Breakthrough

Do you read the Book of Mormon?  Are some parts easier for you than others?  I know that there are sections that I just keep reading word after word and hoping that someday I'll "get" - like the Isaiah parts.  (I'm not the only one, right?)
The Young Women in our ward have a reading challenge - to finish the Book of Mormon before their YW in Excellence program on November 16th.  I'm reading along with them and had been doing quite well as far as following the schedule.
Then I hit the Isaiah section. Sigh.  I prayed for understanding and plodded along.  However last night something interesting happened.  I was reading 2nd Nephi 20:28 (compare Isaiah 10:28) with all those strange names and was paying more attention to pronunciation rather than meaning.  But I happened to look at a map and noticed something: those are towns just north of Jerusalem and they are mentioned in order!  If the Assyrian army were going to invade Jerusalem they would come from the north and would pass through all those other places before arriving at Jerusalem.  I suddenly visualized it locally.
Imagine the "Assyrians" are planning to invade Seattle.  If that were the case, they would invade Bellingham, then move on down the I-5 corridor, crushing Mount Vernon, Arlington, Marysville, Everett, Lynnwood, Mount Lake, Shoreline, then Ballard and march into Seattle.  Chapter 20 stopped being a bunch of strange names and suddenly became a vivid image of the enemy coming to attack a major city.
I got it!
I moved on to chapter 21 and the familiar prophecies about the coming of Jesus Christ were easy to understand.
But then I came to chapter 22 (Compare Isaiah 12) and it will never again be the same for me.  The chapter heading says "In the millennial day" and I realized that meant "In the Millennium." It too became clear.
What will happen in the Millennium?  Well, let's see:
Verse 1 - I will praise Him and He will comfort me.  Sounds like what will happen when we see Him again.
Verse 2 - He is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid, He is my strength, and absolutely He has become my salvation. (The word salvation is repeated twice in that verse so we know it is important.)
Verse 3 - We can draw from the living water of Christ's teachings and be saved.
Verse 4 - In the Millennium we will praise Him, we will declare His name to all the world.
Verse 5 - Sing, for the whole earth knows the truth.
Verse 6 - Cry out and shout (with joy) because the Lord reigns.
Amazing.  It all made sense.  I could almost hear music.  I wanted this chapter to be longer because it was about the Millennium and I so look forward to that time.
I closed my eyes for a minute and considered what I had just read.  Isaiah was very clear about the impending destruction of Jerusalem but the reason it is confusing to us is because we aren't familiar with those other locations.  But we have heard many prophecies about the Millennium so reading about what will happen then is a reason to rejoice. 
I read more and more until finally my eyes and my headache overpowered my desire to continue.  But I went to bed excited to listen to conference this weekend, and so grateful that after all the times I have read the Book of Mormon I know I can understand and someday love the words of Isaiah.

Note: If you would like your own copy of the Book of Mormon, 

email me at joaneal at gmail dot com

and I will send you one without any obligation.  I promise.