Chapter 26
Christ shall minister to the Nephites—Nephi foresees the
destruction of his people—They shall speak from the dust—The gentiles shall
build up false churches and secret combinations—The Lord forbids men to
practice priestcrafts. About 559–545 B.C.
1 And after Christ shall have risen from the dead he
shall show himself unto you, my children, and my beloved brethren; and the
words which he shall speak unto you shall be the law which ye shall do.
2 For behold, I say unto you that I have beheld that many
generations shall pass away, and there shall be great wars and contentions
among my people.
3 And after the Messiah shall come there shall be signs
given unto my people of his birth, and also of his death and resurrection; and
great and terrible shall that day be unto the wicked, for they shall perish;
and they perish because they cast out the prophets, and the saints, and stone
them, and slay them; wherefore the cry of the blood of the saints shall ascend
up to God from the ground against them.
4 Wherefore, all those who are proud, and that do
wickedly, the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, for
they shall be as stubble.
5 And they that kill the prophets, and the saints, the
depths of the earth shall swallow them up, saith the Lord of Hosts; and
mountains shall cover them, and whirlwinds shall carry them away, and buildings
shall fall upon them and crush them to pieces and grind them to powder.
6 And they shall be visited with thunderings, and
lightnings, and earthquakes, and all manner of destructions, for the fire of
the anger of the Lord shall be kindled against them, and they shall be as
stubble, and the day that cometh shall consume them, saith the Lord of Hosts.
7 O the pain, and the anguish of my soul for the loss of
the slain of my people! For I, Nephi, have seen it, and it well nigh consumeth
me before the presence of the Lord; but I must cry unto my God: Thy ways are
just.
8 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.
Nephi had taught his people that Christ would be crucified by the Jews. After His death, he would be resurrected and fulfill the plan of salvation.
Nephi writes that, after his resurrection, he will appear to
his people and teach them law. He had
seen this earlier in vision. “And I saw
the heavens open, and the Lamb of God descending out of heaven; and he came
down and showed himself unto [my people]”
(1 Nephi 12:6).
When Christ ministered to the Nephites, He taught them He
had fulfilled the Law of Moses.
“And it came to pass that when Jesus had said these words he
perceived that there were some among them who marveled, and wondered what he
would concerning the law of Moses; for they understood not the saying that old
things had passed away, and that all things had become new.
“And he said unto them: Marvel not that I said unto you that
old things had passed away, and that all things had become anew.
“Behold, I say unto you that the law is fulfilled that was
given unto Moses.
“Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am he who
covenanted with my people Israel; therefore, the law in me is fulfilled, for I
have come to fulfil the law; therefore it hath an end.
“Behold, I do not destroy the prophets, for as many as have
not been fulfilled in me, verily I say unto you, shall all be fulfilled.
“And because I said unto you that old things have passed
away, I do not destroy that which hath been spoken concerning things which are
to come.
“For behold, the covenant which I have made with my people
is not all fulfilled; but the law which was given unto Moses hath an end in me.
“Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye
shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life.
“Behold, I have given unto you the commandments; therefore
keep my commandments. And this is the
law and the prophets, for they truly testified of me” (3 Nephi 15:2-10).
After Christ’s ministry, they lived in peace and harmony for
almost 200 years. At the end of that
period, the people would fall away.
There will then arise wars and contentions among the people.
In Nephi’s great vision, he saw what would happen before
Christ ministered to his people.
“And it came to pass that I saw a mist of darkness on the
face of the land of promise; and I saw lightnings, and I heard thunderings, and
earthquakes, and all manner of tumultuous noises; and I saw the earth and the
rocks, that they rent; and I saw mountains tumbling into pieces; and I saw the
plains of the earth, that they were broken up; and I saw many cities that they
were sunk; and I saw many that they were burned with fire; and I saw many that
did tumble to the earth, because of the quaking thereof.
“And it came to pass after I saw these things, I saw the
vapor of darkness, that it passed from off the face of the earth; and behold, I
saw multitudes who had not fallen because of the great and terrible judgments
of the Lord.
“And I saw the heavens open, and the Lamb of God descending
out of heaven; and he came down and showed himself unto them” (1 Nephi 12:4-6).
Why would this occur?
“[T] hey shall perish; and they perish because they cast out the
prophets, and the saints, and stone them, and slay them; wherefore the cry of
the blood of the saints shall ascend up to God from the ground against them” (2
Nephi 26:3).
After telling his people the Savior will visit them, he
begins to describe what will happen at the time of Christ’s crucifixion. What about the proud and those “that do
wickedly”? “[T]he day that cometh shall
burn them up … for they shall be as stubble” (2 Nephi 26:4).
Those that kill the Lord’s prophets and the saints will be
swallowed up by the depths of the Earth; mountains shall fall on them; they
will be carried away by whirlwinds and buildings will collapse and fall of
them. But, the people have been warned. David wrote, “Touch not mine anointed, and do
my prophets no harm” (Psalms 105:15).
Nephi quoted Zenos earlier in his record. “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, by tempest, by fire, and by smoke,
and vapor of darkness, and by the opening of the earth, and by mountains which
shall be carried up” (1 Nephi 19:11).
Mormon, after recording the destruction wrote, “And now,
whoso readeth, let him understand; he that hath the scriptures, let him search
them, and see and behold if all these deaths and destructions by fire, and by
smoke, and by tempests, and by whirlwinds, and by the opening of the earth to
receive them, and all these things are not unto the fulfilling of the
prophecies of many of the holy prophets” (3 Nephi 10:14).
The Nephites will experience “thunderings, and lightnings,
and earthquakes, and all manner of destruction” (2 Nephi 26:6). This is because the anger of the Lord will be
kindled against them.
Knowing that those who die at the time of Christ’s
crucifixion because of their wickedness leads Nephi to cry, “O the pain and
anguish of my soul for the loss of the slain of my people” (2 Nephi 26:7). In spite of the pain, Nephi responds, “I must
cry unto my God: Thy ways are just” (2
Nephi 26:7).
The righteous will not suffer the death of the wicked. Those that “look forward unto Christ with
steadfastness for the signs which are given … shall not perish” (2 Nephi
26:8). Mormon would write about the
fulfillment of this promise.
“And it was the more righteous part of the people who were
saved, and it was they who received the prophets and stoned them not; and it
was they who had not shed the blood of the saints, who were spared—
“And they were spared and were not sunk and buried up in the
earth; and they were not drowned in the depths of the sea; and they were not
burned by fire, neither were they fallen upon and crushed to death; and they
were not carried away in the whirlwind; neither were they overpowered by the
vapor of smoke and of darkness” (3 Nephi 10:12-13).
Nephi’s powerful testimony of Christ will influence the Book
of Mormon. Stephen Ricks writes:
“The Book of Mormon, too, reveals an intense expectation of
the coming of their Messiah (usually referred to in the Book of Mormon as
Christ). The Nephites ‘look forward unto Christ [i.e., the Messiah] with
steadfastness for the signs which are given’(2 Nephi 26:8). Indeed, the
prophets of the Book of Mormon even prophesy the year of Christ's birth: Nephi
prophesies that Christ will be born ‘six hundred years from the time that my
father left Jerusalem’ (1 Nephi 10:4), while the mysterious Samuel the Lamanite
tells the Nephites that he would be born in five years (Helaman 14:2).”[1]
[1] The
Book of Mormon and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Stephen D. Ricks, Maxwell Institute.
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