Nephi's prophecies (2 Nephi 11-26)

Episode 9: Nephi's prophecies

2 Nephi 11-26

Nephi's soul delights in the words of Isaiah

11 ¹ Jacob said many more things, but what I’ve written suffices me. ² So I’ll read you some more from the book of Isaiah, because my soul delights in his words. ⁴ My soul also delights in telling people about the coming of Christ, ⁶ and in telling people they'll die without Christ. ⁷ If there's no Christ, there's no God.

⁸ And now I'm going to write some words from Isaiah.

Nephi copies Isaiah chapters 2 - 14

12 - 24

Jesus Christ, the Son of God

25 ⁷ Now I'm going to tell you my own prophecies, according to my plainness. ⁹ God has destroyed the Jews from one generation to the next because of their iniquities. ¹² They will crucify the Son and the Father.

¹⁴ After the Messiah has risen, Jerusalem will be destroyed again. Then the Jews will be scattered and scourged by other nations for many generations, until finally, they believe in Christ. And woe be to anyone who fights against God and his church.

¹⁷ The Lord will do a marvelous work and a wonder.

¹⁹ The Messiah will come 600 years after my father left Jerusalem. His name will be Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

²⁰ God gave Moses the power to heal nations after they were bit by poisonous serpents by looking at a serpent. He also gave him the power to make water come out of a rock by smiting it. If you can believe these things, you can also believe in Jesus.

^24-26 We believe in Christ. We are alive in Christ. We talk about Christ. We rejoice in Christ. We prophesy about Christ. ²⁸ The right way is to believe in Christ.

Jesus will appear to the Nephites after his resurrection

26 ¹ After Christ rises from the dead he’ll appear to us. ³ When the Messiah is born, dies, and is resurrected, there will be signs given to my people.

⁴ All the wicked people will be burned to death. ⁵ The earth will swallow them, mountains will bury them, winds will carry them away, and buildings will fall on them and crush them to pieces. ⁶ Thunder, lightning, earthquakes, and fire will destroy them all. ⁸ But those who look forward to Christ will be okay.

⁹ There will be peace for three or four generations. ¹⁰ But then my people will yield to the devil and go to hell. ¹² And the Gentiles will be converted to believe that Jesus is the Christ. ¹⁵ But my seed and the seed of my brothers will dwindle in unbelief.

¹⁷ This is what God says: “They will write things down in a sealed book, and those who have dwindled in unbelief will try to destroy my things.” ¹⁹ Those who have dwindled in unbelief will be smitten by the Gentiles.

^21-22 Many churches formed from the ancient secret combinations of the devil.

A few more words about this episode

And now I'm going to write some words from Isaiah. (11:8): After sufficing himself with Jacob's words, Nephi decides to throw in another 13 chapters from the Book of Isaiah. (Chapters 12-24 in 2 Nephi correspond to chapters 2-14 in the Book of Isaiah.); He's already included four chapters. See 1 Nephi 20-21; 2 Nephi 6-8), because his soul delights in the words of Isaiah (and he needs to make his little book a little bigger).
They will crucify the Son and the Father. (25:12): Nephi prophesies that, in another 600 years or so, the evil Jews will reject and crucify "the Only Begotten of the Father, yea, even the Father of heaven and of earth"(Jesus and his father?) because of their hard hearts and stiff necks.
And woe be to anyone who fights against God and his church. (25:14): Woe unto whoever fights against God's church (the Mormons), which will show up in another 2400 years or so.
A marvelous work and a wonder (25:17): Meanwhile, God will inspire Joseph Smith to find and translate the Book of Mormon, which is, as I'm sure you've noticed by now, a marvelous work and a wonder. ("A Marvelous work and a wonder" is LDS-speak for the Book of Mormon.)
The Messiah will come 600 years after my father left Jerusalem. His name will be Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (25:19): And now Nephi gets precise about his Christ prophecy: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will be born 600 years after Nephi's father (Lehi) left Jerusalem. And since Nephi left Jerusalem in 600 BCE, Jesus will arrive in the year zero.
After they were bit by poisonous serpents (25:20): Joseph Smith (or Nephi) repeats the bible stories about the fiery serpents (Numbers 21:6-9) and the water-bearing rock (Exodus17:6, Numbers 20:11). He figures that if you believe those stories, you'll believe his as well.
We believe in Christ. We are alive in Christ. We talk about Christ. We rejoice in Christ. We prophesy about Christ. (25:24-26): The Nephites believed in Christ, were alive in Christ, talked of Christ, rejoiced in Christ, preached of Christ, and prophesied of Chirst. They were the first Christians, believing in Christ 550 years before Jesus was born. So don't let anyone tell you that Mormons aren't Christians!
After Christ rises from the dead he’ll appear to us. (26:1): See 3 Nephi 11:8, where Jesus appears to the Nephites in the New World.
When the Messiah is born there will be signs given to my people. (26:3): See 3 Nephi 1:19-21, where it was daylight all over the world on the night of Jesus's birth, and a new star appeared in the sky on the same night.
When the Messiah dies (26:3): See 3 Nephi 8, where God goes on a rampage on the day Jesus died. Cities burn, sink into the ocean, or ar buried by mountains. All the inhabitants are killed. And there is no light anywhere on earth for three days.
And the Gentiles will be converted to believe that Jesus is the Christ. (26:12): Sometime after the Nephites are destroyed, the Gentiles (Non-Mormon Protestants) will start believing that Jesus is the Christ.
But my seed and the seed of my brothers will dwindle in unbelief. (26:15): In the last days after the Gentiles are converted, Nephi's seed will dwindle in unbelief and be smitten by the Gentiles. God will camp out against the dwindlers and "all those that dwindle in unbelief shall not be forgotten."
They will write things down in a sealed book. (26:17): Then the the Book of Mormon will be written, but those who dwindle in unbelief won't believe it because "they seek to destroy the things of God."
Many churches formed from the ancient secret combinations of the devil. (26:21-22): Then the Gentiles will stumble "because of the greatness of their stumbling block" by building bad (Non-LDS) churches according to the secret combinations of the devil (who founded all the non-LDS churches).