(Isa. 2:1–4; Ps. 65:4; D&C 133:10–13; 2 Ne. 30:15; Micah 4:1–2; Zech.6:12–15)
The expression “the mountain of the Lord’s house,” as here indicated, was undoubtedly to be referred to as a place as well as a definition of a righteous people… . And then the ancient prophet said, “And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Mic. 4:2.) With the coming of the pioneers to establish the Church in the tops of the mountains, our early leaders declared this to be the beginning of the fulfillment of that prophecy… . Years ago I went with the brethren to the Idaho Falls Temple [dedication], and I heard in that inspired prayer of the First Presidency a definition of the meaning of that term “out of Zion shall go forth the law.” Note what they said: “We thank thee that thou hast revealed to us that those who gave us our constitutional form of government were men wise in thy sight and that thou didst raise them up for the very purpose of putting forth that sacred document… . We pray that kings and rulers and the peoples of all nations under heaven may be persuaded of the blessings enjoyed by the people of this land by reason of their freedom and under thy guidance be constrained to adopt similar governmental systems, thus to fulfill the ancient prophecy of Isaiah and Micah that ‘… out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem’” (Improvement Era, October 1945, 564).
(Harold B. Lee, Ensign, Nov. 1971, 15.)
The test lies in our capacity to live the gospel rather than adopt the ways of the world.
I do not advocate a retreat from society. On the contrary, we have a responsibility and a challenge to take our places in the world of business, science, government, medicine, education, and every other worthwhile and constructive vocation… . In so doing we must work with others. But this does not require a surrender of standards… .
We can maintain the integrity of our families… . We can oppose the tide of pornography and lasciviousness… . We can refrain from buying on the Sabbath day… . As we observe these and other standards taught by the Church, many in the world will respect us and find strength to follow that which they too know is right.
And, in the words of Isaiah, “Many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths” (Isa. 2:3).
We need not compromise. We must not compromise.
The candle which the Lord has lighted in this dispensation can become as a light unto the whole world, and others seeing our good works may be led to glorify our Father in heaven and emulate in their own lives the examples they may have observed in ours.
(Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Nov. 1974, 100.)
All of the holy temples of our God in the latter days shall be built in the mountains of the Lord, for his mountains—whether the land itself is a hill, a valley, or a plain—are the places where he comes, personally and by the power of his Spirit, to commune with his people… .
Isaiah names the building of latter-day temples as a sign both of the gathering of Israel and of the second coming of Christ. Israel, as we are aware, is to gather to places where there are temples so her municipals may gain the blessings made available in these holy houses, and these blessings prepare their recipients to meet the Lord, who will suddenly come to his temple… .
The building of a temple in both the mountain of the Lord and the tops of the mountains, unto which the elect of the Lord shall come out of all nations, is the promised sign. This is first and foremost the temple, capped with six spires and crowned with an angelic ministrant sounding the trump of God, that now stands in Salt Lake City in the tops of the mountains of America. All of the temples now built or that may be built in the high mountains of America also do or will fulfill this prophetic word.
(Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1982], 275–76.)
This has specific reference to the Salt Lake Temple and to the other temples built in the top of the Rocky Mountains, and it has a general reference to the temple yet to be built in the New Jerusalem in Jackson County, Missouri. Those in all nations, be it noted, shall flow to the houses of the Lord in the tops of the mountains, there to make the covenants out of which eternal life comes.
(Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985], 539.)
The word mountain is used in the scriptures in different allegorical or figurative senses. In 2 Nephi 12:1–4 the word mountain refers to a high place of God, a place of revelation, even the temple of the Lord.
(George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, ed. Philip C. Reynolds, 7 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1955–1961], 1:214.)
It will be noted that the words of the above verses from the Book of Mormon are identical with the King James translation of Isaiah 2:1–4 except for the change of one word. In the second verse the word “that” (an italicized word) in the King James translation is changed to “when.” … If the word “when” is used, time is indicated and not place. Thus the Book of Mormon supplies a key to understanding these passages by saying that when the mountain of the Lord’s house is established in the top of the mountains, then certain events will follow.
