After having prophesied about the coming of Christ, Nephi
wrote the day will come when Christ will visit all of the house of Israel. Some
he will visit “with his voice because of their righteousness, unto their great
joy and salvation” (1 Nephi 19:11). The
Lord told Joseph Smith, “[B]ehold, whosoever believeth on my words, them will I
visit with the manifestation of my Spirit; and they shall be born of me, even
of water and of the Spirit—“ (D&C 5:16).
However, those who are not righteous will face “the thunderings
and the lightnings of his power” (1 Nephi 19:11). Samuel the Lamanite warned the Nephites of
what awaited them at Christ’s death if they continued in their sin.
“But behold, as I said unto you concerning another sign, a
sign of his death, behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall
be darkened and refuse to give his light unto you; and also the moon and the
stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the
time that he shall suffer death, for the space of three days, to the time that
he shall rise again from the dead.
“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;
“Yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be
found in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the
whole earth, yea, both above the earth and beneath.
“And behold, there shall be great tempests, and there shall
be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places
which are now called valleys which shall become mountains, whose height is
great.
“And many highways shall be broken up, and many cities shall
become desolate.
“And many graves shall be opened, and shall yield up many of
their dead; and many saints shall appear unto many.
“And behold, thus hath the angel spoken unto me; for he said
unto me that there should be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many
hours.
“And he said unto me that while the thunder and the
lightning lasted, and the tempest, that these things should be, and that
darkness should cover the face of the whole earth for the space of three days”
(Helaman 14:20-27).
The thunderings and lightnings also occurred in the Old
World. “And it was about the sixth hour,
and there was a darkness over all the [region] until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the
temple was rent in the [middle]” (Luke 23:44-45).
Hugh Nibley wrote about those who would not listen to
Christ.
“If they wouldn't hear the gentle voice, they would get the
thunder, and it knocked them out. It scared the daylights out of them. The same
thing happens in the 1 Nephi 19:11: ‘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’ because they're not
righteous. You have your choice of the voice you're going to hear. Will it be a
good one, or will it be the other one? The voice of thunder will get you moving
all right. And so you have the two voices here. Remember, the angel spoke with
a voice of thunder, and the earth shook too at the same time.”[1]
John Welch writes about how this prophecy supports
consistencies in the Book of Mormon.
“Even more remarkable are the extensive, intricate
consistencies within the Book of Mormon. Passages tie together precisely and
accurately though separated from each other by hundreds of pages of text and
dictated weeks apart … [An] example is found in the account of the destructions
in 3 Nephi 8:6-23, fulfilling the prophecy of Zenos preserved in 1 Nephi
19:11-12. The ancient prophet foretold that there would be thunderings and
lightnings, tempests, fire and smoke, a vapor of darkness, the earth opening,
mountains being carried up, rocks rending, and the earth groaning. The
fulfillment of his prophecy is recorded hundreds of years (and pages) later.
Third Nephi 8 expressly speaks of the same list: tempests, thunderings and
lightnings, fire, earth being carried up to become a mountain, whirlwinds, the
earth quaking and breaking up, rocks being rent, a vapor of darkness, and the
people groaning. Apparently, one of the reasons that Mormon gave such a full
account was to document the complete fulfillment of that prophecy of Zenos.”[2]
These things must occur according to the words of the
prophet Zenos. After recording these
occurrences in the New World, Mormon wrote, “And thus far were the scriptures fulfilled
which had been spoken by the prophets” (3 Nephi 10:11). Here were similar occurrences in the Old
World.
“And, behold, the veil of the temple was [torn into two
pieces] in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the
rocks rent;
“And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints [who
had died] arose,
“And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went
into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
“Now when the centurion, and they that were with him,
watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they
feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:51-54).
Zenos prophesied that “they shall be scourged by all people,
because they crucify the God of Israel, and turn their hearts aside, rejecting
signs and wonders, and the power and glory of the God of Israel” (1 Nephi
19:13). Before being crucified, Christ
lamented, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest
them which are sent unto thee, how often would [GR have I desired to gather] I
have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not! Behold,
your house is left unto you desolate. For
I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is
he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:37 - 39).
Christ would be despised by the Jews. King Benjamin would teach:
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not.
“Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows;
yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised
for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed.
“All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every
one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all” (Mosiah
14:3-6).
The day will come with they will no more deny Christ. At that time, He will remember the covenants
that were made with their fathers. Zenos
prophesied that in that day, they will be gathered from the four quarters of
the Earth.
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