Today I read 2 Nephi 10 - 11. The verses that have always stood out to me in 2 Nephi 10 are verses 3-5. Here Jacob states that none other nation on earth would crucify their own God. But if the mighty miracles had been done in any other nation they would have recognized Him as their God and repented. That's saying something! This was during the time of the Roman empire, by all rights a very wicked and perverse people.
However, I agree with this statement. It is so unfathomable to me how any people could live with Jesus and see him on an almost daily basis for just under 3 years and not recognize Him for what He is. In today's day and age I can understand people not believing in Him, even considering some of the mighty miracles that are done by use of the priesthood. However, it just blows my mind how anyone can have lived with Jesus and declared He was of the devil. The aforementioned king of lies did his work very, very well in the centuries leading up to the birth of the Savior. He had the Jews totally convinced of their own divinity and blessed state for being a "chosen" people that even their God literally staring them in the face could not convince them otherwise.
And just as President Benson stated in his great talk on Pride, it was pride that blinded them. For there were some who were on the verge of believing, even as king Noah in Mosiah chapter 17, and yet because of pride when the Savior pointed out their shortcomings and cause for repentance, just like king Noah, they rebelled against the sweet Spirit they had felt and put him to death. Truly like Laman and Lemuel so many years before them they were murders in their hearts. And yet, like Saul who later became Paul, they felt they were in the right and were happy to see the blasphemer put to death.
If nothing else, this chapter serves as a great reminder to the craftiness and cunning of the devil and a wake up call to us all to re-examine our own lives and make sure we are not turning away from our God due to the "cunning arts" of the devil as Laman and Lemuel so often accused Nephi, never once coming to the appropriate conclusion that it was in fact the very cunning arts of the evil one convincing them so thoroughly that they were turned completely around and cheerfully wrapped the chains of damnation around their own bodies and jumped into the lake of fire and brimstone with a smile on their faces. It truly is sad and a case study in pride and abject stupidity.
Let us all learn from the example of those who have gone before, both the good and the bad, and become better people today. Until tomorrow.
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