"Arise, and Come Forth Unto Me": A Temple Celebration Setting for 3 Nephi 11

The Third Book of Nephi will always have a special place among Latter-day Saints. Rightfully it has been called the "Holy of Holies" of the Book of Mormon, "the Fifth Gospel." (1) The whole Book of Mormon hinges on this one event, this one manifestation of the Divine to man, and is in effect the climax of the book. 

I still am struck with a sense of awe as I read from the eleventh chapter of 3 Nephi, after countless times studying the Book of Mormon as a whole and 3 Nephi individually. And surely for the Nephites, actually being there with the Lord, it was an experience that was not only memorable, but carved into the "fleshy tables of [their] heart[s]" (2 Cor. 3:3).

What is even more significant is the timing of Jesus Christ's manifestation to the Nephites. There is a lot of speculation as to when He appeared (typically depicted in a pillar of light in Latter-day Saint art and media) due to some ambiguity in the text, but understanding Israelite customs in light of the Nephites not yet having received the higher law from Jesus Christ can help us understand when it happened and why it would have evoked such strong feelings of reverence and worship as the Nephites were gathered at the Bountiful Temple.

3 Nephi 8:5 and 10:18 - A Puzzling Chronology

Trouble had arisen among the Nephites by the reintroduction of Gadiantonism shortly before Christ's death. The Chief Judge had been murdered, the government destroyed, and all the people were living in familial tribes. Among the political dissent in the thirty and fourth year since Christ had been born, "on the fourth day of the [first] month, there arose a great storm, such an one as never had been known in all the land." Thanks to the New Testament, we understand that this destruction would have happened around Passover and is easy to give a general time frame for. 

What becomes more troubling to pinpoint is the general time frame of Christ's descent to the land Bountiful. two seemingly contradictory phrases appear in the same verse of scripture (3 Nephi 10:18), namely "the ending of the thirty and fourth year" and "soon after the ascension of Christ into heaven" (referring to the Ascension mentioned in Acts 1:9 after the forty-day ministry to the Apostles).

From this event, we know that at least forty days had passed since Christ was resurrected. James E. Talmage reached the conclusion that the Christophany (or manifestation of Christ) on the western hemisphere was "about six weeks or more" from the time that the great destruction blasted the land (2). Others have hypothesized that the Christophany happened closer to the end of the year as per the first statement in 3 Nephi 10:18.

As I have read this verse closer, I have come to the conclusion that there really is no discrepancy between the two statements. The verse in question reads:

And it came to pass that in the ending of the thirty and fourth year, behold, I will show unto you that the people of Nephi who were spared, and also those who had been called Lamanites, who had been spared, did have great favors shown unto them, and great blessings poured out upon their heads, insomuch that soon after the ascension of Christ into heaven he did truly manifest himself unto them— (emphasis added).

A definition of the word "insomuch" can be "to such a degree". (3) So, in other words, Mormon could be trying to say "By the end of the thirty-fourth year, those who survived the natural disasters I just wrote about were blessed so greatly, even that after Jesus died and ascended into heaven in the Old World, He very quickly came to visit us and allowed us to receive these blessings that I am going to write about."

While not everyone may agree with this interpretation of the verse, it does allow a bridge between what would otherwise be two contradictory statements.

The Setting

John W. Welch has studied the possibility that, seeing as there was a great multitude gathered at the temple even before Christ came, there was some temple celebration or worship service that required the people to gather. "Since the Nephites had 'gathered together... round about the temple' (3 Nephi 11:1) with 'men, women, and children' (3 Nephi 17:25), one is reminded of King Benjamin's great covenant-renewal convocation assembly... in a traditional Feast of Tabernacles fashion." In addition, "since the size of the crowd in 3 Nephi did not increase as the day went on, apparently all these Nephites had gathered for a specific purpose at the beginning of that day" (4). If it had been an emergency civilian meeting, one could not account for the women and children there to discuss matters of rebuilding society, nor could one account for the temple setting instead of a marketplace or town gate, which would have been a more obvious candidate.

Traditionally, Israelites would gather together at the temple three times a year. Passover was one of those times, but seeing as Jesus died during Passover celebrations it can be removed as a potential candidate. The other two holidays were Shavuot, or Pentecost in Greek, and the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in the Fall, and Shavuot traditionally was celebrated fifty days after Passover, a perfect candidate for being "soon after the ascension of Christ."

