2 Nephi 25

It’s Nephi again. That was awesome, literally. I don’t know what it all means but I know I like it. Still, let me try and explain what I get from it.

Jews are abominations. I say that as a Jew. If you’re reading this, though, understand that God judges everybody in every country, every faith, every race.

If you’re from any tribe of Israel, listen to me. You may not get Isaiah, but I do. I’ve got the spirit of the thing. I can make it plainer, because I like plain speech. Best way to teach. I also like Isaiah, which you should know by now, partly because I got out of Jerusalem and he said it would fall. So I win. (Dad too.) I’ve seen Jews all my life. They supposedly understand the Jewish prophets better than anyone else, except maybe impartial outsiders who’ve been taught Judaism.

I personally have not taught my children to be Jews or think like Jews. I have taught them, though, Jewish history, what God thinks of them, what he says he’ll do to them, according to Isaiah. But let me act like my own prophet and say a few things I think are incontrovertible. At least when they happen. There’ll be no doubt then.

I know I’m getting a little defensive here, but I think what I have to say is pretty important. It’s worth a lot. If I’m going to act humble, it’ll be by narrowing my targets. What I have to say is just for my kids and their kids, et al.

One generation after another gets destroyed for this reason only: they sin. Every prophet warns them about that. It’s never a surprise. We left Jerusalem because Dad and other prophets said the city would go down. It did, we’re safe, and they’re slaves or dead.

But my spirit tells me they’ll make it back, not only to live there but to own the land and build it again.

Still, when God’s only son, the Anointed One, makes it to earth, teaches and heals, the Jews will kill him because, frankly, they’re obstinate and insensitive, as they’ve always been. But after he’s been dead in his grave for three days, he’ll get up again, start teaching and healing again, and make it so anyone who trusts in his name will be saved in God’s kingdom. So simple and hopeful. No wonder I get a thrill talking about it.

After he rises from the dead, guess what? Jerusalem leveled again. They earned it. They again turned their noses up at God and his real people, the Lamb-people, you might call them. Those opponents of God get to travel around the world. The ticket price? They get lost wherever they go.

They’ll stay lost until they start believing in God’s only son, in the Great Reconciliation, and in the fact that God only has one Anointed One and he will have come centuries earlier, as I’ve described. Only then do they get to come home again. I know this is a weird, co-dependent kind of relationship. It’s not God’s ideal plan. But, under the circumstances, he doesn’t have many options. He has to do what works. And only he can know that, because he knows everybody and everything.

People like me and Dad got to send messages to Jews to wake them up to their fate and their hope: the Anointed One they murdered is the only one. Don’t look for any others. How will you know him? He’s the one they hate.

This story could take a long time to wind up.

Now I’m going to go out on a limb. The time specs: six hundred years from when we left Jerusalem is when the Lamb, the Anointed One, comes to earth. I got that not only from what I’ve read, but from an angel who personally checked in with me. (He’s a great friend of my writing career.)

That’s pretty spot on. Review the history of the Israelites, Moses, the Exodus, the wanderings in the wilderness, all the familiar stories you’ve been taught your whole life. All true. And what’s more, what I’m telling you is true.

Now another specific: the Lamb’s name will be Jesus Christ (“Christ” means “Anointed One” in Greek; it’s sort of going to be his last name). That name will take over the world someday. Because it will be the only religious name that has validity at the gates of heaven.

That having been said, I insist you keep my book for future reference. You should even make sure it gets copied and translated and sent around the world. The message must be taught. Because God says to me he will judge the world by how they respond to it.

This is the task: to write persuasively about Jesus Christ so that people will believe in him and reconcile themselves to his father. Because, as you’ve seen from all I’ve written and quoted, God lives by grace and rewards people in strange ways. You can’t predict him. But just know you’ll get blessed after you’ve done all you can to act as you should.

Keep Moses’ law but remember it doesn’t mean much beside Jesus Christ. He’ll fulfill every expectation embedded in it. We will talk about Christ, smile at the thought of him, teach that thought to others, make predictions as best we can, and write, write, write, as my teachers taught me in school way back when. Write so that people will know what this is really all about. Write to teach them that Moses’ law is inferior for longterm redemption, though useful for conduct.

Moses’ law is like the cadaver you use to teach the young about living anatomy. Sometimes the only way to learn about the living is to cut up the dead. We study the law mostly to realize it’s dead. Still, it shows us what goes into real-life functions. Eventually it won’t be needed at all. The world will grow up, thanks to the Lamb.

Now I know you’re stubborn. It’s a cultural thing, even a tribal thing. My bluntness also runs in the family. But once I’ve said all my piece, realize I’m washing my hands of your behavior. Oh, I might take credit if you change. But not the blame if you don’t.

Think about Jesus Christ, the Lamb, the Anointed One. When you pray, your heads should tilt toward him. When you kneel, you’re saying he’s your king. Let that devotion consume all your impulses. If you let that happen, you’re in. You’re stable. An eternal citizen of God’s land. But keep Moses’ law just to be on the safe side. Six hundred years is a long time.