How to Survive the Impending Holocaust
Book of Mormon Notes - Saturday, March 9, 2024, 3 Nephi 25
The Lord continued His instruction to the Nephites in Bountiful by reciting verbatim the final words of Malachi’s prophecy. Malachi’s message is reminiscent of Isaiah’s message, reminding us that the proud and the wicked will be destroyed, and God alone will be exalted. Isaiah’s poetic descriptions of the destruction of the proud and the wicked are couched in a variety of symbols and the manner of prophesying of the Jews. Malachi’s prophesy and warning is more straight forward, at least to our modern eyes and ears, even though it too is full of symbols:
aFor behold, the day cometh that shall bburn as an oven; and all the cproud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
How extensive will this burning be?
Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. (Isaiah 24:6)
For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many. (Isaiah 66:16)
For the hour is nigh and the day soon at hand when the earth is ripe; and all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I will burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that wickedness shall not be upon the earth; (D&C 29:9)
Behold, now it is called today until the coming of the Son of Man, and verily it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming.
For after today cometh the burning—this is speaking after the manner of the Lord—for verily I say, tomorrow all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I will burn them up, for I am the Lord of Hosts; and I will not spare any that remain in Babylon. (D&C 64:23-24)
This cleansing of the earth will be complete and comprehensive.
Considering conditions in the world and the pervasiveness of wickedness and pride, we may sometimes be tempted to rejoice in this prophesied holocaust. But I am reminded of the Lord’s response to his disciples when He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, but a a village of the aSamaritans would not receive Him:
And when his disciples aJames and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command bfire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of aspirit ye are of.
For the aSon of man is not come to bdestroy men’s clives, but to dsave them. And they went to another village. (Luke 9:54-56)
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love each one of their children. They are merciful and kind, and desire to save as many as desire to be saved:
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise and coming, as some men count slackness; but long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (JST 2 Peter 3:9)
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ do not delight in destruction:
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no apleasure in the bdeath of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye cdie, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 33:11)
The Lord rebuked James and John for wondering if they should call down fire as Elijah did because the Lord came to save men’s lives. I imagine, on the other hand, that He would have commended Nephi for his righteous desire:
And I pray the Father in the name of Christ that many of us, if not all, may be saved in his akingdom at that great and last day. (2 Nephi 33:12)
In their sincere repentance, the sons of Mosiah also had the correct desires and manner of spirit:
Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not abear that any human bsoul should cperish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure dendless torment did cause them to quake and etremble. (Mosiah 28:3)
Because Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love each one of their children, They have provided ample warnings and invitations to repent and return unto Them. They are not eager to incinerate any of us, no matter how proud and wicked we may be. Elder Christofferson’s recent definition of God’s wrath helps us to understand this point:
By revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord identified one purpose as the protection of the covenant people. He said, “The gathering together upon the land of Zion, and upon her stakes, [will] 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.”5 “Wrath” in this context may be understood as the natural consequences of widespread disobedience to the laws and commandments of God.
Thus, the devouring flame of the Almighty, the refining fire, the fuller’s soap, is a merciful heat for those who repent and return to the Lord, while it is simultaneously a wrathful heat that shall bburn as an oven to consume the cproud and the wicked, and reduce them to stubble.
What on earth is stubble? (see also here)
Stubble refers to the short stalks that remain after grain has been harvested from a field. Farmers often burn the stubble before plowing and planting the field again. Malachi’s reference to the wicked being like stubble on “the day … that shall burn as an oven” means that the wicked will be destroyed as part of the Lord’s cleansing of the earth at His Second Coming.
This definition of stubble sheds light on the parable of the wheat and the tares. The wheat will be gathered as sheaves into the garners and saved, along with their roots and branches, while the tares will be burned, leaving them neither root nor branch:
Come, ye thankful people, come;
Raise the song of harvest home.
All is safely gathered in
Ere the winter storms begin.
God, our Maker, doth provide
For our wants to be supplied.
Come to God’s own temple, come;
Raise the song of harvest home.
All the world is God’s own field,
Fruit unto his praise to yield,
Wheat and tares together sown,
Unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade, and then the ear,
Then the full corn shall appear.
