THE FINAL HARVEST

 

 

“Therefore, when ye shall receive this record ye may know that the work of the Father has commenced upon all the face of the land.”  (Ether 4:17)

Chapter 23 of Leviticus contains a series of holy days that the Lord commanded all Israel to observe. Three of the most important are: 1. The Feast of Trumpets; 2. The Day of the Atonement and; 3. The Feast of the Tabernacles. The Feast of Trumpets in particular signifies: 1. The beginning of Israel’s final harvest; 2. The day God had set to remember His ancient promises to regather Israel; 3. A time for new revelation that would lead to a new covenant with Israel and; 4. A time to prepare for the Millenium.

I am in awe of the fact that we hold in our hands the very book which began the final harvest for on 22 September 1827, the very day Israel celebrated the Feast of Trumpets, Moroni gave the golden plates to the Prophet Joseph Smith. The timing of its deliverance was not coincidental. This was a carefully orchestrated and rehearsed event for four years prior. It sends shivers up my spine to picture Joseph receiving the golden plates from Moroni whilst trumpets blew in Israel. The God of Israel responded and He began His ‘marvelous work and a wonder’ for He remembers His promises to His people Israel. (see The Golden Plates and the Feast of Trumpets by Lenet Hadley Read, Ensign 2000)

We know that many truths have been lost and taken away from the Bible, but none more significant that the prophecies of the restoration of the gospel in the latter days missing from Isaiah 29 and which Nephi quoted in its completion in 2 Nephi 27 as were contained on the brass plates: 1. Letter-day context of the prophecy (2 Nephi 27:1); 2. A ‘book’ that Isaiah prophesied would come forth in the last days (verse 6); 3. The book would be ‘sealed’ (verses 7-8); 4. Roles of Moroni and Joseph Smith in bringing forth the Book of Mormon (verses 9-10); 5. ‘Three witnesses’ who would behold the ‘book’ and testify ‘to the truth of the things therein’ (verses 12-13)

Is it hard to see the importance of the Book of Mormon when we consider that these prophecies of the coming Restoration were removed from the Bible??? I stand in awe of God who orchestrates His work with such perfect precision to fulfil His purposes which cannot fail. The adversary might be working hard to ‘pervert the right ways of the Lord that he might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men’ (1 Nephi 13:27) but he cannot win. God’s plan for our salvation runs like clock-work with every step put into place long before its’ reality. So ordered are the events that will transpire upon this earth that they cannot possibly fail, because ‘God created all things spiritually before they were naturally upon the face of the earth’ (Moses 3:5). Everything was designed, proven and tested before it came into being. Does this not give us ability to trust that God has us in the palm of His hand???

The Final Harvest has begun. The Book of Mormon is its’ proof. The sacredness of it leaves me in awe. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Preserved by the Hand of God by Simon Dewey)