For the first time since this series of classes started, Avraham Gileadi provided us an actual handout with scriptural references from Isaiah and the Book of Mormon concerning the major points he has been making. He titled his compilation "The Book of Mormon's Endtime Scenario of Concurrent Events Based on the Prophecies of Isaiah."
These are the 14 endtime events he listed, which taken all together constitutes Israel's restoration:
- The Lord sets His hand the second time: 2 Nephi 6:14; 25:17; 29:1; Jacob 6:2 (Isaiah 11:11).
- The Lord makes bare His arm: 1 Nephi 22:10–11; 3 Nephi 16:20; 20:35 (Isaiah 51:9; 52:10).
- The Lord's servant fulfills his mission: 3 Nephi 20:43–45; 21:8–11 (Isaiah 11:10–12; 41:2, 25, 27; 42:1–7; 44:26–28; 45:1–6, 13; 46:11–13; 48:14–16; 49:1–9; 50:4–10; 51:7–9; 52:13–15; 53:11–12; 55:3–5).
- The Lord performs a great and marvelous work: 1 Nephi 14:7, 17; 22:8; 2 Nephi 25:17; 29:1; 30:8; 3 Nephi 21:9, 26–29 (Isaiah 29:14).
- The gentiles reject the gospel after receiving it: 2 Nephi 28:24–32; 3 Nephi 16:10; 20:15, 28; 21:11 (Isaiah 28:7–29; 29:9–16; 41:21–29; 42:18–25; 50:1–11; 56:9–12; 48:1–7; 59:1–16; 66:5–6).
- Many fight against Zion: 1 Nephi 22:14, 19; 2 Nephi 6:12–13; 10:13, 16; 29:14 (Isaiah 29:7–8).
- Kings and queens of the gentiles nourish the house of Israel: 1 Nephi 22:6–8; 2 Nephi 6:6–7; 10:8–9, 18; 3 Nephi 16:4 (Isaiah 43:3–8; 49:22–23; 60:1–16).
- Israel receives a knowledge of the gospel: 1 Nephi 15:13–16; 22:9, 11; 2 Nephi 6:11, 14; 10:7; 25:16, 18; 29:13; 3 Nephi 16:4, 11–12; 20:13, 30–32, 40; 21:7–8, 26–27 (Isaiah 48:6–8; 52:6–8).
- The saints and covenant people of the Lord are endowed with power: 1 Nephi 14:14; 22:17; 2 Nephi 6:14; 3 Nephi 16:15; 20:16–17, 19, 22, 36; 21:11–13, 25 (Isaiah 41:8–16; 51:9–10; 52:1–3).
- Israel returns from dispersion: 1 Nephi 22:12; 2 Nephi 6:6, 11; 10:8–9; 29:14; 3 Nephi 16:5; 20:13, 18, 29, 33, 41–42; 21:1, 23–29 (Isaiah 11:10–12; 43:5–8; 49:8–12, 22; 51:11; 52:11–12).
- The wicked are destroyed: 1 Nephi 14:5–7, 15–17; 22:13–19; 2 Nephi 6:14–18; 30:9–10; 3 Nephi 16:15; 20:16–20; 21:12–21 (Isaiah 41:2, 11–16; 43:14–17; 47:1–15; 49:24–26; 54:5–17).
- The righteous are delivered: 1 Nephi 14:5, 14; 22:17, 19; 2 Nephi 6:16–17; 30:10; 3 Nephi 20:36–38 (Isaiah 42:7; 43:1–4; 45:13–17; 48:20–21; 49:24–25; 51:11, 21–23; 52:1–12; 55:12).
- Israel receives lands of inheritance: 1 Nephi 22:12; 2 Nephi 6:11; 10:7, 10, 19; 29:14; 3 Nephi 16:5, 16; 20:14, 21–22, 29, 33–34, 46; 21:22–24 (Isaiah 44:26, 28; 49:8; 51:3; 54:2–3, 11–12).
