Nephi taught us some great things in the final words in 2nd Nephi. He was honest, plain, and direct (true to his character) in testifying that the Savior would come to the Earth and the purpose for the Savior's mission. He told of the ulitmate fate of many of his people, including his descendants, in the last days. He described the things that have happend and will happen in these last days. There are so many things I could mention for a reader to ponder from these chapters, I just can't discuss everything. Read the book. Re-read it. If you do, and if you ask for a witness of it's truth, you'll be happy that you did it. And you'll have a better understanding of the things that Nephi discusses in these chapters.
Nephi talks about the Savior's birth and of his resurrection. He says: "great and terrible shall that day be unto the wicked, for they shall perish...because they cast out the prophets, and the saints and stone them, and slay them; wherefore the cry of the blood of the saints shall ascend up to God..." (2 Ne 26:3).
I have always wondered about the blood crying out for vengeance. This concept is found in the Book of Mormon in several places: 2 Ne 28:10; Mos. 27:29; Alma 1:13, 3 Ne. 21:21, Mormon 3:15. It is found in the Bible: Gen. 4:10; Rom 12:19 and in many other places. Clearly the Lord, who said "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay", reserves His right to punish the wicked. Does this make him a uncaring, unfeeling, unloving Father? Look at 3 Ne. 21:21-22: "And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard. But if they (the unrepentant wicked) will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob...". This threat and this promise applies to everyone, all who have been mortal upon the earth.... aren't we all sinners? We can heed this promise and be numbered among His children by repenting, following His word and not becoming hard-hearted to the Gospel. If we choose otherwise, we face the penalty which was described above.
How does blood cry from the ground? This may be is a figure of speech; the Lord, who is omniscient, certainly knows what happens when His prophets and His children suffer at the hands of wickedness. Because of his obligation to justice, He must exact the penalty for sin; it can be no other way. But if the sinner becomes the repentant, the repentant can lean on the mercy of Christ, our Redeemer and mediator.
I find verse 4 of 2 Ne. 26 very interesting: "Wherefore, all those who are proud, and that do wickedly, the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, for they shall be as stubble" (2 Ne 26:4). This is very close to what Malachi said in the close of the Old Testament (Mal. 4:1), and what was said by the Savior to the Nephites, spared from calamity and destruction, when He visited them following His crucifixion and resurrection (3 Ne. 25:1). Here is Nephi, approximately 550 years before the Savior is born on earth, expressing extremely similar words to Malachi and to words of the Savior. Some Book of Mormon critics would say that Joseph Smith copied these words from the Bible. They would say this is evidence that he was a fraud and the entire Book of Mormon is a work of fiction, or worse. It would perhaps be easy to understand their line of thinking.
The Lord indicates in many places in the scriptures that His word would be established by multiple testaments. His word is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. It doesn't surprise me that the expressions used in these different circumstances would be similar, if not the same. We can take these similarities as proof of their authenticity and not as proof of deception. How many mathematicians does it take to prove that two plus two equals four? (By the way, similarities like this are found all over in the scriptures; The Beatitudes are in the New Testament and 3 Nephi; the Charity never faileth message is found several places; description of the creation is found multiple times in the scriptures. The New Testament has 4 description of the Savior's mortal life. We shouldn't be surprised when similar phrases are used).
I thought I would get through multiple chapters in this post, but I am still thinking of Chapter 26. One last thing: Nephi was shown in detail what would befall the earth's inhabitants, especially his descendants. Imagine seeing your posterity killing each other. Imagine seeing them perverting their beliefs, their lives and completely turning away from the Lord. Can you imagine seeing their destruction? Nephi did. It must have been awful; he exclaims "O the pain, and the anguish of my soul for the loss of the slain of my people! For I, Nephi, have seen it, and it well nigh consumeth me before the presence of the Lord; but I must cry unto my God: Thy ways are just." As awful a thing to witness as that must have been, Nephi still bows to his God's will.
Don
I've always been able to imagine the blood of the saints crying out to God as a real thing. Maybe it's a special spiritual link that valiant saints have with God...maybe it's an emotional closeness. But I do think their blood cries out to God and it must be hard for Him to not exact vengeance and justice until He knows the time is right. That's what I think.
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