Searching Isaiah: Line Upon Line

By David Alan Armstrong

The Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament strikes fear into the hearts of many readers of the Bible. It is impenetrable, enigmatic, and indecipherable. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints get a double dose of the scary enigma because nearly twenty chapters of Isaiah's writings are quoted in the Book of Mormon. The most often skipped chapters in the Book of Mormon are 2 Nephi Chapters 12 through 25. It can be difficult reading.

Like a mountaineer looking at the peak of Mount Everest, I had wanted to scale the chapters of Isaiah for many years but assumed it was impossible. Then one day I decided I was going to do it. I grabbed some metaphorical ropes, slipped a couple of tanks of oxygen into my backpack, tied on my crampons, and started at base camp of chapter 1. With guides and Sherpas to help along the way, I began to scramble over up the rocky slopes. Most importantly, however, I tethered myself to Jesus Christ and took courage from the words of a prophet who had already made the assent: "My soul delighteth in [Isaiah's] words," wrote the Prophet Nephi, and "I write some of the words of Isaiah, that whoso of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice" (See Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 11:2, 8). I wanted to rejoice with Nephi and delight in the words he thought were so profound.

As I read, I took notes of things I learned, impressions I had, ideas that came to mind, and doctrines that stood out. The deeper I got into my study, the sweeter, more hopeful, and more joyful the messages of Isaiah became to me. After a year of careful, verse-by-verse pondering and studying, I compiled this book to capture my thoughts and the marvelous pearls I had found. I learned for myself to delight in Isaiah's words and to lift up my heart and rejoice in his writings.I want to share what I have learned with others in the hope that my readers will see the vistas I saw from the summit and will want to make to make the assent themselves.

The joy is not in watching another climb, but in making one's own trek and to see the magnificent scenery along the way. I invite all students of the scriptures to read Isaiah. Find your own path, learn your own way, and see what Isaiah has to say to you. My words are not the answer of all answers but merely encouragement to strike out on your own and see how marvelous the journey is.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Alan Armstrong
• Release date: Apr 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311223951

David Alan Armstrong

David Alan Armstrong lives with his wife in his adopted home town of Kaysville, Utah, after having grown up in Southern California. His three children and five grandchildren are spread around the U.S. He has degrees in Education from Brigham Young University and the University of Southern California. He retired from a forty-year career in the Information Technology industry as a programmer, analyst, project manager just one week before the COVID-19 pandemic. He spends his time now caring for his disabled wife, keeping up the house and yard, playing guitar and piano, coordinating a caregiver support group, helping his neighbors, actively serving in his congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and writing.

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INTRODUCTION

All my life I have heard people say that the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament is impenetrable, enigmatic, and indecipherable. Yet some of the most sublime and oft-quoted prophecies of the Messiah came from the quill of Isaiah. The prophet Nephi copied many chapters from the writings of Isaiah onto his small plates, which he had reserved for only the most sacred things, because, he said, my soul delighteth in his words (2 Nephi 11:2). He further explained, I write some of the words of Isaiah, that whoso of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice (2 Nephi 11:8). Yet the Isaiah Chapters in the Book of Mormon appear as a daunting quagmire to many readers who either slog through them with gritted teeth or skip over them all together to get to the good stuff. Even Nephi warned that Isaiah spake many things which were hard for many of my people to understand (2 Nephi 25:1).

Victor L. Ludlow, in Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet, noted, Moroni quoted Isaiah to Joseph Smith at the opening of this dispensation (JS-H 1:40), and the Doctrine and Covenants is especially rich in phraseology from Isaiah. In his mortal ministry Jesus Christ quoted Isaiah many times. He even used the words of Isaiah to proclaim himself as the Messiah in the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth.

The book of Isaiah is, therefore, an incredibly important book of scripture, quoted by prophets, angels, and Christ himself. If it is so full of powerful prophecies and promises of hope that should cause us to rejoice, why do people say it is so hard to understand? Why would the Lord hide His greatest statements in a book that no one wants to read?

Having myself slogged through and skipped over the Isaiah Chapters many times in the Book of Mormon, and having passed through the book of Isaiah one time in my gallant attempt as a teenager to read the Old Testament cover to cover, I finally decided I wanted to know for myself what was contained in this mysterious collection of writings. I determined to read Isaiah in the LDS Church edition of the King James Version word for word, verse for verse, and see for myself what it had to say.

