Question: Is it possible that the entitled and accusatory attitude many members of the restored church exhibit today could be cause for concern that if we are not bringing forth “fruit meet for repentance” (Matthew 3:8; Alma 13:13) and “fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom” (Doctrine & Covenants 84:58) “the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” just as happened to the Jews (Matthew 21:43)?
Answer: Jesus’ parable of the vineyard—in which context he is speaking to the chief priests and Pharisees—lends perspective to his prophecy of his gospel and kingdom turning from the Jews to the Gentiles as at that point they sought to kill him. If that situation were to act as a type of the end-time, therefore, a similar murderous disposition would again need to manifest itself, perhaps this time against one or more persons representing Christ, such as his end-time servant.
A number of other prophecies would similarly need to be in place before the Lord could make such a dramatic move. According to Jesus’ words to the Nephites, for example, the Ephraimite Gentiles—“us, who are identified with the Gentiles” (Doctrine & Covenants 109:60)—would by then have rejected the fulness of the gospel after having earlier received it, at which point the gospel would turn from them to the house of Israel (3 Nephi 16:10–11; 20:15, 28–31).
The Ephraimite Gentiles would likewise have rejected Jesus’ words on the large plates of Nephi containing his explanations of the end of the world from the beginning—which words Mormon called “the greater things”—causing them to be “cut off from among my people who are of the covenant” (3 Nephi 21:10–11; 26:1–11). They would additionally have hardened their hearts to such a degree that they were “fighting against Zion” (1 Nephi 14:6–7; 2 Nephi 6:12–13).
Lastly, they would have become candidates for those branches in Zenos allegory of the olive tree “that are most bitter,” which are replaced by ones from the three daughter trees and “cast away” or “cast into the fire” (Jacob 5:52–77). In that case, the only real recourse for the Ephraimite Gentiles would be to assist the Lord’s servant to graft in the natural branches into their own olive tree, thereafter to “have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard” (Jacob 5:61, 72, 75).
