1 Nephi 13:14-21

14  And it came to pass that I beheld many ^amultitudes of the Gentiles upon the ^bland of promise; and I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren; and they were ^cscattered before the Gentiles and were smitten.

15  And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles, and they did prosper and ^aobtain the ^bland for their inheritance; and I beheld that they were white, and exceedingly fair and ^cbeautiful, like unto my people before they were ^dslain.

16  And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was ^awith them.

17  And I beheld that their mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.

18  And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together ^aagainst them to battle.

19  And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were ^adelivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.

20  And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that they did prosper in the land; and I beheld a ^abook, and it was carried forth among them.

21  And the angel said unto me: Knowest thou the meaning of the book?

            -The angel specifically points out a few elements or circumstances in this vision.  We can assume that these are vital or key things for Nephi (and for us) to notice.  Drawing specific attention to “the book” is one of them.  The importance of the preservation of the Bible cannot be overstated.  The trajectory of the world literally turns on the events surrounding this book:

               -the scientific and technological explosion following the development of the printing press.

               -the religious prologue and postlogue to the boy Joseph Smith reading and acting on James 1:5.

1 Nephi 13:13

13  And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters.

    “out of captivity”

            -the association of the European immigrants to America as being “in captivity” is a truism that is largely forgotten or ignored.  History has lost the sense that these were largely a group of people who were escaping bondage or oppression (particularly religious oppression) in the old world.  There were, as they always are, adventurers and those seeking commercial opportunity, to be sure but the motivation for many, however, was to escape the cultural captivity that forbid them freedom to worship and believe as they felt inspired.  These were people who needed to find a place affording them the freedom to believe and live according to the dictates of the conscience.

1 Nephi 13:11-12

11  And it came to pass that the angel said unto me: Behold the wrath of God is upon the seed of thy brethren.
12  And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and ^awrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.
   "a man"
       -Christopher Columbus
   
    "seed of my brethren"
       -remnants of Lehi's posterity on the Americas

1 Nephi 13:9-10

9  And also for the ^apraise of the world do they ^bdestroy the saints of God, and bring them down into captivity.

10  And it came to pass that I looked and beheld many waters; and they divided the Gentiles from the seed of my brethren.

            -the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans served as a buffer from the tribulations of the old world.  Even though God set a land apart as an insulated or quarantined zone where he could direct those seeking His ways, these eventually feel victim to the viccisitudes of  the natural man.  If there were a hundred isolated lands, the history of mortal man would repeat itself one hundred times over.  Man is fallen in this existence regardless of the specific cultural mixture.

    “divided”

            -insulated, quarantined, separated, protected, etc.  The division of these two peoples was meant to protect.

1 Nephi 13:6

6  And it came to pass that I beheld this ^agreat and ^babominable church; and I saw the ^cdevil that he was the founder of it.
-if we read the scriptures carefully we will see that Lucifer is never credited with creating anything.  He can't.  He can imitate, transform, organize, "founder", adulterate, manipulate....  He has no creative power.  He takes what already exists and twists it.  And he is a master of such.  But it is critical to our understanding of our future status  -whether we will belong to and be as God or Lucifer- it is critical that we understand where the creative power lies.  Only God can create.  Lucifer does not have this privilege and gift.  He takes what God creates or possesses and twists it to his devilish objectives.  He does this with the priesthood, with the church, with the family, with wealth, with revelation, even with virtues such as sacrifice and love.  There is a Satanic counterfeit for every true principle.  In each case, the focus becomes self instead of others.  This has been his modus operandi from the beginning when he sought his own aggrandizement in the guise of saving all of God's children. His motivation was not God or God's children but it was himself.  This orientation is fundamentally contrary to the laws of heaven and we learn that even doing good things can be wrong if not done the right way.  "To obey is better than sacrifice..."

1 Nephi 13:5

5  And the angel said unto me: Behold the formation of a ^achurch which is most abominable above all other churches, which ^bslayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a ^cyoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity.

            -wow, that is quite an indictment.  What historic evidence do we have for these  horrible actions of this abominable church?

