Showing posts with label Temple work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Temple work. Show all posts

Sunday, October 31, 2021

Doctrine and Covenants 125-128: Baptism for the Dead





VICARIOUS ORDINANCE WORK IN EARLY CHURCH HISTORY

Love this gorgeous photo of the Nauvoo Temple doors
I found on DeviantArt
The Funeral of Seymour Brunson
D&C 124:127-130. I give unto you my servant Brigham Young to be a president over the Twelve traveling council; Which Twelve hold the keys to open up the authority of my kingdom upon the four corners of the earth, and after that to send my word to every creature. They are Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Orson Hyde, William Smith, John Taylor, John E. Page, Wilford Woodruff, Willard Richards, George A. Smith; David Patten I have taken unto myself; behold, his priesthood no man taketh from him; but, verily I say unto you, another may be appointed unto the same calling. The 11 living apostles are named, and the Lord states that he has received David Patten, the apostle killed at Crooked River, unto himself and that he still retains his priesthood on the other side of the veil.

D&C 124:131-132. And again, I say unto you, I give unto you a high council, for the cornerstone of Zion—Namely, Samuel Bent, Henry G. Sherwood, George W. Harris, Charles C. Rich, Thomas Grover, Newel Knight, David Dort, Dunbar Wilson—Seymour Brunson I have taken unto myself; no man taketh his priesthood, but another may be appointed unto the same priesthood in his stead; and verily I say unto you, let my servant Aaron Johnson be ordained unto this calling in his stead—David Fullmer, Alpheus Cutler, William Huntington. The high councilors are named, and the Lord states that he has received Seymour Brunson of that council, unto himself, and that he also retains his priesthood on the other side of the veil.

Seymour Brunson was a veteran of the war of 1812, who gave his life in the service of God. He was baptized at the age of 30 by Soloman Hancock. (The one who wrote the cute little poem, “Once I was a Methodist, Glory Hallelujah…”) He immediately served a mission, and was sad to observe the persecution of those he baptized. After he moved to Kirtland, he experienced this type of thing firsthand. “He was physically attacked and captured by mobbers, and only narrowly escaped by putting his shoes on backward to mislead his pursuers and treading lightly through the snow.” Eventually he made it through the persecutions to dwell in safety in Illinois, but he chose to return to Missouri to try to help Parley P. Pratt escape from prison. He was not successful, but by being on this journey, he was able to help the Joseph Smith Sr. family get safely ferried across the Mississippi to Illinois. He only lived two more years after the Missouri persecution. He served on the Nauvoo high council, in the Nauvoo Legion, as a colonel in the Hancock County militia, and as a body guard for Joseph Smith. In July of 1840, he became overly chilled after herding cattle, got very ill, and died on the 10th of August in the home of Joseph Smith. He was 40 years old.

What is so interesting to consider when reading those two passages of scripture which we just read, is that in Heber C. Kimball’s account of Seymour’s death, he said, “Seymour Brunson is gone. David Patten came after him. The room was full of angels that came…to waft him home.”

Seymour was very well-loved and had many mourners. The procession to the gravesite, according to Brother Kimball, was a mile long. Joseph Smith chose this very poignant occasion, attended by a very large crowd, honoring a faithful servant of the Lord, to introduce a wonderful doctrine: Baptism for the dead. How marvelous that he chose this occasion! Those in attendance were lifted from sorrow to great joy. Vilate Kimball said that she had never seen anything more joyful than the funeral procession to Seymour Brunson’s burial, “on account of the glory that Joseph set forth.” (All this information from Susan E. Black, Who's Who in the Doctrine and Covenants, p. 36-38)


