Moroni’s invitation to come unto Christ (v. 30) is an invitation to be baptized into the restored Church (see 3 Nephi 12:3; 21:6; 27:20). To lay hold upon every good gift is an invitation to use the Holy Ghost after baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. The gifts of the Spirit are to be used as directed by Christ, who is the administrator— God of this earth (see Moroni 10:17–18; 3 Nephi 20:27). The evil gift that Moroni warns against is Satan who has a counterfeit gift for every gift of God. The evil gift is listed as singular because Satan is the source of all evil (see Moroni 7:17). The unclean thing, although also listed as singular, seems to refer to those things that are not accepted even in the world, the dishonesty, the bribes, lying and cheating, and similar unacceptable traits in the eyes of the Lord (see Isaiah 33:14–15).
Jesus personally gave the same invitation to the inhabitants of the land of Palestine: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30). Even in Old Testament times, Nephi also noted that Christ “inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile” (2 Nephi 26:33). The invitation has always been there for the earth’s inhabitants to accept or reject.
Following Moroni’s exhortation to come unto Christ, he quotes parts of Isaiah 52:1–2 and 54:2 as in our present Bible text. He is quoting these verses as evidence of prophecies that will be fulfilled unto the house of Israel (Moroni 10:31). Jerusalem rising from the dust (v. 31) is that city becoming a Zion city (see Ether 13:5, 11 and comments in chapter 9 of this work). The Isaiah 52 prophecies were partially interpreted by the Prophet Joseph Smith:
7 Questions by Elias Higbee: What is meant by the command in Isaiah, 52d chapter, 1st verse, which saith: Put on thy strength, O Zion—and what people had Isaiah reference to?
8 He had reference to those whom God should call in the last days, who should hold the power of priesthood to bring again Zion, and the redemption of Israel; and to put on her strength is to put on the authority of the priesthood, which she, Zion, has a right to by lineage; also to return to that power which she had lost. [D&C 113:7–8]
The Prophet Joseph said further: “We ought to have the building up of Zion as our greatest object” (TPJS, 160). Therefore, Moroni is using a prophecy of the completed project of the restoration. To “strengthen [Zion’s] stakes and enlarge thy borders forever” is a paraphrase of Isaiah 54:2, and again a prophecy of the final stages of the restoration. As quoted and interpreted by the Savior in 3 Nephi 22:2, this will come about after the return of the lost tribes and the gathering of the rest of scattered Israel from among all the nations of the earth commences (see 3 Nephi 21:26–29).
The last three verses of Moroni 10 above, are a summary of the whole chapter. Moroni returns to his former exhortation (Moroni 10:30), as indicated by, “Yea, come unto Christ (v. 32). To be perfected in Christ (v. 32) comes through charity, the pure love of Christ (v. 32; Moroni 7:47–48). To deny yourself of all ungodliness (Moroni 10:32) is to not touch the unclean thing (v. 30). It is also to exercise hope and do good works. To love God with all of your might, mind, and strength (v. 32) is referred to by Christ to his Jerusalem Twelve Apostles after the last supper: “It you love me, keep my commandments,” which will bring perfection in Christ and bring “another comforter, that he may abide with you forever” (John 14:15–16). The other Comforter, as described by the Prophet Joseph Smith, “is no more nor less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; … when any man obtains this last Comforter, he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him, or appear unto him from time to time, and even He will manifest the Father unto him, and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions of the heavens will be opened unto him, and the Lord will teach him face to face, and he will have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God” (TPJS, 150–51). Therefore, through his grace you are perfected in Christ, and can no more deny the power of God (Moroni 10:32).
Sanctification is the requirement for eternal life (see D&C 88:2). It comes through the grace or the gift of God (Moroni 10:33), the Atonement, and the pouring out of his Spirit and priesthood blessings upon you (see Helaman 3:35; Alma 13:11–12).
Moroni’s farewell until he meets us at the bar of the Eternal Judge (Moroni 10:34) is also a summation statement (see v. 27). Moroni’s role at the judgment bar is probably much more official than many have thought. Nephi concluded his record upon the small plates with this testimony below. Notice the close similarity to Moroni’s closing testimony.
11 And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness.
12 And I pray the Father in the name of Christ that many of us, if not all, may be saved in the kingdom at that great and last day.
13 And now, my beloved brethren all those who are of the house of Israel, and all ye ends of the earth, I speak unto you as the voice of one crying from the dust: Farewell until that great day shall come.
14 And you that will not partake of the goodness of God, and respect the words of the Jews, and also my words, and the words which will proceed out of the mouth of the Lamb of God, behold, I bid you an everlasting farewell, for these words will condemn you at the last day.
15 For what I seal on earth, shall be brought against you at the judgment bar; for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey. Amen. [2 Nephi 33:11–15]
The Book of Mormon has “the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people” (Revelation 14:6–7; see also D&C 88:103–104). “The nations who shall possess [the Book of Mormon] shall be judged of [the Book of Mormon], according to the words that are written” (2 Nephi 25:22). “This generation shall have my words [Book of Mormon] that are given through [Joseph Smith]” (D&C 5:4–10). The individuals of those nations who respect Nephi’s words will see Nephi at the judgment bar as a confirmation of his writings. He bid them farewell until that day. Those who reject Nephi’s words will be judged and condemned by them, thus Nephi bid them an everlasting farewell.
