3 Nephi 26-27

3 Nephi 26

The last two chapters were scriptures directly from the Old Testament (Malachi), and before that Jesus quoted a lot of scriptures from Isaiah. Jesus tells the Nephites that the Father had commanded Him to give these scriptures to the Nephites. If you think about it, the Nephites didn’t have these scriptures, and Jesus says specifically that the Father wants future generations to have them. There must be something uniquely important about these books in the Old Testament!

In the time Jesus spends with the Nephites, he teaches them everything from the beginning to the end of the world (there are multiple times in the scriptures where that happens, and I always marvel over how that is possible??). It also says, “And now there cannot be written in this book even a hundredth part of the things which Jesus did truly teach unto the people.” (vs. 6)

Jesus taught the people for 3 days total, and after that He still showed himself to them often. But when the Savior wasn’t there, the disciples whom Jesus had chosen began to teach the people and to baptize everyone who wanted to follow Jesus. Verse 19 is short and sweet, but powerful: “And they taught, and did minister one to another; and they had all things common among them, every man dealing justly, one with another.” Thus begins the greatest period of peace in the Book of Mormon.

3 Nephi 27

In the beginning of this chapter, the disciples are gathered together and Jesus appears to them and asks them what they need. They ask Him what the name of the church should be, because the people in the church are arguing about it. Jesus tells them:

5 Have they not read the scriptures, which say ye must take upon you the name of Christ, which is my name? For by this name shall ye be called at the last day;

7 Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call upon the Father in my name that he will bless the church for my sake.

8 And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel.

There are so many Christian churches today called by all sorts of names. This makes sense to me – if a church is genuinely Jesus Christ’s church, it should be called The Church of Jesus Christ. 

But just having the name isn’t enough, of course. Jesus said the church must be built upon His gospel. He also gives this test:

10 And if it so be that the church is built upon my gospel then will the Father show forth his own works in it.

You’ve probably gathered by now that I really love my church. :) That’s because I have felt, seen, and experienced the works of God and the love of God within it over and over again – for myself, for my friends, in the scriptures, and in the miraculous stories of the founding of the church.. I believe with all my heart that this is the true and complete church of Jesus Christ, and it is led by Him today through the direction of living, modern-day prophets, and that it will continue to grow and do more good until the 2^nd Coming of Jesus Christ.

Jesus also teaches that His true church will be “built upon his gospel”. What is the gospel? Well, this is how I would summarize it, and then you can read what Jesus says directly (see vs. 13-21 below) to see how you would interpret it.

Megan’s Summary of "The Gospel":

Because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His perfect obedience to The Father, all men will live again after they die and will stand before Christ to be judged. A person can be clean and worthy at that day of judgment by developing faith in Christ, repenting of his/her sins, being baptized and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost after baptism, and then staying faithful.

Jesus's Own Words:

13 Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.

14 And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—

15 And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works.

16 And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world.

19 And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.

20 Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.

21 Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do;

These are the things taught in my church, because they are the things Jesus taught, and this is His church.

There are 13 Articles of Faith that state the beliefs of my church.

3 Nephi 23-25

3 Nephi 23

I think Jesus is pretty much THE best and biggest endorsement a writer could get, don't you agree? ;) The past 3 chapters Jesus has been quoting Isaiah and expounding on it (which is why the past 3 chapters were particularly difficult to get through – Isaiah isn’t easy stuff). BUT even though Isaiah isn’t easy for us to understand, Jesus makes it clear that it is important.

1 And now, behold I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah… 3 And all things that he spake have been and shall be, even according to the words which he spake.

Isaiah writing about the birth of Christ and other events to come

Jesus also teaches the importance of the scripture records when he calls out Nephi for not writing something important down. I can’t think of another time in scripture that Jesus basically says, “Hey this important thing was prophesied… Did it happen? Yes, well did you write it down? No, well… please do.” 

9 Verily I say unto you, I commanded my servant Samuel, the Lamanite, that he should testify unto this people, that at the day that the Father should glorify his name in me that there were many saints who should arise from the dead, and should appear unto many, and should minister unto them. And he said unto them: Was it not so?

10 And his disciples answered him and said: Yea, Lord, Samuel did prophesy according to thy words, and they were all fulfilled.

11 And Jesus said unto them: How be it that ye have not written this thing, that many saints did arise and appear unto many and did minister unto them?

12 And it came to pass that Nephi remembered that this thing had not been written.

13 And it came to pass that Jesus commanded that it should be written; therefore it was written according as he commanded.

3 Nephi 24

The Savior is quoting Malachi 3 (last book of the Old Testament) in this chapter – if you compare, they are pretty much identical.  There are a couple important passages I would like to highlight.

8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say: Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

9 Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house; and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the fields, saith the Lord of Hosts.

