Isaiah and the Mountains

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Isaiah and the Mountains

• www.kevinhinckley.com

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Bruce R. McConkie

• If our eternal salvation depends upon
  our ability to understand the writings of
  Isaiah as fully and truly as Nephi understood
  them and who shall say such is not the case! how
  shall we fare in that great day when with Nephi
  we shall stand before the pleasing bar of Him who
  said 'Great are the words of Isaiah'? . . .
• 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. For that matter,
  why should either Nephi or Isaiah know anything
  that is withheld from us?

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Who was Isaiah?

• The name Isaiah means "The Lord is salvation" or
  "salvation is of Jehovah."
• Preached for 40 years, 740 BC to 700 BC
• Isaiah suffered a martyr's death, being "sawn
  asunder."
• 30 percent of the Old Testament writings of
  Isaiah are found in the Book of Mormon.
• there are differences in more than half of the
  433 verses of Isaiah quoted in the Book of Mormon

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Great Isaiah Scroll- Dead Sea Scrolls
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Chapter 1- The Indictment

• Its a preface to the rest of the chapters
• Considered to have been added later
• Chapter 1, lists the wrongs of Israel and why
  they would be destroyed.

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Chiasmus in Isaiah 2
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days when
the mountain of the Lord's house shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and
shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations
shall flow unto it3 And many people shall go and
say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of
the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob and
he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in
his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the
law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem

• Their land also is full of silver and gold,
  neither is there any end of their treasures
• Their land also is full of idols they worship
  the work of their own hands, that which their own
  fingers have made.
• And the mean man boweth not down, and the great
  man humbleth himself not therefore forgive them
  not.
• O ye wicked ones, enter into the rock, and
  hide ye in the dust for the fear of the Lord and
  his majesty shall smite thee.
• And it shall come to pass that the lofty
  looks of man shall be humbled,
• For the day of the Lord of hosts soon cometh
  upon all nations yea, upon everyone yea,
  upon the proud and lofty, and upon everyone who
  is lifted up, and he shall be brought low.
• And upon all the high mountains, and upon all
  the hills, and upon all the nations which are
  lifted up
• And upon all the ships of the sea, and upon
  all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant
  pictures.
• And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
  and the haughtiness of men shall be made low

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Which mountain do we chose?
Mountain of Pride
Mountain of the Lords House
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son
of the morning For thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds I will be like
the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to
hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isaiah 1412-14)
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Question

• Is there such thing as Righteous Pride?

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President Benson

• In the scriptures there is no such thing as
  righteous pride. It is always considered as a
  sin. We are not speaking of a wholesome view of
  self-worth, which is best established by a close
  relationship with God. But we are speaking of
  pride as a universal sin.
• (Cleansing the Inner Vessel," Ensign, May 1986,
  p. 6.)

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Question

• How do we present, to the world, the ideas of
• We are the Covenant People or
• We have the Only True Church!

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President Hinckley

• Let us never act in a spirit of arrogance
  or with a holier-than-thou attitude. Rather,
  may we show love and respect and helpfulness
  toward them not of our faith. We are greatly
  misunderstood, and I fear that much of it is of
  our own making.
• We can be more tolerant, more neighborly, more
  friendly, more of an example than we have been in
  the past.
• (A Time for New Beginnings, Ensign, May 2000)

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Orson F. Whitney

• Perhaps the Lord needs such men on the outside of
  his Church, to help it along. They are among its
  auxiliaries, and can do more good for the cause
  where the Lord has placed them, than anywhere
  else
• Hence, some are drawn into the fold and receive a
  testimony of Truth, while others remain
  unconvertedthe beauties and glories of the
  gospel being veiled temporarily from their view,
  for wise purpose. The Lord will open their eyes
  in his own due timeGod is using more than one
  people for the accomplishment of his great and
  marvelous work.
• The Latter Day Saints cannot do it all. It is
  too vast, too arduous for any one peopleWe
  have no quarrel with the Gentiles. They are
  our partners in a certain sense.
• Conference Report, April 1928

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Saints in Africa