1 AND it shall come to pass, that if the Gentiles shall hearken [ Hebrew "Shema" to "listen" and "obey". ] unto the Lamb of God in that day that he shall manifest himself unto them in word, and also in power, in very deed, unto the taking away of their stumbling blocks— [ What are the stumbling blocks here? 1) They cannot receive the gospel because the plain and precious truths are not to be found. 2) They have not been taught true principles like revelation, that they can really pray to God and receive an answer just as Joseph Smith did. They can know for theirselves of the truth. ]

2 And harden not their hearts against the Lamb of God, they shall be numbered among the seed of thy father;yea, they shall be numbered among the house of Israel; [ So those who hearken (listen and obey) unto the Savior will be entitled to the same blessing promised Abraham, Issac andJacob and be adopted into that lineage. ] and they shall be a blessed people upon the promised land forever; [ This would have had great meaning to them at the time of this promise. Remember they were familiar with Abraham and the covenant that God made with Abraham which included land. Now they were thousands of miles outside of the land of Abraham, and so they may have been wondering if the covenant applied to them as well. So here they are told that God can establish a specific covenant with them and this land. a land in which if they covenant with him to keep his covenants with them they will be blessed betond measure, just as Abraham was promised. ] they shall be no more brought down into captivity; and the house of Israel shall no more be confounded.

3 And that great pit, which hath been digged for them by that great and abominable church, which was founded by the devil and his children, that he might lead away the souls of men down to hell [ Satans purpose is to destroy vs God's to bring to pass the immortality of man. ] —yea, that great pit which hath been digged for the destruction of men shall be filled by those who digged it, unto their utter destruction, [ Spiritual condemnation not annihilation of the soul, the destruction of what they could have been, what they could have had - eternal increase eternal progression;but they are left in a state pf despare and gloom forever. ] saith the Lamb of God; not the destruction of the soul, save it be the casting of it into that hell which hath no end.

4 For behold, this is according to the captivity of the devil, and also according to the justice of God, upon all those who will work wickedness and abomination [ Is a broader term and covers every thought, deed, and attitude that is offensive to a God who “cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance” (Alma 45:16; D&C 1:31). All mankind is guilty of abominations. Whether we call it sin, iniquity, wickedness, evil, or what have you, it is all abomination; it is all reflective of a carnal mind and, therefore, of ungodliness. ] before him.

5 And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, Nephi, saying: Thou hast beheld that if the Gentiles repent it shall be well with them; [ Here is the key for us - repentance will allow us to escape just as it has been though out time. But we also know that that no generation of saints outside of the city of Enoch has done that all have become wicked over time and forsaken the covenants that would have kept them safe. ] and thou also knowest concerning the covenants of the Lord unto the house of Israel; and thou also hast heard that whoso repenteth not must perish. [ It's our choice as individuals and as a people; God cannot and will not save the unrepentant. ]