Probably every person at the funeral had experienced the death of an immediate family member, more likely the deaths of several immediate family members. And the Church having been organized only 10 years, many of these had not received baptism before they died. Baptisms for the dead began immediately, before any order could be established, because the joy and enthusiasm of the people was so impatient. Following the funeral sermon, Jane Neyman asked Harvey Olmstead to baptize her in the Mississippi River in behalf of her son Cyrus, who had died at the age of 14. Many others did the same. Vilate Kimball wrote in a letter to Heber C., “Since this order has been preached here, the waters have been continually troubled. During conference there were sometimes from 8 to 10 elders in the river at a time baptizing.” (Jeni & Richard Holzapfel, editors, A Woman's View: Helen Mar Whitney's Reminiscences of Early Church History, p. 179)
Wilford Woodruff recorded that the brethren barely had time to eat or rest, since they were constantly in the river, baptizing people for their loved ones who had died. Emma Smith was among the first to participate. She had received word that both her parents had died, so she was baptized for them, as well as her uncle, her sister and several aunts. (Gracia N. Jones, Emma and Joseph: Their Divine Mission, p. 222)
Later, the guideline was set forth that you had to be the same sex as the person whose work you were doing, so those who were not done that way were redone.

Commandment to Build a Temple
The following January, 1841 was when Section 124 was received, in which the saints were commanded to build the Nauvoo Temple for the performance of baptisms for the dead. D&C 124:28-31. For there is not a place found on earth that he may come to and restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fulness of the priesthood. For a baptismal font there is not upon the earth, that they, my saints, may be baptized for those who are dead— For this ordinance belongeth to my house, and cannot be acceptable to me [outside a temple], only in the days of your poverty, wherein ye are not able to build a house unto me. But I command you, all ye my saints, to build a house unto me; and I grant unto you a sufficient time to build a house unto me; and during this time your baptisms shall be acceptable unto me. 
Outdoor baptisms for the dead continued until October 3rd of that year when Joseph said that they now needed to wait until they could do it in the temple. The baptismal font was dedicated the next month.

Elijah Fordham, Builder of the Font
July 22, 1839 was the day of miraculous healing at the site of the future town of Nauvoo. Many, many of the saints were deathly ill with malaria. Joseph Smith called upon the Lord in mighty prayer, and went forth to heal all those that he and his wife were caring for in their home and in tents in their yard. Then he continued on through the makeshift community and into Montrose. He went to Brigham Young’s and healed him; he called Wilford Woodruff along after passing by his door. Without a word, they crossed the city square and entered the house of Elijah Fordham. Elijah was within minutes of death; he was speechless and unconscious. After rousing him and speaking with him briefly, Joseph commanded him in the name of Jesus of Nazareth to rise up and walk. Elijah immediately was healed, and jumped up out of bed, kicking off his foot poultices, asked for some bread and milk, and after consuming it, put on his hat and continued along with them down the street to heal others.


The baptismal font in the basement of the Nauvoo Temple was mounted on 12 oxen and built of Wisconsin pine by Elijah Fordham. Apparently his healing blessing “stuck,” as he outlived all those who were there to witness it. He died in 1879 in Wellsville, Utah.


Gravestone of Elijah Fordham, in Wellsville Cemetery

 Just for fun:  a picture of my husband and me with our first five children, standing on the remains of the baptismal font at the Nauvoo Temple foundation site in 1997.
Who knew then that it would be back before these kids were grown?
Below: the rebuilt font

 Our youngest four children at the entrance
to the rebuilt Nauvoo Temple in 2006.

Samuel Rolfe, Temple Carpenter and Assistant Doorkeeper
D&C 124:142. And again, I say unto you, Samuel Rolfe and his counselors for priests, and the president of the teachers and his counselors, and also the president of the deacons and his counselors, and also the president of the stake and his counselors. 