I did not want to go into this endeavor unarmed. Taking seriously the warning that it would be hard to understand, I first studied what others had said about reading Isaiah. At the end of this book I have included several articles that I found particularly helpful in preparing me to make sense of Isaiah. I suggest that the reader review the articles in the Appendix first to get a sense of how I approached my study of Isaiah.

What the reader will encounter in the rest of this book is a verse-by-verse deconstruction of the writings of Isaiah. I copied each verse from the KJV, studied it, pondered it, looked up cross-references, called upon references to the verse by other writers, and then compiled my thoughts in comments following the verse. I used two different type fonts in the text to easily distinguish between the words from the Bible and my comments on them. Where Nephi and other prophets quoted Isaiah’s words with variations from the KJV version, I have interwoven and noted those changes in the text of the verse.

This is not a scholarly work in the traditional sense. The reader will find no footnotes or endnotes to corroborate my musings and conclusions. My intent in undertaking this study was not to learn what others had to say about Isaiah, but to learn for myself through the instrumentality of the Holy Ghost what Isaiah’s message is to me personally. The impressions I have written are certainly a compilation of things I have learned over a lifetime of reading, listening to talks, and attending Sunday school and priesthood classes. I do not claim that any of my comments are truly original. They are simply the assemblage of bits and pieces of information and ideas that the Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance as I read the word of the Lord through Isaiah.

What I have written here is certainly not the final word on Isaiah, neither for myself nor especially for the reader. I assume if I were to undertake this same study again in a few years, I would probably receive much different impressions and make different comments about many of the verses. If the reader were to go through the same exercise as I have done, he would surely receive different ideas than I have written here. Indeed, I would highly recommend such a course of action for the reader who is truly interested in what the Lord has to say to him through Isaiah. It is all valid, and it is the miracle of the scriptures that we can read the same printed words over and over and get different messages at different times depending on what we need and are prepared to receive. Such is particularly true of the words of Isaiah.

This is my own work. It in no way represents an official publication of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or any of the church’s affiliates. It has not been reviewed or sanctioned by any authority of the Church. I take full responsibility for any errors or misstatements in the contents of this book. I present it simply as one man’s opinion of what the words of Isaiah mean to me.

I learned from this study that Isaiah truly was a seer of future events, in his own day, in the Meridian of Time when Jesus would walk the earth, and in the Fullness of Times leading up to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I found Isaiah’s writings to be full of words of comfort and peace and hope. It is true that he also wrote many dire warnings and woeful prophecies for those who chose in the past and will choose in the future to ignore the commandments and rebel against God. The thrust of his message, however, is always hope. The Messiah, who would be born as Jesus of Nazareth, always has and always will love His children. Though He may need to scold and rebuke them and even allow them to be punished from time to time to get their attention and to humble them, He always waits with open arms to welcome them home.

That same promise is offered to each of us individually in whatever day and circumstance we live. Though our sins be as scarlet, they will be white as wool. Fear not, nor be dismayed, for the Lord is with us. He has come to bind up the broken heart and to free the captives. We can mount up as on the wings of eagles because of Him. As unlikely as it is that a mother could forget her nursing baby, it is impossible for God to forget us, His children. We are always before His face, for we are engraved in the palms of His hands. He is our Redeemer, our Deliverer, our’ Savior. And His name is Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Of this I bear my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ.

- David Alan Armstrong

CHAPTER 1

1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Isaiah wrote by the spirit of prophecy, and he must be understood the same way. Like Christ's parables, Isaiah's writings are intended to be obtuse to those who put no effort into study and understanding. See Isaiah 6:9-10. The truth is there, but it is not obvious to the casual observer. It is intended to be hard so that only the spiritual mature can find it and so that the spiritually immature are not condemned by what they cannot understand. Jesus taught the Nephites that they must search the words of Isaiah diligently. Any approach other than with diligence will not yield satisfactory results.