God is basically saying that when we don’t pay tithing, we are robbing him. In my church we pay 10% of our income back to the Lord. When I served as a missionary for the church, at first I was nervous to tell new investigators of the church about this law of tithing. How would they feel about giving money to the church? But it didn’t take long for my perspective to change, because I saw that they weren’t just giving money to the church—they were giving it to God, and He pays them back as he promises! Look at verses 10 and 11! Basically the Lord will pour down more blessings on you then you will have room to receive, and He will protect you from destruction and failure, which I saw fulfilled in so many different ways, over and over again. I’ve seen it happen for lots of people, and I’ve seen it happen for me. I am now a confident lover of the law of tithing. I’m excited for people to try it, so they can see how much more they have in their lives (both physically and spiritually) living on 90% then they used to on 100% --the Lord keeps His promises, always.

I’m not as familiar with these next verses, but they really impressed me while reading them this time:

 13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say: What have we spoken against thee?

 14 Ye have said: It is vain to serve God, and what doth it profit that we have kept his ordinances and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts?

 15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

 16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard; and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.

 17 And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

 18 Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Many people have lost their faith because they can’t see the benefits of worshiping and following God, and it often appears that the proud & wicked are prospering and happy. But God is watching and listening to those who “fear him” and think of him. To fear God isn’t to worry that He is going to punish you or strike you down. It means to care more about what He thinks and what He says than what people think and say. Verse 18 says that God –and you—will be able to tell the difference between those that serve him and those that don’t. And He will “spare” those that serve Him. I think this is referring to the 2^nd Coming of Jesus Christ, but I see in so many ways how the Lord strengthens and delivers those who serve Him in the regular challenges of life. I know that the Lord watches over those who remember Him and serve Him.

3 Nephi 25

In this chapter the Lord is quoting Malachi 4.  The first 3 verses continue with the idea from the last chapter – that in the end, the proud & wicked will not prosper (and actually, at the 2^nd Coming of Christ they will be burned), but those who serve God will experience healing from the Son of Righteousness.

In my church we cherish verses 5 and 6:

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord;

6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

We believe that families can be forever if they are “sealed” together in our temples –which is one of the primary purposes of our temples—and if they are faithful to God and each other. We believe that Elijah the prophet appeared to Joseph Smith in the first temple that they early members of the church built, and gave him the priesthood authority to seal families together and fulfill this prophecy in Malachi – to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to their fathers. For this reason, the church is BIG on family history and we have some of the best family history resources in the world that are available for people of any faith to use. This is because we believe in turning our hearts to our fathers, and that we can be together with our families (back generations and generations) forever!

And speaking of family history, I was just on familysearch.org tonight looking at my "Family Tree" and discovered that my mom's dad's mom's dad's mom's line goes all the way back to British Royalty, French Royalty, Roman Emperor Royalty, and finally stopped in the 100's --- no, not the 1100's, the 100's! and I'm related to Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor. COOL! Certainly I get some bragging rights for that somehow??

3 Nephi 19-22

3 Nephi 19

The crowd disperses and starts to spread the news that Jesus was there and will be back in the morning. “Even all the night it was noised abroad concerning Jesus…and there were many, yea, an exceedingly great number, did labor exceedingly all that night, that they might be on the morrow in the place where Jesus should show himself unto the multitude.” (vs. 3) I like to picture this – a family hearing life changing news, that they can see and hear Jesus tomorrow. And so they abandon sleep, drop everything, and travel all night to be there in the morning. 

In the morning the people are gathered in the place that Jesus said he would return. The 12 disciples that Jesus chose among the Nephites are leading out until Jesus arrives, and they split the crowd into 12 groups. They preach to their groups and pray with their groups, and they are baptized. The disciples are filled with the Holy Ghost and surrounded by fire, and all the people watch as angels come down to minister to the disciples. Wow! And then, Jesus appears in the midst of the crowd.

The first thing that Jesus does after He appears is to have the people kneel down and pray again. Then Jesus prays for the people, and the experience is so miraculous that no one can write or speak the words that Jesus spoke, and everyone was filled with the Holy Ghost. Jesus tells them that the experience is possible because of their incredible faith which was more than He had seen among the Jews.

 

3 Nephi 20-22

I’ll be honest – I’ve been stuck on these chapters for weeks. This is thick stuff, and I have no idea how to sum it all up briefly (and frankly I don’t fully understand it all anyway). Let’s just say that Jesus is quoting a lot of Isaiah and prophesying about the future, and in large part He is speaking about our time (or thereabouts – a little before our time and lots that hasn’t happened yet, either).

