158 Years: A Type for Our Day

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A very broad type can quickly be discerned in these books. We shall call it an "End-Time Type":

• Book of Mosiah=The Gathering
• Book of Alma=The Gospel Goes To All The World; Tribulation Begins
• Book of Helaman=The Tribulation Increases
• Third Book of Nephi=The Tribulation Ends; The Glory Coming of Christ
• Fourth Book of Nephi=The Millenium

Book of Mosiah=The Gathering
At the end of the book of Omni we learn that Mosiah is warned by the Lord to take those Nephites who would believe and flee from the land of Nephi. The Lord leads this small group of people down to the land of Zarahemla where they meet a group of people who had come out from Jerusalem shortly after Lehi. The Nephites, in essence, lose the land of Nephi, their land of inheritance, because, as a nation, they are not faithful in keeping their covenant with the Lord.

However, the Lord is faithful in keeping his covenant with those who would believe, and he gives them a new land of inheritance, the land of Zarahemla.

Zeniff, a Nephite who gathered to Zarahemla under Mosiah 1, evidently does not understand this principle and wants to return to his homeland. He takes a group of people back to the land of Nephi and makes a treaty with the Lamanites. Zeniff is not a "bad" man but his lack of understanding of the Lord's purposes put two generations in jeopardy. He gives the leadership of this colony to his wicked son, Noah, even though the record indicates he has other sons. Noah is the archetype for wickedness in the Book of Mormon, and the people suffer greatly at his hands as well as at the hands of the Lamanites. This suffering could have been avoided had the people had the greater vision of the Lord's purposes in gathering them to Zarahemla.

Once again the Lord in his mercy sends the prophet Abinadi to bring the people to remembrance of their covenant with him. Alma, a priest of Noah, believes Abinadi and gathers those who also believe. They separate themselves from Noah and his people. Even though, as a people, this Nephite colony lacks the vision of what God is trying to do with them, God uses those who would receive the words of the prophet Abinadi to once again establish his covenant in the Nephite nation. Not only does God provide spiritual salvation to Alma and his group, ultimately he provides their physical salvation, and they are led back to Zarahemla.