24. A New Star

CHAPTER 24

A NEW STAR

          Tyreantum was dead!

Hantuman went over to take a closer look.  The enemy was dead; his body was going cold and stiff and the appearance of his face said it all.  His face was frozen in an expression of extreme agony.  If a terrified scream could be seen instead of heard, his face was the image of untold horror.     

Nephi, Lehi, and Hantuman knew the reason why Tyreantum was dead.  He and the others had fallen because they had not believed the words of the prophets.  Tyreantum believed he had succeeded with his great plan to destroy Nephi and the believers.  Instead, he had failed.  He knew when the sign appeared that he could no longer frustrate the works of God.  Tyreantum learned about the will of God and the meaning of God’s judgment from God himself.  It was too late to repent.

          Nephi, Lehi, and Hantuman took advantage of the nighttime with no darkness.

They paddled a canoe from the shore and climbed aboard the ship with a rope.  Nobody else was there.  But the ship was loaded full of provisions, enough for over fifty people for at least a month at sea.

          Hantuman raised the anchor and set the sails.  Lehi watched from the bow while Nephi steered with the rudder.  They slowly and carefully made their way through the channel of water that avoided the dangerous coral reef.  They reached the open sea without much difficulty.

          With the voyage safely underway, Lehi joined his companions on the deck to celebrate.  He was thrilled to be on such a splendid ship for the first time.  “That was great!”  He congratulated them.  “And with this light as bright as day, I had no problem at all seeing where the water was the shallowest and where the reef would have posed the most danger.”

          “I could have no better brothers for crew mates,” Hantuman grinned at Lehi and Nephi.  “We did it!  It took a while with just the three of us, but it seems as though we left at mid-day and it still remains as if it were mid-day with the light never fading.”

          “But look!” Lehi pointed to the east.  “Look, it is hardly still mid-day.  The sun is rising again.  A new day is starting.”

          “It is on this day that He is born,” said Nephi reverently.  “Because of the sign which has been given, we know that He is come to save us this day.  The Savior does indeed have power to save.  Behold, has He not already saved us, on this --- the very first day of His life on earth?

“We shall find Him in the land of Jerusalem, the land of our forefathers.  We shall worship Him there.  We’ll know how old He’ll be by how long our voyage takes.

“I think we should now offer our prayers of thanks and gratitude to Almighty God for the gift of His Son that is now come into the world at Jerusalem.  All things that have been spoken according to the words of the prophets about Him will come to pass, yea every whit, and I know it.”

          Together they knelt as Nephi offered a prayer of gratitude.  Then they each prayed individually to offer thanks for the blessing to know that the Son of God was born.

          Nephi’s private prayer gave thanks for knowing that the believers back in the land of Zarahemla, including his sons, were no longer in danger of being put to death.  He gave thanks that the sign of Samuel had come, just as he said it would.  And because this had come to pass, Nephi knew that other prophecies, including the sign of the death of the Son of God would come to pass as well.  Therefore, the resurrection of the dead would also come to pass as prophesied by Samuel.  His departed wife, he knew, would be among the saints of the first resurrection.

          On the evening of the first day at sea, Nephi stood by himself on the deck and looked around.  Some land was still easily visible behind him to the east.  The last rays of sunshine brightened the mountain tops with tints of red and gold.  The sun was falling into the endless waters before him in the west.  A spectacular spectrum of color filled the horizon with shades of blue, red, and white mixed among the sky, the sun, and the clouds.  This sunset reminded Nephi of the wonderful sunset at Eagles’ Nest not that long ago.  Only this one was even better because it was mirrored by the reflection in the water.

This was another sacred moment for Nephi.  He raised both arms high over his head, arched his back, and posed in memorable token of his dear wife.  Now he knew of her selfless sacrifice for him.  He wondered; how long before he would see her again?

Darkness gradually grew around him as the sun sank steadily into the sea.

          “Hey, Hantuman, Lehi!  Come here!”  Nephi had to raise his voice to get their attention.  Hantuman was busy inventorying the supplies and Lehi was on the passenger level preparing food they could share.  “Come up here on the deck with me.  There’s something I want the both of you to see.”

          When Hantuman and Lehi joined Nephi on the deck, he asked them, “Did it occur to either of you last night that if we didn’t have darkness at night again, it wouldn’t be possible to navigate by the stars?”

          “It’s significant you mention that,” said Hantuman, “because that same thought also crossed my mind.”

          “Well, may I now point out to you that it is getting dark again.  Everything is back to normal as far as night after day.”

          “So it is,” observed Hantuman.  “So…?”

          “So!?”  Nephi shot back with excitement.  “Everything except for that!”

          Nephi pointed to the heavens where a new star had appeared.  The star grew brighter and brighter as the darkness got greater and greater.

          “Well, well, well.  Would you look at that!” marveled Lehi.  “Even I will be able to navigate just fine by following that star!”

23. The Sign

CHAPTER 23

THE SIGN

          “No, that I don’t know,” Lehi answered.  “I haven’t been able to number the days since coming to this pit.  I believe, though, that the day is soon, very soon now.”

