I taught Isaiah 58 through 66 at church this month.
Nine chapters. Fasting. The Sabbath. A warrior in red clothes. The Millennium. It’s a lot to cover.
Here’s the thing. There’s one moment that holds the whole block together. And it isn’t in Isaiah. It’s in Luke.
The Day Jesus Read Isaiah Out Loud
Early in His ministry, Jesus stood up in the synagogue at Nazareth. He was handed the book of Isaiah. He turned to chapter 61 and read it out loud.
Then He sat down and said:
“This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” (Luke 4:21)
That’s one of the plainest declarations the Savior ever made. He is the Anointed One.
Pro tip: notice where He stopped reading.
He stopped in the middle of a verse. Right after “the acceptable year of the Lord.” He didn’t read the next line, “the day of vengeance of our God.”
Why? His first coming fulfilled the mercy. The vengeance belongs to His Second Coming. And Isaiah 63 picks that thread right back up.
That one detail opened up the whole block for me. Isaiah works on three timelines at once:
- What the Lord has done. His mortal ministry and Atonement.
- What He is doing. Healing the brokenhearted and freeing captives today.
- What He will yet do. The Second Coming, the Millennium, and “new heavens and a new earth.”
Let me walk you through it.
Worship That Faces Outward (Isaiah 58)
Chapter 58 opens with a call out. “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet.”
The strange part? The people look righteous. They seek God daily. They fast. And they’re frustrated:
“Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not?” (Isaiah 58:3)
Why isn’t God noticing?
His answer is blunt. On their fast days they chased their own pleasure. They made their workers keep working. They fasted “for strife and debate.” Bowed heads and sackcloth, all performance and no heart.
Outward devotion can live right alongside inward drift. That one hits close for most of us.
Is Not This the Fast?
Then the Lord defines what He actually wants:
“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” (Isaiah 58:6–7)
Notice the direction. The true fast faces outward.
It isn’t just going without. It’s giving to. That’s the scriptural root of fast offerings.
The Payoff
Then come the promises. And every blessing mirrors the service. Feed the hungry, and your soul is satisfied. Lift someone else’s darkness, and your light rises.
“Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.” (Isaiah 58:8)
“Rereward” means rear guard. God goes in front of you and behind you.
And then my favorite line in the chapter:
“Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.” (Isaiah 58:9)
Here I am.
Elder Holland has testified that he’s cried out in a fast more than once, and God has answered with exactly those words. (“Are We Not All Beggars?” October 2014)
The Sabbath a Delight
The chapter closes with the Sabbath.
“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight… Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.” (Isaiah 58:13–14)
President Nelson taught that faith in God and love for the Sabbath grow together. (“The Sabbath Is a Delight,” April 2015)
Fasting and the Sabbath test the same thing. Is my worship about me? Or about God and the people around me?
When No One Could Save, His Own Arm Did (Isaiah 59)
Chapter 59 starts by clearing God’s name.
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God.” (Isaiah 59:1–2)
God hasn’t moved. We have.
Then the voice shifts to “we.” The people confess. “We grope for the wall like the blind.” That honest confession is the first step back.
And then this:
“And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him.” (Isaiah 59:16)
No one stepped in. So the Lord did it Himself.
That’s the Atonement in one image.
The chapter ends with the line our lesson was named after. “The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression.” Notice the condition. Unto them that turn. Repentance is the doorway.
Arise, Shine (Isaiah 60)
“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.” (Isaiah 60:1–2)
We don’t generate the light. We reflect it. Our job is to arise and let it be seen.
The rest of the chapter is a gathering. Sons from far away. People streaming in “as the doves to their windows.” The same nations that once scattered Israel now help bring her home.
And it ends here:
“The sun shall be no more thy light by day… but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.” (Isaiah 60:19)
The gathering of Israel is a light and darkness story. God gathers His children out of darkness into His light. And we get to help.
Beauty for Ashes (Isaiah 61)
This is the center of the whole block. Christ’s own mission statement. The text He read in Nazareth.
