127 and 128 for Thurs 3-17

Lesson 127 & 128: Isaiah 51–53

1. Sometimes it is hard to be righteous.

---Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?

---What are some of the challenges you have faced or you have seen others face when trying to be righteous?

---In Isaiah 51, we read that the Lord, through Isaiah, addressed people who were trying to be righteous.  As we study this chapter, look for principles that can help you in your efforts to be righteous.

---Read Isaiah 51:1–2

---When the Lord said to look to Abraham and Sarah, He was calling on the people of Israel to remember and keep the covenants that He had established with Abraham and Sarah.

---What covenants or promises had the Lord made with Abraham and Sarah?

---Read Isaiah 51:3  looking for why the Lord called upon Israel to remember and keep their covenants.

---How did the Lord say He would bless those who would remember and keep the covenants He had made with Abraham and with them?

---Based on what you learned from verse 3, how would you complete this principle:

As we remember our covenants and keep them, the Lord will ______________________________.

---How has the Lord comforted you (or people you know) during challenging times as you (or they) were faithful to Him through keeping covenants?

---Isaiah 51:4–6 states that the Lord taught Israel that they can have comfort in Him when they are faithful to their covenants because His redemptive power and righteousness are eternal.

2. Think about a time when you worried about what others thought of you because you were trying to be righteous.

---How might fearing others’ mockery or opinions affect our efforts to be righteous?

---Read Isaiah 51:7–8  and look for who the Lord said did not need to fear the mockery or negative opinion of others.

---The words reproach and revilings refer to rebukes or mockery.

---According to verse 7, who should not fear what others say or do to them?

---What principle can we learn from this verse?

If the Lord’s law is in our hearts, then we have no need to fear_______________________________.

In the rest of Isaiah 51 and the beginning of chapter 52, the Lord calls upon Zion to awake and remove themselves from the bands of their captivity.

---Think about ways you may be spiritually asleep and what you may need to do to awake, repent, and come to the Lord.

---Set a goal to act on any promptings you receive.

3. When might someone be tempted to say, “No one understands what I am going through”?

---As you study Isaiah 53, look for truths that can help you when you experience difficulties and when you feel that no one understands your thoughts, feelings, or challenges.

---Read Isaiah 53:1–4 aloud looking for words or phrases that describe the difficulties Isaiah prophesied Jesus Christ would experience during His life, including the agonizing trials associated with His atoning sacrifice.

---What words or phrases describe the difficulties Jesus Christ experienced during His life?

---What do you think it means that “he hath no form nor comeliness; and … there is no beauty that we should desire him”? (Isaiah 53:2).

---Read the following statement by President Joseph Fielding Smith, who explained what it means that Jesus had “no beauty that we should desire him”:

“There was nothing about [Jesus] to cause people to single him out. In appearance he was like men; and so it is expressed here by the prophet that he had no form or comeliness, that is, he was not so distinctive, so different from others that people would recognize him as the Son of God. He appeared as a mortal man” (Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [1954–56], 1:23).

---In what ways was Jesus Christ “despised and rejected of men” (verse 3) during His life?

---According to verse 4, whose griefs and sorrows did Jesus Christ bear?

Jesus Christ bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.

---Why is it important to know that the Savior has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows?

---Read the following statement by Elder David. A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:

“There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul or heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we may cry out, ‘No one knows what it is like. No one understands.’ But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual burdens. And because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice (see Alma 34:14), He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy. He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us” (“Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2014, 90).

---Ponder when you have felt the Savior comfort or strengthen you or help carry your griefs and sorrows.

4. all together

---Read Isaiah 53:5–6 aloud looking for what else Jesus Christ suffered for us.

---In addition to our griefs and sorrows, what else did Jesus Christ suffer for us?

---For every transgression or sin we commit, there is “a punishment affixed” (Alma 42:18). This punishment includes guilt, pain, misery, and separation from God (see 2 Nephi 9:7–9). The phrase “the chastisement of our peace was upon him” in verse 5 means that Jesus Christ suffered the punishment (the penalty) for our sins so we could experience forgiveness and peace. The phrase “with his stripes we are healed” (verse 5) means that because of Jesus Christ’s suffering we can be healed from the wounds of our sins and the consequences of the Fall of Adam and Eve, including spiritual and physical death.

---How would you summarize Isaiah’s teachings in verse 5?

Jesus Christ suffered for the transgressions and iniquities of all so that_______________________.

---Read the following statement by President James E. Faust of the First Presidency:

“He suffered so much pain, ‘indescribable anguish,’ and ‘overpowering torture’ [John Taylor, The Mediation and Atonement (1882), 150] for our sake. His profound suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane … caused Him ‘to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit’ [D&C 19:18]. …

“… No one has ever suffered in any degree what He did” (“The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope,” Ensign, Nov. 2001, 19).

To help students understand the truth and importance of the doctrine they identified, ask them to reread Isaiah 53:5–6. This time, invite them to study the verses silently and substitute their names for the words our, we, and us.

