The Devil Will Rage in the Hearts of Men

John W. Welch

At the end of chapter 28, things get really dark. There are seven woes here (28:24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32), and one curse (28:1). Nephi knew, from the vision he received and recorded in 1 Nephi 13–14, that after the day of the Gentile, after the efforts to convert all people, and after the efforts to convince Jews that Jesus is the Christ, there would be the great, apocalyptic showdown and there would be forces of evil at home and abroad in the world. At this time in history, Nephi affirms, there will basically be only two choices: follow God or follow the ways of Satan. It’s like Lehi’s dream, with the Tree of Life on one side and the great and spacious building on the other side. Eventually, we are all going to have to be on one side of that divide or the other. Either that, or we are going to be lost in the mists of outer darkness. This is where Nephi returned to the Tree of Life theme, but here he extensively elaborated upon this dark part of Lehi’s dream and applied it unto his own people as well as to the world in the latter days, the world that we know.

Further Reading

Book of Mormon Central, "Are There Really Only Two Churches? (1 Nephi 14:10)," KnoWhy 16 (January 21, 2016).

John W. Welch Notes

References