Lord of harvest, grant that we
Wholesome grain and pure may be. (“Come, Ye Thankful People”)
Nephi, son of Lehi, also used the symbol of stubble in his prophesies:
For behold, saith the prophet, the time cometh speedily that Satan shall have no more power over the hearts of the children of men; for the day soon cometh that all the proud and they who do wickedly shall be as stubble; and the day cometh that they must be burned. (1 Nephi 22:15)
And they shall be visited with thunderings, and lightnings, and earthquakes, and all manner of destructions, for the fire of the anger of the Lord shall be kindled against them, and they shall be as stubble, and the day that cometh shall consume them, saith the Lord of Hosts. (2 Nephi 26:6)
In the scriptures, stubble is contrasted to wheat or plants with roots and branches. Elder Christofferson expounded upon the meaning of roots and branches:
Without the sealings that create eternal families and link generations here and hereafter, we would be left in eternity with neither roots nor branches—that is, neither ancestry nor posterity. It is this free-floating, disconnected state of individuals, on the one hand, or connections that defy the marriage and family relations God has appointed,22 on the other hand, that would frustrate the very purpose of the earth’s creation. Were that to become the norm, it would be tantamount to the earth being smitten with a curse or “utterly wasted” at the Lord’s coming.23
Ancestors are our roots, and posterity are our branches. Thus the most important gathering of Israel is the gathering that takes place in marriages and families, and in the welding links that bind generations of families together. This work and glory of God in saving individuals and exalting families runs against the grain of modern society, and it even runs directly counter to the natural forces of democracy that Tocqueville described in his masterpiece Democracy in America:
Not only does democracy make every man forget his ancestors, but also clouds their view of their descendants and isolates them from their contemporaries. Each man is for ever thrown back on himself alone, and there is danger that he may be shut up in the solitude of his own heart.
Notice the contrast between the burning stubble of the proud and the wicked, and the gathering of the penitent:
But unto you that fear my name, shall the aSon of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and bgrow up as ccalves in the stall. (3 Nephi 25:2)
We need the healing wings of Jesus Christ. I’ve always been intrigued by this imagery of healing in His wings, and of calves in the stall. The healing wings remind me of the Lord’s outstretched arms on the Cross of Calvary, and His outstretched arms of the Risen Christ in the logo for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
What about calves in the stall? Nephi prophesied:
And the time cometh speedily that the righteous must be led up as calves of the stall, and the Holy One of Israel must reign in dominion, and might, and power, and great glory. (1 Nephi 22:24)
For me, this image evokes a sense of order, protection, safety and care. I like this explanation in the Book of Mormon student manual:
President Joseph Fielding Smith (1876–1972) taught that children who will be raised during the Millennium “shall grow up ‘as calves of the stall’ unto righteousness, that is, without sin or the temptations which are so prevalent today” (The Way to Perfection [1970], 299).
Contemplate the difference between a calf that is raised out on the range or in the mountains and one that is raised in a barn. The calf on the range is subject to all the forces of nature: inclement weather, predatory animals, and occasional scarcity of food and water. On the other hand, the calf raised in the barn or in a stall is protected from poor weather and predatory animals. Likewise, food and water are regularly provided. Nephi taught that “the time cometh speedily that the righteous must be led up as calves of the stall” (1 Nephi 22:24).
One commentator said: “Those who are left after the judgment of the Second Coming will be able to raise up their children as calves are raised in a stall. The calf is protected from the elements, and his environment is controlled (Malachi 4:2; 1 Nephi 22:24). The children in the Millennium will similarly ‘grow up without sin unto salvation’ (D&C 45:58). The telestial element will be removed, and with Satan being bound (Revelation 20:1–3; 1 Nephi 22:26; D&C 101:28), the environment will be more controlled” (Monte S. Nyman and Farres H. Nyman, The Words of the Twelve Prophets: Messages to the Latter-day Saints [1990], 145).
Notice too the difference in translation in the KJV Book of Malachi:
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. (Malachi 4:2)
The original Hebrew in this verse translates to the word “Sun” and not “Son,” even though Jesus Christ is both the Son and the Sun.
the sun
שֶׁ֣מֶשׁ (še·meš)
Noun - common singular construct
Strong's 8121: The sun, the east, a ray, a notched battlement
Consider this alternative translation:
New Living Translation
“But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.
The leaping calves (the righteous) who are let out to pasture in the healing rays of the rising Sun will also atread down the wicked as ashes under the soles of their feet. This suggests to me that not only will the proud and the wicked be incinerated, but the territory once occupied by them will be decimated and cleared to make space for the righteous who will inherit it afterward. There is much precedent for this interpretation, such as when the children of Israel inherited the promised land of Canaan, or when the Gentiles inherited the promised land of America for a time.
The Lord, through Malachi, then exhorted the Nephites, and us, to remember the law of Moses, His servant. This is interesting. Hadn’t Jesus Christ already fulfilled the law of Moses? Why, then, did He exhort the Nephites, and us, to remember the law of Moses, given in aHoreb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments? Just because Jesus Christ fulfilled the law of Moses does not mean that the decalogue is now obsolete. Jesus Christ fulfilled the law. He did not abolish it.
The last two verses of this chapter are perhaps the most significant:
Behold, I will send you aElijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful bday of the Lord;
And he shall aturn the heart of the bfathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and csmite the earth with a curse. (3 Nephi 25:5-6)
These two verses merit deeper study and pondering in the next post.