all things cbl

THR 1350
Isaiah
David Bokovoy

Numbers 21:6
- “And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died”

seraph = to burn is the root.
seraphim = fiery serpents.

The serpent can not touch the coal.. even though he’s a fiery being.. he has to use tongs.. and says “Open wide, Isaiah” and put this in your mouth..

Hel 8:14-15 –> And as many as should lookup that serpent should live..

Israel will “relive the experience of the generation in the wilderness with the Seraphim serpents (Num 21:3-6) that Isaiah’s own purification symbolizes. Therefore Isaiah the prophet, according to the role he plays in the narrative, himself becomes the sign of their healing.”

For he is healed..and made divine in this near eastern cleansing.. he is made a member of the council.

“But [Micaiah] said, ‘I call upon you to hear the word of the Lord! I saw the Lord seated upon His throne, with all the host of heaven standing in attendance to the right and to the left of Him” (1 kings 22:19; JPS).

Standing before God.. in the council.

1 Kings 22:20-21; JPS -> “…then one said thus and another said thus… until a certain spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said..”

JPS = Jewish Publication Society Translation

‘he seemed to see a council of the brethren on the other side and they were advocating his name..”
Francis M. Gibbons, Harold B. Lee: Man of Vision, Prophet of God [SLC: Deseret Book Co, 1993], 468-469

The Ascension of Isaiah:
“I saw a glorious angel; his glory was not like the glory of the angels which I always used to see, but he had great glory, and an office, such that I cannot describe the glory of this angel. And I saw when he took hold of me by my hand, and I said to him, “who are you? and what is your name? And where are you taking me up?” For strength had been given to me that I might speak with him. And he said to me, ‘When I have taken you up through (all) the stages and have shown you the vision on account of which I was sent, then you will understand who I am; but my name you will not know, for you have to return into this body. But where I take you up, you will see, because for this purpose I was sent.’ And I rejoiced because he spoke to me with kindness… And he said.. ‘For this purpose I was sent from the seventh heaven, that I make all this clear to you” (7:1-8)

“Comfort ‘ye’, comfort ‘ye’ my people, saith your God” (Isaiah 40:1) — masc. plural.

Isaiah 40:1 – The Plural Imperatives Invoke the Divine Council
Frank Moore Cross, Jr., “The Council of Yahweh in Second Isaiah,” Journey of Near Eastern Studies X11 (1953):274-277;Stephan A. Gellar, ‘Were the Prophets Poets’, The Place is Too Small for Us: The Israelite Prophets in Recent Scholarship (Winona Lake Eisenbrauns, 1995): 154-165…

Isaiah 6 vs Isaiah 40
Prophetic Commissions
“The parallel to Isaiah 6:1-8 is remarkable”

B.H. Roberts, Life of John Taylor, SLC, George Q. Cannon and sons: 1892, 27-28…
“Young Taylor possessed a portion of the spirit of God and was very happy. Manifestations of its presence were frequent, not only in the expansion of his mind to understand doctrines and principles, but also in dreams and visions. ‘Often when alone’, he writes, ‘and sometimes in company, I heard sweet, soft, melodious music, as if performed by angelic or supernatural beings.’ When but a small boy he saw, in vision, an angel in the heavens, holding a trumpet to his mouth, sounding a message to the nations. The import of this vision he did not understand until later in life.”

D&C128:19 –
D&C 128:20-21 — ‘giving us consolation’…

In Genesis 22:12 .. why would God say “now I know”..
Exod 18:11, Judg 17:13, Psal 20:7..
God never says ‘Now I know’.. but witnesses say it.. and they can testify to God.
It’s witness speech..

The Endowment –> “Your endowment is to receive all those ordinances… to enable you to walk back to the PRESENCE of …”

“I call God and angels to witness that have unsheathed my sword with a firm and unalterable determination that his people shall have their legal rights, and be protected from mob violence, or my blood shall be spilt upon the ground like water, and my body consigned to the silent tomb. While I live, I will never tamely submit to the dominion of cursed mobocracy” Joseph Smith, history of the Church, VI:469

Teachings, 260 –> “It will be necessary in the Grand Council, that these things be testified to by competent witnesses. Therefore let the recording and witnessing of baptisms for the dead be carefully attended to from this time forth”

Amos 3:7 -> surely the Lord God doeth nothing saith he revealth his “council”…