14 Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all
our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have
a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed
with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness.
15 And it shall come to pass that when all men shall have
passed from this first death unto life, insomuch as they have become immortal,
they must appear before the judgment-seat of the Holy One of Israel; and then
cometh the judgment, and then must they be judged according to the holy
judgment of God.
16 And assuredly, as the Lord liveth, for the Lord God
hath spoken it, and it is his eternal word, which cannot pass away, that they
who are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be
filthy still; wherefore, they who are filthy are the devil and his angels; and
they shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them; and their torment
is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever and
has no end.
Jacob talks about the judgment day.
When we stand before God at the judgment day, there will be
those who will have a perfect knowledge of our sins and wickedness. The righteous, on the other hand, will have a
perfect knowledge of the righteousness.
The wicked will stand before God in their nakedness while the righteous
will be clothed in the robe of righteousness.
David Belnap discusses the use of clothing in the
scriptures.
“Eternal life is also described in terms of clothing and
investiture … [I]n the Book of Mormon, Jacob describes judgment in which the
righteous ‘shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their
righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of
righteousness’ (2 Nephi 9:14). Like the verse that precedes it, exaltation is
exemplified not only in the clothing worn but also in the investiture.
Moreover, Jacob associates the investiture with the acquisition of knowledge as
well. In other words, being clothed in the robe of righteousness, the righteous
now possess a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment. The clothing acts as
communication, providing one the means of knowing "enjoyment."[1]
In this teaching, he was referring back to Isaiah. “For
our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us:
for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them” (Isaiah 59:12).
King Benjamin, speaking of the judgment, told his people:
“And thus saith the
Lord: [My words] shall stand as a bright testimony against this people, at the
judgment day; whereof they shall be judged, every man according to his works,
whether they be good, or whether they be evil.
“And if they be
evil they are consigned to an awful view of their own guilt and abominations,
which doth cause them to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of
misery and endless torment, from whence they can no more return; therefore they
have drunk damnation to their own souls” (Mosiah 3:24-25).
Alma2 taught the people of Zarahemla:
“I say unto you,
can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto
you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the
works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?
“Or do ye imagine
to yourselves that ye can lie unto the Lord in that day, and say—Lord, our
works have been righteous works upon the face of the earth—and that he will
save you?
“Or otherwise, can
ye imagine yourselves brought before the tribunal of God with your souls filled
with guilt and remorse, having a remembrance of all your guilt, yea, a perfect
remembrance of all your wickedness, yea, a remembrance that ye have set at
defiance the commandments of God” (Alma 5:16-18).
Amulek, confronting Zeezrom and his false teachings told
him:
“The spirit and the
body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be
restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be
brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright
recollection of all our guilt” (Alma 11:43).
Jacob affirms this
is the word of the Lord. “[I]t is his
eternal word, which cannot pass away” (2 Nephi 9:16). When we stand before God, those that were
righteous will stand before him in righteousness. The wicked will stand before him in their
filthiness. Jacob assures us the word of
the Lord will be fulfilled.
In the Preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord said:
“Search these
commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises
which are in them shall all be fulfilled.
“What I the Lord
have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and
the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled,
whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.
“For behold, and
lo, the Lord is God, and the Spirit beareth record, and the record is true, and
the truth abideth forever and ever. Amen”
(D&C 1:37-39).
The Lord would later reaffirm His words. “And
though the heaven and the earth pass away, these words shall not pass away, but
shall be fulfilled” (D&C 56:11).
What will happen to
the wicked and why will that happen? It
was revealed to Nephi is his great vision.
“Wherefore, if they
should die in their wickedness they must be cast off also, as to the things
which are spiritual, which are pertaining to righteousness; wherefore, they
must be brought to stand before God, to be judged of their works; and if their
works have been filthiness they must needs be filthy; and if they be filthy it
must needs be that they cannot dwell in the kingdom of God; if so, the kingdom
of God must be filthy also.
“But behold, I say
unto you, the kingdom of God is not filthy, and there cannot any unclean thing
enter into the kingdom of God; wherefore there must needs be a place of
filthiness prepared for that which is filthy.
“And there is a
place prepared, yea, even that awful hell of which I have spoken, and the devil
is the preparator of it; wherefore the final state of the souls of men is to
dwell in the kingdom of God, or to be cast out because of that justice of which
I have spoken” (1 Nephi 15:33-35).
Preaching to the
people of Gideon, Alma 2 taught, “And he doth not dwell in unholy
temples; neither can filthiness or anything which is unclean be received into
the kingdom of God; therefore I say unto you the time shall come, yea, and it
shall be at the last day, that he who is filthy shall remain in his filthiness”
(Alma 7:21)
Finishing his
father’s book, Moroni2 wrote: “And then cometh the judgment of the
Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be
filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is
happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still”
(Mormon 9:14).
[1] Clothed with Salvation: The Garden, the Veil,
Tabitha, and Christ, Daniel Belnap, Provo, Utah: Maxwell
Institute.
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