You
can read the entire chapter at the following links: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/22?lang=eng
and https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/isa/12?lang=eng
Isaiah
dedicates the few verses that make up this chapter to helping us imagine what
the world and our feelings about it will be like after the Second Coming of
Jesus Christ.
Even
if we don’t know precisely what will happen leading up to His arrival, or when
those things will take place, we know that there will be a climax to the
already ongoing process of gathering his followers. We also know broadly that
events will reflect some kind of judgment that provides protection for those
who emulate the Lord from those who seek to ridicule and destroy them. In
considering this, we must be very careful not to form prideful notions that we
are inherently morally superior to anyone. Any goodness we claim lies in how
closely we follow the Lord’s selfless, loving example. And we are not exempt
from hardships and trials, or even physical death.
To
those who physically survive the tribulations of the times, or who are brought
back through God’s grace, the Second Coming will represent an epic deliverance
from fear and want. According to the first verse of this chapter, one of the dominant
emotions will be relief: “Though thou wast angry with me thine anger is turned
away, and thou comfortedst me.” Remember, we all fall short in keeping God’s
commandments. Yet, those who make it their life’s work to turn back to Christ
constantly for help in becoming more like Him will feel the power of
forgiveness bless their lives. It will be even more palpable when Jesus comes
again.
Another
dominant emotion will be joy. Utter, unrestrained joy. The second verse is key
to understanding why we can and should feel that same joy right now as we
recognize that this chapter is not some poetic flight of fancy, but a true
description of future events that shows what opportunities God is offering us
right now in the present:
“Behold, God is my salvation; I will
trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he
also is become my salvation.”
According
to the late Brigham Young University professor Ellis Rasmussen, in this verse
the original Hebrew refers to God as “El,” another name for the Father. So the
Father and the plan He has for us (His children) to become like Him and return
to Him gives us an amazingly gracious and merciful chance for salvation. And
Jehovah, who before his birth as Jesus Christ represented the Father in His
dealings with men and women from the time of Adam and Eve, is our strength and
song because His Atonement is the key to our redemption from death and sin.
And
so the remaining passages of the chapter referring to joyful actions—praise, crying,
shouting, and drawing “water out of the wells of salvation”—represent the
jubilant feelings that can come to each of us as we feel our burdens literally
lifted and become partakers of the peace the Lord offers. Even more important,
we become empowered to help others find that same sense of peace and liberation
from darkness and heaviness. It seems almost too good to be true that we can
have absolute trust in the Lord to carry us through. But as the Apostle Peter
reminds us (in 2 Peter
1:16), it’s not a “cunningly devised fable” at all. In fact, it’s the most
enduring truth there is.
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