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CHAPTER 14Samuel predicts light during the night and a new star at Christ's birth—Christ redeems men from temporal and spiritual death—The signs of his death include three days of darkness, the rending of the rocks, and great upheavals of nature. [About 6 B.C.] |
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1 AND now it came to pass that
aSamuel, the Lamanite, did prophesy a great many more
things which cannot be written.
2 And behold, he said unto them: Behold, I give unto you a sign; for afive years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God to redeem all those who shall believe on his namea.
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2a cometh the Son of God to redeem all those who shall believe on his name While Jehovah, like all the spirit children of the Father, would come to this second estate to obtain his body, the central purpose of the condescension of God, of the Son of God, was to this purpose, to come to redeem all those who shall believe on his name. And that 'name' is Jesus or Jehoshua meaning Jehovah in whom is found salvation. And in none else is salvation to be found. And it is to the fulfilling of this purpose which the state purpose of the Lord is fulfilled, and that is to bring to pass the immortallity or resurrection and eternal life of man. For by the work of Christ are all men resurrected, restoring the spirit to its body to come forth to stand before God to be judged. |
1a
Hel. 13:2;
3 Ne. 23:9-10 2a Hel. 16:4; 3 Ne. 1:5 (5-21)
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3 And behold, this will I give unto you for a asign
at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven,
insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness,
insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day.
4 Therefore, there shall be one aday and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is bborn. 5 And behold, there shall a new astar arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.
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3a
Hel. 16:13;
3 Ne. 1:15 (8-20) 4a 3 Ne. 1:8 b TG Jesus Christ, Birth of 5a Matt. 2:2 (1-2); 3 Ne. 1:21; TG Astronomy
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6 And behold this is not all, there shall be many
asigns and wonders in heaven.
7 And it shall come to pass that ye shall all be amazed, and wonder, insomuch that ye shall afall to the earth. 8 And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall abelieve on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life.
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6a
3 Ne. 2:1 7a 3 Ne. 1:16-17 8a John 3:16
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9 And behold, thus hath the Lord commanded me, by his angel,
that I should come and tell this thing unto you; yea, he hath
commanded that I should prophesy these things unto you; yea, he
hath said unto me: Cry unto this people, repent and prepare the
way of the Lorda.
10 And now, because I am a Lamanite, and have spoken unto you the words which the Lord hath commanded me, and because it was hard against you, ye are angry with me and do seek to destroy me, and have acast me out from among you.
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9a Cry unto this people, repent and prepare the way of the Lord The Lord does alway warn the people in advance of coming events. While there are the scriptures which abound in the words of warning of the Lord, the Lord does also always give immediate warnings which if heeded does given men time to repent and to the end that they cannot say that they were not warned. Often, as in the Book of Mormon, the warning will have been repeated for centuries prior to the events. But always will the Lord give more immediate warnings. But since these warnings have always been given before at some distant times, the more immediate warnings are ignored by those who have failed to heed the words of the Lord all along. The prophets to the Book of Mormon people were many. And they did cast them out like they did to Samuel. And they did stone and perform acts of 'murder' upon them as they did with Samuel. And in a number of such other cases, the prophets also suffered death, sealing their testimony with their blood against the people. |
10a
Hel. 13:2-7
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11 And ye shall ahear my words, for, for this
intent have I come up upon the walls of this city, that ye might hear and
know of the judgments of God which do await you because of your iniquities,
and also that ye might know the conditions of repentance;
12 And also that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the aFather of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name.
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11a
Ezek. 2:7 (6-7) 12a Mosiah 3:8; Mosiah 15:4; 3 Ne. 9:15; Ether 4:7; TG Jesus Christ, Creator
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13 And if ye abelieve on his name ye will repent of
all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his
bmerits.
14 And behold, again, another sign I give unto you, yea, a sign of his adeath. 15 For behold, he surely must die that asalvation may come; yea, it behooveth him and becometh expedient that he bdieth, to bring to pass the cresurrection of the dead, that thereby men may be brought into the dpresence of the Lord.
