Isaiah’s words are key
In 3 Nephi 16 Jesus Christ teaches about the other sheep and who they are and then begins to teach about the Gentiles and then in verse 17 he says:
17 And then the words of the prophet Isaiah shall be fulfilled, which say:
Christ begins to quote the prophecies of Isaiah, but then, in the next chapter, looks out among the people and says:
2 I perceive that ye are weak, that ye cannot understand all my words which I am commanded of the Father to speak unto you at this time.
3 Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again.
The people cannot understand the words of Isaiah that he is quoting, they have been through a lot of trauma and Jesus perceives that they are not spiritually prepared for what he has to say. So he gives an important clue that revelation is needed to understand the things that he was about to teach them.
Then for the next four chapters he performs a series of acts to lift the people to a level to where they CAN understand his words, he heals them, introduces the sacrament, gives his disciples the power to confer the Gift of the Holy Ghost, the twelve disciples are chosen by Christ, and then administers the sacrament a second time.
It’s very important to note what happens next in 3 Nephi 20, after all of these things, he returns to where he left off in 3 Nephi 16 – the words of Isaiah:
11 Ye remember that I spake unto you, and said that when the words of Isaiah should be fulfilled—behold they are written, ye have them before you, therefore search them –
12 And verily, verily, I say unto you, that when they shall be fulfilled then is the fulfilling of the covenant which the Father hath made unto his people, O house of Israel.
Jesus Christ reveals that the words of Isaiah are a clue as to when this fulfilling of the covenants shall be. He then continues:
29 And I will remember the covenant which I have made with my people; and I have covenanted with them that I would gather them together in mine own due time, that I would give unto them again the land of their fathers for their inheritance, which is the land of Jerusalem, which is the promised land unto them forever, saith the Father.
Jesus Christ gives the sign when the fulfilling of the covenant will begin
3 Nephi 21 is where it starts to really get interesting because Jesus Christ is going to give a specific sign that we may observe that will indicate when all this fulfilling will occur.
1 And verily I say unto you, I give unto you a sign, that ye may know the time when these things shall be about to take place—that I shall gather in, from their long dispersion, my people, O house of Israel, and shall establish again among them my Zion;
2 And behold, this is the thing which I will give unto you for a sign—for verily I say unto you that when these things which I declare unto you, and which I shall declare unto you hereafter of myself, and by the power of the Holy Ghost which shall be given unto you of the Father, shall be made known unto the Gentiles that they may know concerning this people who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, and concerning this my people who shall be scattered by them;
The sign is simple, when these words are read by the Gentiles, the fulfilling of the covenant has commenced. The Book of Mormon coming forth IS the sign.
4 For it is wisdom in the Father that they should be established in this land, and be set up as a free people by the power of the Father, that these things might come forth from them unto a remnant of your seed, that the covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people, O house of Israel;
But in order for the covenant to be fulfilled the Gentiles must be set up as a free people: The United States with its constitution must exist. Verse 7 deals with the Lamanites and when they begin to know these things, this will be the sign to them that the covenant has already commenced being fulfilled with all that it entails.
7 And when these things come to pass that thy seed shall begin to know these things—it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of Israel.
This was fulfilled in September 1830 (remember this date, specifically, the month of September because it will come into play later) beginning with this revelation in D&C 28:8
And now, behold, I say unto you that you shall go unto the Lamanites and preach my gospel unto them; and inasmuch as they receive thy teachings thou shalt cause my church to be established among them;…
These were Lamanite remnants identified by the Lord who were living on the North American continent.
In Mormon 5 we see that the Book of Mormon will go to the unbelieving of the Jews to persuade them that Christ is the Messiah and to inform them that they will be restored to their lands of inheritance.
14 And behold, they shall go unto the unbelieving of the Jews; and for this intent shall they go—that they may be persuaded that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God; that the Father may bring about, through his most Beloved, his great and eternal purpose, in restoring the Jews, or all the house of Israel, to the land of their inheritance, which the Lord their God hath given them, unto the fulfilling of his covenant;
In Mormon 8:21 we read about how there will be those who will want to destroy the work of the Lord so that he cannot keep his covenants with the House of Israel. In verse 22 Moroni states unequivocally that the Lord’s purposes will go on and his promises will be fulfilled despite the attempts of the wicked.
The wicked seek to do this by killing his people so that the lineage will end and the covenant cannot be fulfilled because there is no lineage left to carry it on. They think that by doing this they will have made God a liar and covenant-breaker, which if were so, he would cease to be God. The movement is a Satanic one, with its roots bent on dethroning God through evil means. It’s all the same old war and bears the fingerprints of the original enemy.
However, we are still left with the issue of how exactly the Lord is going to bridge this gap between the living and the dead and fulfill this covenant. A clue is given by Moroni that adds to what Christ said about Isaiah having the clues. Moroni says that people will cry from the dust (people who have since passed away) so that this covenant can be fulfilled.
23 Search the prophecies of Isaiah. Behold, I cannot write them. Yea, behold I say unto you, that those saints who have gone before me, who have possessed this land, shall cry, yea, even from the dust will they cry unto the Lord; and as the Lord liveth he will remember the covenant which he hath made with them.
24 And he knoweth their prayers, that they were in behalf of their brethren. And he knoweth their faith, for in his name could they remove mountains; and in his name could they cause the earth to shake; and by the power of his word did they cause prisons to tumble to the earth; yea, even the fiery furnace could not harm them, neither wild beasts nor poisonous serpents, because of the power of his word.
Remember that the covenant is not just promised to the individual, but to their entire posterity. And many righteous saints with great faith have passed away only to have their children fall into darkness and raise subsequent generations without the knowledge of the gospel only to have them perish in darkness as well. These promises redeem these descendants.
25 And behold, their prayers were also in behalf of him that the Lord should suffer to bring these things forth.
26 And no one need say they shall not come, for they surely shall, for the Lord hath spoken it; for out of the earth shall they come, by the hand of the Lord, and none can stay it; and it shall come in a day when it shall be said that miracles are done away; and it shall come even as if one should speak from the dead.
27 And it shall come in a day when the blood of saints shall cry unto the Lord, because of secret combinations and the works of darkness.
The covenant will be fulfilled because of those who have gone before, and their faith. Their faith is still in effect even though they are dead, it still influences things. Their words will come forth in a day of wickedness, when secret combinations kill the saints and their blood cries to the Lord. This describes the days that we live in today, days when there are workers of darkness in positions of power throughout the world.
In Ether 4:15,17 Moroni admonishes us to rend our veil of unbelief and then we will know that God has remembered the covenant that he made to our fathers.
15 Behold, when ye shall rend that veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of wickedness, and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind, then shall the great and marvelous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world from you—yea, when ye shall call upon the Father in my name, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, then shall ye know that the Father hath remembered the covenant which he made unto your fathers, O house of Israel.
17 Therefore, when ye shall receive this record ye may know that the work of the Father has commenced upon all the face of the land.
When you are reading the Book of Mormon that is the sign that the fulfilling of the covenant has commenced. Anyone with a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon should thank their Father in Heaven that they hold in their hands one of the most anticipated signs of the work of the Lord that has ever been made manifest on the face of the earth.
In the last segment, we will finally identify the actual mechanics of how the covenant will be fulfilled.
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