3 Nephi 21

3 Nephi 21:1

1 And verily I say unto you, I give unto you a sign, that ye may know the time when these things shall be about to take place—that I shall gather in, from their long dispersion, my people, O house of Israel, and shall establish again among them my Zion;

To this point in the discourse, the Savior has reiterated the promise to gather Israel, but has also reiterated that it is an even that lies in the future. At this point he begins to answer the question of when that might be. He tells them that he will give them a sign.

Textual: This is a continuation of the discourse given in chapter 20, and should be read as a continuation of that topic. The chapter break was not part of the 1830 text.

3 Nephi 21:2

2 And behold, this is the thing which I will give unto you for a sign—for verily I say unto you that when these things which I declare unto you, and which I shall declare unto you hereafter of myself, and by the power of the Holy Ghost which shall be given unto you of the Father, shall be made known unto the Gentiles that they may know concerning this people who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, and concerning this my people who shall be scattered by them;

[these things which I declare unto you, and which I shall declare unto you hereafter of myself,] “These things” are the content of the message of the Savior to the Nephites, or the record of the events now occurring.

[shall be made known unto the Gentiles that they may know concerning this people who are a remnant of the house of Jacob] The record of these events “shall be made known unto the Gentiles.” They will know of the Nephites. The Savior is saying that the coming forth of the Book of Mormon is a necessary preliminary to the final gathering.

3 Nephi 21:3

3 Verily, verily, I say unto you, when these things shall be made known unto them of the Father, and shall come forth of the Father, from them unto you;

The Book of Mormon is made known to the Gentiles by means of the Father. After the Gentiles receive it, they will take it to the remnant of the seed of the Nephites: “and shall come forth of the Father, from them unto you.”

3 Nephi 21:4

4 For it is wisdom in the Father that they should be established in this land, and be set up as a free people by the power of the Father, that these things might come forth from them unto a remnant of your seed, that the covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people, O house of Israel;

Surely the Nephites had some questions as to why this particular order should be the way of the future history. Why did the Gentiles have to be established in the land so that they could scatter the remnant of the Nephites (see verse 2). The answer is that they must be set up as a “free people by the power of the Father” or else “these things might [not] come forth.” Of course those in Bountiful could not have understood the complex interrelationships of freedom, politics, and religion that provided the circumstances under which the restoration could take place. He simply tells them that is was necessary. From our modern vantage we can understand that the was the necessity of a land espousing religious freedom:

“And why was freedom so necessary in connection with the restoration of the gospel and its promulgation among the children of men? In order that those to whom the gospel would be restored might have the freedom of speech to preach the gospel; the freedom of the press to publish the gospel; freedom of assembly so they could gather together in congregations and worship the Lord; and religious freedom so that they could worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience.

President Joseph F. Smith discussed this subject in this way:

This great American nation the Almighty raised up by the power of his omnipotent hand, that it might be possible in the latter day for the kingdom of God to be established in the earth. If the Lord had not prepared the way by laying the foundations of this glorious nation, it would have been impossible (under the stringent laws and bigotry of the monarchical governments of the world) to have laid the foundations for the coming of his great kingdom. (Gospel Doctrine, p. 409.)

And along the same line, President Brigham Young said:

We believe that the Lord has been preparing that when he should bring forth his work, that, when the set time should fully come, there might be a place upon his footstool where sufficient liberty of conscience should exist, that his Saints might dwell in peace under the broad panoply of constitutional law and equal rights. In this view we consider that the men in the Revolution were inspired by the Almighty to throw off the shackles of the mother government, with her established religion. For this cause were Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, and a host of others in-spired to deeds of resistance to the acts of the King of Great Britain. (Discourses, p. 359.)” (Elder Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report, April 1946, Afternoon Meeting 169.)

