Thursday, September 5, 2013
The Imagery of Isaiah
Today I read Isaiah 33 which is a great example of why Isaiah has a bad reputation. I have no clue what I just read about. Per the chapter headings it was about apostasy and rebellion prior to the Second Coming and the Lord purifying the wickedness after His coming again. I did not get that at all from this chapter. The poetry of Isaiah is very beautiful and probably makes perfect sense to those that were raised in the ways of the Jews as Nephi stated. But I don't always understand what Isaiah is trying to say, and this chapter exemplifies that perfectly. Perhaps if I was full of the Spirit I would understand it, but I am mortal and am not always full of the Spirit so I am left to my own devices. My dad, a convert to the church, once told me that he tried to read the Bible many times before he was a member of the Church and he never understood it. It was not until afterwards when he had the Gift of the Holy Ghost that he was able to understand the Bible. I believe him because even with the gift of the Holy Ghost there are many situations where I don't understand what I am reading about. That is my problem though and I need to work on being more righteous. Until tomorrow.
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I agree that Isaiah 33 is a tricky chapter. One of things that I found tricky about it when I was first reading it was that it is such a mix of good and bad things happening. You think he is talking about wicked people and then suddenly it seems like he is talking about righteous people, so it is like spiritual whiplash.
ReplyDeleteBut take that thought--a mix of good and bad--and you'll see that will help you make sense of it. Try highlighting in one color the verses that seem to describe wickedness and destruction, then highlight the verses that seem to describe righteousness and trusting the Lord.
The mix of good and bad is what it will be like before the Second Coming. Good people interspersed among bad people. They will be reacting in very different ways to the dangerous events of that time, and we get a picture of that.