WEEK 40 [ISAIAH 50-57] INSIGHTS

“He Hath Borne Our Griefs, and Carried Our Sorrows”

September 26 – October 2

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You guys welcome back.

This is week 40 of creative.

Come follow me for the old Testament this week.

We are in our fourth of the five weeks of Isaiah and I'm feeling pretty good.

You guys, I mean, I just, I feel like we're getting it.

I've talked to so many of you in the Instagram lives and in direct messages

on the discussion boards and things are lighting up and it is so fun.

I know we're in a digital relationship here, but I feel

like we're in this together and I.

I am like rejoicing to be a part of it.

So I hope you're feeling that if you haven't felt that so far, this

is a week where it absolutely can happen for you cuz this whole week

from 50 to 57, you're gonna read tons and tons about the Messiah.

Isaiah focuses, a bright, warm, vibrant light on the savior this

week, you're going to learn about his woundedness, how he came to receive

the role that he has, why he chose it.

And then I think the even bigger light is on what that

incredible sacrifice means for us.

How does it help our families?

How does it help a posterity that we don't even know yet?

How does it.

People reconcile.

In fact, if I had to pick a theme for this week, I feel like that's what it is.

Isaiah warns.

Sin that divides and creates separation between us and God.

And then he talks about this beautiful wounded healer who seeks

to bring those back together again.

And the only way to do that is to remove that sin.

And we're gonna talk all about that this week, but it, there is a reconciliation

process that the Lord is constantly seeking and providing the tools for.

And you'll kind of see that amplified throughout all the chapters this week.

Another thing I think you'll see.

Opportunities to find peace, especially peace that comes amidst trouble.

Uh, maybe this is just me being sensitive to this particular area, but

I saw it all over the place, um, that you don't, you don't need to wait till

the end of your adversity or the end of your trials to find joy and peace.

Those are woven through everything you're experiencing.

And they were for the children of Israel as well.

So we're gonna study all of it and it's so good.

You guys, okay.

Grab your scriptures, grab your notes.

You don't wanna.

Week 40.

This summer, I was at a reunion and we were all out kayaking

in this great big reservoir.

And I was so determined to take a lot of pictures and videos that I kept

stopping in the middle of the reservoir so that I could, you know, take the shot.

What was frustrating to me is so many times I would look up from my

camera, like to get my bearings and realized that I had slowly drifted.

Farther and farther away from my intended target.

And it, I feel like that's kinda, what's happening to the children of Israel.

They're all of a sudden looking up, getting their bearings and

thinking, whoa, how did we get here?

They they've been separating themselves from God all this time, but they, in some

ways are blaming God for that separation.

They think.

That Jehovah has abandoned them.

And this is where chapter 50 kicks off.

He's trying to teach them.

Oh no, I didn't go anywhere.

I'm always right here.

It's you?

That have pulled away from me.

You.

Your apathy has let this current carry you away from me.

It's time to come home.

So that's what he talks about in these first verses.

He talks about where's the bill of your mother's divorcement show me where I

cast you out, where I pushed you aside.

And he talks about selling you.

These are all love Moses references that talked.

That teach you about how he sees his children.

Um, he says he called them and there was none to answer.

You almost can, you know, there's this ache in his voice.

This is Isaiah speaking.

Messian, you're gonna see that few times throughout this week's chapters that

he's gonna speak for the savior and as the savior, but this is Isaiah teaching.

Um, and you hear this parental ache of, I.

Tried to talk to you.

I tried to reach out to you.

I sent prophets to help you and you wouldn't answer.

Um, so they're in struggle.

And in three he talks about what that struggle feels like.

He says, I cloth the heavens with blackness.

I make SAC cloth.

They're covering.

He knows they're gonna mourn they're gonna be devastated when they

realize how far adrift they are.

And I really like that reference of clothing, the heavens with

blackness, um, I've felt this, I don't, you've probably felt this

too, but you know how you sometimes.

You inadvertently even create separation between yourself and your testimony.

You start to drift and you don't even really pay attention to

it in the moment, or you think you're gonna get back really soon.

And then by the time you get your bearings, you're so much further off

course than you thought you were.

And it creates sometimes.

A bitterness.

At least it doesn't mean because sometimes I can't get answers to prayers and I

feel like the heavens are closed and I'll sit in relief society and everybody

will be feeling something or tearing up.

And I feel nothing.

And I just get this.

There is a blackness that I struggle with.

If I am not constantly trying to come closer to God, it, it

doesn't come in all at once.

It creeps in, but that's why I love this visual of the sky.

Being shrouded with blackness.

I don't think this was all at once.

I think it's just this slow shift that he's trying to draw their attention to.

And then he talks about in those next few verses.

What he can offer again, I think he's trying to teach them what the actual

mortal Jesus Christ will be like.

So Isaiah is speaking Messian so that they'll recognize the savior.

When they see him, you know, what, 700 years in the future.

So look what he speaks.

It's just beautiful language.

Like in four, he says the Lord, God has given me the tongue of the learned

that I should know how to speak a word in a season to him that is weary.

I loved this version.

I mean, these are just little touch points about the savior, but doesn't,

this sounds like sound like the Savior's mortal ministry, like think of how

he interacted, especially with women.

I just love those stories.

You know, when you think about the woman at the, well, the woman taking an

adultery, the woman with the issue of blood, these are all women who were weary.

Or cast off in one way or another.

And the words he chose were so succinct and had round tones and softness that.

Drew them in.

That's the promise if you, if you come to him and if you seek the help of the

spirit, you can have this spiritual gift.

Granted, we will never be able to do it like the savior did, but we need that.

