Editor's Note:  The passing of Hugh Nibley on February 24, 2005, has given many people occasion to contemplate once again his scholarly and spiritual legacy.  At BYU Studies, we are especially grateful that Brother Nibley was a frequent contributor to this long-standing journal. We extend our sympathies to Phyllis and all the Nibley family.  To commemorate his legacy, we offer this excerpted article that stands as a vintage example of his convictions.  For a free download of the full article or various other articles by Hugh Nibley, go to byustudies.byu.edu

The Little Apocalypse

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14). That is an established pattern: hard upon the preaching of the gospel comes its rejection followed by destruction and darkness. Each time, it is called the end of the aeon, the age or dispensation. This description appears most plainly in Joseph Smith’s inspired rendering of the so-called Little Apocalypse, the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, in which the end of the world is described three times.

First the Lord prophesies “great tribulation on the Jews, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, such as was not before sent upon Israel ... no, nor ever shall be sent again upon Israel” (JS–M 1:18; compare Matt. 24:21).  It was a true prophecy; never were the Jews so completely obliterated as in the days of the Apostles (A.D. 70 and A.D. 130). And yet this was “only the beginning of the sorrows which shall come upon them” (JS–M 1:19)—the beginning of two thousand years of persecution.

Time and again they were on the verge of extinction and only one thing saved them: “And except those days should be shortened, there should none of their flesh be saved” (JS–M 1:20). There is no point to foretelling woes from which there is no deliverance, and the Lord does not leave the people helpless but tells them specifically what they are to do.

In the first place, those who lived in the Judean area were to do what they had always done in such an emergency: they were to flee to the mountains containing hundreds of caves and gorges a few short miles from the city (see JS–M 1:13). But, unlike the other times, they were under no conditions to go back to the city again; no one was to “return to take his clothes” (JS–M 1:14–15); it was not to be the usual return to the city after the trouble had passed; there were no arrangements whatsoever for returning. 

The Lord gave fair warning that pregnant women should be got out of the city before it was too late. They were not to wait for winter, which would be a bad time to flee; and of course things should be so arranged as not to flee on the Sabbath (see JS–M 1:16–17).

So it was foretold and so it happened. The Lord then describes the next End, the end of the Church, which is to take place “after the tribulation of those days which shall come upon Jerusalem” (JS–M 1:21). At that time people will come claiming to have the gospel, but they are not to be believed. The Saints, “who are the elect according to the covenant,” will be led astray by “false Christs, and false prophets” (JS–M 1:22; see also 1:21).

To prepare them for this cruel blow which must come to pass, the Lord is giving them an explanation ahead of time—“see that ye be not troubled.  . . . Behold, I have told you before” (JS–M 1:23–24). The next verse anticipates the secretaries of the desert and the secret conventicles which flourished in the second century; the Saints were to join none of them—“Wherefore, if they shall say unto you: Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: Behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not” (JS–M 1:25).

Next comes the restoration of the gospel; some vivid imagery is used.

First, “the morning breaks, the shadows flee”; “for as the light of the morning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, and covereth the whole earth” so should it be in the time of “the coming of the Son of Man” (JS–M 1:26). Now comes one of the most disturbing parables in the

Bible, which in the true context as given here is perfectly clear. The manner of the Gathering we are told will be in the same miraculous and mysterious way as the gathering of eagles to a carcass lying in the desert—they appear suddenly and inexplicably in the four quarters of the sky and come together from vast distances to that single spot (see JS–M 1:27).

Just as the breaking of the light from the east describes the manner of the Restoration, with no reference to geography, so this passage describes the manner of the Gathering—no other comparison is implied in introducing such an unsavory object as a carcass.

It will be a terrible time with “wars, and rumors of wars” (JS–M 1:28), the world unrest; “nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes” (JS–M 1:29).  “And again, because iniquity shall abound, the love of men shall wax cold” (JS–M 1:30). Yet at that very time “this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come” (JS–M 1:31). A thick pall of dust and smoke shall cover the earth, “the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light”

(JS–M 1:33). The generation in which these things happen will see the final end (see JS–M 1:34): unlike the other great destructions, this one involves the entire globe when “all the tribes of the earth mourn” (JS–M 1:36). Then the Son of Man shall come, but first “he shall send his angels before him with the great sound of a trumpet” for a last gathering—“and they shall gather together the remainder of his elect from the four winds” (JS–M 1:37).

“As it was in the days which were before the flood”, it will be business as usual right up until the end, which shall come suddenly and unexpectedly—“they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage; and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be” (JS–M 1:42–43).

