Below are the quotes that were used in the video.
For those who may feel 'Barren,' 'Desolate,' 'Ashamed,' or 'Afflicted,' this week's study of Isaiah 50-57 is for you. Isaiah 53 is one of the most significant chapters in the old testament and teaches us of Christ's suffering as a servant of God and His atonement for us. Isaiah gives encouragement, hope, and inspiration for our daily discipleship in these chapters. He also focuses on how we can overcome our fears today.
Benjamin Franklin: "Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."
President Russell M. Nelson: “Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will “grow into the principle of revelation.” (April 2018, "Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives“)
When we daily listen for God’s inspiration, He will:
Isaiah 51 - how to overcome our fears:
President Russell M. Nelson: “To ensure that we do not forget Him, children of the covenant receive His doctrine and claim it by covenant. . . Children of the covenant become a strain of sin-resistant souls. . . Committed children of the covenant remain steadfast, even in the midst of adversity.” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1995/04/children-of-the-covenant?lang=eng)
To bless covenant Israel to turn from our iniquities:
All these things shall surely come… (3 Nephi 20:46).
Leprosy
“The leper in the story acted contrary to the instructions, stipulated in Leviticus 13-14, of how persons with such skin diseases should act. Being contagious and unclean persons, lepers were supposed to isolate themselves from others, demonstrate their impurity and warn people of their illness. They had to wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their faces and shout 'Unclean! Unclean!' (tame' we-tame’; Lev 13:45).” (Francois P. Viljoen,” Jesus healing the leper and the Purity Law in the Gospel of Matthew http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2305-08532014000200004)
“The Suffering Servant” in Isaiah 53.
President Joseph Fielding Smith: “There was nothing about [Jesus] to cause people to single him out. In appearance he was like men; and so it is expressed here by the prophet that he had no form or comeliness, that is, he was not so distinctive, so different from others that people would recognize him as the Son of God. He appeared as a mortal man.” (Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. (1954–56), 1:23)
Isaiah 53:3-5
Elder Tad Callister: “...No mortal can cry out, “he does not understand my plight for my trials are unique.’ There is nothing outside the scope of the Savior’s experience. As Elder Maxwell observed, “None of us can tell Christ anything about depression.’ As a result of his mortal experience, culminating in the Atonement, the Savior knows understands, and feels every human condition, every human woe, and every human loss. He can comfort as no other. He can lift burdens as no other. He can listen as no other” (The Infinite Atonement, pp. 207-9).
Elder Merrill J. Bateman: “For many years I thought of the Savior’s experience in the garden and on the cross as places where a large mass of sin was heaped upon Him. Through the words of Alma, Abinadi, Isaiah, and other prophets, however, my view has changed. Instead of an impersonal mass of sin, there was a long line of people, as Jesus felt “our infirmities” (Heb. 4:15), “[bore] our griefs, … carried our sorrows … [and] was bruised for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:4–5). The Atonement was an intimate, personal experience in which Jesus came to know how to help each of us” (‘A Pattern for All’, Ensign, November 2005).
Elder David A. Bednar: “There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul or heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we may cry out, ‘No one knows what it is like. No one understands.’
“But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual burdens. And because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice (see Alma 34:14), He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy. He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us.” (Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2014, 90)
President Ezra Taft Benson: “To members, the term stake is a symbolic expression. Picture in your mind a great tent held up by cords extended to many stakes that are firmly secured in the ground. The prophets likened latter-day Zion to a great tent encompassing the earth. That tent was supported by cords fastened to stakes. Those stakes, of course, are various geographical organizations spread out over the earth. Presently Israel is being gathered to the various stakes of Zion” (Come Unto Christ, pg. 101).
God’s Encouragement:
“This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord:” (Isaiah 54:17)
The Savior quoted this verse to the Nephites (Isaiah 54:16) in the context of a fulfilment in the last days. “Joseph was surely the smith who forged the instrument by which the Lord’s people continue to prepare individually and collectively for the Savior’s return-and that instrument is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints (Gerald N. Lund, "A Prophet for the Fulness of Times," Ensign, Jan. 1997, 54).
Teaching Thoughts:
Benjamin Franklin: "Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."
President Russell M. Nelson: “Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will “grow into the principle of revelation.” (April 2018, "Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives“)
When we daily listen for God’s inspiration, He will:
- Guide us every day (v.4).
- Help us to be obedient and attentive to His voice (v. 5).
- Help us in times of trial and persecution (v. 6-7).
- Confidence that God is there for us today (v. 7).
