1.
The Book of Mormon contains many significant prophecies. Among the
rest is this one:
II Nephi 30:3: “And now I would prophesy somewhat more concerning the Jews and
the Gentiles. For after the book of which I have spoken shall come forth, and
be written unto the Gentiles, and sealed up again unto the Lord, there shall be
many which shall believe the words which are written; and they shall carry
them forth unto the remnant of our seed.”
2.
In 1830, when the Book of Mormon was published there was nothing
about Joseph Smith or his surrounding that would indicate that a book he could publish
would be accepted by “many” people as the word of God.
(1) He was poor.
(2) Unlearned.
(3) Without funds.
(4) very unpopular.
3.
And yet in his poverty and obscurity he wrote into the Book of Mormon
the bold prediction that many would believe that the Book of Mormon was the
word of God.
Argument
This
prophecy has come true. More than a million [RB:
Over 17 million now, as of writing this post] people have accepted the
Book of Mormon as a revelation from God. Joseph Smtih could not have foretold
such an unusual event without inspiration. Human power could not have made the
prophecy come true.
A PROPHECY THAT CAME TRUE
A
prophecy fulfilled is a perpetual miracle. It is an enduring monument to the
operation of the mind of the Infinite in the affairs of the world.
But
all forecasts that come true and do not furnish evidence of a divine purpose in
world affairs. Indeed, very few fulfilled prophecies prove the existence of a
divine purpose in human destiny. Only the fulfillment of a prophecy that
foretells an event, which would require more than human foresight to foresee,
would constitute evidence of the superhuman. If the one who makes the prediction
has no possible human means of foreknowing what he predicts; if the event
foretold is very uncommon; and if the prophecy comes true, then we would be
compelled to believe the prediction was inspired by the One who knows the end
from the beginning.
Suppose
for example, a young obscure farmer should this year, 1933, publish a book
containing the prediction that within a comparative few years his book would be
accepted by hundreds of thousands of people of all degrees of intelligence as
the veritable word of God. If such a prophecy were written this year, and we
were living ten years from now, and witnessed people by the thousands accept
the book as divine, we would have very good reason for being deeply impressed
by the book which contained such a forecast. The Book of Mormon contains such a
prophecy.
In
II Nephi 30:3 is recorded this prediction:
“And
now, I would prophesy somewhat more concerning the Jews and Gentiles. For after
the book of which I have spoken shall come forth, and be written unto the
Gentiles, and sealed up again unto the Lord, there shall be many which shall believe
the words which are written; and they shall carry them forth unto the remnant
of our seed.”
Nephi,
the author of this prophecy speaks of a most unusual event. Mark the
significant words: “Many shall believe the words which are written.” What does
this prophecy mean. It means more than the boast of a poet the industrial arts,
hundreds of thousands of people are that his poem will take a prominent place
in the classical literature of the word. It means more than the prediction of
the writer of a text book on science that his work will come to be accepted as a
standard authority on the subject treated. In this Book of Mormon prophecy it
is boldly declared that the Book of Mormon will be accepted by “many” people as
the veritable word of God.
This
is not an ordinary forecast. It is not a prediction of a common-place human
event. There is no other prophecy in all of the literature of the world just
like it. No other book has been published, containing the strange prediction
that “many would believe” that the book is a divine revelation.
The
event here predicted is most extraordinary. The forthcoming of a new book of
Scripture is something which has not happened a half dozen times in over six
thousand years of recorded history. The Kiran was the last book to be published
and accepted as divine. It was given to the world in the seventh century. The Book
of Mormon is the first new divinely inspired book to be given to the world in
the last one thousand years. So the prediction that the book would be accepted
as the word of God is a most singular declaration.
The
prophecy was first put into English in the early summer of 1829. Joseph Smith,
the translator of the Book of Mormon, was then twenty-four years of age. He was
poor. He had no influential friends. In fact, he was already hated and despised
because of his connection with the story of the gold plates. How did this
obscure young man, in the midst of poverty, surrounded by foes, and hounded by
persecutors, conceive the most unusual idea that a book, which he was about to
give to the world, would be accepted as the very word of God? This tremendous thought
could not have originated in his brain. He must have obtained it by inspiration
from a divine source.