The writings of Isaiah are quoted extensively in other scripture. In fact, Isaiah is quoted in other scriptures more often than any other prophet. There are sixty-six chapters in the book of Isaiah, making a total of 1,292 verses. The prophets in the Book of Mormon quoted 414 of those verses (32 percent of the book of Isaiah). They paraphrased at least another 34 verses (3 percent). The Nephite prophets considered Isaiah’s writings to be of such great worth that they put approximately 35 percent of the book of Isaiah in the valuable space they had on the plates. The writers of the New Testament had a similar respect for Isaiah’s teachings and prophecies. In the New Testament, Isaiah is quoted at least fifty-seven times. In latter-day revelation there is a similar emphasis on the words of Isaiah. The Doctrine and Covenants makes approximately one hundred references to Isaiah’s writings by quoting, paraphrasing, or interpreting his teachings.

Isaiah’s words are similar to the parables of Jesus in their manner of teaching. Many of the people of Jesus’ time were spiritually immature and unprepared to receive the doctrines He taught. Through parables He was able to teach the more spiritually mature and at the same time veil His teachings from those who were not prepared to understand or follow them. In that manner He kept many from being condemned for having a knowledge of principles they were unable to live. A similar charge in teaching was given to Isaiah (see Isaiah 6:9-10). For this reason, Isaiah also veiled his teachings in language that preserved his teachings for those who would understand with their heart. Spiritually speaking, Isaiah’s writings are meat, not milk. It requires spiritual maturity to understand them. If, as many suppose, Isaiah ranks with the most difficult of the prophets to understand, his words are also among the most important for us to know and ponder. … … His prophetic words can and should shine brightly in the heart of every member of the Church. It just may be that my salvation (and yours also!) does in fact depend upon our ability to understand the writings of Isaiah as fully and truly as Nephi understood them (Ten Keys to Understanding Isaiah, Ensign, Oct. 1973, p. 80.) Elder McConkie explained that if we desire to go where Isaiah and Nephi have gone, then we must believe, think, know, teach, and live as they did. Certainly the writings of Isaiah deserve our careful and prayerful study. They can be understood by those who sincerely desire to do so.

These four kings reigned in Judah from 792 to 686 BC, so Isaiah was the prophet for over 100 years. Uzziah built up the military strength of Judah and Jerusalem, but he became prideful and took over the priest duties in the temple. He was struck with leprosy. Jotham took over from his father. During his reign, Israel and Syria became allies and tried to conquer Judah. Ahaz succeeded his father. He became very wicked and idolatrous and began the practice of human sacrifice. Despite the wickedness of the king, Judah was prophesied to be saved as the house through which the Messiah would come. Hezekiah succeeded his father as king. He tried to purge the land of idolatry. He re-opened the temple, which his father had closed, and re-instituted temple worship. He started again the feast of the Passover. Assyria, under Senacherib, invaded Judah and besieged Jerusalem. According to Isaiah's prophecy, the Assyrians destroyed each other and broke off the siege of Jerusalem. Hezekiah became proud and was struck with illness. He prayed and received the promise that he would live 15 more years. Hezekiah was eventually replaced by his son Manasseh. During this same period, the kingdom of Israel to the north was conquered several times. They also allied with other nations and fought with Judah. Sargon II of Assyria finally conquered Israel, the capital of which was Samaria, and took the survivors hostage. He removed the 10 tribes from Israel and replaced them with settlers from other lands. The 10 tribes eventually escaped their captivity and were lost to the scriptural record. The new settlers in Samaria felt that they would prosper better if they knew the God of the land, so priests and Levites were sent from Assyria to teach them. They mingled worship of Jehovah with idolatry.

2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

This prophecy could apply to virtually every generation in which Isaiah lived. The only righteous king of Judah during Isaiah's lifetime was Hezekiah. Otherwise Judah and Israel were constantly in apostasy to one degree or another.

3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

Dumb beasts are more faithful to their master than are the children of Israel. The people take no thought for where their blessings come from. They are too proud to recognize their dependence on the Lord. Because they wander away from the stall and the crib, they will starve themselves. They are no more capable of manufacturing their own prosperity than are the ox and the ass to provide for their feed. They could have all they need at the hand of the Lord, but they choose instead to tough it out on their own and forage for what little they can find.