Isaiah 51 - how to overcome our fears:
- 51.1 - “Hearken to God
- 51:2 - “The LORD Shall comfort Zion.”
- 51:6 -“Lift up your eyes to heaven…”
- 51:9 - “Awake, awake, put on strength…”
- 51:10 - “a way for the ransomed” to be gathered.
- 51:11 - Lord give “gladness and joy.”
- 51:12 - “I am he that comforteth you …”
- 52:1 - “Awake, awake, put on strength … and “beautiful garments…”
President Russell M. Nelson: “To ensure that we do not forget Him, children of the covenant receive His doctrine and claim it by covenant. . . Children of the covenant become a strain of sin-resistant souls. . . Committed children of the covenant remain steadfast, even in the midst of adversity.” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1995/04/children-of-the-covenant?lang=eng)
To bless covenant Israel to turn from our iniquities:
- Listen to the voice of the ‘watchmen.’ (3 Ne 20:32, Isa 52:8).
- Be united (see eye to eye) with a ‘voice together.’ (3 Ne 20:32, Isa 52:8).
- Awake, awake (3 Ne 20:36, Isa 52:1).
- Put on thy strength (3 Ne 20:36, Isa 52:1).
- Put on thy beautiful garments (3 Ne 20:36, Isa 52:1).
- Shake off the dust (3 Ne 20:36, Isa 52:1).
- Arise (3 Ne 20:36, Isa 52:1).
- Sit down (3 Ne 20:36, Isa 52:1).
- Loose captive bands (3 Ne 20:36, Isa 52:1).
- Publish peace (3 Ne 20:6, Isa 52:7).
- Listen to the ‘tidings of goodness’ (3 Ne 20:6, Isa 52:7).
- Remember the promise of deliverance (3 Ne 20:6, Isa 52:7).
- God is in charge (3 Ne 20:6, Isa 52:7).
All these things shall surely come… (3 Nephi 20:46).
- Watchmen to warn us.
- Zion established and will increase in beauty.
- Unity in Zion.
- Flee Babylon and rise above worldliness.
- Enter in covenants to overcome sin.
- Peace will be published.
- We will know that God is in charge.
- Book of Mormon (3 Ne 21:2-9).
- Great and marvelous work (3 Ne 21:9).
- The life of my servant (3 Ne 21:10).
Leprosy
- Leprosy (tsara'at) was regarded as an impurity (Lev 13-14; Num 5:2).
- Highly dreaded in the ancient world.
- Physically and ceremonially regarded as unclean.
- Associated with death and people perceived it as a living death (Num 12:12; Job 18:13).
- People diagnosed with or suspected of leprosy were excluded from the community (Lev 13:45-46, Num 5:2-3).
- Contact with lepers had to be avoided and lepers had to warn others not to come close to them (Lev 13:45).
“The leper in the story acted contrary to the instructions, stipulated in Leviticus 13-14, of how persons with such skin diseases should act. Being contagious and unclean persons, lepers were supposed to isolate themselves from others, demonstrate their impurity and warn people of their illness. They had to wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their faces and shout 'Unclean! Unclean!' (tame' we-tame’; Lev 13:45).” (Francois P. Viljoen,” Jesus healing the leper and the Purity Law in the Gospel of Matthew http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2305-08532014000200004)
“The Suffering Servant” in Isaiah 53.
- Christ “shall grow up before” God (v. 2).
- “He hath no form nor comeliness…no beauty…” (v. 2).
- Despised, rejected, ostracized, and shunned (v. 3).
- We “esteemed him not” (v.3).
- He is seen as “smitten of God and afflicted” (v.4).
- His atoning wounds will heal us! (v. 5).
- He suffered so “that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:12).
- The Servant would be mocked and scourged and go silently to his death like a lamb to the slaughter (v. 8).
- Taken without restraint or without justice (v. 8).
- Killed because he had “done no evil” (v. 9). V9. The Book of Mormon retains the word "evil" instead of "violence" (see Isaiah 53:9). Peter quoted this part of the verse as follows: "... who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth" (1 Peter 2:22).
- Buried in a rich man’s tomb (v. 9).
- “See his seed” (v. 10).
- His Atonement enables us to be on a Celestial Earth “for ever” (v. 10, Deuteronomy 4:40).
- Declares us “joint-heirs” and shares the riches of heaven with the righteous (v. 12, Romans 8:17).
