Isaiah illustrates the spiritual blindness of Israel with two examples. First, an educated man is handed a sealed scroll or book and is asked to read it. He responds, “I cannot; for it is sealed.” Then, an uneducated man is given the same document with the same request. He replies, “I am not learned” (Isaiah 29:11-12).
That’s the whole story as far as those two characters are concerned. Isaiah goes on to foretell that God will address this widespread ignorance by performing a marvelous work (v. 14), and he later lists blessings which will come from the dissemination of the book (v. 19-35), but at least in our version of the book of Isaiah, the two characters, learned and unlearned, both stand as case studies of people failing to receive God’s word for different reasons.
Nephi’s reading of this text is different. First, he identifies the book as a literal volume containing the words of his descendants (2 Nephi 26:15-17). Then, he expands the narrative. The book is given to a man who delivers its words to another person (2 Nephi 27:6-10). This second person takes those words to a learned man, asking him to read them. The learned man requests the book, and when the messenger explains that the book is sealed, the learned man replies, “I cannot read it” (2 Nephi 27:15-18).
We return to the original recipient of the book. He protests to God that he can’t read it because of his lack of learning, but God responds that the learned are unwilling to read it, and that a lack of education is not disqualifying. “I am able to do mine own work,” He affirms; “wherefore thou shalt read the words which I shall give unto thee” (2 Nephi 27:19-20). He instructs the man to read the book and show it to witnesses and then to “seal up the book again, … until I shall see fit in mine own wisdom to reveal all things unto the children of men” (2 Nephi 27:22).
Several chapters later, Nephi testifies, “There is nothing which is secret save it shall be revealed; there is no work of darkness save it shall be made manifest in the light; and there is nothing which is sealed upon the earth save it shall be loosed” (2 Nephi 30:17). Sealed books will be unsealed. Everything will eventually be known.
Nephi’s version of the story bears a remarkable resemblance to Martin Harris’s account of showing some characters from the gold plates to a professor in New York City, particularly the professor’s statement, “‘I cannot read a sealed book” (Joseph Smith—History 1:64-65). But that is only one of many cases where educated people have found it impossible to read what appears to be a sealed book. When a less-educated person finds it hard to understand God’s word, God reassures them. More training might not solve their problem, since even the learned have found the book unreadable. But God can help those with less knowledge to read His word and to understand it. He is a God of miracles, and He works among us according to our faith (2 Nephi 27:23).
Today I will seek to understand the word of God by faith. When passages seem to be sealed to me, I will remember that God can help me understand if I’m willing to trust Him and keep trying. I will also remember God’s promise to reveal everything to His children in time.
Leave a Reply