6 Therefore, wo be unto the Gentiles if it so be that they harden their hearts against the Lamb of God.

7  For the time cometh, [ At a point in the future. ] saith the Lamb of God, [ As taught to Nephi by the angel send from God. ] that I [ The angel is suggesting that God will be the one who will be bring this work forward. ] will work [ Will cause to come bring forth or about. ] a great [ Significant and meaningful. ] and a marvelous [ Wonderful and incomprehensible. This phrase "great and marvelous work included the following: 1) Events that God will use to sift the world( 1 Ne. 14:7); 2) Bare forth the arm of the Lord (1 Ne.22:8); 3)Two latter day Messiahs - One real and one fake( 2 Ne. 25:17-18); 4)The marvelous work will cause the wisdom of the world to perish (2 Ne. 27:26); 5)All of the records of Israel will testify of these things (2 Ne. 29:1,3,7,13,14); 6) Will bear record that Gos is the same yesterday, today, and forever(3 Ne.21:9); 7)The three Nephites and John The Beloved have a role to play in the marvelous work of the last days (3 Ne. 28:31,29,33)"] work [ This work speaks of an act or accomplishment that will produce everlasting results. ] among the children of men; [ Mortal man, so this work of which he speaks suggesting that it is to happen on the earth. This work has been identified as the fulfilling the covenants that the Lord made to restore Israel. When the Lord fulfills this covenant it will be one of gladness or fear. It will be those of the House of Israel, the ones that God has lead away that will bring this destruction on men. See Ez 37:10-11; Isaiah 13:2-9. Christ also taught the Nephites when he visited them as well what would take place at this time in 3 Nephi: 15, 16, 17 & 20. As well some of what Christ taught at the time the latter Nephi was not permitted to be write as well. ] a work which shall be everlasting, [ Or it will be of eternal nature or will have eternal consequences. Choosing to accept the gospel, live it's principles and receive the saving ordinances are eternal in their very nature. Why is it everlasting? Because the consequences of our choice will have eternal consequences. On the one hand it includes the everlasting covenant: Why is it everlasting because it was brought by he who is everlasting, it is everlastingly the same, it is an eternal covenant it will last forever. It is only called the new and everlasting covenant because it is new to the generation that is receiving it. Mormon Doctrine pg 529-30. ] either on the one hand or on the other— [ There will be one of two choices, there will be no middle ground. You need the saving ordinances of the gospel and you must make a decision whether you accept them or not. Those are the only two choices, and they are that choices. As long as you have agency you can choose. Satan's plan was remember to destroy the agency of man. So that you do not have a choice, God will in his wisdom prevail in the long run. However there may be times when Satan either with communism, socialism or through other means destroys the agency of man for a short period. But here God is suggesting that at least at some point each individual will need to decide for himself or herself. ] either to the convincing of them [ The marvelous works of the last days will lead everyone one direction or another. Why? Because the divide will become greater and greater. Those who choose to listen to the spirit of God - that hear him will grow ever closer to him and those who do not will be pulled ever further away. This is by plan of our Father in Heaven. He is setting things up for the return of the Savior, and then his rule over the entire world. Those that are righteous need to be tested and those who are unrighteous will depart until the are eventually destroyed prior to the rule of God on the earth. What convinces people? When they can see the evidence. At least sometimes. There will always be those who choose to see things the way that they want. The other way people can become convinced is through the Holy Ghost. If we listen to the promptings of the spirit he will teach us of truth; but there again we will need to exercise our agency enough to prepare to hear him and then to listen. What knowledge can lead people unto peace and eternal life? The truth. So the angel is suggesting that The Lord will increasingly reveal evidence of the truth. Nephi explains that this is the reason for his writing what he has written. (2 Ne. 25:21-23)] unto peace and life eternal, [ The Savior is the Prince of Peace, and our peace shall be determined by our acceptance of him I Haven Barlow 2 Tim 4:6-8. So God brought about through his plan the ability for some to choose peace and eternal life. Why would anyone choose another option over peace? We will see later in the verse because they have a hard heart, and a blind mind. They have been in essence decieved, they think that power, wealth and living a alternative lifestyle is more pleasurable, so why not. ] or [ The choice of the two options. ] unto the deliverance [ The subjugation to a master. ] of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, [ Men will either be convinced of the truth which brings peace and eternal life, or will harden their heart and be brought into captivity and destruction. Those are the only two choices. Does this plan sound like another plan presented in the premortal world? ] both temporally [ While you are in this earth life. Temporal captivity = They will give up their liberty for the false security offered by the kingdom of the devil. Temporal destruction = They will be destroyed in the flesh as the wrath of God is poured out upon them. ] and spiritually, [ Which would apply to your time on earth but also since the spirit you leave this earth with carries with you going forward it represents the eternal nature of the promise. ] according to the captivity of the devil, [ And what is the captivity of the devil? A hard heart, a blind mind. In addition; the captivity of the devil is a loss of agency. ] of which I have spoken.

8 And it came to pass that when the angel had spoken these words, he said unto me: Rememberest thou the covenants of the Father unto the house of Israel? [ Nephi is quizzed as part of his vision and asked if he remembers the ancient covenants made with Abraham. The Angel is trying to teach Nephi here, so in order to do that he will begin to instruct Nephi on the covenants that have been made and why. Abrahamic covenant and to gather Israel in the latter days. The restoration is the means to accomplish this work - ie a marvelous work and a wonder. so why does the angel start with this question? Because it has a direct relation to who is in the church of the Lamb and who is not. It requires proper covenants to belong as we will see referenced in the next few verses. ] I said unto him, Yea.

9 And it came to pass that he said unto me: Look, and behold that great and abominable church, which is the mother of abominations, [ Extreme hatred; detestation. Defilement, pollution, in a physical sense, or evil doctrines and practices, which are moral defilements, idols and idolatry. And what does this mother of abominations have extreme hatred for and too? First God, second the children of God. All that is good, or that stands for good. So what would the mother of abominations try to do? To destroy the church of God, to destroy the saints of God, and every human that exists so that man may be like Satan - miserable and without eternal life with God. How did it all start? In the pre-existance when Satan wanted to replace God, when he (Satan) sought to destroy the agency of man. ] whose founder is the devil.

