"Lord, to whom shall we go?" Charting the Course of the Church from Here to the Second Coming: Part 11

What Next, Isaiah?

Isaiah foretold what would transpire in the last days.  So he's a pretty good source.  

At least, the Lord seems to think so:

   Great are the words of Isaiah.

   For surely he spake as touching all things
   concerning my people which are
   of the house of Israel.

(3 Nephi 23:1-2)

What is crystal clear from Isaiah's prophecies is the importance of having Zion-As-Ark in order for the Lord's people to survive the coming "flood" of destructive events. 

If you've heard Zion referred to as a "refuge" (D&C 115:6), then you know what I mean.

Let's dive right in by looking at some of these things Isaiah said in Chapter 24. 

Tick, Tock, Goes the Doomsday Clock

   1.  24:3.  Somehow, at some point in the future, the "land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled" (Isaiah 24:3).

   2.  24:5.  The cause of this widespread destruction is "because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant" (Isaiah 24:5).

   3.  Who?  Who has violated the Lord's laws?  Who has changed his ordinance?  Who has broken his covenant?  Well, what people claims to have his laws, ordinances, and covenants (I wonder).

  4.  24:6.  In consequence of the Lord's people in the last days falling away and rejecting the fulness of his gospel, a "curse devoureth the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate" (Isaiah 24:6).

   5.  I think this is alluded to in D&C 112, where the Lord talks about the coming day of desolation, weeping and mourning:

   And upon my house shall it begin,
   and from my house shall it go forth,
   saith the Lord;
   first among those among you,
   who have professed to know my name
   and have not known me,
   and have blasphemed against me
   in the midst of my house,
   saith the Lord.

(D&C 112:25-26)

   5.5  Before we continue, I want to ask, parenthetically, how have we "blasphemed" the Lord "in the midst of his house?"   

Well, 'blasphemy' means "to show contempt for God."

Have we mocked God by telling people to stay on the "covenant path" which leads us down to hell?

   Others will the devil pacify, 
   and lull them away
   into carnal security,
   that they will say:
   All is well in Zion; yea
   there is no safer place
   in the whole Valley
   than the Salt Lake Temple; yea
   Zion prospereth 
   to the tune of $130 billion dollars;
   all is well. 

   And thus the devil
   cheateth their souls,
   and leadeth them carefully
   down to hell. 

(2 Nephi 28:21, Revised) 

Is it possible that the gentiles who break the everlasting covenant are . . . us?

​After the Destruction, What Comes Next, Isaiah? 

Isaiah gives us a fascinating glimpse ― an interlude, really ― of things as they hit rock bottom.

   6.  24:7.  The faithful, humble followers of Christ are called "new wine."  (And it is the saddest wine you'll ever meet.) 

   The new wine mourneth,
   the vine languisheth.

(Isaiah 24:7)

Isaiah describes this heart-wrenching moment of grief in which there is no laughter, no rejoicing, no joy, no singing (see 24:7-9). 

We witness the silence of heaven (D&C 38:12) reflected on earth among the righteous as they behold what has become of the "vine [that] languisheth."

​   7.  24:11.  Then, out of this terrible silence, comes the wailing for wine. 

   There is a cry
   for wine
   in the streets.

(Isaiah 24:11)

By the way, why is everyone crying in "the streets?" 

I guess it's because the houses are all gone by this point; we're all homeless.  "Every house is shut up, that no man may come in" (Isaiah 24:10).  

But notice what everyone in the streets is calling for: wine!  

Maybe it's because we all want to drink our worries away, finding relief in drunken oblivion.

But what if Isaiah is referring to the faithful, humble followers of Christ as "wine."  Is this what the people are crying out for? 

Where did all the humble followers of Christ go?

What do they really want? 

   Zion.  Refuge.  Shelter.

But We'll Be Okay, Right Isaiah? 
​
   8.  24:18.  Among those that have bought into carnal security, into gold and silver, into religious pride and piety but who never knew the Lord and who took His name in vain while practicing priestcraft . . . what are they doing?

   He who fleeth 
   the noise of the fear
   shall fall into a pit: 
   for . . . the foundations 
   of the earth do shake.

(Isaiah 24:18)

The point is that there is no escaping the coming calamity. 

People are going to try to "flee" from these things.  But no matter what they do, it is too late. 

They fall into a pit because they were not built upon the only sure foundation: Christ.

Instead, they built their spiritual foundation on following the brethren, or in keeping the commandments of men, or in some other idol-du-jour, instead of clinging to Christ's word.

Everything else on earth, everything other than Christ's word, shall be shaken and utterly broken (see, D&C 132:13).

This reminds me of something the Lord said in 1833: 

   Behold, and lo,
   vengeance cometh speedily
   upon the ungodly
​   as the whirlwind;
   and who shall escape it?

(D&C 97:22)

This is the greatest Rhetorical Question ever.  Who can outrun a tornado on your doorstep?  Is there a pickup truck that you can drive to outdistance a hurricane on your heels?

   No.  

How Does It End, Isaiah?

We're gonna witness the end of the world.

   9.  24:20.  You know when the sun is darkened and the moon turns to blood, etc., etc.?  Look at how Isaiah describes this global occurrence:

   The earth shall reel to and fro
   like a drunkard,
   and shall be removed
   like a cottage;
   and the transgression thereof
   shall be heavy upon it;
   and it shall fall,
   and not rise again.

(Isaiah 24:20)

So . . . . then what?

We're sitting in the movie theater with our tub of popcorn, sipping our Diet Coke and the movie screen goes black.  

   Is the movie over?  That was a terrible ending!

And so everyone walks out of the theater complaining about what a waste.  

   Except, we remain.  Because we know there is an end-credits scene.

The screen turns white, and we behold a new heavens and a new earth . . . fashioned by the Lord for his new wine.

   10.  End Credits.  66:22. 

   For as the new heavens
   and the new earth,
   which I will make,
   shall remain before me,
   saith the Lord,
   so shall your seed
   and your name remain.

(Isaiah 66:22)