Isaiah Saw the Great Apostasy

John W. Welch

Isaiah saw there would be a falling away after the Lord established his church. Does that mean that the Lord did not do a good enough job? No. We see in Isaiah’s allegory, recorded in 2 Nephi 15, that the Lord did all he could to save the choice vine.

The vineyard represented the world. A choice vine was planted in the vineyard, representing the House of Israel. The Lord did all he possibly could. He built a wall to protect the vineyard, and he built a tower in the vineyard, perhaps symbolic of the temple. He hoped that the plant would bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild ones—even though he had already built a wine press. There may be an allusion to the Garden of Gethsemane and the press of the atonement in this allegory. No stone was left unturned by the Lord. Literally, he took all of the stones out of the vineyard. He made it as productive as he could. He gave it every possible chance, but it still produced wild fruit.

The Lord’s covenant people would not become domesticated. Maybe they were too interested in the ways of the world. They (and we) are influenced too much by the culture of the world. This account is one of many references to the way in which the Lord does everything he possibly can for his vineyard. We will see more of this theme again, when we get to Zenos’ parable in Jacob 5.

Further Reading

Book of Mormon Central, "What are the Roots of Zenos’s Allegory in the Ancient World? (Jacob 5:3)," KnoWhy 70 (April 4, 2016).

John W. Welch Notes

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