4-5 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

Rebellion from God is like a sickness we bring upon ourselves. Like an infection, if it is left untreated, it can spread throughout the body and make every part of us sick. What is true of an individual is true of a people. Only the antibiotic of repentance and humility can counteract and reverse the infection. Without this treatment, we will die.

6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

From the outset of Isaiah's ministry, Judah and Israel are already thoroughly infected with rebellion from Jehovah. From the lowliest peasant to the king, no aspect of Israel's religion and faith is healthy. The true religion has been hacked and beaten from without and infected from within. No effort is being made to effect a cure. The people are living in this disease-ridden state. Each rebellious act, each time we ignore the Holy Spirit or the Light of Christ, each time we knowingly and willfully commit sin, we wound and bruise our spirit. When we refuse to repent, we allow those wounds to fester. If left untreated long enough, gangrene sets in, and parts of our being begin to die. Eventually we can experience spiritual death. We do not have to die from our spiritual wounds, however. The Savior is the Great Physician who can close the wounds, bandage the damaged areas of our lives, and apply antibiotics to our sores. He can even raise the dead. But we must seek and apply for His treatment.

7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

Land was everything to the Israelites. It represented the promise of God to them. It was upon the land that they prospered. When a land is desolate, it is empty of people, bleak and barren. It is not productive. Isaiah's prophecy has dual meaning. Not only would the land of Israel become bleak and barren and empty of inhabitants, he is warning them that their lives are going to be bereft of the fruits of the Spirit. They will shortly be spiritually desolate as they systematically remove the source of Living Water and the Light of the World from their lives through idolatry and apostasy. There is time to repent, but that time is rapidly drawing to a close. Satan is the stranger who overthrows our habitations. If we invite him in through our disobedience, he will take up residence in our lives and eventually kick us out

.

8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

The daughter of Zion is Jerusalem. That once great city will become no more than a flimsy booth thrown up hastily in a field to provide a place to watch the crops for a short season. Such a shelter is not meant to be a permanent abode. It can be knocked down by the first strong wind or the first heavy storm. When it is besieged by enemies, it will not be able to stand. Through sin and disobedience, we weaken our own structures of faith. We lose our resilience. Then when a real challenge comes, we collapse in a heap of despair. We fall easily to temptation in our weakened state. If we do not constantly strengthen and fortify our walls of faith, when the enemy of our souls lays siege to us, we will succumb easily and be lost.

9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord utterly destroyed them and left no one. Though Israel has become as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord has promised to not utterly destroy them as a people but to leave a few. Rather than cut the tree down and throw it, limb and trunk, into the fire, God prunes it—rather severely at times—to remove the worst of the bad fruit but to give the tree a chance to regenerate itself and produce new growth that will bring forth better fruit. Thankfully, God is merciful to us. Though we sin and are worthy to be cast off, He does not cast us away completely. He may withdraw his Spirit from us when we willfully violate His commandments, yet He is not far from us. Unless we sear our consciences and extinguish the remnant of the Light of Christ, God's grace will keep a spark alive within us. When we repent, God will nurture that remnant until it is fully alive again. Even when we abandon God, He never fully abandons us.

10 ¶Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

In Isaiah 1:1 the prophet said that he was speaking about Judah and Jerusalem, yet in Isaiah 1:10 he said, Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; … ye people of Gomorrah. He could not literally be speaking to Sodom and Gomorrah, for they were destroyed in the time of Abraham because of their wickedness (see Genesis 19:24-25). Isaiah used the names Sodom and Gomorrah to tell Judah even more forcefully that they were very wicked and were close to being destroyed, just as Sodom and Gomorrah had been.

11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

The Israelites follow the letter of the law, but they have lost the spirit of it. They multiply their pious acts, but their hearts are not in it. They multiply their sacrifices because they think God is pleased with the physical sacrifices, but they miss the point. God does not want more dead animals. He wants the people's hearts and affections. He wants them to be obedient to the whole law, not just to the outward observances. He does not delight in blood sacrifices for the sake of the sacrifices alone but only to the degree that the people recognize the reason for the sacrifice and strive to reconcile themselves to God.

