3 Nephi 25

3 Nephi 25

The Great and Dreadful Day of the Lord (cf. Malachi 4)

3 Nephi 25:1–3

1 For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

2 But unto you that fear my name, shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall.

3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of Hosts.

Comments

Chapter 25 continues the Savior’s dictation of Malachi. These verses continue the theme of chapter 24, which was concerned with the end days. These also describe that time. In chapter 24, verse 2, the triumphant Messiah of the final days would come as a refiner’s fire.

In chapter 25, the focus is not on purifying Israel, but on the effect upon the wicked. This fire is a destructive fire: “all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day cometh shall burn them up, saith the lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”

That is indeed a fearsome prospect, therefore, the Lord notes that those who believe on Christ need not fear, as they “shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall,” calves who are cared for and in a comfortable place.

The significant difference between verse 2 and the Malachi 4:2 model is the difference between Malachi’s “Sun of righteousness,” and the “Son of Righteousness” that we see in 3 Nephi. Sun and Son are homophones. They sound exactly alike. Even though Malachi uses “Sun,” the title certainly is intended to point to Christ. When Joseph Smith dictated the text to his scribe, the scribe heard the word from the context supplied what a modern reader would assume, which is that it should be a title for the Son of God. In the printer’s manuscript there is an example of this very issue. During the dictation of the New World Sermon on the Mount, the scribe wrote, “For he maketh his son to rise on the evil.” That error was caught, and son crossed out, and replaced with sun, written above it.

3 Nephi 25:4–6

4 Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord;

6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Comments

Verses 2 and 3 of this chapter turned to the salvation of the righteous through the burnings of the wicked in the last days. How shall they be righteous enough to deserve that final salvation? In verse 4 they are told to live the commandments as they know them.

Then, the Lord promises that Elijah will return and “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.” The house of Israel will be gathered not only from the four corners of the earth, but throughout time. The binding into a covenant family will be the means of final salvation.

This was not the end of a chapter in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon.