Question: So far, we have seen very few Jewish people accept Jesus. Yet the scriptures speak of a mass conversion of the Jews. Do we have any idea when that will happen?
Answer: A search of the scriptures reveals three distinct phases of Jewish conversion to Jesus. The first phase consists of a “beginning” of belief and a “beginning” of gathering to the Land of Israel: “It shall come to pass that the Jews which are scattered also shall begin to believe in Christ; and they shall begin to gather in upon the face of the land; and as many as shall believe in Christ shall also become a delightsome people” (2 Nephi 30:7).
That beginning phase began in the nineteenth century and continues to this day. Nearly all Jewish pioneers to the Land of Israel were secular Jews. Many believed in Jesus but refused to join any religion. Religious Jews, on the other hand, at first opposed a return to the Land. But later, when they saw its success, they joined the migration. A recent increase in “messianic Jews”—ones who believe in Jesus—may be the prelude to a greater conversion.
A second phase consists of a mass Jewish conversion to Jesus and a renewal of their covenant when the Gentiles as a whole reject the gospel sometime after they have received it: “They [the Gentiles] shall be a scourge unto the people of this land. Nevertheless, when they shall have received the fulness of my gospel, then if they shall harden their hearts against me I will return their iniquities upon their own heads, saith the Father.
“And I will remember the covenant which I have made with my people; and I have covenanted with them that I would gather them together in mine own due time, that I would give unto them again the land of their fathers for their inheritance, which is the land of Jerusalem, which is the promised land unto them forever, saith the Father. And it shall come to pass that the time cometh, when the fulness of my gospel shall be preached unto them; And they shall believe in me, that I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and shall pray unto the Father in my name” (3 Nephi 20:28–31; cf. 1 Nephi 13:39–42; Mormon 5:14).
That conversion of the main body of Jews in the world occurs after their long dispersion. It forms an integral part of the Lord’s “great and marvelous work,” which Isaiah and Book of Mormon prophets define as the end-time restoration of all twelve tribes of the house of Israel. In relation to it, the restoration of the gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith is called the beginning, commencement, or foundation of the great and marvelous work:
“After they have been scattered, and the Lord God hath scourged them by other nations for the space of many generations, yea, even down from generation to generation until they shall be persuaded to believe in Christ, the Son of God, and the atonement, which is infinite for all mankind—and when that day shall come that they shall believe in Christ, and worship the Father in his name, with pure hearts and clean hands, and look not forward any more for another Messiah,
“Then, at that time, the day will come that it must needs be expedient that they should believe these things. And the Lord will set his hand again the second time to restore his people from their lost and fallen state. Wherefore, he will proceed to do a marvelous work and a wonder among the children of men” (2 Nephi 25:16–17; cf. Isaiah 11:10–12).
The third and final phase of Jewish conversion occurs when Jesus appears to the minority religious faction of Jews at his coming on the Mount of Olives. These last holdouts of unbelief will then see him in person:
“Then shall the Jews look upon me and say: What are these wounds in thine hands and in thy feet? Then shall they know that I am the Lord; for I will say unto them: These wounds are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. I am he who was lifted up. I am Jesus that was crucified. I am the Son of God. And then shall they weep because of their iniquities; then shall they lament because they persecuted their king” (Doctrine & Covenants 45:51–53; cf. Zechariah 12:7, 10).
