At Least Sixteen Cities Destroyed
Book of Mormon Notes - Tuesday, December 26, 2023, 3 Nephi 9
I’m far behind my goal to finish the Book of Mormon in 2023, but I’m about 77% of the way there. I’ve also somehow timed it almost perfectly so that I could read the words of Christ just prior to His appearance on Christmas day. Christ’s ministry in ancient America is at the core of the Book of Mormon, and there’s really no substitute for studying these things on your own and hearing and feeling the voice of the Lord in your own heart. No commentary can do it justice, and commentary can only detract from the direct, personal contact with the Savior of the world.
For these and other reasons I’ve been considering what to do with the rest of my Book of Mormon Notes. In some ways, I would like to continue with my chapter by chapter summaries and commentaries. In some ways, I would like to read everything from 3 Nephi 11 to the end of the Book of Mormon before the beginning of the New Year, because we are studying the Book of Mormon again in 2024 with the Come, Follow Me curriculum. There’s really no rush. In fact, I know that some of the best and most sacred experiences that I have had with the Book of Mormon have come through slow reading and pondering. But it’s also valuable to read large chunks of the Book of Mormon to catch a glimpse of the magnificent landscape.
While I’m figuring out what to do about all of that at the end of this year, let’s take a look at 3 Nephi 9. The prophesied calamities arrived, the darkness fell, and while the earth was still groaning and people still mourning, the voice of the Lord proclaimed the destruction of many people and cities for their wickedness. The Lord also proclaimed His divinity, and announced that the law of Moses was fulfilled. He invited - and always invites - all men to come unto Him and be saved.
All of these things took place just after Christ’s crucifixion. I don’t know if these things took place during the time when the Lord’s body was in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, or just after the Resurrection, or later. It makes sense to me that all of the destruction and hours of darkness took place during and just after Christ’s crucifixion. Matthew records the events in the Holy Land immediately after Jesus Christ yielded up the ghost:
And, behold, the aveil of the temple was brent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did cquake, and the rocks rent;
And the agraves were opened; and many bbodies of the csaints dwhich slept earose,
And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the aholy city, and appeared unto many.
Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. (Matthew 27:51-54)
Moreover, while His body lay in the tomb, our Lord visited the spirit world. We learn from Joseph F. Smith’s vision of the spirit world as recorded in D&C 138 that the Lord visited the spirits of the dead and preached the Gospel:
While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their adeliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring bliberty to the ccaptives who had been faithful;
And there he apreached to them the everlasting bgospel, the doctrine of the cresurrection and the redemption of mankind from the dfall, and from individual sins on conditions of erepentance.
But unto the awicked he did not go, and among the ungodly and the unrepentant who had bdefiled themselves while in the flesh, his voice was not raised;
Neither did the arebellious who rejected the btestimonies and the warnings of the ancient cprophets behold his dpresence, nor look upon his face.
Where these were, adarkness reigned, but among the righteous there was bpeace;
And the saints rejoiced in their aredemption, and bowed the bknee and acknowledged the Son of God as their Redeemer and Deliverer from death and the cchains of dhell.
Their countenances ashone, and the bradiance from the presence of the Lord rested upon them, and they csang praises unto his holy name.
I marveled, for I understood that the Savior spent about three years in his aministry among the Jews and those of the house of Israel, endeavoring to bteach them the everlasting gospel and call them unto repentance;
And yet, notwithstanding his mighty works, and miracles, and proclamation of the truth, in great apower and authority, there were but bfew who hearkened to his voice, and rejoiced in his presence, and received salvation at his hands.
But his ministry among those who were dead was limited to the abrief time intervening between the crucifixion and his resurrection;
And I wondered at the words of Peter—wherein he said that the Son of God preached unto the aspirits in prison, who sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah—and how it was possible for him to preach to those spirits and perform the necessary labor among them in so short a time.
And as I wondered, my eyes were opened, and my understanding aquickened, and I perceived that the Lord went not in person among the bwicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them;
But behold, from among the righteous, he aorganized his forces and appointed bmessengers, cclothed with power and authority, and dcommissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in edarkness, even to fall the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead. (D&C 138:18-30)
Thus it seems that the Lord was very busy during the time just after His crucifixion. But it also may be that before visiting the spirit world, Jesus Christ proclaimed His divinity to the people in various lands. I don’t know when it was. Perhaps it was after the Lord had already Resurrected.
