Three Who Should Tarry

In his description of the three Nephites who did not taste of death, but rather remained on the earth to minister to the children of men, Mormon said this: “And they were cast into prison by them who did not belong to the church. And the prisons could not hold them, for they were rent in twain. And they were cast down into the earth; but they did smite the earth with the word of God, insomuch that by his power they were delivered out of the depths of the earth; and therefore they could not dig pits sufficient to hold them. And thrice they were cast into a furnace and received no harm. And twice were they cast into a den of wild beasts; and behold they did play with the beasts as a child with a suckling lamb, and received no harm. And it came to pass that thus they did go forth among all the people of Nephi, and did preach the gospel of Christ unto all people upon the face of the land” (3 Nephi 28:19-23). They were cast into prison, thrown into pits, put into a burning furnace, and cast into a den of beasts, and yet they survived all of these and were preserved according to the promise of the Lord.  

                As I read the above description of the three Nephites being saved from attempts on their lives, I wondered when these things took place. We know from Mormon’s later description that in less than two years all the people in the land were righteous: “And it came to pass that the thirty and fourth year passed away, and also the thirty and fifth, and behold the disciples of Jesus had formed a church of Christ in all the lands round about…. And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another” (4 Nephi 1:2). I first thought, then, that these attacks on the three Nephites took place in that thirty and fifth year before everyone was converted. But that seems like a lot of attempts to kill them in one year for a people mostly converted to the Lord. Rather, I believe it was as the people were becoming wicked again after nearly two hundred years of peace that these persecutions took place. Mormon recorded this about a church that denied the Christ: “Therefore they did exercise power and authority over the disciples of Jesus who did tarry with them, and they did cast them into prison; but by the power of the word of God, which was in them, the prisons were rent in twain, and they went forth doing mighty miracles among them. Nevertheless, and notwithstanding all these miracles, the people did harden their hearts, and did seek to kill them, even as the Jews at Jerusalem sought to kill Jesus, according to his word. And they did cast them into furnaces of fire, and they came forth receiving no harm. And they also cast them into dens of wild beasts, and they did play with the wild beasts even as a child with a lamb; and they did come forth from among them, receiving no harm.” The disciples “who did tarry” were clearly the three Nephites for Mormon wrote earlier in the same chapter of “the three who should tarry.” This list in 4 Nephi 1 speaks of being put into prisons, cast into furnaces of fires, and cast into dens of wild beasts, which is the same list from 3 Nephi 28 except for the pits. Unfortunately, as these incredible miracles took place for the disciples, the people still did not repent: “Nevertheless, the people did harden their hearts, for they were led by many priests and false prophets to build up many churches, and to do all manner of iniquity” (4 Nephi 1:14, 30-34). But perhaps the lesson for us is that the Lord will protect His people according to His promises; these disciples had been promised that they would “not taste of death” and that they would “not suffer pain nor sorrow save for the sins of the world” (3 Nephi 28:38). This promise was fulfilled over and over as the wicked sought to take their lives in vain, and the Lord will keep His covenants with His people today to be with us as we seek Him: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:88).