Thomas B. Marsh, an apostle who had become a bitter apostate over a pint of cream, upon returning to the Church with a broken and repentant heart, quoted David from the Bible and said, “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” (Black, p. 189) Well, Samuel Rolfe was the personification of that desire. In fact, he was not even a doorkeeper in the house of God, he was an assistant doorkeeper of the Kirtland Temple. He was not a prominent figure in church history. But he was always steadily serving where he could. When in December of 1835, the Prophet Joseph was in financial distress, several of the brethren gave him money. The Prophet was so grateful, he itemized them and their donations in his History of the Church and wrote along with it, “My heart swells with gratitude inexpressible when I realize the great condescension of the heavenly Father, in opening the hearts of these my beloved brethren to administer so liberally to my wants. And I ask God, in the name of Jesus Christ, to multiply blessings without number upon their heads…And whether my days are many or few, whether in life or in death, I say in my heart, O Lord, let me enjoy the society of such brethren.” Elijah Fordham and Samuel Rolfe are both on that list, Elijah having given $5.25, and Samuel $1.25. (Joseph Smith, History of the Church 2:327) At the time, Samuel was a carpenter, working on the Kirtland Temple.

When the saints began the Nauvoo Temple, Samuel was called to be one of the full-time carpenters there as well. The Nauvoo Temple was finished and dedicated room by room and story by story. The baptismal font, which Elijah Fordham had built, was in the basement to symbolize dying before being reborn, and therefore it was the first part completed. A very unusual blessing took place there for Samuel Rolfe. He was seriously afflicted with a “felon,” an acute and painful inflammation of the deeper tissues of a finger. This would, of course, be a real problem for a carpenter working on the temple.  Samuel Rolfe apparently did not keep a journal, nor did any of his descendants write his history, as far as we know, but according to Edward Stevenson’s biography, Samuel Rolfe was promised that if he would dip his finger in the baptismal font, he would be healed. He did so, and was healed.

Just before Joseph’s death, he asked for volunteers to go west scouting for a new home for the Saints. Samuel was one of the few who volunteered. Because of the martyrdom, they did not go. Instead Samuel served as a bishop in Winter Quarters, and a captain of a pioneer company. He died in Utah at the age of 72. (Black, p. 250-251)


The Triumph of the Nauvoo Temple
Samuel Rolfe and Elijah Fordham are two of the many, many early Saints who did a great work behind the scenes. The Nauvoo Temple itself did not last. Although ordinances were performed in each room as it was finished and dedicated, the entire temple wasn’t finally dedicated until May 1st, 1846, after most of the saints had already left Nauvoo, and as you can see by the For Sale sign, it was placed on the market that very month. A few years later, an arsonist burned it down, and the stones were gradually carted away to be used in other buildings in the area.

But it was not a tragedy, it was a triumph. Because of the temple-building efforts of Samuel and Elijah and the others, many members of the Church were able to have the great joy of receiving their temple ordinances, and being baptized for their deceased family members before they headed out west. It would be 31 years before there would be another temple on the earth (in St. George, Utah).

GENEALOGY AND ORDINANCE WORK IN OUR DAY

One Genealogist’s Dream
Fast forward to the year 2001.  On February 20th, in Lindon, Utah a church member named Natalie Harris had a remarkable dream. She saw a lone Black man. Turning and looking back, she saw a huge line of Black people. She said, “I go up to the man leaning against the wall and say, 'I know what you want,' and then I turn and all of the people come running toward me.”

She woke up then, with an overwhelming feeling of love. She got right up, went to her computer genealogy database with some names she had heard in her dream and found an ancestor who had a large plantation and many slaves. She knew those were the people she had seen in her dream, begging her to do their work and connect their families.

She had a very busy week and couldn’t get right on it, so she made a promise in prayer that she would start doing the research in one week. In the meantime, she asked around among her genealogy friends about how to find records of slaves. No one knew.

February 27, 2001 was exactly one week from the day she had had her dream and made her promise. She sat down at the computer to start the work and was interrupted by a phone call from her husband, who was “absolutely flabbergasted.” On his way into work he had heard the press announcement that the Church had completed their research on the Freedman Bank records, and was now releasing a CD with names of 484,000 former slaves to anyone who wanted to buy it for $6.95!