After recording the great allegory of the destiny of the house of Israel (Jacob 5), Jacob also bore his testimony of a final meeting with the reader of the Book of Mormon: “Finally, I bid you farewell, until I shall meet you before the pleasing bar of God, which bar striketh the wicked with awful dread and fear. Amen” (Jacob 6:13). Jacob had previously invited his brethren to “repent ye, and enter in at the strait gate, and continue in the way which is narrow, until ye shall obtain eternal life” (Jacob 6:11). There will be both joy and fear at the judgment bar.
Mormon does not say he will see the readers of his words at the judgment bar. However, he does “write unto you all, that ye may know that ye must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.” He also wrote that they might “believe the gospel of Jesus Christ which ye shall have among you” (Mormon 3:20–21). Their opportunity to believe the gospel will come through the Book of Mormon going to all the ends of the earth. Mormon’s final plea to the reader speaks again of the judgment bar: “And I would that I could persuade all ye ends of the earth to repent and prepare to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ” (Mormon 3:22). Since Nephi and Jacob say they will be at the judgment bar, Mormon’s two references to the judgment-seat above are strong indications of his being there as well. This is more evident from Moroni’s testimony. As he abridged the Jaredite record, he foretold of meeting the readers of his recordings upon the plates the judgment bar: “And now I , Moroni, bid farewell unto the Gentiles, yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood. And then shall ye know that I have seen Jesus, and that he hath talked with me face to face, and that he told me in plain humility, even as a man telleth another in mine own language, concerning these things” (Ether 12:38–39).
After finishing his mission, Moroni was no longer held accountable for his reader’s sins, neither was Jacob (see 2 Nephi 9:44). Moroni bore his testimony to this principle as he concluded his father’s record (see Mormon 9:35–37), and at the close of his own book he gave this exhortation: “And I exhort you to remember these things; for the time speedily cometh that ye shall know that I lie not, for ye shall see me at the bar of God; and the Lord God will say unto you: Did I not declare my words unto you, which were written by this man, like as one crying from the dead, yea, even as one speaking out of the dust?” (Moroni 10:27). His cry from the dust will continue to the earth’s inhabitants as long as the earth remains in its mortal state. When a person leaves this mortal probation, they will meet Moroni personally. Moroni reiterated this personal meeting as he concluded the record: “And now I bid unto all farewell. I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead. Amen” (Moroni 10:34).
Thus three of the major contributors to the Book of Mormon record bear witness of being at the judgment bar of God, and the implication is that the fourth will be there too. These men are also special witnesses of Christ, prophets and apostles of their own day and eternal judges of the dead as they are met at the bar of Christ (see 3 Nephi 5:13).
There is an interesting reference in the Doctrine and Covenants that is probably referring to these four Nephite abridgers. As Joseph Smith was translating the scriptures (Bible), he was given several explanations of verses in the book of Revelation or the Revelation of St. John. One of these explanations was regarding Revelation 7:1: “And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree” (Revelation 7:1). The question and the explanation given to Joseph Smith were as follows:
Q. What are we to understand by the four angels, spoken of in the 7 chapter and lst verse of Revelation?
A. We are to understand that they are four angels sent forth from God, to whom is given power over the four parts of the earth, to save life and to destroy; these are they who have the everlasting gospel to commit to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people; having power to shut up the heavens, to seal up unto life, or to cast down to the regions of darkness. [D&C 77:8]
The eternal role of Nephi, Jacob, Mormon, and Moroni fit the Doctrine and Covenants explanation for the following reasons. First, their message, or the Book of Mormon, was to go to all the end of the world or the four quarters of the earth. Secondly, the mission of the four angels was to save life or to destroy it. In their testimonies of their being at the judgment bar, the four abridgers speak of both salvation and condemnation coming from the words they had recorded upon the plates.
What did Moroni do after he finished the translation? How long did he live, or was he also translated? We do know that he dedicated temple sites:
At the conference held at Ephraim, Sanpete County, June 25, 1875, nearly all of the speakers expressed their feelings to have a temple built in Sanpete County, and gave their views as to what point and where to build it, and to show the union that existed, Elder Daniel H. Wells said ‘Manti,’ George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young, Jr., John Taylor, Orson Hyde, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Lorenzo Young, and A. M. Musser said ‘Manti stone quarry.’ I have given the names in the order in which they spoke. At 4 p.m. that day President Brigham Young said: ‘The Temple should be built on Manti stone quarry.’ Early on the morning of April 25, 1877, President Brigham Young asked Brother Warren S. Snow to go with him to the Temple hill Brother Snow says: ‘We two were alone: President Young took me to the spot where the Temple was to stand; we went to the southeast corner, and President Young said: “Here is the spot where the Prophet Moroni stood and dedicated this piece of land for a Temple site, and that is the reason why the location is made here, and we can’t move it from this spot; and if you and I are the only persons that come here at high noon today, we will dedicate this ground.”’
Whether the dedication was before or after Moroni finished recording on the plates we do not know, but he did accomplish much as he wandered and hid from the Lamanites.