It feels like it has been forever since I have said these words. Welcome back to another episode of Primarily Scripture. I'm your host, Cindy Young, and it has been quite a while since I've done an episode. So I apologize. Thank you for being patient with me. Since this is a one-man show that I'm running over here, when life gets crazy, the podcast gets put on the back burner, but I am striving to get back on track. In my opinion, there's almost nobody that can say they understand Isaiah perfectly, because a lot of what he says is not clear until after the prophecy has been fulfilled, and then we can look back and understand what he was talking about. He talks a lot about the last days and the Second Coming and the millennium, and so right now, it's a lot of guesswork. There are many things that we can understand, many things that have happened. This week we are reading Isaiah chapters 58 through 66, and this is the very end of the book. And one thing that I want to show you guys is how Isaiah's prophecies can be layered, where he can say one thing, whether it's in one verse or a full chapter, and it can be applied in many different ways. For example, during Isaiah's lifetime, the Jews were taken into captivity. They were captured, they were carried away out of their homelands, and then decades later, they returned and they came back. So Isaiah prophesied about the Jews returning to Jerusalem but the way that Isaiah said it, it is simultaneously a prophecy about the last days and about the gathering of Israel, which we are participating in right now. Therefore, the idea that the Jews would be gathered is completely relevant for both Isaiah's time and for the last days. And there are a lot of things like that. So do you see how confusing Isaiah could be? So we don't want to focus on the confusing parts. Remember this podcast is for beginners, so if you are a beginner, then don't even worry about that stuff. Find what you can understand and focus on that, and little by little you will grow in your understanding of how Isaiah works. Let's turn right now to Isaiah chapter 61, the first couple of verses are super important. Jesus Christ himself quoted Isaiah, if you want to read what Jesus said, you can turn to Luke chapter 4, and it starts in about verse 18. But he reads these verses. These verses say, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." And that's just verse one! On my free worksheet this week, there's a study activity that helps you to discern who is speaking here. So let's think about this. Who wrote the Book of Isaiah? The prophet Isaiah, right? Of course. So since they are the words of Isaiah, could it possibly be him saying this? Let's read it again and think of it in terms of a prophet speaking. Could the prophet say, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me"? Yes, I think he could. Of course. That's an important part of being a prophet, right?"The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings," also true of a prophet."He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Could a prophet proclaim these things? Yes. All of our prophets can and do teach all these things. The good tidings are that Jesus Christ came. And the reason the brokenhearted can be comforted is because of Jesus Christ. And the opening of the prison is that we are no longer bound by sin, and those people who have died without knowledge of the gospel can have the opportunity to hear it and accept it, and prophets absolutely can and do teach these things. So this could be read very literally as Isaiah's words. Okay, but then do you remember that I said this is an important verse that Jesus Christ read? In the book of Luke, when Jesus reads this, it's right at the beginning of his ministry, and reading this is the way that he introduces himself to the people and announces that he is the Messiah they've been waiting for. So let's read it again as if it was Jesus Christ speaking."The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek." Was Jesus Christ the one that God sent? Yes, he was."He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted." It is Jesus Christ who does it."To proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Now it's Him doing it, not just a prophet talking about it and testifying of it, but Jesus is saying, "It's me. I'm here. I'm going to do this." Jesus used these words to describe himself, and that is so cool! So we can take these words, and they can be Isaiah's words, or they can be the Lord's words. One other interpretation- Could they be your words or my words? Well, let's see. Can the Spirit of the Lord be upon each of us? Of course it can. We are given the gift of the Holy Ghost, and we can have that with us. Has the Lord God anointed us to preach? Yes. Anytime you receive a calling, then you are set apart to preach the gospel and move the work forward in that capacity. You absolutely can be part of this. Can we help to heal the brokenhearted or proclaim liberty to the captives? Oh, any time I go to the temple and help people on the other side to be able to receive their covenants, that is proclaiming liberty to the captives. We are helping to set them free and opening that figurative prison that holds them. So this could be your words as well. Isn't that exciting? And it's such a great example of how Isaiah's words can be applied in many different ways. Besides who is talking, we could also run a similar exercise to think about when this would be fulfilled. If we're interpreting it as Isaiah's words, then it was fulfilled during that time because he was preaching during that time. If we're viewing it through the lens of these are the Savior's words, then that happened when Jesus Christ was alive. But what about at the second coming? Could we apply these same ideas to the second coming? Will these principles be true at the second coming as well? Absolutely! Can you imagine the joy of people who, their spirits and bodies have been separated because of death, and they're now brought back together through the resurrection? That is going to be a form of liberty and opening of the prison so that we are now free and resurrected, and we now have perfect bodies. Isaiah can be difficult to understand. But in order to have a successful scripture study session, you don't have to understand every single word, every single prophecy, or every possible interpretation. All you need to do is feel the Spirit and learn about the Lord. Just get closer to him. That's all you need to do. There are little nuggets of truth and things that can be easy to understand scattered all throughout Isaiah. And it will be so much more effective for you if during your scripture study you find them yourself. So be sure you open up your scriptures, even though I know it's overwhelming, it can be super intimidating. Be sure you open up your scriptures and read some of Isaiah this week, and I promise you will find something, it might be really small, but you will find something that you can understand, something that can draw you closer to the Lord. Thank you so much for being here with me this week, and I'll see you next time right here on Primarily Scripture. Thanks for tuning in to Primarily Scripture with Cindy Young. Don't forget, you can subscribe to the newsletter and download free worksheets on the website primarilyscripture.com. And if you like the channel, be sure to subscribe, like, share, and leave a review. See you next time.