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In the previous two chapters, we demonstrated that Isaiah masterfully created symbols as he prophesied of eternally significant themes, including Jesus Christ and his Atonement, the Restoration of the gospel, the gathering of Israel, and much more. We also stated that symbols are key elements in Isaiah’s writings, and we acknowledged that symbols are sometimes very difficult to understand.

However, it would be untrue to suggest that all or most of Isaiah’s writings consist of symbols. It is likewise untrue that the entirety of Isaiah’s writings are difficult or impossible to understand. Isaiah also taught and prophesied with great plainness—not just once or twice, but throughout his writings! After years of devoted study and careful consideration of Isaiah’s writings, it is my own view that there are more plain teachings in Isaiah than there are symbols and difficult-to-comprehend phrases.

In this chapter, it is my intent to demonstrate that Isaiah frequently wrote with plainness. I will briefly examine several of Isaiah’s prophecies concerning the establishment of Zion in the latter days[1] and the attendant blessings for those who belong to Zion. Isaiah’s prophecies of Zion are located in several blocks of scripture throughout his book (for example, 30:18–26; 33:20–24; 35:1–10; 49:13–21; 51:1–16; 52:1–12; 54:1–17; 60:1–22; 62:1–12; 66:7–13). Unfortunately, because of space limitations, we will examine only a few representative examples.

Why have I chosen to discuss references to Zion? It is in this last dispensation that we witness the building of Zion. For example, over the last several decades, we have witnessed the establishment of hundreds of the stakes of Zion; we have heard of or viewed the building of dozens of temples; and God’s prophets and apostles have continued to give us instruction regarding how we may become a Zion-like people—the pure in heart—and how to prepare for Jesus Christ’s Second Coming.

As we personally witness the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecies regarding the building of Zion in our dispensation, we recall Nephi’s words, “In the days that the prophecies of Isaiah shall be fulfilled men shall know of a surety, at the times when they shall come to pass. . . . for I know that they shall be of great worth unto them in the last days; for in that day shall they understand them; wherefore, for their good have I written them” (2 Nephi 25:7–8; emphasis added).

We will first examine several of Isaiah’s plainly written statements about Zion; after that, simply for a point of comparison, we will look at several of his symbols about Zion. As we demonstrate that Isaiah used plain language and symbols, we come to realize that he masterfully blended plainly written statements together with symbolic words. I am presenting twenty plainly written statements. These statements are representative examples and are briefly presented. As always, I encourage the reader to go to the book of Isaiah and read each of the twenty statements in its full context.

Figure 10.1. A young woman weeps over a tombstone; Isaiah prophesies of a time when there will be no more weeping. (Drawing by Vincent van Gogh. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Isaiah’s Plain Statements about Zion

No more weeping. Isaiah prophesies, “For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more” (30:19; see also 65:19).

God answers our prayers. Isaiah writes that the Lord “will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee” (30:19).

God is our teacher (#1). As the perfect teacher, God will teach the inhabitants of Zion the path that they should walk on: “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (30:21).

Fruitful ground. God will bless the soil so that it will increase its produce for the sake of his people: “Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous” (30:23).

Jehovah is Zion’s judge, lawgiver, and king. “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us” (33:22). There can be no better justice of the peace, lawmaker, or ruler than Jehovah himself. He is the very reason why Zion will be a “quiet habitation” (v. 20).

No sickness. No resident of Zion will become sick: “And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick” (33:24). Although this is impossible to imagine happening in our present world, it is possible that this verse refers to the perfect state of our bodies during the Millennium.

Forgiven their iniquity. “The people that dwell therein [in Zion] shall be forgiven their iniquity” (33:24). Zion’s inhabitants are the pure in heart who have repented and become cleansed through Jesus’s Atonement.

Zion’s inhabitants will sing songs, and sorrow will flee. Isaiah writes that the Lord’s ransomed will “return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (35:10). Sacred songs and rejoicing have always been part of Zion and God’s kingdom: “And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion, singing with songs of everlasting joy” (Doctrine and Covenants 45:71; emphasis added; see also 66:11).

God comforts Zion. “For the LORD shall comfort Zion” (51:3). “I, even I, am he that comforteth you” (51:12). This phrase is repeated for emphasis; the Lord, because of his mercy and great love, personally “comforts” us.

Joy and gladness. Both joy and gladness are emphasized: “joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody” (51:3). Verse 11 from the same chapter repeats this theme of joy and gladness: “Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy.”

