35 Behold, the Lord esteemeth all flesh in one; he that is righteous is favored of God. But behold, this people had rejected every word of God, and they were ripe in iniquity; and the fulness of the wrath of God was upon them; and the Lord did curse the land against them, and bless it unto our fathers; yea, he did curse it against them unto their destruction, and he did bless it unto our fathers unto their obtaining power over it.
When the scriptures say the Lord is no respecter of persons,
they don’t mean that He has no respect for
persons. They mean that He will accept anyone into His kingdom who is willing
to live according to the commandments He gives. He makes that offer to anyone
and everyone, no matter their race, religion, gender, age, income, or a hundred
other ways we mortals separate ourselves. Because the offer is made to everyone, it shows that He loves everyone, or He “esteemeth
all flesh in one.” Everyone gets the same deal. Then, after we make the deal,
or the covenant, or even if we live righteously without a covenant, then we are
“favored of God.” I think Heavenly Father is well aware that most people who
live on the earth will not even hear the full gospel while in this life, let
alone accept it. But I also think that’s not as big a deal to Him as we usually
make it out to be. Surely He takes this life in context of the eternities, and
surely He knows there will be a chance for everyone to make covenants with Him.
That, after all, is part of His plan. That’s why we have temple ordinances for
the dead. So I think it must be more important to Father that we live a good life,
that we accept as much of the Gospel as we are given or understand, even if we
don’t recognize it as the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In other words, if a person’s
non-Christian religion teaches him to not kill or steal, and that person lives
according to that teaching, I believe it will be counted as righteousness for
him. This is because it agrees with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and because
they lived accordingly. Would they have been much better off to be baptized
with proper authority and receive the other saving ordinances? No question. But
again, that’s why we have temples, and we must take the long view on things
like this. People who live good lives are more likely to accept the Gospel and
these ordinances in the next life than those who reject the Light of Christ and
live according to the flesh instead of according to conscience.
The people that the children of Israel destroyed had rejected
the gospel, which they apparently had the chance to accept or reject. And the
Lord gives a nation plenty of time to get their collective lives in order
before He destroys them. Genesis 15:16 indicates that the Lord knew about how
long it would take for the inhabitants to become fully ripe for destruction: in
the fourth generation after his people had been in Egypt (see Genesis
15:13–16). It’s just interesting to see this scenario in this light. The Lord
promises this particular land to Abram for his inheritance, but Abram is not
strong enough to take the land by force from the current inhabitants. Also, the
current occupants (Amorites) are not yet full of iniquity, so it’s not their
time yet. So about the time that Abram’s people would begin to receive
attention from the Amorites, due to their increased numbers and strength, the
Lord takes them away to Egypt, where they grow greater and stronger. They are
allowed to grow until the iniquity of the Amorites is full, at which time the Pharaoh
decides the Israelites are a threat to his kingdom. I don’t think that timing
is coincidental. So the Lord delivers Israel out of Egypt, and teaches them for
the next 40 years how to be an independent nation with their own government,
etc. Remember that they had spent the last 4 generations under someone else’s
rule, and the last part of that as slaves, so they had no government of their
own. Now they are sufficiently strong physically, spiritually, and civically to
remove the wicked Amorites (and others in the land) and claim the Promised Land
given to Abram.
Nephi is telling his brethren that after all that, the Jews
are in the same position as the Amorites were in, ready to be taken down
because their iniquity is full.
- Genesis 15:16
- Exodus 23:31
- Deuteronomy 7:10
- Psalm 145:20 (1–21)
- John 15:10
- Acts 10:15 (15, 34)
- Romans 2:11
- 2 Nephi 26:33 (23–33)
- D&C 82:10 (8–10)
