Mormon 3-4

Mormon 3

The Nephites have 10 years of peace, after which the Lord tells Mormon to give them one more chance, and to “Cry unto this people—Repent ye, and come unto me, and be ye baptized, and build up again my church, and ye shall be spared.” (vs. 2)

But Mormon’s preaching is in vain, and the people refuse to recognize God’s role in their success. Before long, the Lamanites come again to battle, and the Nephites are successful again and beat them back 2 years in a row. 

Because of the Nephites’ victories, they become proud, and boastful, and blood thirsty. They swear sacrilegiously by the throne of God that they will seek vengeance by wiping their enemies off the face of the earth.

11 And it came to pass that I, Mormon, did utterly refuse from this time forth to be a commander and a leader of this people, because of their wickedness and abomination.

12 Behold, I had led them, notwithstanding their wickedness I had led them many times to battle, and had loved them, according to the love of God which was in me, with all my heart; and my soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God all the day long for them; nevertheless, it was without faith, because of the hardness of their hearts.

13 And thrice have I delivered them out of the hands of their enemies, and they have repented not of their sins.

14 And when they had sworn by all that had been forbidden them by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that they would go up unto their enemies to battle, and avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren, behold the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying:

15 Vengeance is mine, and I will repay; and because this people repented not after I had delivered them, behold, they shall be cut off from the face of the earth.

16 And it came to pass that I utterly refused to go up against mine enemies; and I did even as the Lord had commanded me; and I did stand as an idle witness to manifest unto the world the things which I saw and heard.

Whenever I read about Mormon, it makes my life seem like a piece of cake. We live in a harsh world and frightening times, where evil is growing and faith is diminishing. It can often feel lonely and uncomfortable being a member of my church - or a member of any faith, I'm sure! - when most of the world doesn’t understand or support what I believe. But then I remember Mormon, and how he was the ONLY ONE of his people who stayed true to God. I have lots and lots of friends and neighbors who live great lives of faith. They may be small compared to the general population, but when we get together the numbers feel great. Mormon didn’t have that.

He pleads at the end of this chapter:

20 And these things doth the Spirit manifest unto me; therefore I write unto you all. And for this cause I write unto you, that ye may know that ye must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, yea, every soul who belongs to the whole human family of Adam; and ye must stand to be judged of your works, whether they be good or evil;

21 And also that ye may believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, which ye shall have among you; and also that the Jews, the covenant people of the Lord, shall have other witness…that Jesus, whom they slew, was the very Christ and the very God.

Mormon 4

The Nephites wage war against the Lamanites to seek revenge, and this is the “final straw” that leads to their downfall. Throughout the Book of Mormon, the Lord makes it clear that it’s OK to defend yourself against your enemies, but He will not help out when you aggressively initiate an attack on an enemy, no matter how just revenge may seem. 

4 And it was because the armies of the Nephites went up unto the Lamanites that they began to be smitten; for were it not for that, the Lamanites could have had no power over them.

5 But, behold, the judgments of God will overtake the wicked; and it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished; for it is the wicked that stir up the hearts of the children of men unto bloodshed.

And from here, things get ugly. Awful. Unimaginable. These all seem like understatements. Here, let’s just read Mormon’s own words:

11 And it is impossible for the tongue to describe, or for man to write a perfect description of the horrible scene of the blood and carnage which was among the people, both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites; and every heart was hardened, so that they delighted in the shedding of blood continually.

12 And there never had been so great wickedness among all the children of Lehi, nor even among all the house of Israel, according to the words of the Lord, as was among this people.

Gratefully, Mormon spares us most of the details, but you can learn a little more if you read the chapter. Mormon also says that “from this time forth the Nephites did gain no power over the Lamanites, but began to be swept off by them even as a dew before the sun.”(vs. 18)

Sorry. I told you this was not going to be a happy book.

Mormon 1-2

Mormon 1

And now I, Mormon, make a record of the things which I have both seen and heard, and call it the Book of Mormon. (vs 1) 

Mormon takes the stage! You already know Mormon because he is basically the narrator, or abridger, of the entire Book of Mormon up to this point. But don’t confuse the entire Book of Mormon with this little sub-book he calls the Book of Mormon. This is his own little book, written about his own time and people, now that he has finished compiling and summarizing the records of his people that were written before his lifetime (starting with Nephi).

Mormon tells us how he got this job. Ammaron was the previous keeper of the records and hid all the records in a cave because he could see that the state of the Nephites and Lamanites was getting really, really bad. But he also noticed the young boy Mormon, who was only 10 years old, was good and responsible. So he tells young Mormon where the records are, but tells him not to get them until he is 24 years old (14 years later)! (see verses 2-4)

So now that Mormon has the plates and is writing in them, he is looking back and writing about the past 14 years before he got the plates. 

Mormons recalls a war between the Nephites and the Lamanites, and a few years of peace that followed. Everyone in the land besides Mormon, as far as we know, is very wicked and faithless. But because of Mormon’s faith he “was visited of the Lord, and tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus” at the age of 15 (see vs. 15).

Mormon wants to preach to the people to encourage them to repent, but he is forbidden by God because the people “had willfully rebelled against their God” and “because of the hardness of their hearts.” (vs. 16-17) Witchcrafts, and sorceries, and the Gadianton Robbers are taking over the land.

Mormon 2

When Mormon was 16 years old a war broke out again, and Mormon was appointed as the head of the Nephite armies - at age 16! I’ve always been shocked by this. He says he was “large in stature” and the people must have recognized that he had a good head on his shoulders even though they didn’t believe anything he believed. I wish I knew more of the story behind this!

