Question: I recently watched a podcast that claimed the servant Jesus speaks of in 3 Nephi 21:8–10 is the prophet Joseph Smith. Why can’t the prophet Joseph Smith be the servant in Isaiah 52:13–15 of whom Jesus is speaking?
Answer: There are two identified as Jehovah’s (or Jesus’) servant in the Book of Isaiah: (1) his collective servant, or those who constitute his end-time covenant people; and (2) Jehovah’s individual servant, he whom the Lord raises up to restore to God’s covenant the end-time house of Israel—Jews, Lamanites, and Ten Tribes—and who assigns them lands of inheritance, etc.
The “servant” of whom Jesus speaks in 3 Nephi 21:8–10, in other words, is that same individual servant concerning whom Isaiah prophesies throughout his book, not just in Isaiah 52:13–15. His name is David, not Joseph. He restores all twelve tribes of Israel as an integral part of his end-time mortal ministry. Jeremiah and Ezekiel predict the same (see Jeremiah 23; Ezekiel 34).
Having already served his restorative ministry on the earth, Joseph Smith cannot return in another mortal state that requires “healing” from being physically disfigured by his enemies. To this, Jesus refers in 3 Nephi 21:10, quoting Isaiah 57:18–19. Commentaries on the scriptures, and secondary sources that aren’t a part of the scriptures, may present obstacles to understanding.
The key to interpreting prophecies has always been the deliberate challenge the Lord has built into the scriptures that divides those who keep his commandment to search them from those who don’t—who assume reading is enough. Searching requires a much deeper level of immersing oneself in God’s word than many people may ever have imagined or are willing to commit to.
The mission of God’s end-time servant can’t be determined by cherry picking a scripture here or there or letting others interpret for us. All Isaiah passages are part of a web of interconnections that require each of us to put the pieces together. As with the sons of Mosiah, the breakthroughs and divine empowerment that result from searching the scriptures cannot come any other way.
Unlike Jesus, who was sent to the house of Israel, the servant is sent to the Gentiles to empower their spiritual kings and queens to gather Israel in a new, physical exodus from throughout the earth to the old and new Jerusalems. He is sent just prior to a worldwide destruction to restore justice in the earth amidst gross injustice and to prepare a people for Jesus’ second coming.
