For Such I Have Laid Down My Life

When I was a student at BYU, I worked for a religion teacher as a TA to help with a family history research project. He sometimes spoke about his students to me, and I remember one time he shared with me some disturbing writing of one student who was very antagonistic. If I recall correctly, the student pointed to some of the verses in 3 Nephi 9 and pointed out how the Lord had killed people, and the student took issue with that. Indeed, in that chapter the Savior did enumerate the destruction that He attributed to Himself which came upon the descendants of Lehi, and it can be difficult to understand why He would do such a thing. For example, the Savior said to those who had survived (and who were still in darkness), “Behold, that great city Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof. And behold, that great city Moroni have I caused to be sunk in the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof to be drowned” (v3-4). We certainly do not believe that every natural disaster is a punishment from God upon the wicked, but in this case the Savior took responsibility for what had happened. He listed 16 different cities which He caused to be destroyed by means of devastating fire, water, and earth covering them. But He also explained why He did it: “To hide their iniquities and their abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come any more unto me against them” (v5). He said that same thing six different times as He listed out the cities which had been destroyed and then He summarized in these words: “And many great destructions have I caused to come upon this land, and upon this people, because of their wickedness and their abominations” (v12). This reminds us of the account in the Old Testament where the Lord similarly destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness: “Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground” (Genesis 19:24-25). With a limited mortal perspective, it is difficult to understand why He would intentionally cause this suffering and take human life, even if they were wicked.

                I believe that one of the best ways to understand the destruction of the wicked by the Lord is through reading the vision of Enoch. We read, “Enoch was high and lifted up, even in the bosom of the Father, and of the Son of Man; and behold, the power of Satan was upon all the face of the earth. And he saw angels descending out of heaven; and he heard a loud voice saying: Wo, wo be unto the inhabitants of the earth. And he beheld Satan; and he had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced.” Interestingly, this is very similar language to what the Savior said in 3 Nephi 9:2: “Wo, wo, wo unto this people; wo unto the inhabitants of the whole earth except they shall repent; for the devil laugheth, and his angels rejoice, because of the slain of the fair sons and daughters of my people; and it is because of their iniquity and abominations that they are fallen!” After beholding Satan and his laughter over the wickedness of the people, Enoch looked upon the Lord: “And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains? And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?” The Savior then described why He was weeping: “Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency; And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood; And the fire of mine indignation is kindled against them; and in my hot displeasure will I send in the floods upon them, for my fierce anger is kindled against them.” If we had only read that final portion and pictured the Lord speaking of his “hot displeasure” and his “fierce anger,” we would perhaps conjure up in our minds a very vengeful, angry God who was ready to punish anyone who sinned. But that’s not at all the picture Enoch gave us—God was crying as He found it necessary to send all these wicked people to the Spirit World. He continued with his explanation: “Among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren. But behold, their sins shall be upon the heads of their fathers; Satan shall be their father, and misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?” (Moses 7:24-37) For some reason that I do not think we can fully understand, sometimes when people reach a certain level of wickedness the Lord needs to destroy them, but He weeps as He does it and mourns that any must suffer. As He said through the prophet Ezekiel, “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” The Lord has no pleasure in the suffering and death of the wicked, but sometimes it must take place according to His great eternal plan. While we may not understand all the reasons that this must be so, we can know that He suffered more than any through His own sacrifice and death. Because of that He can give us this invitation He gave to the surviving Nephites and Lamanites: “Behold, I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the world, to save the world from sin. Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved” (3 Nephi 9:21-22).