eloved, who was with me
in my ministry, before that I was lifted up by the Jews, desired
of me; therefore more blessed are ye, for ye shall never taste
of death, but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the
Father, unto the children of men, even until all things shall be
fulfilled, according to the will of the Father, when I shall
come in my glory, with the powers of heaven; and ye shall never
endure the pains of death; but when I shall come in my glory, ye
shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality to
immortality: and then shall ye be blessed in the kingdom of my
Father."[1497]

The blessed three were assured that in the course of their prolonged
life they should be immune to pain, and should know sorrow only as they
grieved for the sins of the world. For their desire to labor in bringing
souls unto Christ as long as the world should stand, they were promised
an eventual fulness of joy, even like unto that to which the Lord
Himself had attained. Jesus touched each of the nine who were to live
and die in the Lord, but the three who were to tarry till He would come
in His glory He did not touch. "And then he departed."

A change was wrought in the bodies of the Three Nephites, so that, while
they remained in the flesh, they were exempt from the usual effects of
physical vicissitude. The heavens were opened to their gaze; they were
caught up, and saw and heard unspeakable things. "And it was forbidden
them that they should utter; neither was it given unto them power that
they could utter the things which they saw and heard." Though they lived
and labored as men among their fellows, preaching, baptizing, and
conferring the Holy Ghost upon all who gave heed to their words, the
enemies to the truth were powerless to do them injury. Somewhat later
than a hundred and seventy years after the Lord's last visitation,
malignant persecution was waged against the Three. For their zeal in the
ministry they were cast into prison; but "the prisons could not hold
them, for they were rent in twain." They were incarcerated in
underground dungeons; "But they did smite the earth with the word of
God, insomuch that by his power they were delivered out of the depths of
the earth; and therefore they could not dig pits sufficient to hold
them." Thrice they were cast into a furnace of fire, but received no
harm; and three times were they thrown into dens of ravenous beasts,
but, "beh