The Freedman’s Bank Savings and Trust Company was a charter after the Civil War to help former slaves and Black soldiers with their new financial responsibilities as freed men. Unfortunately, due to mismanagement and fraud, the bank collapsed nine years later, adding more tragedy to the lives of the African-Americans. But a wonderful treasure trove remained in the records of that bank. Not only were the depositors’ names and finances recorded, but the names of their spouses, children, parents, in-laws, and other relatives, including details about who had been sold away into slavery elsewhere. There were even oral histories taken.

How the Freedman Bank CD Became Available
KBYU wanted to do a documentary series on genealogy and entitle it “Ancestors.” They appealed to PBS to get a grant, but the woman in charge of the grants thought there would be no audience for a series on genealogy. To surmount this problem, KBYU decided to present her with her own genealogy, so she could see how fascinating it could be. They assigned an employee, Marie Taylor, to do this genealogy, but Marie found it to be incredibly difficult because the woman was African-American. Marie searched everywhere for the information, but it wasn’t until she came across the Freedman Bank records that she found the links she needed. The woman was moved, and KBYU got the grant.

Marie, however, was just getting started. She had found that reading these Freedman Bank records was like translating Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. They were extremely difficult to wade through, but Marie could see how incredibly valuable they were.

 An example of a record from the Freedman Bank

Darius Gray

She enlisted Darius (pronounced Da-RYE-us) Gray, a prominant Church member with African-American ancestry, to help her to find a way to index this information and make it available. It was going to take an enormous amount of work, so they looked for groups who would help them, and one group after another fell through. Finally, they turned to the South Point Family History Center. The South Point Family History Center is located within the walls and bars of the Utah State Penitentiary.

 This photo from lds.org, Prisoners Rescuing Prisoners

They called upon the prisoners to volunteer to help with this huge name extraction, and the prisoners clamored to work on the project.

It took 11 years and the labor of more than 550 prisoners. Those who volunteered and qualified were required to attend church meetings of their choice, read the scriptures daily, and pray morning and evening. They called themselves the “spiritual parole board,” as they felt they were letting prisoners go free. But they themselves were also being freed. Recidivism (or relapse into crime) among those who worked on this project plummeted. Commonly inmates take a personality profile when they come into prison. One man’s profile was so different after he had worked on the project for a while that he didn’t test as the same person! Another prisoner who begged to work on the project had received a blessing the night before he left home for prison in which he was promised the prison would become a temple to him.

The symbolism doesn’t stop there: The project was finished on Independence Day 2000.

The CD was released to the public in February of 2001 to commemorate Black History Month. The original 10,000 CDs sold out in days and another 20,000 were pressed. Darius Gray said, “The whole thing reminds me of an old Negro spiritual: “When the Lord Gets Ready, You’ve Got to Move.” 

An executive at the Distribution Center said, “I don’t know of any other time during my years here that we have ever released a product that has given our telephone operators the kind of impressions and feedback from our customers, both member and particularly non-members, that this product is producing. We have people literally weeping on the phone and wanting to know who we are, what other products we have, why we do this type of thing, why it doesn’t cost more money.” (This information on the Freedman Bank story comes from Maurine Proctor, "Let My People Go: The Healing Story Behind the Freedman Bank Records," published online in Meridian Magazine, accessed July 2013.)

Our Great Commission to Free the Prisoners
The Utah State Prison inmates at the South Point Family History Center join Samuel Rolfe and Elijah Fordham as backstage workers who each did a little bit, within their own capacity, to redeem the dead.

When Joseph Smith gave that sermon at Seymour Brunson’s funeral, he quoted the words of Paul to the Corinthians regarding baptism for the dead. Other than that little bit of vicarious work mentioned there by Paul, the redeeming of the dead has been left almost entirely to our dispensation. It wasn’t until Christ preached to the spirits in prison after his death that the missionary work among them commenced. Then, here on the earth, the Great Apostasy occurred, and not until the Restoration through Joseph Smith could the ordinances for those converted in the Spirit World be begun.

