2 Nephi 23

2 Nephi 23:9-10 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; and the sun shall be darkened in his going forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. Couple of quick thoughts here: a day that is cruel and fierce to lay the land desolate and destroy the sinners. So will the righteous also suffer? The way I read it, I have to say this seems to imply yes. There are others that don't seem to imply that the righteous will suffer, but I can't think of them right now. The celestial bodies being darkened may refer to them being obscured by dark clouds from a storm or ash clouds from volcanic eruptions, or perhaps as a byproduct of a war fought with terrible weapons.

23:11 I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. Does this mean that they wicked men will still be alive while all these calamities are being poured out? I sure hope so, or the rest of the world is bearing the brunt of their temporal punishment. But that's the crux of it, isn't it? Does what happens to us temporally count as a punishment? Remembering that the goal of life is to gain a body and learn obedience through faith, is there any trial here that is not a blessing? Any calamity that does not allow us to demonstrate our commitment to God? It is interesting that it goes on to talk about how rare a man will be, implying that of the people who get burned up will be more likely to be men than women.

23:15-16 Every one that is proud shall be thrust through; yea, and every on that is joined to the wicked shall fall by the sword. Their children shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled and their wives revished. So at least some of the wicked will die, while others will watch terrible things happen to their families. I hope that those terrible things don't happen to my familiy, whether I qualify for destruction or not. That would be an awful thing to have to see.

23:21-22 But wild bests of the desert shall lie there...and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild bests of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces. HAH! Biblical proof of Satyrs and Dragons. After Babylon is destroyed, mythical creatures will show up there and we can go see them.

23:22 For I will be merciful unto my people, but The wicked shall perish. I do like the almost subtle reminder that the Lord will not treat his covenant people the same as he treats the wicked. The only problem is that the Lord is often talking about eternal destruction when we tend to focus on physical destruction. He may mean that he'll destroy them by sending them to Hell and his merciful treatment of his people is forgiving their sins and allowing them to join him in Heaven, and whatever happens to them while they are alive is not worth mentioning, for the reasons I gave above. Whichever it is, I still hope none of the terrible things discussed in this chapter happen to my family, and I hope that if they do, I will have the Lord's help in keeping an eternal perspective.
Marshall told me about a fellow who had spoken in church a few weeks ago whose 18 month old daughter had drowned and he was crying tears of gratitude that he was able to be a part of her life for those 18 months. From an eternal perspective, what matters is that she had a chance to come to earth, gain a physical body, and return to God in Heaven, and to her parents, it is an opportunity to understand (very slightly) some of the pain that Christ suffered for us as he took our sins and iniquities and infirmities upon himself. But I'm sure it's not easy and hope that I don't have to go through it.