10 And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only [ These two churches were identified by the angel in verse 7. In the context of "churches" here I think that possibly the angel is suggesting that there are two sets of creeds, methods, or precepts. We might we refer to one set as the set of covenants given from God and the other as the secret combinations of old provided by Satan. Again this gains it's roots from the war in heaven. There were only two plans. The plan that our Father in Heaven put forth and the plan that Satan tried to push forward. This is the same today. ]; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, [ These are identified as those who are convinced unto peace and eternal life vs 7. ] and the other is the church of the devil; [ Those who have chosen to have hard hearts and blind minds vs 7, those who are delivered unto captivity & destruction belong to the church of the devil, that great church, mother of abominations, whore of all the earth. ] wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, [ The great and abominable church is a philosophy, not an organization. It's an anti- Christ philosophy and not necessarily another religion. Scripturally speaking, it is way of thinking or belief rather than a specific organization or church. What is the Lord implying here about belonging to one of the two churchs? It is really simple from the Lord's perspective; either you are willing to make covenants and do his will or you are not. It is your choice and your choice of accepting and fulfilling your covenants that you have made is the determining factor as to which church you belong. There is no middle ground as this marvelous work moves forward. ] which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth. [ So here we are provided with the definition of who she is going forward. ]

11 And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the whore of all the earth, and she [ The whore of all the earth, the mother of all abominations (vs 13). Those that are not willing to take upon themselves the name of God, those seek to destroy the believers, thise that opose in every way the God Of Israel. ] sat upon many waters; [ Since Nephi is seeing the same vision as what John sees we can apply John's definition to what they many waters are. Rev 17: 15 "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." So then he is saying that the whore of the earth rested upon all of the people of the earth. ] and she had dominion over all the earth, [ sovereign or supreme authority; the power of governing and controlling. Power to direct, control, use and dispose of at pleasure; right of possession and use without being accountable; as the private dominion of individuals. Or the great day of Satans power. When you think about under whose power the world is under here, and what the mission is ( to destroy mankind ) of those who are wielding this power it is pretty frightening. We can see why there is only one who will be able to stop such tyranny and that is God himself. ] among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.

12 And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw.

13 And it came to pass that I beheld that the great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God. [ Group one is the group that is fighting against the church of the Lamb. War against the saints of God. So here we have the first group - those things and people who are waging war with the saints of God, by bringing forward those things which fight against truth and righteousness. Think about the values being attacked each day in society. ]

14 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, [ Nephi is talking about us - he saw our day and he knew what we would face, what was needful for us. The ancient prophets saw our day, the writers and compliers of the Book Of Mormon saw our day and knew what we would need. Notice what the Lord does not do here. He does not stop the whore from fighting against the Church Of the Lamb, but he does give the church strength to overcome. This is on purpose so that the wicked will destroy the wicked. This is how some will escape the power of the whore of the earth. They will be able to do it with righteousness, and power derived from the righteousness, they are those who will call upon the Lord; these are not necessarily all of the same religion, or those who have the same doctrine. We can look at this as a group, group number 2, as those who are sincere and righteous disciples of Jesus Christ, trying to live and do as Jesus would do - no matter what name they might be called. But are different from group three in that they have not made covenants with the Lord. ] and upon the covenant people of the Lord, [ A different group of people all together, Group 3. Those who have made covenants with God under the direction of those who have authority from God to bind these covenants. Those who are on the covenant path - and stay on it. When we fall off we refer back to Gods promise in Joel 1 that if you go; off and repent God will get us back on and get us going again. In April Conference 2023 President Nelson said the following: "I know that His power is descending upon His covenant-keeping people, who are “armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory." Was he just quoting scripture or was he giving us an idea of where we are at in the timeline? He says that he is bearing witness that "His power is descending". In this verse it says descended so we are talking about verse here. 1 Ne 22:16-17. ] , who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness [ It is through righteousness that the ordinances are manifest D&C 84:19-21.This same righteousness will act as a protection for this group(JST Gen. 14:30-32). After all when the destruction is done the Lord still needs some valant souls to carry on the work. Notice what they have to fight with, to defend themselves with RIGHTEOUSNESS through living and keeping their covenants that they have made, and armed with PERSONAL REVELATION (Joel 2:28). There are four parts of the body that the apostle Paul saw to be the most vulnerable to the powers of darkness. What are the 4 principal parts that we need to protect against? 1) The loins, Symbolic representation? typifying virtue, chastity. 2) The heart Symbolic representation? typifying our conduct, our desires, emotions, spiritual capacity - the place were real conversion takes place. 3) Our feet, Symbolic representation? our goals or objectives in life, 4) our head, Symbolic representation? our thoughts, the ruler of our body. “Now let's look at the kind of armor we need to guard against attack for each...the kind of armor that will protect us is even more interesting. . . . See Eph 6 :11. ] and with the power of God in great glory.

