After Nephi saw the twelve being carried away, the angel
told him to look. Christ went forth
among the people and Nephi “beheld
multitudes of people who were sick, and who were afflicted with all manner of
diseases, and with devils and unclean spirits” (1 Nephi 11:31). King Benjamin saw much the same thing.
For
behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent
who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come
down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of
clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing
the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive
their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.
And
he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the
children of men.
And
lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue,
even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood
cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and
the abominations of his people.
Mosiah 3:5 - 7
Moroni2 would write about signs that will follow
believers of Christ. “[I]n in my name shall they cast out devils;
they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they
drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick
and they shall recover” (Mormon 9:24).
People were healed and devils and
unclean spirits were cast out through Christ’s power.
Nephi then saw the Christ was taken by the people and judged
by man.
And
so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and
delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
And
the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Prætorium; and they call
together the whole band.
And
they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about
his head,
And
began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
And
they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their
knees worshipped him.
And
when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own
clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.
Mark 15:15 - 20
He saw the crucifixion of Christ. He was “slain for the sins of the world” (1
Nephi 11:33). Christ told the twelve in
Jerusalem:
Then
he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem,
and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall
be accomplished.
For
he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully
entreated, and spitted on:
And
they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise
again.
Luke 18:31 – 33
Nephi’s brother Jacob taught, “it must needs be expedient that Christ—for in the last night the angel
spake unto me that this should be his name—should come among the Jews, among
those who are the more wicked part of the world; and they shall crucify him—for
thus it behooveth our God, and there is none other nation on earth that would crucify
their God” (2 Nephi 10:3).
King Benjamin taught:
And
lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men
even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him
a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify
him.
And
he sha1l rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the
world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might
come upon the children of men.
Mosiah 3:9 - 10
We also have Christ’s words to the Nephites during his visit
after his crucifixion. “And my Father
sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been
lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have
been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand
before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be
evil—“ (3 Nephi 27:14).
After Christ’s crucifixion “the multitudes … were gathered together to fight against the apostles
of the Lamb; for thus were the twelve called by the angel of the Lord” (1
Nephi 11:34). Christ’s warned his
apostles,
And
as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and
John and Andrew asked him privately,
Tell
us, when shall these things be? and what
shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?
And
ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto
the end, the same shall be saved.
Mark 13:3-4, 13
In his epistle to the Corinthians, Paul wrote:
For
I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last [GR last apostles], as it
were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to
angels, and to men.
We
are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are
strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.
Even
unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted
[GR last apostles], and have no certain dwellingplace;
And
labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted,
we suffer [GR endure patiently] it:
Being
defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the
offscouring of all things unto this day.
1 Corinthians 4:9 - 13
Nephi saw the multitude gathered in the great and spacious
building. “Behold the world and the wisdom thereof; yea, behold the house of
Israel hath gathered together to fight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb”
(1 Nephi 11:35).
Sidney Sperry wrote about the spacious building.
The great and spacious building on
the other side of the river typifies the pride of the world. The multitudes
within the building in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers at
those who were partaking of the fruit of the tree represent the wicked world and
the folly thereof. They include, according to Nephi, the house of Israel
gathered together to fight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb (1 Nephi
11:35). He also informs us that the fall of the great and spacious building
represents the destruction of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people that
shall fight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb.[1]
John Welch ties this opposition to the twelve to the
apostasy.
Nephi then beheld "the world
and the wisdom thereof; yea behold the house of Israel" would gather
together "to fight against the twelve" (1 Nephi 11:35). This prophecy
seems to be completely fulfilled when persecution was immediately heaped by the
Jewish potentates on Peter, John, Stephen, and others in Jerusalem; Christians
in Damascus; and Paul in Pisidia, Thessalonika, Achaia, and elsewhere. The
Christian "menace" seems to have brought Jewish factions together as
never before; suddenly Pharisees and Sadducees in the Sanhedrin united against
the Christians (Acts 5—7). As is often the case, nothing serves to draw
squabbling sectarians together as does a new common enemy.[2]
The great and spacious building represents the pride of the
world. “The great building in Lehi's
vision represented the "pride of the world" (1 Nephi 11:36) and was
filled with sophisticated critics—scoffing at those who fully accepted the
testimony of the prophets and tasted of their experiences (1 Nephi 8:26–28;
15:24).”[3] The angel told Nephi the building will fall, “and the fall thereof was exceedingly
great. And the angel of the Lord spake
unto me again, saying: Thus shall be the destruction of all nations, kindreds,
tongues, and people, that shall fight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (1
Nephi 11:36).
[1] Types
of Literature in the Book of Mormon: Patriarchal Blessings, Symbolic Prophecy,
Prophetic Narrative, Prophetic Dialogue, Sidney B. Sperry, Provo,
Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed February 15, 2013.
[2] Modern
Revelation: A Guide to Research about the Apostasy, John W. Welch, Provo,
Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed February 15, 2013.
[3] Christian
Ethics in Joseph Smith Biography, Richard Lloyd Anderson, Provo,
Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed February 15, 2013.
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