About 6 B.C., on the American Continent, Samuel the Lamanite
prophet preached to the Nephites of the birth of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem.
Both the Lamanites and the Nephites were descendents of Lehi
who, with his family and others, left Jerusalem
about 600 B.C. when the Lord warned them that their city was shortly to be
destroyed. After wandering in the
wilderness for eight years, Lehi’s son, Nephi, was directed to build a ship for
a voyage to “a choice land.” After many
months on the ocean, they arrived in a land somewhere in the Western
Hemisphere. Nephi was a
righteous man but his brothers Laman and Lemuel and their families and
followers became a wicked and rebellious people. Nephi was told by the Lord to take the
records they brought with them from Jerusalem, and those written by Lehi and
Nephi in the new world, and separate themselves from the wicked Lamanites, and
go far away from them into the wilderness, which they did.
Now, after almost 600 years and many wars between the two nations,
the Nephites had become “ripe in iniquity” and the Lamanites had been converted
to the Church and were living the commandments of God (Helaman 13:1).
Samuel was a righteous Lamanite. He was called to preach to the Nephites in
the land of Zarahemela, the seat of their government. And, for many days he preached repentance to
the people, but they wouldn’t listen and they threw him out of their city
(Helaman12:2). As he was about to return
to his own land, the voice of the Lord came to him telling him to return again
and prophesy whatever was in his heart, but he was barred from the city. Determined to fill the Lord’s commandment, he
jumped upon the high wall and began to cry in a loud voice:
“Behold, I, Samuel, a Lamanite, do
speak the words of the Lord which he doth put into my heart;…the sword of
justice [punishment of the Lord] hangeth over this people” (Helaman 13:5).
He told them that within 400 years all of their people would
be destroyed and nothing would save them except repentance and faith on the
Lord Jesus Christ, who would shortly come into the world, and be slain for
his people. He said, “An angel of the
Lord hath declared it unto me, and he did bring glad tidings to my soul”
(13:6-7). And he told them the Lord
would smite them with the sword [wars], famine and pestilence (13:9). “Ye are cursed because of your riches…because
ye have set your hearts upon them, and have not hearkened unto the words of him
who gave them unto you” (13:20-21). And
Samuel declared unto them, saying, “O ye wicked and ye perverse generation; ye
hardened and ye stiffnecked people, how long will ye suppose that the Lord will
suffer you?…Yea, how long will ye choose darkness rather than light?” (13:29)
and he prophesied of many more things that couldn’t be written (Helaman 14:1).
Because the Lord desires to save these wicked Nephites, he commands
Samuel by an angel to prophesy of the signs accompanying his birth. Samuel said: “Behold, I give unto you a sign;
for five years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God to
redeem all those who shall believe on his name....Therefore, there shall be one
day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night...and
it shall be the night before he is born” (14:3-4). “And behold, there shall a new star arise,
such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you”
(14:5). And the Lord told him to “cry
unto this people, repent and prepare the way of the Lord” [prepare to let him
into their hearts] (14:9).
Samuel gives them another sign, “a sign of his [the Lord’s]
death. (14:14). There will be no light
from the sun, the moon or the stars upon the face of the earth for three days
and there will be thunderings and lightnings for many hours. The earth will
shake and tremble with mountains laid low and valleys made into mountains. Cities will become desolate and graves of the
saints will be opened and they will appear unto many (14:20-27).
He explains that Christ must die “to bring about the
resurrection of the dead [temporal death] that thereby [through repentance and
the atonement] men may be brought [back] into the presence of the Lord”
[spiritual death]—this because of the fall of Adam being cut off from the
presence of the Lord when he and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden for
eating of the forbidden fruit. (14:15-18).
Finally, Samuel tells them if they believe, they can be
saved but those who will not believe, “bring upon themselves their own
condemnation.” He reminds them that they
are free to choose; “ye are permitted to act for yourselves....He hath given
unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye
might choose life or death; and ye can do good and be restored unto that which is
good; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you”
(14:30-31).
Many of those who heard the words of Samuel believed on his
word and went to find Nephi the third, a prophet of the Lord, confessing their
sins and desiring to be baptized. Those
who refused to hear and believe grew angry and threw stones and shot arrows at
him upon the wall. However, the Lord was
with Samuel so that the stones and arrows could not hit him. This caused many more to be converted and
they were also baptized by Nephi. But
more did not believe. As they tried to
capture him, Samuel escaped from the wall and went back to preach to his own
people and was never heard of again among the Nephites (Helaman 16:1-8).
Samuel has prophesied that “for five years more” the signs
of the birth of Jesus Christ would be given.
But the majority of the people became “more hardened in iniquity” and
argued that there was no such being as a Christ which “is a wicked tradition”
to keep them in ignorance. And they
discounted the many signs, wonders and miracles that had already been given to
the people (16:13-21). Some began to say
“the time was past for the words to be fulfilled, which were spoken by Samuel,
the Lamanite.” But the righteous saints
watched for the sign of a day and night and day in which there was no darkness
that their faith “had not been in vain” (3 Nephi 1:4-8). Now the unbelievers set apart a day that all
those who believed in Samuel’s prophecy would be put to death “except the sign
should come to pass.” As the day drew
near, Nephi prayed mightily to the Lord on behalf of his people, (3 Nephi
1:9-12) and the voice of the Lord came to him saying:
“Lift up your head and be of good
cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be
given, and on the morrow come I into the world” (3 Nephi 1:13).
And that night there was no darkness and a new star appeared
in the sky. Now the people knew that the
prophecy was about to be fulfilled and the Lord would be born the next day. “And
the more part of the people did believe, and were converted unto the
Lord....And thus the people began again to have peace in the land” (3 Nephi
1:19, 21-23).
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