We usually read this chapter looking forward to the Lord’s
Second Coming, to which it refers. But
how interesting it is to try to read it from the point of view of the Nephites
and Lamanites who had just survived three days of the earth’s upheaval in total
darkness! At Jesus’ death entire cities
had been sunk into the sea or buried in the earth while others had been
burned. The more righteous among them
survived the tumults, and sometime after the earthquakes stopped and the light returned,
some of them made their way to the temple in Bountiful, where they encountered
the resurrected Jesus. Imagine what they
felt when reminded by Him of Isaiah’s words: “The Lord whom ye seek shall
suddenly come to his temple.” “Who may
abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth?” “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” You
know these people were aware that the Lord was able to fulfill these prophecies,
for they had just lived through some of them.
And think of their joy at hearing things like this: “And they shall be
mine…in that day when I make up my jewels; I will spare them as a man spareth
his own son that serveth him” (v. 17).
Talk about likening the scriptures to yourself!
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