Additional insights can be gained when seen in the context of Shavuot as well. While Jesus had announced from the heavens that the Law of Moses had been fulfilled (see 3 Nephi 9:19 and 20), He had not yet given any further light and knowledge to the Nephites. It would have been a troubling time for the Nephites, living knowing that their religious law had been fulfilled yet not knowing what exactly to do. Welch again points out that "since it seems unlikely that they would have gone twelve months without addressing the implications of Christ's death for the continuation of their public rites and temple practices, this suggests that his appearance was probably not too long after his crucifixion and resurrection." (5)

In addition to being characteristic of God, namely, revealing His gospel to His children in a timely manner when they are prepared (or have been prepared) to receive it, Christ seems to have made public the symbolism that Shavuot was in remembrance of. As Welch points out:

• "Ancient Israelites may have celebrated, as part of Shavuot, the giving of the Law to Moses and the revelation of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai" (6). Now, Christ would appear in another "mountain," namely, the temple at Bountiful, where He would issue forth a new law and a new revelation just as He had done to Moses centuries before.
• "Shavuot came to be associated with the day on which the Lord came down in a pillar of smoke and fire on Mount Sinai and appeared to Moses on behalf of the host of Israel. Now Jesus had come down and appeared to all gathered in Bountiful" and he declared Himself to be "the light and life of the world" (6, see also 3 Nephi 11:11).
• Upon speaking with the Lord on Sinai, Moses' faced shone with a glorious light. Similarly, the disciples "were as white as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus" (3 Nephi 19:25).
• "Indeed, the ancient model for Shavuot was the three-day ritual the Israelites observed before the law was given at Sinai (see Exodus 19:15)," and in like manner Jesus taught the Nephites for a period of three days (6).

Interestingly, if we assume that the ritual calendar the Nephites used had not shifted too far from the ritual calendar still used in Israel, this would have coincided with the famed Pentecost (Shavuot) when the Spirit was poured abundantly in Jerusalem in Acts 2. However, we are not given specifics on when the Nephites celebrated their sacred holidays, and so we cannot be sure when Jesus manifested himself to the Nephites. (7)

Such a reading is not surprising, either. As Book of Mormon Central released in a KnoWhy article today as well, 3 Nephi seems to have been written as the Book of the High Priest Nephi, with themes revolving around the Temple itself from start to finish. (8) It can be assumed that if Jesus can determine where and how He will appear to have deep spiritual significance to His followers, He can determine when as well, and Nephi crafted his record to reflect on the sacred, endowment-like event that he had been a part of (see 3 Nephi 11:18).

In any case, the ties are striking and profound. What would have been a memorable occasion had become a temple ritual and ceremony that the Nephites could never forget, something worthy of bringing hundreds of years of peace to the Lehite civilization. 

NOTES

1. In John W. Welch, John W. Welch Notes (Springville, UT: Book of Mormon Central, 2020), 895, John Welch describes 3 Nephi as the Holy of Holies or the "most sacred inner chamber of the Nephite record." In effect, as the High Priest would enter the Holiest Place to enter the presence of the Lord, here the Nephites enter His presence. John Welch also has found more ties linking the two together. Andrew C. Skinner has also called 3 Nephi the "Fifth Gospel," and even has a book with that same title. See Andrew C. Skinner, Third Nephi: The Fifth Gospel (Springville, UT: Cedar Fort, 2012).

2. James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1971 ed.), 724.

3. Definition from Mariam-Webster's online dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insomuch

4. John W. Welch, Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple & Sermon on the Mount (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1999), 37.

5. Welch, Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple & Sermon on the Mount, 39

6. Welch, Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple & Sermon on the Mount, 40-41

7. Interestingly, John L. Sorenson pointed out that if the Nephites celebrated the harvest aspect of Shavuot, a Mesoamerican harvest would have been in the month of December and would have been close to the end of a Nephite year, allowing for the correlation between Shavuot to go alongside a end-of-year setting that may be derived from 3 Nephi 10:18. In either case, whether or not the Nephite ritual calendar had drifted from the Israelite ritual calendar during their 600 year separation, the correlations between Shavuot and 3 Nephi 11 would have been a memorable event for the Nephites. See John L. Sorenson, "Seasonality of Warfare in the Book of Mormon and in Mesoamerica," in Warfare in the Book of Momron, ed. Stephen D. Ricks and William J. Hamblin (Salt lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1990), 445-77, quoted in Welch, Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple & Sermon on the Mount, 45-46, note 26.

8. See Book of Mormon Central, "Why Should 3 Nephi Be Read as the Book of the High Priest Nephi?" Sep. 8, 2020, https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/why-should-3-nephi-be-read-as-the-book-of-the-high-priest-nephi