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.