Lesson Number 38 - "Beside Me There Is No Savior"

The other day at the Western (Wailing) Wall, I was reading Isaiah to the gathered guests around me. It was a festive "Bar Mitzvah" day, there was a pleasant spirit as I let the scriptures speak for themselves, offering pauses and voice inflections that allowed key words to explain themselves. A young man, observing and listening to us, an Orthodox Jew, began to say that Isaiah could not be understood in English that we were interpreting it incorrectly. Even though we were not reading about a "virgin birth" he said that there are different meanings for "virgin." I thought, what made him refer to the virgin when we were reading something completely different? Was the spirit telling him something that the conscious mind did not want to accept?

My guests smiled as they noticed his objection to our sensing the Savior's qualities - just letting Isaiah speak. I gently responded to him in Hebrew. It says the same in Hebrew!

Remember, there are two things necessary to understand the scriptures, the learning of the Jews and the spirit that reveals the subtleties. This lesson chapter deals with so many qualities of the Lord that it would be impractical to comment on each one. One beautiful attribute is his being, his body that he gave for us. Could Isaiah have been suggesting that everything around us can remind us of him, even "body language" refers to him?

He was called from the womb, a perfect body with attributes as eyes, ears, mouth, tongue, neck, heart, shoulder, hands, arms, belly, womb, leg, knee, and foot.

>"Lift up your eyes on high," Isaiah 40:26; "To open the blind eyes," Isaiah 42:7; "Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears . . ." Isaiah 43:8; Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not." Isaiah 42:20; ". . . thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;" Isaiah 48:4; ". . . for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it." Isaiah 40:5; ". . . the hand of the LORD hath done this. . ." Isaiah 41:20; "Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see." Isaiah 42:18; ". . .for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand." Isaiah 44:18; ". . .Thou hast heard, see all this . . ." Isaiah 48:6; "Kings shall see . . ." Isaiah 49:7; "And they shall be made perfect notwithstanding their blindness," JST Isaiah 42:20; ". . . formed me from the womb . . . glorious in the eyes of the LORD," Isaiah 49:5; "Lift up thine eyes round about," Isaiah 49:18; ". . . say again in thine ears," Isaiah 49:20; ". . . for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it." Isaiah 40:5; ". . . the word is gone out of my mouth . . . every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." Isaiah 45:23; "I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them . . . and they came to pass." Isaiah 48:3; ". . . my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me," Isaiah 49:2; ". . . their tongue faileth . . . " Isaiah 41:17; ". . . yet he laid it not to heart." Isaiah 42:25; ". . . considereth in his heart . . ." Isaiah 44:19; ". . . a deceived heart . . . my right hand . . . " Isaiah 44:20; thou didst not lay these things to thy heart," Isaiah 47:7; "Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children," Isaiah 49:21; ". . . He hath no hands . . ." Isaiah 45:9; ". . . and concerning the work of my hands . . ." Isaiah 45:11; ". . . my hands, have stretched out the heavens . . ." Isaiah 45:12; "I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands . . . " Isaiah 49:16; ". . . make bare the leg, uncover the thigh . . ." Isaiah 47:2; ". . . the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him:" Isaiah 40:10; ". . . he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom . . . " Isaiah 40:11; ". . . his arm shall be on the Chaldeans . . ." Isaiah 48:14; ". . . with the strength of his arms . . ." Isaiah 44:12; " I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders." Isaiah 49:22; ". . . with his feet." Isaiah 41:3; "And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet;" Isaiah 49:23; ". . . called him to his foot," Isaiah 41:2;

This constant use of body language can be seen as a metaphor of the "Body of Christ."

"Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." 1 Corinthians 12:27