30 And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me
again, saying: Look! And I looked, and I beheld the heavens open again, and I
saw angels descending upon the children of men; and they did minister unto
them.
31 And he spake unto me again, saying: Look! And I
looked, and I beheld the Lamb of God going forth among the children of men. And
I beheld multitudes of people who were sick, and who were afflicted with all
manner of diseases, and with devils and unclean spirits; and the angel spake and
showed all these things unto me. And they were healed by the power of the Lamb
of God; and the devils and the unclean spirits were cast out.
32 And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me
again, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that he was taken
by the people; yea, the Son of the everlasting God was judged of the world; and
I saw and bear record.
33 And I, Nephi, saw that he was lifted up upon the cross
and slain for the sins of the world.
34 And after he was slain I saw the multitudes of the
earth, that they were gathered together to fight against the apostles of the
Lamb; for thus were the twelve called by the angel of the Lord.
35 And the multitude of the earth was gathered together;
and I beheld that they were in a large and spacious building, like unto the
building which my father saw. And the angel of the Lord spake unto me again,
saying: Behold the world and the wisdom thereof; yea, behold the house of
Israel hath gathered together to fight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
36 And it came to pass that I saw and bear record, that
the great and spacious building was the pride of the world; and it fell, and
the fall thereof was exceedingly great. And the angel of the Lord spake unto me
again, saying: Thus shall be the destruction of all nations, kindreds, tongues,
and people, that shall fight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
After Nephi saw the twelve being carried away, the angel told him to look. Christ went forth among the people and Nephi “beheld multitudes of people who were sick, and who were afflicted with all manner of diseases, and with devils and unclean spirits” (1 Nephi 11:31). King Benjamin saw much the same thing.
“For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that
with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity
to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and
shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working
mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame
to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all
manner of diseases.
“And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which
dwell in the hearts of the children of men.
“And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body,
hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto
death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish
for the wickedness and the abominations of his people” (Mosiah 3:5-7).
Moroni2 would write about signs that will follow
believers of Christ. “[I]n in my name
shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take
up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they
shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover” (Mormon 9:24). People
were healed and devils and unclean spirits were cast out through Christ’s
power.
Nephi then saw the Christ was taken by the people and judged
by man.
“And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released
Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be
crucified.
“And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called
Prætorium; and they call together the whole band.
“And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of
thorns, and put it about his head,
“And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
“And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit
upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.
“And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from
him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him” (Mark
15:15-20).
He saw the crucifixion of Christ. He was “slain for the sins of the world” (1
Nephi 11:33). Christ told the twelve in
Jerusalem:
“Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them,
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets
concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.
“For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked,
and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:
“And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the
third day he shall rise again” (Luke 18:31–33).
Nephi’s brother Jacob taught, “it must needs be expedient
that Christ—for in the last night the angel spake unto me that this should be
his name—should come among the Jews, among those who are the more wicked part
of the world; and they shall crucify him—for thus it behooveth our God, and
there is none other nation on earth that would crucify their God” (2 Nephi
10:3).
King Benjamin taught:
“And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come
unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all
this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall
scourge him, and shall crucify him.
“And he sha1l rise the third day from the dead; and behold,
he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a
righteous judgment might come upon the children of men” (Mosiah 3:9-10).
We also have Christ’s words to the Nephites during his visit
after his crucifixion. “And my Father
sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been
lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have
been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand
before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be
evil“ (3 Nephi 27:14).
After Christ’s crucifixion “the multitudes … were gathered
together to fight against the apostles of the Lamb; for thus were the twelve
called by the angel of the Lord” (1 Nephi 11:34). Christ warned his apostles,
“And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the
temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,
“Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these
things shall be fulfilled…
“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he
that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Mark 13:3-4, 13).
In his epistle to the Corinthians, Paul wrote:
“For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last
[GR last apostles], as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle
unto the world, and to angels, and to men.
“We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ;
we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.
“Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and
are naked, and are buffeted [GR last apostles], and have no certain
dwellingplace;
“And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we
bless; being persecuted, we suffer [GR
endure patiently] it:
“Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the
world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day” (1 Corinthians
4:9-13).
Nephi saw the multitude gathered in the great and spacious
building. “Behold the world and the
wisdom thereof; yea, behold the house of Israel hath gathered together to fight
against the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (1 Nephi 11:35).
Sidney Sperry wrote about the spacious building.
“The great and spacious building on the other side of the
river typifies the pride of the world. The multitudes within the building in
the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers at those who were partaking
of the fruit of the tree represent the wicked world and the folly thereof. They
include, according to Nephi, the house of Israel gathered together to fight
against the twelve apostles of the Lamb (1 Nephi 11:35). He also informs us
that the fall of the great and spacious building represents the destruction of all
nations, kindreds, tongues, and people that shall fight against the twelve
apostles of the Lamb.”[1]
John Welch ties this opposition to the twelve to the
apostasy.
“Nephi then beheld ‘the world and the wisdom thereof; yea
behold the house of Israel’ would gather together ‘to fight against the twelve’
(1 Nephi 11:35). This prophecy seems to be completely fulfilled when
persecution was immediately heaped by the Jewish potentates on Peter, John,
Stephen, and others in Jerusalem; Christians in Damascus; and Paul in Pisidia,
Thessalonika, Achaia, and elsewhere. The Christian ‘menace’ seems to have
brought Jewish factions together as never before; suddenly Pharisees and
Sadducees in the Sanhedrin united against the Christians (Acts 5-7). As is
often the case, nothing serves to draw squabbling sectarians together as does a
new common enemy.”[2]
The great and spacious building represents the pride of the
world. “The great building in Lehi's
vision represented the ‘pride of the world’ (1 Nephi 11:36) and was filled with
sophisticated critics—scoffing at those who fully accepted the testimony of the
prophets and tasted of their experiences (1 Nephi 8:26–28; 15:24).”[3] The angel told Nephi the building will fall,
“and the fall thereof was exceedingly great.
And the angel of the Lord spake unto me again, saying: Thus shall be the
destruction of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, that shall fight
against the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (1 Nephi 11:36).
[1] Types of Literature in the Book of Mormon:
Patriarchal Blessings, Symbolic Prophecy, Prophetic Narrative, Prophetic
Dialogue, Sidney B. Sperry, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.
[2] Modern Revelation: A Guide to Research about
the Apostasy, John W. Welch, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.
[3] Christian Ethics in Joseph Smith Biography,
Richard Lloyd Anderson, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.
No comments:
Post a Comment