Friday, December 31, 2021

Dallin H. Oaks and Jeffrey R. Holland on there being Multiple Fulfillments of Prophecies in the Book of Isaiah

  

The book of Isaiah contains numerous prophecies that seem to have multiple fulfillments. One seems to involve the people of Isaiah’s day or the circumstances of the next generation. Another meaning, often symbolic, seems to refer to events in the meridian of time, when Jerusalem was destroyed and her people scattered after the crucifixion of the Son of God. Still another meaning or fulfillment of the same prophecy seems to relate to the events attending the Second Coming of the Savior. The fact that many of these prophecies can have multiple meanings underscores the importance of our seeking revelation from the Holy Ghost to help us interpret them. As Nephi says, the words of Isaiah “are plain unto all those that are filled with the spirit of prophecy” (2 Ne. 25:4). (Dallin H. Oaks, "Scripture Reading and Revelation," Ensign, January 1995)

 

It is, of course, important to remember that many of Isaiah's prophecies can be or have been or will be fulfilled in more than one way and in more than one dispensation.

 

Obviously, we have material in Isaiah's writings that applies to a whole range of experiences, including that of the premortal Christ, of his first mortal advent in the meridian of time, and of his Second Coming in the latter days.

 

New Testament contemporaries struggled with the duality of Isaiah's prophecies a bit, perhaps too eagerly taking a passage clearly applying to Christ's Second Coming and forcing it to represent his appearance in the meridian of time. Of course, when Christ refused to proclaim himself the messiah of the last days in his first advent, some were disappointed. But everyone should learn a little patience in all of this: many of those prophecies have since then been fulfilled, and they will all be fulfilled in time. (Jeffrey R. Holland, “’More Fully Persuaded’: Isaiah’s Witness of Christ’s Ministry,” in Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, Donald W. Parry, John W. Welch, eds. [Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1998], 4-5)