“Put On Thy Strength, O Zion”
Doctrine and Covenants 113:7–8
7 Questions by Elias Higbee: What is meant by the command in Isaiah, 52d chapter, 1st verse, which saith: Put on thy strength, O Zion—and what people had Isaiah reference to?
8 He had reference to those whom God should call in the last days, who should hold the power of priesthood to bring again Zion, and the redemption of Israel; and to put on her strength is to put on the authority of the priesthood, which she, Zion, has a right to by lineage; also to return to that power which she had lost.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:
“. . . Darkness flees before light. A new day is dawning. Already, in the language of Isaiah of old, the cry is going forth: ‘Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city’ [Isa. 52:1]. What does it mean for Zion to put on her strength, and to what people was Isaiah making reference? Joseph Smith answers: ‘He had reference to those whom God should call in the last days, who should hold the power of priesthood to bring again Zion, and the redemption of Israel; and to put on her strength is to put on the authority of the priesthood, which she, Zion, has a right to by lineage; also to return to that power which she had lost’ [D&C 113:8]. And when that day comes, again in Isaiah’s language, ‘there shall no more come into [Jerusalem] the uncircumcised and the unclean’ [Isa. 52:1], for it will be a day of righteousness, a day when men shall be cleansed in the waters of baptism.”
(The Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary, 4 vols. [1979–81], 1:93–94.)