Is it surprising at all, then, to realize that although Priesthood ordinances and offices were revealed line upon line as the Church grew and developed, the importance of the work for the dead was pressed upon the young Joseph Smith by the Angel Moroni before a temple was built, before the Priesthood was restored, before the Church was organized, even 4 years before he took the golden plates from the hill? Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith in his bedroom three times in one night preparing him for the great work of the Restoration, giving him instructions and quoting scriptures, and each time, the first scripture he quoted was Malachi 4:

JS-H 1:36-39 – “After telling me these things, he commenced quoting the prophecies of the Old Testament. He first quoted part of the third chapter of Malachi; and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as it reads in our books, he quoted it thus: For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.”

D&C 128:17 “And again, in connection with this quotation I will give you a quotation from one of the prophets, who had his eye fixed on the restoration of the priesthood, the glories to be revealed in the last days, and in an especial manner this most glorious of all subjects belonging to the everlasting gospel, namely, the baptism for the dead; for Malachi says, last chapter, verses 5th and 6th: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”  

Challenge
The work for the dead is the most glorious subject of the gospel. Why? Because this doctrine shows so clearly the love and mercy of God for all of his children.  This glorious gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of second chances.
  
Every bit of research and ordinance work you do (even your own ordinances!) welds this link. Each family night lesson you teach about an ancestor, every photo you put in an album (or a shoebox – but labeled!), every family reunion you drag your kids to, every Memorial Day gravesite visit, every journal entry knits this eternal project together. I hope you can see how many things you are already doing in the spirit of Elijah. Pat yourself on the back and continue! If you feel you could do more, pick one additional thing that you will do this year and get started.

D&C 127:4 – And again, verily thus saith the Lord: Let the work of my temple, and all the works which I have appointed unto you, be continued on and not cease; and let your diligence, and your perseverance, and patience, and your works be redoubled, and you shall in nowise lose your reward, saith the Lord of Hosts.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Old Testament Lesson #36 "The Glory of Zion Will Be a Defense"

Isaiah 1-6

APPRECIATING ISAIAH
Sergei Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto is commonly considered one of the most challenging piano pieces ever written.  It is not often performed because it is so difficult to play (although it is often used in international competitions for the very same reason), and it requires skill on the part of the listener to understand it and enjoy it. 

You can hear the great Russian pianist, Vladimir Horowitz, play this piece with the New York Philharmonic if you click here. (By the way, Rachmaninoff, when he heard Horowitz perform it, said he would never play it himself again.)

1) Listen to the first 24 seconds of music, and notice the beautiful melody that is played on the piano. This is the main theme of the piece, the part you will find yourself singing the rest of the day, if you listen to the entire movement. This phrase is an antecedant, or a question.  You can hear how it is open-ended; it goes upwards; it sounds incomplete.  Later on, of course, there is a similar phrase that "answers" it, and provides a feeling of closure.

2) Listen to those 24 seconds again, and this time, notice that it is not a single note that is being played, but two notes in different registers.  The pianist's skill deceives us into thinking it is one note at a time, but having the two sets of strings ringing at once gives a richer, more beautiful ringing sound.

3) Listen to it again and hear how the bassoon brings in its voice in the background to provide a complementary melody.  It adds a melancholy feel.

4) Listen again, and notice the first thing you actually hear, before the piano or the bassoon, is the bass violin providing a backbeat, lending a sense of urgency.  (The Beatles were not the first to use a backbeat.)  Although you don't really notice it, it draws you in, and carries you away throughout the piece.  It keeps you from relaxing.  It provides an anxious heartbeat.

