Thursday, April 18, 2013

Zephaniah 3:7-9

"I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.
Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent."
Zephaniah 3:7-9


In these verses it is talking about the last days/Second Coming period, and it talks about God's perspective a little.  That he didn't want to cut people off, and he tried to teach them, reason with them, punish them... whatever he could to get them to learn and change.  And no matter what God did, they just kept corrupting everything.  And so the destruction at the Second Coming has to happen... because society doesn't function when everyone is corrupt.  It says "all the earth shall be devoured" which sounds really scary and apocalyptic.  But then, there are people left, because God goes on to talk about them... the people that remain, they will have a pure language (maybe like the reverse of the Tower of Babel story?  We will all suddenly speak the same language and be able to communicate with each other?).  And not only one language, but one people... united in serving the Lord.  And how amazing will that be?  I can't even imagine.  The whole world united... all the really hardcore evil wiped away, allowing the good, or at least less evil... the ones that are still willing to listen and to change... to start again, to build something without fighting constant corruption.  That is an amazing opportunity... kind of like the people in the Americas when Christ appeared to them.  They had gone through terrible devastation, and loss of so much of their population, and then after Christ's visit, they lived in peace for generations.
Now, obviously, kids, don't try this at home.  We're not God, and generally people who try to "cleanse" others on this earth as mortals are in the classification of truly evil.  God created us, and he can make those decisions, as the only one that really knows when people are corrupt enough to be past saving, and who loves them enough to never rob them of every chance possible.  For our part, we are to love everyone and to build Zion using inclusion, persuasion, and education. :)  And hopefully into the far future those things will continue to work.  I think that most people are hungry for the truth.  But it is also good to know that in that future, when most people's hearts are hardened... that God will save the righteous and not let the bad overcome the good completely.  Moroni had to witness a society that was almost all corrupt, and see them destroy each other and everything he cared about.  This time, that won't happen.  We live in a time with a guaranteed happy ending.  Today, let's receive instruction and be good, so that we can be part of it. :)

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