Reading: 3 Nephi 1-7
We come to the exciting and insightful chapters that lead up
to the Savior’s visit to the Nephites.
Next post we will discuss his actual visit.
The reading is 3 Nephi 1-7, but we will begin in chapter 5
today because Mormon gives us a testimony of his calling, The Book of Mormon
and it’s purpose. By reading about its purpose from the compiler, we learn how
crucial it is to learn from the people in The Book of Mormon and specifically
for the time before the second coming of the Savior.
· Mormon testifies of his calling, a special witness of
Christ
·
Compiling these records is the will of God and
is a fulfillment of the prayers of previous prophets
·
Testifies that the record it just and true,
which is an important testimony as the things that have happened are miraculous
and for some people unbelievable
After testifying of its truthfulness, Mormon indicates that
The Book of Mormon will fulfill the great prophecy of the seed of Jacob.
·
Lehi and his family were directed by Jesus
Christ. Mormon adds an interesting and important comment: only the Lord knew
about this exodus.
·
Lehi leaving Jerusalem was fulfillment of
prophecy that a remnant of the seed of Joseph shall be preserved and brought to
a knowledge of the Lord.
·
Refer to 25-26 where Mormon indicates that the
gathering will happen according to the time of the Lord and they will be
gathered by knowing their Redeemer.
Mormon’s words about The Book of Mormon indicate that this record will
be a cause of the gathering.
Mormon actually states this purpose in the Title Page of The
Book of Mormon:
“Which is to show unto the remnant
of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers;
and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off
forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the
Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations”
These chapters leading to the first coming of Christ and His
ministry parallel the spiritual preparation and situation that we face in
preparation for the second coming of Christ.
Signs
·
Prophecy began to be fulfilled, but the really
noticeable sign of lighted night had not yet come.
·
Satan opposes the signs – causes disbelief and
ridicule. The unbeliever set apart
a day “that all those who believed in those traditions should be put to death
except the sign should come to pass, which had been given by Samuel the
prophet.” V9
·
The righteous watched steadfastly, notwithstanding
ridicule they kept believing
There is a lot of inspection, ridicule and misinformation
circulating about Mormons right now,
WHAT KEEPS YOU BELIEVING DESPITE RIDICULE?
In response to ridicule, and with concern for the lives of
the believers, the prophet Nephi prays and receives this answer:
·
Undeniable sign that could not be duplicated by
human means in any way
·
Everyone knew that the Son of God would come
into the world soon because the prophets had fortold it and Samuel prophecied
about it only five years ago.
·
There were many who believed and were baptized
because of this sign
But of course, Satan has a response:
·
Lies by Satan
·
But many still believed because of the
undeniable sign
·
Twist the truth by citing the fulfillment of the
law of Moses
o They
knew the doctrine but did not understand it spiritually. However, credit should be given because
when the fulfillment of the Law of Moses was explained to them, they believed.
The Nephites had a few years of peace until the Gadianton
robbers began to bother the believers again. In addition to the mischief they caused, the children of the
believers “became for themselves,” or started making their own choices in belief, and were persuaded by the robbers and
Zoramites to not believe. The
younger generation had influence upon the older generation:
3 Nephi 1:30
30 And thus were the Lamanites
afflicted also, and began to decrease as to their faith and righteousness,
because of the wickedness of the arising generation.
Five years pass with wars and contentions until Giddianhi, the
leader of the Robbers, asks the believers to surrender. In his letter requesting surrender we
discover the workings of Satan:
·
Flattery (“firmness” “maintain your rights” “as
if you were supported by the hand of a god”)
·
BUT you are not quite good enough because you
wouldn’t be able to defeat my army
·
If you join forces with us, you could be
stronger
·
It’s really for your own good/Surrender because
I care about you
·
Pool our resources for strength
·
We will be equals (the great irony of this is
they may not be slaves to the robbers, but they will be slaves to the devil)
·
Promises/Oaths – threatens temporal destruction
·
Tries to authenticate/validate evil traditions
·
It is our RIGHT/ change your governing
principles
Lachoneus is shocked with Giddianhi’s demands and
threats. Lachoneus’ plan of action
shows us how to respond to and deal with the workings of Satan that we face
today. Break up into these reading
sections:
·
Pray, faith is the opposite of fear
·
Gather families and substance
·
Fortify and protect, 24/7
·
Repent/change to ensure deliverance
·
Listen to prophet/leaders and put into actions
their direction
·
Sustain appointed righteous leaders
·
Listen to the Lord – continuing revelation
·
Do not run away, but do not attack/defense not
offense
· I think this is one of the most important lessons that we can learn: the people followed the prophets even though they had
sins/issues. They worked and
repented at the same time! Our spiritual progress should not be mutually exclusive from our temporal progress. We can and should work on both!
·
Weapons of defense, used only in defense.
I asked at the beginning of the lesson, how can we keep
believing despite ridicule and hardship.
The Nephite show us how. These things keep us believing:
3 Nephi 4:3-4 “no
chance for the robbers to plunder”
HOW CAN WE BE PREPARED ENOUGH SPIRITUALLY SO THAT THERE IS
“NO CHACE FOR THE ROBBERS TO PLUNDER” OUR SPIRITUAL STRENGTH?
3 Nephi 4:8,10 When
attacked, first instinct was to pray/remember God and ask for strength
3 Nephi 4:18-19 because they were prepared with
provisions, they conquered
3 Nephi 4:29 after Zemnarihah
had been hanged and the tree fell to the earth, the people witnessed of the
Lord’s help
3 Nephi 4:30-33 –
rejoicing/gratitude
In verse 33, I was particularly interested in the phrase they knew it was because of their repentance and their humility that "they had been delivered from an everlasting destruction." Their concern was not a temporal destruction (destruction of their life or the destruction of their things), but a concern for a possible spiritual destruction. Even though they had to fight temporally and using worldly things, they maintained their spiritual health and therefore avoided spiritual destruction/everlasting destruction.
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