5) If you continue to listen beyond the first 24 seconds, you hear this main theme repeated in the string section, with the pianist accompanying.  You hear it come up again and again, with different feelings, sometimes with great dissonance and chords that crash together with great pathos.  (Unfortunately, YouTube only allows 10-minute segments, so you don't get to hear the entire movement played by Horowitz.  You can find it in other places on the internet, however, played by other pianists.)

I love this piece more every time I listen to it, because I pick up something new each time.  I also love it because I was able to hear it for the first time at the International Tchaikovsky Competition at the Moscow Conservatory during the one evening my husband and I had available on my first reluctant trip to Russia--an amazing coincidence.  I had never heard the complete concerto live, and, being a pianist and a piano teacher myself, I had long wanted to, so this blessing was tailored to my desire.  So, in addition to enjoying the depth and meaning of the piece itself, there is a depth and feeling of love that accompanies it for me, as I remember my Heavenly Father's gift to me that day.  Hearing this performance was a high point of my "musical life."  I don't think I will ever tire of listening to Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto, and having learned something about the composer since, I have a great desire to meet him myself in the next life.

There are all kinds of music to enjoy.  Some of it is just fun, and very easy to understand, like, "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah.  She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah."  The message is: She loves him.  A three-year-old could figure it out.  But this concerto isn't lightweight, wallpaper-type music that you can listen to in the background while you are doing something else.  It requires rapt attention.  You have to sit down in front of the speakers.  You have to close your eyes.  You have to be uninterrupted.

Isaiah is to gospel literature as Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto is to music. Isaiah requires commitment.  You don't just breathe it in; you have to sit down at the table with your knife and fork.  But, like the concerto, you can also enjoy it and gain something from it in your very first reading, and each time you come back to it, you can pick up a little more.  As significant events happen in your spiritual life, the Lord may speak to you through the scriptures, and then you add the depth of feeling that accompanied that experience.  You are moved as you hear Isaiah performed musically, such as in Handel's Messiah (40:1-5, 11; 53:3-6), in the hymn, "How Firm a Foundation" (41:10; 43:2), and in other sacred songs (40:31; 52:7).  You gain a desire to one day meet the Author of those passages, Jesus Christ.  Additional feelings may be evoked when you see Isaiah in unexpected places, such as in front of the United Nations Building in New York City, below (2:4). 



Each time you read it, you love it more, and you understand it better. There are so many levels, you will never reach the bottom of Isaiah. In fact, Isaiah was commanded to make his writings hard to understand (6:9-10) that those who were not sincere would not be quickly converted, fall away, and then be held responsible for knowing better than they were willing to behave. You have to pay a price to understand Isaiah, therefore you receive more joy with each bit of understanding you gain. Christ commanded the Nephites to "search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah" (3 Ne. 23:1) "Note the word diligently. Casually doesn't work; we've already tried that" (Gary Poll).


STUDYING ISAIAH
You can study Isaiah so many ways:

1) You can simply read it, enjoying the rhythm and beauty of the words.

2) You can pick it apart into tiny pieces, word by word, noting minute details, and researching them in depth.  (See ideas for storing your information in a previous entry.)

3) You can watch for repetitions of the main themes.  (See ideas in the next section.)

4) You can follow different aspects, like the different voices of the orchestra, such as the geography, the poetic style of the day (see a previous blog entry for help with that), the symbolism, references to mountains and temples, the historical time periods, etc.

5) You can take advantage of the many references and commentaries available in the LDS scriptures, starting with the footnotes about alternate translations and the Joseph Smith Translation, and the commentary provided in the Book of Mormon.  The best references for interpreting scriptures are always other scriptures.  Elder Bruce R. McConkie said you cannot really understand Isaiah without the Book of Mormon.  It is "the world's greatest commentary on Isaiah."  Not only does the Book of Mormon quote 446 verses of Isaiah, and comment on many of them, it also brings the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, which will heighten understanding.  So read the Book of Mormon as you read the Old Testament.

