A Book

1 Nephi 1: 11 - 13

     "...and the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read.  And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord. And he read, saying:  Wo,wo, unto Jerusalem, for I have seen thine abominations!  Yea, and many things did my father read concerning Jerusalem - that it should be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof; many should perish by the sword, and many should be carried away captive into Babylon."

As our group was looking at this part of Lehi's experience a few questions came up.

What is the book that Lehi is given to read?

Is this book referred to in any other place in the scriptures?

What else might this book contain besides the part that Lehi referred to?

Why are the scriptures specific in mentioning that it was the act of reading the book that caused Lehi to be filled with the Spirit of the Lord?

A look in the scriptures and the teachings of the Prophet Joseph for other references reveals some things that may or may not be related to the book Lehi is reading.

     "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life:  and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." (Revelation 20: 12)

Is the book Lehi is reading one of the heavenly "books" John the Revelator saw that were opened to judge the dead?

If so is this in any way related to what was revealed to the Prophet Joseph?

     "And then shall the first angel again sound his trump in the ears of all living, and reveal the secret acts of men, and the mighty works of God in the first thousand years.  And then shall the second angel sound his trump, and reveal the secret acts of men, and the thoughts and intents of their hearts, and the mighty works of God in the second thousand years- And so on, until the seventh angel shall sound his trump;..." (D&C 88:108 - 110)

Is it necessary that in order for the works of men to be judged justly that the thoughts and intents of their hearts must be taken into account?

Laman and Lemuel judged the people at Jerusalem to be righteous based solely on outward actions they saw with their eyes.

     "And we know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments, according to the law of Moses; wherefore we know that they are a righteous people; and our father hath judged them, and hath led us away because we would hearken unto his words..." (1 Nephi 17:22)

we know from scripture that the Lord looks upon the heart.

     "...for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

Would it be abominable to the Lord for a person or people to do the right thing(s) for the wrong reason or for ill or impure intent?

Also, from other records we know that the people at Jerusalem had changed or abandoned the correct ordinances of the Lord.

Isaiah declared,

     "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." (Isaiah 24:5)

Would the changes or the abandoment of His original ordinaces be abominable to God?

In addition we know from other records that the people of Jerusalem were full of all manner of secret and public works of wickedness.

Is it possible that the books that will be opened to judge the dead and the book Lehi read contain information about the thoughts and intents of men's hearts and their secret works?

Is that why Lehi is led to exclaim "I have seen thy abominations!" because the book he is reading shows all of this?

Is it possible that the angels "revealing" the secret acts of men and the mighty works of God in the end will be reading from these books? (One of which might possibly be the book Lehi was given to read?)

As an aside, isn't it interesting that it was the Lord who gave Lehi the book to read?

In the Book of Revelation we read the following.

     "And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.  An I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud vice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?  And no man in heaven, nor in earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.  And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.  And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain, having twelve horns and twelve eyes, which are the twelve servants of God, sent forth into all the earth.  And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by blood out of every nation;" (JST Revelation 5:1 - 9)

John saw that the one who was worthy to take the "book" and open it was Christ because of His sacrifice to redeem us.

We don't know if this is directly related at all to Lehi's experience but it is an interesting similarity nonetheless.

It would seem that access to the book would require the power of the Lord because He alone is worthy to open the book.

Back to the post.

As we look at Lehi being filled with the "Spirit of the Lord" by the act of reading this book it might be good to look at other instances of the "Spirit of the Lord" being manifest in scripture.

What is the "Spirit of the Lord"?

How and when is it manifest?

Is it different than the Holy Ghost?

If the "Spirit of the Lord" and the "Holy Ghost" are the same thing why don't the scriptures just use the "Spirit of the Lord" or the "Holy Ghost" and help us avoid all the confusion we might have?

Concerning the prophet Ether, the Book of Mormon records,

     "And Ether was a prophet of the Lord; wherefore Ether came forth in the days of Coriantumur, and began to prophesy unto the people, for he could not be restrained because of the Spirit of the Lord which was with him." (Ether 12:2)

Nephi during the record of his vision noted the following.

     "...-for I spake unto him as a man speaketh; for I beheld that he was in the form of a man; yet nevertheless, I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another." (1 Nephi 1: 11)

Nephi at two different times in his record states,

     "...for all things which the Lord hath spoken concerning Jerusalem must be fulfilled.  For behold, The Spirit of the Lord ceaseth soon to strive with them;" (1 Nephi 7:13 - 14)

     "For the Spirit of the Lord will not always strive with man.  And when the Spirit ceaseth to strive with manthen cometh speedy destruction, and this grieveth my soul." (2 Nephi 26:11)

two verses later Nephi refers to the "Holy Ghost" as a different thing entirely.

     "...he manifesteth himself unto all those who believe on him, by the power of the Holy Ghost; yea, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people,..."(2 Nephi 26: 13)

In the book of Ether we have the following.

     "And the brother of Jared repented of the evil which he had done, and did call upon the name of the Lord for his brethren who were with him.  And the Lord said unto him: I will forgive thee and thy brethren of their sins; but thou shalt not sin any more, for ye shall remember that my Spirit will not always strive with man;..."(Ether 2:15)

From what Nephi stated about the "Spirit of the Lord" not always striving with man and what is stated in the book of Ether; the Lord stating clearly that His "Spirit" will not always strive with man, does this mean that anytime we see the word "Spirit" capitalized in scripture that it means His "Spirit" or the "Spirit of the Lord"?

If so then we see another attribute of the "Spirit of the Lord", or in other words, the "Spirit" from what Jacob declared.

     "Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be;..." (Jacob 4:13)

We are sure that there are many more scriptures that further define the "Spirit of the Lord" and give us an even clearer view of how and when this Spirit is manifest but from just the above we can see that:

1) The Sprit of the Lord, as Nephi described, is in the form of a man.

2) The Spirit of the Lord strives with man, which seems to indicate working with man, and when the       Spirit of the Lord ceases to work with man because of their wickedness, or in other words                   withdraws because of their wickedness, destruction soon follows.

3) The Spirit of the Lord can be with someone to give them power to do the work they are called to         do so they cannot be "restrained".

4) The Spirit of the Lord speaks of things as they really are and of things as they really shall be. This   is very similar to the definition of truth in section 93 of the D&C.  "And truth is a knowledge of        things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;" (D&C 93:24) 

Christ declared further in section 93,

     "The Spirit of truth is of God.  I am the Spirit of truth, and John bore record of me, saying: He received a fulness of truth, yea, even of all truth;" (D&C 93: 26)

At this point, could we reasonably consider that Lehi, accompanied by the Lord, the Spirit of truth, is able, as he reads the book given him, to see things as they really are; the way God sees them with His perfect light?

 Is that why he is able to exclaim "I have seen thine abominations", concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem while others cannot see what is hidden from their eyes?

Would Lehi have ever been able to read the book without the accompanying power of Him who is worthy, the Spirit of truth; He who has received a fulness of truth?

He is also, with the accompanyment of the Spirit of truth, able to read from the book things as they really will be; the destruction of Jerusalem and the death and captivity of the residents there.

This brings up a pertinent question for us.

If it was by the Spirit of the Lord that Lehi was able to see things as they really were and would be among the Jews, allowing him to leave behind abominations and escape judgment, then can we by the same principle come to see things as they really are now so that we can leave any and all wickedness and abominations behind and escape judgment now?