Here are a few highlights:

• The House of Israel -- i.e. the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel – were scattered & lost in Biblical times. The Lord has promised to gather them, and that promise will be fulfilled through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our day as people from all nationalities and faiths unite in his restored church (hence, the emphasis on Missionary work in our church!). See 20:12-13, 29-31, 40, 21:22, 26-28
• When the words that Jesus is speaking to the Nephites in these chapters are available to read by the descendants of the Nephites, that is a sign the Lord has started gathering His people. In other words – when the Native Americans and the people of South America have the Book of Mormon given to them by the Gentiles, the gathering as begun! I think that’s so cool!! See 21:1-7, 26-28
• Note: Gentiles is a Biblical term for people who are not part of the House of Israel, or descendants of Israel/Jacob, or to put it more simply, people who are not Jews. When the Book of Mormon talks about Gentiles it usually/generally means the Christian people of North America and Europe. 21:2-3, 5-6
• Isaiah and ALL prophets have testified of Christ. See 20:23-24
• The spreading of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (and even Joseph Smith) are alluded to. In the “last days” the church will be established and the Lord will mercifully gather the House of Israel. See 21:9-11, 22, 26-28, all of Chapter 22

3 Nephi 17-18

3 Nephi 17

Jesus has been teaching the Nephites since chapter 11, and now he thinks the people need a break before they can absorb anymore.

 As Jesus is about to leave, he looks around and sees that everyone is in tears and wishing he wouldn’t leave yet. And then the Savior of mankind – probably the busiest person in the universe – has enough compassion to stay a little longer. And he heals them.

 7 Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy.

 9 And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him.

 10 And they did all, both they who had been healed and they who were whole, bow down at his feet, and did worship him; and as many as could come for the multitude did kiss his feet, insomuch that they did bathe his feet with their tears.

There were about 2,500 people in the crowd (see vs. 25) so this wasn’t a brief delay for Jesus – but He felt the people were worth the extra time. And after Jesus healed the people, He prayed for them. The prayer was so powerful that it wasn’t even possible to write it down. The people later recalled that, “the eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard…and no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.” (vs. 16-17) 

Then Jesus had the little children all brought to him, and he blessed them, one by one, and prayed again for the children. He loved them so much that he wept – Jesus wept! The Savior of mankind loved these people so much that he cried. I love that. 

Jesus tell the crowd to “Behold your little ones” (vs. 23) and when they looked, “they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them.” (vs. 24) Pretty cool!

3 Nephi 18

After healing the people and blessing their children, Jesus stays a little longer and introduces the Sacrament to the Nephites, like he did with his 12 disciples before he was crucified. He breaks bread and passes a cup of wine. He gives authority and commandment to the leadership of the church to continue to give the Sacrament to the members of the church after Jesus leaves. 

Jesus tells the people that when they partake of the bread and wine, it will remind them of his body and his blood, and they are demonstrating to God that they will always remember Jesus (vs. 7 and 11) and are willing to follow His commandments (vs. 10). In return, Jesus promises that that they will always have his spirit to be with them (vs. 7 and 11).

Jesus instructs the church to not forbid anyone from coming to meet and worship with them, but that they should welcome everyone and pray for those who need extra help (vs. 22-23). He says, “ye see that I have commanded that none of you should go away, but rather have commanded that ye should come unto me, that ye might feel and see; even so shall ye do unto the world.” (vs. 25)

One of the most-repeated promises in the scriptures is given in this chapter:

“And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.” (vs. 18)

Do you believe that? Why or why not?

3 Nephi 15-16

3 Nephi 15-16

In John 10:14-16 in the New Testament, Jesus told the Jews:

“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep… And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”

Jesus tells the people in the Americas that they are the “other sheep” he was speaking about! He says the Father never commanded Him to tell the Jews about the Nephites/Lamanites in the Americas… except for this small phrase. He also says that other believers exist in other lands, too, who we don’t have a knowledge of, and Jesus is going to visit them as well!

15:21 And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

22 And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles; for they understood not that the Gentiles should be converted through their preaching.

23 And they understood me not that I said they shall hear my voice; and they understood me not that the Gentiles should not at any time hear my voice—that I should not manifest myself unto them save it were by the Holy Ghost.

When the Book of Mormon talks about Gentiles, it basically means anyone who is not a Jew. So in vs. 22 Jesus says that the Jews in Jerusalem thought he was talking about the Gentiles when he said other sheep would hear his voice. But Jesus didn’t appear to a large group of Gentiles (or non-Jews) to convert them. After Jesus’ mortal ministry, he gave that responsibility to his apostles and disciples to spread Christianity to the Gentiles (see Acts 10). 

I love these verses because they show us that Jesus Christ speaks to anyone who will hear and follow Him, anywhere in the world—not just the Jews, as recorded in the Bible…and not just the Nephites, as recorded in the Book of Mormon. Apparently there were even more that we don’t have records about. That’s pretty cool! – and makes sense to me.