Isaiah 54 carries a message of reassurance and joy, delivered to people who have endured trauma. God instructs Israel to sing, to expand, and to set aside their fears. He alludes to the suffering they have experienced but assures them that those days are over:
For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isaiah 54:7-8; 3 Nephi 22:7-8
In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.
Jesus quoted this chapter in full during His ministry among the Nephites and Lamanites (3 Nephi 22). The message must have resonated with His audience, who had recently seen firsthand cities flooded, mountains moving, and terrible tempests, all of which appear in this chapter (3 Nephi 8:6-19; 9:4-8; Isaiah 54:9-11; 3 Nephi 22:9-11).
But in this chapter, as in their lives, these catastrophes are in the past. Isaiah’s words are a promise that the disasters are over. “For this is as the waters of Noah unto me,” the Lord says, “for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee” (Isaiah 54:9; compare 3 Nephi 22:9). The reassuring words must have also sounded familiar to them, because they had heard the voice of the Savior promising to gather them, which is exactly what God promises to do in this chapter (3 Nephi 10:4-6; Isaiah 54:7; 3 Nephi 22:7).
This promise must have had particular resonance for them: “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children” (Isaiah 54:13; 3 Nephi 22:13). Jesus had blessed their children, one by one, the day before and prayed for them (3 Nephi 17:21). But the greater miracle was yet to come:
He did teach and minister unto the children of the multitude of whom hath been spoken, and he did loose their tongues, and they did speak unto their fathers great and marvelous things, even greater than he had revealed unto the people; and he loosed their tongues that they could utter.
3 Nephi 26:14; see also v. 16
It must have felt to them like Isaiah 54 was being fulfilled in front of their eyes.
And yet, Jesus introduced the chapter with these words: “And then shall that which is written come to pass” (3 Nephi 22:1). When is the then? In the last days, when the Book of Mormon is published and the gospel is preached throughout the world (see 3 Nephi 21). One event associated with that time will be the construction of a New Jerusalem (3 Nephi 21:23-24). So it’s not surprising that when Moroni later summarizes Ether’s prophecy of the New Jerusalem, he echoes a promise from this chapter, saying that the inhabitants of that city “shall no more be confounded” (Ether 13:8; compare Moroni 10:31; Isaiah 54:4; 3 Nephi 22:4).
In Mormon’s conclusion to his account of the Savior’s ministry, he echoes a key promise from this chapter. “The Lord will remember his covenant,” he says (3 Nephi 29:3; see also v. 8-9; compare Isaiah 54:10; 3 Nephi 22:10). He also promises that the Lord “will do unto them according to that which he hath sworn” (3 Nephi 29:8), echoing the Lord’s words in Isaiah 54:9: “So have I sworn.”
Today I will face the future with optimism, believing in God’s promises. I will trust that although we will all pass through difficult challenges, God will have mercy on us, gather us, and give us peace.
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