2 Nephi 23

I suggest the reader go to the gospeldoctrine.com entry for 2 Nephi 23 and read all that the author has written there. You will find it very useful and helpful. Then comeback and read the rest of this entry.

I was a furniture delivery boy in a small town. The owner of the store sold his furniture out of this old, old building downtown. All of the furniture was on the street level floor of the store. The building had a 2nd level too. The only way you could access it was via a staircase from the back of the building. The owner usually kept it locked and we hardly ever went up there. One time my delivery partner and I needed to go up there for some reason that I can't recall right now. It was a fall afternoon and as we climbed up the stairs, we could see the sunlight streaming into the windows. When we reached the top, it was as if we had stepped back 80 years in time. We saw old, dusty desks and shelves with mail and papers scattered all over the place. Some of the letters were unopened and undelivered. In my mind's eye I could see people hustling and bustling around the office. But on that present day, all was quite. There was a depressing, sorrowful feeling about the room.

A few years later, I found myself in the jungles of Guatemala at the popular tourist attraction El Tikal. I was in awe as I walked among the ruins of the ancient Mayan civilization. As I contemplated what could have become of the people who used to live there hundreds of years ago, I got the same sorrowful feeling as I had back in that old office. How could something so robust and glorious be found in such a dilapidated condition? How could it have "fallen"? I think of Mormon's plea when he rhetorically said, "how is it that ye could have fallen?" (Mormon 6:19). Of course we know the answer to Mormon's question … they fell because of sin. They did not keep the commandments and the Lord destroyed them.

The same will happen in the last days. The people will become increasingly wicked and the fall of the World will be similar to the fall of Babylon. Babylon was powerful and glorious too. But because of wickedness, it was destroyed. Because of wickedness, the people of this world who do not repent will be destroyed too.