Right.

Have you ever had your kids come home from a hard day at school or they got

bullied or, you know, something happened and you're like, I need the right words,

you know, or someone is struggling with something and you're like, I just

need to know what to say right now.

That's the promise that he's offering, you'll know how to comfort the weary.

If you come to me, some other things, you'll learn about the

savior who will live mortally and come happen in five and six.

He talks about how he doesn't turn away.

He talks about how he gave his back to the S smarters his cheeks

to them that pluck off there.

That's just a reference to anyone who seeks to humiliate

you or lower you somehow.

And he talks about how he didn't hide his face from shame and spitting.

The savior when he lived on this earth was a man who was acquainted with grief.

We're gonna study that later in 53, but he is someone who knows,

knows all those emotions, but he has his face focused forward.

I wish I could articulate this as well as I felt it when I was studying it.

The closest thing I can think of, I don't know if you've ever watched one of those,

um, you know, like the civil rights movement, how there were people who.

Who had people abusing them and mocking them?

I mean, I remember watching things like at the counter, you know, like people

were spitting at them and there was.

A horrific amount of humiliation that was thrown their way.

And on their faces, there was this quiet dignity because they

knew who they were and they knew what they intended to accomplish.

And even if they didn't accomplish it, they knew that they were

setting things in motion.

So others could, and there's a dignity that comes with that.

And that's what I see in the savior in these verse.

I love how it's phrased in seven and eight for the Lord.

God will help me.

Therefore, I circled all these therefores cuz you can hear that like

strength in his neatness as he speaks.

Therefore I shall not be confounded.

Therefore I have set my face like a Flint.

Flint is just this hard rock that can't be moved and that's his choice.

In fact, this is how the savior always lived.

Right?

It doesn't mean he has a face that is hard.

It means his focus is firm.

He knows exactly why he's here and what he's called to do.

And he will look forward even when Peter tries to convince him not to out of love.

Right.

Peter's trying to say like, don't go to Jerusalem right now.

We know what's gonna happen.

And the savior says, you know, get behind me saying he is

like, I can't, this is my focus.

I'm going forward.

And it's really powerful to read it.

And you find out how he's able to have that focus when you keep reading.

So in eight, he is near that.

Justifieth me.

When you're close to God, when you're close to the spirit,

you don't need to be afraid.

It doesn't matter how much spitting or SMI or pain or

humiliation are being cast at you.

You don't need to be afraid cuz he is near, it continues

at the end of that verse.

He says, let us stand together.

Who is my adversary?

Let him come near to me behold, the Lord, God will help me.

This is verse nine.

Who is he?

That shall condemn me.

Lo they shall all wax old as a garment and moth shall eat them up.

There is a understanding of God's permanence versus

everyone else's mortality.

And that's what we have to keep in mind when we struggle with being

condescended to or belittled.

There is, um, there is a quiet dignity in standing with the savior.

I just think there's power in it.

I love the way it's phrased.

So you need to look.

Remember, we talked about that last week.

You need to look up for reassurance cuz that's what the savior taught us.

And when you go through the rest of the verses, you find out the

alternative, there really isn't an alternative, but he has this.

Isaiah has this beautiful way of describing it.

We're gonna talk about in the object lessons, but in tan talks about how they

have no light and then in 11, how they compass themselves about with sparks,

these little flashy bursts of light that catch the eye, but can't heat can.

Sustain can't save.

They are sparks compared to this radiant sunlight light that save your offers.

And there's no comparison that takes you the end of 50, but

it gets even better in 51.

Chapter 51 shifts gears a little bit.

Cuz now he's speaking to the righteous and he's talking more about the last

days that will come the gathering phase and all the goodness that comes with it.

So I love the way he begins in verse one.

If.

If he's trying to pump up the children of Israel, give him this like mighty

pep talk to like, you can do this.

Let's go.

Um, I feel like how he does it is to remind them who they are.

It's the same way the Lord motivated Moses.

Remember when he was.

He was encountering the adversary and the reason he could defeat the adversary

in that moment was because he knew who he was and he knew who God was.

That's way back in Moses.

One, what I love about this principle is that's how we're supposed

to teach our families as well.

If we want them to understand how to combat all the evil and all the

wickedness that is in our world today.

The best way to do it is to teach them who they are and who God

is, what the atonement of Jesus Christ is and how powerful it is.

That's how you endow your own kids with power to.

all the forces that are pushing against them.

So that's what he reminds them of, but the way he reminds them of it

is talking about their ancestors.

So he says, look onto the rock from once you are human, you are divine.

When, when we talk about our, their divine nature and lately that phrase, their

divine DNA keeps coming up in conference.

That's the rock from once you are human.

And if that's too far in the distance, like if that seems hazy, if you think

about your heavenly parents and your connection to them, and it feels hazy.

Then he gives you another option and he says, look unto Abraham, look onto Sarah.

What I love about this combination is I don't think he's just giving us a male

and a female example to look towards.

I think he's talking about a family.

I mean, think about their family.

Sarah and Abraham are incredible individuals.

On their own.

They both had huge trials, huge adversities that lasted decades sometimes.

And, you know, like stripped their heart to the very core.

What do you really believe?

And they both succeeded in their trials and they did it together.

They, as a family, Abraham and Sarah and their posterity that

eventually came after decades of time.

They are a solid rock.

Sometimes, I think, especially with our kids, it's hard to see too far back.

So you need to give them rocks that they're hued from, that are closer.

So you need to talk about their ancestors and talk about the power

that comes from being in that line.

If you don't know those stories very well, learn them.

