The Sealed Book from the Mormon Plates

Acts of the Three Nephites

CHAPTER 14

31-40

 

31 And the Lord of the vineyard said to the servant, Look here and see the last, behold, it refers to the descendants of Lehi, the branches of the original olive tree planted in the land of his inheritance. Behold, I have planted them on a piece of fertile land; yea, in this land overseas, and I took care of it all this time, and only a part of the tree bore good fruit; but the other part of the tree produced bitter fruit; and it happened that a long time passed since I planted them and the branches did not produce good fruit1. And the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his servant: come, let us go down, and let us return to work in this vineyard. For behold, the time draweth nigh, and the end shall come soon; therefore, I must save fruit for myself, for the next season2.

(1) RLDS Jacob 3:68 / LDS Jacob 5:26 | (2) RLDS Jacob 3:70-73 / LDS Jacob 5:27-29

 

32 It so happened after the third day after I was resurrected in Jerusalem, that I came to be among my other sheep of whom I have spoken, that these I would also have to visit, which are a branch of the house of Israel planted in a fertile land. But behold, I say to you, that although they live a period of total harmony for a short time, with the noble sentiments coming from the Most Great Gift from the Spirit of God; behold, in the course of his future days the natural tree, that is, the Jews into whom the branches wild, which are the Gentiles that were grafted, will be overburdened with every kind of fruit, both of Jew and Gentile, and this will occur both in the land of your ancestors, as well as in this land of your inheritance1, for how much, many shall come from other lands, even many Jews, from various tribes of Israel, and also from Ephraim. But, behold, there shall be many Gentiles coming from afar, from places overseas, and it shall be seen that none of their fruit shall be good unto me in this period of time2.

(1) RLDS Jacob 3:74 / LDS Jacob 5:30 | (2) RLDS Jacob 3:78 / LDS Jacob 5:3

 

33 It is therefore at this time that the prophecies concerning the days of that predicted darkness are fulfilled, which will cover the earth, when the sun will set on the prophets1, and the light of men will become darkness2 and there will be no one to tell you how much longer this will last3, by what form is that church that was foretold to Nephi, son of Lehi, that would be the most abominable of all the churches, whose founder is the devil, and who, for the praise of the world, will destroy the saints of God and also enslave them in that land that separates the seed of Lehi, through the many waters4.

(1) Micah 3:6 | (2) Jeremiah 13:16 | (3) Psalms 74:9 | (4) RLDS 1Nephi 3:140-145 / LDS 1Nephi 13:5-10

 

34 And the Lord of the vineyard said unto the servant, What shall we do for this tree, that it may again store its good fruit for me? And the servant said to his master, "Look, because you have grafted branches of the wild olive tree, that is, the Gentiles in the natural olive tree, through Christ, then they nourished the roots, so that they are alive and not dead; see, therefore, that they are still good”.

 

35 But, behold, the Lord of the vineyard said unto his servant: It is of no use to me the tree and its roots if they bear evil fruit. Nevertheless, knowing that their roots are good I will preserve them for a future purpose; and because of their great strength they have produced good fruits of the grafted branches, and henceforth the grafted branches will grow and overcome the roots of the tree; and because the branches are grafted will grow and overcome the roots, then it will produce many evil fruits and be thrown into the fire, unless we do something to preserve it1.

(1) RLDS Jacob 3:79-84 / LDS Jacob 5:33-37

 

36 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his servant: Let us go down into the lower parts of the vineyard, to see whether the natural branches also produced forth evil fruit. And it came to pass that they saw that the fruits of the natural branches were corrupted also because of that abominable church; yea, the first and the second, and also the last; and all the churches that had tried to bring forth good fruit had been corrupted1. But, behold, the Lord of the vineyard then said to his servant, this is the fulfillment of the vision of Nephi concerning that man whom he saw that was separated from the seed of his brethren by the many waters; and I saw that the Spirit of God came down and inspired the man; and as the man went through the many waters, he came to the seed of his brethren which was in the land of the promise, just as he saw the Spirit of God inspire other Gentiles, which are branches of the wild olive tree, and therefore remnant of the house of Israel; and they went
forth out of the captivity, and crossed over the many waters, and received the good land by inheritance, for they humbled themselves before the Lord; and the power ofthe Lord was with them2.

(1) RLDS Jacob 3:86-87 / LDS Jacob 5:39 | (2) RLDS 1Nephi 3:147-151 / LDS 1Nephi 13:12-15

 

37 But these last grafted branches, that is, Gentiles brought to this land overseas, will also surmount the seed of Lehi and his brethren and the branch of the seed of his brethren will dry up and die; and the Lord will cry for his loss, because all the fruit of his vineyard will perish except these; but now are also corrupted, and all the trees of his vineyard are of no avail except to be cut down and cast into the fire1.

(1) RLDS Jacob 3:88-92 / LDS Jacob 5:40-42

 

38 But, behold, the Lord of the vineyard cut off the trees that obstructed this piece of land, and planted another tree in his place1, fulfilling the promise which Joseph the son of Jacob had obtained from God the Father, when he told him that he would raise from his loins a "fair branch" to the house of Israel; and being righteous, though he is Gentile, will be counted as being part of the natural olive tree; for he will be truly a descendant of Joseph; not the Messiah, but that "graft" of which Lehi prophesied, which is to come in the fullness of the Gentiles in the last days, when your descendants have degenerated, fallen into unbelief, yea, for the space of many years and for many generations after the Messiah manifests himself in person to the children of men, then the fulness of my gospel shall come to the Gentiles; and of the Gentiles, to the remnant of your descendants2.

(1) RLDS Jacob 3:94 / LDS Jacob 5:44 | (2) RLDS 1Nephi 4:16 / RLDS 1Nephi 15:13

 

39 Yea, to bring the Gentiles out of the darkness, which shall be upon the earth in those days; nevertheless, this graft will be a seer who will guide my people again to the path of light1.

(1) RLDS 2Nephi 2:6-10 / LDS 2Nephi 3:5-6

 

40 And the Lord of the vineyard saw that a part of this planted tree in the last days, produced good and bad fruit, that is, good and bad feelings in the people who make up the branches of his vineyard; in such a way that the brave branch produced bad fruits that surpassed the good branch1. And now, after all the care we have taken with the vineyard, its grafts have become corrupted, so that none of them bring forth good fruit; and these I hoped to keep in order to get its fruits for me, for the season to come.
(1) RLDS Jacob 3:95-96 / LDS Jacob 5:45