After all these warnings, the mention of Zion, the foolishness of following the "precepts of men" Nephi turns again to identifying the most relevant group being warned. It is "the gentiles" (or us). As he considers our collective effort and how we allow the "precepts of men" to be our guide, he states his overall conclusion about our performance: "Wo be unto the Gentiles, saith the Lord God of Hosts!"
This is the third wo. And it is accompanied by a three name title. This time incorporating the "Hosts" or Family of God. This is the Father's judgment upon us. His status as the "Lord God of Hosts" is clearly intended to let us know those proud gentiles who rely upon the sparks of their own fire as their light will lay down in sorrow. (Isa. 50: 11; 2 Ne. 7: 11.)
When the Lord's open arm is extended all the day, they reject Him and walk away. They prefer their own false ideas to the truth found in Christ. In the end they have "denied the Lord" because all His efforts toward them have been rejected.
Still, despite all these failings, and all the wo's pronounced upon them, it is NOT the Lord's failure. It is the gentiles. Even now the Lord would welcome them "if they will repent and come to Him." His arm is yet "lengthened out all the day long." So long as life remains, He is pleading for our repentance. So long as we are here, He will welcome our repentance. And, so we do not miss the point, He also uses a three-name title when extending the plea to us for our repentance. He is speaking on behalf of, and as the chief among, all the "Hosts of heaven." The entire council would welcome us back, if we would but return.
Can you not sense the agony of this plea? Can you not feel the mercy God would grant to any penitent soul? Despite this, men prefer their arrogance, their own precepts, their own false teachings to being taught by the Holy Spirit. We refuse to repent because we prefer our false teachings. We prefer our traditions that build up our pride, and tell us we are going to be exalted because we are good and deserve God's favor. We've put up with tithing, and with faithful meeting attendance, and followed faithfully all kinds of leaders in every ward and stake we've ever attended. We've passed temple recommend interviews and attended faithfully our tithing settlement meetings - in short we think we've done everything God could possibly ask of us.
Except we have NOT repented and come to Christ. Had we done that, we would have been embraced in those opened arms of our Lord. In five points of contact with a loving God, we would have heard unspeakable things and know we escaped the wo's pronounced by Nephi.
Nephi's assessment of the gentile performance is consistently pessimistic. Coupled with Nephi's description of a consistently open and accepting Lord who would welcome us at any time were we willing to repent.
Nephi's message gets mangled in our distorted cultural rewriting of meanings. When someone points out what he's saying, it produces anger and resentment. The result is not particularly encouraging for the gentiles. Not merely because of Nephi's prophetic words, but also because of our reaction to them.