According to the justice of God, the wicked cannot be destroyed until certain conditions are met. These conditions are that the people have reached such a state of wickedness that the Lord is justified in punishing them and that they have been sufficiently warned by the prophets. Both of these conditions will have been met prior to the destruction of the wicked in the last days.
We can see a pattern in the many other societies who have been destroyed by the Lord. First, was the flood, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen 6:5). Obviously, Noah was the prophet of warning. This pattern was repeated with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Jews in the meridian of time, the Jaredites, the Nephites at the time of the coming of Christ, and the Nephites prior to their ultimate destruction.
What is remarkable about Nephi’s prophecy is that in the last days all the lands of the earth will reach such a state of wickedness that they will be ripe for destruction. Paul accurately described the state of being drunken with iniquity:
’In the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: form such turn away.
For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
…men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men.’ (2 Tim 3:1-9)