Question: Why doesn’t the Church teach us about the Davidic Servant? Is it because the Times of the Gentiles are soon to be transitioned to the Jews? Or, that the prophet complies with the instruction of Jesus Christ to keep him unknown?
Answer: A lack of deep scriptural knowledge within the church and an unbelief in the Lord’s end-time servant appear to account for the church’s ascribing all messianic prophecies to Jesus Christ. That is, even when many of these prophecies don’t match Jesus’ ministry but instead predict an end-time ministry that prepares the way for his second coming. That ministry consists of gathering and restoring righteous remnants of Israel’s twelve tribes, building the temple from which Jesus will reign, and establishing Zion among them in the old and new Jerusalems.
Isaiah himself decries the fact that his words are not taken seriously: “You have heard the whole vision; how is it you do not proclaim it? Yet as of now, I announce to you new things, things withheld and unknown to you, things now coming into being, not hitherto, things you have not heard of before, lest you should say, Indeed, I knew them! You have not heard them, nor have you known them; before this your ears have not been open to them. For I knew you would turn treacherous; you were called a transgressor from the womb” (Isaiah 48:6–8; 1 Nephi 20:6–8).
From the signs of the times, and signs in the heavens in our day, the transition from the Times of the Gentiles to that of Israel’s natural lineages appears already in progress. A general awakening and opening of minds and hearts suggests that the Lord’s Spirit has begun moving among them. While there is no instruction from the Lord to keep the servant unknown, the scriptures are there for all to search and to discover the truth for themselves. Indeed, as God operates only according to his people’s faith, unless some of us exercise faith in the servant’s coming, he cannot come.
