Ep 393 | Isaiah 58-66, Come Follow Me 2026 (Oct 12-18)

Now, there's a bit of a question as to whether or not Isaiah is the author of these specific chapters.

Typically, scholars look at these last few chapters of Isaiah as having been written after the exiles return to Jerusalem around 520 BC.

As someone who loves the Book of Mormon, I- we're safe.

Like, the- these chapters are not in the Book of Mormon.

So whether they are originally written by Isaiah back in 740 to 700 BC, or they were written by his followers after the return of the exiles, it really, to me, it doesn't matter.

But just know that, uh, typically in scholarship they view this as, uh, th- often it's called a Trito-Isaiah or a Third Isaiah, as if the followers of Isaiah who came back to Jerusalem wrote this at the time when they are deciding to build the temple, which was right around 516 BC.

Now, the thinking is, well, clearly Isaiah wasn't there when this subject matter occurred, and therefore he didn't write it.

But there is the possibility, and I'm gonna shout it out, that his Seeric eyes, that Isaiah with his Seeric abilities and in that role of prophet is in the future-

Absolutely

... writing to those people, and th- they actually had the writings of Isaiah to a future group of people.

Absolutely.

So I think there's room for all of that in this, that maybe it was Isaiah prophesying the future events, or maybe it really was a prophet in that event who's speaking to the people and maybe representing or a follower of Isaiah.

I think there's room for all of that in this argument.

Yeah.

But before we jump in, let me do another big-picture look for this theme throughout this week.

Last week, the theme was kind of Jesus the Faithful Husband.

This week, we kind of have a similar theme.

It's almost as if Jesus is talking to two groups of people at the same time, that He's speaking to a rebellious group that He has turned His back on, but at the same time He's speaking to a righteous group.

Now, who was that righteous group? 'Cause if this time period is kind of the Babylonian captivity, or at least going into or post captivity, if that's the time period, then I think we could clearly identify the rebellious people that caused all of that.

So was there a righteous branch of Israelites that maybe were forced underground at that time? Were there righteous people then that Jesus is speaking to? You're gonna hear their voice coming out.

It's kind of like this verse in chapter 65.

"Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all." There's that hint about a good righteous branch that I'm going to preserve.

So was it a righteous branch of Israel that was kind of living in the shadows of this more rebellious group? Or perhaps is He referring to the Nephites that He sent to America? That, "There's my righteous branch, while you Israelites here in Jerusalem have kind of gone astray." Or perhaps is it our voice? Are we the righteous branch? Are we the cluster of grapes that's causing God to preserve Israel? Is it our voice that you're gonna hear in these verses, a voice beyond the apostasy of a group of Israelites who will call Christ their king and be faithful to Him? So watch for that tension as He talks to the rebellious group, but He also talks to and about this righteous group and the blessings He has in store for them.

So let's talk about the voice of this prophet in these chapters 58 through 66, and his voice as it is given to these different groups.