Lessons on the Book of Mormon 2020
Lesson No. Forty-One

The Book of Mormon and the Gathering of Israel in the Last Days - Mormon 5:14

Prophets beginning in the days of Adam have understood the importance of the Book of Mormon in the gathering of Israel in the last days in preparation for the Second Coming – Enoch saw the wickedness, darkness, and tribulations of the last days, and received the promise that in that day the Lord would preserve and bless His people:

“And the Lord said unto Enoch: As I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance….And the day shall come that the earth shall rest, but before that day the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of darkness shall cover the earth; and the heavens shall shake, and also the earth; and great tribulations shall be among the children of men, but my people will I preserve” (Moses 7:60-61).

The Lord then revealed how He would prepare a dark and wicked world for His Second Coming: 

“And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony on mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth” to “Zion, a New Jerusalem” (Moses 7:62).

The righteousness sent down from heaven is the continuing revelation which is at the core of the restored gospel – “We gladly declare that the promised Restoration goes forward through continuing revelation….With reverence and gratitude, we as His Apostles invite all to know – as we do – that the heavens are open.  We affirm that God is making known His will for His beloved sons and daughters.  We testify that those who prayerfully study the message of the Restoration and act in faith will be blessed to gain their own witness of its divinity and of its purpose to prepare the world for the promised Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ” (The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – A Proclamation to the World).

The truth sent forth out of the earth is the Book of Mormon – The Book of Mormon plates were in the hill Cumorah for 1,400 years until they came forth through Joseph Smith.  And as Mormon completed his record he explained that the Book of Mormon would be instrumental in fulfilling the covenant of the Father to gather Israel in the last days.  (See Mormon 5:14) 

President Ezra Taft Benson testified:  “The Book of Mormon is the instrument that God designed to ‘sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out [His] elect unto the New Jerusalem’ (Moses 7:62)’ (A Witness and A Warning, vii).  President Benson also wrote:  “Combined with the Spirit of the Lord the Book of Mormon is the greatest single tool which God has given us to convert the world” (Ibid).

“And righteousness and truth (continuing revelation and the Book of Mormon) will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth” (Moses 7:62) – The Prophet Joseph Smith wrote powerfully concerning the gathering of Israel: “Our missionaries are going forth in different nations.  The standard of truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing.  Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame; but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

President Russell M. Nelson’s keynote address Sunday morning of the October 2020 General Conference is a landmark sermon about the ongoing gathering of Israel.  This sermon should be studied and restudied.  Among the many profound doctrines he taught is this statement:  “For centuries, prophets have foretold this gathering, and it is happening right now!  As an essential prelude to the Second Coming of the Lord, it is the most important work in the world!”

The Book of Mormon is the instrument or musket that is firing the shot heard round the world – The Minute Man Monument located in Concord Massachusetts depicts a young man with musket in hand as he leaves his plow in defense of freedom.  The minute man’s “shot heard round the world” was prologue to the restoration of the gospel.  It was my privilege to wear the uniform of the United States in the defense of freedom.  

It is also my great blessing to have been a full time missionary and now a member missionary in the army of the Lord.  I have used the Book of Mormon as the symbolic musket to fire the shot, which is being heard around the world, to gather Israel in the latter days.  Latter day Israel is gathered as people receive the ordinances of salvation as administer by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.