The more we can teach our kids about the rocks from which they are human,

not just the original, you know, your heavenly parents rocks, but also the ones,

these mortal ones that we can look to.

We're missing out on a source of.

So I love the way he phrases that verse.

I also love the promises he talks about.

He talks about how this wilderness is gonna turn into an Eden.

Again, remember, we're talking about the end, the latter days.

What I think is so powerful about this, you guys is that

doesn't just happen magically.

It happens because of the loss.

So you're looking for harken to me.

My people give ear unto me.

Oh, my nation for a law shall proceed from me.

The way beauty comes about in this world in Zion is because people honor the law

because when you honor the law, when you really embrace your covenants, when

you really seek to do good and to be good, what happens is you're endowed

with power priesthood, power, you're endowed with spiritual gifts and talents.

We saw this when they were rebuilding the wall, remember how fast they

rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.

And there were all these forces opposing them and all these

people that were naysayers.

And it wasn't that God just swooped in and fixed all the walls of Jerusalem.

What he did is he endowed them with power.

He gave them the talents, the engineering knowhow, the, you know,

he, they figured out systems where they would sleep with a weapon in

their hand, in case they needed it.

They figured out times when they could work with, you know, a sword

in one hand on the travel, in the other, he endowed them with the

strengths to accomplish the work.

This is one of the things I think is so exciting about

being part of building Zion.

That we're all gonna be these like ordinary people who, who have ordinary

talents, who will be endowed with power, because we chose to honor our

covenants and stick, stick with it.

We will be blessed with the abilities beyond our own.

Don't you see that in your life all the time, when you fulfill your calling,

all of a sudden you're able to do things you shouldn't be able to do, at

least not as well as you pulled it off.

And that's the promise of Zion that will beautify the earth as

we all use our talents for good.

And we try to make things better.

There is just.

Piece that will come.

So it just, it just makes you wanna be a part of it.

Right.

I, I just, for me, that's how it felt.

And I think that's what Isaiah's hoping, cuz now he goes into his awake, he's

like awake, wake up, you know, I don't know if you've ever had those moments

where you've been driving for a while and you're like, oh, I'm, I'm like seven

exits further than I thought it was.

This sounds terrible and very unsafe.

But I, you know, I've had those moments where I'm like trying to drive somewhere.

That's about 40 minutes away and my mind is like wandering and all

of a sudden I'm like, oh, how did.

Get here.

Um, that's what he's talking about.

He's saying, even though you're righteous, you're going to have this tendency towards

complacency and I need you to wake up.

It's just like we heard with Alma in the book of Mormon awake,

arou your faculties get moving.

Zion needs to be built and you need to build, build it.

So in 11, this is when you see the results of them waking up.

He says, if you will wake up, basically you will return and you

will come with singing to Zion.

This isn't just the literal Zion.

That's gonna be built again in Jerusalem, you know, back in Isaiah's day, this is

looking forward to these latter days and.

We will be rejoicing, cuz we'll get to be a part of this mighty work.

We will be a part of making a wall that we're like, I didn't have the

talents, that wall I don't, you know, it's, it's rare for me, but there

are those moments where I'm like, I know I didn't, I know that wasn't me.

And that is a time of rejoicing.

When you can feel the Lord work through you.

Knowing all your frailties and weaknesses you wanna sing out.

And that's what they're feeling.

Um, they talk about Jehovah being the second comforter.

When you flip the page, he talks about his version of comfort.

Just like we talked about last week, he's in your corner and he's helping you.

That's what he's promising.

I also love the phrase in 15 that he is the Lord of host.

Because we just talked about Abraham and Sarah and the rock from once you are.

Hu.

I think anytime you see that phrase, the Lord of hosts it's to remind you how many

people there are on the other side of the veil, we lose sight of that sometimes.

And it's so pivotal when you're in a moment of fear.

Remember when we were talking about Elisha and the servant and you know, eyes to see,

he just hopes the servant can have eyes to see all the chariots that are out there.

That's what I think of whenever I see the phrase, Lord of hosts, that there.

Countless others out there and he's ready to send them in to relieve me.

I just have to, you know, have the guts to like, make that happen.

When you go a little bit further, he talks about waking up.

He talks about the lack of leadership, which really is a reference to the

lack of priesthood that they're gonna have in the latter days

and how that's gonna need to be.

Taught to them.

It's gonna need to be restored to them.

And there's lots of cool prophecies all about that.

But one of my favorite verses in 22, I'll have to go through it a

little fast, but he talks about pleading the cause of his people.

They're gonna struggle.

They're gonna pull away.

And then at the end of days, this gathering will happen and

the Lord will plead their cause.

one of the best things I read this week.

I think it's from elder Redland, it's in the notes, but he talked about

how often we talk about Jesus Christ being our advocate with the father.

But it's really important to remember that the father is also our advocate.

Uh, it's not that Jesus Christ is pleading with the father who only wants justice.

Jesus Christ said over and over again in his mortal ministry and

throughout the scriptures that he only does the will of the father.

So if he's pleading our cause pleading for forgiveness and mercy, then

that's what God, the father wants to.

Our heavenly parents want that too.

They, they just have laws and things that have been said in motion

that have to be complied with.

That's why they gave us a savior.

And I just love this understanding, cuz I think sometimes we lose focus.

Jesus Christ spent so much of his mortal ministry referring to.

The father and his honor of the father and his love of the father.

So I think we need to extend our understanding of the

advocate to the father as well.

Whenever I read that phrase advocate with the father, ever since I

read elder Redlands talk, I try to think of it like advocate along

with the father, they are a team.