3 Nephi 21:5

5 Therefore, when these works and the works which shall be wrought among you hereafter shall come forth from the Gentiles, unto your seed which shall dwindle in unbelief because of iniquity;

3 Nephi 21:6

6 For thus it behooveth the Father that it should come forth from the Gentiles, that he may show forth his power unto the Gentiles, for this cause that the Gentiles, if they will not harden their hearts, that they may repent and come unto me and be baptized in my name and know of the true points of my doctrine, that they may be numbered among my people, O house of Israel;

3 Nephi 21:7

7 And when these things come to pass that thy seed shall begin to know these things—it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of Israel.

These verses are made more difficult to understand because of the insertion of the aside in verse 6. The meaning is clearer if read without verse 6, then returning to it:

3 Nephi 21:5

5 Therefore, when these works and the works which shall be wrought among you hereafter shall come forth from the Gentiles, unto your seed which shall dwindle in unbelief because of iniquity;

3 Nephi 21:7

These two verses both deal with the sign of the beginning of the gathering, which is that the Book of Mormon will come forth.

[these works and the works which shall be wrought among you hereafter shall come forth from the Gentiles] When the record of the Savior’s appearance to them is revealed to the Gentiles in the Book of Mormon.

[unto your seed which shall dwindle in unbelief because of iniquity] Those now known as the Lamanites. In spite of the origins as a term of lineage, Lamanite is no longer related to lineage. The remnant of these people in Bountiful will be present when the Book of Mormon is revealed, and they are those that we term Lamanites.

3 Nephi 21:6

In the aside the Savior speaks of the reason that the Book of Mormon will go to the Gentiles. They will have the opportunity to understand the gospel and be adopted into the House of Israel. This is a repetition of the message already noted in 3 Nephi 16:12-13 and 3 Nephi 20:27.

3 Nephi 21:8

8 And when that day shall come, it shall come to pass that kings shall shut their mouths; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

Reference: Our current chapter 21 was originally part of the same chapter as our current chapter 20. One of the literary techniques displayed in that chapter was the explanation of information that is capped by a reference to a previously noted verse in Isaiah. This verse is a continuation of that technique. The verse referenced is:

Isaiah 52:15

15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

This verse was referenced as recently as 3 Nephi 20:45.

3 Nephi 21:9

9 For in that day, for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them; and there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it unto them.

[For in that day] This verse serves as the explanation of why the “kings shall shut their mouths; for that which hade been told them shall they see…”

[which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them] The language here echoes Isaiah 29:

Isaiah 29:14

14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

The Book of Mormon is the “great and a marvelous work.”

[there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it unto them.] The prophecy is that even though the coming forth of the Book of Mormon is a “great and a marvelous work,” it will not be universally believed. There will be disbelievers. Those who “declare it unto them,” are all of the missionaries who spread the news of this marvelous work and a wonder, although the specific reference is to Joseph Smith.

3 Nephi 21:10

10 But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.

Even though Joseph will be persecuted, he will be preserved to do his divine task. While the Savior certainly knew of the coming martyrdom of the Prophet, that knowledge was spared the younger Joseph while he was translating. This verse would have been a comfort to Joseph as he endured persecutions and other hardships as part of the translation process, and then continued difficulties after the Book of Mormon was published.

3 Nephi 21:11

11 Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant.

After the publication of the Book of Mormon will come the times of judgment. The words of the Savior as given on this occasion, and as written in the Book of Mormon, will come to the Gentiles. They will have the opportunity of having this testimony in their hands to accept or reject. For those who reject it, they “shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant.” The Gentiles will have the opportunity of adoption, but if they deny the testimony of the Savior in the Book of Mormon, that opportunity will not be open to them.

3 Nephi 21:12

12 And my people who are a remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

3 Nephi 21:13

13 Their hand shall be lifted up upon their adversaries, and all their enemies shall be cut off.

Reference: Now the reprised text is from Micah rather than Isaiah:

Micah 5:8-9

8 ¶ And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

9 Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.

This was first cited in 3 Nephi 20:16-17. This text is being used as the proof-text for the role-reversal of the last days where the restored Israel destroys the wicked of the world, here represented by the collective term, Gentiles.

