Friday, February 15, 2013

1 Nephi 11:30-36


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).




[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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