Helaman 13:9-14

⁹ And four hundred years shall not pass away before I will cause that they shall be smitten; yea, I will visit them with the sword and with famine and with pestilence. ¹⁰ Yea, I will visit them in my fierce anger, and there shall be those of the fourth generation who shall live, of your enemies, to behold your utter destruction; and this shall surely come except ye repent, saith the Lord; and those of the fourth generation shall visit your destruction. ¹¹ But if ye will repent and return unto the Lord your God I will turn away mine anger, saith the Lord; yea, thus saith the Lord, blessed are they who will repent and turn unto me, but wo unto him that repenteth not.

Helaman 13:9 – 11 (Emphasis mine)

Samuel emphasizes that the Nephites are looking at a period of 400 years before the eventual destruction.  His words echo those of Nephi₁.

But the Son of righteousness shall appear unto them; and he shall heal them, and they shall have peace with him, until three generations shall have passed away, and many of the fourth generation shall have passed away in righteousness.

And when these things have passed away a speedy destruction cometh unto my people; for, notwithstanding the pains of my soul, I have seen it; wherefore, I know that it shall come to pass; and they sell themselves for naught; for, for the reward of their pride and their foolishness they shall reap destruction; for because they yield unto the devil and choose works of darkness rather than light, therefore they must go down to hell.

For the Spirit of the Lord will not always strive with man.  And when the Spirit ceaseth to strive with man then cometh speedy destruction, and this grieveth my soul.

2 Nephi 26:9 - 11

John Clark explains the significance of 400-year blocks.

“A correspondence that has always impressed me involves prophecies in 400-year blocks. The Maya were obsessed with time, and they carved precise dates on their stone monuments that began with the count of 400 years, an interval called a baktun. Each baktun was made up of 20 katuns, an extremely important 20-year interval. If you permit me some liberties with the text, Samuel the Lamanite warned the Nephites that one baktun ‘shall not pass away before . . . they [would] be smitten’ (Helaman 13:9). Nephi and Alma uttered the same baktun prophecy, and Moroni recorded its fulfillment. Moroni bids us farewell just after the first katun of this final baktun, or 420 years since the ‘sign was given of the coming of Christ’ (Moroni 10:1). What are the chances of Joseph Smith guessing correctly the vigesimal system of timekeeping and prophesying among the Maya and their neighbors over 50 years before scholars stumbled onto it?”[1] (With the exception of baktun and katun, emphasis mine)

As we see throughout the Book of Mormon, any warning from the Lord is conditioned on the people’s response to the warning.  Samuel told them, “if ye will repent and return unto the Lord your God I will turn away mine anger” (v. 11).  If the people returned to the Lord, they will be preserved.  But, warns the Lord, “wo unto him that repenteth not” (v. 11).

¹² Yea, wo unto this great city of Zarahemla; for behold, it is because of those who are righteous that it is saved; yea, wo unto this great city, for I perceive, saith the Lord, that there are many, yea, even the more part of this great city, that will harden their hearts against me, saith the Lord. ¹³ But blessed are they who will repent, for them will I spare.  But behold, if it were not for the righteous who are in this great city, behold, I would cause that fire should come down out of heaven and destroy it. ¹⁴ But behold, it is for the righteous' sake that it is spared.  But behold, the time cometh, saith the Lord, that when ye shall cast out the righteous from among you, then shall ye be ripe for destruction; yea, wo be unto this great city, because of the wickedness and abominations which are in her.

Helaman 13:12 – 14 (Emphasis mine)

Why is the great city of Zarahemla still standing?  “[I]t is because of those who are righteous that it is saved” (v. 12).  But the Lord said, “there are many, yea, even the more part of this great city, that will harden their hearts against me” (v. 12).  Because of the iniquity, He will “cause that fire should come down out of heaven and destroy it” (v. 13).  The destruction will come because they would “cast out the righteous from among you, then shall ye be ripe for destruction” (v. 14).

The word of the Lord was fulfilled.  Zarahemla was destroyed in the destruction that occurred shortly before Christ’s appearance to the Nephites. 

And the city of Zarahemla did take fire. (3 Nephi 8:8)

And in one place they were heard to cry, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and then would our brethren have been spared, and they would not have been burned in that great city Zarahemla. (3 Nephi 8:24)

Behold, that great city Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof. 

(3 Nephi 9:3)

And because they did cast them all out, that there were none righteous among them, I did send down fire and destroy them, that their wickedness and abominations might be hid from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints whom I sent among them might not cry unto me from the ground against them.  (3 Nephi 9:11)

We are told Zarahemla will be destroyed because they are ripe for destruction.  Richard Draper explains what this means.

“When iniquity ripens fully the cursings come. But what constitutes being ripe in iniquity? The Book of Mormon gives specific conditions: (1) when ‘the voice of this people should choose iniquity’ (Alma 10:19); (2) when the people ‘turn aside the just for a thing of naught and revile against that which is good, and say that it is of no worth’ (2 Nephi 28:16); (3) when they reject ‘every word of God’ (1 Nephi 17:35); and (4) ‘when [they] shall cast out the righteous from among [them], then shall [they] be ripe for destruction’ (Helaman 13:14).”[2]  (Emphasis mine)

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[1]Archaeology, Relics, and Book of Mormon Belief, John E. Clark, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed August 12, 2012.

[2]Hubris and Ate: A Latter-day Warning from the Book of Mormon, Richard D. Draper, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed August 12, 2012.