Isaiah 54 and the New Jerusalem

In Sunday School yesterday our instructor suggested that we can read 3 Nephi 22 (Isaiah 54) in the context of the city of New Jerusalem and the arrival of the lost tribes there.  Given that Isaiah is often dualistic I’m fairly certain there are multiple valid interpretations of this chapter, but I think it does work to read it in this context of the New Jerusalem.  The main evidence to suggest this interpretation is the Savior’s words to the Nephites directly before quoting the Isaiah passage.  In 3 Nephi 21 He discussed the establishment of the Gentiles as “a free people” in America, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and the “marvelous work” that the Father would do.  He spoke of the Gentiles and how those who would repent would be able to “assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem.”  This city of New Jerusalem would be the gathering place for the House of Israel “who are scattered upon all the face of the land” (3 Nephi 21:4, 9, 23, 24).  It was directly after this description and prophecy of the building up of Zion and the gathering of Israel that the Savior said this as His preface to quoting Isaiah 54: “And then shall that which is written come to pass.”  So it seems reasonable that the words of Isaiah He then quoted would be related to this New Jerusalem and gathering of the House of Israel He had just talked about. 

                As I discussed recently, we know that in the last days the lost tribes of Israel will join up with Ephraim at the New Jerusalem.  Given that context, here’s how we might read the verses of Isaiah 54.  The “barren” and “desolate” mentioned in verse 1 are those lost Israelites that the Lord will gather again to the New Jerusalem.  They were “forsaken” for a time when the Lord scattered them originally, but He will “with great mercies” gather them again into the covenant.  They will “inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited” because the New Jerusalem will be built up where the “waste places” of the Gentiles were.  As Orson Pratt said, “We shall in due time walk forth into Jackson County and build up the waste places of Zion.  We shall erect in that county a beautiful city after the order and pattern that the Lord shall reveal….  He will show unto his servants the nature of the streets and the pavement thereof, the kind of precious stones that shall enter into the buildings, the nature of the rock and precious stones that will adorn the gates and the walls of that city.”  In other words, at some future date Zion will be built up where it was originally planned in Jackson County, and it will be a “waste place” at that time; some kind of destruction will have come upon it, and the Saints will go back and build it up, and Israel will then make the “desolate cities to be inhabited.”  Elder Pratt suggested that this city will be adorned with precious stones as the Lord intimated in Isaiah 54:11-12: “Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.  And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.”  That very well may be a literal description of how the Lord will lead the building of New Jerusalem.  Isaiah also wrote of a great protection that would be upon this people: “Thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.  Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake” (Isaiah 54:14-15).  This is exactly the kind of protection and safety that are promised to those in Zion (i.e. the New Jerusalem): “And it shall be called the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the Most High God; And the glory of the Lord shall be there, and the terror of the Lord also shall be there, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it, and it shall be called Zion” (D&C 45:66-68).  Isaiah wrote that “no weapon formed against thee shall prosper,” just as at the New Jerusalem will be a place of protection from the enemies of Zion.  One day the lost of the Israelites will come to the New Jerusalem as a place of refuge and there the Lord will indeed “stand in the midst of his people” and show them that with “everlasting kindness” He will have mercy upon them (D&C 133:25, Isaiah 54:8).