Nephi continues prophesying about Christ. Abraham, Nephi
told them, saw Christ’s coming and rejoices. “Art thou greater than our father
Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? Your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:53, 56)
Many who saw these thing came before Abraham. They were
called after the order of God. “But Melchizedek having exercised mighty faith,
and received the office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of
God, did preach repentance unto his people. And behold, they did repent; and
Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days; therefore he was
called the prince of peace, for he was the king of Salem; and he did reign
under his father. “Now, there were many before him, and also there were many
afterwards, but none were greater; therefore, of him they have more
particularly made mention” (Alma 13:18-19).
Since the days of Abraham, many prophets prophesied
concerning the coming of Christ. He refers to a prophet found on the brass
plates, Zenos. He was killed for his prophesies concerning Christ. Amulek has
also referred to the prophet Zenos, as well as Zenock. “My brother [Alma2]
has called upon the words of Zenos, that redemption cometh through the Son of
God, and also upon the words of Zenock; and also he has appealed unto Moses, to
prove that these things are true” (Alma 34:7).
Nephi explained the prophets Zenock[1],
Ezias[2],
Isaiah[3],
and Jeremiah[4]
prophesied concerning the coming of Christ.
“Nephi and his brothers referred to Jerusalem as ‘that great
city’ (1 Nephi 2:13). Their opposing views about it became a point of
contention that tore Lehi’s family in two, and their memories of it influenced
the cultural perspective of their descendants in the New World for dozens of
generations … Among the Nephites it exemplified the dire consequences of
unbelief (Helaman 8:20).”[5]
Nephi challenges them to dispute Jerusalem was destroyed.
Will they deny all the sons of Zedekiah were killed[6],
except Mulek[7]?
“Since the Hebrew long-form name Berekhyahu could apparently
be expressed in a hypocoristic (short form) version like Barukh, Smith reasoned
that perhaps the long form Malkiyahu could have a short form like Mulek. In
that event, the ‘Malkiyahu son of the king’ in Jeremiah 38:6 could well have
been the Book of Mormon’s Mulek, son of King Zedekiah (see Helaman 8:21).”[8]
(Note – the entire article is well worth
reading).
Nephi informs us Lehi was driven from Jerusalem for
testifying of Christ. “No doubt Lehi’s testimony of their wickedness
antagonized the Jews and contributed to his exile, but according to Nephi the
son of Helaman, Lehi was driven out of Jerusalem specifically because he
testified of the ‘coming of Christ’ (Helaman 8:22).”[9]
Nephi1 also testified of Christ. Throughout
Nephite history, many have prophesied concerning the coming of Christ.
Christ is God. He was with them and manifested himself to
them. They were redeemed by Christ and gave him the glory because of his coming
mission.
Nephi made it clear that, with the knowledge of these
things, they deny Christ, they are lying. They have sinned and rejected truth
in spite of the evidences they have received. “Yet the LORD testified against
Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep
my commandments and my statutes,
according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to
you by my servants the prophets” (2 Kings 17:13).
They had received all things, both in heaven and earth as a
witness these things are true. “And [the angel] also spake concerning the
prophets, how great a number had testified of these things, concerning this
Messiah, of whom he had spoken, or this Redeemer of the world” (1 Nephi 10:5).
“But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye
tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of
all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid
before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth,
and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also
all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a
Supreme Creator” (Alma 30:44).
They have rejected truth and rebelled against God. “Destroy
thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the
multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee” (Psalms
5:10).
“And now, I say unto you, my brethren, that after ye have
known and have been taught all these things, if ye should transgress and go
contrary to that which has been spoken, that ye do withdraw yourselves from the
Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in you to guide you in wisdom's
paths that ye may be blessed, prospered, and preserved—
“I say unto you, that the man that doeth this, the same
cometh out in open rebellion against God; therefore he listeth to obey the evil
spirit, and becometh an enemy to all righteousness; therefore, the Lord has no
place in him, for he dwelleth not in unholy temples.
“Therefore if that man repenteth not, and remaineth and
dieth an enemy to God, the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal
soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from
the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his breast with guilt, and pain, and
anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire, whose flame ascendeth up forever
and ever” (Mosiah 2:36-38).
They should have been laying up treasures in heaven. “And
now my sons, behold I have somewhat more to desire of you, which desire is,
that ye may not do these things that ye may boast, but that ye may do these
things to lay up for yourselves a treasure in heaven, yea, which is eternal,
and which fadeth not away; yea, that ye may have that precious gift of eternal
life, which we have reason to suppose hath been given to our fathers” (Helaman
5:8).
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth
and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal;
“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor
steal.
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (3
Nephi 13:19-21).
Instead, they are facing wrath on judgement day. “Wo unto
all those that discomfort my people, and drive, and murder, and testify against
them, saith the Lord of Hosts; a generation of vipers shall not escape the
damnation of hell.
“Behold, mine eyes see and know all their works, and I have
in reserve a swift judgment in the season thereof, for them all;
“For there is a time appointed for every man, according as
his works shall be” (D&C 121:23-25).
Because of their murders and sexual sins as well as
wickedness they are ripening for destruction. If they fail to repent, their
destruction will soon come.
Nephi informs them their destruction is at their doors. He
told them to go to the judgement-seat. They will find the chief judge had been
murdered. The murderer was his brother. He wanted to sit in the judgement seat.
They both belong to their secret band, the Gadianton
robbers. Their true leader was the devil, who wants to destroy the souls of
man.
[1] And
the God of our fathers, who were led out of Egypt, out of bondage, and also
were preserved in the wilderness by him, yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself, according to the words of the angel, as
a man, into the hands of wicked men, to be lifted up, according to the words of
Zenock, and to be crucified, according to the words of Neum, and to be buried
in a sepulchre, according to the words of Zenos, which he spake concerning the
three days of darkness, which should be a sign given of his death unto those
who should inhabit the isles of the sea, more especially given unto those who
are of the house of Israel (1 Nephi 19:10).
[2]
Ezias is a prophet not mentioned in the Old Testament. He falls into the
category of “lost scripture.”
[4] For
behold, the Spirit of the Lord ceaseth soon to strive with them; for behold,
they have rejected the prophets, and Jeremiah have they cast into prison. And
they have sought to take away the life of my father, insomuch that they have
driven him out of the land (1 Nephi 7:14).
[6] “Then
the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also
the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah” (Jeremiah 39:6).
[7] “Behold,
it came to pass that [Mosiah1] discovered that the people of
Zarahemla came out from Jerusalem at the time that Zedekiah, king of Judah, was
carried away captive into Babylon” (Omni 1:15).
[8] Has
the Seal of Mulek Been Found?, Jeffrey R. Chadwick, Journal of Book of
Mormon Studies 12/2 (2003): 74.
[9] Painting
Out the Messiah: The Theologies of Dissidents, John L. Clark, Journal of
Book of Mormon Studies 11/1 (2002):19.
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