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” (Isaiah 61:1)
“Messiah” and “Christ” both mean the same thing. Anointed One.
The Jubilee
“The acceptable year of the Lord” points back to the year of Jubilee. Every 50th year under the law of Moses (Leviticus 25).
It was announced with a ram’s horn on the Day of Atonement. Slaves were set free. Debts were cleared. Family land went back to the family that lost it.
Christ is the Jubilee.
Every debt released. Every lost inheritance restored.
A Crown Instead of Ashes
“To give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” (Isaiah 61:3)
In Isaiah’s day, mourners put ashes on their heads. The Hebrew word for “beauty” here means a decorative headdress.
So picture it. He takes the ashes off your head and puts a crown there instead.
Where has He done that for you?
A New Name (Isaiah 62)
Zion’s old names were Forsaken and Desolate.
The Lord gives her new ones. Hephzibah, which means “My delight is in her.” And Beulah, which means “Married.”
“As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.” (Isaiah 62:5)
God doesn’t just forgive Zion. He gives her a new identity.
The Lord in Red (Isaiah 63)
Here’s that thread Jesus left unread in Nazareth.
“Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me.” (Isaiah 63:2–3)
Edom stands for the wicked world (D&C 1:36). The red represents judgment at His Second Coming.
But Elder Maxwell pointed out something I love. That red clothing will also remind us of how He suffered for each of us in Gethsemane and on Calvary.
Alone. No one could help Him.
He did it so we’d never have to be alone.
And then, a few verses later:
“In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.” (Isaiah 63:9)
The word for “lovingkindnesses” just before this is the Hebrew hesed. Covenant love. Loyal love.
Same Savior who “hath borne our griefs” back in chapter 53.
Justice and mercy, in the same Person.
Rend the Heavens (Isaiah 64)
“Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down.” (Isaiah 64:1)
That’s a prayer for His coming. And it’s followed by a promise Paul later borrowed: eye hasn’t seen, ear hasn’t heard, what God has prepared for those who wait for Him (Isaiah 64:4).
President Ballard taught that waiting on the Lord isn’t sitting in a waiting room. It’s continued obedience, action, and growth. (“Hope in Christ,” April 2021)
Then the chapter gets honest. “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Even our best efforts can’t save us on their own.
And right after that, one of the most tender lines in Isaiah:
“But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)
We’re unfinished. And we’re still in His hands.
New Heavens and a New Earth (Isaiah 65–66)
“I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people.” (Isaiah 65:2)
All day long. Hands out. Still inviting.
And for those who come, He builds something new:
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” (Isaiah 65:17)
No more weeping. People build houses and get to live in them. They plant vineyards and get to eat the fruit. The wolf and the lamb feed together.
And look at this one:
“Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24)
Back in chapter 58, God promised “Here I am” when we call. By chapter 65, He answers before we even finish asking.
Chapter 66 closes the book by telling us where God looks:
“But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” (Isaiah 66:2)
All nations gathered. The earth made new. And “from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me.”
The Sabbath shows up again at the very end. Chapter 58 and chapter 66 are bookends. Real worship at the start. Real worship at the finish.
The Wrap Up
The short version of how these nine chapters fit together:
- Chapters 58–59. Empty worship creates distance. The Lord steps in as the Intercessor.
- Chapters 60–62. Light rises on Zion. The Anointed One heals, frees, and renames His people.
- Chapters 63–64. The Redeemer returns in red. Israel prays for Him to rend the heavens.
- Chapters 65–66. New heavens and a new earth. All nations gathered.
And right in the middle of it all is Jesus, standing in a synagogue in Nazareth, reading His own job description.
Every line of it is still being fulfilled in people who come to Him.
Here are the questions I’m still sitting with:
Is my worship about me, or about God and the people around me?
Is the Sabbath a delight for me? What would make it more of one?
Where has He already given me beauty for ashes?
Let me know which one hits you hardest.