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The Resurrected Jesus Christ Ministers Among the Nephite Nation in A.D. 34 -by John Scott |
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TODAY'S THEME
Book of Mormon: Moroni 7:45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—
47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
Please read the following scripture to learn more of our Savior's dealings with His Nephite flock. Listening may enhance your reading experience.
Please remember and think about all the Savior taught the Nephites as recorded in the chapter you just read. I believe you will easily find an example of the pure love of Christ both on His part and on the part of His disciples as He continues to teach and bless the Nephites.
I'm sure you took note of the following: I must emphasize the following verses by copying them here because they are so unique and inspiring: Please take special note of what the Savior said about the quality of faith these Nephites possessed in the last two verses of this chapter:
III Nephi 19:35 And it came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of praying he came again to the disciples, and said unto them: So great faith have I never seen among all the Jews; wherefore I could not show unto them so great miracles, because of their unbelief.
36 Verily I say unto you, there are none of them that have seen so great things as ye have seen; neither have they heard so great things as ye have heard.We must give credit where credit is due. If you were able to ask the prophet, Nephi, the leader and record keeper among this blessed people why they were worthy of such blessings, I think he would give much credit to his and his people's own parents and ancestors because of their faithfulness and also because of the tradition of righteousness that had been established by them over the many centuries.
I'm sure this Nephi could come up with a more complete list than I did, of his believing ancestors (one of them was his own father, also named Nephi, see Helaman Chapters 8-11.)
However, here is the list of prophets (Nephite and one Lamanite) that I listed in my post 33g:
1. Lehi (between 588 and 570 B.C.) See II Nephi 1-3.
2. Nephi (between 559 and 545 B.C.) There are many of his writings in I Nephi. See particularly I Nephi 11. Also see much of II Nephi.
3. Jacob, (about 544 to 421 B.C.) See Book of Jacob. See II Nephi 11:3.
4. Enos (544 and 421 B.C., See Book of Enos.
5. Omni (279 to 130 B.C.) See Book of Omni.
6. Abinadi (148 B.C.) See Book of Mosiah, Chapters 11-17.
7. Benjamin (about 124 B.C.) See Book of Mosiah 1-6.
8. Alma the Elder (147 B.C. See Book of Mosiah, 12-26.
9. Alma the Younger (about 92 B.C. and 76 B.C.) Book of Alma.
10. Amulek (92 B.C. to 76 B.C.) See Alma, 16 and 34.
11. Samuel the Lamanite (6 B.C.) See Helaman, 13-15.
There were possibly many less known prophets who I perhaps have missed because they may not have been mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Mormon, in his remarks about his compilation of that book mentions that he could only cover not even a one hundredth part of his people's history.
Then there were all of the faithful and believing Nephite parents who were present when Jesus Christ arrived to teach them and who had taught their children to believe in Christ and thus helped their posterity to be prepared for the coming of Jesus Christ during their life times.
There were also many Lamanite parents too, who after having being converted to believing in the coming of Jesus Christ, through the instrumentality of the three sons of King Mosiah, taught their children to believe in Him and serve Him even long before He was to be born.
These three sons of the king were those who were converted from their sinful lives, along with their close friend Alma the younger by the rebuke of an angel.
Then there were the Lamanite kings and their queens who were converted to Jesus Christ through the instrumentality of those three sons of King Mosiah and their missionary companions. These queens played great roles in helping to convert their people to Jesus Christ who was to come.
I believe all of those mentioned above helped prepare the way so that the resurrected Jesus Christ could meet with a people who were very prepared to be praised by Him for their exceptional faith and righteousness.
Then too, we must give great personal credit to these Nephites that Jesus met soon after His resurrection (and there were those among them whose ancestors had been Lamanites) who had been spared destruction from the cataclysmic seismic event because of their righteousness, which was earned in the face of bitter persecution.
It goes without saying that each of us have learned greatly from this marvelous group of people! No wonder the Lord teaches us later in this sacred book that we will have the responsibility of bringing the Gospel to their descendants of our day who inherited a many centuries-long apostasy! We will do that because we feel a debt of gratitude to our Savior and to them for what we have learned from their book, The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
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III Nephi 19:8 And when they had ministered those same words which Jesus had spoken—nothing varying from the words which Jesus had spoken—behold, they knelt again and prayed to the Father in the name of Jesus.From this we know that these Nephite disciples really understood that their calling was to represent their Lord and Master. They taught exactly as Jesus had taught them and then were baptized and the Gift of the Holy Ghost was conferred upon each of these disciples. From what is written in this chapter it is clear that receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost was not just a functional matter for these Nephites, but a very prized possession.
III Nephi 19: 30 And when Jesus had spoken these words he came again unto his disciples; and behold they did pray steadfastly, without ceasing, unto him; and he did smile upon them again; and behold they were white, even as Jesus.
31 And it came to pass that he went again a little way off and prayed unto the Father;
32 And tongue cannot speak the words which he prayed, neither can be written by man the words which he prayed.
33 And the multitude did hear and do bear record; and their hearts were open and they did understand in their hearts the words which he prayed.
34 Nevertheless, so great and marvelous were the words which he prayed that they cannot be written, neither can they be uttered by man.____________
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