The house of Jacob is invited to “walk in the light of the LORD” (Isa. 2:5). Isaiah then describes a people in darkness, and comes at last to a Zion whose light is the LORD Himself. Scripture and the Church read several of these passages of Jesus Christ.
| Step | Passage | The words |
|---|---|---|
| The invitation | Isa. 2:5 | “let us walk in the light of the LORD” |
| In the dark | Isa. 9:2 | “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light” |
| A light to the Gentiles | Isa. 42:6; Isa. 49:6 | “a light of the Gentiles”; “a light to the Gentiles” |
| Waited for | Isa. 59:9 | “we wait for light, but behold obscurity” |
| Risen on Zion | Isa. 60:1–3 | “Arise, shine; for thy light is come” |
| Arise and shine forth | D&C 115:5 | “Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations” |
| Everlasting | Isa. 60:19–20 | “the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light” |
A great light in the dark
Chapter 8 ends with people who “shall be driven to darkness” (Isa. 8:22). Then: “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Isa. 9:2). The darkness is “apostasy and captivity,” and “the ‘great light’ is Christ.”1 Matthew quotes the verse at the start of Jesus’s ministry: “The people which sat in darkness saw great light” (Matt. 4:16). The Isaiah 9 page has the detail.
A light to the Gentiles
The LORD says to His servant, “I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles” (Isa. 49:6; compare Isa. 42:6). The servant’s light is read both of Christ and of His people. “The Messiah will be a light to the Gentiles,”1 and Simeon, holding the infant Jesus, calls Him “A light to lighten the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32). Paul and Barnabas take the words as their own charge, “For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles” (Acts 13:47): the Lord “had called Israel to be ‘a light of the Gentiles.’”2 To the Nephites Jesus says, “Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up” (3 Ne. 18:24). “Every covenant person becomes a light to the world by holding up the light of the Savior through faithfully living His commandments.”3 The Servant Songs page covers the song itself.
Waiting for light
Light is promised to the one who feeds the hungry: “then shall thy light rise in obscurity” (Isa. 58:10). The people then confess, “we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness” (Isa. 59:9), and “We grope for the wall like the blind” (Isa. 59:10). “Failure to heed the word of the Lord causes people to ‘wait for light’ but none comes.”4
Arise, shine
“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee… And the Gentiles shall come to thy light” (Isa. 60:1–3). “Zion is to arise and be a light unto the nations,”1 and “The Light of Zion is the Lord Himself.”4 The Isaiah 60 page goes verse by verse.
Latter-day revelation echoes Isaiah’s words: “Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations” (D&C 115:5).1
An everlasting light
“The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory” (Isa. 60:19); “thy sun shall no more go down” (Isa. 60:20). John writes of the holy city that it “had no need of the sun, neither of the moon… for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Rev. 21:23; compare Isa. 60:19).1
Sources
- The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
- Chapter 32: Acts 13–15, New Testament Student Manual (Church Educational System, 2014). ↩
- Chapter 16: The God of Israel and the Nations (Isaiah 36–47), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). ↩
- Chapter 18: The Last Days and the Millennium (Isaiah 55–66), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). ↩ ↩