I notice in the dealings of God with men, the constant separation and unification themes. Christ spoke of being "One" with the Father and prayed that His disciples would be "One" with Him and Heavenly Father. Many times we see people separating and fighting or unifying in love for God through out the scriptures.
All the inspired books of scripture are mainly concerned with turning the hearts of men to God. And to the turning of the hearts to each other as it says in Malachi 4 "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Again repeated in Mosiah 18:21, this concept- "And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another."
The greatest commandments are to love God and love each other, "let every man esteem his brother as himself" (Doctrine and Covenants 38:24), while in the servitude of others we are serving God (Mosiah 2:17). "And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people" (4th Nephi 1:15). Later on in 4th Nephi it says they began to be prideful and then "began to be divided into classes; and they began to build up churches unto themselves to get gain, and began to deny the true church of Christ."
When our hearts are turned away from others and God, then we sin and die spiritually which causes separation. The Lord separated from Adam when He "caused that he [Adam] should be cast out from the Garden of Eden, from my presence, because of his transgression, wherein he became spiritually dead" (Doctrine and Covenants 29:41). As we know "He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living" (Mark 12:27) and "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22). In our sin, we separate ourselves from God and others, but, in our love, faith and humility in Christ, we reconcile to God and to others.
The righteous and wicked are separated spiritually and often phsycially by "a great and a terrible gulf" (1 Nephi 12:18). Whether it was the righteous seeking a way out of the wicked ways of the society (Lehi, Moses, Brigham Young) or the the wicked seeking to dissent and fall into class distinction and war because of their pride (4th Nephi, Alma 3-4, 3rd Nephi 6) the two societies are always distinct and at opposition. The distinction between the righteous and the wicked is not based on sins, because "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1:6-7). So the distinction between the righteous and the wicked isn't sin but Jesus Christ, because He cleanses those that follow Him and walk in the light. The wicked are wicked because because they reject Christ, not because they sin. Remember we're all brethren and children of God.
The Lord often was mocked and criticized by the Pharisees and Sadducees, "saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them" (Luke 15:2). But, Christ responded "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick...I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9:12-13). The Lord went to those that would receive Him, not unto those that found no need for a Savior. Another example of this distinction is in Alma 32, when the people were separated by pride and poverty. Alma went preaching and one of the poor said "Behold, what shall these my brethren do, for they are despised of all men because of their poverty, yea, and more especially by our priests; for they have cast us out of our synagogues which we have labored abundantly to build with our own hands; and they have cast us out because of our exceeding poverty; and we have no place to worship our God; and behold, what shall we do? " These people were just like those Christ was with, the humble and poor in heart, the teachable, the repentant, the meek. "And now when Alma heard this, he turned him about, his face immediately towards him, and he beheld with great joy; for he beheld that their afflictions had truly humbled them, and that they were in a preparation to hear the word." Whats the main distinguishing feature of the righteous? Doctrine and Covenants 97:3 says "Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me."
Besides the inward spiritual separation there are also outward behaviors that reveal distinguishing traits or fruits of the righteous from the wicked. The righteous tend to be industrious (shown here), giving to the poor (shown here), "always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God" (Ether 12:4), and “miracles, signs, and wonders, unto all those who believe" (Doctrine and Covenants 35:8). While the wicked tend to be "an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety" (2 Nephi 5:25), "a lazy and an idolatrous people; therefore they were desirous to bring us into bondage, that they might glut themselves with the labors of our hands; yea, that they might feast themselves upon the flocks of our fields" (Mosiah 9:12). The wicked seem to always strive to take advantage of someone and seek power over others to esteem themselves better than others. As the Lord has outlined "Ye shall know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16).
The Lord makes many promises to the righteous and stern warnings to the wicked-
"The meek shall inherit the Earth" -Matthew 5:5
"Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer. " -Doctrine and Covenants 42:42
"They shall fall into the pit which they digged to ensnare the people of the Lord. And all that fight against Zion shall be destroyed." -1 Nephi 22:14
"For after today cometh the burning … all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I will burn them up, for I am the Lord of Hosts; and I will not spare any that remain in Babylon.” -D&C 64:23–24
"Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" -Revelation 3:17
"For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." - Revelation 7:17
“The time is soon at hand that I shall come in a cloud with power and great glory. And it shall be a great day at the time of my coming, for all nations shall tremble. But before that great day shall come, the sun shall be darkened and the moon be turned into blood; and the stars shall refuse their shining, and some shall fall, and great destructions await the wicked." -Doctrine and Covenants 34:7-9
"And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not." -2 Nephi 24:17-18
Notes:
In Jacob 5, the Master of the Vineyard of the "tame and wild olive tress" is working tirelessly to help his olive trees grow without being corrupted. There is a moment in the allegory where the Master says "What more could I have done?" showing that the fruit had become corrupted despite his labors and then once more they labor in the vineyard and are able to lay up some good fruit. The last line of the allegory says "Then will I cause the good and the bad to be gathered; and the good will I preserve unto myself, and the bad will I cast away into its own place. And then cometh the season and the end; and my vineyard will I cause to be burned with fire." Separation of the wheat from the tares. Revelation 3:15-16 says "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." This is probably one of the most descriptively stunning scriptures because it looks at our righteousness in terms of temperature and says we're in the Lord's mouth which sounds confusing but basically the Lord is saying to not be in the middle of the great gulf but to "choose ye this day whom ye will serve" (Alma 30:8).