We may keep outward commandments for the sake of the commandment and yet miss the point. We may read scriptures for an hour a day, but if we do not apply the scriptures to ourselves and adapt our lives to their teachings, the reading does nothing for us. We may attend the temple every week, but if we are merely putting in our time without learning anything, the hours are wasted. We may attend our Sunday meetings, but if these are merely social events that make no impact on our spiritual progress, they are of no use. We may visit our home teaching families regularly every month, but if we just turn in the numbers without truly ministering to our families, our visits are hollow. Ritualistic, repetitive, mindless prayers reach no further than the ceiling. Reading, temple worship, home teaching, and praying are all commandments, and if we fail to do them, we are guilty; but if we merely perform the acts without fully keeping the purpose of the commandments, we are still guilty and have not kept the commandments. The Lord may well say to us, I am full of your mindless reading and your empty attendance and your loveless visiting. Your endless meetings are an abomination to me. I am weary of your vain prayers. I delight not in these things. Does that mean that He wants us to stop doing these things? No, it means that He wants us to do them better and for the right reasons.

12-16 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

The Lord's call to Israel is to repent. Wash and become clean. He wants them to mend their ways and return to righteousness. Note that He does not say put away your evil doings, but rather, put away the evils of your doings. Their doings—sacrifices, prayers, temple worship, and so forth—are not evil in and of themselves. But Israel has put evil into them by ignoring the true purpose of these acts. They keep the outward ordinances but fail to let those ordinances have an impact on their hearts. What God wants from them, more than He wants more dead animals and longer prayers and fancier feasts, is righteous judgment, charitable service, and heart-felt prayers. God doesn't want us to stop the good things we are doing but to do them for the right reasons and with the right motivations. He wants us to change and improve our lives, to love Him more, and to love our fellowmen. He doesn't want more ritual, He wants more conversion.

17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

To do well is to do good works, to serve, to hearken to and obey the will of the Lord. Judgment is a synonym for justice. To seek for justice is to ensure that all people are treated justly and fairly, to put away prejudice. To judge the fatherless is a Hebrew expression that means to give a just verdict to the fatherless, who are a representation of the poor and disadvantaged. Widows in ancient Israel were among the pitiable class who had no rights and no means of support. To plead for a widow is to take up her cause and see that she is cared for.

This call to Israel is the very gospel of Jesus Christ. It is to love thy neighbor as thyself. It is a call to show our love for God by serving those around us. The Jews in Isaiah’s day had become so caught up in studying the law that they had forgotten to live it. Their lives were not in harmony with what they believed. We likewise can become focused on church activity and the outward appearance of piety and fail to put into practice what we should be learning from all the meetings we attend. The final judgment will not consist of a tally of scriptures read and prayers said and meetings attended but of lives touched, rights defended, the poor who were assisted, and the widows who were comforted and cared for.

18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Having chastised Israel for the evil of their doings, their rebellions, and the dereliction of duty, the Lord nevertheless invites them to come to Him and learn from Him. He is willing to reason with them in their own language at their level of understanding. He wants to converse with the people in a way that will influence their actions. God is willing to converse with us in the same way. He wants us to understand Him. If we open our hearts and minds and listen to the Holy Ghost, He will make the things of God plain to us. He will reason with us so that we understand things that were previously a mystery to us. With the Lord's help, the gospel becomes plain, simple, and precious.

The truth revealed in this verse is that our sins and errors do not have to be permanent. Through the Atonement, we can be cleansed. Our bright red stains can be washed away. We can become pure white like new snow and bleached wool. As Michael Wilcox teaches, we will not be pink. No trace of our red stains will be left. We will be white as if no stain had ever been present. This is the gift of the total Atonement of Jesus Christ. He leaves no hint of a stain behind.

19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

God offers us the abundant blessings of his kingdom. The land is a gift from God, and it always represents His kingdom. We do not create the land of our home, any more than we create the celestial kingdom. But God is willing to give it to us. And with the gift comes abundant blessings. God asks two things of us to qualify for the gift he has to offer: willingness and obedience. In exchange for His gift, we offer Him gifts of our agency. We must be teachable, and then we must act on the things we are taught. We do not have to be perfect to partake of His blessings. He has already said that He would take care of the washing and cleansing and stain removal. Our requirement is to be submissive, willing, and obedient so far as our understanding enables us.

