descendants Archives — Denver Snuffer

2 Nephi 28: 1-2:

“And now, behold, my brethren, I have spoken unto you, according as the Spirit hath constrained me; wherefore, I know that they must surely come to pass. And the things which shall be written out of the book shall be of great worth unto the children of men, and especially unto our seed, which is a remnant of the house of Israel.”

Nephi, as any prophetic writer, says what “the Spirit hath constrained” him to say. This is the very definition of using the Lord’s name with permission and not using His name in vain. (Exo. 20: 7.)

Nephi held power from God in the words he used. Therefore he could “know that they must surely come to pass” because he sealed them as he wrote them. (D&C 1: 38.) For any person holding the sealing authority (which is an indispensable part of the Patriarchal Priesthood discussed earlier), the authority requires an alignment between the prophet, the Lord and the Lord’s will. (See, D&C 132: 45-49, in particular verse 48 which mentions “by my word and according to my law”–which required Joseph to align himself with the Lord before using that power.) Those who have this authority will not do anything contrary to the will of the Lord. (Helaman 10: 5.) It is because of this trust between the Lord and His messenger that the power is given to the man. Nephi was such a man. His book contained a seal upon it bearing the power of God.

Nephi knew. Knowledge came from Christ. Nephi knew Christ. (2 Ne.11: 3.)

Notice how Nephi refers to the “remnant” who are “our seed.” Nephi refers to the remnant variously as:

-descendants of his father Lehi (1 Ne. 13: 34)

-descendants of his brethren (1 Ne. 13: 38-39)
-his family’s descendants or “our seed” (1 Ne. 15: 13-14)
-a mixture of Nephi’s descendants who are among his brother’s descendant’s (1 Ne. 13: 30

Nephi’s primary line of descendants would be destroyed, but that destruction would not include all. There would remain a mixture of blood that would include partial descent from Nephi. (1 Ne. 13: 30-31) The various bloodlines remained identified as Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites and Ishmaelites. (Mormon 1: 8.) Although it would be impossible, without revelation, for us to determine which of these lines a person might belong to today, the Lord nevertheless revealed in 1828 that these various divisions remain identified to Him. (D&C 3: 16-19.) No doubt, in time, He will restore to the remnant descendants this knowledge of their sacred paternity and eternal identity.

Their blood may be mixed, but the remnant remains. Nephi may have referred to them more often as descendants of his “brethren,” but they have within them some of his blood as well. In the day of redemption and restoration, the promises will all be fulfilled. The whole of the family of Lehi will be represented in the remnant.

Notice Nephi’s prophecy is that “words which shall be written out of the book” rather than the book itself. This is, of course, exactly what we have. The actual book has been withheld. Only words from the book have been given us. But those words are intended to be of great worth to mankind, and in particular to the remnant.

This process is sacred, the promises are from the Lord. These words are given to us by Him, through a servant possessing authority to seal them up. We cannot prevent them from happening. We can, however, align ourselves with them and in turn be saved as well.

3 Nephi 16: 16:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, thus hath the Father commanded me—that I should give unto this people this land for their inheritance.”

As a result of the their behavior, the Gentiles forfeit the land. The ones who inherit the land will be “this people” or the ones to whom Christ was speaking. The land will belong to the remnant – those who were standing before Christ at the time of this address.

Now, the actual inheritors will not be those people, but those who claim the right as descendants through their fathers. It will not, and cannot be the Gentiles. There were no European migrants in the audience when Christ spoke on this occasion.

We need to know who “this people” is to know who will inherit the land.

We also need to know what “this land” was to be able to know if the Gentiles who inherited the “land of liberty” (2 Nephi 10: 11) which would “never fall into captivity except for wickedness” was North America (2 Nephi 1: 6-11). Hence the relevance of knowing the location of the Book of Mormon lands.

That is such a side-track that I hesitate to even revisit the subject. I will only add that there are arguments for both North American and Central America. I think the better argument is for North America.

The various possessors of the land all have the same condition: They either follow Christ as they occupy the ground or they are swept away and others who will follow Christ will supplant them.

This was established by covenant with Lehi generations before Christ visited with and taught Lehi’s descendants. Lehi recorded the covenant:

“Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise, that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever. But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise—behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is just shall rest upon them. Yea, he will bring other nations unto them, and he will give unto them power, and he will take away from them the lands of their possessions, and he will cause them to be scattered and smitten.” (2 Nephi 1: 9-11.)

Christ’s words dovetail with the covenant made with Lehi. The same Lord announcing them both. That condition and lease of this land remains conditional. Keep the conditions and you may be preserved to inherit the land and be numbered with the house of Israel. Violate them and be swept away.

So we see that the times of the Gentiles, as they end, become quite perilous for the Gentiles upon the land. They will forfeit their hold, however improbable it may seem to them at the present. Christ’s Father has declared it so. Who, then, can disannul?

The many confident assurances of God’s favor we have do give us comfort, don’t they? They are either true and right, and we have little to fear. Or they are among the abominations that allow foolish, vain and false notions lull us to sleep. The difference between those two propositions is quite alarming. I hate it when we have to make hard choices.