Isaiah prophesies of a righteous ensign to come forth in the last days. This is the man of whom Jehovah said: “For I will send my servant unto you who are blind; yea, a messenger to open the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf; And they shall be made perfect notwithstanding their blindness, if they will hearken unto the messenger, the Lord’s servant” (JST Isa. 42:19-20). Thus, it appears that the servant will open that which Isaiah closed. Whereas Isaiah was commissioned to “make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes” (Isa. 6:10), the servant is commissioned to “open the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf.” To some extent, therefore, the servant’s mission is to reveal that which Isaiah hid.

When Joseph Smith asked the Lord for clarification concerning this man, the Lord answered: “[he] is a descendant of Jesse, as well as of Joseph, unto whom rightly belongs the priesthood, and the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for the gathering of my people in the last days” (D&C 113:4-6). However, gathering Israel is only one of the charges given to this man who will be renamed “David.” Besides gathering Israel from “the four corners of the earth” and assigning them lands of inheritance (Isa. 11:12), he will also serve as “a light” to the gentiles and “a covenant of the people” (Isa. 42:6; see also Isa. 49:6-8). He will be endowed with many Godly gifts, including the power to “smite the earth with the rod of his mouth” and to “slay the wicked” with “the breath of his lips” (Isa. 11:4). He will also be a man of deep humility (Isa. 42:1-3) who will even lament that he sometimes “labored in vain” (Isa. 49:4). As Isaiah revealed through the ancient types of Eliakim and Shebna, this man will hold the sealing power and be called to high office within the priesthood (Isa. 22:22-24).

This ensign will serve Christ as Cyrus of old once served Jehovah, opening doors for God’s covenant people to return to the lands of their inheritance and to build a temple—and to “subdue nations before him” (Isa. 44:28 – 45:1). The Lord calls him “the righteous man from the east” (Isa. 41:2), a man who will raise valleys and level mountains in preparing the way for the redeemed of Israel to come to Zion.

Before any of these missions are performed, however, this man will suffer terribly, including being “marred, more than any man” (3 Ne. 20:44). Of this incident, the Lord says:

For in that day, for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them; and there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man [the servant] shall declare it unto them. But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. (3 Ne. 21:9-10; words in brackets added)

The Lord “will heal him,” which, as we learn, means that he will bring this man back from the brink of death. During this time the Lord may call him up to his throne, even as he called Isaiah (Isa. 6:1-12; see also JST Rev. 12:3). And during that time the Lord will anoint this man to do many things the Lord himself once did:

The Spirit of the Lord God [Yahweh in Hebrew] is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek . . . to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn . . .” (Isa. 61:1-2).

Although the Savior fulfilled much of this prophecy, he did not fulfill all: only this servant is called to proclaim “the day of vengeance of our God.” One of the great revelations that comes from searching the words of Isaiah is learning just how intertwined the Lord’s and the servant’s missions will be in the last days. As God’s prophet to all the world, this latter-day ensign becomes the Lord’s hands and feet on the earth, making his very soul a vessel for Christ’s will.