Nephi gave the real reason he loved Isaiah: “he verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him” (2 Ne. 11:2). Jacob said he read Isaiah to his people so they might “glorify the name of your God” (2 Ne. 6:4). Abinadi used Isaiah 53 to preach Christ to a hostile court (Mosiah 14–15). The Savior Himself, after His resurrection, told the Nephites to search Isaiah, and then quoted and explained him (3 Ne. 20–23).
Isaiah may be the most Christ-centered book in the Old Testament. This guide collects the main ways he testifies of Jesus Christ.
First: Jehovah is Jesus Christ
The most important key to Christ in Isaiah is one the Restoration makes plain. The LORD of the Old Testament, Jehovah, is Jesus Christ in His premortal role. In the King James Bible, “LORD” in small capitals stands for the divine name YHWH (Jehovah). When Isaiah says “the LORD,” he usually means the God who would come to earth as Jesus of Nazareth.
The Savior taught this to the Nephites: “I am he that gave the law, and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel” (3 Ne. 15:5). He appeared in the Kirtland Temple and was identified by the same titles Isaiah uses (D&C 110:2–4). Nephi calls Christ “the Holy One of Israel” and “the God of Israel” (1 Ne. 19:10–14; 2 Ne. 9:41).
So Christ in Isaiah is not limited to a few messianic prophecies. When Isaiah describes the Lord as Creator, Redeemer, Shepherd, Judge, and Husband of Israel, he is describing Jesus Christ.
Isaiah’s names for the Savior
Isaiah is rich in titles, and each one teaches something about who He is.
| Title | Where | What it teaches |
|---|---|---|
| The Holy One of Israel | Isa. 1:4 and about 25 times | Utterly holy, yet bound to His people by covenant |
| Immanuel, “God with us” | Isa. 7:14; Isa. 8:8 | God coming to dwell among His people (Matt. 1:23) |
| Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace | Isa. 9:6 | The child-King who is also God |
| A rod out of the stem of Jesse, a Branch, the root of Jesse | Isa. 11:1; Isa. 11:10 | The Davidic King from a cut-down family tree (see D&C 113:1–6) |
| A sure foundation, a tried and precious corner stone | Isa. 28:16 | The rock of salvation (1 Pet. 2:6; Hel. 5:12) |
| A king who shall reign in righteousness; a hiding place from the wind | Isa. 32:1–2 | Shelter in the storm |
| The LORD is our judge, our lawgiver, our king | Isa. 33:22 | All three powers in one Person |
| Shepherd | Isa. 40:11 | He gathers the lambs in His arm |
| My servant, mine elect | Isa. 42:1 | The obedient Son (Matt. 12:17–21) |
| Saviour — “beside me there is no saviour” | Isa. 43:11 | Salvation comes through Him alone |
| Redeemer | Isa. 41:14; Isa. 44:6; Isa. 54:5 | Hebrew goʾel, the next of kin who buys back a lost family member |
| The first and the last | Isa. 44:6; Isa. 48:12 | Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:17; D&C 110:4) |
| The Mighty One of Jacob | Isa. 49:26; Isa. 60:16 | The protector of the covenant family |
| A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief | Isa. 53:3 | He knows our pain from the inside (Alma 7:11–12) |
| Thy Maker is thine husband | Isa. 54:5 | The covenant as a marriage |
| The Anointed who preaches good tidings | Isa. 61:1 | “Messiah” and “Christ” both mean anointed (Luke 4:16–21) |
| He that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments | Isa. 63:1–3 | The Lord at His Second Coming (D&C 133:46–51) |
| Everlasting light | Isa. 60:19–20 | The light of the celestial city (Rev. 21:23) |
The four Servant Songs
Four poems in the second half of Isaiah describe a servant of the Lord who succeeds where Israel failed, suffers innocently, and redeems others: Isa. 42:1–9, Isa. 49:1–13, Isa. 50:4–11, and Isa. 52:13–53:12. The New Testament and the Book of Mormon identify Him as Jesus Christ, and Abinadi quoted and explained the fourth song before King Noah’s court (Mosiah 14–15). The Servant Songs page traces all four songs and the question of who the servant is.
Prophecies the New Testament says He fulfilled
| Isaiah | Fulfillment |
|---|---|
| Isa. 7:14 — a virgin shall conceive | Matt. 1:22–23 |
| Isa. 9:1–2 — light in Galilee of the nations | Matt. 4:12–16 |
| Isa. 11:1–2 — the Spirit rests on the rod of Jesse | Matt. 3:16; Acts 13:22–23 |
| Isa. 29:13 — honoring God with their lips | Matt. 15:7–9 |
| Isa. 35:5–6 — the blind see, the lame leap | Matt. 11:2–5 |
| Isa. 40:3 — a voice crying in the wilderness | Matt. 3:1–3 |
| Isa. 42:1–4 — the gentle Servant | Matt. 12:15–21 |
| Isa. 53:1 — who hath believed our report? | John 12:37–38 |
| Isa. 53:4 — he hath borne our griefs | Matt. 8:16–17 |
| Isa. 53:7–8 — a lamb to the slaughter | Acts 8:32–35 |
| Isa. 53:12 — numbered with the transgressors | Mark 15:27–28; Luke 22:37 |
| Isa. 56:7 — a house of prayer for all people | Mark 11:17 |
| Isa. 61:1–2 — the Spirit of the Lord is upon me | Luke 4:16–21 |
Christ at His Second Coming
Isaiah sees the Savior’s return as vividly as His first coming:
- “The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Isa. 40:5; D&C 101:23).
- “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces” (Isa. 25:8; 1 Cor. 15:54; Rev. 21:4).
- The Lord in red apparel, who has “trodden the winepress alone” (Isa. 63:1–6). The Doctrine and Covenants identifies this as the Savior’s return in glory (D&C 133:46–53). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland drew on this imagery to teach how completely alone the Savior was in His atoning suffering.
- “Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down” (Isa. 64:1; D&C 133:40–45).
- The peaceable kingdom: the wolf and the lamb, the child and the serpent (Isa. 11:6–9; Isa. 65:17–25; D&C 101:23–31).
Why this matters
Why does the Book of Mormon, whose purpose is “the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ” (title page), open with so much Isaiah? Nephi answers the question himself. Isaiah, Jacob, and Nephi had each seen the Redeemer, and “by the words of three, God hath said, I will establish my word” (2 Ne. 11:2–3). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has emphasized these three early witnesses in Christ and the New Covenant. Isaiah’s words stand at the front of the Book of Mormon as testimony, not as filler.
When you read Isaiah looking for Christ, you are reading him the way Nephi, Jacob, Abinadi, and the risen Lord read him. And you are exercising the “spirit of prophecy,” which is the testimony of Jesus (2 Ne. 25:4; Rev. 19:10).
Sources & further reading
- Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant: The Messianic Message of the Book of Mormon, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997.
- “Christ, names of”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Jehovah”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Messiah”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Holy One of Israel”, Bible Dictionary.
- Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Atonement of Jesus Christ”, Ensign, Mar. 2008.
- Jeffrey R. Holland, “None Were with Him”, general conference, Apr. 2009.