Moroni call upon Jerusalem to awake and rise from the dust.
“Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy
beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no
more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
“Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down [IE arise
from the dust and sit down in dignity, being redeemed at last], O Jerusalem:
loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion” (Isaiah
52:1-2).
Put on the beautiful garment, daughter of Zion. Strengthen
their stakes and increase the border. “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let
them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords,
and strengthen thy stakes” (Isaiah 54:2).
“For Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness; her
borders must be enlarged; her stakes must be strengthened; yea, verily I say
unto you, Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments” (D&C 82:14).
“And behold, and lo, this shall be their cry, and the voice
of the Lord unto all people: Go ye forth unto the land of Zion, that the
borders of my people may be enlarged, and that her stakes may be strengthened,
and that Zion may go forth unto the regions round about” (D&C 133:9).
No longer be confounded. “Wherefore, the remnant of the
house of Joseph shall be built upon this land; and it shall be a land of their
inheritance; and they shall build up a holy city unto the Lord, like unto the
Jerusalem of old; and they shall no more be confounded, until the end come when
the earth shall pass away” (Ether 13:8).
The covenants made by the Eternal Father will be fulfilled.
“The five commands in Isaiah 54:2, ‘enlarge,’ ‘stretch
forth,’ ‘spare not,’ ‘lengthen,’ and ‘strengthen,’ teach church members what
they should be doing to build Zion in these last days (see also Moroni 10:31;
D&C 133:9). One way that Zion will enlarge its tent and strengthen its
stakes is to practice the law of consecration (D&C 82:12–15).”[1]
Moroni tells us to come to Christ. “And the Spirit and the
bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is
athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation
22:17).
“Wherefore we labored diligently among our people, that we
might persuade them to come unto Christ, and partake of the goodness of God,
that they might enter into his rest, lest by any means he should swear in his
wrath they should not enter in, as in the provocation in the days of temptation
while the children of Israel were in the wilderness” (Jacob 1:7).
“And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come
unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and
the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as
an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the
end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved” (Omni 1:26).
Be perfected in Him. “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
[GR pedagogue, director, supervisor of children] to bring us unto Christ, that
we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).[2]
“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus.
“Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded:
and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you”
(Philippians 3:14-15).
Avoid all ungodliness and love God with your might, mind and
strength. “Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and
his statutes, and his judgments [HEB ordinances], and his commandments, always”
(Deuteronomy 11:1).
“And gave unto them commandments that they should love and
serve him, the only living and true God, and that he should be the only being
whom they should worship” (D&C 20:19).
“Wherefore, I give unto them a commandment, saying thus:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind,
and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him.
“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Thou shalt not
steal; neither commit adultery, nor kill, nor do anything like unto it” (D&C
59:5-6).
Remember, His grace is sufficient for us. Through His grace,
become perfect in Christ. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with
him, that the body of sin might be destroyed [GR brought to an end, freed],
that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6).
If, through His grace you are perfect in Him, we cannot deny
God’s power.
“Quietly in this story that ends with utter destruction,
there is an inner building of a spiritual home based on the presence from
faith, the presence from memory, and the presence from hope. Moroni is a type.
This holy wanderer on the border of life and death, on the boundary of meaning
and meaninglessness, passes a note to us regarding the collapse of our own
house on the top of our own final Cumorah. We think we are reading of the fall
of Moroni’s world when we are only reading of what can happen in our own world
if we disregard his salvific call to ‘come unto Christ’ (Moroni 10:32).”[3]
If, by the grace of God, we are perfect in Christ, denying
not his power, we are purified in Him through God’s grace, and Christ’s
atonement. This is the covenant of the Father for the forgiveness of our sin.
We will become “holy, without spot” (Moroni 10:33).
“And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to rest in the
paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought
forth triumphant through the air [Then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:17).[4]],
to meet you before the pleasing bar [Finally, I bid you farewell, until I shall
meet you before the pleasing bar of God, which bar striketh the wicked with
awful dread and fear. Amen (Jacob 6:13)] of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge
of both quick and dead. Amen” (Moroni 10:34).
“Following the letters and sermon of his father, Moroni
gives his final farewell. In this we also find a very personal message. We have
seen how both Nephi’s farewell and Moroni’s second farewell ending contain
prophetic warnings about the final judgment. Moroni’s third and final ending in
Moroni 10:34 is notable and unusual for its positive, irrepressible hopefulness
… On this personal note the Book of Mormon ends. Previous farewell endings have
led us to expect a warning as part of the rehearsal for the meeting before the
bar of God. But here Moroni anticipates only joy at the end. We will return
later to the reason for the surprising pleasantness in this third and final
ending.”[5]
And here ends the Book of Mormon.
[1] The
Restoration and the Gathering, Donald W. Parry, Maxwell Institute website.
[2] “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster until
Christ that we might be justified by faith” (JST Galatians 3:24).
[3] Moroni:
The Final Voice, Mark D. Thomas, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 12/1
(2003): 99.
[4] Then they who are alive and remain shall
be caught up together into the clouds with them who remain, to
meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord (JST 1 Thessalonians
4:17).
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