Safely in the Holy One of Israel

After Nephi quoted Isaiah 48-49 to his brothers, they asked him, “What meaneth these things which ye have read? Behold, are they to be understood according to things which are spiritual, which shall come to pass according to the spirit and not the flesh?”  Nephi responded with an expansive description of his understanding of the events, particularly those related to the House of Israel, that would unfold from his day up through the Millennium.  He wove in various passages of scripture as he described the great events that would be coming on the earth.  His understanding was surely informed by Isaiah, but Nephi also had been witness to a grand vision of the end times similar to that of John the Revelator and thus knew first-hand what he was talking about (see 1 Nephi 14:24). 

               Nephi’s discourse in 1 Nephi 22 spoke of the House of Israel in his day, in the time of the Savior, in the last days, and in the Millennium.  Of his day, Nephi spoke of the scattering of the tribes of Israel that was taking place.  He said, “There are many who are already lost from the knowledge of those who are at Jerusalem. Yea, the more part of all the tribes have been led away; and they are scattered to and fro upon the isles of the sea; and whither they are none of us knoweth, save that we know that they have been led away” (v4).  Through time, these lost tribes of Israel would be “scattered among all nations and shall be hated of all men” (v5).  This was an introduction to his detailed discussion of how they would subsequently be brought back into the fold of God.  Most of this discussion focused on how they would be gathered in the last days, but he did touch on the meridian of time: “And the Lord will surely prepare a way for his people, unto the fulfilling of the words of Moses, which he spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that all those who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people.  And now I, Nephi, declare unto you, that this prophet of whom Moses spake was the Holy One of Israel; wherefore, he shall execute judgment in righteousness” (v20-21).  Here Nephi was quoting the law of Moses and its prophecy of the coming of a “prophet” who would be the Savior, and to be the people of God one must follow Him.  Though the Savior—this “prophet”—would come in the meridian of time, the application of the requirement to “hear in all things” that He would say certainly applies as well for us in the latter days.

               Most of the rest of Nephi’s discussion in this chapter focused on the last days and the Millennium.  He prophesied, “The Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles, yea, even upon the face of this land,” clearly a reference to the United States of America (v7).  He told how his seed would be scattered and the Lord would perform “a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed,” a reference to the restoration of the Gospel and the missionary work that would ensue (v8).  That missionary work, which is taking place now, would be such that the covenant of the Father to Abraham would be fulfilled: “In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed” (v9).  Nephi wrote of how the House of Israel would be gathered, “He will bring them again out of captivity, and they shall be gathered together to the lands of their inheritance; and they shall be brought out of obscurity and out of darkness,” and clearly we are seeing that today both in the Church and the gathering of the Jews (v12).  He prophesied of the wars among the Gentiles and how the “great and abominable church” would “tumble to the dust and great shall be the fall of it,” indicating how wickedness would not prevail at Christ’s coming (v14).  Nephi then turned his prophecy to the Millennium and how the righteous would be blessed: “He shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture. And because of the righteousness of his people, Satan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of many years” (v25-26).  The Holy One of Israel will reign and all people will “dwell in righteousness,” in the Millennium. 

               Nephi summarized powerfully what this all means for us no matter which of these time periods—the scattering, the meridian of time, the gathering in the last days, or the Millennium—we are in.  He wrote, “All nations, kindreds, tongues, and people shall dwell safely in the Holy One of Israel if it so be that they will repent….  I would that ye should consider that the things which have been written upon the plates of brass are true; and they testify that a man must be obedient to the commandments of God” (v28, 30).  Knowing all these things that will come upon the earth, we must repent and keep the commandments of God, and we will dwell safely in the Holy One of Israel.