Isaiah 54:1-10, part 2

"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited." (Isaiah 54:2-3)

Verse 2 uses the imagery of a tent to describe a union between repentant Gentiles who enter the covenant with God and the tribes of Israel, post-gathering. It is also the verse that gave birth to the term, "stake" as a title for groups of congregations in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Israel is told that sometime in their future, many Gentiles will come to them seeking a covenant relationship with God. Israel will not have received her permanent inheritance, hence the image of a "tent." Tents were used when people were unsettled travelers. When the covenant is fully instituted the promised blessing is the receipt of a land of their inheritance. Consequently, the Gentiles will come to Israel sometime prior to their receiving their inheritance.

The Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 21 describes this day as a time that follows the destruction of the Gentiles:

"For it shall come to pass, saith he Father, that at that day whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel; And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as hey have not heard. But if they will repent and hearken unto my words and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance." (3 Nephi 21:20-22)

The "cut-off" is not limited to the Lord's people but applies to the "heathen", (a synonym for Gentiles in scripture.) Note the Savior uses the name Jacob which is the pre-covenant name for Israel. This implies the "cut-off" occurs prior to covenant renewal between God and His people.

Isaiah gives this additional description of the same events in chapter 49:

"Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou shalt have, after thou has lost the other shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall by thy nursing fathers, and heir queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me." (Isaiah 49:18-23)