Mormon 7-9 Mormon's parting words

After Mormon gives his parting testimony, Moroni finishes writing the things asked of him. Where to begin… you know the story, so again I’ll comment on just a couple of items.

One is the first date Moroni gives: is it’s been 400 years from the coming of Christ. With the battle occurring 385 years after, that means he and his father had fifteen years to finish compiling the book. Mormon started the work of editing the book after he renounced his command of the Nephite armies. Even in peacetime commanders need staffs to keep from being overwhelmed by all that must be done. Combat is worse, there is NO spare time for anything but directing it. He took a break from editing to wage the final battles, but afterwords, he and Moroni were running for their lives and writing when they could.

In my life, I find that my daily circumstances draw my attention to various events, scriptures and modify my awareness. I’m certain Mormon was similarly affected. That said, it’s a rather interesting exercise to wonder what was happening when he wrote what he did. I suspect his lamentation for the weakness of men in Helaman 12 came after his failed missionary attempt with the Nephites. He had time to ponder when he wrote the Savior's appearance in 3 Nephi and thoughts of war were fresh in his mind when he wrote the war verses of Alma. He wrote the Words of Mormon at the end when he gave the plates to Moroni. There’s more, but you get the idea.

Another thing that stands out to me is Mormon 8 and 9. Chapter 8 is written to believers in Christ. It’s an excoriating chapter where he calls us out for our pride and hypocrisy. The last part of the chapter I think is written to members of the LDS faith… it makes me uncomfortable to read it because of his observation… “I see your day and I know your doing.”

Chapter 9 is written to the atheists and is a powerful exposition on God and how He thinks and what He does. I see His mercy in the realization that we’d be more uncomfortable in God’s presence if we’d lived our lives in wicked pride than living with other people who lived the same kind of lives. I think its why there are different places, because where we go is where we’d be most happy.

Ponder that…

4 Nephi and Mormon - A Fall from Grace

The most heartbreaking part of the Book of Mormon is in 4 Nephi and most of Mormon. They chronicle the Nephites’ self-inflicted fall from grace to abject apostasy and open rebellion against the Lord.

A few things that stand out to me in this section, namely how I wept for the Nephites when I first read this as a teenager. Another is Mormon 5:15 where he observes how the people became a dark, a filthy and a loathsome people, more so than existed at any time in their history prior to that. It’s a pretty clear indication the “darkness” spoken of wasn’t so much a changing of skin pigment but something more along metaphysical lines. I think you’d almost have to see it to comprehend it because there’s no easy way in our language to describe it. The closest I can come to explaining it is seeing someone who has turned away from the Gospel who once had its light in their countenance. In such cases, the best word to use is they’ve become dark. It’s quite a sad story.

The last observation is Mormon getting the plates from Ammoron. There are two reasons why he got them: Ammoron had no sons worthy of the role or the Lord told him to give them to someone else. Given the Nephite tradition, my guess is the former. It represents the end of a dynasty of prophets from Alma the Elder, down through seven intervening generations to Ammaron. For what it’s worth, the Book of Mormon is recorded by twenty generations of prophet-record keepers over a 1000 year period. In three generations, one brother gave the record to another brother, who then gave it to a son or nephew or in the case of Benjamin, the prophet-King.

By the end of Mormon 7, the Nephites are gone and Mormon and his son Moroni speak to generations of unborn people they know only through prophetic vision: us.

Joseph Smith, Cosmology and Revelation

The cosmology of Joseph Smith stands as one of the great evidences of his prophetic and visionary insights into the nature of God and the universe which He created for us. The universe described in Moses fits surprisingly well with what astrophysicists are observing today. Yet it was ridiculed by Joseph's critics when they were revealed.

Consider the following:

The scope and size of the universe: Moses 1:34, 37-38 “Worlds without number have I created… the heavens they are many and can not be numbered unto man, but they are numbered to me for they are mine. And as one earth shall pass away… another shall come and there is no end to my works…”

Based upon data from the Kepler Observatory, scientists now conclude every star has at least one planet and most have more. Based upon the Hubble Deep Field, the Hubble Deep Field South and the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, the number of galaxies in the universe is estimated to be two hundred billion. And in each of them on average, a hundred billion stars. There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand in all the beaches on the Earth combined. And virtually all have had or do have planets. Think of that the next time you scoop up a handful. The number is ming-bogglingly large.

Not a bad “guess” for an upstate New York farmer of 1830.

The most profound statement of all these writings: “This is my work and my glory…” they were made for us.

3 Nephi 27-30 - The Three Disciples

We call them today, the “Three Nephites” but in the Book of Mormon they are never referred to by that appellation. Instead they are referred to as the “three disciples” or the “three who should tarry.” When you realize by the time the Savior visits, the people are actually starting to be homogenized having had several decades where Nephites and Lamanites travelled freely among each other.

Starting with the great siege, they even lived together. Yet, tribes being what they are, I’m certain the majority still lived in insular communities, but the church by then was certainly not a Nephite-only organization. It’s safe to speculate, based upon the wide spread wickedness of the Nephites before the Savior’s coming, the majority of the leaders could have been Lamanite.

While there’s nothing doctrinally significant in this, the thought still occurred to me as I read this, this morning that this could be the case. Yet the account of these three disciples is intriguing. From the record, it’s safe to assume, their existence will never be “proof” of its truthfulness. You’ll never see them paraded on the rostrum in General Conference where they are exhibited as evidence of the Book of Mormon. That’s the job of the Holy Ghost to bare that witness.