The One Real Course of Escape

Again an interesting comparison occurs when the Lord likens himself to a thief in the night; there are no criminal connotations, but the metaphor is used purely to describe the manner of his coming—it will be a complete surprise. How does one prepare for it, then? One does not. Jesus makes it very clear that the only preparation is to live every day as if the Lord were coming on that day. In striking contrast to the Jerusalem situation, he gives no specific instructions but explains that “then shall be fulfilled that which is written, that in the last days, two shall be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left; two shall be ginding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left” (JS–M 1:44–45), which means that there is no point in devising ingenious schemes for survival. There is but one real course to escape.

What you should do is to watch yourself at all times (see JS–M 1:46); to be found doing good all the time (see JS–M 1:49); to not act as if it were going to be business as usual indefinitely, as if the great event belonged to a vague and indefinite future (see JS–M 1:51). The one thing you can be sure of is that it will be “in such an hour as ye think not” (JS–M 1:48). So the only preparation is to do what? To abstain from taking advantage of others, oppressing the poor, and living in luxury (see JS–M 1:52).

Each of these ends is expressly called the end of the world with the explicit statement of what is meant by the expression “the end of the world, or the destruction of the wicked, which is the end of the world” (JS–M 1:4; see also 1:31, 55). This is followed by the most important explanation of all, namely, that the end of these dispensations is not the destruction of the globe, for “the end of the earth is not yet, but by and by” (JS–M 1:55), that is, at some unspecified future date. Just as we do not believe that the creation of the world was the instantaneous beginning of everything, neither do we suppose a Star Wars ending. What we are plainly told is that the phrase End of the World refers expressly to the destruction of the wicked.

So who are the “wicked,” and how are they to be “destroyed”? The Book of Mormon is the complete handbook on the subject. Twenty times it tells us of the great overburn and each time assures us that while the wicked shall burn as stubble the righteous need not fear. The question that concerns us, then, is not how such a miracle can be arranged—that is quite beyond our imagination at present—but who are the righteous and who are the wicked? We may think we have an easy answer to that one, but it is not the answer that the scriptures give us.

The righteous are whoever are repenting, and the wicked whoever are not repenting. “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee” who gave thanks to God that he was not a crook or a lecher, that he fasted twice a week, paid a full tithe, and was very strict in his religious observances.

All this was perfectly true. The other man was a tax collector and rather ashamed of some of things he had done, and instead of thanking God by way of boasting, he only asked God to be merciful to him, a sinner (see Luke 18:10–13). The surprise is that the sinner was the righteous one—because he was repenting; the other one who “exalteth himself shall be abased”—because he was not repenting (Luke 18:14). None but the truly penitent are saved, and that is who the righteous are (see Alma 42:22–24).

What do you repent of and how do you repent? It is all a matter of seeking: when you repent you turn from seeking some things to seeking others.  What you seek are the desires of your heart, as Alma says, and by them alone you will be judged (see Alma 41:3). “Now the cause of this iniquity of the people was this—Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world” (3 Ne. 6:15). The condition is first laid out by Nephi and often repeated throughout the Book of Mormon: all who seek “to get gain, and all who are built up to get power over the flesh, and those who are built up to become popular in the eyes of the world, and those who seek the lusts of the flesh and the things of the world, and to do all manner of iniquity; yea, in fine, all those who belong to the kingdom of the devil are they who need fear, and tremble, and quake; they are those who must be brought low in the dust; they are those who must be consumed as stubble; and this is according to the words of the prophet” (1 Ne. 22:23). The first commandment given to the restored Church was “seek not for riches but for wisdom” (D&C 6:7, 11:7), the Lord well knowing what most people are prone to seek. We need not expand on how those four things are inseparably joined “in one specious and glittering mass,” as Gibbon says of the Romans; the appeal of the primetime TV show would be defective and our joy would not be full if any of the four were lacking in “Dallas,” “Dynasty,” or “Falconcrest.”

The Nephites of old had their own idea of who were righteous and who were wicked, as we do, which conveniently avoided the necessity of repentance until they were forced to it by violent events. And we are warned to “beware of pride, lest ye become as the Nephites of old,” who, the same verse tells us, sought the wrong kind of riches—that was their wickedness (D&C 38:39).

Very well, what do the righteous seek? Isn’t “wisdom” rather vague? The righteous in the Book of Mormon sought to live “after the manner of happiness” (2 Ne. 5:27), and in at least five instances succeeded. It is their example we should follow, but I don’t think we will until we get rid of our own definition of who are “the good guys” and who are “the bad guys.”

All the writers in the Book of Mormon are worried men. Nephi ends his days disappointed, discouraged, and saddened. He had once led a society that lived “after the manner of happiness,” but all that has changed.

Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.

And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be.

            ... It grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. (2 Ne. 32:4, 7–8)

His last words show us the old Nephi, upright, passionate, obedient till the last: “These words shall condemn you at the last day. For what I seal on earth, shall be brought against you at the judgment bar; for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey” (2 Ne. 33:14–15). If Nephi’s last words are neither happy nor hopeful, the first words of Jacob, to whom he turns over the record, are positively alarming; he begins on a note of “great anxiety,” because he has been shown what is going to happen (see Jacob 1:5). Jacob and his descendants are religious leaders, not kings, working to forestall a growing trend, trying to “persuade all men not to rebel against God” (Jacob 1:8).

