Nephi witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem
twice. He also saw the destruction of his own
people. This was a depressing revelation.
However:
2 Nephi 26:7
“Thy ways are just”
2 Nephi 25:1,4-5, 7-8
“Nephi glories in plainness!”
Plainness is the “model” for General
Conference!
When was the last time that you
listened/watched General
Conference and afterwards said, “I
wonder what President Monson was
trying to say?”
It should be the “model” for
parenting (plainness).
President Harold B. Lee renewed this charge in these words:
“You’re to teach the old doctrines, not so plain that that they
can just understand, but you must teach the doctrines of the
Church so plainly that no one can misunderstand” (“Loyalty,”
Address to Seminary and Institute personnel, 8 July 1966, 9).
“You do not need to disguise religious truths with a cloak of
worldly things…” (President J. Reuben Clark, Chartered
Course, 9).
We ought to adopt the attitude of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
“It mattereth not whether the principle of the gospel is
popular or unpopular, I will always maintain a true principle,
even if I stand alone on it” (HC, 6:223).
How can we better understand Isaiah?
1. Listen to the words of modern prophets (v. 4).
2. Seek for the “Spirit of Prophecy” (v.4).
3. Understand the manners and customs of the
Jews (v.5).
4. Know the geography (v.6).
2 Nephi 25:10-17
Nephi’s “9” Prophecies!
2 Nephi 25:20
“A powerful testimony”
2 Nephi 25:23
“Grace”
It really brings together Ephesians 2:8-9 and James
2:14-26.
Grace =
enabling and strengthening power
after all we can do!”
Thanks goodness for the Book of James!
2 Nephi 25:13
“With Healing in His Wings”
Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke of the
need for the healing effects of the Atonement --- not just for forgiveness of
transgressions, but for all of life’s hardships:
“[The Savior] has risen from the dead ‘with healing in his wings.’ “Oh,
how we all need the healing the Redeemer can provide. Mine is a message
of hope for you who yearn for relief from heavy burdens that have come
through no conscious act of your own while you have lived a worthy life.
It is based on principles embodied in the teachings of the Savior. Your
challenge may be a serious physical disability, a struggle with lingering
illness, or a daily wrestle with a life-threatening disease. It may have roots
in the death of a loved one, the anguish caused by another bound by sin,
or abuse in any of its evil forms. Whatever the cause, I testify that lasting
relief is available on conditions established by the Lord” (C.R., Apr. 1994,
7).
2 Nephi 25:22
Judged by our willingness to receive the Book of
Mormon.
President Ezra Taft Benson asked, Do eternal consequences
rest upon our response to this book? Yes, either to our
blessing or our condemnation.
“Every Latter-day Saint should make the study of this book a
lifetime pursuit. Otherwise he is placing his soul in jeopardy
and neglecting that which could give spiritual and intellectual
unity to his whole life. There is a difference between a
convert who is built on the rock of Christ through the Book of
Mormon and stays hold of that iron rod, and one who is not”
(A Witness and a Warning [1988], 7-8).
How does grace and works combine to qualify
someone for salvation?
“Christians have often disputed as to whether what
leads the Christian home is good actions or Faith in
Christ. I have no right really to speak on such a
difficult question, but it does seem to me like asking
which blade in a pair of scissors is most necessary”
(C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 129).
Faith and obedience are one and the same
spirit, what in the heart we call faith in the
will we call obedience (George McDonald, The
Curates Awaken, 1985).
(George McDonald was a man that C.S. Lewis
looked up to and idolized).
Some have said that an acronym for GRACE
is: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense!
One of the most fallacious doctrines originated by
Satan and propounded by man is that man is saved
alone by the grace of God; that belief in Jesus Christ
alone is all that is needed for salvation… One
passage in the Book of Mormon, written perhaps…
to stress and induce appreciation for the gracious gift
of salvation offered on condition of obedience… is
particularly enlightening:
“For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our
children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ,
and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by
grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”
“However good a person’s works, he
could not be saved had Jesus not died for
his and everyone else’s sins. And
However powerful the saving grace of
Christ, it brings exaltation to no man
who does not comply with the works of
the gospel.
