This week’s “Come, Follow Me” study guide covers Isaiah 58-66, which includes assurance the Lord will give “beauty for ashes” (Isaiah 61:3).
Following are a few quotes from past and present leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about these chapters of scripture.
Isaiah 58
“If we yearn to dwell in Christ and have Him dwell in us, then holiness is what we seek, in both body and spirit. We seek it in the temple, whereon is inscribed ‘Holiness to the Lord.’ We seek it in our marriages, families and homes. We seek it each week as we delight in the Lord’s holy day (see Isaiah 58:13). We seek it even in the details of daily living: our speech, our dress, our thoughts. … We seek holiness as we take up our cross daily.”
— President D. Todd Christofferson, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2017 general conference, “The Living Bread Which Came Down From Heaven”
“The doctrine of fasting is ancient. It has been practiced by biblical heroes from the earliest days. Moses, David, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Isaiah, Daniel, Joel and many others fasted and preached of fasting. Through Isaiah’s writings, the Lord said: ‘Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free?’ (Isaiah 58:6).”
— The late President Russell M. Nelson, then the President of the Church, April 2020 general conference, “Opening the Heavens for Help”
Isaiah 59
“You might know something secret about yourself that makes you feel unlovable. However right you might be about what you know about yourself, you are wrong to think that you have put yourself beyond the reach of God’s love. We are sometimes cruel and impatient toward ourselves in ways that we could never imagine being toward anyone else. There is much for us to do in this life, but self-loathing and shameful self-condemnation are not on that list. However misshapen we might feel we are, His arms are not shortened (see Isaiah 59:1).”
— Elder Karl D. Hirst, General Authority Seventy, October 2024 general conference, “God’s Favorite”
“There is someone who can separate us from God and Jesus Christ — and that someone is us, ourselves. As Isaiah says, ‘Your sins have hid his face from you’ (Isaiah 59:2). By divine love and divine law, we are responsible for our choices and their consequences. But … when we are ready to come home … God is ready with great compassion to welcome us, joyfully offering the best He has.”
— Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2021 general conference, “Trust Again”
Isaiah 60
“Not so long ago, I hiked with a group of youth to the top of Ensign Peak. There we looked at the city of Salt Lake and the temple and talked of the sacrifice so many had made for the gospel. Then each of the youth unfurled a banner. On their banners they had drawn symbols of their message to the world — what they wanted to stand for in these latter days. It was thrilling to hear the commitment and testimony of each one. …
“I hope you too will raise your banners high. I know that as you lead in righteousness, this scripture in Isaiah will be fulfilled: ‘For, behold, … the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee’ (Isaiah 60:2). It will be discernible, and ‘the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising’ (Isaiah 60:3).”
— Sister Elaine S. Dalton, then the second counselor in the Young Women general presidency, April 2006 general conference, “It Shows in Your Face”
“Ignorance and evil enveloped the world, resulting in what is known as the Dark Ages. Isaiah had predicted, ‘Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people’ (Isaiah 60:2). …
“And then, after many generations had walked the earth — so many of them in conflict, hatred, darkness and evil — there arrived the great, new day of the Restoration. This glorious gospel was ushered in with the appearance of the Father and the Son to the boy Joseph. The dawn of the dispensation of the fullness of times rose upon the world. All of the good, the beautiful, the divine of all previous dispensations was restored in this most remarkable season.”
— The late President Gordon B. Hinckley, then the President of the Church, April 2004 general conference, “The Dawning of a Brighter Day”
Isaiah 61
“The sadness you have felt, the heartbreak, the loss, the suffocating feeling of betrayal, the upending of your life as you imagined it to be — I give you my absolute assurance: The Savior knows you and loves you. Reach out to Him. He is your comfort and strength; He will send His angels to bear you up. When will your pain be gone, your grief subdued, the unwanted memories forgotten? I do not know. But this I do know: He has the power to bring beauty from the ashes of your suffering (see Isaiah 61:3).”
— Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2025 general conference, “The Atoning Love of Jesus Christ”
“To give what you have been denied is a powerful part of divine healing possible through faith in Jesus Christ. To live in such a way that you give, as Isaiah has said, beauty for the ashes of your life (see Isaiah 61:3) is an act of faith that follows the supreme example of a Savior who suffered all that He might succor all.”
