THE FIRST BOOK OF NEPHI
HIS REIGN AND MINISTRY
CHAPTER 22
Israel shall be scattered upon all the face of the earth—The gentiles shall nurse and nourish Israel with the gospel in the last days—Israel shall be gathered and saved, and the wicked shall burn as stubble—The kingdom of the devil shall be destroyed, and Satan shall be bound. Between 588 and 570 B.C.
1 And now it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had read these things which were engraven upon the aplates of brass, my brethren came unto me and said unto me: What bmeaneth these things which ye have read? Behold, are they to be understood according to things which are cspiritual, which shall come to pass according to the spirit and not the flesh?
2 And I, Nephi, said unto them: Behold they were amanifest unto the prophet by the voice of the bSpirit; for by the Spirit are all things made known unto the cprophets, which shall come upon the children of men according to the flesh.
3 Wherefore, the things of which I have read are things pertaining to things both atemporal and spiritual; for it appears that the house of Israel, sooner or later, will be bscattered upon all the face of the earth, and also camong all nations.
4 And behold, there are many who are already lost from the knowledge of those who are at Jerusalem. Yea, the more part of all the atribes have been bled away; and they are cscattered to and fro upon the disles of the sea; and whither they are none of us knoweth, save that we know that they have been led away.
5 And since they have been led away, these things have been prophesied concerning them, and also concerning all those who shall hereafter be scattered and be confounded, because of the Holy One of Israel; for against him will they aharden their hearts; wherefore, they shall be scattered among all nations and shall be bhated of all men.
6 Nevertheless, after they shall be anursed by the bGentiles, and the Lord has lifted up his hand upon the Gentiles and set them up for a standard, and their cchildren have been carried in their arms, and their daughters have been carried upon their shoulders, behold these things of which are spoken are temporal; for thus are the covenants of the Lord with our fathers; and it meaneth us in the days to come, and also all our brethren who are of the house of Israel.
7 And it meaneth that the time cometh that after all the house of Israel have been scattered and confounded, that the Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the aGentiles, yea, even upon the face of this land; and by them shall our seed be bscattered.
8 And after our seed is scattered the Lord God will proceed to do a amarvelous work among the bGentiles, which shall be of great cworth unto our seed; wherefore, it is likened unto their being nourished by the dGentiles and being carried in their arms and upon their shoulders.
9 And it shall also be of aworth unto the Gentiles; and not only unto the Gentiles but bunto all the chouse of Israel, unto the making known of the dcovenants of the Father of heaven unto Abraham, saying: In thy eseed shall all the kindreds of the earth be fblessed.
10 And I would, my brethren, that ye should know that all the kindreds of the earth cannot be blessed unless he shall make abare his arm in the eyes of the nations.
11 Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to make bare his arm in the eyes of all the anations, in bringing about his covenants and his gospel unto those who are of the house of Israel.
12 Wherefore, he will abring them again out of bcaptivity, and they shall be cgathered together to the lands of their dinheritance; and they shall be ebrought out of obscurity and out of fdarkness; and they shall know that the gLord is their hSavior and their Redeemer, the iMighty One of Israel.
13 And the blood of that great and aabominable church, which is the whore of all the earth, shall turn upon their own heads; for they shall bwar among themselves, and the sword of their cown hands shall fall upon their own heads, and they shall be drunken with their own blood.
14 And every anation which shall war against thee, O house of Israel, shall be turned one against another, and they shall bfall into the pit which they digged to ensnare the people of the Lord. And all that cfight against Zion shall be destroyed, and that great whore, who hath perverted the right ways of the Lord, yea, that great and abominable church, shall tumble to the ddust and great shall be the fall of it.
15 For behold, saith the prophet, the time cometh speedily that Satan shall have no more power over the hearts of the children of men; for the day soon cometh that all the proud and they who do wickedly shall be as astubble; and the day cometh that they must be bburned.
