Summary: 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. Between 559 and 545 B.C.
Nephi speaks of the destruction of his evil and prideful people and it pangs his soul... but I love verse 7:
7 aO 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 bjust.
The part that scares me perhaps the most is verse 11:
11 For the Spirit of the Lord will not always astrive with man. And when the Spirit bceaseth to strive with man then cometh speedy destruction, and this grieveth my soul.
I think being separated from the spirit might be more intolerable than any physical destruction. Sin separates us from the spirit and we must constantly be setting ourselves back "at-one" with Him through repentance and the sacrament.
This makes me grateful for the Book of Mormon as another witness of Jesus Christ and of a people who experienced similar physical and spiritual burdens that we now face in the last days. It is our generation that Nephi is speaking of and for... and verse 16 provides some insightful comfort:
16 For those who shall be destroyed shall aspeak unto them out of the ground, and their speech shall be low out of the dust, and their voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit; for the Lord God will give unto him power, that he may whisper concerning them, even as it were out of the ground; and their speech shall whisper out of the dust.
This verse helps provide one logical rationale (although none is necessary beyond my testimony and spiritual witness) as to why I read and study the Book of Mormon... because those who lived in it and who recorded it are a voice speaking to me to remind me and warn me daily to do and be better so as not to be destroyed at His Second Coming.
In closing Nephi gives an account of the faults/temptations of all people, both righteous and wicked and then reminds us of the goodness of God, of Jesus Christ's love and redemption and salvation; and that we must spread the truth of all things to all men, keep the commandments, come unto Him, and labor in Zion. I love his farewell comment in the last verse; a fitting reminder for our day:
...and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he ainviteth them ball to ccome unto him and partake of his goodness; and he ddenieth none that come unto him, black and white, ebond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the fheathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile (v. 33).
What did you learn?
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