Rather they are to minister almost unseen for we read in 3 Nephi 28:30 they must pray to the father to reveal themselves to other men. They will go about their work and only when they think it necessary will they show themselves to someone. I wouldn’t mind having such a visit… I have so many questions to ask.

I digress. I’m closing in on sixty and it wasn’t until this summer that I remembered a particular Primary class back when I was a Webelo almost fifty years ago. A member, my next door neighbor actually, came and talked to our class and shared his experiences with them. He’d been promised in his patriarchal blessing that he’d get to see all three. By the time he spoke to us, he’d visited with two. He was forbidden to tell their names, although they told him who they were. Both visits were in public places: once in a store and another on a sidewalk in downtown Mesa. Yet, during the visits, there was no other person or even traffic on the street so it was as if they met in private.

So do they exist? You’ll have to decide for yourself. But for me… they most certainly do and who knows, maybe I’ll be fortunate enough to get a visit with one of them. It won't affect my testimony if I don't, but as I said, I have a lot of questions they are well qualified to answer.

3 Nephi - 24-26 - Expounding All Things

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a sci-fi geek kind of guy and the movie teasers and trailers that are out right now, fill me with anticipation. I’m really looking forward to seeing them. I get a similar sense of anticipation and yearning about the scriptures when I read this passage.

On the second day of His visit with them, the Savior starts reciting scriptures which they don’t have, particularly Malachi chapters three and four. So, there I am, reading this and all I get in chapter 26 is the line “and He did expound all these things unto them.” What? Nothing for us? In verse three it says, “And he did expound all things even from the beginning of time until the time that he should come in his glory…” How cool is that!

Instead all we get is Mormon’s comment, “Behold, I was about to write them, all which were engraven upon the plates of Nephi, but the Lord forbade it, saying: “I will try the faith of my people.” That’s us, just in case you were wondering. They had access to the whole record.

Talk about a teaser!

It makes me wonder if this future history is in the sealed part of the record Joseph was not allowed to translate. I can only guess but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. Think about it… the entire history of man from Adam to the Savior’s return in glory. Then again, as I think about it… I think of Nephi who saw the future history of his people and what befell them and how it broke his heart (1 Nephi 15:4-5). We would likely see similar things. Instead of being separated by a thousand years of history as Nephi was, we will likely live through it. Are we ready for that? Could you handle it? I'm not sure I can.

So, while the Lord said He would try our faith by not allowing all His words to come to us, I half suspect mercy also had a role in that commandment.

3 Nephi 22-23 - Isaiah

Surely one of the greatest Old Testament prophets is Isaiah! After quoting him extensively, the Savior gives a unique endorsement found nowhere else in all the scriptures: “Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah.”

Isaiah didn’t just prophecy with clarity and power, he wrote it in poetry. We don’t see it so much because much of the artistic beauty has been lost in the translation from Hebrew into English. Some of it remains: Hebrew poetry doesn’t so much rhyme, as it is very structural in nature, like a Shakespearean sonnet. I’m by no means a Hebrew scholar much less an Isaiah scholar, but I know enough to see the strong parallelism in the writing. I’ve seen a book which had Isaiah rendered in verse form. The imagery and messages were much easier to see in that version.

Isaiah was a poet and a prophet.

Because he wrote in verse, the face value meanings are less clear than simple prose. Once you see the verse and get what he’s doing however, the power of the meaning is amplified. It’s my opinion the depth and scope of his prophecies were protected from ignorant editors because of it. It’s also why Nephi chose to incorporate so much of Isaiah in his record. He understood him. He saw the verse, he was educated enough its power and beauty and messages that he could read and understand it all.

Today, while few of us understand Hebrew poetry, we can all understand the power and insights of the Holy Ghost. Just as Isaiah’s words were translated from Reformed Egyptian to English for Joseph Smith by the power of God, by that same power, we can have the meaning transmitted across the centuries to our hearts. What a great blessing!

3 Nephi 21 - A Tale of Two Prophecies

This is an interesting chapter in that the Savior tells the Nephites of a sign of when the redemption of theirs and the Lamanites descendants occurs. He says, “here’s a sign.” Then He speaks about how the sign is given when the Gentiles learn of the things He’s reveals to them.

Then He launches into a prophecy of how the Father will lead the Gentiles to this land and establish them here and then warns them about living righteously. After this, He finally gets to saying what the sign is: the restoration of the Gospel to the Gentiles and then to their, the Nephite’s and Lamanite’s descendants and Israel.

He speaks of the prophet who will do this…. Joseph Smith.

Then He gives another conditional prophecy. If the Gentiles don’t repent, they will suffer severe judgments in the form of their societies and cities being laid waste. If they do, then they will be allowed to help the house of Israel be gathered in.

I sometimes wonder if the desolation spoken of in this chapter isn’t already being fulfilled before our very eyes this day. Consider this… in Viet Nam 41,000 soldiers died in action over a 10 year period. But at the same time, 400,000 died in car crashes, most of those alcohol related. It hasn’t gotten any better. In the US alone a million unborn children are killed each year by abortion. One-fifth of all pregnancies in the US end in abortion.

Closer to home on a less dramatic but equally real note, in a recent Stake Priesthood meeting, those in attendance were asked to raise their hand if they knew someone either in their immediate family or close relation who was struggling with their testimony of the Gospel. Virtually everyone did.

At the same time, there are people having amazing experiences with the Spirit. Temple attendance is up and, according to Elder Cook, by every measure the church is stronger now than ever. So, to borrow from the story… it is the best of times and the worst of times. We are living through the fulfillment of the Savior’s prophecy this very day.