Delivered by the Power of Him

One of the themes in the passages of Isaiah that Jacob quoted in 2 Nephi 6-8 is that of deliverance. Jacob related these words of the ancient prophet: “And they that believe not in him shall be destroyed, both by fire, and by tempest, and by earthquakes, and by bloodsheds, and by pestilence, and by famine. And they shall know that the Lord is God, the Holy One of Israel. For shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for the Mighty God shall deliver his covenant people. For thus saith the Lord: I will contend with them that contendeth with thee” (2 Nephi 6:15-17). The answer to the question about whether the prey shall be taken from the mighty is a resounding yes! The Lord will deliver His covenant people and save them from destruction. Isaiah also questioned, “O house of Israel, is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem, or have I no power to deliver?” He does have power to deliver and redeem the house of Israel and all those who will covenant with Him. We can rest assured in this simple promise repeated twice: “For the Lord God will help me” (2 Nephi 7:2, 7, 9). Isaiah again emphasized the Lord’s power to deliver as he reminded us of the children of Israel’s escape from Egypt: “Art thou not he who hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?” He questioned further: “And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and hast feared continually every day, because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth, that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. But I am the Lord thy God, whose waves roared” (2 Nephi 8:10, 13-15). The Lord has power to deliver us from the oppressor and to free the captive exile. We should always remember that His “waves roared” in the dramatic deliverance of the people of Moses as the Red Sea was parted in miraculous fashion.

            It is fitting then, that in his powerful teachings on the atonement and resurrection found in 2 Nephi 9 (and directly following these quotations of Isaiah), Jacob would also focus on deliverance. He wrote, “And because of the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave. And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel. O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls.” Because of the Holy One of Israel, we will be delivered from death and from hell. Because He completed the great atoning sacrifice and rose from the grave, we will not be held captive to death or to sin. Jacob continued, “O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.” Speaking in particular of those who do not have the law, Jacob also taught that “the mercies of the Holy One of Israel have claim upon them, because of the atonement; for they are delivered by the power of him” (2 Nephi 9:11-13, 19, 25). I love that last statement, and surely it applies to all of us: we are delivered by the power of Him. While Jacob was referring specifically to the deliverance that we will find in Christ in the next life, His deliverance is just as available and powerful to us today. No matter what insurmountable challenges we seemingly face, He has the power to deliver us as we strive to be His covenant people. If His waves roared in ancient times they can roar again today as He gives us figurative passage through the daunting waters that stand before us.