Isaiah promises a second deliverance. At first it is like the exodus, with a highway “like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt” (Isa. 11:16). Then the LORD “which maketh a way in the sea” says, “Remember ye not the former things… I will do a new thing” (Isa. 43:16–19), and then the going out is unlike the exodus: “ye shall not go out with haste” (Isa. 52:12). The road is first for “the remnant of his people,” then “for our God” (Isa. 40:3), then “the way of the people” (Isa. 62:10).
Scripture connects three of these passages with Jesus Christ: “the Messiah will set himself again the second time to recover them” (2 Ne. 6:14); the Gospels apply Isaiah 40:3 to John the Baptist, who prepared His way; and Jesus Christ says, “I will go before you and be your rearward” (D&C 49:27–28).
| Step | Passage | The words |
|---|---|---|
| A second time | Isa. 11:11, 16 | “an highway for the remnant of his people… like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt” |
| The way of holiness | Isa. 35:8–10 | “it shall be called The way of holiness” |
| The way of the LORD | Isa. 40:3 | “Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” |
| A new thing | Isa. 43:16–19 | “Remember ye not the former things… I will even make a way in the wilderness” |
| Out of Babylon | Isa. 48:20–21 | “Go ye forth of Babylon… he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them” |
| Not with haste | Isa. 52:11–12 | “ye shall not go out with haste… the LORD will go before you” |
| The way of the people | Isa. 62:10 | “prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway” |
| Still to come | D&C 133:27 | “an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep” |
Like the day he came up out of Egypt
“The Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people” (Isa. 11:11); the LORD “shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea” (Isa. 11:15), to “facilitate the return, as in the days of Moses.”1 Then the highway, “like as it was” in the exodus (Isa. 11:16). Jacob says this “second time” of the Messiah (2 Ne. 6:14).1 Isaiah 35 gives the road a name: “it shall be called The way of holiness… the redeemed shall walk there” (Isa. 35:8–9). See Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 35.
Prepare ye the way of the LORD
“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isa. 40:3). Here the highway is “for our God.” All four Gospels apply the verse to John the Baptist (Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23),1 who says, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord.” Lehi had foretold that one “should go forth and cry in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight” (1 Ne. 10:8). Latter-day revelation uses the same words for the Second Coming: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight, for the hour of his coming is nigh” (D&C 133:17). See Isaiah 40.
A new thing
The new thing is “a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” (Isa. 43:19). The call to go out of Babylon ends with water from the rock: “they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them” (Isa. 48:20–21; compare Ex. 17:6).1 Paul says of the rock of the first exodus that Israel “drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4). And the arm of the LORD is asked whether it is not the one “that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over” (Isa. 51:10; see The Arm of the Lord). See Isaiah 43 and Isaiah 48.
Not with haste
Israel ate the first Passover “in haste” (Ex. 12:11). Isaiah uses the same Hebrew word, chippazon, only once, to deny it: “ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward” (Isa. 52:12).2
Nephi says that in the first exodus it was “the Lord their God, their Redeemer, going before them” (1 Ne. 17:30). The risen Savior quotes Isaiah’s verses (3 Ne. 20:41–42)1 and gives the words as the Father’s: “I will go before them, saith the Father, and I will be their rearward” (3 Ne. 21:29). In the Doctrine and Covenants He speaks them Himself: “Behold, I will go before you and be your rearward… Behold, I am Jesus Christ” (D&C 49:27–28).1 See Isaiah 52.
The way of the people
“Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people” (Isa. 57:14); “Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway” (Isa. 62:10). In latter-day revelation: “an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep” (D&C 133:27; compare Ex. 14:29 and Isa. 51:10).1 See Isaiah 62.
Sources
- The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
- Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb. ↩