3 Nephi 10:8-19

The three days of darkness have ended. The earthquakes and shaking stopped.[1] The mourning of the people stopped. They began to rejoice and give thanksgiving for the Savior having completed His mission and making it possible to go back into the presence of God.

The Nephites had been warned of the consequences of their iniquity when the Savior died.  Here’s a table of events.

Events in the New World at Christ’s Death

Event Prophesied	Scripture	Prophecy Fulfilled
Thundering and Lightnings	1 Nephi 12:4	3 Nephi 8:6
	1 Nephi 19:1
	Helaman 14:21
Earth shake and tremble	Helaman 14:21	3 Nephi 8:6
Nephites to receive signs of Christ’s death	2 Nephi 26:3	3 Nephi 8-9
Thundering and Lightnings	1 Nephi 12:4	3 Nephi 8:6
	1 Nephi 19:1
Earth shake and tremble	Helaman 14:21	3 Nephi 8:6
Solid land will be broken up	Helaman 14:21	3 Nephi 8:14, 17
Darkness across the land	1 Nephi 19:11	3 Nephi 8:20
Where no mountain, one will appear	Helaman 12:17	3 Nephi 8:10
Three days of darkness	1 Nephi 19:10	3 Nephi 10:9
	Helaman 14:27
Storms	Helaman 14:23	3 Nephi 8:5-6, 13
Highways broken up	Helaman 14:24	3 Nephi 8:13
Graves shall be open and yield up dead	Helaman 14:25	3 Nephi 23:11
Cities burned	1 Nephi 12:4	3 Nephi 8: 6-10, 13-14
Cities sunk	1 Nephi 12:4	3 Nephi 8: 6-10, 13-14

Again we read “the more righteous part of the people … were saved” (3 Nephi 10:12).  These were those who accepted the prophets and the saints.  “But behold, the righteous that hearken unto the words of the prophets, and destroy them not, but look forward unto Christ with steadfastness for the signs which are given, notwithstanding all persecution—behold, they are they which shall not perish” (2 Nephi 26:8).

“And because they did cast them all out, that there were none righteous among them, I did send down fire and destroy them, that their wickedness and abominations might be hid from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints whom I sent among them might not cry unto me from the ground against them.

“And many great destructions have I caused to come upon this land, and upon this people, because of their wickedness and their abominations.

“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 9:11-13).

“The visit of the risen Jesus to the people of Nephi was a personal and sacred event without parallel in scripture. In the scant space of a few days, Christ prepared a people to live as a Zion community in righteousness for nearly 200 years. As survivors of the great destruction, those to whom he ministered were the more righteous part of the inhabitants (see 3 Nephi 10:12); yet the specificity of his instructions and warnings against contention suggest that they still had much to learn (see 11:28–30; 18:34).”[2]

“This passage can be interpreted to mean that the Lord appeared ‘in the ending of the thirty and fourth year,’ which was ‘soon after the ascension of Christ into heaven.’ Since the destruction took place near the beginning of that year, this time marker, which strongly suggests that Christ appeared in the ending of the year, specifies that months passed between the first clear day and the Savior’s appearance. This interval fits well with the other evidences of the passage of time.”[3]

This ends the 34^th year. Mormon tells us after His ascension into heaven, the Savior appeared to the Nephites.  He will now give us an account of His ministry.

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[1] “Yea, at the time that he shall yield up the ghost there shall be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the earth shall shake and tremble; and the rocks which are upon the face of this earth, which are both above the earth and beneath, which ye know at this time are solid, or the more part of it is one solid mass, shall be broken up” (Helaman 14:21).

[2] The Savior and the Children in 3 Nephi, M. Gawain Wells, Maxwell Institute website.

[3] The Great and Marvelous Change: An Alternate Interpretation, Clifford P. Jones, Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 19/2 (2010): 60.