Sweep the Earth as With A Flood

In his talk on Sunday morning of general conference this past weekend, President Oaks made this statement, “We believe that the Lord will eventually cause the inspired teachings He has given to His children in various nations to be brought forth for the benefit of all people. This will include accounts of the visit of the resurrected Lord to what we call the lost tribes of Israel and His revelations to all the seed of Abraham.” That is an awesome prophecy! Some day we will have the account of the Savior’s visit to others besides the Nephites and the Jews at Jerusalem. President Oaks referenced this verse from the Book of Mormon: “And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews” (2 Nephi 29:13). This suggests that the words of the “lost tribes of Israel” will one day be made available, and President Oaks also referenced this verse which shows that the Savior did indeed visit those lost tribes of Israel: “But now I go unto the Father, and also to show myself unto the lost tribes of Israel, for they are not lost unto the Father, for he knoweth whither he hath taken them” (3 Nephi 17:4). When the Savior left the Nephites after His first day among them, He went to the lost tribes of Israel—we do not know where—and surely they recorded His words to them. President Oaks’ prophecy is that one day we will have their words and their testimony of the Savior to join the words of the Nephites and the Jews.

            Though we do not know when we will have these words of the lost tribes of Israel, the message of President Oaks should inspire us to cherish and read and feast upon the words that we do have in the Book of Mormon. In his relatively short talk, President Oaks referenced over a dozen passages from it and testified of the teachings in the Book of Mormon that the grace of Jesus Christ is for all. He declared, “These promises from the Book of Mormon are true. Millions believe them and have had experiences to affirm their truth. I invite all to believe them.” He finished his message with these words, “We live in the day foretold when righteousness is sent forth out of heaven and truth out of the earth ‘to sweep the earth as with a flood, [and] to gather out [the] elect from the four quarters of the earth.’ All around us we see evidence that many in the world are hungry for our Savior, Jesus Christ, and His teachings. As declared on its title page, the Book of Mormon has come forth that we ‘may know [of] the covenants of the Lord’ and also for the convincing of all ‘that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.’ I call upon all to act on these truths and to share them with others that we may all draw closer to Jesus Christ, our Savior.” That passage comes from the words of the Lord to Enoch, and the “truth” which has come forth out of the earth is the Book of Mormon. As the first author in the book, Nephi made this prophecy: “For those who shall be destroyed shall speak unto them out of the ground, and their speech shall be low out of the dust, and their voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit; for the Lord God will give unto him power, that he may whisper concerning them, even as it were out of the ground; and their speech shall whisper out of the dust” (2 Nephi 26:16). And then as the book’s last author, Moroni prophesied: “And no one need say they shall not come, for they surely shall, for the Lord hath spoken it; for out of the earth shall they come, by the hand of the Lord, and none can stay it” (Mormon 8:26). The Book of Mormon has come forth out of the ground and out of the dust to sweep the earth as with a flood, according to many prophecies, with this mission: “To the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.” We look forward to additional witnesses of the Savior from the lost tribes of Israel and other nations. In the meantime, we should do our part in helping the message of the Book of Mormon sweep the earth as with a flood, for its witness is indeed for all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.