A favorite activity of my grandchildren is to get the box of legos, or a box of toys or Lincoln logs, and dump it out on the floor.  After stirring the spill around a bit, they’re off to another activity.  With all the legos to be trodden underfoot, it sometimes becomes difficult to walk through the room. It’s often my wife or I who get the privilege of gathering those hundreds of pieces together and of putting them away.  Therefore, when I see the little ones heading for the toys I always issue this warning:  “If you make a mess, you clean it up.”  I might also say, “You don’t need to dump the whole box.  Just take out the pieces as you need them:  it will make cleanup easier.  If you make a mess, you clean it up.”

A recurring theme in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon is the prophecy that the House of Israel will be scattered.  The prophecy is that the House of Israel will be scattered by the Gentiles “because of their unbelief.” (3 Ne. 16:4).

The Assyrians carried off the Northern Kingdom of Israel.  Babylon carried away Judah.  The American Gentile nation “camped against (Lehi’s descendants) round about, and…laid siege against them with a mount, and raised forts against them; and…brought (them) down low in the dust…”  (2 Ne. 26:15).

But “notwithstanding they have come forth upon the face of this land, and have scattered my people who are of the House of Israel; and my people who are of the House of Israel have been cast out from among them, and have been trodden under feet by them;” (3 Ne. 16:8) yet “in the latter days, when (the seed of Lehi) shall have dwindled in unbelief, yea, for the space of many years…then shall the fullness of the gospel of the Messiah come unto the Gentiles, and from the Gentiles unto the remnant of (the seed of Lehi).”  (1 Ne. 15:13).

The remnants of the House of Israel are to be “nursed by the Gentiles.” (1 Ne. 22:6).  The gospel of the Messiah will be taken to the House of Israel by the Gentiles, and the House of Israel will thus be gathered.

The Gentiles made the mess.  It’s only appropriate that they should clean it up.

“If you make the mess, you clean it up.”

That’s the principle, and it’s being carried out before our very eyes.