Tuesday, June 30, 2009

1 Nephi 21:8

We consider the following text:

"8 Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time have I heard thee, O isles of the sea, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee amy servant for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;"

The beginning of this verse talks about the declaration of the Lord to the isles of the sea, which say that He has heard them (their prayers I assuming). He has helped them in the day they needed to be saved (from what exactly I'm not sure, could be literally saved from famine, drought, or their enemies or could be spiritual, like salvation to heaven). He makes a promise that he will preserve His people. I believe, as was with the case of the Nephites, that they were brought to the "isles of the sea," or the Americas in the case of the Nephites, to preserve them. What a glorious blessing.

Next, He promises that, in another manifestation of help and preservation, is the gift of His servant as a covenant with the people, to establish the earth and to, essentially, restore all the truths that were lost. In retrospect, the servant of the Lord that fits this descriptions was Joseph Smith. Through him, the truth of the gospel was restored. Through the Book of Mormon and missionary work, the descendants of the house of Israel on the isles of the sea are now receiving the gospel and are being helped and preserved just as the Lord promised their ancestors through Isaiah in his days. A few good scriptures about "my servant" come from that footnote: 2 Nephi 3:6-15, 3 Nephi 21:8-11, and Mormon 8:16, 25.

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