Literary: We have yet another narrative shift. Moroni has been doing two things, speaking to future generations, and speaking to divisions of that future population. He now continues to focus on the future, but he moves to a more generic address. He is not speaking to a specific type of future audience, but to all. The rhetorical question is open to all, “who can stand against the works of the Lord.” This rhetorical exclamation about events of the last days bears similarities to the verse from Malachi that is recorded from the Savior’s visit to Bountiful:
3 Nephi 24:2
2 But who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap.
Moroni is not citing Malachi, but rather using the same form. Both prophets look to the events of the last day, and proclaim by their question the inability of man to resist the work of God. For Moroni, this is a reprise of his argument that we have in Mormon 9:2. There he notes that the unbeliever will eventually be faced with the reality of the returned Savior, and they will be forced into understanding that he is the Messiah. Here he again references those obvious end times when the hidden aspects of the Lord’s work are revealed and undeniable.