15 And it came to pass that I beheld that the wrath [ The just punishment of an offense or crime. Romans 8:1 ] of God was poured out [ Is God causing this punishment to happen or is it kind of like karma, it is only natural that it will happen. The idea that those who are seeking for power and riches will eventually be brought to retaliate with their previous friend as they will eventually become enemies when everyone wants what someone else has. There is never an end to greed. ] upon that great and abominable church, insomuch that there were wars and rumors of wars among all the nations and kindreds of the earth.

16 And as there began to be wars and rumors of wars among all the nations which belonged to the mother of abominations, the angel spake unto me, saying: Behold, the wrath of God is upon the mother of harlots; and behold, thou seest all these things—

17 And when the day cometh that the wrath of God is poured out upon the mother of harlots, [ Poured out upon the mother of harlots, or her destruction. Christ's kingdom will begin to take it's rightful place, replacing every other kingdom on earth. This day happens long after the initial restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith. Who is the whore of Babylon and when is she destroyed? In Rev it is the false prophet who shall hate the whore, and him and his 10 horns (ten kings without a kingdom) that rule with him for 1 hour. They will hate the whore and they will destroy her, and burn her with fire and they will do it in one hour. This is the sign that the work of the father is about to begin(commence). ] which is the great and abominable church of all the earth, [ Babylon with her secret combinations and deep state. ] whose founder is the devil, then, at that day, [ When the work of the destruction of the whore of all of the earth takes place by the stout horn. This I believe is to happen before the Lost Ten Tribes return which would fall in line here as well. ] the work of the Father shall commence , [ All of Israel including the ten tribes shall be gathered together under the hand of the master. See with 1 Ne 22: 7-11; 3 Nephi 21:26. ] in preparing the way for the fulfilling of his covenants, [ What is the covenant that the Lord made with our Fathers concerning the destruction of the whore of Babylon? The Lord promised that he would gather the outcasts of Israel from the ends of heaven and bring them home. Well; we might ask ourselves; have we not been gathering Israel for quite some time now? Since the restoration? And here it says that the work will commence(begin). The restoration of the lost 10 tribes (tenth article of faith) which as it says here happens after the whore of Babylon is destroyed. He promised them that even though they were scattered to the ends of heaven he would restore them again as he promised them in Duet 30:4. In addition the fulfillment of this covenant is linked to the destruction of the wicked on the earth. This return of the lost tribes will be the source of our deliverance from wormwood in America. ] which he hath made to his people who are of the house of Israel.

18 And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, saying: Look!

19 And I looked and beheld a man, [ John The Beloved. Vs 27. ] and he was dressed in a white robe.

20 And the angel said unto me: Behold one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. [ One of Christ's original twelve apostles. Even John the Beloved. Vs 27. ]

21 Behold, he shall see and write the remainder of these things; [ Revelations, even though Nephi saw these events he was forbidden to write them as they were reserved to be written of John. He has seen the same vision and scenes that were seen by the Brother of Jared, Ezra, Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Zechariah, Joel, Ether, John and Moroni. Why? Because John the Beloved was going to be the one who is assigned to orchestrate many of the events of the last days. This is why he was permitted to be the one to write about them and not Nephi. PLus the events are so spectacular that they would not be believed in the words of Nephi since he seemed to write things in a plainer manner. The Brother of Jared also saw this same vision as Nephi. Ether 3: 21-22 Can we imply that Revelations is in the form that the Lord would have it for now? So if there are precious truths lost here - we don't need them yet for our salvation. ] yea, and also many things which have been.

22 And he [ John the beloved. ] shall also write concerning the end of the world. [ Why was all of this left for John to write? John was one of the original apostles, was a member of the original first presidency, and John never died. Not only the writing about it but John will be very instrumental in accomplishing the work of the last days. He still holds the keys, he is with the lost ten tribes and they plan a role in the restoration of all things. ]

23 Wherefore, the things which he shall write are just and true; and behold they are written in the book which thou beheld proceeding out of the mouth of the Jew; and at the time they proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew, or, at the time the book proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew, the things which were written were plain [ In Hebrew means that path that is laid out before you. So he is saying you need to find the path. ] and pure, and most precious [ In Hebrew these are considered your betrothal gifts, or the gifts that are given you to help prepare you and bring you to the bridegroom. ] and easy to the understanding of all men.

24 And behold, the things which this apostle [ John The Revelator/beloved. ] of the Lamb shall write are many things which thou hast seen; [ So this tells us that Nephi has basically seen the same vision as John has. John was the apostle given the assignment to prophecy and record the happenings during the last days before Christ would come again. He also has the assignment to bring a good many of the events forth in the last days. He has never tasted death, he remains on the earth so he is in a perfect position to do so. ] and behold, the remainder shalt thou see. [ So I am going to show you what John has written as well as everything else that will happen so that you can completely understand, so you can know for yourself, but you cannot write it. ]