2 Nephi 16:5-7

[pam]

Reference Search: 2 Nephi 16:5-7

5 Then said I: Wo is unto me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips; and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.

6 Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar;

7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said: Lo, this has touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Quotes for Discussion

Coal—Lips

A hot coal on the lips would literally be an unbearable ordeal. The footnote to verse 6 helps in understanding this symbolism by indicating that the coal is a symbol of cleansing. Matthew 3:11 relates the Holy Ghost to fire, and 2 Nephi 31:17 indicates that one may be cleansed by “fire, and by the Holy Ghost. The symbolism of a hot coal from the Lord’s altar is indeed memorable and indicates not only the cleansing, or purity of Isaiah, but also that Isaiah (remember the coal was placed upon his lips) is now a “mouthpiece” for the Lord and may speak what the Lord himself would speak to the people. Whereas before, Isaiah was concerned that he dwelt among a people with unclean lips (see Isa. 6:5) and felt his inadequacy, now he has had a great spiritual experience and a calling which produced a change sufficient to create the confidence needed to answer the Lord’s call (see v.8), knowing that his lips would now echo the words of his Master.

S. Brent Farley, A Symposium on the Old Testament [salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1983], 63

What we say and how we act will create an atmosphere that is welcoming or hostile to the Holy Ghost….The Lord…has asked us to so speak and so act that we edify or build one another….(D&C 136:24). Nephi declared that the fruit of receiving the Holy Ghost and listening to the promptings of the Spirit is that we may “speak with the tongue of angels” (2 Ne. 32:2). Thus we create a spirit of reverence and of revelation.

I recently overheard a conversation among some of our young grandchildren. One of them apparently used the word stupid. Eight-year-old Nicholas, recently baptized, commented that perhaps one should not say that, as it was a “bad word.” It was evident that there had been some good influence from Mom and Dad….

Now some might think that these are small matters compared to the far more foul and demeaning expressions all around us. Yet, in small and in great ways, our words are creating an atmosphere in which we build or demolish….

Over the years there has been an increase in sexual innuendos, raucous humor, violent expressions, and great noise in talk, in music, in gestures. Much of what is around us is crude and rude, with a corruption of moral behavior and sensitivity. Society has not been improved by our “light speeches” and our “light-mindedness.” Instead, our expressions have polluted our communities and corrupted our souls.

President Spencer W. Kimball warned of vulgarity of speech and expression and particularly counseled against speaking of sex glibly, which he associated with immodesty. “lewd talk and jokes,” he said, “constitute another danger which lurks seeking as its prey any who will entertain it as the first step to dirtying the mind and thus the soul” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, [1969], 228)….

I’ve been struck by the fact that when Isaiah received his charge from the Lord, he bemoaned that he was “a man of unclean lips” and dwelt “in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isa. 6:5). This sin too had to be purged from Isaiah if he was to bear the word of the Lord….

We need to eliminate from our conversations the immodest and the lewd, the violent and the threatening, the demeaning and the false.

Robert S. Wood, Ensign, Nov. 1999, 83

[Hemidakota]

One main reason I love to attend the sacrament in receiving the coal [bread] to bring the cleansing of one soul and the blood of Christ [water] to bring corruption to a uncorrupted state.