1. The “manner of prophesying among the Jews” (2 Nephi 25:1, 5)
The key to understanding the words of Isaiah consists of searching the imbedded layers of keywords, codenames, word links, typologies, literary structures and patterns, etc., that conceal and reveal Isaiah’s end-time prophecy and systematic theology. Without that, Isaiah’s poignant message for our day can’t be known or perceived for the extraordinary blessing that it is.
Nephi’s prophecy that in the days Isaiah’s words come to pass people will understand them (2 Nephi 25:7–8) depends on these literary aspects being acknowledged. Hence, Jesus made it a commandment to “search diligently”—not just study—the words of Isaiah. A modern translation such as the Isaiah Institute’s alleviates difficulties of language in the King James Version.
2. Isaiah’s Seven Discernible Spiritual Levels on a Ladder to Heaven
Isaiah’s naming and characterizing of people who appear in his prophecy aren’t random but by design. Seven spiritual categories are identifiable from how people operate in relation to their Maker: (1) Perdition or its equivalent; (2) Babylon; (3) Jacob/Israel; (4) Zion/Jerusalem; (5) God’s sons/servants; (6) seraphim or translated beings; and (7) Israel’s God, the King of Zion.
A theology of ascent to heaven and descent to hell governs this spiritual ladder. Because Israel’s God operates solely within the terms of the covenants he makes, people’s keeping or not keeping higher and lower covenants defines who they are. Rebirth or re-creation closer to God’s image and likeness, or de-creation from what they once were, determines their final state.
3. Thirty End-Time World Events Patterned after Ancient Events
Nowhere does the Lord give us “a pattern in all things, that ye may not be deceived” (Doctrine & Covenants 52:14) more than in Isaiah’s end-time scenario that is based on his vision of “the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10). In that light, the “end” of the world is contained in the “beginning”—in thirty events of the past which Isaiah saw would repeat themselves in that day.
This replay of events defines what Isaiah and the prophets call the “Day of the Lord”—God’s worldwide Day of Judgment—when the wicked perish, repentant persons are saved, and Israel reconstitutes as Zion. Within this scenario, the names of ancient world powers act as codenames of end-time ones, enabling Isaiah to prophesy explicitly about America, Russia, etc.
4. Understanding the Book of Mormon through the Lens of Isaiah
A grand secret hiding in plain sight is how the Book of Mormon intertwines with the words of Isaiah. Its focus on Isaiah—first by Nephi and Jacob and later by Jesus and Moroni—operates as two book ends that impact everything in between. Indeed, a person cannot fully understand the Book of Mormon without first understanding the prophecy and theology of Isaiah.
Book of Mormon prophets follow Isaiah in selecting from their history things they had seen in vision that typified the end-time. Seven or more exoduses, for example, create an exodus pattern of the end-time exodus out of Babylon that Isaiah predicts. Isaiah’s implicit theology of God’s fulfilling his covenants with the house of Israel similarly permeates the Book of Mormon.
5. A Decisive Choice between Precepts of Men and the Truth of God
Characterizing Isaiah’s and the Book of Mormon’s end-time scenarios is a “great division” that occurs between those who believe “precepts of men” and those who awaken to the truth (2 Nephi 28:26–32; 30:10). In that division, the words of Isaiah, which Jesus calls “great,” play a key part. Failure to believe in them leads to many being “cut off” from God’s people (3 Nephi 21:11).
Unpreparedness to receive the “new things” or “greater things” the Lord reveals (Isaiah 48:6; 3 Nephi 26:9–10) will lead to many contending against the truth and fighting against Zion (1 Nephi 22:14, 19; Ether 4:8). In the end-time destruction that follows, these perish in the dust with Babylon, while those who repent rise from the dust with Zion (Isaiah 47:1; 52:1–2).