3 Nephi 21:14

14 Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles except they repent; for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots;

3 Nephi 21:15

15 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds;

3 Nephi 21:16

16 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy land, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers;

3 Nephi 21:17

17 Thy graven images I will also cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee, and thou shalt no more worship the works of thy hands;

3 Nephi 21:18

18 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee; so will I destroy thy cities.

3 Nephi 21:19

19 And it shall come to pass that all lyings, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away.

3 Nephi 21:20

20 For it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that day whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel;

3 Nephi 21:21

21 And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.

[for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots;]: In the days of the Triumphant Messiah the tables will be turned on the powerful of the world. Those who were once the most powerful and overran Israel will be overrun by Israel as led by the Triumphant Messiah. The horses and chariots are symbols of military might in the Old World. The “cutting off” of those means of warfare is an indication of their defeat. They will be defeated in such a way that they no longer have the ability to wage war.

In spite of references in the Book of Mormon to horses and chariots (for instance, Alma 18:9-11), there is no indication of their use in battle. The Micah passage is clearly battle-oriented. How this passage would have been understood by the Nephites in their Mesoamerican context is not known.

[ I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds]: Those who used to have powerful dependent cities will lose them. Those who had strong fortified cities will have them destroyed. This is a furtherance of the imagery of complete defeat.

[ I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy land, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers]: God will destroy competing religions. The witchcrafts and soothsayers were not those with the connotations we typically give those words in modern societies, but were rather the prophets of the false gods.

[Thy graven images I will also cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee, and thou shalt no more worship the works of thy hands]: Just as the prophets of the false gods will be removed, so too will the idols of those gods. The images that the powerful of the world worship in Micah’s day will be destroyed and replaced by the true God.

[ I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee; so will I destroy thy cities]: The groves were locations of religious worship. So thoroughly are the cities to be destroyed that even the outlying groves for worship will be destroyed.

[it shall come to pass that all lyings, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away.] This is a passage added to the Micah text. In addition to the militaristic destructions, all wickedness will be removed.

[it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that day whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel]: This is also an addition to the Micah text. This picks up on the theme of adoption. Those who are righteous and believe mayh be adopted. Those who refuse the gospel will be cut off from the covenant of the House of Israel.

[ I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.] : The Triumphant Messiah will finally destroy wickedness, with “vengeance and fury.” The phrase “even as upon the heathen” is not to be read that the destruction will be upon the gentiles “even as upon the heathen,” but rather than the heathen as synonymous with the Gentiles will be the recipients of this action. The New International Version translates this phrase:

Micah 5:15

15 I will take vengeance in anger and wrath upon the nations that have not obeyed me.

Reference: this is a long insertion from Micah:

Micah 5:10-15

10 [Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles except they repent; for] (And) it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots:

11 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds:

12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:

13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.

14 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.

[19 And it shall come to pass that all lyings, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away.

3 Nephi 21:20

20 For it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that day whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel;]

15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.

The additional text at the beginning of verse 14 (Micah 5:10) serves to tie this insertion with the rest of the discourse. The only other change is interesting in that it is in the inclusion of what are now two verses between Micah 5:14 and 15. These verses further the theme of the destruction of the wicked in the last days, and in particular, 3 Nephi 21:20 reiterates the penalty of exclusion from the covenant of the House of Israel, which has been a strong theme of this discourse.

Textual: This is the end of a chapter in the 1830 edition. This is an interesting division in chapters because the discourse clearly continues, which is the reason that Orson Pratt tied the next verse into this chapter rather than separating it. The original chapter break may have been created by Mormon who typically breaks chapters at the end of extended textual insertions. Perhaps this inserted text from Micah qualified.

3 Nephi 21:22

22 But if they will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance;

After texts condemning the unrepentant Gentiles, the Savior discusses the fate of the repentant Gentiles. If the repent and believe on the Messiah, the church will be established among them. The Nephites would have understood “church” in their own context as their organization. They would have understood, however, that it was an organization of believers in the context of a population of unbelievers. Thus while the specifics of organization might have been different, they certainly had a sufficient conception of what would be established among the Gentiles. Of course the modern perspective tells us that this is the restoration of the Church and the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

These Gentiles who belong to the church are adopted into the covenant of Abraham, and become inheritors of the promise of the land. Thus the promise that this land would be for the inheritance of the house of Israel has partial fulfillment in the Gentile believers who are adopted into the House of Israel.