President Joseph Fielding Smith: “There was nothing about [Jesus] to cause people to single him out. In appearance he was like men; and so it is expressed here by the prophet that he had no form or comeliness, that is, he was not so distinctive, so different from others that people would recognize him as the Son of God. He appeared as a mortal man.” (Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. (1954–56), 1:23)
Isaiah 53:3-5
- Grief (Heb. chŏlîy) – anxiety; literally, "disease"; figuratively for all kinds of calamity.
- “hid . . . our faces” was an expression used for lepers. He was shunned him as a societal outcast.
- The Lord “suffereth the pains of all men; yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women and children, who belong to the family of Adam” (2 Nephi 9:21).
- “It should be noted that the word stricken (Heb. nâga) is used over sixty times in Lev. 13 and 14, always with the same meaning-that of suffering the emotional pain of having a plague or disease like leprosy. The common characteristic of leprosy seems to be decay and putrefaction, and thus leprosy is a type or a symbol of sin or the sinful man. What leprosy does to the body, sin does to the soul. Isaiah teaches that Christ has suffered the emotional pains of sin” (Miller, Isaiah, A Prophet’s Prophet, p. 393).
Elder Tad Callister: “...No mortal can cry out, “he does not understand my plight for my trials are unique.’ There is nothing outside the scope of the Savior’s experience. As Elder Maxwell observed, “None of us can tell Christ anything about depression.’ As a result of his mortal experience, culminating in the Atonement, the Savior knows understands, and feels every human condition, every human woe, and every human loss. He can comfort as no other. He can lift burdens as no other. He can listen as no other” (The Infinite Atonement, pp. 207-9).
Elder Merrill J. Bateman: “For many years I thought of the Savior’s experience in the garden and on the cross as places where a large mass of sin was heaped upon Him. Through the words of Alma, Abinadi, Isaiah, and other prophets, however, my view has changed. Instead of an impersonal mass of sin, there was a long line of people, as Jesus felt “our infirmities” (Heb. 4:15), “[bore] our griefs, … carried our sorrows … [and] was bruised for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:4–5). The Atonement was an intimate, personal experience in which Jesus came to know how to help each of us” (‘A Pattern for All’, Ensign, November 2005).
Elder David A. Bednar: “There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul or heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we may cry out, ‘No one knows what it is like. No one understands.’
“But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual burdens. And because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice (see Alma 34:14), He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy. He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us.” (Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2014, 90)
President Ezra Taft Benson: “To members, the term stake is a symbolic expression. Picture in your mind a great tent held up by cords extended to many stakes that are firmly secured in the ground. The prophets likened latter-day Zion to a great tent encompassing the earth. That tent was supported by cords fastened to stakes. Those stakes, of course, are various geographical organizations spread out over the earth. Presently Israel is being gathered to the various stakes of Zion” (Come Unto Christ, pg. 101).
God’s Encouragement:
- Act in anticipation of receiving future promises (Isaiah 54:2).
- In the tent of Zion there is hope for those who feel ‘ashamed,’ ‘confounded,’ ‘shame,’ and ‘reproach.’ (Isaiah 54:4).
- We will see God’s great mercies (Isaiah 54:7).
- We will know God’s kindness (Isaiah 54:8).
- There is peace in covenants with God (Isaiah 54:10).
- Our children will know ‘great peace’ (Isaiah 54:13).
“This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord:” (Isaiah 54:17)
- You will receive future promises (Isaiah 54:2).
- In the tent of Zion there is hope for you when you feel ‘ashamed,’ ‘confounded,’ ‘shame,’ and ‘reproach.’ (Isaiah 54:4).
- We will see God’s great mercies (Isaiah 54:7).
- We will know God’s kindness (Isaiah 54:8).
- Your covenants with God will bring you peace (Isaiah 54:10).
- Your children will know ‘great peace’ (Isaiah 54:13).
- In righteous, you are established (‘make firm, or stable, to grow or multiply’) (Isaiah 54:14).
The Savior quoted this verse to the Nephites (Isaiah 54:16) in the context of a fulfilment in the last days. “Joseph was surely the smith who forged the instrument by which the Lord’s people continue to prepare individually and collectively for the Savior’s return-and that instrument is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints (Gerald N. Lund, "A Prophet for the Fulness of Times," Ensign, Jan. 1997, 54).
Teaching Thoughts:
- Relevance, applicability and hope found in teachings of Isaiah.
- Themes:
- What teachings this week are applicable for our daily discipleship?
- What have your learned from the teaching of Isaiah that help us overcome our fears?
- What encouragement did you see for those who may feel ‘Barren,’ ‘Desolate,’ ‘Ashamed’ or ‘Afflicted.’