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13a
Acts 16:31 (30-31) b D&C 19:16-20 14a TG Jesus Christ, Death of 15a TG Jesus Christ, Savior b 1 Cor. 15:36 c 2 Ne. 9:4; Alma 42:23; Morm. 9:13; TG Resurrection d TG God, Presence of
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16 Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the
aresurrection, and bredeemeth all mankind
from the first death—that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the
cfall of Adam being dcut off from the
presence of the Lord, are considered as edead, both as to
things temporal and to things spiritual.
17 But behold, the resurrection of Christ aredeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord. 18 Yea, and it bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repenteth the same is not ahewn down and cast into the fire; but whosoever repenteth not is hewn down and cast into the fire; and there cometh upon them again a bspiritual death, yea, a second death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness.
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16a
John 20:9;
D&C 18:12 (11-12) b TG Salvation, Plan of c TG Fall of Man d 2 Ne. 2:5; 2 Ne. 9:6-15; Alma 11:42 (40-45); Alma 12:16 (16, 24, 36); Alma 42:7 (6-11) e TG Death, Spiritual, First 17a TG Redemption 18a Luke 13:7 b TG Death, Spiritual, Second
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19 Therefore repent ye, repent ye, lest by knowing these things
and not doing them ye shall suffer yourselves to come under
condemnation, and ye are brought down unto this second death.
20 But behold, as I said unto you concerning another asign, a sign of his death, behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his blight unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of cthree days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead.
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20a
3 Ne. 8:5-25;
3 Ne. 11:2 b Luke 23:44 c Mosiah 3:10
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21 Yea, at the time that he shall yield up the
aghost there shall be bthunderings and
lightnings for the space of many hours, and the earth shall shake and
tremble; and the crocks which are upon the face of this
earth, which are both above the earth and beneath, which ye know at this time
are solid, or the more part of it is one solid mass, shall be
dbroken up;
22 Yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be afound in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole earth, yea, both above the earth and beneath. 23 And behold, there shall be great atempests, and there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called bvalleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great.
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21a
Matt. 27:50-54 b 1 Ne. 19:11; 3 Ne. 8:6 (5-23) c 3 Ne. 10:9 d Gen. 7:11; 1 Ne. 12:4 22a 3 Ne. 8:18 23a 3 Ne. 10:14 b Isa. 40:4; Luke 3:5; D&C 49:23; D&C 109:74
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24 And amany highways shall be broken up, and many
cities shall become desolate.
25 And many agraves shall be opened, and shall yield up many of their dead; and many saints shall appear unto many. 26 And behold, thus hath the aangel spoken unto me; for he said unto me that there should be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours.
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24a
3 Ne. 8:14 (8-10, 14);
3 Ne. 9:12 (3-12); 3 Ne. 10:7 25a Matt. 27:52-53; 3 Ne. 23:11 (7-13) 26a Alma 13:26; Hel. 13:7
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27 And he said unto me that while the thunder and the lightning
lasted, and the tempest, that these things should be, and that
adarkness should cover the face of the whole earth for the
space of three days.
28 And the angel said unto me that many shall see greater things than these, to the intent that they might believe that athese signs and these wonders should come to pass upon all the face of this land, to the intent that there should be no cause for unbelief among the children of men— 29 And this to the intent that whosoever will believe might be saved, and that whosoever will not believe, a arighteous judgment might come upon them; and also if they are condemned they bring upon themselves their own condemnation.
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27a
1 Ne. 19:10;
3 Ne. 8:3;
3 Ne. 10:9 28a 1 Ne. 12:4-5; 1 Ne. 19:12 (10-12); 3 Ne. 10:11 29a TG Judgment
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30 And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth,
perisheth unto ahimself; and whosoever doeth iniquity,
doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are bfree; ye are
permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a
cknowledge and he hath made you free.
31 He hath given unto you that ye might aknow good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might bchoose life or death; and ye can do good and be crestored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you.
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30a
3 Ne. 3:11 b Gal. 5:1; 2 Ne. 2:27 (26-27); Alma 41:7; Moses 6:56; TG Agency c TG Knowledge 31a Moro. 7:16 b Rom. 6:16 (14-18); Alma 3:27 (26-27) c Alma 41:3 (1-15)
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