The Prophecies of 3 Nephi 16

After teaching the people many things on His first day among them and after “he looked round about again on the multitude,” the Savior told the Nephites, “I perceive that ye are weak, that ye cannot understand all my words which I am commanded of the Father to speak unto you at this time” (3 Nephi 17:1-2).  I believe He was likely talking especially about the things He had just discussed as recorded in 3 Nephi 16, for it is not easy to understand all that He was referring to as He spoke of the covenants of the Father, the Gentiles, the House of Israel, and what would happen to these groups in the last days.  He even included a quotation from Isaiah and at least a paraphrase from Micah, and this was towards the end of what must have been a spiritually exhausting day.  The people had been nearly overcome—they all “fell to the earth”—when He had first arrived and had subsequently listened to the equivalent of the entire Sermon on the Mount (plus more), so it is no wonder that grasping everything he was teaching towards the end was difficult for them.  Christ told the people to “ponder upon the things which I have said” in order to understand His words, and surely that’s what we need to do in order to understand what He taught in 3 Nephi 16.

               One of the difficulties in understanding 3 Nephi 16 is knowing who the Gentiles referred to are.  It is not simply those who are not of the blood of Israel, but rather those who are not Jews or living among the Jewish nation.  This is at least how Elder McConkie described it, “We have heretofore identified the Jews as both the nationals of the kingdom of Judah and as their lineal descendants, all this without reference to tribal affiliation. And we have said, within this usage of terms, that all other people are Gentiles, including the lost and scattered remnants of the kingdom of Israel in whose veins the precious blood of him whose name was Israel does in fact flow.”  With that understanding, I believe the Gentiles spoken of here in 3 Nephi 16 are in particular the European people on the American continent.  This seems to be the message of verse 8 which says of the Gentiles, “They have come forth upon the face of this land, and have scattered my people who are of the house of Israel.”  The Europeans came to the land in particular from the 16^th through 18^th centuries, and those who they scattered of course were the descendants of the Book of Mormon peoples.  Here in this context these descendants of Book of Mormon people were considered Jew which may be surprising at first.  But the Lord said in our dispensation that the Book of Mormon is “my word to the Gentile, that soon it may go to the Jew, of whom the Lamanites are a remnant” (D&C 19:27).  The descendants of the Book of Mormon people are Jews both in the general sense that Lehi came forth from the nation of Jews and strictly speaking because they are mixed with the Mulekites (Mulek was the son of Zedekiah who was of the tribe of Judah). 

            Here are the general events I see spoken of in 3 Nephi 16.  First, the gospel would come to the Gentiles (i.e. the early Saints in America): “In the latter day shall the truth come unto the Gentiles, that the fulness of these things shall be made known unto them” (v7).  This has already happened.  There would be, though, some “unbelieving of the Gentiles” who would reject the gospel, which happened as many in America rejected the Saints even to the point of violence.  The Savior then said that “at that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel” then the Lord would “bring the fulness of my gospel from among them” (v8-10).  I believe this describes the way that the Saints were eventually kicked out of America and forced to go to the Rocky Mountains to preserve their faith and religion.  The Savior then said this about what would follow, “Then will I remember my covenant which I have made unto my people, O house of Israel, and I will bring my gospel unto them” (3 Nephi 16:11).  I believe this is specifically talking about how the gospel would be taken to the House of Israel being spoken of in this chapter—i.e. the descendants of the Book of Mormon people.  If we take the view that those descendants were found all over the American continents (instead of being a more isolated group such as the American Indians only), then I believe we have certainly seen that fulfillment in our day.  In the past 75 years or so the spreading of the gospel has exploded in the Central and South American countries where presumably many of these descendants live.  If this is a correct interpretation, then surely the Lord’s prophecy has been fulfilled in great power: “I will remember my covenant unto you, O house of Israel, and ye shall come unto the knowledge of the fulness of my gospel” (3 Nephi 16:12).  There certainly may be other ways that his has been fulfilled, and we can be confident that, as Isaiah said, the Lord will continue to “bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations” as the work in gathering Israel and bringing the gospel to the Gentiles continues (3 Nephi 16:20).