Christ continues to quote Isaiah 54, discussing the desolate
woman (Zion). He informs us that He (the Lord of Hosts) is her make.
“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a
king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and
without an ephod, and without teraphim[1]:
“Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the
Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness
in the latter days” (Hosea 3:4-5).
He will be called the God of the Earth.
“Zion and the Savior Like people who are widowed, divorced,
or never married, Zion is alone for a season, but not forever. The Savior of
the whole earth is her husband. The etymology of the English word husband is a compound of house and prepare; thus, a husband is ‘one who prepares or builds a house. The
Lord is Zion's husband or ‘house builder’ because he makes the earth as a home
for all creatures, he creates bodies as temples for spirit children, he builds
temples as places of worship, and he prepares heavenly mansions for his
children.”[2]
When the Lord calls, she will be forsaken and grieving. “Thou
shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed
Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah [IE My desire is in her], and thy
land Beulah [IE married wife]: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land
shall be married” (Isaiah 62:4).
“The Savior understands Zion's desolation because he too was
stricken, smitten, oppressed, and afflicted (see Isaiah 53:4, 7). Zion is
called to be a ‘woman forsaken and grieved’ just as Christ was called to be
‘despisded and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief’
(Isaiah 53:3; Mosiah 14:3). Christ was called to be the ‘stone which the
builders refused’ (Psalms 118:22), so he knows how to succor the ‘wife of
youth’ who was refused (3 Nephi 22:6). The desolate woman will forget the shame
of her youth because the Lord will vindicate her (see Isaiah 60:15; 3 Nephi
22:4). After the Lord redeems her, Zion will no longer remember the reproach of
being alone.”[3]
While He has forsaken her, it will be for a short time. “But
fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold,
I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity;
and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him
afraid” (Jeremiah 46:27).
With His mercies, he will gather her.
“Ye remember that I spake unto you, and said that when the
words of Isaiah should be fulfilled—behold they are written, ye have them
before you, therefore search them—
“And verily, verily, I say unto you, that when they shall be
fulfilled then is the fulfilling of the covenant which the Father hath made
unto his people, O house of Israel.
“And then shall the remnants, which shall be scattered
abroad upon the face of the earth, be gathered in from the east and from the
west, and from the south and from the north; and they shall be brought to the
knowledge of the Lord their God, who hath redeemed them” (3 Nephi 20:11-13).
In His wrath, His face was hidden, but He is full of
everlasting kindness.
“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness:
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions”
(Psalms 51:1).
“And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him
to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and
they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth
it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children
of men” (1 Nephi 19:9)
He will also have mercy upon them.
“(For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not
forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers
which he sware unto them” (Deuteronomy 4:31).
“Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy
lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old” (Psalms 25:6).
The Lord tells us, he would never again flood the Earth as
he did in Noah’s day.
“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of
the Son of man be.
“For as in the days that were before the flood they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark” (Matthew 24:37-38).
“Yea, and I say unto you that if it were not for the prayers
of the righteous, who are now in the land, that ye would even now be visited
with utter destruction; yet it would not be by flood, as were the people in the
days of Noah, but it would be by famine, and by pestilence, and the sword”
(Alma 10:22).
“Just as he had given the Sermon at the Temple on the first
day (3 Nephi 12–14) instructing the people concerning their obligations in
their covenant relationship with God, on the second day he gave another
uninterrupted sermon of close to the same length (3 Nephi 20–22,
appropriately called the ‘Father’s Covenant People Sermon’) detailing the
irrevocable commitments that God makes as his part of this two-way covenant
relationship … They will never forget … Temple themes abound in this covenant
sermon, which mentions a new ark of the covenant, which, like Noah’s ark, will
carry his people when they might be tossed with tempests (3 Nephi 22:9,
11). It assures that, as God has sworn, ‘the covenant of my peace’ shall not be
removed (3 Nephi 22:10).”[4]
10 For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed,
but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my
peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.
Mountains will depart and hills will be removed.
“Every valley shall be exalted [HEB lifted up or raised],
and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough places plain [HEB the mountains into a plain]:
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh
shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaiah
40:4-5).
His kindness will always be forever present and His covenant
people will find peace and it will not be removed.
“For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he
forsake his inheritance” (Psalms 94:14).
“And Israel shall be saved in mine own due time; and by the
keys which I have given shall they be led, and no more be confounded at all”
(D&C 35:25).
“Israel’s redemption and the fruits of the gentiles are
foretold in Isaiah 54, which is then quoted in its entirety by the Savior (see
3 Nephi 22). Together, the children of the desolate (the covenant gentiles) and
the children of the married wife (the Israelites) will bring forth stakes of
Zion in the last days. The Lord’s mercy will be shown through the maintenance
of his covenant of peace (see 3 Nephi 22:10), and righteousness will reign. The
Savior concludes his profound Covenant People Discourse in 3 Nephi 23 by
admonishing his followers to search the words of Isaiah, who foretold these
marvelous things.”[5]
[1] Images of the size and form of a man used from
patriarchal times and onwards in worship and for magical purposes both in
Israel and in Babylon. To use teraphim was probably not to worship strange gods
but to worship the true God in a corrupt manner (Bible Dictionary).
[2] Redeeming
the Desolate Woman: The Message of Isaiah 54 and 3 Nephi 22, Cynthia L.
Hallen, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies
7/1 (1998): 44.
[4] Seeing
Third Nephi as the Holy of Holies of the Book of Mormon, John W. Welch, Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other
Restoration Scripture 19/1 (2010): 50.
[5] Disciple
as a Scholar – Covenant Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Victor. Ludlow,
Maxwell Institute website.
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