Mormon describes that his Nephite army is driven back by the Lamanites. These armies are huge – it says 44,000 Lamanites and 42,000 Nephites in ONE battle. “Therefore there was blood and carnage spread throughout all the face of the land, both on the part of the Nephites and also on the part of the Lamanites.” (vs. 8)

The Nephites begin to mourn over their awful situation, and Mormon momentarily gets excited, hoping this is the first step to the people repenting and turning to God. 

“But behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin. And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die. Nevertheless they would struggle with the sword for their lives.” (vs. 13-14)

The Nephites continue to be driven back for a time, but then Mormon is successful in leading his army to regain their lands and even to sign a truce for a time with the Lamanites and Gadianton Robbers. Enjoy it while it lasts…(hint: not long).

4 Nephi

4 Nephi 1

The book of 4 Nephi is only one chapter long, but it covers the space of 286 years. It’s already pretty abbreviated, but here is my summary of these incredibly beautiful and then incredibly tragic years.

All the people in the land are converted to Jesus Christ and baptized into his church. Everyone is equal and happy and kind, and no one is poor. “There was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people… and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God (vs. 15-16).” Paradise on earth!

A generation passes, and another generation. The people are very rich and prosperous… and that leads to pride, which leads to trouble.  “And now, in this two hundred and first year there began to be among them those who were lifted up in pride, such as the wearing of costly apparel, and all manner of fine pearls, and of the fine things of the world. And from that time forth they did have their goods and their substance no more common among them. And they began to be divided into classes; and they began to build up churches unto themselves to get gain, and began to deny the true church of Christ (vs. 24-26).”

And this is where the bubble bursts. And the downward-spiral begins. By 231 years after Christ came, there is a clear divide between the Nephites (who still follow Jesus), and the Lamanites who actively rebel against Jesus and teach their children not to believe and to hate the Nephites. And within another 13 years, the non-believers had become “exceedingly more numerous than the people of God (v. 40).”

 

But then the worst two developments of all: First, the Lamanites begin to build up the secret oaths of

Gadianton (if you remember from the book of Helaman, which almost destroyed everyone), and second, the Nephites (who are supposed to be the followers of Christ) begin to be proud and vain and focused on their riches. That always leads to downfall and destruction.

This is the point at which “the disciples (the 3 Nephites who are still alive) began to sorrow for the sins of the world (v. 44).”

By the time 300 years has passed since Jesus came, there is pretty much no one left who follows Jesus, and the Gadianton robbers have spread all over the land. In a handful of generations, the people have gone from ultimate peace, happiness, and faith, to complete rebellion and corruption. 

And on that happy note, the “keeper of the records,” whose name is Ammoron, hides the gold plates so they won’t get destroyed during this time of total wickedness.

I’ll be honest – I usually just like to read the first half of 4 Nephi and stop there, so I’m inspired and uplifted, and don’t end depressed and upset. But Mormon included all this depressing stuff for a reason. The Book of Mormon was written and saved for our days, and there are important lessons and parallels we are supposed to learn from them. Are there any that stand out to you?

3 Nephi 28-30

3 Nephi 28

If Jesus granted you one wish, what would you wish for? When Jesus asks his 12 Disciples in the Americas, all of them except for 3 say they want to have a good long life serving God, and then quickly return to live with Him in heaven. Jesus grants this desire, saying “after that ye are seventy and two years old ye shall come unto me in my kingdom; and with me ye shall find rest.” (vs. 3)

The other 3 are embarrassed to say their wish, but Jesus can read their minds. He says they wish for the same thing that John the Beloved, in the New Testament, wished for. They wanted to not die, and stay on the earth to continue to serve Jesus and share His gospel and see everything that has been prophesied be fulfilled until He comes to earth again.

Jesus also grants this desire. And so, we believe that John the Beloved, as well as “The 3 Nephites” (as we call them) are still alive on the earth today, and will continue serving Jesus – anonymously— until He comes again. Pretty cool! There are some folklore-tales in the church about people being helped in miraculous ways in time of dire need by 3 unknown men, and they think it was The 3 Nephites. Who knows if it really was… but it could be! They are busy somewhere…

3 Nephi 29-30

Mormon is writing in these two chapters, and he basically says that when these writings are made available to the Gentiles (cough – me and you!) then you can know the Lord has started to fulfill many of His promises and prophecies made through the prophets of old.  You can know that Jesus Christ IS going to come again, and He hasn’t forgotten His children.

He uses the word spurn a lot: “When ye shall see these sayings coming forth among you, then ye need not any longer spurn at the doings of the Lord (vs. 4)” or “Wo unto him that spurneth at the doings of the Lord (vs. 5).” The dictionary gives these 3 definitions for the word Spurn:

1. to reject with disdain; scorn.

2. to treat with contempt; despise.

3. to kick or trample with the foot.

So, what would it look like to reject the doings of the Lord? Do you do any spurning? Mormon gets a little more specific by saying, “Wo unto him that shall deny the revelations of the Lord, and that shall say the Lord no longer worketh by revelation, or by prophecy, or by gifts, or by tongues, or by healings, or by the power of the Holy Ghost!” (vs. 5-6)

The word "Wo!" kind-of sounds like preaching hell, fire, and damnation, which I'm not all about. But I think it’s fair to say that the word means “warning!” It probably doesn't mean that everyone who denies the hand of the Lord will be struck down by fire, but more practically they will miss out on blessings, and emotional healing, and help from the Lord.

In Chapter 30, Mormon ends the Book of 3 Nephi by warning the Gentiles (us!) – as he has been commanded to do by Jesus Christ -- to turn from our wicked ways and be baptized. Those who do will “receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, [and] be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel.” (vs. 2) What beautiful blessings that are offered to everyone who will accept them, and recognize and believe the “doings of the Lord” in these Latter-Days.

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?