- God fulfills His covenants with the house of Israel: 1 Nephi 14:5, 8, 17; 15:18; 22:6, 9, 11; 2 Nephi 6:12; 10:7, 15, 17; 29:1, 14; 3 Nephi 16:5, 11–12; 20:12, 22, 25–27, 29, 46; 21:4, 7 (Isaiah 54:10; 55:3).
Brother Gileadi's contention is that if we as Latter-day Saints read the Book of Mormon thinking we are Israel, we will get it all wrong. In Book of Mormon terms, we are identified with the gentiles. Although, having made covenants with the Lord, we are numbered among Israel.
His conclusion: "When carefully researched, analyzed, and compared, the foregoing scriptural references demonstrate how the Book of Mormon's endtime scenario consists of a series of concurrent events predicted by the prophet Isaiah. Drawing on different parts of the Book of Isaiah—as if all depict a single scenario—Nephi, Jacob, and Jesus provide variations on one theme: the restoration of the house of Israel, which house of Israel they identify as Jews, Lehi's descendants, and [the] Ten Tribes.
"Israel's restoration involves the Lord's 'setting his hand the second time' to restore his people; the Lord's 'baring his arm' to all nations; the Lord's servant fulfilling his mission to the nations; the Gentiles rejecting the fulness of the gospel after having received it; the Lord's performing his 'great and marvelous work' among the nations; many people, including former believers, fighting against Zion; the (spiritual) kings and queens of the Gentiles nourishing the house of Israel; the house of Israel accepting the fulness of the gospel; the saints and covenant people of the Lord being endowed with power over their enemies; the house of Israel returning from dispersion in an exodus from the four directions of the earth; the destruction of the wicked of the world and the deliverance of the righteous; the house of Israel and those numbered among them receiving lands of inheritance; and the Father's fulfilling his covenant with the house of Israel and with Israel's ancestors.
"By the Book of Mormon's own definition, this synchronized series of events constitutes the Lord's 'great and marvelous work' and defines God's fulfilling his covenant. Employing a literary device familiar from the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Mormon ties the above events together domino fashion within the scriptural passages cited above to establish a single endtime scenario that is still future. Only by taking all such passages together, not separately, therefore, does this complete scenario clearly appear. The chapters of Isaiah from which the above events are drawn comprise principally the Book of Isaiah's high point in the vicinity of Chapter 52, but include also others such as Chapters 11 and 29. As with the Book of Mormon passages, however, these chapters cannot be isolated from others in the Book of Isaiah—to which they are linked by linguistic, typological, and thematic interconnections—without distorting the message of both Isaiah and the Book of Mormon.
"The part played by Latter-day Saints, who are identified with the Gentiles in the Book of Mormon (D&C 109:60), is to facilitate Israel's restoration through seven phases, the first two of which precede the Book of Mormon's endtime scenario while the remainder comprise it: 1. the restoration of the gospel to the Gentiles; 2. the completion of the scattering of the house of Israel by the Gentiles; 3. the Lord's servant bringing forth the words of Christ to the Gentiles; 4. many Gentiles rejecting the fulness of the gospel after receiving it, resulting in their being 'cut off from among my people who are of the covenant'; 5. the kings of the Gentiles hearkening to the words of Christ that the servant brings forth and ministering to the house of Israel; 6. the gospel turning away from the Gentiles back to the house of Israel; and 7. the house of Israel's restoration. Just as Israel's ancient apostasy caused its scattering, so Israel's endtime receiving the gospel leads to its gathering.
"Auxiliary events to this scenario, based on prophecies of Isaiah that are not delineated explicitly in the Book of Mormon, include a 'great division' that occurs when many who are at ease in Zion cling to 'precepts of men' and reject the further word of God that comes forth. We may thus conclude that searching the words of Isaiah on which the Book of Mormon's endtime scenario is based, and searching the Book of Mormon's own words for what they say, not what we assume they say, may prove critical to our salvation when the Lord sees fit to unfold the next phase of these prophesied events."
With that foregoing conclusion you have a fair summary of what we have spent the past nine weeks learning. (And I thus saved you $100 and ten trips to Provo.) I wonder what is left for us to cover in the tenth class this Thursday.
