A Marvelous Work Is Still Underway

Isaiah’s Journey from Babylon to Zion

Look carefully at the picture.

On one side stands a modern city filled with towers, wealth, advertising, powerful leaders, impressive religious buildings, and people staring down at their phones. Yet among all that success sits a suffering man whom almost everyone has overlooked.

At the center stands Jesus Christ. He is not standing in a palace, corporate office, or religious headquarters. He is down on the street, reaching toward an ordinary wounded man.

On the other side, people are serving one another. They are comforting the grieving, caring for the elderly, repairing homes, planting gardens, teaching children, sharing what they have, and living together in peace.

This is Isaiah’s journey from Babylon to Zion—and it is taking place right now.

Babylon Is More Than an Ancient City

In Isaiah 13–14, Babylon was a mighty empire. Its ruler was wealthy, powerful, and lifted up in pride. Yet Isaiah warned that Babylon would fall.

Today, the ancient city is gone, but the spirit of Babylon is very much alive.

Babylon represents pride, wealth without compassion, power without righteousness, religion without revelation, and success gained at the expense of others. It teaches us to compete, accumulate, control, and seek recognition.

Modern Babylon is not limited to casinos, governments, corporations, or wicked people somewhere else. Babylon can find its way into our homes, our churches, and our own hearts.

Whenever appearance becomes more important than character, Babylon is present.

Whenever wealth is protected while the poor are overlooked, Babylon is present.

Whenever people trust powerful men more than they trust the voice of Christ, Babylon is present.

Whenever a religious institution becomes more concerned with its reputation than with repentance, Babylon is present.

Isaiah’s warning is not merely about what happened to an ancient kingdom. It is a warning for us.

Honoring God with Our Lips

Isaiah gave one of his strongest warnings to religious people:

“This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.”
—Isaiah 29:13

These were not people who had stopped talking about God. They still used His name. They continued practicing religion. From the outside, everything may have appeared proper.

But their hearts had moved away from Him.

They had learned to depend upon the teachings and commandments of men rather than personally knowing the Lord.

That warning did not expire when Joseph Smith entered the Sacred Grove.

It applies to every generation and every church. It applies whenever we allow a manual, tradition, program, leader, or institution to take the place of our own relationship with Jesus Christ.

Good teachers can point us toward Christ. True prophets can testify of Christ. Scripture can teach us about Christ. But none of them can replace Him.

We must eventually hear His voice, receive His Spirit, and allow Him to change our hearts.

A Book Comes Forth

Isaiah spoke of a sealed book and of words that would speak “out of the ground.” Nephi expanded Isaiah’s prophecy in 2 Nephi 27 and connected it with a latter-day record.

The coming forth of the Book of Mormon through Joseph Smith was truly a marvelous work.

The Book of Mormon restored a plain testimony of Jesus Christ. It restored the Doctrine of Christ: faith, repentance, baptism, the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, and enduring by following the living voice of the Savior.

It warned the Gentiles about pride, secret combinations, costly churches, neglect of the poor, and trusting in the arm of flesh.

It declared that God would remember His covenant with the house of Israel and that the remnant of Jacob would have an important part in establishing Zion.

Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and the Book of Mormon was a marvelous beginning.

But was that the completion of the marvelous work?

If the Work Is Finished, Where Is Zion?

We sometimes speak as though the Restoration was an event that was completed when a church was organized.

But Isaiah’s marvelous work is much greater than the establishment of an institution.

It includes opening spiritually blind eyes, teaching those who have been deceived, gathering Israel, restoring the covenant, healing the brokenhearted, redeeming the remnant, establishing Zion, and preparing the world for the reign of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah wrote:

“The eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.”
—Isaiah 29:18

He also promised:

“The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.”
—Isaiah 35:7

Look around us. Have all the spiritually blind received their sight? Have we overcome poverty, division, pride, hierarchy, and contention? Have we become one heart and one mind? Is there no poor among us?

Where is Zion?

The honest answer is that the marvelous work is still underway.

Receiving restored scripture does not automatically make us a restored people. Having the Book of Mormon does not fulfill its promises if we remain under condemnation for taking it lightly. Belonging to a restored church is not the same thing as having a restored heart.

The Lord is not finished with us.

Christ Stands Between Babylon and Zion

In the picture, Jesus stands between the two worlds.

That placement matters.

We cannot transform Babylon into Zion through better programs, greater wealth, more impressive buildings, political power, or stricter institutional control.

Zion can only be established through Jesus Christ.

Isaiah called Him:

“A tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.”
—Isaiah 28:16

Christ does not merely invite us to admire Zion. He asks us to leave Babylon.

That departure begins inside us.

We leave Babylon when we choose humility over recognition, service over status, truth over tradition, and the voice of Christ over the arm of flesh.

We move toward Zion when we notice the person sitting alone, feed the hungry, comfort the grieving, honor women and men as spiritual equals, forgive one another, share what the Lord has given us, and seek to become one heart.

Zion is not created by proclaiming that we are the Lord’s chosen institution.

Zion is created when people actually become the Lord’s people.

Christ Heals What Babylon Breaks

Babylon leaves people lonely, exhausted, divided, frightened, and spiritually thirsty.

Jesus Christ comes to heal what Babylon has broken.

Isaiah promised:

“He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.”
—Isaiah 25:8

The Savior offers what no institution, government, or fortune can give us. He offers forgiveness, living water, spiritual rebirth, peace, resurrection, and eternal life.

He reaches for us wherever we are—whether we are sitting on a curb, hiding behind religious appearances, struggling with doubt, or discovering that the things we trusted cannot save us.

The marvelous work is not merely about bringing a book out of the earth.

It is about bringing God’s children out of Babylon.

It is about restoring our connection with Christ, awakening the remnant of Israel, healing broken hearts, and teaching ordinary people how to live as Zion.

Where Are We in the Picture?

It would be easy to point toward the dark side and identify everyone else who belongs in Babylon.

But Isaiah invites us to look inward.

Where am I in this picture?

Am I so distracted that I fail to see the suffering around me?

Do I honor Christ with my lips while allowing my heart to drift away from Him?

Do I depend upon religious leaders to hear God for me?

Do I love the idea of Zion while continuing to live according to Babylon?

Or am I reaching toward Christ and allowing Him to restore me?

Joseph Smith helped open the door. The Book of Mormon came forth. Precious truth was restored.

But the Lord’s marvelous work will not be complete until Israel is gathered, the remnant is restored, hearts are healed, Babylon falls, and a people truly prepared to be called Zion welcomes the return of their King.

The marvelous work did not end with the organization of a church.

It continues every time a person hears the voice of Christ, comes out of Babylon, receives a changed heart, and begins to live as part of Zion.

The question is not merely whether we belong to the Restoration.

The question is whether we are allowing Jesus Christ to restore us.