7 But
behold, thus saith the Lord God: When the
day cometh that they shall believe in me, that I am Christ, then have I
covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh, upon
the earth, unto the lands of their inheritance.
8 And it
shall come to pass that they shall be gathered in from their long dispersion,
from the isles of the sea, and from the four parts of the earth; and the
nations of the Gentiles shall be great in the eyes of me, saith God, in carrying them forth to the lands of
their inheritance.
9 Yea,
the kings of the Gentiles shall be nursing fathers unto them, and their queens
shall become nursing mothers; wherefore, the promises of the Lord are great
unto the Gentiles, for he hath spoken it, and who can dispute?
10 But
behold, this land, said God, shall be a land
of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land.
11 And
this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no
kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles.
13 And he
that fighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God.
14 For he
that raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for I, the Lord, the king of
heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them forever, that hear
my words.
15 Wherefore,
for this cause, that my covenants may be fulfilled which I have made unto the
children of men, that I will do unto them while they are in the flesh, I must needs
destroy the secret works of darkness, and of murders, and of abominations.
16 Wherefore,
he that fighteth against Zion, both Jew and Gentile, both bond and free, both
male and female, shall perish; for they are they who are the whore of all the
earth; for they who are not for me are against me, saith
our God.
17 For I
will fulfil my promises which I have made unto the children of men, that I will
do unto them while they are in the flesh—
18 Wherefore,
my beloved brethren, thus saith our God: I
will afflict thy seed by the hand of the Gentiles; nevertheless, I will soften
the hearts of the Gentiles, that they shall be like unto a father to them;
wherefore, the Gentiles shall be blessed and numbered among the house of
Israel.
19 Wherefore,
I will consecrate this land unto thy seed, and them who shall be numbered among
thy seed, forever, for the land of their inheritance; for it is a choice land, saith God unto me, above all other lands,
wherefore I will have all men that dwell thereon that they shall worship me, saith God. (2 Nephi 10:7-19)
In this block of verses, I
noticed something interesting. I
noticed a lot of repetition of attributions of words to God, like “saith our
God.” I so I highlighted them and
there were eight of them over the space of thirteen verses. And in verse 3 Jacob says an angel
visited him the previous night (in between days of preaching to the people), so
there was a message that God badly wanted delivered, and it seems Nephi liked
it so much he put it into his record for us.
One of the reassuring parts
of the message for us is the pronouncement that “this land shall be a land of
liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall
raise up unto the Gentiles….For he that raiseth up a king against me shall
perish..” (2 Nephi 10:11,14)
We take this for granted,
but can we say that a king has to call himself a king to be a king? If he exercises the power of a king
under any other name, would he not still be a king?
So this hints there is the
possibility of grass-roots support or moneyed support behind a political figure
who would act like a king. This
king-like figure raised up “against me [God]” seems like a militant atheist or
militantly opposing the commandments as standards.
Somehow I don’t think the
Lord gives warnings about things if they are never to happen at all. But I think He gives warnings like
these to show us that when they happen we have come to a very dark place, and
His warnings then become reassurance to the righteous that the trouble is
temporary and something is going to give way soon. We are reassured that God saw this coming (and from a very long ways away), so we can have
faith that the train of history is not flying off the rails or going into
uncharted territory, and God really does know the end from the beginning.
What we should be worried
about is the part that says, “he that raiseth up a king against me shall
perish.” Those who support the king-like figure and bring him to power are
warned that the Lord will bring consequences upon them, specifically death. We want to be sure of being on the
Lord’s side and not fighting against Zion or raising up a king figure who will
fight against Zion and the Lord.
It means studying out political platforms and not just glomming on to
any strong figure who promises to do anything and everything to bring chaos
under control. It means rejecting
those who would abandon the principles of the Constitution, even when it seems
like breaching those protections are necessary at the moment to meet whatever
the current crisis is.
The trouble will be
temporary and there will be a reaction; we are told what will happen.
15 Wherefore,
for this cause, that my covenants may be fulfilled which I have made unto the
children of men, that I will do unto them while they are in the flesh, I must
needs destroy the secret works of darkness, and of murders, and of
abominations.
16 Wherefore,
he that fighteth against Zion, both Jew and Gentile, both bond and free, both
male and female, shall perish; for they are they who are the whore of all the
earth; for they who are not for me are against me, saith our God.
The Lord says, “I must needs
destroy the secret works of darkness, and of murders, and of
abominations.” It gives us a clue
that secret combinations, murder, and abominations will be rampant among those
who support the would-be king, that it will be part of the reason why they want
this figure in charge, so they can do those things with greater impunity.
If institutional justice
fails to destroy the secret works of darkness, then grass-roots vigilante-ism
starts to coalesce. (We’re used to
seeing the militancy of the poles of the political spectrum, but when it works
toward the middle, people are seriously torked off and threatened.) This is understandably
concerning and it will probably be alarming. It may seem like things have gone horribly wrong.
Do I see the Saints
participating in this? No, I
don’t. It sounds like a case of
the wicked destroying the wicked.
The reason the Lord tells us
that He has to do this is so that we know that it fulfills His purposes, even
though it is terrible to contemplate.
Somehow it is part of how He keeps His promises to mankind, even if we
don’t understand how that is.
Further, we are reassured, “for
I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto
them forever, that hear my words.”
(v14) We don’t need an earthly
king to keep order among us if we follow the Lord’s words.
0 comments:
Post a Comment