(All of my own thoughts are in red type 7/20 green6/21 9/22 Brown 11/23)
CHAPTER 14
Samuel predicts light during the night and a new star at Christ’s birth—Christ redeems men from temporal and spiritual death—The signs of His death include three days of darkness, the rending of the rocks, and great upheavals of nature. About 6 B.C.
1 And now it came to pass that aSamuel, the Lamanite, did prophesy a great many more things which cannot be written. because of space? time? by commandment? When Jesus visits the Nephites, he asks them why they didn’t write something Samuel had prophesied. It seems like it’s very important to the Lord that prophecy be recorded so we can see all the words of the Lord are fulfilled. This is extra important for us to know as we read the Book of Mormon which in it’s entirety is a prophecy for our day and He wants us to know it will surely come to pass as well...
- 3 Nephi 23:9 Verily I say unto you, I commanded my servant aSamuel, 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 bmany csaints who should darise 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 awritten this thing, that many bsaints 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 awritten; therefore it was written according as he commanded.
Question: Why would something so amazing not be written? It was prophesied. And it came to pass. With all the records that were kept, why skip this? And notice, Nephi did not answer the Lord's question "How be it that ye have not written this thing?" This is a second witness to a similar account in Matthew 27:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
2 And behold, he said unto them: Behold, I give unto you a sign; for afive years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God to redeem all those who shall believe on his name. There was a specific time given for the sign of his coming. Will that happen again? We only are told no man knows the day or hour, but the year could be known...
3 And behold, this will I give unto you for a asign at the time of his coming; meaning this is the sign that it IS happening for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day. Not sure how this was accomplished...did it have to do with a combined "great lights"? We know the sun went down but it remained light. What gave off the light? I don’t know where I heard this, but somewhere I read that when Christ steps on the Mount of Olives, we will know it in America because there will be no darkness at night again. This is an undeniable sign. No one can miss it.
4 Therefore, there shall be one aday and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is bborn. We are told that signs do not produce faith, but can confirm faith we already have. Why were these wicked Nephites given this sign? God truly is merciful. Will we have similar undeniable signs before his second coming?
5 And behold, there shall a new astar arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you. They are given a second witness; as if a night of no darkness weren’t enough... I wonder what that really looked like. Because the modern day “Star of Bethlehem” wasn’t really that awe-inspiring. I think it had to be much more obvious.
6 And behold this is not all, there shall be many asigns and wonders in heaven. What were these? These people are truly being left without excuse... What signs will we be given to also leave us without excuse. I can’t wait to see them!
7 And it shall come to pass that ye shall all be amazed, and wonder, insomuch that ye shall afall to the earth. That is pretty amazing. And notice it says they shall “ALL” fall to the earth. No one will be left standing, saying, “it’s not that big a deal” or “it’s just a natural phenomenon”. There will be no other explanation, but God.
8 And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall abelieve on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life. No one at that day would be able to say, that God didn’t give them a chance. They will easily believe, or willfully rebel. I think everyone needs that choice/chance...
9 And behold, thus hath the Lord commanded me, by his angel, So we now know that an angel appeared to Samuel and told him to go tell these things to the people. He might be repeating the kinds of things he had already tried to preach to them and was cast out for... that I should come and tell this thing unto you; yea, he hath commanded that I should prophesy these things unto you; yea, he hath said unto me: Cry unto this people, repent and prepare the way of the Lord. The words are just a little different in our day, “we are preparing the world for the Second Coming” compared to “Prepare the way of the Lord”. Is it any different? If repentance was the way to prepare the way of the Lord before, would it be any less in our day?
10 And now, because I am a Lamanite, and have spoken unto you the words which the Lord hath commanded me, and because it was hard against you, ye are angry with me and do seek to destroy me, and have acast me out from among you. I think Samuel is a type for the end time servant. Will he come and prophecy similar things? We know Isaiah says he will will be rejected and marred...
11 And ye shall ahear my words, for, for this intent have I come up upon the walls of this city, that ye might hear and know of the judgments of God which do await you because of your iniquities, and also that ye might know the conditions of repentance; This is the part that people are not wanting to hear today. They think that church should not be about judging each other, but the preaching of the gospel should always be accompanied by the invitation and blessing of repenting. It’s not a condemning thing...it’s a saving thing.
12 And also that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the aFather of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name. The signs were given to help them believe. But that is not the same as conversion.
13 And if ye abelieve on his name ye will repent of all your sins, 1. First condition of conversion that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his merits. I've been pondering the Atonement of Jesus Christ a lot. If Christ paid for our sin by bearing the suffering of those we have sinned against, then He is in the position to offer forgiveness. Only the victim can drop charges against the accused. We would only ever want to do that if the sinner said they were sorry. If they refused to be sorry, then it would be best for them to suffer a consequence to humble them and give them a chance to think about their actions and hopefully desire to repent.
