3 Nephi 11

This may be one of the most important chapters – and sections – in the Book of Mormon. “It had been prophesied among [the Nephites] that Christ should show himself unto them after his ascension into heaven” (vs. 12) and those prophecies are fulfilled in this chapter. It is common knowledge that Jesus Christ lived and walked in Jerusalem and surrounding areas, but not everyone knows that Jesus Christ appeared to and taught His followers in other areas of the world. The Book of Mormon contains the record of that event (this chapter!). It is “Another Testament of Jesus Christ” - to me, it is evidence that God cares about and communicates with His children everywhere. 

So, at the beginning of Chapter 11, the survivors are gathered around the temple in the land Bountiful after the great and terrible storm and 3 days of darkness. 

Suddenly, they hear a voice from heaven.

3 And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.

From this one verse I learn that God is incredibly powerful and influential, but without being harsh or loud. I also learn that I won’t be able to understand the voice of God (or the influence of His spirit) if I’m not listening closely. He doesn't shout or force.

The voice of God has to repeat 3 times before the people can finally understand. God says:

7 Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him.

This reminds me of when Jesus was baptized (“And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” – Matthew 3:17). Except none of these people have ever seen Jesus...until…this…moment!

8 And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them.

9 And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying:

10 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.

11 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.

The entire population falls to the ground in reverence and amazement as their confusion turns to realization. And then the Savior invites them to personally come see for themselves:

14 Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.

15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.

This is a passage I read when I need a pick-me-up. I just think it's so amazing! I mean, can you imagine being there??

So what do you think Jesus would teach about if He appeared in the Americas. Well, over the next 18 chapters you'll see that He teaches a lot of what He preached in the Bible (makes sense, right?). But interestingly, of all the things Jesus could choose as the first thing to talk about, He chooses baptism. It must be important.

To summarize a few of the principles He teaches about baptism:

1.  A person must be given proper authority in order to baptize others (vs. 21-22)
2.  A person must desire to be baptized and repent of their sins before they can be baptized (vs. 23)
3.  There is a specific prayer the baptizer should say (vs. 23-25)
4.  Baptism should be by immersion (vs. 23,26)
5.  Baptism is necessary for salvation (vs. 33-34)

Is there anything else you learned about baptism from these verses?

Jesus teaches another important principle – contention does not come from God.

 29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.

 30 Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.

This has been very valuable and helpful for me to remember anytime I’m feeling contentious - to help me identify that those feeling don't come from God. That doesn’t mean I can’t disagree – no not at all. It doesn’t even mean I can’t be angry about something bad that happened. But specifically if I’m feeling contention – even about good things like defending my faith or trying to improve my community – then I’m approaching it wrong. Satan is sneaky and sly and can have influence over good people when he can get them wrapped up in contention over good things. 

3 Nephi 8-10

3 Nephi 8

5 And it came to pass in the thirty and fourth year, in the first month, on the fourth day of the month, there arose a great storm, such an one as never had been known in all the land.

If you do the math, you can see this great storm was no coincidence. On the other side of the world, Jesus Christ was crucified, and the earth was mourning. Prophecy to the Nephites was being fulfilled.

The Nephite lands weren't the only ones quaking. In the New Testament, Matthew recorded that the earth was quaking and mourning over in Jerusalem.

Matthew 27:50, 51, 54

50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

The people in the Americas experienced a longer, more intense and violent version of this earthquake & storm. The Book of Mormon tells us there was sharp lightening and thunder that shook the whole earth. Earthquakes flattened buildings. The whole city of Zarahemla caught fire. The city of Moroni sunk into the depths of the sea. A mountain fell on top of the city of Moronihah and buried it. The storm was so great that “the whole face of the land was changed (v. 12).” Can you imagine??

Obviously the people in the city of Zarahemla, Moroni, and Moronihah were all killed in the destruction, but “there were some cities which remained; but the damage thereof was exceedingly great, and there were many in them who were slain (v 15).”

This all took place in about three hours, and then everything was still and a thick, impenetrable darkness settled over the land.

