Guidance from the Savior: Come Follow Me Study for 3 Nephi 12-16

3 Nephi 12-16 covers the time when the Savior returned to earth and ministered and taught among the people. It's valuable to see what he taught during this short visit versus what he taught in the Gospels in the Bible, when he lived on the earth and had a little more time to get his message across. In 3 Nephi, when the Savior is visiting the Nephites, we see many recognizable verses that are a repeat, word per word, in some cases, of guidance he gave before he was crucified. 

Jesus Teaching in the Western Hemisphere

For example, the Beatitudes in 3 Nephi 12:1-12 are the same ones he shared in Matthew 5:1-12. In both cases, he follows the Beatitudes with the analogy about how we are like a light that should not be placed under a bushel, in both 3 Nephi 12:14-16, and Matthew 5:14-16. 

As you read these scriptures, which of the Savior's teachings spoke to you today?

How do these scriptures lift you up and give you comfort?

I love all of the familiar guidance I see in these chapters, from the reminder to serve from our heart and not for show, to the reassurance that if we seek the Lord in righteous prayer, he will answer.

In 3 Nephi 13:19-21 we are reminded not to lay up for ourselves treasures upon earth "where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal" but to to lay up our treasures in heaven "For where your treasure is, there will your heart also be." 

My sister lives in Oregon, the state that has suffered from one of the most destructive fires on record in the state of Oregon, burning somewhere around 1 million acres of land (twice the state's yearly average in just one month). She personally knows many people that have lost their home, and at one point, had to evacuate her own home with her children. She has shared with me so many stories of neighbors helping neighbors, and the gratitude so many feel for their lives, even while suffering the devastating loss of their homes. Their treasures are their families, their memories, and how they are serving one another through this tragedy. 

3 Nephi 8-11 "Arise and Come Forth Unto Me" Come Follow Me Study

A detail from Jesus Christ Visits the Americas, by John Scott
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/image/jesus-nephites-8ddd1aa?lang=eng

3 Nephi 8-11 covers an incredible moment in the history of the scriptures, when over 600 years of prophecies are fulfilled, regarding the coming of the Savior. When he finally appears, in 3 Nephi 11:8, the people "durst not open their mouths, even one to another ... for they thought it was an angel that appeared unto them."

Then the Savior speaks in 3 Nephi 11:10-11, saying,

"Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world." 

"And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning." 

When we have no exact timeline on prophecies, imagine how it felt for those that had been specifically warned by Samuel the Lamanite, when the Savior came only 34 years after his warnings.

At first, with some of the early signs, some of the people made excuses, and chose to ignore them, but by 3 Nephi 8, when the great city of Zarahemla caught fire, the city of Moroni sank into the sea, and so forth, there could be no more denying these signs. It says in 3 Nephi 8:24-25, 

"And in one place they were heard to cry, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and then would our brethren been spared ... And in another place they were heard to cry and mourn, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and hand not killed and stoned the prophets, and cast them out; then would our mothers and our fair daughters, and our children have been spared, and not have been buried up in that great city Moronihah. And thus were the howling of the people great and terrible."

While these great tragedies could have been avoided if the people had only listened to the repeated warnings of the very prophets they killed and ran off, the Lord was always merciful. He repeatedly sent new prophets and gave people the opportunity to repent. I have talked about this in my last few posts so I won't keep repeating the same scriptures again but one of the truths that the scriptures teach me is that it is because our Father in Heaven loves us so much that he kept sending and keeps sending prophets to warn and guide us. The guidance is not unusual or difficult to follow. I think some people depict or think of religious as oppressive or controlling but when you look at the commandments, e.g. love others, don't covet what others have, don't murder, don't be prideful, it's not about oppression about but using our free agency for good.

In 3 Nephi 11:29, the Savior says,

"For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to content with anger, one with another."

How are we responding to the great issues in the world today? Do we respond with love and compassion? Or do we respond with contention and anger, and an unwillingness to try to understand another perspective? Do we put labels on our righteousness and condemn another in anger? Do we say, "I'm a Nephite therefore I am more [righteous/fill in the blank] than you?" Or do we say go forth with "a broken heart and a contrite spirit" (3 Nephi 9:20) and look to be more like the Savior in what we say and do? 

I love the analogy of the hen gathering her chickens under her wings repeatedly (3 Nephi 10:4-6). He did that for us, and does that for us, repeatedly and protectively. We have such a loving Father in Heaven, we just have to listen and follow. It's easy to forget but we have a Perfect Example we never did, and we experienced our trials tenfold, thus he has personal empathy and compassion for us. 