Redeemed of the Lord. Zion’s inhabitants are named “the redeemed of the LORD” (51:11).

God’s righteousness and salvation. “My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth” (51:5); and “my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation” (v. 8). For emphasis, the terms righteousness and salvation are repeated.

Sorrow will flee. Zion is a place of happiness, comfort, and joy, so much so that “sorrow and mourning shall flee away” (51:11; see also 35:10).

“Thou art my people.” These words, uttered by God himself, provide a definition of Zion: Zion is none other than God’s people. God will “say unto Zion, Thou art my people” (51:16).

God will redeem Zion. The redemption of Zion is repeated twice in this section, as follows: God said, “Ye shall be redeemed without money” (52:3); and “the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem” (52:9).

“Thy God reigneth!” (52:7). Zion will not be governed by wicked rulers or dictators; rather, Zion will be ruled by God himself. The word reigneth speaks of kingship. Rather than have mortal rulers prevail over Israel, God will be her king (see Isaiah 24:23; Jeremiah 3:17; Zephaniah 3:15).

God comforts his people. Zion is commanded to “break forth into joy, sing together.” Why? Because “the LORD hath comforted his people” (52:9).

Nations will see God’s salvation. God’s work of salvation will not be conducted in a hidden or concealed manner. Instead, “the LORD hath made bare his holy arm[2] in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (52:10). Isaiah uses two expressions to emphasize the universal work of God’s salvation—“all the nations” and “all the ends of the earth.”

God is our teacher (#2). Isaiah wrote of Zion, “All thy children shall be taught of the LORD” (54:13). Zion’s children will be taught about the Lord by the Lord himself, which will result in great “peace” for Zion’s children (v. 13).

God’s divine protection. God promised Zion, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn” (54:17). God’s protection for Zion and her children has no limits; there is no weapon on earth that will prosper against Zion in the latter days. This promise is twice repeated in revelations to Joseph Smith: “Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you—there is no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper” (Doctrine and Covenants 71:9); and “no weapon formed against them shall prosper” (Doctrine and Covenants 109:25).

Isaiah’s Symbols about Zion

Immediately above we examined several of Isaiah’s plain statements about Zion in the last days and the Millennium; now, we will briefly look at some of his symbols about Zion in order to demonstrate that Isaiah blended together (throughout his book) both symbols and plain statements.

Like a physician, God heals our wounds. As Isaiah explains, “The LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound” (30:26). Using beautiful poetry, Isaiah suggests that God is like a physician who will heal our ailments.

Water is a blessing. “There [in Zion] the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams” (33:21). “Rivers” and “streams” are symbols of the Lord, who is also our “fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 2:13; 17:13; see also Psalms 36:8–9; Isaiah 8:6; Ether 12:28). There will no longer be thirsty souls in Zion, a reversal of earlier history when Israelites and others thirsted during mortality (see Exodus 17:3–7). The blessing of water has a dual application—water saves us physically from drought and thirst, and the living waters provided by Jesus’s Atonement provide spiritual salvation.

Blind and deaf. “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped” (35:5). This prophecy has a literal, physical application of healing the blind and the deaf (see Doctrine and Covenants 84:69) as well as a spiritual application—the spiritually blind and deaf will “see” and “hear,” or recognize the truths of the gospel.

A highway. Isaiah prophesied, “An highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness” (35:8). The “highway” and the “way of holiness” refer to the covenant path to God, which leads us out of the world of wickedness (spiritual Babylon) into the promised land. It leads us through the gates of baptism and to the temple. Isaiah also wrote, “The unclean shall not pass over it . . . but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the LORD shall return” (35:8–10). “The way of holiness” is for those who have applied the Atonement of Jesus Christ in their lives and are thus “redeemed” and “ransomed” by the Lord.[3]

God’s protection. God promises to protect his covenant people: “I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand” (51:16). These words form an idiom that signifies that the Lord shelters and protects his people (see also 49:2).

Priesthood power. Latter-day Zion will receive and possess God’s holy priesthood. The words “put on thy strength, O Zion” (52:1) refer to the power of the priesthood. In other words, Zion will “put on the authority of the priesthood, which she, Zion, has a right to by lineage; also to return to that power which she had lost” (Doctrine and Covenants 113:8).

Curses will be removed from Zion. The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that the expression “loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion” (52:2) means the following: “The bands of her neck are the curses of God upon her, or the remnants of Israel in their scattered condition among the Gentiles” (Doctrine and Covenants 113:10).

