In Janne M.
Sjodahl and George Reynolds, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 4, we find
the following purported prophecy of the Book of Mormon from chapter 10 of the
book of Revelation. I have not encountered any LDS before appealing to this
text. Note: I do not believe this is a legitimate interpretation of the text;
In reproducing it here as it is an example of LDS appeals to the book of
Revelation in their apologetic works (so more out of interest):
A
Little Book Open
Turning,
now, to the great prophetic book of the New Testament, the Revelation by John,
we pause at the tenth chapter.
In
the preceding chapter John saw the countries where the church of our Lord was
first established swept as with a besom of destruction, because of the general
apostasy. The children of men were destroyed by the terrible weapons of the
invading hordes, but the rest of the men, which were not killed, "yet
repented not," but continued to worship "idols of gold, and silver,
and brass, and stone, and of wood." Naturally, the question arose in the
mind of the seer, What about the church? Is this the end of it? Was the
glorious structure that was filled with the Spirit of God on the day of
Pentecost to be destroyed in a flood of apostasy and carnage? In answer to such
questions, John received the wonderful vision recorded in chapter ten.
In
this vision, John saw a mighty angel, or messenger, come
from heaven. This messenger was clothed with a cloud. A cloud was, in the
Mosaic dispensation, the visible sign of the presence of God, as on Mount
Sinai. John, therefore, by this symbol, was given to understand that the
messenger he saw was surrounded by the divine influence, as was Moses on the
Mount. There was a rainbow upon or over his head. That was the visible symbol
of the covenant of God with Noah. His face was, as it were, the sun. Christ is
the "sun of righteousness," and his glory was reflected in the
countenance of the messenger, as was the glory of Jehovah in the face of Moses,
when he came from the divine presence. His feet were as "pillars of
fire." This is, most probably, an allusion to the temple service. Outside
the temple of Solomon there were two pillars, called Boaz and Jachin, from
each of which chains, in all probability, extended into the interior of the
temple, if that is what Paul alludes to ( Heb. 6:19),
when he speaks of our hope as an "anchor," or chain, which
"entereth into that within the veil." This messenger, therefore,
comes with the power and authority of all the dispensations of former ages—that
of Noah, the Mosaic, and that of the meridian of time, and, in addition, the
last dispensation with its temple service.
Furthermore,
this messenger had in his hand a "little book open." Fortunately, the
explanation of this prophetic language is given in the Doctrine and Covenants.
We read:
"What are we to understand
by the little book which was eaten by John, as mentioned in the tenth chapter
of Revelation? We are to understand that it was a mission and an ordinance for
him to gather the tribes of Israel; behold, this is Elias, who, as it is
written, must come and restore all things." ( D&C
77:14)
According
to this, the messenger John saw, was, or represented, the Elias who was to come
and restore all things, and Parley P. Pratt, in his Key to Theology, p.
70, tells us that the Prophet Joseph was the Elias, the Restorer, the Presiding
Messenger, holding the keys of the dispensation of the fulness of times * * *
to prepare the way of the Lord. If, then, the Prophet Joseph was the messenger
described in the vision of John, and the little book was his "mission and
ordinance" to gather the tribes of Israel, which mission was committed to
him by Moses in the Kirtland Temple (D&C 110-11), the great latter-day work
of which the coming forth of the Book of Mormon was the beginning, is foretold
in this chapter with all the clearness that prophetic language can convey.
There is no clearer prophecy in all the Bible.
In
a communication to a Rochester paper, dated Jan. 4, 1833, the Prophet Joseph,
speaking of the Book of Mormon, says in part:
"By it we learn that our
Western Indians are descendants of that Joseph who was sold into Egypt, and
that the land of America is a promised land unto them, and unto it all the
tribes of Israel will come, with as many of the Gentiles as shall comply with
the requirements of the new covenants. But the tribes of Judah will return to
old Jerusalem. The city of Zion, spoken of by David in the 102nd Psalm, will be
built upon the land of America, 'and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and
come to Zion with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads' ( Isa. 35:10), and then they will be delivered from
the overflowing scourge that shall pass through the land. But Judah shall
obtain deliverance at Jerusalem. See Joel 2:32 ; Isa.
26:20-1 ; Jer. 31:12 ; Ps. 1:5 ; Ezek.
34:11-13 ." (Hist. of the Church, Vol. 1, p. 315)
From
which it is clear that the Book of Mormon is very much a book of gathering of
the children of Israel.
The
messenger with his little book "set his right foot upon the sea, and his
left foot on the earth." Remember that in the days of John the geography
of the world was not what it is today. At that time it was thought that all
beyond the western coast of the Old World was water. That the messenger was
standing upon the sea and the earth means, in modern language, that he was
standing on both hemispheres, the eastern and the western; that is, in other
words, he was delivering a message in which all the world was concerned. That
his right foot was on the sea and his left on the earth may indicate that he
came from the western hemisphere, or that his message was first heard there.
John
heard the message this angel had to deliver. It was that there should be no
more "time" now; that is, no more delay, but that, as soon as the seventh
angel begins to sound, "the mystery of God shall be finished, as he hath
declared to his servants, the prophets." (vv. 5-7) That is, his message
was that the time has now come for the completion of the plan of
salvation—God's mystery (1 Cor. 2:7 ;1 Cor. 15:51; Eph. 5:32 ; Col. 1:26 ; 1 Tim. 3:16)—by the establishment of the kingdom of God,
as promised through the holy prophets.
At
the time this messenger appeared, seven thunders were heard (v. 14) John was
not permitted to write what they uttered, but that they were messages
concerning wars and other calamities is more than likely. These thunders, in
all probability, began rolling with our own Civil War. Such calamities we
certainly are led to expect as signs or indications that the second advent is
near at hand.
John
was told (v. 9) to "eat," that is to say, to read, or, as we should
say, to "digest" the contents of, the little book. He did so, and
found it sweet in his mouth. But the sweetness was mixed with bitterness (v.
10), which expression may indicate that the seer was given to understand that
the acceptance of the Message of the angel would be accompanied by bitter
struggles, and even martyrdom, among the faithful Saints.
The
chapter closes with the assurance that the coming of that mighty messenger
begins a new prophetic era in the history of the world; for that is the evident
purport of the words of the angel: "Thou must prophesy again before many
peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings."
Every
detail in this prophetic pen-picture is easily recognized in the life-work of
the Prophet Joseph and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. It is as plain
as if the name itself had been written across the sacred page.
