Near To Me With Their Lips

The very first direct quotation of the Savior that we have in this dispensation, given to the Prophet Joseph in the First Vision, is this: “They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof” (JSH 1:19).  This is a paraphrase of Isaiah’s words, which states as a reason the need for the “marvellous work and a wonder” of the last days the fact that “this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me” (Isaiah 29:13).  That Christ would quote Isaiah as His first message to our dispensation certainly speaks to the ancient prophet’s importance, and the condemnation of those whose hearts are far from the Savior is every bit as relevant to our day.  It’s easy to see how this rebuke of the religionists of the early 1800s applied to them, but it is much more important to consider how we might fit the same description today.

            The Savior quoted essentially the same passage when He was among the Jews in mortality.  To the scribes and Pharisees who sought only to criticize Him, He said, “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matt. 15:7-8).  Their problem was that even though they “paid tithes” and observed many of the outward laws, they “omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith” (Matt. 23:23).  Drawing near to the Lord means that we should focus on matters of the heart such as increasing our faith.  We don’t come to the Lord by the observance of physical commandments alone—He wants our hearts.  The importance of this passage is underscored by the fact that we find it again in the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 27:25 in its version of parts of Isaiah 29.  The context of the passage is a discussion about the book that would come forth in the last days.  We read that “the Lord shall say unto him that shall read the words that shall be delivered him: Forasmuch as this people draw near unto me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their hearts far from me.”  If I understand it correctly then “him that shall read the words” is Joseph Smith, and thus the words of the Lord to Joseph in the First Vision were a direct fulfillment of prophecy about what God would say to the person who would bring forth the Book of Mormon.  More importantly, this Isaiah passage suggests that the Book of Mormon itself is the antidote to this sin of drawing near to the Lord in word only.  The messages of the Book of Mormon are meant to sink deep into our hearts so that can truly “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him” (Moroni 10:32).  Seeking to truly come unto the Lord by searching the pages of the Book of Mormon is how we can avoid falling under the same condemnation of having our hearts far form the Lord.