1 Nephi 13:4

4  And it came to pass that I saw among the nations of the ^aGentiles the formation of a ^bgreat church.
            -the “church” referenced here can as easily be described as both a formal entity/organization and as a philosophy, value system or socio-cultural epistemology.  It is much larger and much more ubiquitous than a single religious denomination although it may have used these as hosts to spread its infectious influence.  It is much like a parasite that uses whatever body it can to promote its objective.  There is no doubt that the Roman Catholic church of the middle ages – tied at the hip to the unrivaled power of the prevailing political machinery of the era was an instrument for the formation of this “great church”.  While the Cathlic church did much to spread the truth that Jesus was the Christ, it also perverted fundamental truths (sometimes purposefully and sometimes innocently), oppressed individual religious freedom and all the gross iniquities outlined in verse five.  Speaking of the many formal and informal "churches", doctrines and belief structures established throughout the  ages, God is able to use the wicked actions of men and trends of culture to further his ends (reference Fosdik’s, “God talks to a dictator”, Riverside Sermons).

1Nephi 13:1-3

Nephi sees in vision: the church of the devil set up among the Gentiles; the discovery and colonizing of America; the loss of many plain and precious parts of the Bible; the resultant state of gentile apostasy; the restoration of the gospel, the coming forth of Latter-day scripture, and the building up of Zion. About 600–592 B.C.

1  AND it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld many nations and kingdoms.

2  And the angel said unto me: What beholdest thou? And I said: I behold many ^anations and kingdoms.

3  And he said unto me: These are the nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles.
            -the Roman empire spread Christianity to Europe where it flowered during the Rennaissance and cascaded into the Reformation.  Nearly every Eropean country was deeply influenced by one or more protestant denominations as Christianity finally shook off the heavy hand of Catholicism.  The gentile nations spread across the earth with the colonization of the 14^th, 15^th and 16^th centuries.  Nations rose and fall within decades and centuries.  Even the United States, whose people inherited the promises of the promised land  is comparably an infant when compared with the great nations of the old world.  America’s rise and denoument span but a few hundred years.

1 Nephi 12:19-23

19  And while the angel spake these words, I beheld and saw that the seed of my brethren did contend against my seed, according to the word of the angel; and because of the pride of my seed, and the ^atemptations of the devil, I beheld that the seed of my brethren did ^boverpower the people of my seed.

20  And it came to pass that I beheld, and saw the people of the seed of my brethren that they had overcome my seed; and they went forth in multitudes upon the face of the land.

21  And I saw them gathered together in multitudes; and I saw ^awars and rumors of wars among them; and in wars and rumors of wars I saw ^bmany generations pass away.

22  And the angel said unto me: Behold these shall ^adwindle in unbelief.

23  And it came to pass that I beheld, after they had dwindled in unbelief they became a ^adark, and loathsome, and a ^bfilthy people, full of ^cidleness and all manner of abominations.

            -when people lose or reject the truths of the gospel they become depraved, degenerate, carnal, uninspired and retrograde.  They literally take a step back in terms of civility, intelligence, refinement and progress.  Natural regression of the species is a very real phenomenon when humans embrace the idea that we are nothing more than advanced animals  -we begin to live according to an advanced form of animalistic morality.  God given or god centric morality is abandoned.

1 Nephi 12:2-3

2  And it came to pass that I beheld multitudes gathered together to battle, one against the other; and I beheld ^awars, and rumors of wars, and great slaughters with the sword among my people.

3  And it came to pass that I beheld many generations pass away, after the manner of wars and contentions in the land; and I beheld many cities, yea, even that I did not number them.

    -the next verse (4) provides a solid time anchor if we assume Nephi’s vision is progressing along a temporal continuum.  Verse four introduces events that transpire around 34 AD.  This would lead us to place the multitues spoken of in verse 2-3 between approx. 550 BC and 33 AD.  The writers of this period (Benjamin, Alma, Helaman, etc.) clearly provide an account of  a vast population who engage and re-engage in warfare.