6) Each time the Old Testament comes around in Sunday School study, you could purchase another book of commentary by an LDS gospel scholar. Unlike the Ethiopian in Acts 8:27-31, we have no need to ask, "How can I understand except some man should guide me?" when so many books are available to us.

7) You can create an "emergency spiritual food storage" for times of trial to come, by highlighting in a different color all the verses you find about the mercy and love of the Lord.   

SOME MAIN THEMES FOUND IN ISAIAH

The Lord is Ever Merciful

"A correct knowledge of God's character traits and attributes, his personality and disposition, is of vital import in mankind's quest for exaltation...We must know a Being who asks our all before we can place trust, faith, and ultimately, our complete submission on the altar. Isaiah addresses this theme at the very onset of his writing and weaves it as a cord throughout." (Mark Eastmond)

Pattern of the Old Testament:
1)Statement of the problem; 2)Consequences, 3)Statement of the Cure, 4)Reason for Hope

1) The Problem:  The children of Israel don't know they belong to God. (1:2-4)
2) The Consequences:  Wounds, bruises, sickness, desolation. (1:5-7)
3) The Cure: Wash you, put away evil, relieve the oppressed, seek justice for the fatherless. (1:16-17)
4) The Hope: Sins as scarlet will be white as snow, the good of land will be a reward. (1:18-19) (Michael Wilcox)


God's Plan to Fulfill His Covenant

"Isaiah blends the imagery of the tabernacle from his day, the mortal and postmortal mission of Christ, and the restoration of the gospel and construction of temples in the latter-days to reveal the Lord's plan for restoring the children of Israel to the covenant.  Isaiah blends these ideas over and over, going back and forth in both time and event, leaving readers to engage themselves more in the finished tapestry than to look for each individual thread."

1) Many of the house of Israel will die before receiving the covenant.
2) Christ must come and open the way for all people to be taught the gospel and enter into the presence of God.
3) "Mountains" (temples) will provide a way whereby all, including the dead, may receive the covenant.
4) The Gentiles of the latter days will be instrumental in helping ancient Israel receive the covenant.  (Michael King)


Isaiah is written in "3-D," or is multi-dimensional.  There is more than one meaning, more than one angle to take.  We can look at it from the front and see one thing, and walk around it to the back side and see another.  Rather than reading it literally, we need to put on our "3-D glasses" to see the meaning of the symbols.  In addition, Isaiah is full of dualism in that most of the prophecies were to be fulfilled in two different time periods. 

Keeping these things in mind, here are some ideas on chapters one and six.

CHAPTER ONE: THE INTRODUCTION

1:1 is the title.
1:2 states the main problem.
1:3 People are dumber than animals.  At least animals are aware of where their food comes from.  People turn away from the Source.  Wickedness does not promote rational thought ("doth not consider").
1:5 "Head" denotes the leaders of the people; "heart" denotes the core of the people.
1:6 "Putrifying sores" tells how spiritually diseased they are.  They have not even used simple first aid to clean the wound.
1:7  The Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans all conquered the children of Israel.  This also has connotations in the 20th-21st Centuries.
1:8  A "lodge" is a little shade hut for a gardener; not a secure place.  About the shoddiest construction the Jews would have known.
1:9  If God hadn't intervened, there would have been nothing left.  Although it is assumed to be at the bottom of the Dead Sea, there is no remnant of Sodom and Gommorah that has ever been found by archeologists.  It has completely vanished from the earth without a trace.
1:10 "Rulers of Sodom"--a slap in the face to the Israelites.  An equivalent insult in our day might be to compare someone to Hitler.
1:11  Why pretend to worship?  Like people who are schemers and cheaters or viewers of pornography during the week, but are still taking the sacrament every Sunday in their suits and ties.
1:13  For "new moons," see Bible Dictionary, p. 738.  The people are simply "following the dots," but the worship is empty.
1:16  "Wash you" means to be baptized or, if already baptized, to renew the covenant.  "Cease to do evil--learn to do well" are linked: When you leave behind your sins, you need to fill that void with good works.
1:18  Scarlet and crimson were some of the very few colorfast dyes of ancient days.  Wool takes a lot of work to be made nice and white: the shearing, washing with fuller's soap, scrubbing, carding.
1:21  A harlot takes something sacred and holy and sells it for money: it's not just wicked, it's profane.
1:22  Dross is the waste from the metal processing.  (David J. Ridges)