They are a unified, mighty team that seek nothing, but our joy and happiness and

have created a plan to make that happen.

So you'll see all of that in chapter 50.

Chapter 52 rolls, right?

Like it is right in line with what we read in 51.

In fact, in the book of Mormon, these are kind of spliced together, but I love

some of the phrasing that you find in 52.

This is when they're invited to awake, put on their strength,

put on their beautiful garments.

They're coming back to the priesthood.

That's what he's inviting them to do is.

Come back to the power that you've been blessed with.

Come back to this covenant responsibility that you have as children of Abraham

to take on the priesthood and take the gospel to all the world.

Put it back on.

What I love is the, um, undercurrent of agency that's woven in these verses,

like in two, shake myself from the dust and arise and sit down, meaning like

on a throne, get back to who you are.

It's not something that the Lord can do for them or that Isaiah can do for them.

They need to shake themselves off.

And when we choose even in the smallest way to arise and shake

off the dust of this mortal.

Man that?

I feel like we, we have opportunities to catch a glimpse of who we really are.

And that's what Isaiah wants them to understand, remember who you are,

um, and that you can be redeemed.

All these mistakes you've made even generations long mistakes can be.

Resolved.

So we talked about the end of days and how that will happen.

And from like seven to 10, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet that

them that bring at good tidings.

There's lots of beautiful conference talks about this, but for me, the most powerful

visual for this is, I don't know if you've been with me since the book Mormon.

You'll remember how in my mind I have a team , uh, this is gonna sound ridiculous,

but like, I call them the giant.

And there are people that I have placed on this mental team.

Whenever I find myself struggling with doubt, especially about church doctorate

or things that are UN unclear to me.

I picture that team, you know, like elder Hollands on that team,

Neely Maxwells on that team.

There, there are Sherry do's on that team.

My mom's on that team.

My dad's on that team.

I picture them together.

and, and, um, whatever my doubt is, whatever my worry

is over here, I think, okay.

If I was in a room with my giants team, what would they tell me?

How would they coach me?

And I have no doubt that if you got Neil Maxwell and my mom together in a

room, they could resolve almost anything

So I just, I love this, this visual where he's like, those are the feet

that are beautiful upon the mountain.

It's not just the angels.

It's not just the prophets who come it's anybody that's on your team.

Anyone that's in your cloud witnesses that can help you in those moments, they send

beautiful messages and they call them out.

I just, I just love it.

Um, and then they talk about how they will sing together that they'll see eye to eye.

This is that Zion feel in eight, when you go into nine, he talks about

the Lord will comfort his people.

If you're all circling together and you're all listening to these

gigantic voices of people who have a solid testimony, miracles happen.

So he talks about how the Lord will make bear his arm.

That means you're gonna see his power.

You're gonna recognize it when you see it.

That's what we all want.

Right.

We all want to have the eyes to see those miracles as they

roll out and the promises.

Trust in these beautiful feet upon the mountains that are singing

out these choruses of truth trust in those act on that trust.

And then watch his arm will be made to bear.

And then there's the invitation.

This is probably will sound like elder Holland as I read it.

Cuz he has a great talk called sanctify yourselves.

I think that that uses this verse, but he says this is 11 touch.

No unclean thing go ye outta the midst of her be clean that bear the vessels of the.

You're not gonna go by flight.

This is not gonna be like when you left Egypt in a hurry, this is gonna

be a dignified exit from Babylon.

Not, not just the actual Babylon, but like the spiritual Babylon.

As you choose to listen to your team of giants and learn from their

testimonies and act on them, you will start to separate yourself from

Babylon and it will be a rejoicing.

And what he's saying, basically, I think when I read these, what he says, if

you choose to sanctify yourself to use your agency, not cuz you're compelled

to do it, but because you choose it, then I can do wonders among you.

That's the promise.

I think his hands are tied a little bit if we choose not to sanctify

ourselves, but as soon as you get yourself ready, things come right.

You just have to start engaging and then opportunities come.

It's just this punch of power that comes in 50.

You're gonna wanna slow down when you get to chapter 53, cuz honestly

every single sentence has weight.

In fact, my favorite part of studying 53 was realizing how many

conference talks reference all these thoughts about the savior there.

Everywhere.

I tried to include a bunch in the notes.

So I promise if you go the notes, you'll learn far, far more than I can possibly

say in this little segment of time, but let me do my best to get you through

these and show you what you can't miss.

I love what you see in two.

This talks about the savior being a tender plant.

When I picture this, I, you know how, if you, if you've ever planted like a little

sapling or a little seedling and you put these plastic shields around them, or

sometimes a cage to prevent deer from getting in and give them a chance to

get the right amount of heat and light.

That's kinda how I picture the Savior's childhood, that he's this tender

plant that comes outta drag ground.

He comes outta Nazareth out of a carpenter's house and

nobody expects him there.

But I love that we don't have many stories about his childhood.

I mean, I don't love that, but I, I think this is why, because he's a tender plant

that needed some shielding for a season.

I wonder if it's so that Mary and Joseph had time with just their boy,

you know, just their son so that he could learn and grow grace for grace.

Just like we know he did.

I, that's what I picture.

When I picture a tender plant coming out of dry ground, he's just being, he's he,

he's given some insulation for a season so that he can grow and learn and develop.

And then when you get verse three is where you start to see.

Shield come off and you learn more about what his life is like.

Especially his mortal ministry.

He's despised, he's rejected of men.

One of my favorite conference talks about this was, um, from

Vincent Hayek, I think is his name.

And he talked about the widow's heart.