I hiked with my family to Timpanogos Caves a couple weeks ago. These awesome caves were discovered in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s in the mountains near my home and they are now a national monument and the Park Rangers give cool tours inside. At one point during the tour, they turn off all the lights and let you experience complete and utter darkness – a darkness that is hard to achieve or replicate above ground - a darkness that doesn’t have one speck of light, which means your eyes will never ever adjust and you can’t see your hand right in front of your face.

THAT is what this darkness was. 

20 And it came to pass that there was thick darkness upon all the face of the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof who had not fallen could feel the vapor of darkness;

21 And there could be no light, because of the darkness, neither candles, neither torches; neither could there be fire kindled with their fine and exceedingly dry wood, so that there could not be any light at all;

22 And there was not any light seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, for so great were the mists of darkness which were upon the face of the land.

I don't think God sent the darkness to be cruel or vengeful - there is always some symbolic or literal purpose in His works. The Son of God, the Savior of the World, the LIGHT of the World had just been crucified. I think the total darkness was a direct parallel to the spiritual/emotional darkness that the world would experience without the light of Jesus Christ.

3 Nephi 9

In this complete and utter darkness, a voice is heard by everyone.

15 Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name.

16 I came unto my own, and my own received me not. And the scriptures concerning my coming are fulfilled.

18 I am the light and the life of the world. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

21 Behold, I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the world, to save the world from sin.

Pretty powerful! The voice of Christ explains that all the wicked cities were destroyed in the storm in order “to hide their iniquities and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come any more unto me against them.” We often ask how God could let bad things happen to good people, and I don’t think we will know all the answers in this life, but this at least illustrates that God is fully aware of and concerned for the pain that is caused to his children. He goes on to say:

13 O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?

14 Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.

I wanted to highlight these two verses because of two really important principles they teach. First – Christ heals. I mean, imagine what these people have just been through. Basically they were in the middle of an apocalyptic/Armageddon type of storm where cities were burned and flooded and buried, and thousands of people died. The survivors are wounded, and mourning, and frightened, and just sitting and waiting in pitch blackness. But the Savior heals them – you will see. He has healed me from all sorts of emotional pain, and I know He can for anyone.

Second principle—Christ accepts anyone and everyone who follows Him. It’s an open invitation to everyone, and He hopes everyone will accept it.

3 Nephi 10

After three days the darkness disperses, and the earth stops quaking. The crying and mourning of the people turns into gratitude and praise to the Lord, and they are about to have the most sacred and wonderful experience of all the people in the Book of Mormon (stay tuned for chapter 11!). They say the light comes after the darkest point of night – this is a perfect example.

I just want to point out something important I learned from this chapter. It’s usually difficult to understand why the Lord lets awful, violent things happen. I mean, in this case they mostly happened to the “bad guys” which is a lot easier to accept, but it can still be hard to picture God doing or allowing these things. But then you have to realize –wait, God chose prophets to warn, perform miracles, preach, reprimand, and prophesy over and over and over again. And the people made a conscious decision to ignore them. It says in this chapter:

11 And thus far were the scriptures fulfilled which had been spoken by the prophets.

12 And it was the more righteous part of the people who were saved, and it was they who received the prophets and stoned them not; and it was they who had not shed the blood of the saints, who were spared—

 14 And now, whoso readeth, let him understand; he that hath the scriptures, let him search them, and see and behold if all these deaths and destructions by fire, and by smoke, and by tempests, and by whirlwinds, and by the opening of the earth to receive them, and all these things are not unto the fulfilling of the prophecies of many of the holy prophets.

In other words, none of this was a surprise – or it shouldn’t have been. God sent prophets to warn the people and try to get them to change so many times… and eventually God had to make good on his word and fulfill the prophecies that the wicked people were deliberately snubbing.
 

3 Nephi 6-7

3 Nephi 6

The Nephites and Lamanites are in a state of total peace, “and they began again to prosper and to wax great… and there was great order in the land” (v4). 

Mormon (the background narrator/summarizer) makes an interesting comment that “there was nothing in all the land to hinder the people from prospering continually, except they should fall into transgression.” (v5) How often are we the cause of our own destruction? 

Within just a few short years, the people start being “lifted up unto pride and boastings because of their exceedingly great riches” (vs. 10) and they start being jerks about it and persecuting the people who are not rich. Not everyone was that way… but tragically many people within the church were that way.

