2 Nephi Chapter 25

25:5 - "...taught after the manner of the things of the Jews..."
If we understand the manner of the things of the Jews, then we will understand the Isaiah passages.  You can see something similar today - the Brethren understand the things of today's world; so do we, so we understand the teachings of our church leaders very well.  We must understand and follow their counsel, as well as work to understand the things of the Jews so we can apply those scriptures to us.



25:7 - "...I proceed with mine own prophecy, according to my plainness; in the which I know that no man can err..."
The prophets teach with plainness, so we cannot err (Alma 5:43, Mosiah 2:40, 2 Nephi 25:20, 2 Nephi 25:28).  The beauty of the gospel is that it is so clear!  It takes a lot of twisting to match our personal preferences, and there is no happiness in that!




25:7 - "...in the days that the prophecies of Isaiah shall be fulfilled men shall know of a surety, at the times when they shall come to pass..."
Interesting - we will be able to recognize the fulfillment of those prophecies and know when they will be fulfilled.  I'm very excited for the Second Coming!




25:23 - "...it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do..."
True, we can do a lot to return to God, and it is essential!  We must repent, and follow the gospel of Jesus Christ.  But...if it wasn't for the atonement, we would have no gospel.  We wouldn't even exist.  It is by grace that we are able to do!  We must never short-change the Lord by thinking that we can make it back on our own.



Elder Claudio D. Zivic talked about this in the November 2007 Ensign, Pg 98-99.
"We, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, have chosen not to be ordinary men and women...it is not enough to go through the motions of being baptized and confirmed, but rather we have to fulfill and honor the commitment that we made with the Lord on that memorable day."
We do this by doing "all we can do."




25:25 - "...we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ..."
This passage shows one of the key tenets of our faith...that we are Christian. We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ, etc.  I have a firm testimony of Christ, and know that it is through Him that we are saved.



25:28-29 - "...for the right way is to believe in Christ and deny him not..."
There are so many wrong ways to live our life...and many right ways.  The right way for us is revealed as we believe and have faith in Christ.  Then we will trust Him and work to be obedient to the commandments.  This gives us the Spirit, which guides us in the "right" way that we must go.