Isles of the Sea

In my recent reading in the Book of Mormon, I was impressed by Nephi's consideration of the Lord's blessings to come to those of the "Isles of the Sea." In his teachings, he mentions and quotes from the Old Testament — the version he had with him: the brass plates.

He made it plain that he considered that he then lived on an isle of the sea: "And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off; nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a better land, for the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea." - 2 Ne 10:20

He had earlier quoted from Isaiah, from what is now in our chapter 49, this promise: "Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time have I heard thee, O isles of the sea, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee my servant for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;" - 1 Ne 21:8.  I also noted that the phrase, "O isles of the sea," actually does not appear in our Isaiah, chapter 49, so it had been removed from the Bible a long time ago.

Earlier in his writings, Nephi mentions the words of the prophet Zenos, where he says, "Yea, then will he remember the isles of the sea; yea, and all the people who are of the house of Israel, will I gather in, saith the Lord, according to the words of the prophet Zenos, from the four quarters of the earth." - 1 Ne 19:16. Again, Zenos is also a prophet, whose writings were removed from the Bible a long time ago.

One reason for my consideration of the "isles of the sea," is that I realized that my own ancestors mainly came from islands, and they lived there when the restoration of the Gospel began in the early 1800s. Many were from Denmark, that part of Denmark that was on the Sjelland island (Copenhagen, etc.). I also have ancestors from the Isle of Man, and from Great Britain, in general (Wales, Scotland, Ireland and England). The others of my ancestors who were not from these islands, were already in America at the time of the Restoration, which Nephi considered an "Isle of the Sea."

The flag of the Isle of Man - "No matter how they throw me, I stand!"

As we served our mission in New Zealand, we understood that the Polynesian islands are very much considered a realization of these ancient prophecies. But now I see that these great prophecies of the gathering for God's covenant people from the Isles of the Sea could very well have been realized with my own ancestors.

Hole in the Rock, North Island, New Zealand