How Beautiful Upon the Mountains

In one of the most famous chapters of Isaiah, the prophet wrote, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” (Isaiah 52:7) The expression can be seen as one about Christ Himself, the One who truly did publish peace as He wrought out the atonement for all mankind on the Mount of Olives and who will again publish peace as He stands forth upon the Mount of Olives again upon His return: “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west” (Zechariah 14:4). This will end the terrible calamities of the last days and He will declare, “These wounds are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. I am he who was lifted up. I am Jesus that was crucified. I am the Son of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 45:52). It will indeed be a day of peace to all those who have chosen to follow Him. 

               This expression of Isaiah can also be applied to others who testify of Christ, and it is perhaps the most repeated words of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon. Nephi declared, “And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost… and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be” (1 Nephi 13:37).  In speaking of the people of God in last days the Savior quoted these words to the Nephites, “And then shall they say: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings unto them, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings unto them of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion: Thy God reigneth!” (3 Nephi 20:40)  Both of these suggest that we as the saints of God should likewise bring forth good tidings and publish peace and speak forth encouraging words testifying of the salvation of the Savior to His people. The wicked priests of Noah tried to wrest these words when Abinadi prophesied of the afflictions that awaited them for their wickedness, saying, “What meaneth the words which are written, and which have been taught by our fathers, saying: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings; that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good; that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth” (Mosiah 12:20-21). Abinadi did eventually answer them as he truly did declare the glad tidings of the Savior to them and then said this about all those prophets who likewise prophesied of the coming of Jesus Christ: “These are they who have published peace, who have brought good tidings of good, who have published salvation; and said unto Zion: Thy God reigneth! And O how beautiful upon the mountains were their feet! And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that are still publishing peace! And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who shall hereafter publish peace, yea, from this time henceforth and forever!” (Mosiah 15:14-17) Clearly he himself was one of those, and the fact that the land of Nephi where he was in that moment preaching was high up compared to the land around it (people always went “up to the land of Nephi” from the surrounding areas) may mean that he was literally on a kind of mountain at that point (see for example Mosiah 29:3, Alma 17:8, 20:2). Though he foretold of the judgments of God which were upon them, Abinadi did indeed declare peace to the people of King Noah as He spoke unto them of the Prince of Peace: “O how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that is the founder of peace, yea, even the Lord, who has redeemed his people; yea, him who has granted salvation unto his people” (Mosiah 15:18).