Whenever it was, everyone in the Book of Mormon lands heard the voice of the Lord and understood why so many cities had been destroyed and so many people were killed. The Lord told them very plainly the reasons for the awful destruction. In fact, He repeatedly declared that the destruction had occurred in order that:
that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come any more unto me against them. (3 Nephi 9:5, 8, 9, 11)
The Lord had sent His prophets, His messengers among them, and the people not only rejected them, but killed them. Mormon records the Lord’s words verbatim. This entire chapter contains a record of the Lord’s voice directly to the survivors of the calamities. The survivors were those who were more righteous, those who had not killed the prophets or the saints:
O all ye that are aspared because ye were more brighteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may cheal you? (3 Nephi 9:13)
Even those who were spared because they were more righteous than those who had been slain were invited to come unto Christ, repent of their sins, and be converted. Even the righteous need to repent. We all need to repent. In these scene we see both the perfect justice and the perfect mercy of our Lord. With Old Testament fury the Lord destroyed the wicked, but with New Testament mercy the Lord invited the survivors to return, repent, and be converted.
Why did the Lord invite them to return, repent, and be converted? Because He wanted to heal them. The Lord wants to heal us. He isn’t eager to exact punishment for our sins or to exercise His justice upon us. He delights in being merciful, and He wants to heal us. But the only way that He can heal us is in the way that He has ordained. When we return unto Him, repent of our sins, and become converted, He can heal us, and He does heal us. Remember Elder Holland’s beautiful observation:
…Surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it.
These ancient survivors of the calamities probably felt they didn’t deserve grace or healing, but they we desperate for both. First, the Lord proclaimed the destruction of many people and cities, and he named the cities and the means of destruction specifically. When I read the names of these cities and the means of destruction - Zarahemla burned by fire, Moroni sunk in the depths of the sea, Moronihah covered with earth, Gilgal sunk into the earth, Onihah, Mocum, and Jerusalem flooded and completely submerged in water, Gadiandi, Gadiomnah, Jacob, and Gimgimno sunk and replaced by hills and valleys, Jacobugath burned with fire, Laman, Josh, Gad, Kishkumen burned with fire - it is impossible for me to think that Joseph Smith or anyone else could have made this up. First of all, what kind of names are Zarahemla, Mocum, Gadiomnah, and Kishkumen? And Gimgimno? Really? Gimgimno? What kind of a name is that?
I count at least 16 cities that the Lord destroyed in terrible ways, and there was even more destruction than that. Imagine 16 cities in the United States of America…
Washington D.C. burned by fire
New York City sunk into the ocean
Denver covered with earth
Dallas sunk into the earth
San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami flooded and completely submerged in water
Las Vegas, Houston, Philadelphia, and Atlanta sunk and replaced with hills and valleys
Salt Lake City burned with fire
Phoenix, Cleveland, Chicago, and St. Louis burned with fire
And many other cities destroyed in terrible ways. If we knew that such calamities were imminent, what would we do? It appears that the Lord’s wrath was most intensely kindled against the great city Jacobugath, which was inhabited by the people of king Jacob, because of their bsecret murders and combinations, and because they cdestroyed the peace of God’s people and the government of the land. When I read this I think immediately of Washington, D.C., the swamp, and the secret murders and combinations there. I think of how evil men and women have destroyed the peace of God’s people and the government of the land. Destruction by fire 🔥 may await such a city, although the Lord is much more patient than we mortals are, and much more eager to save any and all who want to be saved.
I read somewhere that there has recently been a major, orchestrated, man-made calamity at the beginning of each year, such as COVID in 2020, the riots on the capital in 2021, etc., and that the next thing in store for 2024 is major panic caused by a supposed cyber-attack (the new Obama movie Leave the World Behind foreshadows this new calamity). Who knows? The important thing is that when the wrath of God is poured out without mixture (see Revelation 14), there’s nothing that can stop it. The only refuge we have is in Jesus Christ and the stakes of His Church:
And that the gathering together upon the land of Zion, and upon her stakes, may be for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth. (D&C 115:6)
Therefore - or thus we see - let’s learn from the ancient inhabitants of America who were spared, and apply the Lord’s invitation to us now, instead of waiting until calamities strike:
Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will acome unto me ye shall have beternal life. Behold, mine carm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me. (3 Nephi 9:14)
After these merciful invitations, the Lord introduced Himself and taught the people about His identity, purpose, and mission:
Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I acreated the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. bI am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name.
I came unto my own, and my own areceived me not. And the scriptures bconcerning my coming are fulfilled.
And as many as have received me, to them have I agiven to become the sons of God; and even so will I to as many as shall believe on my name, for behold, by me bredemption cometh, and cin me is the dlaw of Moses fulfilled.
I am the alight and the life of the world. I am bAlpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
The Lord taught that the old sacrifices of the law of Moses were no longer necessary or valid, and that He requires that we offer for a asacrifice unto Him a broken heart and a contrite spirit. He again invited the people, and all of us, to come unto Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit so that He can bbaptize us with fire and with the Holy Ghost. Then He taught His purpose and mission again:
Behold, I have come unto the world to bring aredemption unto the world, to save the world from sin. (3 Nephi 9:21
This is the mission that only Jesus Christ could accomplish, and this is the invitation that he repeatedly extends to each one of us:
Therefore, whoso arepenteth and cometh unto me bas a clittle child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have dlaid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved. (3 Nephi 9:22)