Sunday, August 4, 2019

Isaiah on Praise in the Millennial Day -- 2 Nephi 22

What Happens

"In the millennial day all men will praise the Lord—He will dwell among them—Compare Isaiah 12."
2 Nephi 22 Chapter Heading

Commentary

In our last episode, we were reading some Isaiah that Nephi wanted to share with us, including messages about gathering and uniting the people of the Lord.

This chapter talks about the Millennium, which seems like kind of a promise from God that everything that we do and have gone through will be worth it.  We don't get the same level of detail that we do in other scriptures about this period, and although those details are amazingly cool (no sickness, no death, no sorrow, etc.), I think the focus here is also really cool, because it is part of a needed break between some of the other less-happy prophecies of the last days, but also because it is a blessing of hope, and a reminder that the bad parts are always temporary. It is good to skip ahead a little and see that we will all be praising God, and that the good parts will last, and that they will triumph.

In verse two I like how it points out that we will trust and not be afraid.  Fear is such a constant for us in this life it seems.  Even if we aren't in an emergency, there are those background worries that can fill our lives with anxiety.  The idea that we will be saying we are not afraid is an amazing promise.

The Millennium seems to be all about joy, as verse three mentions, and I love the image of drawing water out of the wells of salvation.  What could taste better? :)

The last three verses all seem to convey the idea that we are going to be so happy and love God so much that we just can't contain it.  In verse four we are telling others to praise him, in five we want everyone to sing to him, and in six we are crying out and shouting his praise.  Those are things that we only do on rare, and supremely happy, occasions in our current lives... just imagine how happy we will be, if we are feeling that kind of impulse all the time. :)

Tune in next time as we continue reading the Isaiah chapters that Nephi picked out for us.

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