All in Good Time - Second Book of Nephi, Chapter Twenty (2 Nephi 20 and Isaiah 10)

You can read the entire chapter at the following links: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/20?lang=eng and https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/isa/10?lang=eng/. 

There is an overarching theme in this chapter that I call “all in good time.” Whose good time? The Lord’s. Isaiah prophesies Messianically (using the voice of the Lord) to communicate to a people in Judah who are fearful of the big, bad Assyrian Empire closing in on them.

His message? It’s a little harsh for the immediate future. In verse 11, he says, “Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and to her idols?” Meaning, just as the Israelites of the north (Samaria) lost their kingdom because of pride, continued pride will lead to the downfall of the kingdom still (as of 700 B.C.) in Judah. Nephi likely knows that including this passage from Isaiah carries special meaning for his people because they are the generation whom the Lord helped escape Jerusalem just before its downfall.

But the Lord’s silver lining is that the Assyrian bully will ultimately get its just deserts for its own pride. By pulling back to take the long view, the Lord uses Isaiah to show His children and covenant people that even if they will endure very trying times in their day, their descendants will be given the opportunity to claim their inheritance. In Isaiah’s language, this is phrased as the remnant of Israel returning to its lands (verses 20-22), but there’s a deeper meaning about any of us who fall short returning to the Lord’s favor through obedience to His commandments—most importantly faith in Christ and repentance.

Some people reading Isaiah’s prophecy might think that if the Lord knows everything that will happen in the future, he also controls everything that happens. I don’t claim to know how it all works, but I am convinced that the Lord’s great (actually, perfect) foreknowledge does not diminish people’s ability to act and experience the natural consequences of those actions. Just because a parent knows that a young child will endure a few falls when he or she learns to ride a bike, doesn’t mean the parent is making the child fall.

However, even though the Lord doesn’t control our actions, He does intervene to some extent in our world. He makes it very clear that He is the Creator of all, and uses that relationship to make the point that the ax cannot credibly claim to be more powerful than the person who wields it (verse 15)