Truth Revealed Through History: The Holy Ghost Will Lead Us to Christ - Second Book of Nephi, Chapter Twenty-Six (2 Nephi 26)

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/26?lang=eng.

In the previous chapter, Nephi explained the words of Isaiah and their application to the Jews who were scattered from the Holy Land after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, based largely on the visions that Nephi himself has seen of future days.

Here, he turns squarely to address his own people, the Nephites, and to unfold to them—in great plainness (we are learning that Nephi is exceptionally clear and direct)—how their history will play out as he looks ahead about 550 years.

What Nephi sees is not a pretty picture. He tells his people that they will engage in many wars and contentions through the generations. If that isn’t enough to cause Nephi great pain, what seems to trouble him even more is that his descendants will not prove to be very different from the people who will reject Jesus’s claim to be the Messiah during his life in Galilee and Judea. Many prophets will come among the Nephites to proclaim the coming of Jesus, and specific signs will point to the key events of His birth, death, and resurrection (verse 3).

Nephi communicates to his people that instead of welcoming the good tidings, their following generations will cast out and even kill those among them who are—like he and his father—reminding them of what will take place and what that should mean regarding their actions. Even though Nephi conveys the coming events to us without flinching from his duty to inform, we can sense the great sadness that pervades what he tells. He must have wondered, “How is it possible that this can happen, after all my people went through to escape the destruction in Jerusalem 50 years ago? How can the memory of that story fade from their imaginations? They have been given every advantage of evading captivity, and then ultimately they choose to put themselves in bondage and peril anyway.”

And yet, Nephi has seen the nature of man to forget, in the example of his brothers Laman and Lemuel certainly, and probably even through his own struggles to remain righteous and those of his other family members. This gives Nephi perspective to understand why the people of Jerusalem could forget the powerful stories of their deliverance from Egypt from centuries before and even the sure and more recent prophecies of Isaiah.

He writes very specifically about his people’s future sufferings at the time of Christ’s death. Mountains will cover them. Whirlwinds will carry them away. Buildings will crush them and “grind them to powder” (verse 5). Nephi relates the pain and anguish he feels at seeing this scene, and how it “well nigh consumeth me before the presence of the Lord.” But, in the end, he says that he is forced to recognize that what will take place is exactly what his people deserve (verse 7). It must be especially hard for Nephi to think that even though he spells it out plainly for his people, nothing he can say or do will change the choices that many of them make to disregard the signs that point to Christ’s coming. Many of us in this day struggle with the principle of agency that is absolute for each person—thrilling at the improbable turnaround when someone makes it back to the light, but mourning when others turn away or refuse to turn back despite ample opportunity to embrace what is right and good.

The trials are necessary as a proving ground for the righteous who heed the prophets and are steadfast in looking for the signs of Christ’s coming, amid all the persecution they face. Nephi is blessed to see that Christ, the “Son of Righteousness” (verse 9), will appear among those who have persevered in faith. We know this will take place after his final ascension from the Holy Land. And beyond that, Jesus will heal those of the Nephites who survive the cataclysm accompanying his crucifixion, and He will bring peace to them. And this peace will be long-lasting, for more than three generations (which we know to be about 300 years). Perhaps Nephi’s warnings go some distance toward encouraging the righteous core of believers to hold on when other reasons for keeping up hope seem lost.

But even this positive development won’t last forever. And we need to pay close attention to the reason for this. Nephi shares with us just how critical it is for us to keep inviting the presence and influence of the Holy Ghost into our lives. There’s a tragic, cautionary lesson for us in the downfall of the Nephites after an unparalleled run of righteousness and prosperity. And Nephi boils it down to one root cause. His descendants will choose darkness over light, and as the Spirit “ceaseth to strive with man then cometh speedy destruction” (verses 10-11).

  

It is at this point, just when we feel that all hope is lost because the Lord’s own people have let Him down, that Nephi shares with us the genius of God and His plan. Nephi reminds us that the plan encompasses the Gentiles as well as the Jews. And though it will take him a few chapters to explain how the plan unfolds, somehow by pivoting to the Gentiles, the Lord shows His great love for all His children. For in swinging the door wide open to salvation to people who were not originally part of the covenant, he is preparing through them for the redemption of the Jews and of the Nephite/Lamanite people—and indeed for all of the people of Israel who will heed the shepherd’s call to gather.  

And it’s important to note for ourselves personally how He accomplishes this. Remember, Jesus Christ was physically present among the Jews in the Holy Land and their long-lost Nephite brethren in the Americas. He does not appear directly to the non-Israelite Gentile nations, or at least not at first, but it doesn’t matter when you’ve got the secret weapon of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the most effective communicator of truth there is.

Again, we need to pay close attention here, because a huge lesson on faith is right in front of our faces. Most of us are the Gentiles. We do not have Jesus in person among us. And yet, if we believe in Jesus by the power of the Holy Ghost, we unlock the very same blessings that were available to the Jews and Nephites who had Jesus right in front of them. It says very plainly in verse 13 that as we do this, Christ will manifest himself “unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, working mighty miracles, signs, and wonders, among the children of men according to their faith.”

This is an amazing promise. One that we would do well to ponder, reflect upon, apply in every aspect of our lives, and share widely. As we seek the Holy Ghost and follow its promptings, Christ comes to us and works miracles in our lives. This may be the single-most important principle we can ever learn because it is like a treasure map leading us straight to salvation. It is both extremely practical and indicative of the profound saving and transformative power God is offering each of us. 

The overall significance of verses 12 and 13 should not be lost on us or overlooked. Indeed, the very last ancient custodian of the record that became the Book of Mormon, the prophet Moroni, recognized how critically important these verses are. Within the two short paragraphs he decides to write to provide an introductory note for the entire record (what we know as the title page to the Book of Mormon), Moroni paraphrases these verses to tell the world that a core purpose of the record is “to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.”

Following Moroni’s example, it is impossible for us to say too much about the principle we find here. It deserves repeated emphasis. By following the Spirit, we bring Christ into our lives in a very real way.

There is yet more to the chapter. Nephi tells of the record his people will leave behind, primed to come forth at a later time, and unfolds the saga of the Gentiles and their many imperfections in reference to what the Lord expects. The chapters’ additional passages are rich in instruction, but I will only point to one. Amid all the intrigue that Nephi shows will come to pass among the Gentiles, he reveals in verses 23-24 that the Lord is patiently and confidently at work to make sure that despite the evils among us, we will each have the glorious opportunity to choose eternal life:

For behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you that the Lord God worketh not in darkness. He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.