1 Nephi 20

(All of my own thoughts are in blue type. 4/20Green 1/21 Orange 4/22 Brown 2023 )

CHAPTER 20

The Lord reveals his purposes to Israel—They have been chosen in the furnace of affliction and are to go forth from Babylon—Compare Isaiah 48. Between 588 and 570 B.C.

I Love Avaraham's commentary on Isaiah (https://www.isaiahexplained.com/chapter/48) Much better than what I am doing....I refer you to it! 

  1 ^aHearken and hear this, Nephi loved Isaiah and said we should liken his words to ourselves. As we read this, we should be the ones listening …O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, Isaiah seems to be talking specifically to the Jews who are of the house of Jacob. Remember, the Book of Mormon is specifically written to them, so it may be included to speak to them in our day as well. and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, or out of the waters of ^bbaptism, who ^cswear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, yet they swear ^dnot in truth nor in righteousness. All baptized members of the church are of the house of Israel. We covenant, or 'swear', each week, when we take the sacrament, that we will 'always remember Him and keep His commandments'; then we go home. How sincere are we when we make that promise each week? How much effort and thought do we give it on a daily, hourly - even minute by minute basis?

  2 Nevertheless, they call themselves of the ^aholy city, we say, we are the only true church, even Zion, but they do ^bnot stay themselves "prone to wander; Lord I feel it"...upon the God of Israel, every time we choose not to listen to the Spirit or obey a commandment, we have chosen something/someone else to be our God who is the Lord of Hosts; yea, the Lord of Hosts is his name.

  3 Behold, I have declared the ^aformer things from the beginning; God shares all "former" things with us through the scriptures and then, again, in the temple, and then again before we receive the Second Comforter (personal visit from Christ). He gives us prophecy so that we can know He is in charge and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them. I did show them suddenly. They seem 'sudden' to us as we often don't realize prophecy until after it has come to pass and we look back.

  4 And I did it because I knew that thou art obstinate, "unyielding; stubborn" and thy ^aneck is an iron sinew," stiff-necked; proud" and thy brow brass; We refuse to bow our heads in submission and open our minds to all the truth that God wants to share with us.

  5 And I have even from the beginning declared to thee; before it came to pass I ^ashowed them thee; prophecy and I showed them for fear lest thou shouldst say—Mine idol hath done them, God tells us things beforehand so that we can give Him due credit and my graven image, and my molten image hath commanded them. But we can only recognize God's hand if we know the prophecies and are familiar with the scriptures.

  6 Thou hast seen and heard all this; and will ye ^anot declare them? And that I have showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. What new things has He shown us that we have not seen? Is He talking about prophecy?

  7 They are created now, spiritually first? and not from the beginning, even before the day when thou heardest them not they were declared unto thee, pre-earth life lest thou shouldst say—Behold I knew them.

  8 Yea, and thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time thine ear was not opened; for I knew that thou wouldst deal very treacherously, and wast called a ^atransgressor from the womb. natural man?

  9 Nevertheless, for my ^aname’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain from thee, that I cut thee not off. God is ever patient with us to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man"

  10 For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of ^aaffliction. Let your afflictions refine you..

  11 For mine own sake, yea, for mine own sake will I do this, for I will not suffer my ^aname to be polluted, and I will ^bnot give my glory unto another. God's covenants are real and binding. We must remain attached to them and Him What if the temples have all been closed for a moment, or a year... because we have been entering them unworthily, thus polluting them? God said, 'he will not suffer it'...?

  12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob, and Israel my called, for I am he; I am the ^afirst, and I am also the last.

  13 Mine hand hath also ^alaid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand "servant" language hath spanned the heavens. I ^bcall unto them and they stand up together.

  14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; who among them hath declared these things unto them? The Lord hath loved him; yea, and he will ^afulfil his word which he hath declared by them; and he will do his pleasure on ^bBabylon, and his arm servant shall come upon the Chaldeans.

  15 Also, saith the Lord; I the Lord, yea, I have spoken; yea, I have called ^ahim the servant to declare, I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

  16 Come ye near unto me; I have not spoken in ^asecret; from the beginning, from the time that it was declared have I spoken; and the Lord God, and his ^bSpirit, hath sent me. the servant

  17 And thus saith the Lord, thy ^aRedeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I have sent him, the servant the Lord thy God who teacheth thee to profit, who ^bleadeth thee by the way thou shouldst go, hath done it.

  18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my ^acommandments—then had thy ^bpeace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. I get the “peace like a river”…how is righteousness like the waves of the sea?  Is that the ebb and flow of sinning and repenting? The constant returning to God each week as we partake of the sacrament?

  19 Thy ^aseed also had been as the sand; the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

  20 ^aGo ye forth of Babylon, This is our constant call...leave the ways of the world and take upon yourself the yoke of Christ flee ye from the ^bChaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter to the end of the earth; say ye: The Lord hath redeemed his ^cservant Jacob.

  21 And they ^athirsted not; he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the ^brock for them; he clave the rock also and the waters gushed out. The end time exodus will be like the first

  22 And notwithstanding he hath done all this, and greater also, there is no ^apeace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. Peace only comes from God. Satan cannot imitate it. It is independent of circumstance and sustains us through the refining trials of life.