After 200 years, the peaceful condition among the Nephites began to deteriorate as pride slipped in again. Eventually, the Nephites completely and openly rebelled against God. (Morm. 2:15.) For this they were utterly destroyed. As we consider this regrettable situation, we realize that the description of the fallen Nephites matches closely the description of an individual who commits the unpardonable sin.(1) This, of course, does not mean that every individual who has his calling and election made sure will take this course. Still, it is a powerful testament to the miserable end of those who have or will.
Mormon lamented, "[The Nephites] were a.once a delightsome people, and they b.had Christ for their shepherd; yea, they c.were led even by God the Father." (Mormon 5:17.) This rings very familiar to Paul's description of those who commit the unpardonable sin: they "a.were once enlightened, and have b.tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and c.have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come...." (Heb. 6:4,5.)
Concerning such individuals, Paul said, "...It is impossible...to renew them again unto repentance...." (Hebrews 6:4-6.) Likewise, speaking of that time when the Nephites would reject God outright, Samuel said, "Behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction is made sure." (Hel. 13:38; Morm. 2:10.)(2)
When the time came that the Nephites fell, Mormon cried, "O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you!" (Morm. 6:17.) Similarly, Paul explained that individuals who fall away after having such magnificent blessings effectively "crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." (Heb. 6:6.)
Mormon explained further that if the Nephites had not rejected Christ, they "would not have fallen." (Morm. 6:18.) This is also indicative of those who have had their calling and election made sure. As long as they "commit no murder wherein they shed innocent blood," and as long as they do not "blasphemy against the Holy Ghost," then "they shall come forth in the first resurrection, and enter into their exaltation...." (D&C 132:26,27.)
However, the Lord said, "...Those who know my power, and have been made partakers thereof, and suffered themselves through the power of the devil to be overcome, and to deny the truth and defy my power--they are they who are the sons of perdition...." (D&C 76:31.) Perhaps this is why Jesus, when prophesying anciently to the Nephites of "the fourth generation from this generation" who would be "led away captive" by the devil, said their fall would be "even as...the son of perdition...." (3 Ne. 27:32.)
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Endnotes:
1. Joseph Smith taught that in order for an individual to commit the unpardonable sin, "he must receive the Holy Ghost, have the heavens opened unto him, and know God, and then sin against Him. He has got to say that the sun does not shine while he sees it; he has got to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens have been opened unto him...." (TPJS, p. 358.)
2. This period of Book of Mormon history was not the first time that the people "wilfully rebelled against their God...." (Morm. 1:16.) Before Christ came to the Nephites, it was said that "they did not sin ignorantly, for they knew the will of God concerning them...therefore they did wilfully rebel against God." (3 Ne 6:18.) Yet at that time they were not beyond repentance, for they had not received the greater blessings that followed the manifestation of Jesus Christ.
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