We can Come unto Christ as we remember that we have the opportunity and the wish from our Father to be a light unto the world, and to follow in the Savior's footsteps.

3 Nephi 1-7: Come Follow Me - "Lift Up Your Head and Be of Good Cheer" - Unity

We see in 3 Nephi 1-7 that the war between good and evil continues, and in fact, is so great that it leads to a battle that is described as “there never was known so great a slaughter among all the people of Lehi since he left Jerusalem.” (3 Nephi 4:11) Think of all the great battles that have happened in the scriptures up to this point. Previous scriptures have talked about rivers turning dark with the blood of the dead. Thousands and thousands have died, yet this battle is the greatest slaughter to have happened in the 600 years since Lehi took his people to the Promised Land. In our day, this was their World War I.

How did this happen, when there were people that were trying to live righteously? Why does the "Come Follow Me" manual focus on the theme of "Lift Up Your Head and Be of Good Cheer?"

It says in 3 Nephi 2:11, “... for the Gadianton robbers had become so numerous, and did slay so many of the people, and did lay waste to so many cities, and did spread so much death and carnage throughout the land, that it became expedient that all the people, both the Nephites and the Lamanites, should take up arms against them.”

Through pride and greed, the Nephites had weakened their defenses enough that the Gadianton robbers could not only grow, but thrive secretly. Yet,t he Nephites did have reason to cheer. They re-learned unity. When the Nephites united and listened to the prophet Gidgiddoni, they were protected and they thrived as they grouped themselves together in a safe area, and protected each other from the robbers. Sure, they had to live away from their homes for ten years but the Gadianton robbers learned that they were dependent on stealing and robbing from the Nephites, and when the Nephites were united in their stronghold, the robbers were unable to take from them. The robbers eventually died by the thousands, unable to defeat them in battle, unable to find food to sustain themselves.

In 3 Nephi 4:33, it says of the Nephites, “And their hearts were swollen with joy, unto the gushing out of many tears, because of the great goodness of God in delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; and they knew it was because of their repentance and their humility that they had been delivered from an everlasting destruction.” 

In 3 Nephi 5:1, it says, “And now behold, there was not a living soul among all the people of the Nephites who did doubt in the least the words of all the holy prophets who had spoken; for they knew that it must needs be that they must be fulfilled.”

They therefore did “forsake all their sins, and their abominations, and their whoredoms, and they did serve God with all diligence day and night.” (3 Nephi 5:3).

We see the strength of unity in this experience. We also, unfortunately, see the downside of lack of unity when by 3 Nephi 7, the people have “divided one against another,” so that it became clan against clan, with uncomfortable treaties between each clan but no loyalty to the whole or to their God. 

In April 2018 General Conference, in “With One Accord,” Sister Reyna I. Aburto states:

Every one of our paths is different, yet we walk them together. Our path is not about what we have done or where we have been; it is about where we are going and what we are becoming, in unity. When we counsel together guided by the Holy Ghost, we can see where we are and where we need to be. The Holy Ghost gives us a vision that our natural eyes cannot see, because “revelation is scattered among us,”18 and when we put that revelation together, we can see more.

As we work in unity, our purpose should be to look for and do the Lord’s will; our incentive should be the love we feel for God and for our neighbor;19 and our greatest desire should be to “labor diligently,”20 so we can prepare the way for the glorious return of our Savior. The only way we will be able to do so is “with one accord.”

In 3 Nephi 7, we meet Jacob, who has made himself king over the secret combinations, and we also see that Nephi has so great of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, “that angels did minister unto him daily.” Many were converted and unified, while many chose to divide. Our Heavenly Father shored up his prophets and sought in earnest to bring people to Him while the devil was doing the opposite.

When we are  unified together, under God, we can overcome our differences. I see the great love our Father in Heaven has for us, that he repeatedly and patiently sends prophets and leaders to remind us, over and over again, to focus on what matters most.

I am reminded by the talk “Deep In Our Heart,” from Elder Douglas D. Homes. He says, “The gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest cause in the world. President Ezra Taft Benson said: ‘We are commanded by God to take this gospel to all the world. That is the cause that must unite us today. Only the gospel will save the world from the calamity of its own self-destruction. Only the gospel will unite men [and women] of all races and nationalities in peace. Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family.’27”

While I am deeply saddened that after 10 years away from their homes, and after so much unity, the Nephites began to fall to “secret combinations,” the last scripture in the chapter also provides some reassurance. 3 Nephi 7:26: “And there were many in the commencement of this year that were baptized unto repentance; and thus the more part of the year did pass away.”

