Nephi is having a vision which details the fate of his seed and that of his brethren. He has seen the coming of the Bible and of Christopher Columbus to the Americas, and now he is seeing the rising up of America and the growth of the nation.
30. Nevertheless, thou beholdest that the Gentiles who have gone forth out of captivity, and have been lifted up by the power of God above all other nations, upon the face of the land which is choice above all other lands, which is the land that the Lord God hath covenanted with thy father that his seed should have for the land of their inheritance; wherefore, thou seest that the Lord God will not suffer that the Gentiles will utterly destroy the mixture of thy seed, which are among thy brethren.
America is the land of promise spoken of by the Lord in previous scriptures. He set aside this land for the righteous and has led Nephi and his family to the southern portions of the continent, and from there, they will spread up into the Northern American continent.
31. Neither will he suffer that the Gentiles shall destroy the seed of thy brethren.
32. Neither will the Lord God suffer that the Gentiles shall forever remain in that awful state of blindness, which thou beholdest they are in, because of the plain and most precious parts of the gospel of the Lamb which have been kept back by that abominable church, whose formation thou hast seen.
33. Wherefore saith the Lamb of God: I will be merciful unto the Gentiles, unto the visiting of the remnant of the house of Israel in great judgment.
God will not hold us accountable for information we don’t have. He takes into consideration those things which we have been taught and which we have not been taught, and will judge us according to our actions and our intents, not just our knowledge.
34. And it came to pass that the angel of the Lord spake unto me, saying: Behold, saith the Lamb of God, after I have visited the remnant of the house of Israel—and this remnant of whom I speak is the seed of thy father—wherefore, after I have visited them in judgment, and smitten them by the hand of the Gentiles, and after the Gentiles do stumble exceedingly, because of the most plain and precious parts of the gospel of the Lamb which have been kept back by that abominable church, which is the mother of harlots, saith the Lamb—I will be merciful unto the Gentiles in that day, insomuch that I will bring forth unto them, in mine own power, much of my gospel, which shall be plain and precious, saith the Lamb.
After the Gentiles have lived in America for a time, the Lord will cause His word to be restored unto them. We can see this in the restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith.
One word from this verse jumped out at me – I’d never noticed it before. It reads, “much of my gospel.” It doesn’t say that all of the gospel will be restored, but that much of it would be, indicating that some of it would not be. This is very interesting. We know that many of the plates were sealed and that the things on them have not yet been given to the world – I wonder if those plates contain the rest of the gospel which we have not yet been given. That’s definitely something to ponder.
35. For, behold, saith the Lamb: I will manifest myself unto thy seed, that they shall write many things which I shall minister unto them, which shall be plain and precious; and after thy seed shall be destroyed, and dwindle in unbelief, and also the seed of thy brethren, behold, these things shall be hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles, by the gift and power of the Lamb.
We see this happen later in the Book of Mormon. The Lord commands that some things be written but that others be left out of the record. This verse says “many things” were written, indicating that not all were written. Then we see the rest of the fulfillment of the verse with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. The plates were hid up and they came forth by the gift and power of God.
From today’s reading: In what other ways do we see the prophecies of the Book of Mormon being fulfilled in our day?
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