A RIGHTEOUS BRANCH

 

 

The ongoing difficulties of the Jewish nation which we are even now witnessing brings to mind the reason a certain Israelite family escaped the destruction of Jerusalem in 597 B.C. when the diaspora began. Lehi explained to his son Joseph the promise that the Lord made to his progenitor, Joseph of Egypt, that He would, in their day, ‘raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel’ (2 Nephi 3:5). And so the promised land they were led to across the waters in 600 B.C. meant a new beginning. How utterly tragic then that just over a thousand years later, a sole survivor of that very ‘righteous branch’ wandered the land of America with a heart wrenching explanation: "Behold.....I am alone. My father hath been slain in battle, and all my kinsfolk, and I have no friends nor whither to go...therefore I will write and hide up the records in the earth; and whither I go it mattereth not." (Mormon 8:4,5).

But the Lord was not finished with the House of Israel and so He gave another promise to Joseph of Egypt, that He would raise up ‘a choice seer’ in the latter days who ‘will be like unto Moses’ and who will bring to light the words of them who were destroyed and who will speak ‘out of the ground’ (2 Nephi 3:7; 26:16,17). Enter Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.

We all know that the Book of Mormon is the important second witness of Jesus Christ but it also speaks of something else equally important. Another purpose of the Book of Mormon is to bring to our remembrance the covenant which Jehovah has made with the House of Israel (2 Nephi 3:7, 12). This says two things to me: 1. the Lord will never give up on us and; 2. He will never break His covenant with us, even though we break our covenants with Him (Deuteronomy 4:31). This is the promise He has made to the House of Israel that will stand forever.

If you study the Book of Mormon closely, two things will become very obvious to you: 1. the merciful nature of the God we worship and 2. He always, always fulfils His promises. Mormon ensured that every prophecy and promise in the Book of Mormon was tied to its fulfillment and he testified of this with such phrases as 'all this was done that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled' (Mosiah 21:4) and 'God is powerful to the fulfilling of all his words' (Alma 37:16). This was his technique and his tool through which he testified of Christ. This strategy proves in a unique way that the Book of Mormon is an authentic record written by Mormon himself for it would have been impossible for anyone else to chronicle such numerous promises and their fulfillments let alone an uneducated man like Joseph Smith. Mormon, on the other hand, knew the history of his people well because of many records that were in his keeping for many years.

One last thought: Christ is the vine and we are the branches (John 15:5). If we will be the righteous branch of the House of Israel, we need to abide in the vine for without Him we can be nothing (v 4,5). How wonderful is the God of Israel!!! How exquisite the bond He has with His people! I have often thought His tolerance and mercy towards us is excessive but one day a thought came to me that He could have never subjected himself to such an unjust death if He was any other way. This is who He is….Christ the Lord, the Hope of Israel, the Rock of Our Salvation, the lover of our souls……

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Coming to Save You by Laura Wilson)