I, I just had never thought about this before, but he talked about how

a widow's heart is similar to the saviors in that they're despised,

they're often rejected of men.

They, they are carrying the weight of other people on their shoulders.

They are someone who had companionship and warmth for a

season and then were left alone.

I mean, there were so many, I can't remember how many of these he said versus

what was in my head as I was studying, but I wondered if that's why the savior spent

so much of his ministry taking care of.

because they were basically in similitude of him, at least his heart.

Uh, they had burdens that he could understand and he wanted to.

Rush to them.

That's why I think he goes all the way to Maine to help that

widow who just lost her son.

He is seeking out those who are in struggle, like he will experience

and he's trying to comfort them.

Isn't that the character of Christ.

That knowing that these hard things are coming for him, instead of

focusing on his own heart, he seeks the heart of others that he can relieve.

I just, right.

Isn't that exactly who he is.

When you flip the page, you see, it goes even deeper that he's a man of sorrows.

He's acquainted with grief.

People esteemed him, not.

He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows and we esteemed him

stricken those phrases, bearing our grief and carrying our sorrows.

They have such.

Compassion in them.

Um, I J okay, here, here's what I'll say.

I'm trying to do this.

When Jason was first diagnosed, one of my struggles is, um, I felt like

I was experiencing pain and struggle.

I hadn't experienced in the past, and I didn't know who

to turn to that could relate.

And it's not that I didn't appreciate all the condolences and the, you

know, the kindness that came my way, but I felt like they couldn't relate.

And so there was a distance between us, even though they

didn't want to there to be one.

There just was.

And one of my greatest comforts came when I turned to a new friend, I had made.

I had worked on the light, the world, the very first light, the world campaign.

And she worked on it with me, her name's Colette and her husband

had suffered cancer twice already.

Um, different kind of cancer, but similar hard.

And so I wrote her an email.

We barely knew each other.

I wrote her an email and told her about Jason's diagnosis and my fears.

And she wrote back.

And I don't even remember all the words.

I just remember her saying Maria, I believe in miracles.

And I believe in the power of hope, don't lose hope.

And from her, those words were like this balm to my soul because I knew she

knew where my heart was and what it felt like to be in this completely incapable

situation and try to just navigate it.

And I feel like that's what, one of the greatest blessings of the Atoma of Jesus.

because we know that he was wounded for our transgressions, that he was

bruised for our inequities, that he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.

He knows the exact combination of hard and good that you have experienced.

And so he is really the only one you can turn to.

That can comfort you elder Holland.

I think I put this in the notes, but he has this great reference where he

talks about storms and he says only somebody who has endured the waves.

This isn't a quote, it's in the notes, but if you've endured the

waves and battered the sea, you can then turn to the sea and say, peace.

Be still only those who have experienced that hard.

Like the savior experience can then turn to me and say, Maria.

Peace be still or have joy cheer up, cuz I've overcome the world.

You know, like he can say that to me cuz I believe him.

And I just think there's power in knowing that about your savior, the

closer you come to, knowing how he is endured your pains and your grief

and your sorrow helps you realize, oh, I can't turn to him cuz he knows.

I, I hope that makes sense.

It was.

This sweet, like kind softness from the spirit that kind of settled on

me as I was studying these verses.

I also love what you see about his agency and how he used it in seven.

It talks about how, how he was oppressed, but he opened out his mouth.

I think what he is trying to remind us of is savior chose this.

He chose to be our savior, so we shouldn't.

Incredible guilt using the atonement of Jesus Christ.

What we should feel is gratitude because he chose this course because he loves us.

In fact, that's what I love what you see in 10.

So it says it pleased the Lord to bruise him.

Of course, I don't think it means that that God, our father and heaven

rejoiced in this, in fact, we know that our heaven father had to almost

hide himself in those moments.

There's a great talk from one of the general authorities in

the notes where he talks about how greatly he is to the father.

Not shrinking in this moment, the same way.

He's grateful to the savior for not shrinking that he was able to endure

this so that all could be saved.

I love what he talks about with the seed.

He says he shall see his seed.

He shall prolong his days.

What president Nelson taught me in one of his joy talks.

I wanna say it's in 2016, it's in the notes, but he talks about.

He references.

Oh, where is it?

It's in Hebrews.

It's in Hebrews chapter 12.

I think it's first two.

And he says for the joy that was set before him, the savior endured the cross.

What joy could the savior possibly see what joy could be

before him as he's on the cross?

And what president Nelson said is it's us when we participate.

And when we use the atonement of Jesus Christ and we, we feel

our burdens lifted, we feel.

Wounds that are, unhealable be healed when we see sins that

seem permanent be removed.

That's the joy that is set before him.

Not just that, but our infirmities, our sicknesses, our weaknesses, all

those things that can be healed through the Atoma of Jesus Christ, either

in this life or in the life to come.

That's what the savior could see.

And that's what helped him endure.

The cross is the joy that was set before.

What I love about that is I feel like in a small way, we can do the same thing

when you're dealing with incredible hard.

And every one of us is, um, you can look to the joy.

Why is it worth enduring this right now?

What joy is coming in this life and in the life to come because I chose to endure it

well, and then the spirit can help you.

And then those hosts that are on the other side of the deal can help you cuz.

Engaged and you're ready to push forward, even though it's hard.

I love how it's wraps up in verse 12.

It says he had poured out his whole soul onto death.

We know from Joseph Smith that a soul is body and a spirit combined,

and the savior gave all of it over.

He gave all of it body and soul, his whole body, spirit, and soul together.

That's what he put on the table.

That's what he offered us.

And it.