Isaiah 53:4–9. “He Was Wounded for Our Transgressions”

“Jesus suffered and was crucified for men’s transgressions. ‘But few details of the actual crucifixion are given us. We know however that our Lord was nailed to the cross by spikes driven through the hands and feet, as was the Roman method, and not bound only by cords as was the custom in inflicting this form of punishment among some other nations. Death by crucifixion was at once the most lingering and most painful of all forms of execution. The victim lived in ever increasing torture, generally for many hours, sometimes for days. The spikes so cruelly driven through hands and feet penetrated and crushed sensitive nerves and quivering tendons, yet inflicted no mortal wound. The welcome relief of death came through the exhaustion caused by intense and unremitting pain, through localized inflammation and congestion of organs incident to the strained and unnatural posture of the body.’ [James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, 3rd ed. (1916), 655.]

“But it was not just on the cross Christ suffered. In the Garden of Gethsemane He began the suffering that allowed Him to take the sins of the world upon Himself, or as Isaiah says, to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows (see Isaiah 53:4). Speaking of this suffering and pain, Elder Talmage wrote:

“‘Christ’s agony in the garden is unfathomable by the finite mind, both as to intensity and cause. …

“‘In some manner, actual and terribly real though to man incomprehensible, the Savior took upon Himself the burden of the sins of mankind from Adam to the end of the world’ [Jesus the Christ, 613–14]” (Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi, 3rd ed. [Church Educational System manual, 2003], 197–98).

---What feelings do you have for the Savior as you consider that He suffered the penalty for your sins? Why?

5.

---Read Isaiah 53:7–11 looking for words or phrases that help us further understand what Jesus Christ experienced as part of His Atonement.

---What else did the Savior experience as part of His Atonement?

---The phrase “cut off out of the land of the living” in verse 8 refers to Jesus Christ’s death. The phrase “it pleased the Lord to bruise him” in verse 10 means that Heavenly Father was pleased that Jesus Christ willingly offered Himself as a sacrifice for others’ sins (see 3 Nephi 11:7, 11; John 3:16).

---According to Isaiah 53:10, whom did Jesus Christ see as He accomplished the Atonement?

---The phrase “his seed” refers to those who believe the testimony of the prophets concerning Jesus Christ’s mission as the Redeemer (see Mosiah 15:10–13).

---Read Isaiah 53:12 looking for what Isaiah said Jesus Christ would receive as a result of accomplishing the Atonement.

---What would Jesus Christ receive as a result of accomplishing the Atonement?

---With whom will Jesus Christ share His inheritance?

---Remember that to receive the full blessings of the Savior’s Atonement, we must exercise faith in Him, repent, receive the ordinances of the gospel, and keep our covenants. If we do not repent, then we must suffer and pay the penalty for our own sins (see D&C 19:16–19).

---Reflect on the truths discussed in this lesson.  Write your testimonies of Jesus Christ and His Atonement in your class notebooks.

---Think about what you are currently doing and what else you can do to receive the blessings of the Atonement. Set a personal goal to do all you can to qualify to receive these blessings.

For Monday:

1.

Anciently during times of war, people would anxiously await news from the battlefield. This news would have been brought by runners traveling on foot.

---How do you think these messengers were received when they brought news that the battle had been won and peace had been established? Why?

---In Isaiah 52:7–8, Isaiah compared these battlefield messengers with Jesus Christ and the message of salvation that He gave and would give. The description of messengers given by Isaiah also includes those who would share the gospel message of peace and salvation and spread the joyful news that Jesus Christ has won the battle against sin and evil.

---Read Isaiah 52:7–8  looking for how those who share the message of salvation with others are described.

---Publish means to proclaim or tell. Those who initially publish the message of salvation and the “watchmen” spoken of in verse 8 are prophets.

---What do you think it means that those who share the message of the gospel with others are considered to have “beautiful feet” by those who receive their message?

---Read Isaiah 52:9–10  looking for how those who receive the gospel message will feel.

---How will those who receive the gospel message of redemption and salvation feel?

---What principles can we learn from these verses about sharing the gospel with others?

When we share the message of the gospel, we offer ________________________________________________.

---What tools and methods are available for us today to publish the gospel and share it with our friends and family?

---When have you used one of the tools or methods on the board to share the gospel with others? How did your sharing the gospel bring joy to them?

---Have you ever felt prompted to share the gospel with someone? Make a list.

---Set a goal to share the gospel with those on your list so those people can experience joy.

2.

---Isaiah 51–52 records Isaiah’s words to the Lord’s covenant people, who had been asleep spiritually. He taught them that they needed to awake by repenting and coming unto the Lord to be redeemed from their sins.

---Read Isaiah 52:11–12  looking for how these verses help us understand what we need to do to awake, repent, and come to the Lord. Remember that Babylon is a symbol for the wickedness of the world.

---According to verse 11, what do we need to do to be clean and to come unto the Lord so we can be redeemed from our sins?

---According to verse 12, what promise is given to those who seek to leave the wickedness of the world and be clean?

---Why would this promise be comforting to someone desiring to leave a lifestyle of sin?