Already under Nephi the Second (see Jacob 1:11), they begin “to grow hard in their hearts,” indulging “somewhat” in Solomon’s luxurious vices and “lifted up somewhat in pride”—that “somewhat” still leaves the door open to repentance (Jacob 1:15–16). But they do all this under the guise of sanctity, justifying themselves by the scriptures (see Jacob 2:23). Jacob is very reluctant to speak about this sort of thing; he “shrinks with shame” at it (Jacob 2:6). But things are definitely getting worse: “This day (I) am weighed down with much more desire and anxiety for the welfare of your thoughts, how that ye are beginning to labor in sin” (Jacob 2:3, 5). At the launching of a new civilization which is to last for a thousand years, things must not get out of hand and Jacob is desperate to control the situation. He is plainly embarrassed to bring up the sins, wickedness, crimes, and abominations under which the people are beginning to labor (see Jacob 2:5–6, 9–11).

Pride and Riches

Just what are these vices, we begin to wonder, and the answer is loud and clear: “This is the word which I declare unto you, that many of you have begun to search for gold”; they have not been opposed in this, he tells them, for God means the riches of the promised land to be enjoyed (Jacob

2:12). But what he does not like is the invidious comparison of a competitive economy: “Because some of you have obtained more abundantly than that of your brethren ye are lifted up in the pride of your hearts... Ye suppose that ye are better than they” (Jacob 2:13; emphasis added). It is inequality that the prophets deplore throughout the Book of Mormon; pride stands at the head of every one of those many lists of crimes that beset the society.

Above all, this reverence for wealth will not do, Jacob tells the people; do they have any idea how contemptible this thing is in God’s sight? If they value his opinion, they will not set up their own artificial scale of values (see Jacob 2:16). There is nothing wrong with having plenty, but let’s all be rich! “Be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you” (Jacob 2:17). Then comes a classic on equality:

“Ye were proud in your hearts, of the things which God hath given you, what say ye of it? Do ye not suppose that such things are abominable unto him who created all flesh? And the one being is as precious in his sight as the other” (Jacob 2:20–21).

With seeking for wealth goes a “grosser” attendant vice of licentious living (see Jacob 2:22–23). God does not bring people to the promised land for a repeat of the Old World follies; here he is determined to “raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph. Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old” (Jacob 2:25–26). God’s people may never enjoy the luxury of living after the manner of the world (see D&C 105:3–5). The promised land is a testing ground offering both great opportunity and corresponding risk:

“Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments risk, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes” (Jacob 2:29).

In the Old World are civilizations which were ancient at the time Lehi left Jerusalem, and they still survive, but of those in the land of promise were are told that when they are ripe in iniquity, when the cup is full, they shall be swept off from the land. Compared with other continents this one has no history, no surviving cultures, though far and wide civilizations whose identities remain a mystery have left their ruins and their scattered descendants.

Good Guys vs. Bad Guys

The Nephites always fancied themselves to be good people because the Lord had brought them to the land of promise and accordingly they styled their enemies as the wicked. And indeed the enemy was a real and constant element in all their operations. The dangerous illusion that the populace may be classified simply as the good guys (our side) and the bad guys (their side) becomes the main theme of the book of Jacob, as of the Book of Mormon itself. While Jacob spares no words in describing the wickedness and depravity of the Lamanites, he can declare of his own people at that early date: “Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites” (Jacob 2:35). Where does that leave us? With a polarized world that emerges in Jacob 3:

Except ye repent the land is cursed for your sakes; and the Lamanites, which are not filthy like unto you, nevertheless they are cursed with a sore cursing, shall scourge you even unto destruction.

And the time speedily cometh, that except ye repent they shall possess the land of your inheritance ...

Behold, the Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which hath come upon their skins, are more righteous than you ...

… the Lord God will not destroy them, but will be merciful unto them. (Jacob 3:3–6)

So later: “I will not utterly destroy them, but ... concerning the people of the Nephites: If they will not repent, and observe to do my will, I will utterly destroy them” (Hel. 15:16–17). Bad guys? You “persecute your brethren because ye suppose that ye are better than they” (Jacob 2:13). As Isaiah told the Jews at Jerusalem, it is not for them to decide who are God’s people—that is for God to decide (see Isa. 1:12).

Throughout the Book of Mormon the wicked have a perfectly beautiful self-image, to which Jacob now refers: “A commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye revile no more against them because of the darkness of their skins; neither shall ye revile against them because of their filthiness; but ye shall remember your own filthiness, and remember that their filthiness came because of their fathers,” while “your filthiness, (may) bring your children unto destruction” (Jacob 3:9–10).

