Before Nephi read Isaiah 48 and 49 to his brothers, he urged them to listen carefully. “Hear ye the words of the prophet,” he said, “ye who are a remnant of the house of Israel.” Then he added, “Hear ye the words of the prophet, which were written unto all the house of Israel, and liken them unto yourselves, that ye may have hope as well as your brethren from whom ye have been broken off” (1 Nephi 19:24).
His brothers tried to keep the prophet’s words at arm’s length, asking Nephi if Isaiah’s prophecies would be literally fulfilled or if they were merely “spiritual” (1 Nephi 22:1). Nephi responded that Isaiah received these prophecies by the Spirit and that they would be fulfilled “according to the flesh.” Spiritual and temporal are not separable (1 Nephi 22:2-3).
As he began to explain Isaiah’s words, he emphasized their applicability to his own family. “It meaneth us in the days to come, and also all our brethren who are of the house of Israel” (1 Nephi 22:6). He reminded them that Moses had warned that those who failed to hear the words of a prophet would be cut off (1 Nephi 22:20). And he ended with a plea for them to keep the commandments of God (1 Nephi 22:30-31).
Both of the chapters which Nephi quoted begin with an invitation to listen. Isaiah 48 begins, “Hear ye this, O house of Jacob,” and Isaiah 49 opens with “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far.”
In chapter 48, the Lord laments Israel’s failure to follow His word:
O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.
Isaiah 48:18
And in chapter 49, he testifies that God has called him to be a light to his own people and to the Gentiles, “that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).
Twice a year, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world gather to listen to inspired messages from their leaders. Today and tomorrow, as I participate in general conference, I will follow Nephi’s admonition to “hear…the words of the prophet” in order to experience the peace that comes through obeying the commandments of God.
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