11 For thus spake the prophet: The Lord God surely shall visit all the house of Israel at that day, some with his voice, because of their righteousness, unto their great joy and salvation, and others with the thunderings and the lightnings of his power, by tempest, by fire, and by smoke, and vapor of darkness, and by the opening of the earth, and by mountains which shall be carried up.
Nephi quotes one of those prophets, Zenos (see vs. 12), of whom
we don’t have any other record. So we get a taste of just how plain his
prophecies are of the Savior. This is very clear and plain to understand. All
of these forms of testimony came to pass at the Lord’s crucifixion. All of them
are recorded as happening in the Americas, so I assume they all happened to
others of the tribe of Israel who had been scattered.
The Lord will communicate (testify) with you in whatever form
will get your attention. Some hear his voice “because of their righteousness,” probably
because they will listen and hear it. For those who will not listen to that, He
has the forces of nature at his disposal to get their attention. That doesn’t mean
that every natural disaster is
evidence that the Lord is trying to get your attention, but it certainly
testifies that He controls these elements, and he could use them. Laman and
Lemuel found that out while they had Nephi tied up during the sea crossing. If
the Lord has to resort to violent natural phenomena to get your attention, you
may be too late to get your life in order. I think He would much rather talk
with His voice than with a storm. It reminds me of when the prophet Elijah was
hiding out in a cave, and when the Lord wanted to talk to him. He used a still,
small voice instead of the wind, earthquake, or fire (1 Kings 19:11–12). I
suspect that He would much rather use the still, small voice with us as well.
We just need to also be still and quiet so we can hear it.
- Helaman 14:21 (20–27)
- 3 Nephi 8:6 (5–23)
- 3 Nephi 9:1 (1–22)
- 3 Nephi 10:13 (13–14)
