When the Lord says, “Righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood” (Moses 7:62), are there scriptural links that may clarify what he means?
We know, for example, that the context of this verse is a time of worldwide distress, when “great tribulations shall be among the children of men,” when the Lord will “gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming” (Moses 7:61–62).
From Isaiah we learn that, besides its literal meaning, “Righteousness” acts as a pseudonym or alias of God’s end-time servant who comes from the east: “Who has raised up Righteousness from the east, calling him to [the place of] his foot? Who has delivered nations to him, toppled their rulers, rendering them as dust to his sword, as driven stubble to his bow?” (Isaiah 41:2).
His task is to restore righteousness in the earth: “I summon a bird of prey from the east, from a distant land the man of my counsel. What I have spoken, I bring to pass; what I have planned, I do. Hear me, you stubborn-hearted, who are far from righteousness: I have brought near my Righteousness, it is not now far off; my Salvation shall no longer be delayed” (Isaiah 46:11–13).
Righteousness prepares the way for the coming of Salvation, who is Israel’s God: “Observe justice and perform righteousness, for my Salvation will soon come when my Righteousness is revealed” (Isaiah 56:1). The servant leads Israel’s exodus out of Babylon: “Your Righteousness will go before you, and the glory of Jehovah will be your rearguard” (Isaiah 58:8).
As for truth out of the earth, the Lord tells Nephi that John will write “many things which thou hast seen,” and “also others who have been, to them hath he shown all things, and they have written them; and they are sealed up to come forth in their purity, according to the truth which is in the Lamb, in the own due time of the Lord, unto the house of Israel” (1 Nephi 14:24, 26).
Isaiah says of people in his day, “When you have been laid low, you will speak from the ground, your words uttering out of the dust: your voice from the ground shall be like that of a medium; your sayings shall whisper out of the dust” (Isaiah 29:4). The context of this verse is a time when the Lord has “shut your eyes, the prophets” and “covered your heads, the seers” (Isaiah 29:10).
Jesus adds that a “fulness” of truth will come to the Gentiles but that many won’t believe it:
“In the latter day shall the truth come unto the Gentiles, that the fulness of these things shall be made known unto them. But wo, saith the Father, unto the unbelieving of the Gentiles” (3 Nephi 16:7–8). It is at that time Israel gathers “from the four quarters of the earth” (3 Nephi 16:5).
While the believing Gentiles are “blessed” and “numbered among the house of Israel” (2 Nephi 10:18; 3 Nephi 16:6), the unbelieving Gentiles—those “at ease in Zion,” who say, “We have received, and we need no more!” and who “tremble, and are angry because of the truth of God!”—in the end these “deny” the Lord and the gift of the Holy Ghost (2 Nephi 28:24–28, 32).
