Question: What is the “spirit of prophecy” that helps understand Isaiah?
Answer: As “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10), people to whom the Holy Ghost testifies that Jesus is the Christ have a greater advantage in understanding Isaiah’s words than those who don’t. That vertical approach, however, is but one of two Nephi mentions in 2 Nephi 25:4–5, the other being the letter of prophecy or “manner of the Jews.” Also needed for the Spirit to testify of a truth is the horizontal, Jewish approach of analyzing literary features, those that contain their own prophetic message over and above what we read on the surface
