Chapter 10
There is silence in
the land for many hours—The voice of Christ promises to gather His people as a
hen gathers her chickens—The more righteous part of the people have been
preserved. About A.D. 34–35.
After hearing the Savior’s words, there was silence for many
hours. “For thus spake the prophet: The
Lord God surely shall visit all the house of Israel at that day, some with his
voice, because of their righteousness, unto their great joy and salvation, and others
with the thunderings and the lightnings of his power, by tempest, by fire, and
by smoke, and vapor of darkness, and by the opening of the earth, and by mountains
which shall be carried up” (1 Nephi 19:11).
The people were astonished by the words they heard.
“‘Great’ and ‘marvelous’ describe the Atonement. Because the
phrase the great and marvelous change refers to a change that ‘had taken place,’
one would suppose that an earlier passage has already introduced the reader to
the accomplishment of this ‘change.’ Therefore, we should be able to identify
it by searching earlier passages for a completed change that was ‘great and
marvelous.’ The changes caused by the destruction are mentioned three chapters
earlier in the Book of Mormon (see 3 Nephi 8:11–14), but never are the
words great and marvelous used to describe the destruction. However, another
change that had ‘taken place,’ one that the people at the temple clearly
considered to be marvelous, is mentioned in an even closer proximity. Just one
chapter before Mormon mentions ‘the great and marvelous change,’ he tells us
that the Lord’s announcement of the Atonement (see 3 Nephi 9:15–22)
aroused so much ‘astonishment’ among the people that ‘there was silence in all
the land for the space of many hours’ (3 Nephi 10:2).
“The word marvelous means ‘such as to excite wonder or
astonishment.’ Marvelous and astonishing are, at times, used in the Book of
Mormon synonymously. For instance, when King Lamoni is described as being ‘astonished
exceedingly,’ Ammon does not ask him what caused his ‘astonishment.’ Rather,
Ammon asks the king what caused his ‘marvelings’ (Alma 18:2, 10, 16). After
King Lamoni’s conversion, a multitude was ‘astonished’ to find him and others
lying ‘as though they were dead.’ This same group, when they also learned that
Ammon could not be killed, began to marvel—not for the first time—but to ‘marvel
again’ (Alma 19:18–24). In other words, their marveling was a resumption of
their astonishment.”[1]
After a few hours, the voice of Christ came to them again.
The Savior reminded them he had tried to “[gather] you as a
hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and have nourished you” (3 Nephi
10:4). “And behold, instead of gathering
you, except ye will repent, behold, he shall scatter you forth that ye shall
become meat for dogs and wild beasts” (Helaman 7:19).
“Abraham saith unto [the rich man], They have Moses and the
prophets; let them hear them.
And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them
from the dead, they will repent.
“And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the
prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke
16:29-31).
He reiterates He had tried to gather the people together and
protect them. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how
often would I have gathered [GR have I desired] thy children together, even as
a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matthew
23:37).
“O, ye nations of the earth, how often would I have gathered
you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not!
“How oft have I called upon you by the mouth of my servants,
and by the ministering of angels, and by mine own voice, and by the voice of
thunderings, and by the voice of lightnings, and by the voice of tempests, and
by the voice of earthquakes, and great hailstorms, and by the voice of famines
and pestilences of every kind, and by the great sound of a trump, and by the
voice of judgment, and by the voice of mercy all the day long, and by the voice
of glory and honor and the riches of eternal life, and would have saved you
with an everlasting salvation, but ye would not!” (D&C 43:24-25).
“He pronounced: “Yea, verily …, if ye will come unto me ye
shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and
whosoever will come, him will I receive.” His promise invites us not only to
reach towards Him but also to take the all-important next step: to come unto
Him.
“This is such a motivating, cheering doctrine. The Messiah
extends His arm of mercy to us, always eager to receive us—if we choose to
come to Him. When we do come to the Savior with “full purpose of heart,”4 we
will feel His loving touch in the most personal ways” (emphasis in original).[2]
He told them, the house of Israel, had been spared. “O all ye that are spared because ye were
more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your
sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?” (3 Nephi 9:13).
He called uon them to repent and return to Him. “And Samuel spake unto all the house of
Israel, saying, if ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put
away the strange gods and Ashtaroth [IE the images of the fertility goddess] from
among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he
will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines” (1 Samuel 7:3).
“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 13:11).
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I
put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will
give you an heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).
If they don’t come back to Him, there lands will become
desolate. It will stay that way until
the covenant made with their fathers is fulfill. “And I had faith, and I did cry
unto God that he would preserve the records; and he covenanted with me that he
would bring them forth unto the Lamanites in his own due time” (Enos 1:16).
“You gain a feel, from those verses [3 Nephi 10:5-7], of
God's eagerness to gather his people to him, and as we have said, the gathering
is much less a geographical phenomenon than it is a spiritual one. We gather to
Christ, to the true points of his doctrine. We gather to his gospel. We gather
to his church. We gather secondarily to places. The gathering is not to a
place; it is to a person.”[3]
The Savior ended His words here and silence fell throughout
the land.
[1] The
Great and Marvelous Change: An Alternate Interpretation, Clifford P. Jones, Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other
Restoration Scripture 19/2 (2010): 53.
[2] To
Look, Reach, and Come unto Christ, Anne C. Pingree, October 2006 General
Conference.
[3] The
Doctrine of the Risen Christ: Part 3, Robert L. Millet, Maxwell Institute
Website.
No comments:
Post a Comment