A powerful gift that we should just be incredibly grateful for

some of that joy that was set before the savior that helped him endure the

cross has to be the gathering, right?

Like he must have been able to look forward to this day when.

People will sing.

So if you look in 54, seeing O Barron though, it's not bear.

Remember the Abraham Abraham covenant, the children of Israel were blessed with the

ability to have endless posterity if they would keep the covenant, but they didn't.

So there was a, a barrenness that occurred.

And in the end of time, when they're gathered back in that's when things

are healed again, They will sing forth and they'll see that they have children

that they didn't even know they had.

In fact, if you look at it that he says big, make your tent bigger.

So if you look into enlarge the place that I attend, stretch fourth, your curtain

lengthen the chords and the stakes.

Your family's about to get a lot bigger.

The people who were with me on the live last week, I was talking about how.

I had just seen a commercial for relative race.

If you haven't watched that show on BYU TV, I love that show it's it just

is like you, they, their whole, the premise of the show is that they find

people who have lost touch with family, or have never known their family

because of adoption or, you know, whatever their circumstances were.

And they try to unite them across the country.

And it's just this all of a sudden in one moment.

Someone's whole family tree just like worse.

And they rejoice every time there is this like feeling of connection

and peace and recognition of, oh my, would you look just like me?

And it's just, it makes you cry.

That's what it does.

It makes you cry.

And I that's how I see the gathering.

It is this reuniting and it's not just one to one.

You know, you reunite two people and all of a sudden huge families are

connected and there's a rejoicing.

So that's what the gathering is.

It's this one by one, we're gonna gather everybody up and because you know,

you're connected now, everybody that is related to you is now connected and

it's this spider web of connection.

That's gonna be powerful to watch, but.

that's.

I think one of the joys that he must have thought on, because this is a time

of rejoicing, you're gonna break forth.

You're not gonna fear.

Like you see in verse four, he talks about how there was a small season

where he had to not hear them for a time because of their choices.

But that, that will end in great mercies.

Will I gather the in eight he talks about his everlasting kindness that he had to

hide his face from them for a season.

But now that season is over and it's time to gather it's

time to bring everyone home.

In 10, he talks about how his kindness will not depart from them.

At this point.

These latter days, when people are gathered, there will not be a separation.

Again, it's only reunion from that happy point forward.

And then I love what he promises.

So if you look all the way into like 13, he promises that their children

shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the piece of th children.

Similar to what we talked about last week.

I feel like one of the hardest things, when, you know, you've made big mistake.

Or even small mistakes is that you worry that your children

will mimic those or expand them.

Um, I think all of us have these worries about our kids, that our weaknesses

are going to be magnified in them.

And.

I love this promise that when you choose to honor your covenants, the

best you can today, he promises that your children will be taught and great

will be the peace of your children.

There will be consequences.

There will be repercussions for all of our choices, but no one

will be lost or left behind.

He will find a way to reach after them.

And then of course, promises of safety in 17, that weapons that are formed

against them, won't be successful.

And then this last phrase, this is the heritage of the servants of the.

Look to the rock from once you are HUD, this is what you've

set aside for generations.

This inheritance, this safety, this promise of posterity.

You've set it aside, pick it back up again, and let's go.

One of my favorite stories in all of scripture is the prodigal son.

I think it's probably everybody's, but I love when I read Isaiah 55,

I almost feel like I'm hearing.

The father of the prodigal speak and his son is finally coming back home

after losing his inheritance and being separated for a season he's coming back

home and the son is worried that he won't be accepted or he can't be pardoned.

And the dad is like, kill the vaed calf, get the ring, get

the robe we have things to do.

And that's what I hear.

So in verse one, everyone that thirsts to come to the waters come partake.

You don't need money.

You don't need price.

These are not.

This doesn't mean that there isn't sacrifice involved in coming to the Lord.

There is sacrifice.

There is consecration involved.

There's a great talk from El elder ROR that talks about this in the notes.

You don't need any worldly money or price.

And all of us have felt that, right?

Like you, you can partake of the goodness of the gospel in its fullness

without any financial advantages, without any big education or big

degrees, you can soak in the goodness of the gospel and he wants you to,

he's inviting you to, he also invites you to eat with that, which is good.

This is in verse.

I love this because I just, at why I say this week, I taught a lesson.

It was all just about the plan of salvation, but we were focused on going

deeper into that creation story and into the experience of Adam and Eve.

And we went deep.

You guys, not, not, I was not tricky doctrine, nothing.

It was actually really simple and clear, but I, I, we went into a deeper

place and they were writing notes and they, like, we were, it felt so good.

It felt like.

We were eating richly in the doctrine.

Um, I, I wish I could articulate it better.

That's what I think he's inviting us to do here when you come to him and when you

really want to drink, he has so much more than you can consume what he has is so

filling and so sustaining that you can't even really wrap your head around it.

That's his promise.

When you go a little bit further, he invites you in six to seek the Lord

while he may be found to me, I read this.

Don't waste mortality.

This life is the time to prepare to meet God.

And I don't know why it is that when you have your spirit and your body

connected in mortality, there, you seem to be able to learn things that

you can't learn otherwise, or do things you can't do otherwise, because

we can see lots of revelation in the doctrine, confidence about how people

are eagerly awaiting the day when they're resurrected and have this union

again, of their body and their spirit.

This is the time to prepare to meet God.

So see him while he can be found in this life.

I also love what you see in seven.

You can almost hear the prodigal son worrying about whether

he'll be accepted of the father.

And the father says, let him return onto the Lord.

He will have mercy upon him to our God.

He will.

For he will abundantly.

Pardon?

