Isaiah 2

Come to the Mountain of the Lord

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ will usher in a thousand-year period of peace on earth called the Millennium. The wicked will be destroyed at the time of the Savior’s Coming, but those prepared to receive Him will be spared and rejoice with Him. What must we do to prepare? In a well-known prophecy, Isaiah told ancient and modern Israel what they must do to prepare to meet the Lord and live in the Millennium. This prophecy is “dualistic,” meaning that it can apply to more than one time and place. As such, the prophecy not only teaches general principles of what ancient Israel must do to establish His kingdom but also suggests a specific location of that kingdom in the last days prior to the Second Coming and Millennium.

In the Book of Mormon, Nephi quoted Isaiah chapters 2–14. Locating footnotes in your Bible, as well as comparing these chapters to the ones in 2 Nephi, may help you better understand what you read.

Understanding the Scriptures

Isaiah 2

Exalted (vv. 2, 11, 17)Put above

Rebuke (v. 4)Judge or correct them

Soothsayers (v. 6)People who predict the future with signs and omens

Majesty (vv. 10, 19, 21)Greatness and power

Lofty (vv. 11–12)High, prideful

Haughtiness (vv. 11, 17)Pride

Clefts (v. 21)Holes

Isaiah 2:2–4—The Mountain of the Lord

The “mountain of the Lord” refers to the temple. In Isaiah 2:2–4, Isaiah reported a vision and made a prophecy that has been fulfilled in many ways. He said that when the time comes that the Lord’s people put Him and His house above all things, and when they actively seek counsel from Him by going to His house, then Zion will be established among them and they will have peace and the promise of eternal life. Modern prophets have taught us the same doctrine. President Howard W. Hunter said, “Let us make the temple, with temple worship and temple covenants and temple marriage, our ultimate earthly goal and the supreme mortal experience” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1994, 118; or Ensign, Nov. 1994, 88).

Another fulfillment of this prophecy has to do with the Lord’s house being established in the “top of the mountains” (Isaiah 2:2). Not only does the prophecy have symbolic reference to putting the temple in the highest place in our lives, but it also has a literal fulfillment in the location of the Church headquarters in the latter days. Regarding this prophecy of Isaiah, Elder Bruce R. McConkie said, “This has specific reference to the Salt Lake Temple and to the other temples built in the top of the Rocky Mountains, and it has a general reference to the temple yet to be built in the New Jerusalem in Jackson County, Missouri” (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [1985], 539).

Elder B. H. Roberts taught the importance of the law going forth from Zion when he said, “To me that is, in part, the law of Zion—the basic principle of the civil law of the land—a principle of the law that is going forth from Zion—the civil law that is to be established and maintained upon this blessed land of liberty, and that, eventually, will directly or indirectly bless and make free every land in all the world” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1908, 108).

Studying the Scriptures

Do activities A and B as you study Isaiah 2.

1. Make a Drawing or Sketch

   Draw a representation of the ideas found in Isaiah 2:2–3.

2. Give a Modern Example

   The basic message of Isaiah 2:2–4 is that Zion will be established when Israel places the temple and its ordinances and laws above everything else in their lives.

   1. Read Isaiah 2:6–9 and list what the Lord said was preventing the people from receiving the blessings of the temple at that time. Give a modern example of each item listed. (Make sure you compare verse 9 to 2 Nephi 12:9.)

   2. According to Isaiah 2:10–22, what will happen at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to all who will not accept Him because of their pride?