Many prophets of the Old Testament wrote concerning the scattering of Israel and their eventual gathering in the last days, including Jeremiah, Zephaniah and Isaiah who described the latter day event as a marvelous work and a wonder in conjunction with the coming of a sealed book. Ezekiel prophecied that two nations would each produce their own record testifying of the divinity of Jesus Christ.

In Ezekiel 37 we read:

15. The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
16. Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17. And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19. Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

We have been promised that the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Joseph would surely testify of Jesus Christ. These old world prophets wrote their words on papyrus, parchment, skins, etc and were rolled on sticks and stored as scrolls when they were not studied. Today, because of the invention of the printing press, we have books.

Nephi, the first recorded prophet of Joseph’s tribe in the new world, wrote the following in 2 Nephi 29 of the Book of Mormon:

12 For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it.
13 And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews.
14 And it shall come to pass that my people, which are of the house of Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possessions; and my word also shall be gathered in one. And I will show unto them that fight against my word and against my people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham that I would remember his seed forever.

As mentioned in part one, Lehi took his family out of Jerusalem and from him stemmed two nations–Nephites and Lamanites, both named after two of Lehi’s sons, Nephi and Laman. Eventually the Nephites rejected the Lord and were destroyed by the Lamanites, who eventually became a lost and fallen people on the American continent, but were given a promise that would be fulfilled in the last days.

Today there are no doubt countless millions of Abraham’s seed scattered throughout the earth. And while most of us have forgotten about or are oblivious to the covenant that the Lord made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the Lord certainly has not forgotten His covenant, nor has He ever stopped His work of uniting all His children under this covenant. This has proven to be a major paradigm shift for the humble seekers of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in the last days.