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A Voice from the Darkness

Their world had torn itself apart. One day it was life as normal, and the next, winds, thunder and lightning, earthquakes, and fire virtually destroyed their civilization. And then they had been plunged into a darkness so enveloping and total that not one glimmer of light could be seen anywhere. The people of the Americas wailed and wept while the earth quaked and groaned.

And then from out of the darkness, silencing their cries, came a voice, “Wo, wo, wo unto this people; wo unto the inhabitants of the whole earth except they shall repent; for the devil laugheth, and his angels rejoice, because of the slain of the fair sons and daughters of my people; and it is because of their iniquity and abominations that they are fallen!” (3 Nephi 9:2).

It was the anguished voice of Christ himself! The Master went on to name those cities in the Americas that were destroyed, declaring how they’ve been destroyed and why they were destroyed.

And for those of us now anticipating Jesus’s Second Coming, it is instructive why all of this happened at His first coming. They were those who had cast out the Lord’s authorized servants and stoned or slain them. Evidently, my friends, few things anger the Lord more than mistreating His servants and little ones.

And then with those survivors in darkness, He pleaded, “O all ye that are spared because ye [you] were more righteous than they, will ye [you] not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?” (3 Nephi 9:13).

Jesus then proclaimed His divinity, “Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are…” (3 Nephi 9:15).

He announced the fulfillment of the Law of Moses and invited them again to come unto Him and be saved. And then once more silence swallowed them up. All over the continent, the people were so astonished and overwhelmed by this voice that they could not speak. Can we even imagine what that day must have been like? – a voice out of the heavens heard by every man, woman, and child all over the land, the voice of Christ himself! No wonder they were stunned into silent pondering.

Once again Jesus invited them to come. And I can hear in their hearts their pleading, “I will; I will come – if I can just live through this day!”

And then, on the dawn of the third day, presumably the day that Jesus rose from the tomb, the terrible quaking of the earth stopped, and the sun peeked over the horizon once more. The people’s wailing and lamenting turned to joy; they rejoiced in their lives and praised the Lord mightily!

And yet, for all that they had just witnessed and endured, there was something greater, something more wondrous, more powerful, yet awaiting them. Little did these people at that moment comprehend the great and marvelous blessing that Heaven had in store for them.

My dear friends, the Lord is going to come again. That is a fact!

History and prophecy are both interesting in that they tend in time to repeat themselves.