Break Forth Into Joy

When the Savior was among the Nephites he quoted two chapters of Isaiah nearly in their entirety, Isaiah 52 and 54 (see 3 Nephi 16:18-20, 20:34-45, 22).  These chapters contain some of the most powerful invitations in all of scriptures to us to rise up and receive the joy and peace and comfort and strength of the Lord in the deepest challenges our lives.  The Savior invited the Nephites and us to “break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted his people.”  Perhaps to make sure we really believed this, He paraphrased the same passage of Isaiah again: “Then shall they break forth into joy—Sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Father hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.”  He wanted us to find the joy and the comfort the Father stands ready to give, and which is always available: “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.”  Even the most unlikely events to happen—whole mountains being moved away—are more likely than the kindness of the Lord being taken from us.  Christ further emphasized that “with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.”  The Savior also instructed us to receive His strength, saying, “Awake, awake again, and put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city…. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.”  We can be filled with the strength of the Lord if we will rise up, shake off the bands of sin, and put on the beautiful garments of righteousness that He has offered us. 

                I particularly love the imagery of 3 Nephi 22:11-12, part of the quotation of Isaiah 54.  The Savior and ancient prophet implored us with these words, “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted! 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.” So often in this life we feel like that: “afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted.”  This description connotes a gray and dull, lifeless feeling; the colors of a tempest are dark and dismal, perhaps even white with snow, and certainly without any bright colors.  That’s perhaps how we feel at times; lifeless and gray without any color, but the Lord promised here through the words of Isaiah to bring bright color to our lives.  He will bring us stones of “fair colors” with sapphires (deep blue color) and carbuncles (reddish color) and agates (quartz with “curved, colored bands”).  When life seems “dark and dreary,” colorless and gray without hope, the Lord promises to bring us the colorful “pleasant stones” that the gospel has to offer, with of course the Savior Himself as the Stone of Israel.  The next verse is perhaps my favorite: “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.”  There are few greater promises for a parent than that, and there’s nothing that brings more “color” to life than the peace and joy and life of children.

             Right after quoting Isaiah 54, the Savior said, “And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah” (3 Nephi 23:1).  I have always considered this a mandate to study all of the words of Isaiah, which surely it is.  But perhaps we could also interpret this invitation to specifically study these chapters of Isaiah, 52 and 54, that Christ had just finished quoting.  Of all the words of Isaiah, these are the ones He chose to give the Nephites, and they are perhaps the words of Isaiah that we should most earnestly search and seek to follow.  They invite us to put on the strength of the Lord and receive the joy and comfort and peace He eternally offers us.