We truly can "lift up our head and be of good cheer" as we understand that the Lord sends prophets to guide and protect us, that we can unify together. We see the examples provide by Sister Aburto in "With One Accord," of people helping people through great and devastating trials. We can gather ourselves together and be strengthened in Christ, and we can strengthen each other.

Helaman 13-16 - Glad Tidings of Great Joy - God will Never Desert Us - Come Follow Me

 As we read the scriptures, one of the patterns that we can see is that people were happiest when they remembered their God and obeyed his commandments, even when times were tough. Another pattern that we see is that Heavenly Father never gave up on children, even when they had forgotten Him. He did then back then, and does this now, by sending prophets to warn and guide us.

In the April 2018 General Conference talk, “Am I a Child of God,” Brian K. Taylor said, “When you feel hurt, lost, scared, upset, sad, hungry, or hopelessly abandoned in life’s extremities -- open the Book of Mormon and you will come to know that [God] will never desert us. He never has, and he never will. He cannot do it. It is not his character [to do so].” 

Samuel the Lamanite

When I opened my scriptures to this week’s Come Follow Me study, Helaman 13-16, this pattern was reaffirmed for me yet again, in Samuel the Lamanite for three main reasons:

1. Samuel, a Lamanite, was a prophet of God 

The Lamanites are famous for being offspring of Laman and Lemuel, and raising generations that had been wrongly taught and sought revenge for false grievances that their fathers had taught to them. 

Yet, the Lord acknowledges that the Lamanites did not have the benefit of the light and knowledge that Nephi and his brother Jacob taught their descendants and their people because of Laman and Lemeul. Therefore, they were given opportunities, through prophets, to learn the truth and to repent.

It says in Helaman 15:4, “But behold my brethren, the Lamanites hath he hated because their deeds have been evil continually, and this because of the iniquity of the tradition of their fathers. But behold, salvation hath come unto them through the preaching of the Nephites; and for this intent hath the Lord prolonged their days.”

As the Lamanites were brought to the light and knowledge of their Father in Heaven, just like Alma was brought to the knowledge as he listened to Abinadi preach repentance to King Noah, the Lamanites slowly became converted. Samuel the Lamanite is a product of that missionary work and the Lord’s patience and willingness to give the Lamanaties time to learn the truth.

Alma 16:14 reminds us, as Alma and Amulek went forth to preach, “they did impart the word God, without any respect of persons, continually.” God loves ALL of his children equally.

2. The Lord asked Samuel to try again.

In Helaman 13:3, after Samuel’s preaching landed on deaf ears, and he decided to return to his own land, it says, “But behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, that he should return again, and prophesy unto the people whatsoever things should come into his heart.”

Time, and time again, the Lord has shown a love and a determination to give people the opportunity to Hear Him. In the Book of Mormon, we see this with Laman and Lemuel, with Lehi, Nephi, and angels of God giving Laman and Lemuel so many opportunities to learn and repent. We see this as Alma is told to return to Ammonihah to preach, with the sons of Mosiah, and now, with Samuel in the great city of Zarahemla, which was once filled with some of the most humble, obedient followers of God.

The Lord never deserts his people. He hears the prayers of those that are obedient and he gives those that aren’t obedient the opportunity to repent. The words of the prophet are for everyone.                                                                                                                                                       

3. Samuel reminds the people that the Lord loves them

In Helaman 14:3, Samuel says, “... yea, the people of Nephi hath he loved, and also hath he chastened them; yea in the days of their iniquities hath he chastened them because he loveth them.”

At the time of Samuel’s visit, it is the 87th year of the reign of the judges, since King Mosiah passed away and became the last king. In the 50th year of the reign of the judges, 37 years prior, the people of Zarahemla were obedient and had peace, and it says in Helaman 3:31, they had “continual rejoicing.” By the 51st year, pride had begun to creep in, and it says in Helaman 3:34 that there was “a great evil.” 

Yet, despite their trials, for those who held fast to God, it says, “Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.” (Helaman 3:35).

Conclusion

Our Father in Heaven loves us dearly. He sends prophets to remind us how to seek happiness in our lives as we face our many trials. He loves all of us, no matter our ancestry or our choices. If we seek Him, if we turn to the scriptures and to our prophet for guidance, then we can be like the people of Zarahemla, who even when surrounded by evil, fasted and prayed often, and their souls were filled with joy.