Day 5 in the Book of Mormon

I'm in chapter 10, where Nephi tells us more about Lehi's prophecies.  One in particular has always seemed so much more specific than what we have about the last days.  He said that "even six hundred years from the time that my father left Jerusalem" the Messiah would come to the Jews.  The prophecies about the Lord's 2nd coming are not nearly that specific.  I wonder why.  Why was it important for the Jews to know precisely when Christ would come the 1st time, while we have such vague prophecies for His 2nd coming?  Everything God does is for a reason.  What I think is the difference between the 1st Coming and the 2nd Coming is that the 1st was the call to repentance, the new covenant. God and Christ wanted as many people as possible to recognize Christ when he came, so they could be brought into the New Covenant.  But if they didn't, it wasn't the end for them. Now we have the restored covenant and we have a space before the 2nd Coming, but the 2nd Coming isn't the call to repentance -- that's what's going on right now, the call to repentance.  When Christ came the 1st time it was a Beginning; when he comes the 2nd time, it is The End.  And if we had such a specific prophecy about the date of the 2nd Coming, most of us would procrastinate until it was too late.  So we have to be in a constant state of preparedness.

Lehi also talked about Christ's death and resurrection, and going to the Gentiles.  There's not much of the mention of the gospel going to the Gentiles that survived in the Old Testament.  That's why it was such a surprise to Peter when it happened.  Peter wasn't ignorant of the scriptures -- it just wasn't in the Old Testament, or at least not being taught in the synagogues.  We have to keep that in mind when we are tempted to judge the people of Christ's day.  They didn't have the plain and precious prophecies that we now know about.  Nephi must have known that the major prophecies of Christ's 1st and 2nd comings would be preserved mostly in Isaiah, and that's why he spent so much time expounding Isaiah to us.  That's what would survive in the Old Testament.

It's after Lehi gave all of these prophecies that Nephi desires to see, and to hear, and to know by the Spirit, and not just believe on Lehi's words.  The Lord gave those same visions to Nephi, and even expanded on them, to have a second witness.  I said before that perhaps some are called to inquire, and others are called to believe on their words.  Perhaps it's a matter of personality.  Perhaps the gift we receive from the Spirit fits our personality, so that it becomes a natural thing, not unnatural.  Sam had the personality of a follower, and Nephi had the personality of an inquirer.  It's not that one is better than the other, but that we fully live up to whichever one we are.  That we fill the measure of our creation.

Chapter 11 begins Nephi's visions, so I'll leave that till tomorrow.