Helaman 14: The Signs of Christ's Birth and Death

When my scriptures studying started today, I reviewed my notes from Helaman 13 and intended to write a blog post based on that chapter. While reviewing my notes, I had a prompting to hold off and read Helaman 14 before I started this weeks "Putting It All Together" assignment and I'm glad I did. Instead of discussing the sins the Lords says are most tempting I'm going to share the prophecies of Samuel the Lamanite.

Let me start with saying that the fact that Samuel the Lamanite was chosen to share prophecies, is amazing in itself to me. Although this revelation was given by Alma, it's hard to read the fall of the Nephites and the rise of righteousness in the Lamanites and not question where I as a child of god and our society in America, currently stand in the Pride Cycle.

Signs of Christ's Birth as shared in Helaman 14;2-7: 

2 I give unto you a sign; for ^afive years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God to redeem all those who shall believe on his name.

3  for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day.

4 Therefore, there shall be one ^aday and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is ^bborn.

  

5 And behold, there shall a new ^astar arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.

6 And behold this is not all, there shall be many ^asigns and wonders in heaven.

7 And it shall come to pass that ye shall all be amazed, and wonder, insomuch that ye shall ^afall to the earth.

Samuel shares the purpose of these signs:

11 And ye shall ^ahear my words, for, for this intent have I come up upon the walls of this city, that ye might hear and know of the judgments of God which do await you because of your iniquities, and also that ye might know the conditions of repentance;

12 And also that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the ^aFather of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name.

13 And if ye ^abelieve on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his ^bmerits.

 

Signs of Christ's Death as shared in Helaman 14;20-25:

20 But behold, as I said unto you concerning another ^asign, a sign of his death, behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his ^blight unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of ^cthree days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead.

21 Yea, at the time that he shall yield up the ^aghost there shall be ^bthunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the earth shall shake and tremble; and the ^crocks which are upon the face of this earth, which are both above the earth and beneath, which ye know at this time are solid, or the more part of it is one solid mass, shall be ^dbroken up;

22 Yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be ^afound in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole earth, yea, both above the earth and beneath.

23 And behold, there shall be great ^atempests, and there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called ^bvalleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great.

24 And ^amany highways shall be broken up, and many cities shall become desolate.

25 And many ^agraves shall be opened, and shall yield up many of their dead; and many saints shall appear unto many.

Samuel shares the purpose of these signs:

28 And the angel said unto me that many shall see greater things than these, to the intent that they might believe that ^athese signs and these wonders should come to pass upon all the face of this land, to the intent that there should be no cause for unbelief among the children of men—

29 And this to the intent that whosoever will believe might be saved, and that whosoever will not believe, a ^arighteous judgment might come upon them; and also if they are condemned they bring upon themselves their own condemnation. 

These last two verses in Helaman 14 sum up the ultimate gift we've been given by Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. The plan has been out before us, he's given us the knowledge we need to choose. He's given us the the freedom and agency to choose our own path; good or bad, it is our choice. The choice may be ours, but know that we DO NOT have the choice of consequences. That is left to Heavenly Father on judgement day. 

 

30 And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto ^ahimself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are ^bfree; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a ^cknowledge and he hath made you free.

31 He hath given unto you that ye might ^aknow good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might ^bchoose life or death; and ye can do good and be ^crestored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you.

Elder Richard G. Scott said  “Please understand, no one has the privilege to choose what is right. God reserved that prerogative to Himself. Our agency does allow us to choose among alternate paths, but then we are bound to the consequence God has decreed. Later, if we don’t like where the path takes us, the only out is through repentance”