As humanity grows ever more corrupt and God’s Day of Judgment upon the world looms near, many who believe the prophecies of Isaiah and the Book of Mormon wonder at what point God’s servant will come on the scene. According to the Lord’s “pattern in all things, that ye may not be deceived” (Doctrine & Covenants 52:14), several things need to happen and first be in place:
(1) Because God operates according to the faith of his people (Doctrine & Covenants 35:11), there have to be a sufficient number among them who believe in such a person as God’s servant who comes forth and prepares the way for Jesus’ second coming according to the scriptures.
(2) Because Isaiah and the prophets use ancient scriptural events as types and shadows of end-time events, the servant’s coming will to a large extent resemble the coming forth of messianic figures of the past. These include Moses, King David, Joseph Smith, and Jesus Christ himself.
(3) According to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Nephi, because the Lord appoints his end-time servant in response to his shepherds’ abusing and scattering his sheep, the time of his coming will be marked by many zealous souls’ being “shamed” and “excluded” (Isaiah 61:7; 66:5–7).
(4) Because Isaiah and John link the servant’s “birth” to a “Dragon” type of Pharaoh in the land of “Egypt” (a codename of America), the political scene of a “cruel master” that Isaiah predicts for “Egypt” must be in place (Isaiah 19:4; 51:9–11; Revelation 12:4–5; cf. 2 Nephi 10:11–14).
The servant’s coming will additionally see his bringing forth the large plates of Nephi that contain Jesus’ words to the Nephites. These words, many of God’s people will reject who take offense at what they say about the self-righteous among them who fight against his word and are “cut off” from his people at that time (2 Nephi 28:24–32; 29:5–14; 3 Nephi 21:10–11; 26:1–11).