(Ross Warner, The Fulfillment of Book of Mormon Prophecies [Salt Lake City: Hawkes Publishing, Inc., 1975], 175.)
[The dedicatory prayer of the Salt Lake Temple, Apr. 6, 1893:] In past ages thou didst inspire with thy Holy Spirit thy servants, the prophets, to speak of the time in the latter days when the mountain of the Lord’s house should be established in the tops of the mountains, and should be exalted above the hills. We thank thee that we have had the glorious opportunity of contributing to the fulfillment of these visions of Thine ancient seers… .
(Wilford Wooddruff, Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, ed. G. Homer Durham [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1946], 337.)
While many Latter-day Saints believe that the establishment of “the mountain of the Lord’s house” in the tops of the mountains represents the Salt Lake Temple, verse 2 has a broader application. The Zion of North and South America was labeled by some Old Testament prophets as the “everlasting hills” or the “ancient mountains” (see Gen. 49:26; Deut. 33:15). This would suggest that Isaiah’s prophecy relates to the whole continent, not just Salt Lake City. The first temple built in the “everlasting hills” in this dispensation was the Kirtland Temple in 1836, and the Lord appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in that temple on 3 April 1836 (see D&C 110).
(Monte S. Nyman, Great Are the Words of Isaiah [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980], 26.)
I believe that prophecy applies to the historic and wonderful Salt Lake Temple. But I believe also that it is related to this magnificent [Conference Center] hall. For it is from this pulpit that the law of God shall go forth, together with the word and testimony of the Lord.
(Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Nov. 2000, 69.)
For a gathering of people to “flow,” as a river up a mountain, a power greater than gravity must be at work. This power is the power of God and of the temple.
(Donald W. Parry, Visualizing Isaiah, [Provo, Utah: The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2001], 98.)
This great prophecy, as is often the case, is subject to the law of multiple fulfilment. 1. In Salt Lake City and other mountain locations temples, in the full and true sense of the word, have been erected, and representatives of all nations are flowing unto them to learn of God and his ways. In this connection and as part of the general fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy, is the fact that one of the world’s greatest genealogical societies has been established in Salt Lake City—a society to which people of all nations come to do the ancestral research which must precede the performance of vicarious temple ordinances. 2. But the day is yet future when the Lord’s house is to be built on that “Mount Zion” which is “the city of New Jerusalem” in Jackson County, Missouri (D&C 84:2–4). Mount Zion, itself, will be the mountain of the Lord’s house in the day when that glorious temple is erected. 3. When the Jews flee unto Jerusalem, it will be “unto the mountains of the Lord’s house” (D&C 133:13), for a holy temple is to be built there also as part of the work of the great era of restoration (Ezek. 37:24–28).
The law cannot go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, in the full millennial sense that Isaiah foresaw and specified, until these two great future temples are constructed in the old and new Jerusalems (Isa. 2; Mic. 4; 2 Ne. 12).
(Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966], 518.)
“The prophecy of Joseph Smith that the Saints would be driven to the Rocky Mountains, there to become a mighty people, was in confirmation of an earlier prophecy of Isaiah ‘that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains’ (Isa. 2:2). This prophecy was fulfilled and further confirmed by Brigham Young, who, when entering the valley, rose from his sick bed in Wilford Woodruff’s carriage and said, ‘This is the right place!’”
(S. Dilworth Young, Conference Report, April 1974 [Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1974], 88–89.)
We are commanded by God to take this gospel to all the world. That is the cause that must unite us today. Only the gospel will save the world from the calamity of its own self-destruction. Only the gospel will unite men of all races and nationalities in peace. Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family.
Isaiah said that many in latter times would say: “Come … let us go up … to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths” (Isa. 2:3; 2 Ne. 12:3). Is there any greater cause than to teach others the gospel so that they may be united in walking in the ways of the God of Israel? Will we so live His commandments that others will see that the ways of the God of Jacob are distinctive from the world? That is our challenge. Let us then make His cause our cause.
(Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 188.)