 13 Some were lifted up in pride, and others were exceedingly humble; some did return railing for railing, while others would receive railing and persecution and all manner of afflictions, and would not turn and revile again, but were humble and penitent before God.

 14 And thus there became a great inequality in all the land, insomuch that the church began to be broken up; yea, insomuch that in the thirtieth year the church was broken up in all the land save it were among a few of the Lamanites who were converted unto the true faith; and they would not depart from it, for they were firm, and steadfast, and immovable, willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord.

 15 Now the cause of this iniquity of the people was this—Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world.

 18 Now they did not sin ignorantly, for they knew the will of God concerning them, for it had been taught unto them; therefore they did willfully rebel against God.

This makes me sad – sad that the people had experienced so many blessings and so much help from God, and within a few short years chose to ignore it. It particularly makes me sad because this could so easily happen to anyone. I think this happens a lot.

And to follow sad news with really sad news, some of the people who are seeking power start up the “secret combinations” that brought on the awful war with the robbers that just recently ended. This secret brotherhood begins to kill the men of God who preach of Christ, and their ultimate objective is to destroy the government and establish one of their men as king over the land.

3 Nephi 7

The new band of secret brethren succeeds in murdering the chief judge, but instead of one of their men becoming king as they hoped, the government dissolves completely and the people fraction into various tribes. Whoa!

The majority of the people have become wicked now, when less than 10 years ago almost everyone believed faithfully in God. Nearly everyone rejects the prophets, but that doesn’t keep Nephi from trying!

17…Nephi did minister with power and with great authority.

18 And it came to pass that they were angry with him, even because he had greater power than they, for it were not possible that they could disbelieve his words, for so great was his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ that angels did minister unto him daily.

19 And in the name of Jesus did he cast out devils and unclean spirits; and even his brother did he raise from the dead, after he had been stoned and suffered death by the people.

I think these verses teach us that it isn’t enough to believe – you have to change because of your beliefs. These people couldn’t help but believe because Nephi’s faith and miracles were so strong, but it just made them angry because they had chosen to live contrary to what they knew. That reminds me of James 2:19 in the Bible:  “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” So I guess the first question for each of us is “What do I believe?” but an even more important question is “How do my beliefs change me or direct my choices?"

3 Nephi 4-5

3 Nephi 4

The war begins! –the robbers march out of their mountain hiding places and attack the Nephites full-force. The Nephites are prepared, and through their faith in God they win the battle—although not without a great and terrible loss.

And the Gadianton robbers aren’t giving up. Their next plan of attack is to camp outside the fortifications of the Nephites (remember how all the Nephites have gathered together to one city) and lay siege outside the walls until the Nephites have to come out and fight because they are out of provisions.

Well, this is just stupid of the robbers, because the Nephites are prepared with years and years' worth of provisions, and the robbers have nothing. So the robbers—who are laying siege outside the city—begin to starve to death, and “the Nephites were continually marching out by day and by night, and falling upon their armies, and cutting them off by thousands and by tens of thousands.” (vs 21)

So the robbers abandon the siege plans pretty quickly, and their leader Zemnarihah orders them to retreat northward. The Nephite armies chase after them, surround them, and conquer them – this is the battle to end the war. Every last robber is either killed or taken prisoner.

33 And their hearts were swollen with joy, unto the gushing out of many tears, because of the great goodness of God in delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; and they knew it was because of their repentance and their humility that they had been delivered from an everlasting destruction.

3 Nephi 5

It is a time of celebration and peace among the Nephites, and “there was not a living soul among all the people of the Nephites who did doubt in the least the words of all the holy prophets who had spoken; for they knew that it must needs be that they must be fulfilled.” (vs. 1)

The Nephites take all the robber-prisoners and preach the gospel to them, and before long the “secret combinations” of the robbers are eradicated from among the people. Hurrah!

Then the second half of the chapter can get a little confusing, because Mormon starts talking. Remember that Mormon is basically the “historian” who is writing a summary from piles and piles and years and years of Nephite historical/religious records. That's why this is called the Book of Mormon (get it?). He isn’t just a historian. He is a man of God: “Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.” (vs 13) 

In the next chapter he returns back to the story he has been summarizing-- right after this great war between the Nephites and the Gadianton Robbers.