20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Though Israel has been reprobate, they can repent and receive the good things God has to offer them. If they refuse His offer, however, and go on in their rebellious disobedience and willful neglect of the commandments, they will be destroyed. Specifically, their enemies shall conquer them. They will experience punishment. They will be consumed quickly so there is nothing left.

If we refuse the offer of the Lord to repent and insist on going our own way which is contrary to His commandments, God will not protect us. We will be left to the enemy of our soul to consume us. We will be punished by our own sins. We will not be able to defend ourselves from the adversary's vicious attacks. He will break us down and remove us from the presence of the Lord and the reach of His Spirit. This is a sure promise, for the Lord has spoken it. Eventual punishment for the rebellious is as sure as abundant blessings are for the willing and obedient.

21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

The faithful city is Jerusalem, the capital of Judah and the spiritual center of Israel. The capital represents the nation, the government, and the people. Today we speak of Moscow as the whole of Russia. When we say that Washington is corrupt, we mean our national government. So in saying that Jerusalem is a harlot, Isaiah means the whole nation, the government, and the people. A harlot is one who sells her most personal and sacred expressions for money or other worldly favors. She sells her chastity for gain. Israel has sold her love for God for money. She follows after idols and false gods and has broken her vows of fidelity to Jehovah.

22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:

What started out for Israel as silver has become polluted with apostasy. That which was flavorful and wholesome has been diluted with sin in unacceptable patterns. The silver and wine are still there, but they have been made repugnant and worthless by all the pollution of false worship. The value has been lost. Men throw out the dross and spew out the watered-down wine because they cannot see and taste the good because of the bad that has overwhelmed them. The message of the Savior to the Jews and Pharisees of His day was the same. The truth had been swallowed up in the apostasy of unrighteousness and mindless ceremony.

The apostasy of Christianity in our day is comparable. The value of the silver and the sustenance of the wine are still there, but they have been buried in false doctrine, superstition, icons, and priestcraft.

The same can be true of our personal lives and our personal faith. If we are not careful, personal apostasy can overtake us unawares. We can become personally corrupted and experience a diminishing of testimony if we do not keep the silver of our faith highly polished. The cares of the world and the corruption of the natural man can easily tarnish our testimonies and pollute the purity of our faith. We must be ever vigilant to find and remove the pollutants of apostasy, doubt, sin, and pride that threaten to turn our silver into dross and our wine into filth-infested water.

23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

Isaiah here indicts the leaders of the Jews. They rebel against God’s commandments. They consort with thieves and sinners. They accept bribes and love money more than they love justice and fairness and honesty and charity. They take rather than give. They have turned their backs on their responsibilities to be righteous examples.

Parallels can be drawn between Isaiah’s day and our own day. The political situation is similar in many respects. Our princes are perceived as companions of thieves. It is clear that money is far more influential in the affairs and conduct of government than statesmanship and righteous principles. Our representatives appear to love the gifts of the lobbyists and the Political Action Committees. They appear to work for personal rewards more than for the good of the country and their constituency. To their credit, the liberals do not turn away the fatherless and widows, but their solutions are ineffective and often result in corruption. The conservatives are less apt to use public resources to assist the poor. Nevertheless, despite the shifting political winds of welfare support and reforms, the fact remains that many in this country live in abject poverty, and the spirit of charity does not reach far enough to relieve the suffering of many.

24-26 Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: Afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.

Isaiah tells us more here about the God who is chastising Israel. He is the Lord, the true master and ruler with genuine power and authority. The title LORD of hosts, in which LORD appears in all caps in the King James Version, is a substitute for the name Jehovah, which name the Jews never spoke and never spelled out. The hosts over whom Jehovah rules as Lord are the hosts of Israel. Host means a large multitude of people. At the same time, Jehovah is the ruler of the hosts of heaven, which can refer to the celestial bodies of the solar system and the galaxy as well as the angels of heaven. So this God from whom Isaiah is taking dictation is truly the Lord of all. He is also the mighty One of Israel. He possesses great power and strength. Not only does he have authority, he has the personal power to back it up. He is the one and only God to whom Israel should look. He is not one of the mighty, he is the mighty One. No one is more powerful than He. No one can do what He can do. He is willing to wield His might for Israel. They are His chosen people, and He wants to be their God. They must choose Him, however. Though He has the power, He will not force them. He may chastise them and punish them to help them see the folly of their rebellion, but He will not make them bow down to Him against their wills. This is the God with whom they are dealing.

