In this discourse, the Savior has been discussing the events of the final days. At the end of chapter 22, our last verse was a reference to Isaiah that reprised that same verse from earlier in the discourse. As the Savior ends his entire subject, he concludes with the literary technique he has been using where a scriptural passage is used to provide closure to an argument. In this case, we have an entire chapter of Isaiah entered as the crowning piece of the discourse. This chapter of Isaiah deals with that final time, and is intended as the summation of the entire discourse.
As a summation, it will take the major themes of the discourse and highlight them. This chapter is entered as crowning evidence of the goodness of God because it fits the context of the discussion.
This discourse began with the question of the gathering of Israel. In particular, the Nephites are aware that they are part of the scattered, so their interest is in returning. As the future history is unfolded, the Lord explains that there are two balanced events that will come to pass. The first is that the gospel will go to the Gentiles and while they have it (and are righteous) they will prosper and scatter Israel. Then will come a time when the gospel will be taken from the Gentiles because of unrighteousness. At that time all Gentiles who believe in the gospel will be adopted into the covenant, and the gathering of the literal and spiritual house of Israel will begin. At the end of time, the Triumphant Messiah will return and destroy the wicked, and the house of Israel will be his victorious army. This is the basic outline. This chapter of Isaiah fits perfectly as a final reference to those events.
[Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear]: The immediate reference is to the cultural sadness of the woman without children. The literal address is to a barren woman, one who “didst not bear [children].” For a woman this would have appeared to be a sign of reproach. Of course this chapter is not addressed to a woman, but uses that metaphor for Israel. In the context of the Savior’s discourse in Bountiful, the barren woman is the Nephites, and refers to their question of the gathering. As a people separated from the house of Israel, that separation becomes the symbolic lack of children. Even though the condition of a barren woman would be assumed to be a sad one, the proclamation is that this woman should rejoice and sing. The contrast is between the apparent sadness and the coming joy.
[more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife]: The reason for joy is that the barren state is not forever. The barren woman is “the desolate.” The contrast between the “desolate woman” and the “married wife” suggests separation. In the Bountiful setting, the Nephites are the “desolate” woman, or the woman who is alone. Of course there are no children because of the separation from the husband. Of course the Nephites feel a longing for the gathering, as they are the separated. Nevertheless, something is going to happen that will take the currently barren woman and provide her with more children than the woman who has a husband. That “married wife” is Israel in the Old World. This chapter of Isaiah is being used to indicate great blessings to the descendants of the Nephites.
Textual: Other than the introductory “And then shall that which is written come to pass,” Isaiah 54 is reproduced in 3 Nephi just as it is in the King James Version of the Bible. The only minor change from the 1830 text is the chapter break that separates this chapter from the end of Jesus’ discourse in chapter 21. While this allows the modern reader to more readily compare the text with Isaiah 54, as the verses are identically noted, it does remove the text from its position as the summation of Jesus’ discourse. Since it is unusual for the modern writer to use scriptural texts in this way, the function of the chapter in the context of the Savior’s appearance can be easily lost.