My Kindness Shall Not Depart

Isaiah 50 introduces a Servant who has been given “the tongue of the learned,” not to impress, but “to speak a word in season to him that is weary” (50:4). He is taught “morning by morning.” Then He gives His back to the smiters and does not hide His face from shame and spitting (50:6), words fulfilled when the Savior was scourged and spat upon (Matthew 26:67; 27:26). Chapter 51 turns to those who seek the Lord: “look unto the rock whence ye are hewn,” to Abraham and Sarah (51:1–2). God made a great family from one aged couple; He can make Zion’s wilderness like Eden (51:3). Jacob thought these chapters important enough to read to the Nephites in full (2 Nephi 7–8).

🔗 Cross-references

• Matthew 26:67 ↗The Savior is spat upon and struck, as the Servant of Isaiah 50:6 foresaw.
• 2 Nephi 7:4–7 ↗Jacob reads Isaiah 50 to the Nephites, including the Servant who sets His face like a flint.
• Hebrews 11:11–12 ↗Hebrews describes how Sarah and Abraham, past age, became the rock from which a nation was hewn.

Isaiah 52 opens with a double wake-up call: “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion,” shake off the dust, “loose thyself from the bands of thy neck” (52:1–2). In Doctrine and Covenants 113:7–10, the Lord explains through Joseph Smith that putting on strength means those called in the last days putting on the authority of the priesthood, and loosing the bands means scattered Israel returning to Him. Verse 3 adds, “ye shall be redeemed without money”; Peter later says we were redeemed not with silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18–19). Verse 7 praises the “beautiful” feet of those who bring good tidings. The chapter ends by introducing the Servant whose face would be marred, the doorway into Isaiah 53.

🔗 Cross-references

• Doctrine and Covenants 113:7–10 ↗The Lord explains Isaiah 52:1–2 in answer to questions from Elias Higbee.
• 1 Peter 1:18–19 ↗We were redeemed not with silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ.
• Mosiah 15:14–18 ↗Abinadi explains the beautiful feet of Isaiah 52:7 and names the Lord as the founder of peace.

Isaiah 53 is spoken by people looking back with regret. They didn’t think much of the Servant: “no form nor comeliness,” “despised and rejected,” a “man of sorrows” they hid their faces from (53:2–3). Then they realize the truth: “Surely he hath borne our griefs.” The Hebrew words for griefs and sorrows can also mean sicknesses and pains, and Matthew quotes the verse after a day of healing (Matthew 8:16–17). Every detail fits the Savior: silent before His accusers (Mark 15:3–5), numbered with the transgressors (Mark 15:27–28), in a rich man’s tomb (Matthew 27:57–60). On the night before His death, Jesus quoted verse 12 and said it “must yet be accomplished in me” (Luke 22:37). Abinadi quoted the whole chapter as a witness of Christ (Mosiah 14–15).

🔗 Cross-references

• Luke 22:37 ↗The Savior Himself quotes Isaiah 53:12 and says it must be fulfilled in Him.
• Alma 7:11–12 ↗Alma teaches that the Savior took on our pains, sicknesses and infirmities so He would know how to succor us.
• Mosiah 15:10–11 ↗Abinadi explains who the Servant’s “seed” are: all who hearken to the prophets and look to Him for redemption.

After the suffering of chapter 53 comes joy. Isaiah 54 opens by telling a barren woman to sing, because her children will be many (54:1). Zion is told to enlarge her tent, lengthen her cords and “strengthen thy stakes” (54:2), the image behind the Church’s use of the word “stake” (Doctrine and Covenants 82:14). The Lord calls Himself Zion’s husband and Redeemer (54:5). He admits that hard seasons can feel like being forsaken, “for a small moment,” but promises “everlasting kindness” (54:7–8). Then the week’s key verse: the mountains may depart, “but my kindness shall not depart from thee” (54:10). The risen Savior quoted this whole chapter to the Nephites (3 Nephi 22).

🔗 Cross-references

• 3 Nephi 22:7–10 ↗The risen Savior quotes these promises of everlasting kindness to the Nephites.
• Doctrine and Covenants 121:7 ↗The Lord tells Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail that his afflictions will be “but a small moment.”
• Doctrine and Covenants 82:14 ↗Zion’s borders must be enlarged and her stakes strengthened, in Isaiah’s own imagery.

Isaiah 55 sounds like a market cry: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” The twist is that the goods are free: “without money and without price” (55:1). Then a searching question: “Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?” (55:2). Jacob repeats the invitation almost word for word to the Nephites (2 Nephi 9:50–51), and Jesus offered the Samaritan woman living water that ends thirst (John 4:13–14). The chapter continues with a promise that the Lord will “abundantly pardon” (55:7), a reminder that His thoughts are higher than ours (55:8–9), and an assurance that His word, like rain, “shall not return unto me void” (55:11).

🔗 Cross-references

• 2 Nephi 9:50–51 ↗Jacob echoes Isaiah 55:1–2 and invites his people to come and feast on what does not perish.
• John 4:13–14 ↗The Savior offers living water that becomes a well springing up into everlasting life.
• Doctrine and Covenants 1:38 ↗Like the rain of Isaiah 55:10–11, the Lord’s word will be fulfilled, by His voice or His servants’.

Isaiah 56 speaks to people who feared they didn’t belong: the foreigner who worried, “The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people,” and the eunuch who felt like “a dry tree” (56:3). The Lord promises that those who keep His covenant will receive “a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters” in His house, which “shall be called an house of prayer for all people” (56:5, 7). Jesus quoted that line when He cleansed the temple (Mark 11:17). It is worth noticing that the man reading Isaiah 53 in Acts 8 was an Ethiopian eunuch, just the kind of person Isaiah 56 welcomes. Chapter 57 closes with the high and lofty One who dwells “with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit” (57:15).

🔗 Cross-references

• Mark 11:17 ↗The Savior quotes Isaiah 56:7 as He cleanses the temple.
• Acts 8:27–39 ↗An Ethiopian eunuch, reading Isaiah, learns of Jesus and is baptized: Isaiah 56 fulfilled in one life.
• Acts 10:34–35 ↗Peter learns that God is no respecter of persons and accepts people of every nation.

Before the sacrament today, return to the heart of Isaiah 53. He was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (53:3). He carried our griefs and sorrows, was wounded for our transgressions, and bore the chastisement that brings us peace (53:4–5). We have all gone astray, “every one to his own way,” and the Lord laid on Him “the iniquity of us all” (53:6). Then, “as a lamb to the slaughter,” He did not open His mouth (53:7). The bread and water are small and quiet, but they point to this chapter. As you partake, remember that He knows by experience the sorrows you are carrying, and that His stripes are how you are healed.

🔗 Cross-references

• John 1:29 ↗John the Baptist points to Jesus and says, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
• Moroni 4:3 ↗The sacrament prayer asks that we always remember Him.
• 1 Peter 2:24–25 ↗Peter echoes Isaiah 53: by His stripes we are healed, and we have returned to the Shepherd of our souls.