25:1-2 - "...For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name, shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall..."
At the Second Coming, the wicked will be burned like stubble. However, the righteous shall not fear, because they fear the Lord.
It is better to fear Him now, and in a righteous way, than to fear Him later midst the destruction.
25:2 - "...unto you that fear my name, shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings..."
Here is another great blessing that comes through faith on Christ. If we 'fear' Him, we will be doing what we can to live His commandments and do what it takes to live with Him again.
This will put us in the position to receive healing from the Lord.
25:5-6 - "...Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse..."
Elijah has come and has turned the hearts of the children and the fathers. Family History is huge, and we see so many people with the urgency and feeling of accomplishing their family history work. The Spirit of Elijah has helped us a lot with that.
We need to help out with this work now, because soon it may be a lot more difficult (D&C 110).
24:1 - "...And it came to pass that he commanded them that they should write the words which the Father had given unto Malachi..."
The Lord gave them the same words given to Malachi. It was that important.
I like this because it shows that God gives the same word to all His children if they will accept it.
We must accept it, though, or we risk losing what we have received.
24:8-12 - "...Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house; and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it..."
I know that this principle is very real, as well as the blessings.
I have seen the blessings come in many forms, including the temples built around the world at this time. I can testify that tithing helps us to not go hungry - physically or spiritually. We must be keeping the commandments, but it gives us the boost that we need.
24:14 - "...Ye have said: It is vain to serve God..."
We need to give up our doubts and believe in Christ, having faith to serve God. We do this in many ways, including serving others. We also do this through keeping the commandments, like paying our tithing.
24:14-17 - "...Ye have said: It is vain to serve God, and what doth it profit that we have kept his ordinances and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts?..."
Many times it may seem that the wicked are happy and that things don't go well for the righteous. We need to not lose hope but continue faithfully, and we will eventually see that the sum result of every good action is that we are blessed for it.
23:1 - "...And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah..."
This shows one of the commandments about reading scripture. It's important that we search the words of Isaiah. They teach of Christ, and it brings us closer to Christ when we follow the teachings in the scriptures.
23:5 - "...And whosoever will hearken unto my words and repenteth and is baptized, the same shall be saved..."
This reiterates one of the 'basic' blessings of faith - Eternal Life! This is actually huge and can be overlooked sometimes.
If we believe Christ and apply His teachings, we will receive the amazing blessings that He offers.
23:6-13 - "...And it came to pass that Jesus commanded that it should be written; therefore it was written according as he commanded..."
Jesus Christ commanded that Nephi add to the records.
We are asked to keep journals so we can help future generations.
It also shows that the Lord does bless us and it will help us to be more grateful, because as we write down the blessings that we receive, we realize and show more gratitude, especially in giving credit where credit is due.
22:2 - "...Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes..."
One of our duties in helping others to come unto Christ is to perfect the saints. We do this by strengthening our stakes, wards, districts, branches, etc. It says spare not - so we need to spare no pains to accomplish this.
22:10 - "...For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee..."
Even the mountains will move before the Lord will break His covenants. We are the ones who move.
If we want to see the blessings, we need to do what we can to keep the covenants that we have made with the Lord.
22:10 - "...For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee..."
It struck me how much that the Lord wants to give us an excuse to have faith in Him. Or many excuses.
I know because I see them in so many aspects of my own life!
21:1-3 - "...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...these things shall be made known unto them..."
One of the signs of the Second Coming is the appearance of the Book of Mormon.
It's here. We have it - and it shows us how we can repent, be baptized, and know of "the true points of [His] doctrine" (vs. 6).
It's up to us to search out and follow the true doctrine.
21:11 - "...Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant..."
I think it's important to focus on the blessings, but we should also keep in mind the consequences of not having and living in faith. If we don't, we are cut off. If we do, we have acceptance, joy, life - even eternal life - and the great blessings of the Atonement.
I would much rather have these blessings than the negative consequences!
21:22 - "...But if they will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them..."
This is how the Lord prepares us for His Second Coming - We prepare ourselves.
To prepare ourselves, we must believe in His words, and then bring those words to those around us.
20:1 - "...And it came to pass that he commanded the multitude that they should cease to pray, and also his disciples. And he commanded them that they should not cease to pray in their hearts..."
The Savior commanded them that they should not cease to pray in their hearts.
We must follow the same example. We need to always pray in our hearts - it turns us to the Lord and helps us rely more on Him than our own strength.
20:8 - "...He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled..."
If we search the scriptures, we will not be hungry or thirsty spiritually. We must do this daily.
20:30-31 - "...the fulness of my gospel shall be preached unto them..."
In the last days one of the signs of the Second Coming is that the Gospel will be preached in the whole world. We are seeing the fulfillment, especially in this latest General Conference where President Thomas S. Monson announced that the age requirements for missionaries have changed from 19 to 18 for young men and 21 to 19 for young women.
We also need to preach the gospel in our own homes, families, neighborhoods, etc.
20:30-34 - "...Then shall they break forth into joy..."
Because of faith and our belief in Christ, as well as gratitude for the Lord's blessings, we will have great joy. We can have joy now if we apply, in faith, these same principles.
19:6-10,17-35 - "...And they did pray..."
The word "pray" or "prayed" (etc.) is mentioned 28 times in this passage.
This is an important thing that the Savior taught them. It was the first thing that he taught after telling them to ponder and come prepared the next day.
It's important that we pray continually and in the correct manner.
19:22 - "...Father, thou hast given them the Holy Ghost because they believe in me; and thou seest that they believe in me because thou hearest them, and they pray unto me; and they pray unto me because I am with them..."
I haven't quite understood this verse for a long time, so if you have any insights, let me know in the comments below.
The thing that confuses me is why the people were praying to Jesus Christ instead of God. Perhaps they were confused. It doesn't appear that Jesus corrects them at that time - maybe he thought it wasn't something that needed to be corrected. Or perhaps he did correct them, and it wasn't recorded, which is definitely possible.
It has been my understanding that we are supposed to pray to Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, so that's why I had that confusion.
19:28-29 - "...Father, I thank thee that thou hast purified those whom I have chosen, because of their faith..."
This is another great blessing of faith - purification! If we are faithful, and endure our pains and afflictions while following faithfully the words of God, the Savior, and their servants, we can and will be purified. It doesn't have to wait until after this life. That's a great blessing made possible by the Atonement!
