Versículo 2 termine con el frase: –luchaban por sus vidas sin invocar a aquel Ser que los creó.– Aquí tenemos la distinción entre los justos y los inicuos. Todos tenemos que luchar por nuestras vidas. Pero la diferencia es en el acto de creer en Dios y clamar a Él para sostén o no.
Los nefitas miraron a Mormón como si él en sí mismo tenía algún gran poder para salvarles de la destrucción.
All the secrets of men shall eventual be revealed and read upon the housetops. I don’t know a more succinct way of describing this, and I don’t know even how to classify this little bit of knowledge, but a quick reference to the footnotes associated with this truth shows that it is amply testified of in many books of scripture, so as to have multiple witnesses of this reality: there is nothing hid that shall not be revealed; there is nothing that is done in darkness shall not be brought to light, and read upon the housetops. What mystery is this in and of itself!
…That all things which are hid must be revealed upon the house-tops.
Verse 8
Why does Mormon use the word “must” in this version of the statement. What is imperative about about all things being revealed upon the house-tops?
In verse 10, Mormon describes a part of his intended audience: “also to the Gentiles who have care for the house of Israel, that realize and know from whence their blessings come.”
Then in verse 11, he states that he knows that the current circumstances of the children of Lehi will cause such a person to sorrow because:
- of the calamity of the house of Israel;
- of the destruction of this people;
- that this people had not repented that they might have been clasped in the arms of Jesus.
These verses stand out to me because it is both a description of those among whom I associate, but it’s also a reminder of how I ought to be in relationship to others, a reminder of my baptismal covenants.
In verse 12, Mormon makes a profound observation: “…it is known of God that wickedness will not bring them forth unto them,” which of course is very true. Perhaps this is painfully obvious, but there is something deeply important about understanding the work that is being accomplished by the righteous, that no manner of wickedness will ever randomly, haphazardly hope to accomplish. Yes, the wicked will destroy the wicked. But it is the righteous who will actually attend to the work that needs to be realized.
Me pregunto ¿Por qué regresó Mormón a dirigir los ejércitos de los nefitas? Sabía que 1) no se habían arrepentido de sus iniquidades y 2) no pudieron vencer sus enemigos por sus propios fuerzas. Tal vez lo hizo para mostrar que aún con su liderazgo, la gente tenia que hacer su parte. Un líder justo no hace que el pueblo sea justo.
Al leer de la huida de los nefitas, los que fueron más veloz de los lamanitas vivieron, y los que no, fueron destruidos. Me recuerda un escenario que he repetido en mi mente de tiempo a tiempo cuando pienso: ¿Qué haría yo en tales circunstancias? Pero la realidad es que Mormón se escapó por su fe en Cristo. Los nefitas como pueblo no tenía este poder, pero Mormón todavía había mantenido su fe. Y por esto se escapó.
¿Qué haría yo en tales circunstancias? Actuara según mi fe en el Señor Jesucristo. Es la única manera segura.
Mormón tenía la plena confianza en que él estaba cumpliendo los mandamientos del Señor en guardar y compilar estos anales. También, entendió que de la misma manera se sacara a la luz estas cosas. El mensaje final de todo esto es: confía en Dios, Él puede orquestar los detalles en su debido tiempo. (véase vs. 12 y 13)
I am sitting with my own discipleship this morning (a day before April 2022 General Conference), I am reading (in Spanish still) about the relationship that Mormon says could have been had between this people and God. It sends chills up my spine when I read about the blessings of the Nephites upon the land being deferred to the Gentiles. Does faith matter? Does it make a difference? Absolutely!
I am sitting with the reality that I cannot seem to inspire, persuade or even teach my children how to have faith in Christ. The first step seems to me to learn how to love them, which thing I feel I have also failed dismally at. But this one thing I know for myself and not another: that my life would be dramatically different without faith in Christ.
- Can I look at the life of another (my children) and see or safely assess whether they are trying to follow Christ, or whether it may be that they are without a guide in the world, thus Satan being responsible for their confusion and outcomes? I feel like I can quite easily see this.
- Can I love my children enough to sit with them, to help them think about the direction that they really want to be traveling, and to be able to guide them in such a way that will bring them to a better place? I feel like I should be able to do this.
- So why can I not do this thing? What is impeding me as a father, as a human being from having this kind of love? This kind of clarity about faith in Christ?
Lands of Inheritance
In verse 14, we read about the Jews being persuaded to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ through the Book of Mormon, but then it goes deeper:
…that the Father may bring about, through his most Beloved, his great and eternal purpose, in restoring the Jews, or all the house of Israel, to the land of their inheritance, which the Lord their God hath given them, unto the fulfilling of his covenant;
I understand that there was a covenant made with Abraham, but what does this mean, and what is so eternally significant about lands being received by inheritance? There is something deep hidden here that I am not understanding. This cannot just be about land inheritances, especially when such things are just temporal assignments which end at death.
Hymns seem to have some insights here that may expand my understanding of what a land of inheritance or a promised land might look like:
Come, Come Ye Saints
- “We’ll find the place which God for us prepared, far away in the west, Where none can shall come to hurt or make afraid, there the saints will be blessed.”
Israel, Israel God Is Calling
- “… calling thee from lands of woe.”
A land of inheritance… a land of peace… is it desirable that we might possess such a land, so that our family may dwell safely and grow and develop. There is an eternal purpose to having lands where the children of God may safely dwell.
The residual feeling that I have at the end of this morning’s study is that God can be known, and God will be known. It is simply a matter of looking deep enough and studying what is really written in the scriptures that God is unveiled in truth. He is real. His covenants are real. Christ is real. Christ IS the Son of God sent to fulfill covenants made with the house of Israel. This is all very real and true. And it is the most important work taking place in our day, as we are reminded frequently by our prophet-president, Russell M. Nelson.
This chapter ends with an admonition to the gentiles. This is aptly so. As Mormon is facing the end of his nation’s existence, it is not unfathomable to him that another nation, highly favored of God, could also be destroyed and removed from such privilege. But Mormon is not speaking from a place of hypothetical probability, but with revealed foreknowledge of that which shall come.