Here's what I love most about this chapter that I'd never noticed before

eight and nine are some of the most common verses in all of, you know,

you've heard these a hundred times for my thoughts are not your thoughts.

Neither are your ways, my ways say it, the Lord, the heavens are higher than the

earth, or my ways higher than your ways.

When you read those verses in isolation, they're beautiful on their own.

When you read them in the context of repentance, I think they're even better.

You know, the one right before it is about.

We being worried or the children of Israel being worried that they won't be

pardoned, that they, they don't deserve the forgiveness that they're seeking.

And he then responds.

My thoughts.

Aren't your thoughts?

My ways are higher than your ways.

This happens when we repent, right?

We start to get tricked in our minds and we think he's not gonna

be patient with me this time.

He did.

I've made the same mistake 10 times already.

And I knew the answer and I didn't do it.

He's gonna be angry with me or he is gonna be, he's gonna withhold his love from

me, or I live too far on the margins.

I'll never fit in or whatever it is when you're thinking about repentance.

This is when you need to remember that his thoughts are not your thoughts,

whatever you're beating yourself up with.

Those are not his thoughts.

Those are not his ways.

His ways are higher.

He sees you farther.

He sees who you were, preor who you will become eternally.

And he sees higher.

So stop beating yourself up.

That's what I had to tell myself, like Maria stop.

He doesn't think like you, he doesn't think, gosh, I really wish you

would just stop dropping the ball.

He doesn't think like me, he thinks higher and bigger and stronger,

and I need to trust that promise.

I wish I had more time to go into it, but I also love the promise you see

in 10, this is where he talks about.

Again, I think speaking on this repentance vein, he talks about how

it will give blessings or, um, that things will grow for the sewer and

that there will be bread to the eater.

To me, this is almost like the two brothers in the prodigal story, um,

that those who have been sewing all this time will receive blessings.

Those who need the atonement of Jesus Christ for repentance sake

will receive blessings there.

The Atoma actually feeds both go in the notes.

You can learn more about that, but I love one of the blessings that you see,

it comes in 12 for, he shall go out with joy, you know, he'll be led forth peace.

Those are the blessings of I, to me, the big brother that he will also

feel joy and he will feel peace.

In addition to the repentant brother who has to.

Come around and is immediately forgiven.

There's joy on, on both go in the notes.

You can learn a lot more, but I love that you find that in 55, when you

go into 56, this is when it extends to people who are outside the.

And oh, it is so good.

You guys it's so good.

So in 56, this is when he reaches out to the strangers.

So you see in three, neither let the son of the stranger.

So now that you are assured and you know, you've been forgiven,

extend that goodness to others.

Don't let the stranger feel like he's a stranger that he had utter,

utterly separated me from his people.

Neither let the Unix say behold, I'm a dry tree.

The UN just means an culd man, someone who can't have children and

they are outside of the covenant, according to the love of Moses.

And this is when the Lord is saying, oh, no, everyone who thinks that

they are on the margins, everyone who thinks they don't fit into the

gospel of Jesus Christ, makes sure they don't feel that that's our role.

All of us who have been forgiven and received the fatted calf

and the ring and the robe.

That we experience when we're forgiven and given another chance,

we're supposed to extend that to anyone who feels on the margins.

So it uses this phrase, this unit group, as a, an example, a metaphor

to say anyone who feels outside makes sure they know they can come in.

And that's, there's a way to come in.

It's in four take hold of my covenant that you need to keep my Sabbaths

when Sabbaths does plural like that, that means it's the, the full gospel.

It's not just like honoring the Sabbath day.

It it's bigger than that's the feast and the, the covenant, all of it in

five, you see, it goes even further.

He says, To these outsiders, even unto them, will I give in my house

and within my walls, a place and a name better than the sons or dos,

I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

Anyone who is willing to accept the covenant, no matter how far outside

of the norm of the church you feel.

If you're willing to accept his covenant and live.

you have a place and a name?

I mean, doesn't that sound like temple imagery right there in the verse, an

everlasting name that cannot be removed.

Think of it with a prodigal son.

Like he wanted to come back and be a servant.

And the dad said, oh no, you are an inheritor.

You are my son.

You have a name, you have a place in this house.

You belong here.

That's what he wants us to teach every person who feels on the margin.

And then there's an invitation.

It comes in six.

These are the qualifications.

If you want to have these blessings, you need to join yourself to the Lord, to

serve him, to love him, to be his servant and to, to be his servants, everyone

that keep it, the Sabbath from polluting it and take it hold of my covenant.

If you choose to honor his covenants, if you choose to live

the life he's asking you to.

These blessings can be yours and the blessings pour out.

What I love is how he phrases them in seven, even then, will I bring

to my holy mountain, my temple that they make, I will make them joyful.

That's that's his job.

He's gonna find ways to make you joyful.

And in my house of prayer, they're burnt offerings and their

sacrifices shall be accepted.

What I loved about this piece of the doctrine is.

He recognizes that for many to live, these covenants is a remarkable sacrifice

and he acknowledges that sacrifice and he accepts that sacrifice and

he asks them to come and to partake.

And that.

Covers everybody.

There are no margins in the Lord's view.

So that's what he says in eight.

I will gather the outcasts of Israel, gather others besides them.

It's this great coming in.

And it's a powerful image for anybody in the latter days.

Our savior Jesus Christ is incredibly forgiving of weakness.

He is.

Strict with rebellion.

Um, and that's what you're gonna see in 57.

There are leaders who were supposed to be leading the church,

taking care of the poor of the needy, helping people find truth.

And instead they have gone Farry and he is frustrated.