Even Nephi in his youth recognizes and combats the natural tendency to put oneself on the right side: “Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy? Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul. Do not anger again because of mine enemies” (2 Ne. 4:27–29).

He recognizes that no matter how vicious his enemies are they are not responsible for his condition. We cannot repent for our enemies—what do we know about their personal lives? Repent is a reflexive verb—“I do repent me.” I can sorrow for the wickedness of another, but I cannot repent of it unless I have caused it. For Nephi, the perennial tension is laid down as a condition of life for his people, “And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands. And inasmuch as thy brethren [the Lamanites] shall rebel against thee, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord … For behold, in that day that they shall rebel against me (fulfilled in Jacob 3:3), I will curse them even with a sore curse, and they shall have no power over thy seed except they shall rebel against me also. And if it so be that they rebel against me, they shall be a scourge unto thy seed, to stir them up in the ways of remembrance” (1 Ne. 2:20–21, 23–24).

Thus it is God’s intention to keep the “bad guys” in place permanently, and it is of no use for the Nephites to try to get rid of them, since they can be rendered harmless by the Nephites’ righteousness.

The same message is given to Jacob’s son Enos: “I will visit thy brethren according to their diligence in keeping my commandments. I have given unto them this land, and it is a holy land; and I curse it not save it be for the cause of iniquity” (Enos 1:10). With this goes a vivid description of just how thoroughly bad the Lamanites are; every effort of approach or conciliation by the Nephites is rebuffed, “Our labors were vain; their hatred was fixed, and they were led by their evil nature that they became wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people ... and they were continually seeking to destroy us” (Enos 1:20)—perfect typecasting for the bad guys.

And yet Enos declares that this dangerous confrontation is exactly what the Nephites need! They will not behave themselves without being thoroughly scared and admonished: “Nothing save it was exceeding harshness, preaching and prophesying of wars, and contentions, and destructions, and continually reminding them of death” has the desired effect of “stirring them up continually to keep them in the fear of the Lord” (Enos 1:23).

The prophecy of Nephi is being fulfilled: “They shall be a scourge unto thy seed, to stir them up in remembrance of me; and inasmuch as they will not remember me, and hearken unto my words, they shall scourge them even unto destruction” (2 Ne. 5:25). Isn’t that all a bit severe? Not with “a stiffnecked people, hard to understand” (Enos 1:22). Jarom, the son of Enos, tells how “the prophets of the Lord did threaten the people of Nephi, according to the word of God, that if they did not keep the commandments, but should fall into transgression, they should be destroyed from off the face of the land”; and Jarom explains that “by so doing they kept them from being destroyed upon the face of the land; for they did prick their hearts with the word, continually stirring them up unto repentance”

(Jarom 1:10,12)—Nephi’s formula again.

Strictly speaking, there are no good guys: “All men that are in a state of nature, or I would say, in a carnal state, are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; they are without God in the world” (Alma 41:11).  Hence, “this is my doctrine ... that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me” (3 Ne. 11:32). It is as pointless, then, to ask who are the good guys and who are the bad guys as it is to ask who should repent. The answer is always the same: I am the sinner, and I must repent. How much? Until like the Son of Man, I am “full of grace and truth” (2 Ne. 2:6). When will that be? Not in this life! Here, all one can hope for is a passing grade.

Conclusion: Mormon Compares Us to the Book of Mormon People

Mormon places the Nephites and the Lamanites side by side for our benefit. As the war between them continues, each sinks deeper and deeper into depravity. First, after a Nephite victory, are four years of peace devoted not to repentance but to warlike preparations as the Lord removes his beloved disciples from among the Nephites because of the wickedness and unbelief. The Lord even forbids Mormon to preach repentance, which preaching will now do no good “because of the hardness of their hearts the land was cursed for their sakes” (Morm. l:17). They have passed the point of no return. The people have begun to worry and seek safe investments, to “hide up their treasures in the earth.” But the Dow Jones keeps going down as their riches “became slippery, because the Lord had cursed the land, that they could not hold them, nor retain them again” (Morm. 1:18).  It is interesting that amid all this military fury riches still hold the number one position in their minds…

We have seen that for us there is only one way to prepare for the great events ahead, and that is to be found doing good when the Lord comes, with no one taking advantage of temporary prosperity “to his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken” (JS–M 1:52).

Mormon’s message to us is not without a word of hope and advice:  “Behold, I speak unto you as though I spake from the dead; for I know that ye shall have my words … Give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been” (Morm. 9:30–31). His address is expressly to the inhabitants of “this land” into whose hands “this book” shall come—specifically, it is meant for us.

For a free download of the full article or various other articles by Hugh Nibley, go to byustudies.byu.edu