Seeing “eye to eye.” Isaiah prophesied, “for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion” (52:8). Seeing “eye to eye” means being unified and in agreement with one another (see also Mosiah 16:1; Alma 36:26; Doctrine and Covenants 84:98).

God is our advance guard and rearguard. Isaiah wrote, “For the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward [rearguard]” (52:12). Isaiah uses military imagery to symbolically express how the Lord will protect his faithful Saints (see also 58:8). God will position himself like a soldier at the front of our ranks and as our rearguard. The Lord has revealed in our day, “Behold, I will go before you and be your rearward; and I will be in your midst” (Doctrine and Covenants 49:27). And again, “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:88).

Zion is portrayed as a woman. In the scriptures, Zion is often portrayed as a woman: Isaiah uses feminine forms in the Hebrew that refer to Zion, but these are generally lost in the English translation. In Isaiah 54 the Lord refers to Zion as a woman: “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD” (v. 1). Later in the same passage, Zion is called “a woman forsaken” and “a wife of youth” (v. 6).

Note that Zion is also spoken of symbolically as a female in the Doctrine and Covenants: “Zion shall flourish, and the glory of the Lord shall be upon her” (Doctrine and Covenants 64:41; emphasis added); and “Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments” (Doctrine and Covenants 82:14; emphasis added).

Zion’s husband. Who is Lady Zion’s husband? None other than the Lord himself: “For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name” (54:5). The Lord is symbolically the loving husband of Zion or Israel (see also 50:1; 62:5; Revelation 19:7–9).

Miraculous pregnancy. “Thou that didst not travail with child” (54:1). Unlike a mother who labors, often in great pain and with difficulty, to bear children, Lady Zion will not have to labor. This imagery signifies a great miracle: in the last days people will flock to Zion. They will be coming home, as it were, to their mother.

Zion’s tent and stakes. “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes” (54:2). The word stakes here is the source of the latter-day ecclesiastical units of the Church. Cords and stakes serve to hold up and stabilize the tent. As a family grows, the tent can be enlarged, the cords lengthened, and the stakes strengthened. Similarly, as the Church grows, stakes are added to the tent. Such is the Lord’s image of Zion in the last days. The five command forms—enlarge, stretch forth, spare not, lengthen, and strengthen—teach us what we should do to build Zion in these latter days. The Lord paraphrases this passage in a revelation to Joseph Smith: “For Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness; her borders must be enlarged; her stakes must be strengthened” (Doctrine and Covenants 82:14; emphasis added; see also 133:9).

Figure 10.2. A Bedouin tent, with its cords and stakes, demonstrates an image from Isaiah 54: “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes” (v. 2; Photo by Yeowatzup. “Bedouin Tent, Syrian Desert.” Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Lady Zion’s children. Lady Zion will have numerous children: “For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited” (54:3). Zion will grow and increase in all directions, and covenant Israel will reside in cities and nations throughout the world.

No more shame. The Lord tells Israel, “Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more” (54:4). Israel’s conduct in ages past was shameful, like that of a foolish youth; but in the last days, it is promised that the covenant people will no longer be ashamed.

Two famous females—Zion and Babylon. Just as Zion is portrayed as a female in the writings of Isaiah and other scriptural books, so is Babylon portrayed as a female. This information is important to know as we study the scriptures and compare and contrast these two symbolic “famous females”: Zion and Babylon (see table 10.1).

Table 10.1. Lady Zion Versus Lady Babylon in Isaiah

To sum up this chapter, Isaiah blended plain language with symbols to teach a great number of eternal truths, including the building and establishment of Zion in the last days and during the Millennium, Jesus Christ’s first coming in mortality, his eternal atoning sacrifice, his Second Coming, the fate of the wicked who do not repent of their sins, and much, much more.

Having seriously studied the book of Isaiah for more than three decades, I will add my personal note here that both Isaiah’s symbolic statements and his plain statements are evidence that he is one of the greatest and most profound authors who has ever lived. His words can impact all of us as we work to build Zion in the last days.

Notes

[1] In the King James Version of the Bible published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, several chapter headings in Isaiah state that Zion will be established in the last days and during the Millennium. See, for example, the chapter headings of Isaiah chapters 4, 33, 35, 51, 52, 54, 60, 61, and 66.

[2] To “make bare” is to uncover something, to reveal it. In this verse, this is a symbolic expression that conveys God’s openness: he will let all nations see his work of salvation.

[3] See also Doctrine and Covenants 133:27–33, which cites portions of Isaiah 35.