Weekly Newsletter

Since I’ve taken up studying Isaiah, “Jesus, Once of Humble Birth” has become a favorite hymn of mine. I noticed a few years ago that each line describes a “descent” phase in the Savior’s life, followed by a subsequent “ascent” phase: Jesus, once of humble birth, Now in glory comes to earth. Once he suffered […]

If salvation is by grace, not works—made possible through Jesus’ atonement for humanity’s transgressions—then how do men attain exaltation? On a parallel: if “justification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true,” and also “sanctification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true,”

Whenever we see mention of “the Father” in the scriptures, particularly in an end-time context, that may signal a transition from the usual interaction of his people with Jehovah/Jesus to the Father’s intervention among his covenant people on the highest spiritual levels. Particularly is that evident in the Father’s manifesting his power to bring about

Among a series of “woes” or covenant curses the Lord pronounces on his end-time people are the consequences of their vain attachments to the things of this world: “Woe to those drawn to sin by vain attachments, hitched to transgression like a trailer, who think, Let him quickly hasten his work so we may see

Paul and Silas’ missionary experience with the Jews in the synagogue at Berea reveals a telling contrast between the early saints who searched the scriptures daily to determine what God was saying in his Word and those who remained content to listen to the brethren’s preaching: “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in

A dear friend received three signs of the end-time from Elder Neal A. Maxwell before his death more than twenty years ago, which I cite here with my friend’s permission: First, there will occur division in the nation followed by division in the church. Second, a power in the Middle East will gain the capacity

The era of righteousness and peace that followed Jesus’ visit to the Nephites forms a type of Jesus’ universal millennial reign. The organization of the church that he instituted among the Nephites foreshadows the millennial organization of the kingdom of God on the earth. In that sense, the “gospel of the kingdom” that would be

Just as in Jewish tradition the best man at a wedding blows the shofar or trumpet to herald the bridegroom’s arrival, so God’s end-time servant personifies the “trumpet” and “ensign” that heralds the coming of Jehovah and rallies God’s people to gather together for the marriage feast. Isaiah 18:3 All you who live in the

When, at Joshua’s command, “the sun stood still” and the Israelites slew the Amorites for an entire day, we might ask if the sun actually stood still or if another, unseen phenomenon was at work: “Then spoke Joshua to Jehovah in the day when Jehovah delivered up the Amorites before the people of Israel, and

When Isaiah says, “Turn away, depart; touch nothing defiled as you leave [Babylon]. Come out of her and be pure, you who bear Jehovah’s vessels. But you shall not leave in haste or go in flight: Jehovah will go before you, the God of Israel behind you” (Isaiah 52:11–12), what is his definition of “pure”

The “cause of truth” (Isaiah 42:3), the “God of truth” (Isaiah 65:16), and doing all things “in truth” (Isaiah 48:1)—these all emphasize the need to be truth-based in order to please God and accomplish anything good in his eyes. And what can bring us closer to his truth in this journey through life than our

Isaiah’s mention of “ordinances” doesn’t leave us wondering very long about which ones he is speaking of. Imagery of temple ordinances appears throughout his book. Says he, “The path of the righteous is straight; you pave an undeviating course for the upright. In the very passage of your ordinances we anticipate you, O Jehovah; the