Christ Must Shortly Come

Book of Mormon Notes - Tuesday, December 12, 2023, Helaman 16

At the conclusion of the Book of Helaman, most of the Nephites rejected Samuel the Lamanite and drove him out of Zarahemla. There were some who believed Samuel the Lamanite and were baptized. But it seems as though the few faithful became more faithful as the majority became more wicked, hardened, and impenitent. As the birth of Christ drew nigh, the few faithful anticipated and prepared for His coming, while the majority of the people rejected Nephi and Samuel the Lamanite and came up with terrible excuses to dismiss the prophecies of the prophets.

For example, some Nephites accused Samuel the Lamanite of having a devil and of using the power of the devil because they could not hit him with their rocks and their arrows. The same miracle that convinced a few, the majority dismissed and attributed to the devil. Picture Samuel the Lamanite upon the walls of Zarahemla, preaching repentance and prophesying of the coming of Christ. The Spirit of the Lord inspired him and protected him from the stones and the arrows that were flung at him. But still most of the Nephites would not believe him or receive his message.

Why wouldn’t they believe him? Mormon informs us that the devil had gotten a great hold upon the hearts of many people. After rejecting Samuel the Lamanite and driving him from the city, most of the Nephites grew so proud, hardened, and wicked that even the great signs and wonders had little effect upon them. Even though, in fulfillment of the scriptures, ^aangels appeared to wise men and declared glad tidings of great joy, and even though ^agreat signs were given unto the people, and the words of the prophets ^bbegan to be fulfilled, most of the people, both of the Nephites and the Lamanites hardened their hearts. Except for the most believing part of them, the people began to depend upon their ^aown strength and upon their own wisdom.

Listen to how these ancient Nephites and Lamanites rationalized away the revelations and prophesies of the Lord’s prophets:

Some things they may have guessed right, among so many; but behold, we know that all these great and marvelous works cannot come to pass, of which has been spoken. (Helaman 16:16)

Instead of believing and exercising faith in Jesus Christ, these hardened people began to reason and contend among themselves. They argued that is was ^anot reasonable that such a being as a Christ should come. They argued that if He were to come, and if He were the Son of God and the Father of heaven and earth, then He should show Himself to them, and not just to the people in Jerusalem. They must not have studied the prophesies very well, because the Book of Mormon prophets clearly prophesied that Jesus Christ would come, and that He would visit them.

In their pride and wickedness, they dismissed the prophesies of Christ as a supposedly wicked ^atradition that had been handed down in order to keep them in ignorance because they could not ^bwitness with their own eyes that they were true. These foolish people thought that because Samuel the Lamanite and other prophets prophesied of Christ’s birth in the Holy Land, far away in the region of Jerusalem, then it must not be true. They attributed the prophets accurate prophesies to the cunning and mysterious arts of the evil one. They accused those who preached the truth of trying to keep them in ignorance in order to exercise power over them. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Mormon describes how the devil operated among these ancient people just prior to the birth of Jesus Christ:

And many more things did the people ^aimagine up in their hearts, which were foolish and ^bvain; and they were much disturbed, for Satan did stir them up to do iniquity continually; yea, he did go about spreading ^crumors and contentions upon all the face of the land, that he might harden the hearts of the people against that which was good and against that which should come.

And notwithstanding the signs and the wonders which were wrought among the people of the Lord, and the many miracles which they did, Satan did get great hold upon the hearts of the people upon all the face of the land. (Helaman 16:22-23)

Sadly, this sounds like an apt description of the time in which we now live. Faith in God and true religion are mocked and ridiculed, people depend upon their own strength and reason, arguing incessantly about foolish things, rumors and contentions spread everywhere and harden the hearts of people against that which is good and against that which is to come.

But we can keep our eye on the few faithful, and how they persevered in the midst of such wickedness and chaos. Most of the people had rejected both Nephi and Samuel the Lamanite, but there were still a few of the faithful among them who held onto the truth. When the majority of the people reject the prophets, however, we know that they are ripening for destruction. These were the conditions of the people at the end of the Book of Helaman. They seemed to be even worse off than they were at the beginning of the Book of Helaman. The wicked were becoming more wicked. The few righteous were prepared for the imminent coming of the Lord.