— Sister Kristin M. Yee, second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, October 2022 general conference, “Beauty for Ashes: The Healing Path of Forgiveness”
“Have you ever eaten bread without leaven? How would you describe it? Dense? Heavy? Hard? With only a small amount of leaven, bread rises, expanding to become lighter and softer. When we invite the power of God into our lives, we can replace the ‘spirit of heaviness’ (Isaiah 61:3) with inspired perspectives that lift others and make room for hearts to be healed.”
— Sister Susan H. Porter, then the first counselor in the Primary general presidency, April 2022 general conference, “Lessons at the Well”
Isaiah 62
“Our Heavenly Father, in creating us, placed at our disposal His commandments whereby a heavenly path is traced out for us to follow. He has also given us the necessary advice that we need to progress and to reach our divine potential. This should inspire us as to how well our Heavenly Father knows each of us, His children, and to how well He knows for what purpose He has created us.
“Therefore, He warns us through His prophets while remaining merciful to those who repent of their sin. Sometimes He (God) uses His prophets as watchmen on a wall or tower to point out any danger to come (see Isaiah 62:6).”
— Elder Christophe Kawaya Bakajika, then an Area Seventy, in the January 2021 Liahona article “Loving Our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, With All Our Heart”
“You were recommended to help run the last leg of the relay that began with Adam and Eve because your premortal spiritual valor indicated you would have the courage and the determination to face the world at its worst, to do combat with the evil one during his heyday and, in spite of it all, to be fearless in building the kingdom of God.
“You simply must understand this, because you were born to lead by virtue of who you are, the covenants you have made and the fact that you are here now in the 11th hour. … You were born to lead, and, in the words of Isaiah, you were born for glory (see Isaiah 62:2-3).”
— Sister Sheri L. Dew, former second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, during the December 2003 Brigham Young University devotional, “You Were Born to Lead, You Were Born for Glory”
Isaiah 63
“I speak of the loneliest journey ever made and the unending blessings it brought to all in the human family. I speak of the Savior’s solitary task of shouldering alone the burden of our salvation. Rightly He would say: ‘I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me. … I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold [me]’ (Isaiah 63:3, 5). …
“Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path — the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel. Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are.”
— The late President Jeffrey R. Holland, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, April 2009 general conference, “None Were With Him”
Isaiah 64
“The ancient prophet Isaiah stated, ‘But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand’ (Isaiah 64:8). If our lives are centered in Jesus Christ, He can successfully mold us into who we need to be in order to return to His and Heavenly Father’s presence in the celestial kingdom. The joy we experience in this life will be in direct proportion to how well our lives are centered on the teachings, example and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.”
— Elder Richard J. Maynes, then a General Authority Seventy, October 2015 general conference, “The Joy of Living a Christ-centered Life”
“Divinity is rooted in each of us. ‘We all are the work of [our Creator’s] hand’ (Isaiah 64:8). We are eternal beings. In premortal realms, we brethren were foreordained for our priesthood responsibilities. Before the foundation of the world, women were prepared that they may bear children and glorify God. We came to this mortal experience to acquire a body, to be tried and tested. We are to form families and be sealed in holy temples, with joy and loving relationships that endure eternally. To these everlasting truths we are personally rooted.”
— The late President Russell M. Nelson, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, April 2004 general conference, “Roots and Branches”
Isaiah 65
“Isaiah tells us that … there shall be a new heaven and a new earth in which the lamb and the lion shall lie down together, and we shall build houses and inhabit them, and we shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof. We shall not build that another shall inhabit, but every man shall enjoy the works of his own hands, and they are the blessed of the Lord and their offspring with them (see Isaiah 65:17-23). No wonder we ought to want to lay a foundation comparable to that foundation upon which the holy temple stands, so we can be sure that we will stand with our loved ones through the millennium.”
— The late Elder LeGrand Richards, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 1971 general conference, “Laying a Foundation for the Millennium”
Isaiah 66
“It is my prayer that each one of us might be firm in our faith, that we might follow the pattern Joseph Smith established for us to gain a testimony. I also pray that each of us will worthily represent the Savior as we take upon ourselves His name. He has promised: ‘As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, … so shall your … name remain’ (Isaiah 66:22).”
— Sister Elaine S. Dalton, then the second counselor in the Young Women general presidency, April 2005 general conference, “He Knows You by Name”
