2 Nephi 30:10

b

Nephi continues his prophesy concerning the future and the Book of Mormon.

There will be a time when there will be a division among the people.  Jacob told the Nephites, “And the day that he shall set his hand again the second time to recover his people, is the day, yea, even the last time, that the servants of the Lord shall go forth in his power, to nourish and prune his vineyard; and after that the end soon cometh”  (Jacob 6:2).

At that time, the Lord will destroy the wicked.  The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith:

These things are the things that ye must look for; and, speaking after the manner of the Lord, they are now nigh at hand, and in a time to come, even in the day of the coming of the Son of Man.

And until that hour there will be foolish virgins among the wise; and at that hour cometh an entire separation of the righteous and the wicked; and in that day will I send mine angels to pluck out the wicked and cast them into unquenchable fire.

D&C 63:53-54

David wrote about this day.

For I was envious at the foolish,

      when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For there are no bands in their death:

     but their strength is firm.

They are not in trouble as other men;

      neither are they plagued

           like other men.

Therefore pride compasseth them

about as a chain [OR necklace];

violence covereth them

     as a garment.

Their eyes stand out

     with fatness:

they have more than heart could wish.

They are corrupt,

      and speak wickedly concerning oppression:

     they speak loftily.

They set their mouth

     against the heavens,

and their tongue

     walketh through the earth.

Therefore his people return hither:

     and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.

And they say,

     How doth God know? 

     and is there knowledge

          in the most High?

Behold, these are the ungodly,

      who prosper in the world;

      they increase in riches.

Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain,

      and washed my hands in innocency.

For all the day long

      have I been plagued,

      and chastened every morning.

If I say, I will speak thus;

     behold,

     I should offend against the generation

          of thy children.

When I thought to know this,

     it was too painful for me;

Until I went into the sanctuary of God;

     then understood I their end.

Psalms 73:3-17

The Lord told Joseph Smith, “And it shall come to pass, because of the wickedness of the world, that I will take vengeance upon the wicked, for they will not repent; for the cup of mine indignation is full; for behold, my blood shall not cleanse them if they hear me not” (D&C 29:17).

The righteous will be spared by the Lord; the wicked will be destroyed by fire.

Nephi, talking to his “brethren,” told them:

For the time speedily shall come that all churches which are built up to get gain, and all those who are built up to get power over the flesh, and those who are built up to become popular in the eyes of the world, and those who seek the lusts of the flesh and the things of the world, and to do all manner of iniquity; yea, in fine, all those who belong to the kingdom of the devil are they who need fear, and tremble, and quake; they are those who must be brought low in the dust; they are those who must be consumed as stubble; and this is according to the words of the prophet.

1 Nephi 22:23

Hugh Nibley comments on this scripture and its meaning.

The saving of the righteous "even if it so be as by fire" (1 Nephi 22:17) suggests some sort of counter-fire. That there is to be a segregation between those to be spared and those to be destroyed is clearly stated: After "the Lord God shall commence his work among all nations" (2 Nephi 30:8), then "the time speedily cometh that the Lord God shall cause a great division among the people, and the wicked will he destroy; and he will spare his people, yea, even if it so be that he must destroy the wicked by fire" (2 Nephi 30:10). This is the "cutting off" of the wicked from the rest of the people preparatory to the Great Overburn (1 Nephi 22:19—20).

After the great burning comes a great peace, "and all the nations that fight against Zion . . . shall be as a dream of a night vision" (2 Nephi 27:3). It shall not be a peace of death but a millennial peace, when "the Holy One of Israel must reign. . . . And he gathereth his children . . . and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. . . . And because of the righteousness of his people, Satan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of many years" (1 Nephi 22:24—26). If there shall still be nations during this period of peace, they must be all united: "But behold, all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people shall dwell safely in the Holy One of Israel if it so be that they will repent" (1 Nephi 22:28). As soon as the wicked are destroyed by fire (2 Nephi 30:10), "then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb" (2 Nephi 30:12; italics added), "and Satan shall have power over the hearts of the children of men no more, for a long time" (2 Nephi 30:18).[1]

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[1] Prophecy in the Book of Mormon: The Three Periods, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed January 7, 2014.