Out From Jerusalem
After Nephi quoted Isaiah, the focus of his writings was on the Savior. As part of that, one of the themes in his first chapter after the lengthy excerpt from Isaiah had many references to the city of Jerusalem. He emphasized that he and his father were from Jerusalem: “I came out from Jerusalem with my father…. I came out from Jerusalem, and mine eyes hath beheld the things of the Jews…. But behold, I, of myself, have dwelt at Jerusalem, wherefore I know concerning the regions round about…. My father left Jerusalem” (2 Nephi 25:4-6,10). Nephi emphasized that he and his father had really lived in Jerusalem, giving them a kind of authority it seems to then declare what was most important about Jerusalem: Christ would come there. He prophesied of how the Jews would be carried away into Babylon but would “return again, and possess the land of Jerusalem.” After that, “the Only Begotten of the Father, yea, even the Father of heaven and of earth, shall manifest himself unto them in the flesh…. And behold it shall come to pass that after the Messiah hath risen from the dead, and hath manifested himself unto his people, unto as many as will believe on his name, behold, Jerusalem shall be destroyed again” (2 Nephi 25:11-14). Nephi, who had seen the future of Jerusalem in vision and beheld the Son of God walking among the children of men there, wanted us to understand the importance of that eternal city where the Messiah would come to redeem His people and be raised from the dead “in six hundred years from the time that my father left Jerusalem” (2 Nephi 25:19). Of course we don’t have to go to Jerusalem to come unto the Savior and receive of His salvation, but Nephi was able to leave a unique and powerful witness to us of Him because he had been to the city where the Son of God had walked and had beheld in vision the place where the Savior “went forth ministering unto the people, in power and great glory” (1 Nephi 11:28).
Nephi’s brother Jacob also referred to Jerusalem several times in his writings, and I believe he regretted that unlike his brother he never saw Jerusalem where his Savior would one day come. He taught his people about the fate of the Jews there as revealed to him, “For behold, the Lord has shown me that those who were at Jerusalem, from whence we came, have been slain and carried away captive” (2 Nephi 6:8). He also gained a witness of that most important even that would take place there: “Yea, I know that ye know that in the body he shall show himself unto those at Jerusalem, from whence we came; for it is expedient that it should be among them; for it behooveth the great Creator that he suffereth himself to become subject unto man in the flesh, and die for all men, that all men might become subject unto him…. But because of priestcrafts and iniquities, they at Jerusalem will stiffen their necks against him, that he be crucified” (2 Nephi 9:5, 10:5). He reminded his people later in his teachings where they had come from: “Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm…. This people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem” (Jacob 2:25, 32). He didn’t want his people to forget their connection to the city of Jerusalem. At the very end of his record he referred to Jerusalem again, mourning that “we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem” (Jacob 7:26). Jacob knew that His Savior would one day come to walk the streets of Jerusalem where his parents were born, and he undoubtedly wished that he too could have had the privilege of seeing that place where the Lord would come. But that was not to be and going there is not a requirement to receive “the power of the redemption and the resurrection, which is in Christ” that took Jacob back to his true home in heaven with the Lord (Jacob 6:9).
Nephi’s brother Jacob also referred to Jerusalem several times in his writings, and I believe he regretted that unlike his brother he never saw Jerusalem where his Savior would one day come. He taught his people about the fate of the Jews there as revealed to him, “For behold, the Lord has shown me that those who were at Jerusalem, from whence we came, have been slain and carried away captive” (2 Nephi 6:8). He also gained a witness of that most important even that would take place there: “Yea, I know that ye know that in the body he shall show himself unto those at Jerusalem, from whence we came; for it is expedient that it should be among them; for it behooveth the great Creator that he suffereth himself to become subject unto man in the flesh, and die for all men, that all men might become subject unto him…. But because of priestcrafts and iniquities, they at Jerusalem will stiffen their necks against him, that he be crucified” (2 Nephi 9:5, 10:5). He reminded his people later in his teachings where they had come from: “Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm…. This people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem” (Jacob 2:25, 32). He didn’t want his people to forget their connection to the city of Jerusalem. At the very end of his record he referred to Jerusalem again, mourning that “we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem” (Jacob 7:26). Jacob knew that His Savior would one day come to walk the streets of Jerusalem where his parents were born, and he undoubtedly wished that he too could have had the privilege of seeing that place where the Lord would come. But that was not to be and going there is not a requirement to receive “the power of the redemption and the resurrection, which is in Christ” that took Jacob back to his true home in heaven with the Lord (Jacob 6:9).
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