Nephi’s heart was full of sorrow to learn about the impending day of death for the believers.  “How great is the wickedness of this people!” he lamented.  “How much longer will the Lord allow this evil in the land without staying His mighty hand?  Oh, what more could I have done to prevent this tragedy from occurring?”

Nephi did not worry about himself.  He had been in peril of death before.  This time all the believers were in danger.  In addition to himself and his family, anyone who believed in the prophesies would be put to death unless the sign was given!

          Nephi had been patient.  He had not asked God for anything personally.  He would not ask for that which was contrary to God’s will.  But couldn’t it be God’s will now for the wicked people throughout the land to know of their wrongdoings?  Couldn’t it also be God’s will now for Tyreantum and others to suffer the pains of God’s judgment?  How could it be God’s will to have all the believers put to death?

          Nephi knelt down on his knees in the darkness of the deep pit.  He cried mightily to God in behalf of his people.  He cried for those who were about to be destroyed because of their faith in the tradition of their fathers.  He cried for the people in the south as well as the people in the north; for people in the land west and also in the land east.

And he did remember and prayed for those he had left in the land of Zarahemla.  Nephi did not know, nor could he have known, that his son Nephi, in Zarahemla, was at that time also praying mightily to God.  His son had learned about the upcoming day of death as well.  They offered a unified prayer in spirit although a great distance presently separated them.  Both pled with the Lord that He would be merciful and work His miraculous wonders in behalf of those who believed.

Lehi and Hantuman joined Nephi in mighty prayer.  All of them prayed earnestly and without ceasing.  They prayed all that day and did not stop crying mightily to the Lord for his mercy.

The day and the night were the same prayer.  There was no difference between day and night in the perilous pit of purgatory for prayer.  Nephi was still in the act of mighty prayer the next day.

          Then behold, the voice of the Lord came to them.  It came to father Nephi in the land northward.  And it came to son Nephi in the land of Zarahemla, saying:

         

          “Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.

          “Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfill all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son---of the Father because of me, and of the Son because of my flesh.  And behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given.”

          Nephi rejoiced and gave thanks after receiving these words of the Lord even though he still despaired in the deepest, darkest dungeon.  He had not asked for the Lord to save him from prison.

         

Nevertheless, the Lord is a God of miracles.

          The darkness in the pit where Nephi, Lehi, and Hantuman had prayed for over a day and a night began to disappear.  Light began to pour into the hole as the opening above grew larger and larger.  Soon there was no more darkness in the pit.  The light continued to grow and grow until it was brighter than mid-day.

          Moreover, Nephi’s head did not hurt, nor was it bleeding any more.  Hantuman felt no more pain in his body.  Lehi was not as gaunt and skinny as he had been the day before. 

The ground began to shake.  The rocks of the inescapable pit began to break apart.  The small opening was transformed into a wide stairway winding up to open space.

The three prisoners warmly embraced each other in the way they hadn’t been able to do before in their cramped and painful environment.  This time they hugged each other firmly, held each other tight, and cried aloud with joy on each other’s shoulders.

A load roar was heard with the splitting apart of the rocks.  The noise was so great that it was heard for a long distance.  The men who had just completed loading fresh supplies onto Hantuman’s ship looked up in amazement.  They saw that the rocks on the mountain in the distance had split apart.  A great earthquake had opened the ground near the pit into which they had buried Nephi and Hantuman and left them to die.

          Nephi, Lehi, and Hantuman easily climbed out of the pit on the stairway of broken rocks.  They were not hurt by the splitting apart or the falling away of the rocks.  Neither were they any longer suffering from previous abuses.  The Lord gave them power to escape because of their faith in Him.

          They left the pit on the mountainside and made their way down towards a nearby village.  People from the village came running up to the pit to see the cause of such tremendous noise.  Some said that the God of the mountain was angry and had roared.

          All the people of the village were struck with great fear when they saw Nephi, Hantuman, and Lehi approach them.  The faces of the three men were ablaze with a light as if on fire.   The people saw that the rocks to the pit had fallen away and that the three supernatural beings of power coming towards them had walked through unharmed.  They fled in terror from the presence of Nephi, Lehi, and Hantuman even as a goat flees with her young from the lions.  Thus did the villagers all flee with fear.

          Nephi, Lehi, and Hantuman headed for the bay where Hantuman’s ship was anchored offshore.  At Alumon’s command, the ship was loaded with supplies and ready for a return trip to the land of Zarahemla.

They reached the shore after the sun had already disappeared in the west.

          But there was no darkness whatsoever!  The amount of light was normal for mid-day, maybe more.  The sun had definitely sunk below the horizon.  The night without darkness was true!

The sign came as prophesied!

Nephi could only imagine the astonishment that the Elders of Zarahemla had to feel at this time.  They were probably running over one another and jumping off the pyramids to desperately escape the impending destruction of the world.

          On the shore, Nephi, Lehi, and Hantuman could see that there were many people who had fallen to the earth as if they were dead.

          They approached those who were fallen to discover the reason why they had fallen.  Nephi recognized one of them.  He was not difficult to identify.  His feathered head band was unique.

The sight reminded him about something his son, Nephi, once said.  But in reality, the pain evident on this man’s face was anything but enjoyable to behold.