14 And behold, again, another sign I give unto you, yea, a sign of his adeath.
15 For behold, he surely must die that asalvation may come; yea, it behooveth him and becometh expedient that he bdieth, to bring to pass the cresurrection of the dead, that thereby men may be brought into the dpresence of the Lord.
16 Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the aresurrection, and bredeemeth all mankind from the first death—that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the cfall of Adam being dcut off from the presence of the Lord, are considered as edead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual. What if his dying was only about overcoming death and bringing to pass the resurrection and not about suffering for our sins in our place. What if there is only repentance to be forgiven by Christ and excused from the punishment; or we suffer for our own sins. What if Christ didn't suffer the punishment of anyone's sins only the effects of our sins as He suffered "as" the receiver of our sins. He says "inasmuch as ye have done it unto others, ye have done it unto me. That must work both for the good and bad we do. He only offers forgiveness as the victim or we suffer for our sins. What if...
17 But behold, the resurrection of Christ aredeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord. Seems to me like the "Lord" here is God, the Father.
18 Yea, and it bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repenteth the same is not ahewn down and cast into the fire; but whosoever repenteth not is hewn down and cast into the fire; and there cometh upon them again a bspiritual death, yea, a second death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness. We know at Christ’s second coming that those who will not believe and repent are literally “cast into the fire”. Horrible form of death!
19 Therefore repent ye, repent ye, lest by knowing these things and not doing them ye shall suffer yourselves to come under condemnation, and ye are brought down unto this second death.
20 But behold, as I said unto you concerning another asign, a sign of his death, behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his blight unto you; This is the opposite sign of His birth. Light and Dark are the perfect types of the Savior and Lucifer. I am reading a book called "The Spiritual Physics of Light" by Aaron D. Franklin. Light is more amazing and important than we understand. I can't wait to finish it! One of the profound statements from the book is, "Darkness cannot be turned on. Only Light can be switched on or off. It's not that we choose darkness, but rather that we opt to reduce the light; hence, darkness is a consequence rather than a direct option. What seems like mere semantics actually has profound implications." and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of cthree days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead.
21 Yea, at the time that he shall yield up the aghost there shall be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the earth shall shake and tremble; and the crocks which are upon the face of this earth, which are both above the earth and beneath, which ye know at this time are solid, or the more part of it is one solid mass, shall be dbroken up;
22 Yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be afound in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole earth, yea, both above the earth and beneath.
23 And behold, there shall be great atempests, and there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called bvalleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great.
24 And amany highways shall be broken up, and many cities shall become desolate. I sometimes forget that these people had the destructions at the time of Christ’s death prophesied unto them. It didn’t come as a surprise.
25 And many agraves shall be opened, and shall yield up many of their dead; and many saints shall appear unto many. This is the prophecy that Jesus asked about when he visited them. It had not been recorded that this had happened... If this happened during the three days of darkness, I hope that the saints that were resurrected were ministering to and protecting the terrified children. (Much like depicted in the Cokeville Miracle movie”
26 And behold, thus hath the aangel spoken unto me; for he said unto me that there should be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours.
27 And he said unto me that while the thunder and the lightning lasted, and the tempest, that these things should be, and that adarkness should cover the face of the whole earth for the space of three days. Is this recorded in any other world histories?
28 And the angel said unto me that many shall see greater things than these, What were these "greater signs"? What could be greater than what has been prophesied? to the intent that they might believe that athese signs and these wonders should come to pass upon all the face of this land, to the intent that there should be no cause for unbelief among the children of men— Look how merciful the Lord is. He loves these rebellious wicked Nephites. He wants to give them every chance to believe again. Will we receive this great light before our destruction again?
29 And this to the intent that whosoever will believe might be saved, and that whosoever will not believe, a arighteous judgment might come upon them; and also if they are condemned they bring upon themselves their own condemnation. If all this happened then for the intent that whosoever will might believe and that a righteous judgment might come upon those who choose not to believe ...is it possible that it will happen again? God is the same yesterday and today. Of course He will do the same for His children alive today....No one will be left without opportunity to believe before destruction comes.
30 And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto ahimself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; This can help us with forgiveness. For the sinner is the one that is truly harmed in an eternal way, not the victim. But only if they do not repent. I feel he's saying, you can only hurt yourself by your sins. Christ offers all forgiveness. The people you sin against are covered by His suffering for the sins you've committed against them. Your sins can only hurt you and only if you do not repent. What if...? for behold, ye are bfree; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a cknowledge and he hath made you free.
31 He hath given unto you that ye might aknow good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might bchoose life or death; and ye can do good and be crestored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you.
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