1 Ne 20)

4: obstinate—neck iron; brow brass

5: I declared it, not an idol

6: Will ye not now declare it—Hastening the work!

9 For my name’s sake

18: peace as a river, Question How do we find peace

22: No peace to the wicked.

Isaiah 49 (1 Ne 21)

1: Listen O Isles

6: Raise up the tribes

8: Day of salvation

9: Free prisoners

10: No physical deprivation

12: gather

13: Sing

16: Graven thee (temple)

18: Clothed (temple)

20: Children sealed (temple)

22: nursing fathers

26: Feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; all flesh shall know