I was watching a TV show about some messengers of God who were chosen to stop the apocalypse. It is completely unfounded in doctrine, but it got me thinking about the nature of prophecy.
In the show, if the chosen messengers of God are able to stop the horsemen of the apocalypse, then the end of the world is staved off for another generation, at which time another set of messengers are chosen and the world tested once again for its worthiness to continue on. The premise of the show is that prophecy is fluid, changeable. That didn’t sit well with me, so I started thinking through the 
prophecies that came to mind, and I made some discoveries about the nature of prophecy.
Let me interject here that the definitions of some terms used in the scriptures, like “forever” are up for debate. I’m not going to get into that debate. What I want to show is that the Lord thinks in terms of consistency. If I choose to be righteous, then until I make a choice to be otherwise, the blessings of the righteous will always be mine. In other words, I will receive the rewards of the righteous forever. It is only when I choose to be other than righteous that those blessings are revoked and I place my soul in peril of punishment by the laws of justice.
God knows the end from the beginning
The scriptures have always made the claim that we cannot surprise the Lord. The scriptures tell us clearly that God has seen the outcome of every life and every choice. If He didn’t know how much sin we would commit, how would He know when the Savior’s payment was sufficient to cover them all?
He knows what each of us will ultimately choose in any given situation. He was able to tell the prophet Adam the conditions of society in all ages of the world because he has all ages of time before Him continually. The prophecies made by the ancient prophets have all come to pass or will come to pass, because God has already seen it happen.
Please bear in mind that this does in no way affect our agency. All along we are given our moral agency to choose as we wish. He never interferes with that, but that doesn’t mean He doesn’t also know what choices we will ultimately make. He does. This is why we receive so many words of counsel to choose the right, so we have no excuses for the poor choices we make.
My daughter was playing on a trampoline once. I watched her from across the street as she played. It occurred to me that if she continued on in that fashion that she was going to fall and hurt herself. Just as I was about to cross the street to warn her about what was surely going to happen, she missed her footing and came down hard on her chin. As her chin hit the rail of the trampoline, she bit through her tongue.
I saw it coming. I knew what was going to happen, but that did not change her ability to change her behavior. If I had been able to warn her in advance, then she might have been able to change her behavior and had a happier experience on the trampoline. Unlike the Lord who does see the end from the beginning, and warns us of both the blessings and punishments available to us, I didn’t see far enough in advance to give my daughter fair warning.
A prophecy is promise
It is the nature of prophecy that it is unalterable. If the conditions of the promises of the Lord are met then the prophecy is sure. But that is not all. Many prophecies are part of a set of promises. The Old Testament and the Book of Mormon are full of prophecies that are in sets. Think of the trampoline story. The children of Israel are promised that certain behaviors will result in blessings, while other behaviors will result in punishments.
In the Old Testament the Lord is reminding Solomon about the covenants He had made with David, Solomon’s father. He reiterates those same promises to Solomon and promises that He will honor them. But He also teaches Solomon that covenants are two way streets. As long as Solomon and the Israelites are obedient to God’s commandments they will be blessed and protected by the power of the Lord. Only when they turn away from the Lord and worship other gods, abandoning their covenant status before God will they be punished with the same level as they were blessed previously.
This is 1 Kings 9:4-9. As you read it, note the promised blessings and the promised curses the Lord gives that are completely dependent on the behavioral choices of Solomon and his people.
4 And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments:
5 Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.
6 But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them:
7 Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:
8 And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to this house?
9 And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil.
As I read these verses, it occurred to me that the Lord wasn’t just telling the people He would be unhappy with their disobedience, He was telling them what would happen in the future. They would be run out of their country and become a mockery among other nations.
These verses give us two distinctly different futures for Israel. In the first future He is their God and protects them and blesses them. Because their kings are obedient to Him and keep His commandments He is able to guarantee their lineage and prosperity. The second future, based on their disobedience is one of turmoil, poverty, punishment, and abandonment.
The Lord did not make either of these come to pass, but He knew what the results of choices would lead to, and wanted to give them ample opportunity to make a good choice. Unfortunately, they made poor choices and took the path down the alternate future that included being a conquered people and being scattered over the whole earth.
The proclamations of the Lord are not negotiable, they are promises of what will happen, given certain conditions. This happens over and over again all throughout the Old and New Testaments. Now let’s look at the Book of Mormon and see an example or two from the western hemisphere.
In Moroni 10:19, Moroni is giving his last words before sealing up the plates once and for all. He tells us that faithful living produces gifts of the Spirit. Here are his final words about spiritual gifts.
And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that all these gifts of which I have spoken, which are spiritual, never will be done away, even as long as the world shall stand, only according to the unbelief of the children of men.
This should sound very familiar to you. It is just like what the Lord told Solomon in the Old Testament. We will always have spiritual gifts with us, but only as long as we are faithful to the covenants we make with the Lord. When we violate those covenants those gifts are taken away. Why? Because we disqualify ourselves from being able to use them. So just as the righteous will have them as gifts forever, so the unrighteous will be deprived of them forever. Whether we receive any blessing from God it will always be based on the choices we make.
In Ether 2:9 we are told the conditions of being allowed to live on the American continent.
And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fullness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fullness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.
We have evidence all throughout the Book of Mormon that this promise holds true. As long as the people are obedient to the covenants they make at baptism, the Lord helps them fight their battles with those who would do them harm. He protects and defends them. But as soon as they turn their hearts from the Lord and abandon their covenants, they are left to themselves, alone and without the protection they need from God to stay safe.
This warning and counsel is given over and over again all throughout the Book of Mormon. Yet, somehow, the people continue to choose to turn away from the Lord and are left to take punishment from the Lamanites.
The Lord is not changing the future based on our choices. We are changing our own futures by the choices we make. He only shows us, before we make those poor choices, the result of disobedience, and the results of obedience to His commandments.
The Lord has always known
2 Nephi 9:18 is a classic verse that shows us that the Lord has always known what choices we would make in mortality. It is sometimes difficult to wrap our heads around this, but before the world was even created, and the Savior chosen, He knew what all His children’s choices would be. The marvel of it all is that His foreknowledge of our choices does not affect in any way our ability to continue to exercise our agency and make moral choices.
But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever.
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Kingdoms were prepared for His faithful children even before the world was created. That means he knew, he saw, he comprehended and understood how each of us would act in mortality, even before we came here. So when the Lord gives a prophecy to a prophet, He is telling the prophet that such and such is the future outcome, based on the behavior of His children. Whether we are blessed or punished is up to the choices we make, but the promises are sure. They cannot be changed.
Kelly Merrill is semi retired and writes for https://gospelstudy.us. He lives with his wife in Idaho. His strength is being able to take difficult to understand subjects and break them down into understandable parts. He delights in writing about the gospel of Christ. Writing about the gospel is his personal missionary work to the members of the Church and to those of other faiths who are wanting to know more about Christ's gospel and His Church.
My dear friend Kelly, I marvel and so much enjoy your articles, each one is so thoroughly researched and thoughtfully presented. You give us much to ponder
and peruse and no doubt we all are able to draw a little closer to our Lord. May you feel the blessings of heaven upon you and your loved ones. THANK YOU SO MUCH