Mosiah 14:3-12

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people was he stricken.

And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no evil, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

The prophet Abinadi used the words of Isaiah to prophesy the coming of the Messiah. No more beautiful or poignant language can be found to express the cost of Christ's atonement: "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed; the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted; he was taken from prison and from judgment; he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people was he stricken. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief; he shall bear their iniquities; he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." How can any soul not be touched by such great love?

Second Nephi 25:7-8

But behold, I proceed with mine own prophecy, according to my plainness; in the which I know that no man can err; nevertheless, 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. Wherefore, they are of worth unto the children of men, and he that supposeth that they are not, unto them will I speak particularly, and confine the words unto mine own people; 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.

One can look for the fulfillment of many of Isaiah’s words in the events that are transpiring in our day and throughout this new dispensation of the gospel. Nephi knew that those who saw Isaiah’s prophecies come to pass could understand them (see, for example, Isaiah 29). If we do not read them, however, we cannot expect to understand them.

“The Book of Mormon is the world’s greatest commentary on the book of Isaiah” (McConkie, “Ten Keys to Understanding Isaiah,” p. 81). The Book of Mormon prophets loved the writings of Isaiah and quoted from them often. Large blocks of material are found in the Book of Mormon with inspired commentary and explanations. The Book of Mormon prophets obtained this material from the brass plates, which were written before 600  B.C. The Isaiah material in the Book of Mormon is, therefore, the oldest and most accurate available and provides commentary by prophets who, in some cases, had the same historical and cultural background as Isaiah had. The Lord Himself swore to the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and, thus, to the truthfulness of Isaiah’s writings that are found therein (see D&C 17:6).

Second Nephi Chapters 12-24

And now I write some of the words of Isaiah, that whoso of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice for all men. Now these are the words, and ye may liken them unto you and unto all men (2 Nephi 11:8).

Nephi copied selected writings from Isaiah into his own record so that he could be sure his descendants - and we - would have them. We are to lift up our hearts and rejoice when we read the words he wrote. Isaiah was the last prophet whose words were recorded on the brass plates, which Nephi's father Lehi brought with him into the wilderness and across the ocean to the Promised Land.

Chapters 12 through 24 of Second Nephi are nearly verbatim copies of chapters 2 through 14 of Isaiah in the Bible. Rather than comment on the individual verses of these chapters in this blog, I invite you to download my full commentary on the entire book of Isaiah. You can get a free copy of my ebook Searching Isaiah: Line Upon Line.

Second Nephi 11:2

And now I, Nephi, write more of the words of Isaiah, for my soul delighteth in his words. For I will liken his words unto my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children, for he verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him.

A key to understanding the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon is to remember that they brought delight to Nephi's soul. They gave him hope and encouragement when he applied them to the future of his people. They are not dreadful, they are delightful. We need to look for the aspects of Isaiah that brought such joy to another prophet. Nephi copied Isaiah's words into his record to make sure that his people and we in the latter day would have them. We can therefore assume these chapters are important. Rather than skip over them, we should study them carefully and deeply and with the same spirit of revelation that inspired Nephi to copy them in the first place.

Second Nephi 9:31-32

And wo unto the deaf that will not hear; for they shall perish. Wo unto the blind that will not see; for they shall perish also.

Belief is a choice. Faith is a decision we make every time we face a trial or adversity. We make ourselves deaf to the whispering of the Spirit and blind to the tender mercies of God by intentionally making wrong choices. It is not our occasional or even frequent mistakes that will condemn us, but our refusals to hear and see.

Second Nephi 8:11

Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy and holiness shall be upon their heads; and they shall obtain gladness and joy; sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

Isaiah prophesies of the time when the Jews will be released from bondage and return to their homeland. As great as will be their joy and rejoicing at their liberation, their temporal salvation is only temporary. Greater yet will be our everlasting joy and eternal gladness when we are redeemed, not from our temporal bondage, but from our spiritual bondage. When Israel is gathered for the last time at the Second Coming of Christ, they will return not just to their earthly homeland but to their heavenly home, which is the kingdom of God, embodied in Zion. Their joy will then be uninterrupted. They will then experience true gladness and a fullness of joy. Sorrow and mourning for sin will flee away by the power of the atonement, which brings about mercy, forgiveness, and pardon. When guilt is swept away, mourning will cease.

Second Nephi 8:9

Awake, awake! Put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake as in the ancient days. Art thou not he that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?

Isaiah interjects a prayer to Jehovah to call forth the Messiah, who is the arm of the Lord. Isaiah pleads for the Messiah to arise and come to the defense of His people. Isaiah has seen that Christ will vanquish the devil, just as He will defeat the king of Babylon, just as he defeated Pharaoh and freed captive Israel from Egyptian slavery. Over and over God has rescued His children from temporal captivity. He will do so again and again. But these deliverances are only symbols of the eternal deliverance that Christ ultimately performs for all through the ransom of the atonement, which brings about redemption from sin. The ultimate enemy is not an earthly king but Satan. Just as God performs miracles to defeat His worldly enemies, He will employ the miracle of the atonement to defeat His spiritual adversary, who is truly the enemy of our souls.

Second Nephi 8:7

Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart I have written my law, fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

When we follow God, we can expect persecution, but we should not fear it. In the eventual justice of God, those who follow Him will triumph over all their foes, and the enemies of God will be vanquished. God’s ability to save is not diminished by the opinions and opposition of men. Those who fight against God will ultimately be disappointed. Their puny efforts will prove to be ineffectual, and they will be consumed. The enemies and detractors of the Church one by one are discredited or lose interest as they fail to make their case, while the Church moves ever forward and thrives.

Second Nephi 7:9

For the Lord God will help me. And all they who shall condemn me, behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, and the moth shall eat them up.

No adversary can stand against Christ, for the power of God is in Him. Those who oppose Him will find themselves on the losing side. They will be destroyed. Their cause will fade away, cankered through and through by its own corruptness.