“It Sorroweth Me Because of the Fourth Generation”

George Reynolds, Janne M. Sjodahl

The Nephite people, as a whole, received Jesus as the Redeemer of the world. They believed on Him, that He was the Christ, the Son of God, the promised Messiah of Whom the Prophets had foretold. There were none, not even Lamanites, who rejected Him. "My joy is great, even unto fulness, because of you, and also this generation; yea, and even the Father rejoiceth, and also all the holy angels, because of you and this generation; for none of them are lost...and in them I have fulness of joy."

The Savior took time to emphasize to His Disciples, that, in the statement just made, He meant those "who are now alive of this generation," because the fourth generation, counting as the first "those who are now alive," gave Him great sorrow. He perceived that they would be led away by Satan "even as was the son of perdition." They, in their iniquity, would sell Him for silver, and for gold; they will put their hearts more on the world and the things of the world than they will upon righteousness.)7 "And in that day," Christ said of them to His Disciples, "will I visit them, even in turning their works upon their own heads." This prophecy of the Savior's was fulfilled when in the fourth generation they were destroyed.

Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 7

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