The Fourth Thousand Years

There is no period when the distant roar of history can be heard pounding on the pages of the past with greater fury than during the ten savage centuries known as The Fourth Thousand Years. This was the age of the first world empires, the days when Assyria, Babylon, Greece and Rome each displayed their passion for power and when the first three collapsed in the heap of their own ruins and drowned in the flood of their own blood.

It was an age which demanded the resounding and inspired voices of many of God's greatest spokesmen. The turbulent chaos of these centuries brought forth such mighty prophets of God as Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, Lehi, Nephi, Daniel, Zechariah, and many others. The lives and times of all these men are in these pages. (712 pages)

Excerpt from "The Fourth Thousand Years":

Isaiah and Nephi Write About America and Modern Times

Isaiah became so pre-occupied with the magnificent triumph of God's power in the latter days that he literally saturated his writings with references to events in modern times. Many of these prophecies have been fulfilled within the last several generations and many more will be fulfilled in this and the next generation. This present chapter will deal primarily with Isaiah's predictions about the latter days which have already been fulfilled. The next chapter will cover Isaiah's predictions which are immediately before us.

To appreciate the extent of Isaiah's knowledge concerning our days we rely heavily upon the supplementary material furnished by the great prophet Nephi. As we have already mentioned, Isaiah's writings were brought to America by migrating Israelites in the sixth century B.C., and comprised an important part of their scripture. When these people had difficulty understanding Isaiah they had the supreme good fortune to be living under Nephi, who appears to have seen just about everything Isaiah had seen. He therefore wrote his commentary on Isaiah with this opening declaration:

"Wherefore, hearken, O my people, which are of the house of Israel, and give ear unto my words; for because the words of Isaiah are not plain unto you, nevertheless they are plain unto all those that are filled with the spirit of prophecy. But I give unto you a prophecy, according to the spirit which is in me; wherefore I shall prophesy according to the plainness which hath been with me from the time I came out from Jerusalem with my father ... [therefore] I proceed with mine own prophecy, according to my plainness: in the which I know that no man can err: nevertheless, in the days that the prophecies of Isaiah shall be fulfilled men shall know of a surety ... when they shall come to pass."

Because Nephi had such depth of understanding concerning the things which Isaiah saw, we will include his inspired writings right along with Isaiah. But even with this help it is important to appreciate how difficult it was for these ancient servants of the Lord to describe what they saw. Consider, for example, the great upheaval of events during the past three centuries. Imagine the task of describing them without being able to use any specific names, places or dates. The task of a prophet is not an easy one. Nevertheless, Nephi was confident that when these great events transpired, no honest student would have any difficulty recognizing what he and Isaiah were trying to describe.