Being There wrote: ↑March 10th, 2023, 7:31 am
"If ye love me, keep my commandments.
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me"
In The Book of Mormon, the Lord has given us a Commandment to "search diligently" the words of Isaiah.
"Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah"
So what are your lame excuses for not loving the Lord because you're not keeping this Commandment ?
Yes, it's obvious, by what I've seen of church members, and in this forum, that very very few are keeping this Commandment.
WHY ?
Do you not believe in The Book of Mormon ?
Do you not think that this Commandment applies to you ? -
even though The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion,
and we should liken the scriptures to ourselves..
Or is it because you could careless about the Word of God and our scriptures ?
Maybe that's it.
A well known LDS writer once wrote a foreword in a book and said -
"This book might well be entitled
"What you always wanted to know about the Gospel
but were too lazy to find out."
"All answers are in the scriptures,
but Latter-day Saints do not read the scriptures."
Hugh Nibley
AND NOW - (before satan diverted this thread ) -
back to the OP and to what's important - and the things Jesus said.
HAVE BEEN AND SHALL BE"
3 "And all things that he spake (
HAVE BEEN AND SHALL BE),
even according to the words which he spake." 3 Nephi 23.
So what the Lord is saying is first,
Yea, a commandment I give unto
you that ye search these things diligently;
for great are the words of Isaiah.,"
and that, the things that Isaiah is saying are still in the future
"AND SHALL BE even according to the words which he spake." !
3 Nephi 23:1- 4
1 "And now, behold, I say unto you,
that ye ought to search these things.
Yea, a commandment I give unto
you that ye search these things diligently;
for great are the words of Isaiah."
2 "For surely he spake as touching all things
concerning my people which are of the house of Israel;
therefore it must needs be that he must speak
also to the Gentiles."
3
"And all things that he spake have been - and shall be ********,
even according to the words which he spake."
4 "Therefore give heed to my words;
write the things which I have told you;
and according to the time and the will
of the Father they shall go forth unto the Gentiles."
3 Nephi 20:11
11 "Ye remember that I spake unto you,
and said that when the words of Isaiah
should be fulfilled—behold they are written,
ye have them before you, therefore search them-"
"HAVE BEEN AND SHALL BE"
********** Isaiah uses what are called types from the past to show the future.
What has happened before, will happen again.
ALL THE PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH PERTAIN TO US TODAY
All prophecies in Isaiah are prophecies of the last days.
Isaiah 44:7
7 "Who predicts what happens as do I, and is the equal of me in
appointing a people from of old as types, foretelling things to come?
Isaiah 46
10 I foretell the end from the beginning,
from ancient times things not yet done.
I speak, and my purposes take effect;
I accomplish all my will.
So, isn't it just a little more than just a coincidence,
that here - first we were put under condemnation for treating the Book of Mormon lightly,
and when we search the Book of Mormon we have the Lord giving us this commandment
to "search diligently" the words of Isaiah,
and when we do, and start to read Isaiah,
what do we find in the very 1st Chapter of the Book ?
We find that Isaiah begins his book with our apostasy.
Hmm - now that's interesting isn't it.
Referring to our church and the sad condition we are in,
Isaiah begins his book speaking to us,
Ephraim, or the church today.
Isaiah 1:2-5
Description of modern Ephraim
(addressing our church he calls Israel)
2 Hear, O heavens! Give heed, O earth!
Jehovah has spoken:I have reared sons,
brought them up,but they have revolted against me.
3 The ox knows its owner,the donkey its master’s stall,
but Israel does not know; my people are insensible.
***
4
Alas, a nation astray, a people weighed down by sin, the offspring of wrongdoers, perverse children:
they have forsaken Jehovah, they have spurned the Holy One of Israel,
they have lapsed into APOSTASY.
From addressing his people personally as “Israel . . . my people” (v 3), Jehovah now addresses them impersonally as “a nation,” signifying their alienated state. Additionally, a regression occurs from his people’s simply going “astray” to their burdening themselves with “sin,” which, over time, ends in outright “wrongdoing.” That occurs collectively and generationally.
The “offspring of wrongdoers” turn into “perverse children,” meaning that the rising generation has by now become thoroughly corrupt. “Forsaking” Jehovah and “spurning” him finally become conscious and deliberate acts.
They have lapsed into apostasy. Hebrew nazoru ahor signifies that Jehovah’s people have become entirely “estranged” from him.
They have “gone backwards” to what they used to be before they became Jehovah’s covenant people, when they didn’t know their God. In effect, they have become godless again like the world’s heathen nations, but now more so because they have rejected the light they once had.
The apostasy into which they began to backslide a generation ago is now complete.
As a consequence, instead of enjoying the blessings of the covenant, they must suffer its curses."
EVERYTHING IN THE BOOK OF ISAIAH IS SPEAKING TO THE LORD'S END-TIME PEOPLE -
(US - OUR CORRUPT CHURCH TODAY.)
10
Hear the word of Jehovah, O leaders of Sodom; give heed to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
To call Jehovah’s people and their leaders by the names Sodom and Gomorrah
is to compare their moral degeneracy to that of those cities’ ancient inhabitants.
As the leaders of a people generally reflect the people themselves, and as the political and ecclesiastical leaders of Jehovah’s people parallel each other in the Book of Isaiah, their spiritual condition holds little hope for the rising generation. When things reach that point, Jehovah’s people are fortunate indeed if Jehovah offers them a last warning. For those who accept it, there may yet be a chance of deliverance; otherwise, their destruction is assured.
Hear the word of Jehovah . . . give heed to the law of our God.
Knowing that Jehovah does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7),
he sends a warning voice before destroying his people.
In the Book of Isaiah, that warning voice is Jehovah’s servant, of whom Isaiah is a type.
Pointing them to Jehovah’s “law” and “word—to the terms of his covenant—the servant directs them to the one thing that has the power to reverse their circumstances. Replacing current aberrant religious practices with keeping Jehovah’s law and word remains his people’s only hope.
21 How the faithful city has become a harlot!
She was filled with justice; righteousness made its abode in her, but now murderers.
Foreseeing his people’s imminent calamity because they choose not to repent, the prophet grieves for them, the word “How” characterizing a lament (Lamentations 1:1; 2:1; 4:1). In other words, the prophet is asking, “How could this tragedy have happened? How is it that this people didn’t repent in time? How could those who were once righteous become so wicked?” The term “harlot” attests to their broken covenant relationship with Jehovah their husband (Isaiah 57:3-13). Besides identifying a specific place, the term “city” represents Jehovah’s covenant people in general (Isaiah 45:13; 60:14).
She was filled with justice. Righteousness made her abode in her, but now murderers. “Justice” (mispat) and “righteousness” (sedeq)—the basis of all covenant blessings and the underpinnings of a law-abiding society—have given way to injustice and unrighteousness. The term “murderers” reiterates the level of wickedness to which Jehovah’s people have sunk. The term righteousness additionally identifies Jehovah’s end-time servant who acts as an exemplar of righteousness to Jehovah’s people (Isaiah 41:2, 25; 46:11-13) and whom Jehovah appoints to restore justice in the earth (Isaiah 42:1-4).