 CHAPTER SIX: ISAIAH'S CALL

6:1  "Train" refers to the hem of his garment, signifying his great power, the great robe of his righteousness, filling the temple of Heaven.
6:2  The word seraphim comes from the Hebrew root sarap, which means "to burn."  Therefore, in this context it means "the burning ones," or "the bright, shining ones," which describes the glorious condition of the angels who are in the Celestial Kingdom near God's throne.  (See D&C 109:79)  That they have two wings covering their eyes may refer to being veiled, as in temple clothing, from the glory of God.  The two wings covering their feet may also denote temple clothing and the holiness of the ground upon which they walk.  The wings with which to fly symbolize the ability to act quickly and unimpeded.
6:3  Repeating something three times, such as "Holy, holy, holy," signifies the ultimate, the maximum.  This is the Hebrew superlative.  This particular cry points to the Godhead.  "Lord of hosts" refers to the Captain of the Heavenly army.  "Lord of Hosts" is used 62 times in Isaiah.
6:4  "Posts of the door moved."  The passageway trembles when the Lord speaks.  The presence of smoke indicates the presence of the Lord (Rev. 15:8).
6:5  "I am undone" means "I am destroyed," or "I am lost," for (or because) he has found himself unworthy in the presence of the Lord.  Isaiah realizes his nothingness and unworthiness next to God, much as did Moses (Moses 1:9-11).
6:6-7  But one of the seraphims flies to him with a live coal (remember, the "burning" is because of holiness, as in verse 2), which he has taken from the altar that symbolizes Christ's Atonement.  When he touches Isaiah's lips (the entrance to the inward parts of the body), Isaiah is cleansed and purified. It is similar to our sacrament, in which taking a token into our mouths allows us to be forgiven through the Atonement, and purifies us once again with the Holy Ghost.
6:8  "Here I am" in Hebrew signifies more than mere presence, but readiness to do what is asked.  In fact, it shows a willingness to give one's life for the person asking.  This is the same phrase Christ used.  Isaiah is a type of Christ.
6:9  Check all the footnotes at the bottom of the page for Christ's references to this commandment given to Isaiah to make the scriptures hard for the casual reader to understand.  Also see John 12:37-41.
6:10  "Heart" in ancient Hebrew refers to the center of thought and motivation, therefore the New Revised Standard Version reads, "Make the mind of this people dull."
6:11-12  "How long" will men choose spiritual blindness?  The answer: Until they are desolate--to the end.
6:13  A small remnant of the people will be preserved, and as a tree that is dormant or felled, that stump will regenerate because its substance is the holy seed:  Christ and his gospel.  (Parry, Parry and Peterson, plus my own interpretation)

Sources: 
Gary Poll, "Keys to Understanding Isaiah," BYU Education Week Lecture, August 2002.

Mark Eastmond, "Images of Mercy in the Writings of Isaiah," Covenants, Prophecies, and Hymns of the Old Testament: The 30th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, p. 196-197.

Michael Wilcox, "Finding Themes and Patterns in the Scriptures," BYU Education Week Lecture, August 2008.

Michael L. King, "Isaiah's Vision of God's Plan to Fulfill His Covenant," Covenants, Prophecies, and Hymns of the Old Testament: The 30th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, p. 162-179

David J. Ridges, "Isaiah Made Easier," BYU Education Week Lecture, August 2002

Donald W. Parry, Jay A. Parry, Tina M. Peterson, Understanding Isaiah, p. 62-67.