2 Nephi 28:23-26

23 Yea, they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell, and the devil, and all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of God, and be judged according to their works, from whence they must go into the place prepared for them, even a lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.

24 Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!

25 Wo be unto him that crieth: All is well!

26 Yea, wo be unto him that hearkeneth unto the precepts of men, and denieth the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost!

Nephi writes about the fate of the wicked.  All those who have followed the devil will face death and hell.  They, along with the devil, must stand before God and be judged according to their works.  They will face the place that has been prepared for them, “a lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment” (2 Nephi 28:23).

In his revelation, John saw the fate of the wicked.  “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.  These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (Revelation 19:20).  “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

Speaking to the Nephites, Jacob, using his brother, Nephi’s words, warned them that, “according to the power of justice, for justice cannot be denied, ye must go away into that lake of fire and brimstone, whose flames are unquenchable, and whose smoke ascendeth up forever and ever, which lake of fire and brimstone is endless torment” (Jacob 6:10)

Noel Reynolds observes:

“At the end of Zenos's allegory the bad fruit is ‘cast away into its own place’ (Jacob 5:77). Jacob emphasizes the magnitude of this penalty upon wicked individuals by saying, ‘How cursed are they who shall be cast out into their own place’ (Jacob 6:3). He then clarifies that because ‘justice cannot be denied,’ these offenders ‘must go away into that lake of fire and brimstone, whose flames are unquenchable, and whose smoke ascendeth up forever and ever, which lake of fire and brimstone is endless torment’ (Jacob 6:10). This notion is paralleled in the revelation of John (Revelation 19:20; 20:14–15, 20) and in the writings of Nephi, who saw the same revelation (1 Nephi 14:24–27) and used the same phrase when he said of the wicked that ‘they must go into the place prepared for them, even a lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment’ (2 Nephi 28:23). Thus it may well be that Nephi was the source of this language for Book of Mormon peoples (1 Nephi 14:24–28; cf. Jacob 3:11, Mosiah 2:37–39; Alma 12:17; 14:14).”[1]

With all that is occurring in the world, we must not be “at ease in Zion” (2 Nephi 28:24).  We must be vigilant against the subtle efforts of the devil.  If we fail to be watchful, we will be in danger of falling into Satan’s trap.  We must, at all cost, not listen to the precepts of man that deny the power of God. 

---

[1] Nephite Uses and Interpretations of Zenos, Noel Reynolds, Maxwell institute.