Does the Bible truly predict the coming forth of the Book of Mormon? — Section 47
Is The Book of Mormon predicted by Bible writers?
Representative of a Christian church:
We are all aware that the Latter-day Saints claim scriptural support for their belief that the Bible prophesied of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. Among these scriptures, they take Ezekiel 3:16-19 and effectively use a scripture ‘rail split’. Speaking of the two sticks (of Judah and of Joseph), the Lord says that these two sticks would become one in his hand, and he then explained what he meant by this, but the Mormons skip over this explanation — “I will take the children of Israel from the heathen whither they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land, and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king of them all, and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into the two kingdoms any more at all.” (see Ezekiel 27:21-22). Therefore, the Mormons use verses 15-20 to try to explain the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, but they ignore the following 2 verses, in which it is clear that Ezekiel was referring to the reuniting of the Northern and Southern kingdoms that had been divided in fulfillment of the prophecy of Abijah. Then in Isaiah 29:13-14 the Mormons claim a fulfillment of Joseph Smith and the restoration of the Mormon Church as “this marvelous work and a wonder”, yet we find a direct fulfillment in Matthew 15:7-8 to verse 13 of Isaiah’s prophecy and a direct fulfillment to verse 14 is found in 1 Corinthians 1:19, Matthew 21:42, and John 9:30. The Latter-day Saints go on to say that verse 18 in Isaiah 29 refers to the Book of Mormon which was sealed when it actually refers to the Book of Revelations which also in part had ‘sealed books’. The Mormons say that Isaiah 29:4 refers to the literal fulfillment of the Book of Mormon when their book was to “come forth from the dust” and yet you will find that it was referring to Ariel, or the City of David, as verse 1 points out. Therefore, to my understanding, I have shown both of your Book of Mormon ‘prophecies’ to be in error, and what the correct interpretation of those Old Testament words mean.
Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
It will be a privilege for us to testify of the divinity of the Book of Mormon. We would point out that you have taken two distinct prophecies that had some similarities and have tied them together as if they were referring to the same things. Notice that in Ezekiel 37:16-17 he was referring to the word “stick” and they were to write upon it. In ancient time they would record their records on scrolls and roll them up into a stick, as Jeremiah 36:2-8 clearly points out. Ezekiel said that they were to write upon these sticks, the sticks not yet being united. One stick was concerned with Judah and his descendants and the other stick referred to Joseph, and particularly his son Ephraim. As we examine Joseph’s blessing at the hand of his father Jacob, found in Genesis 49:22-26, we read that “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall.” That the wall referred to a large body of water is pointed out in Exodus 14:22, and we should notice that his branches were to run “over” the wall or over the water. Then in verse 26 it confirms that this was the land of the Americas as we read, “the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.” The American continent has the longest range of mountains in the world, the Rocky Mountains, which stretch from one tip of the North American continent down to the end of South America. Notice that Joseph’s branch, or his descendants, were to go “over the ocean”. The blessing to Joseph was perhaps the most outstanding of the blessings given to the twelve sons. The descendants in the Book of Mormon provide genealogical evidence that they were that “branch” and the evidence in their record is undisputed. The second part of the prophecy concerns the gathering of the twelve tribes, which is yet distant. As we have pointed out, however, the sticks (books) were to be joined together first, as Ezekiel points out, and then the tribes were to be gathered and become “one fold”. This leaves the Book of Mormon as the “stick of Joseph ” and it has been linked to the “stick of Judah”, or the Bible, and they are one in the Lord’s hand. In answer to Isaiah 29:13-14, I remind all of us that prophecies can receive partial fulfillment. Christ never did say the prophecy in Matthew 15:7-8 was fulfilled, but that these verses merely referred to Isaiah’s description of the troubled conditions. Christ said “it prophesied of them” but it could also have prophesied of “others”. Paul likewise made reference to Isaiah’s prophecy in 1 Corinthians 1:19 and yet his only comment was “for it is written”. As you can see, he did not claim that it was the fulfillment. Whenever a prophecy is fulfilled, the prophets almost always indicate fulfillment. For example, “For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken.” See John 19:36. Also, refer to Acts 3:22-23, Matthew 3:3, Luke 22:34, and cross reference them with Luke 22:54:54-62. Matthew 21:42 did not fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy, but referred to Psalms 118:22. Therefore, since the Bible did not teach these scriptures were fulfilled, and we have already established that a scripture is fulfilled upon declaration of a prophet, this proves that all the references you gave merely refer to the prophecy and that it awaited fulfillment. It does not seem logical to us that Isaiah 29:18 refers to the Book of Revelations since the Book of Revelations does not “open the eyes of the blind” and help them to see out of obscurity. It is the most difficult of all the books of the New Testament to understand and interpret. Also, your belief that Isaiah 29:11-12 refers to John and the removal of the “seven seals” as in the book of Revelations comes into question because there is not a fulfillment to the verse. Revelations 5:1-8 cannot be the fulfillment of Isaiah 29:11-12 because the book that was “sealed” was to be delivered to one that was learned who would declare he could not read the book because it was sealed. It was then to be delivered to one that was unlearned who would likewise say he could not because it was sealed. In Revelation 5 John never stated he could not read the book, so ti did not refer to John. You will notice the book was delivered in Revelation 5 to one person, the Lamb of God, and he opened the seals and read from it. It is obvious that Christ could open the seals and read from the book. You will also notice in Isaiah 29:17 that when this book was to come forth, Lebanon was to be turned into a fruitful field and this was never fulfilled at the time the book of Revelations was written, but only within the past 130 years has it blossomed and become a fruitful field. Also, in Isaiah 29:4 we learn that the book would speak from the dust “with a familiar spirit”. The Book of Mormon language is familiar to the Bible, and familiar to the ear. You were mistaken in your interpretation that Ariel (which was the city of David) was to be distressed “and it shall be unto me as Ariel”. In other words, the prophecy would be fulfilled in a place like Ariel. Psalms 85:11 also refers to the Book of Mormon when it says “Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.” This verse, along with Isaiah 29:4, has been literally fulfilled.
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