To understand what Jesus is communicating in these dense chapters, it is also helpful for readers to remember the broader context of the Nephite prophetic worldview which would have been familiar to Jesus’s audience here in Bountiful. In the book Isaiah and the Book of Mormon, an opening chapter entitled “Getting through Isaiah with the Help of the Nephite Prophetic View” focuses on the prophetic foreknowledge that is found in earlier sections of the Book of Mormon. That “prophetic worldview,” as understood and articulated by the prophets Nephi, Jacob, Zenos, and Abinadi, foreshadowed the unfolding of the covenant over the course of world history after the time of Lehi. That worldview anticipated four main stages:
In sum, in stage 1, there would be an apostasy in Israel, and the Israelites would be scattered. However, in stage 2, the Lord would be merciful; at least some of the Jews would be brought back. The Messiah would come to earth only to be rejected by his people. In stage 3, the “day of the Gentile” would rise, and the Book of Mormon would be brought forth through the Gentiles to the posterity of Lehi. But wickedness would still prevail. Some of the Gentiles would forget the Jews, and there would be transgressions and serious problems. Eventually there would be a division into only two churches, the church of the Lord or the good people, on the one hand, and the great and abominable composed of all others, on the other hand. Finally, stage 4 would bring forth the victory of God as Israel is gathered. In this overall view, there would be converts, righteousness would begin to be established again, a fullness of the truth and the Lord would prevail over all who fight against him and lift up their hand against him.
Notice that in 3 Nephi 15–16, on Day 1, Jesus added details, confirmations, and fulfillments to this same overall prophetic expectation that these righteous people in Bountiful already knew quite a bit about. By the time of 3 Nephi, the first two of these four stages had already been fulfilled. So, in 3 Nephi 15–16, as Jesus spoke to His disciples, He began by focusing on elements that pertain to stage 3, when he discussed what can be called the “day of the Gentiles.” Once the Gentiles had become ripe in iniquity, however, they would eventually reject the fullness of the gospel, and there would arise “all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and murders, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, and of secret abominations” (3 Nephi 16:10). All the elements belonging to stage 3 of the Nephite prophetic worldview can be found in chapters 15 and 16.
And then, in 3 Nephi 20–25, on Day 2, speaking to a more spiritually prepared people, Jesus emphasized stage 4. Twice he quoted Isaiah 52:7–8, about the “watchmen” who shall lift up their voices in a day of fullness and how Jesus will be the primary messenger who will announce deliverance to the Israelites, and they will know how beautiful his feet are (see below). He also quoted all of Isaiah 54 about the end of times when the barren or childless woman (symbolizing the church during the Great Apostasy) will be comforted, will become fruitful, and will enlarge and richly adorn her tent (or tabernacle) with seed (children) who will eternally inherit. Other themes of glory and the building of Zion are introduced that pertain especially to the converted Nephites (see further below). And he concluded by quoting Malachi 3–4 about the earth not being wasted at his final coming.
It is clear here that Jesus taught those who needed to know only after they were spiritually prepared to understand these sublime materials. He taught them within the traditional framework of the four stages of the Nephite prophetic worldview. He drew on scriptures that they had and then added Malachi 3–4 to them. He stressed the value of keeping their records so that they could fulfill a crucial role in the complete fulfillment of the Father’s covenant with his people throughout the world.
Book of Mormon Central, “What Vision Guides Nephi’s Choice of Isaiah Chapters? (2 Nephi 11:2),” KnoWhy 38 (February 22, 2016).
John W. Welch, “Getting through Isaiah with the Help of the Nephite Prophetic View,” in Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, ed. Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1998), 19–45.