“Of course we need to understand terms.
If by the word salvation is meant the
mere salvation or redemption from the
grave, the “grace of God’ is sufficient.
But if the term salvation means returning
to the presence of God with eternal
progression, eternal increase, and
eventual Godhood, for this certainty
must have the ‘grace of God,’ as it is
generally defined, plus personal purity,
overcoming all evil, and the good
‘works’ made so important in the
exhortations of the Savior and his
prophets and apostles” (Spencer W.
Kimball, Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball,
70-71).
2 Nephi 25:23
“The Doctrine of Grace”
Grace is the enabling power that allows men and women to
lay hold on to eternal life and exaltation after they have
expended their own best efforts.
And what is “all we can do?” It surely includes repentance
(Alma 24:11) and baptism, keeping the commandments, and
enduring to the end.
“We are not saved in our sins, as by being unconditionally
saved through confessing Christ and then, inevitably,
committing sins in our remaining lives (Alma 11:36-37). We
are saved from our sins (Helaman 5:10) by a weekly renewal
of our repentance and cleansing through the grace of God and
His beloved plan of salvation (3 Nephi 9:20-22)” (C.R., Apr.
1998, 77).
God will use his heavenly powers to exalt us, but only if we have
done all within our power to accomplish that end.
We must do all we can, and when we have reached our limits,
when we have asserted all our mental, moral, and spiritual
energies, then the powers of heaven will intervene.
There are certain occasions when our best efforts, as
extraordinary as they may be, are simply inadequate.
We cannot become like God without such an endowment --- in
essence, a manifestation of grace. And that grace comes because
of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Brigham Young said, “It requires all the atonement of Christ, the
mercy of the Father, the pity of angels and the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ to be with us always, and then to do the very best
we possibly can, to get rid of this sin within us” (Journal of
Discourses, 11:301).
Mercy was an attribute that Abraham Lincoln possessed in
magnificent measure. Robert Ingersoll penned this tribute to
him: “Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It
is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity.
But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power.
This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having
almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of
mercy” (Ingersoll, Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, 3:172).
Lincoln was entitled to this tribute---Christ infinitely more so!
Though we rightly speak of “faith and
works,” faith by itself….is constant
work! It is a work to be done and a
process best pursued while being not
only “anxiously engaged” but also
engaged with “fear and trembling.”
Otherwise we may lose our
concentration on Christ (Neal A.
Maxwell, Lord, Increase Our Faith, 11112).
2 Nephi 25:26, 28-29
v. 28
“I have spoken so plainly unto you,
that ye cannot misunderstand.
1. We do not come from the traditional Catholic or
Protestant line.
2. We do not believe in “The Trinity.”
3. Our unusual doctrines.
Concerning mainstream Christianity, they say: “You’re not
like us, and we say, you’re right, and we don’t want to be!”
John Taylor
2 Nephi 26:7, 10
“God’s Ways are Just”
“Without the idea of the existence of the attribute justice in
the Deity, men could not have confidence sufficient to place
themselves under his guidance and direction, for they would
be filled with fear and doubt lest the judge of all the earth
would not do right” (Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith, 4:13).
2 Nephi 26:22
“He Leadeth Them by the Neck with a
Flaxen Cord”
Elder Carlos E. Asay explained how a flaxen cord is made
and becomes a yoke of unbreakable oppression: “The first
wrongdoing is like a single strand of flaxen thread; it is easily
broken and thrown aside. But each time the wrong is
repeated another strand is intertwined around the first, and
on and on it goes until an almost unbreakable cord and multistrands is woven. “The chains of habit,’ said Samuel Johnson,
‘are too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken’”
(The Road to Somewhere: A Guide for Young Men and Women
[1994], 88).
2 Nephi 26:28, 33
Is one race more privileged than the
other?
“I hope we can all overcome any
differences of culture, race, and
language…In my experience, no race or
class seems superior to any other in
spirituality and faithfulness” (James E.
Faust, Ensign, May 1995, 61).
