Monday, July 19, 2021

Internal consistency -- Nephi's prophecy

In my last post, I quoted 2 Nephi 26:3, where Nephi prophesies of the coming of Christ.

And after the Messiah shall come there shall be signs given unto my people of his birth, and also of his death and resurrection; and great and terrible shall that day be unto the wicked, for they shall perish; and they perish because they cast out the prophets, and the saints, and stone them, and slay them; wherefore the cry of the blood of the saints shall ascend up to God from the ground against them.

I had not noticed all these details before, but this is another example of internal consistency, where different parts of the Book of Mormon correspond to an astounding level of detail. Compare with the following scriptures from the prophecies of Samuel 5 years before the coming of Christ and the fulfillment of Nephi's prophecies as described in 3 Nephi 8 and 9.

Behold, I give unto you a sign; for five years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God (Helaman 14:2)

And behold, again, another sign I give unto you, yea, a sign of his death. (Helaman 14:14)
23 And it came to pass that it did last for the space of three days that there was no light seen; and there was great mourning and howling and weeping among all the people continually; yea, great were the groanings of the people, because of the darkness and the great destruction which had come upon them.
24 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 have been spared, and they would not have been burned in that great city Zarahemla.
25 And in another place they were heard to cry and mourn, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and had 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 howlings of the people great and terrible. (3 Nephi 8)
hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come up any more unto me against them. (3 Nephi 9:5, 7, 8, 9, 11)