1 Nephi 12:1

Chapter 12 Summary

Vision of Tree of Life:  Fulfillment historical summary

Verse	Event	Reference
1	Vast multitude of people on/in the promised land	Mosiah - Alma
2	Wars among the Nephites and Lamanites	Alma 50 – Helaman
4-5	Destruction at Christ’s coming	3 Nephi 9
6-10	Christ’s visit to the Nephites (appointed 12 disciples)	3 Nephi 11
11-12	Generations of righteousness	4 Nephi
13-15	Battles leading to and Cumorah	Mormon

All of a sudden the angel breaks away from the historical tour and puts meaning (interprets) elements of the dream… why?  What is he illustrating?

1  AND it came to pass that the angel said unto me: Look, and behold thy seed, and also the seed of thy brethren.  And I looked and beheld the ^aland of promise; and I beheld multitudes of people, yea, even as it were in number as many as the ^bsand of the sea.

            -the ballpark figure for the pre-Columbus population of the Americas is hotly contested but even taking the most conservative figures fits squarely with Nephi’s declaration of “as many as the sand of the sea.”  To Nephi, even a few million springing from the families of Lehi and Ishmael (even acknowledging the peoples already established in the land of promise) is fantastic:

Noted scholars and the range of their proposed population figures of Natives inhabiting the Americas previous to European exploration/"discovery".

1 Nephi 11:33-35

33  And I, Nephi, saw that he was ^alifted up upon the cross and ^bslain for the sins of the world.

34  And after he was slain I saw the multitudes of the earth, that they were gathered together to ^afight against the apostles of the Lamb; for thus were the twelve called by the angel of the Lord.

35  And the multitude of the earth was gathered together; and I beheld that they were in a large and spacious ^abuilding, like unto the building which my father saw.  And the angel of the Lord spake unto me again, saying: Behold the world and the wisdom thereof; yea, behold the house of Israel hath gathered together to ^bfight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

            -No!  Where and how did the go so far astray?  The house of Israel, the family of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, the chosen people of the Lord are the ones providing the opposition to the church and the efforts of the Messiah?  They should be His biggest champions but rather they war against His apostles and seek to annialate them. How did ancient Israel go so far astray as to be on the exact opposite side of their Savior?

1 Nephi 10:2-3

2  For behold, it came to pass after my father had made an end of speaking the words of his ^adream, and also of exhorting them to all diligence, he spake unto them concerning the Jews—

3  That after they should be destroyed, even that great city ^aJerusalem, and many be ^bcarried away captive into ^cBabylon, according to the own due time of the Lord, they should ^dreturn again, yea, even be brought back out of captivity; and after they should be brought back out of captivity they should possess again the land of their inheritance.

     “should be destroyed, even that great city Jerusalem”

 

  605 Nebuchadnezzar becomes king of Babylon

605 The Babylonians invade Judah

605 First wave of deportation of Jews to Babylon

605 Daniel is taken captive and begins to prophesy

601 Babylonians battle Egypt, both sides suffer losses

601 Judah decides to realign itself with Egypt, Jeremiah warns

597 Jehoachin becomes king of Judah

597 Babylonians capture Jerusalem

597 Second wave of deportation to Babylon from Judah.

597 Ezekiel is taken captive to Babylon

597 Zedekiah becomes king of Judah

593 Ezekiel begins to prophesy

586 The Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and the Temple (9th of Av)

586 Jerusalem’s walls and gates are burned with fire

586 Third wave of Jews deported to Babylon

586 Babylonian Exile (Galut Bavel) begins

586 End of Biblical (First Temple) Period

586 The end of the monarchy in Judah

539 The Fall of Babylon

539 Beginning of the Persian Period to 332

539 The Decree of Cyrus II allowing Jews to return

516 The Jews rebuild their Temple (70 years)

     “many be carried away captive into Babylon”

           -what was the impact of this instance of the diaspora?  How significantly did it disrupt the Jewish community and society at Jerusalem?  The following description provides some insight:

     "...return again,... brought back out... possess again...

            -why go through all the trouble taking Israel away and brining them back time and again?

            -experience is a priceless and unequalable thing.  Nothing can equal its effect.  Mortal man must be put through it, not just read about it or study it afar off.  We are poor    learners except by hands-on learning.