But
has the prophecy come true? It is hardly necessary to answer this question. The
evidences of the remarkably literal fulfillment of this most unusual forecast
are to manifest that they are known to all persons who are all informed on the
subject. The Book of Mormon has been before the world 100 years. In that time,
it has been translated into 16 languages. It has been published extensively in
12 [RB:
as of writing this blog post, 115] tongues. Its message has been
proclaimed in every corner of every American state. Its divine authenticity has
been heralded in Mexico, Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Denmark,
Sweden, Norway, Holland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy,
Australia, South Africa, India, Japan, Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa, New Zealand and
the Argentine republic. Counting all the believers in this record who have
died, and all who are living, it is conservative to say that over a million
have accepted this book as in fact and truth the word of God.
Nor
can it be truthfully said that those who believe this record to be divinely inspired
are just simple, over-credulous folks. In the ranks of these devout believers
are lawyers, scholars, doctors, men of letters, educators, financiers and
statements.
Even
apart from the prediction that “many” people would believe the Book of Mormon to
be the word of God, the fact that the book has been accepted by hundreds of
thousands of intelligent people as a direct revelation from God is a
circumstance of tremendous significance. Such an event does not occur once in a
century. It does not even happen once in a thousand years. The real significance
of the event will appear when we take a brief glimpse of what has really happened.
An obscure brief glimpse of what has really happened? An obscure young farmer published
the Book of Mormon in 1830. He said it was an inspired translation from the
record on gold plates, which contained the history of ancient America. He
solemnly affirmed that the book was the word of God. The 99 years during which the
Book of Mormon has been before the world have witnessed more inventions,
discoveries, and progress in science than all the rest of the world’s history
combined. This period, little short of a century, so far as advancement in science
and industrial achievement is concerned, has been the most enlightened epoch in
human history. And yet, during this period of marvelous progress in science and
in industrial arts, hundreds of thousands of people are led to accept this book,
which was given to the world by an unschooled farmer, as the very word of God!
But
some critics will say that Joseph Smith, without inspiration, might have
predicted that “many” people would believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of
God. What is the answer to this argument. It is found in the fact that neither
Joseph Smith, nor any other human being, could fulfill such a prophecy. Only God
would make such a prophecy come true. Since it has come true under his guiding
providence, we are compelled to believe he is the author of the prediction.
In
this prophecy, and its manifest and marvelous fulfillment, we have proof of a
great divine plan which reaches across more than 20 centuries. More than 2,000
years ago, the Almighty determined that the record of his hand-dealings with
the ancient inhabitants of this continent should be brought forth in our day.
He inspired the Prophet Nephi to put this divine determination into prophetic
words. These prophetic words have become history before our eyes.
The
history which has been written under the guiding inspiration of this sacred
book furnishes one of the most thrilling epochs in human annals. The book has
since Peter preached in the name of the crucified Christ and Paul declaimed
against pagan gods. The simple, earnest testimony of the book for Jesus Christ,
has awakened in the hearts of thousands of drooping souls a living comfort and hope
have driven dismal despair from tens of thousands of disconsolate human hearts.
Its simple, definite doctrines have made both God and Christ real and
intelligible in an age of speculation, theorizing and confusion. Its clarion
notes of righteousness have turned hundreds of thousands of souls from error to
truth; from despairing doubt to radiant faith; and from folly and sin to God
and truth.
It
must be God’s book because it unfailingly turns Godward. It must be divine. It
makes human lives sublime. (Nephi Jensen, Missionary Themes No. 2: Manual
for the Priests’ Quorum [Salt Lake City: Desert News Press, n.d.], 186-90;
comments in square brackets added for clarification)
Further Reading:
Resources on Joseph Smith's Prophecies