16 For the time soon cometh that the fulness of the awrath of God shall be poured out upon all the children of men; for he will not suffer that the wicked shall destroy the righteous.
17 Wherefore, he will apreserve the brighteous by his power, even if it so be that the fulness of his wrath must come, and the righteous be preserved, even unto the destruction of their enemies by fire. Wherefore, the righteous need not fear; for thus saith the prophet, they shall be saved, even if it so be as by fire.
18 Behold, my brethren, I say unto you, that these things must shortly come; yea, even blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke must come; and it must needs be upon the face of this earth; and it cometh unto men according to the flesh if it so be that they will harden their hearts against the Holy One of Israel.
19 For behold, the righteous shall not perish; for the time surely must come that all they who fight against Zion shall be cut off.
20 And the Lord will surely aprepare a way for his people, unto the fulfilling of the words of Moses, which he spake, saying: A bprophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that all those who will not hear that prophet shall be ccut off from among the people.
21 And now I, Nephi, declare unto you, that this aprophet of whom Moses spake was the Holy One of Israel; wherefore, he shall execute bjudgment in righteousness.
22 And the righteous need not fear, for they are those who shall not be confounded. But it is the kingdom of the devil, which shall be built up among the children of men, which kingdom is established among them which are in the flesh—
23 For the time speedily shall come that all achurches which are built up to get gain, and all those who are built up to get power over the flesh, and those who are built up to become bpopular in the eyes of the world, and those who seek the lusts of the flesh and the things of the world, and to do all manner of iniquity; yea, in fine, all those who belong to the kingdom of the cdevil are they who need fear, and tremble, and dquake; they are those who must be brought low in the dust; they are those who must be econsumed as stubble; and this is according to the words of the prophet.
24 And the time cometh speedily that the righteous must be led up as acalves of the stall, and the Holy One of Israel must reign in dominion, and might, and power, and great bglory.
25 And he agathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth; and he numbereth his bsheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find cpasture.
26 And because of the arighteousness of his people, bSatan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of cmany years; for he hath no power over the hearts of the people, for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel dreigneth.
27 And now behold, I, Nephi, say unto you that all these things must come aaccording to the flesh.
28 But, behold, all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people shall dwell safely in the Holy One of Israel if it so be that they will arepent.
29 And now I, Nephi, make an end; for I durst not speak further as yet concerning these things.
30 Wherefore, my brethren, I would that ye should consider that the things which have been written upon the aplates of brass are true; and they testify that a man must be obedient to the commandments of God.
31 Wherefore, ye need not suppose that I and my father are the only ones that have testified, and also taught them. Wherefore, if ye shall be obedient to the acommandments, and endure to the end, ye shall be saved at the last day. And thus it is. Amen.
This weekend my Dad and I had a talk about the scattering of Isreal. He had been doing some research because of some clients he has. It was interesting to hear how already Isreal really is scattered and how many of them are even scattered into the US. Makes me think.
ReplyDeleteThe children of Israel were scattered because of apostacy. They forgot the Lord and forgot they were His chosen people (sounds familiar). Lehi and his family were 'scattered' to the Americas, yet kept their identity. They knew who they were.
ReplyDeleteSo now we as the gentiles have got to share the good news of the gospel with them. To save them, because the Savior is returning soon.
I used to think that the time right before the second-coming would be a very scary time. I knew the millennium would be great but the time before???!!! I have found a lot of comfort in v.17 and vvs.24-26 If we try to do our best, to be obedient, to help gather Israel, Than we will be just fine.
Verse 26 teaches me that satan has no power over us if we remain righteous, he is BOUND by our righteousness. Pres. Kimball said, "When satan is bound in a single home, the millennium has begun in that home." (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 172)
I heart all the millennium stuff!
vs 25 ... "He gathers His children ... and they KNOW him ..." I feel like I know Him. My patriarchial blessing says I do too. I love having a relationship with Him.
ReplyDelete