In the modern patriarchal blessings we receive, our spiritual lineage is declared, indicating our adoption into these blessings.

“It is the office and calling of a patriarch in giving a patriarchal blessing to identify, by the Spirit of revelation, the blood lineage of those whom he blesses. President Joseph Fielding Smith taught: "A patriarch giving a blessing has the right of inspiration to declare the literal descent of the person receiving the blessing; he does not have authority to assign that individual to any tribe. Through the waters of baptism and the priesthood, Church members become heirs of Abraham with all the rights belonging to the children of Abraham through their faithfulness" (Doctrines of Salvation, 3:171).

The promises given to Abraham are not figurative. He was expressly told they were to extend to his "literal seed, or the seed of the body" (Abr. 2:11). If those of the Bible-believing world properly understood the promises given to Abraham, they would know that the blessings of the priesthood are essential to salvation and that the right to hold the priesthood was given to Abraham and his posterity. It is his seed that are to bear the message of the gospel to all the ends of the earth. Missionaries are expected to have received their patriarchal blessing before they begin their missions. Thus they will have a revealed confirmation that they are of the lineage that has a rightful claim to the priesthood and the attendant responsibility to declare the message of salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Joseph Fielding McConkie, Answers: Straightforward Answers to Tough Gospel Questions [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1998], 183 - 184.)

3 Nephi 21:23

23 And they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem.

As part of the events of the last days, these believing Gentiles who have been adopted into the house of Israel will help build the New Jerusalem, which will be on this continent (Articles of Faith 10). Assisting in the building of that great and final city will be those of the remnant of Jacob, which has been the designation for the remnants of Book of Mormon peoples in this discourse, as well as many of the house of Israel.

3 Nephi 21:24

24 And then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem.

These converted Gentiles will assist in the gathering to the New Jerusalem. No doubt that for many this will be a physical gathering. However, no single city can hold the assembly of the faithful today, and it will be less likely to happen in the future. Much of the gathering will be spiritual with the New Jerusalem as the new headquarters of the Government of God on earth.

3 Nephi 21:25

25 And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I also will be in the midst.

This very Atoning Messiah who plays the role of sacrifice in the meridian of time will return as the Triumphant Messiah where he not only plays the role that Micah foretold in the destruction of the wicked, but will take his place as the true ruler of the entire earth.

3 Nephi 21:26

26 And then shall the work of the Father commence at that day, even when this gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people. Verily I say unto you, at that day shall the work of the Father commence among all the dispersed of my people, yea, even the tribes which have been lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem.

Prophetic language sometimes condenses timeframes, and while this even appears to follow the coming of the Triumphant Messiah, we know that it actually precedes it, as it is happening today. The “at that day” is simply a general reference to the end times. The gospel is being preached to the “remnant of this people,” whom we know as the Lamanites. The gospel is being preached to the “dispersed of my people” in the various lands into which they were dispersed. The gathering of the children of Israel is underway.

3 Nephi 21:27

27 Yea, the work shall commence among all the dispersed of my people, with the Father to prepare the way whereby they may come unto me, that they may call on the Father in my name.

3 Nephi 21:28

28 Yea, and then shall the work commence, with the Father among all nations in preparing the way whereby his people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance.

3 Nephi 21:29

29 And they shall go out from all nations; and they shall not go out in haste, nor go by flight, for I will go before them, saith the Father, and I will be their rearward.

As this section of the future history ends, the work of the gathering begins after the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. To cap this section of the discourse, the Savior references Isaiah 52:12 again (verse 29).

Textual: There is no chapter break at this point in the 1830 edition. This chapter division was made to allow the inserted text of Isaiah 54 to be versified parallel to the standard versification of that chapter.