2 Nephi 27:5
“Spirit of deep sleep”
“Apostasy”
=
2 Nephi 27:7, 10
“And behold the book shall be sealed”
What is the sealed book containing the revelations of
God from beginning to end?
“The sealed portion of the Book of Mormon…will
give an account of life in the pre-existence; of the
creation of all things; of the Fall and the Atonement
and the Second Coming;… of life in the spirit
world…; of the kingdoms of glory” (Bruce R.
McConkie, Sermons and Writings of Bruce R. McConkie,
277).
2 Nephi 27:8, 10-11
When will the sealed book be
“delivered,” or published?
“When we ourselves, members of the
Church, are willing to keep the
commandments… then the Lord is ready
to bring forth the other record and give it
to us, but we are not ready now to
receive it.
Elder Maxwell taught, “Many more scriptural
writings will yet come to us, including those of
Enoch (D&C 107:57), all of the writings of the
Apostle John (Ether 4:16), the records of the lost
tribes of Israel (2 Nephi 29:13), and the
approximately two-thirds of the Book of Mormon
plates that were sealed.
Today we carry convenient quadruple combinations
of the scriptures, but one day, since more scriptures
are coming, we may need to pull little red wagons
brimful with books. (A Wonderful Flood of Light
[1990], 18).
2 Nephi 27:12-14
“3 and 8 witnesses”
2 Nephi 27:15-19
“Deliver the Book…unto the Learned”
Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
expanded on the singular event with Professor Anthon to
include the general reaction of the learned of this world to the
Book of Mormon: “This is not solely a reference to Professor
Anthon, since the plural pronoun they is used (v. 20). The
reference suggests a mind-set of most of the learned of the
world, who, by and large, do not take the Book of Mormon
seriously. Even when they read it, they do not really read it,
except with a mind-set which excludes miracles, including the
miracle of the book’s coming forth by the ‘gift and power of
God’” (“The Book of Mormon: A Great Answer to ‘the Great
Question,’” in Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr., eds.,
The Book of Mormon: First Nephi, The Doctrinal Foundation
[1988], 9).
2 Nephi 27:19-20
Isaiah 29
Sometimes, as has been said, certain mortals are so afraid of
being “taken in” they cannot be “taken out” of their mind-sets
(C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle, 1970,148).
2 Nephi 27:21
“In Mine Own Due Time”
Elder Neal A. Maxwell discussed our timing and God’s
timing: “Faith also includes trust in God’s timing, for He has
said, ‘All things must come to pass in their time’ (D&C 64:32).
Ironically, some who acknowledge God are tried by His
timing, globally and personally!” (C.R., Apr. 1991, 119).
On another occasion, Elder Maxwell said: “Faith in the timing
of God [is] to be able to say Thy timing be done, even when
we do not fully understand it” (“Glorify Christ” [an evening
with Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Feb. 2, 2001], 7, ldsces.org).
Remember that Moroni was quoting Isaiah 29 five years
before it was fulfilled.
Also, remember that it was not Martin Harris’s idea to take
the characters to Charles Anthon and other experts.
Joseph sent him to fulfill the prophetic statements of Isaiah.
Isaiah 29:4, 11-14, 17-18, 24
And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of
darkness (D&C 1:30).
Both President Packer and President Faust are on record as
saying that the calling of President Hinckley fulfilled that
prophecy.
Isaiah 29:11
Joseph sent Martin Harris to help build his own confidence in
translating and to fulfill Isaiah 29.
Martin Harris showed the copy of the characters to three men:
Professor Anthon:
Knew Greek, not Egyptian. Six years
after meeting Martin Harris he told
Martin he was being tricked.
Dr. Mitchell:
He was a genius, many called him a
walking dictionary, he remembered
everything.
Luther Bradish:
He was an able linguist.
2 Nephi 27:28
The land of Israel “shall be turned into a
fruitful field.”
“Isaiah describes a nation which would
be destroyed suddenly, but which would
speak in modern times, literally from the
grave, by means of a book.
“…Palestine is now the fruitful field he
envisioned, and the book has been
published” (Mark E. Peterson, Ensign,
November 1977, 12).