For the second time in this chapter, the Lord sighs in sorrow and weariness over the sins and obstinacy of the people He has chosen. They have become His enemies and His adversaries. Those with whom He wishes to be the closest, whom His wishes to call His friends, have turned against him. Note that God is not their enemy and adversary, but they are His enemies and adversaries. They have turned from Him, He has not turned from them.

The natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord (Mosiah 3:19). We become God’s enemies when we fight against Him and resist His will and His purposes. God’s intent is to take the fight out of us. Like breaking a stubborn, wild horse, God’s desire is not to hurt us, but to turn us from being His enemies to being His friends. Love your enemies Christ taught his disciples. Surely the Father keeps His own commandments. Even when we are His enemies, He loves us. Do good to them that hate you, Christ continued. What God does to His enemies is good, even though they may not enjoy it. His design is not to make us comfortable in our sins and rebellions, but to awaken us to our awful state so that we can repent and change.

Thus the Lord tells Isaiah that He will turn His hand upon those who rebel against Him to purge them of their dross. He will engineer experiences for them to remove the impurities, foreign matter, and waste from their natures so they can become pure and acceptable to Him. He will take away all their tin, which when mixed with silver reduces its value and desirable properties. Pure silver can be polished to a high luster and is extremely malleable and ductile, meaning easily shaped or molded. Tin may also be shiny, but when mixed with silver, it reduces the silver alloy’s luster and increases its rigidity. The process for refining silver is rigorous and intense. It involves completely dissolving the silver alloy in acid, which can be a violent chemical reaction. The dissolved metal is strained from the acid solution. Precipitant crystals are added to the silver compound to attract the silver from the other materials. Dispose of the waste materials and rinse the crystalized silver repeatedly in water to remove the remaining acid and crystal residue. Finally, heat the silver powder until it melts and form it into whatever shape is desired. The refining process is obviously most unpleasant, but the result is a precious metal of great beauty and great worth, which can be used for many worthy purposes. Did the refiner punish the silver alloy? Was he angry with it? Did he intend to destroy it? It may have felt that way to the silver, but the refiner knew what he was doing, and he had a grand purpose in mind for the purified silver. Such pure silver may find its way into a beautiful ring or a majestic crown.

Once God had refined Israel, they would again have righteous judges and counselors. They would no longer be an enemy to God, but they would be a city of righteousness and faith. Such a city is a fitting place for God to visit and dwell among His people.

The parallel to our individual lives is obvious. To the degree that we resist God’s will and ignore Him, we are His enemies. What does He do to his enemies? He loves them, He does good to them, He refines them, He sets up processes to remove the filth and dross from their lives, and then He melts them into a form that is marvelous and attractive and valuable and desirable. He does not punish us out of anger, but rather He refines us out of love. He does not want to destroy us, although it may feel like we are being destroyed as we are dissolved and strained and reconstituted, and melted. But in the end, we will see a marvelous transformation that gives us wonderful reflective qualities in which the face of the Refiner can be seen in the polished surface of our new lives.

27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.

Zion is the pure in heart. They differ from Israel, the Jews and the Chosen People in that the inhabitants of Zion are true disciples. They are converted. Many are born into the House of Israel because of their faithfulness in the pre-existence, which earned them this special blessing. Nevertheless, they must still be converted, and according to Isaiah’s message, many of those whom God has chosen have not chosen Him. So while Isaiah warns the wayward leaders and people of Israel of the Refiner’s fire to come, he offers hope to those who hold to the truth and are stalwart in the faith and are worthy to be called Zion.

The faithful of Zion will be redeemed. They will be ransomed and bought back from the captivity of sin. God will regain possession of them in exchange for the payment of the Atonement. Judgment would be better translated as justice. So because of the Atonement, justice will be on the side of the redeemed. Justice will condemn the recalcitrant who refuse redemption, but for those who accept the Atonement, the righteousness of Christ will satisfy the demands of justice.

Everyone in Zion is a convert. The righteousness with which they will be redeemed is the Savior’s. It is to Him and to