In fact, you hear him in three draw near hitter, ye sums of

the SORs seed of the adultery.

This.

Harsh language.

It almost feels like what I picture the Savior's face looking

like when he tossed the tables.

That's what I picture.

When I read chapter 57, he's frustrated because these are not small rebellions.

This is big.

In fact, you see that.

Like in, in five, he talks about, well, four, they say they've made sports.

So they're, they're toying with their leadership.

They're toying with people they should have taken care of.

And then in five they're worshiping idols, they're sacrificing children.

They are a far off, he compares it to having an adulterous relationship

because remember the covenant rep was represented by a marriage.

And so here, he's saying not only are you separating yourselves from me, but

you're, you're covenanting with other God.

You're basically in someone else's bed is kind of how he's comparing it and that

they're struggling with the greatness of the way and they're missing it.

So the result comes in 11 when he says, thou has not remembered

me or laid it to heart.

And so I held my piece as I did a old this time of APOE will be a

time of silence from God advocacy.

Doesn't want to teach them or hope to boost still blessings on them.

They simply aren't obedient.

So he can't bless them.

What you'll see in a lot of these chapters is that the savior still loves them.

He's gonna talk about in this chapter, how he's gonna still seek

after them over time, what he wants.

He will always love the children of Israel.

He will always love you and me.

I really don't think that will ever change or has it ever changed?

No matter what we do, what he really wants to do though, is to love and.

The only way he can bless us is if we are obedient.

And if we choose to honor our covenants, he wants both of those things.

Uh, and they aren't choosing it.

So they.

Struggling.

Uh, and what I love is where it shifts gears.

So in 14 from 14 on, it's kind of talking more to the righteous.

So he talks about how we need to prepare the way I picture this.

Like when I'm running on a trail and there's a big rock in the way that

I try, if I can to like, actually pick up that rock and Chuck it so

that nobody else trips on the same rock, you probably do the same thing.

I think that's what we're supposed to do for each other spiritually, as we

encounter stumbling blocks, as there's part parts of the doctrine that are

hard, that I have to work through and wrestle with and then find answers to

I'm supposed to share them when I get revelation that helps me as a parent.

Ideally, you share it and you pass that on to somebody else.

That's what I think he means by removing the stumbling blocks.

And then he talks about himself in these beautiful terms.

He it's in verse 15, he says for thus, say at the high and lofty

one that inhabited eternity.

Can you think of like a bigger.

I don't even know what that means.

Inhabited eternity.

I think it means he's outside of space.

He's outside of time, he's outside of geography that we would understand.

He, he inhabited eternity.

What I love about 15 is he also talked about who he wants to be.

His neighbors.

It's the humble and the contr.

He doesn't want everything.

He wants people who are meek and are, I think it's why he says

the meek will inherit the earth because these are people who.

Are are constantly trying to turn to him and constantly trying to learn

and grow that's who he wants close.

That's why he's promising us that if we will build the Zion society, he will

come, he will live among us because that's where we'll be comfortable together.

That's what he's encouraging us to be.

Uh, he also talks about how, when, when people are welcome back, when the

children of Israel are gathered again, that he will, they will be healed by him.

This is around verse 18.

They'll heal him.

I will lead him.

Also.

I'll restore comforts unto him and his mourners.

I love that combination because I feel like this is what you

promises all of us, many of us.

Experience pain and adversity because of the choices of others.

Remember I told you, I call these intersections of agency where you feel

like you get rammed because of someone else's agency he's promising in this

verse that he will take care of the one who did the ramming, who made the big

mistakes, but he will also comfort those who are the mourners, the family members,

the parents, the like friends who.

Whose lives are feel off course for a time because of someone else's choices,

he's gonna comfort both and care for both.

And then he promises peace, peace to those who are far away,

peace to those that are close.

And also this last phrase, it's in 20, he talks about the alternative option, which

is that you'll be troubled like a sea.

And I love this phrase.

He says, whose water's cast at Meyer and dirt.

What I found, especially with working with this YSA age.

Is that sometimes they have a tendency to want to repent and not use the atonement.

You know, like I even, I think sometimes I get in this trap where I

think I can just change my behavior.

Like, let's say they have an addiction to pornography or even just an interest in

pornography and then they wanna fix it.

So they don't wanna involve the Bishop and they don't wanna

involve the atonement necessarily.

They just wanna.

Not do those things anymore.

The problem with that is things aren't actually clean.

So when you get into a state of contention or frustration, Meyer and dirt, come up

again, the best visual I can think of for this is like, if you've ever been to a

restaurant where you go to sit down and the table is clear, But it's not clean.

As soon as you put your hands down, you're like, oh, they

don't have any Clorox wipes.

You know, like you can, you can tell that it, it appears clean on

the surface, but it's not clean.

That's what happens when we don't involve the savior in our repentance one, we lose

potential for power, cuz it is hard to combat all these bad behaviors on our own.

So we lose an option to have his power, to help us do it.

But we also lose the ability to.

Wiped clean.

And the result of that is if you aren't wiped clean, then that mere and that

dirt will bubble up to the surface again, especially when you're in contention,

when things are hard or when you're doubting or you're struggling in some

way, Satan loves to toss that sea.

So we need to clean, you need to use Theto of Jesus Christ to become clean.

Um, and, and then at the very end, he talks about how there's no peace.

There's no peace for the wicked.

There's no joy in sin.

So there's this invitation.

You almost want to go back and read in 56.

It's just this invitation to come onto him.

Drink liberally, take in the goodness that is available to you

through the Ooma of Jesus Christ so that this is not where your story.