And now I, Nephi, proceed to give an account upon these plates of my proceedings and my reign and ministry; wherefore, to proceed with mine account, I must speak somewhat of the things of my father and also of my brethren.
What is happening at this point in Nephi's life that is the final qualification for him to be "sent" to his brothers as a "ruler and a teacher"?
Is it important to look at what is happening here when Nephi says, "wherefore, to proceed with mine account, I must speak somewhat of the things of my father and also of my brethren."?
What is happening here with Nephi's father and Nephi's brethren?
Isn't Lehi prophesying to Nephi's brethren concerning the things that he, Lehi, has seen; things that will come to pass down to the final winding-up scenes on this earth?
I would imagine that it is important that we know concerning Lehi's prophecies because the Lord intends to vindicate all of His words spoken by His holy prophets, but is it important for another reason that an account of Lehi's prophesying to Nephi's brethren is included here?
Is it possible to see something from the record of this exchange that lets us know one of the qualifications to be "sent"?
Can we compare Lehi's experience and Nephi's experience to see if they match up?
What was Lehi required to receive in order to be qualified to be "sent"?
Wherefore, it came to pass that my father Lehi, as he went forth, prayed unto the Lord, yea, even with all his heart in behalf of his people. And it came to pass as he prayed unto the Lord, there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him, and he saw and heard much. And because of the things which he saw and heard, he did quake and tremble exceedingly. And it came to pass that he returned to his own house at Jerusalem. And he cast himself upon his bed, being overcome with the spirit and the things which he had seen. And being thus overcome with the spirit, he was carried away in a vision, even that he saw the Heavens open and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God. And it came to pass that he saw one descending out of the midst of Heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noonday. And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament. And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth. 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, Woe, woe 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. And it came to pass that when my father had read and saw many great and marvelous things, he did exclaim many things unto the Lord, such as, Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high in the Heavens, and thy power, and goodness, and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth; and because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish! And after this manner was the language of my father in the praising of his God, for his soul did rejoice and his whole heart was filled because of the things which he had seen, yea, which the Lord had shewn unto him. (1 Nephi 1:5 - 15, NC 1 Nephi 1 par. 3)
Following this experience, we read concerning Lehi,
Therefore, I would that ye should know that after the Lord had shewn so many marvelous things unto my father Lehi, yea, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, behold, he went forth among the people and began to prophesy and to declare unto them concerning the things which he had both seen and heard. (1 Ne. 1:18-20, NC 1 Nephi 1 par. 5)
What was the order of these events?
1) Could we reasonably state that Lehi believed the words of the Lord as sent by His Holy Prophets, that Lehi humbled himself and repented, and that Lehi came to a point that he felt to intercede for his people? (Nephi began the record speaking of the many prophets coming to Jerusalem and we see Lehi interceding for his people after believing the words of those prophets.)
2)Could we reasonably state that Lehi has come into the presence of the Lord? (a pillar of fire dwelling on a rock where Lehi saw and heard much)
3)Could we reasonably state that Lehi was prepared by the Lord to come into the presence of the Father and then he was brought into the Father's presence and made part of the Family of God?
4)Could we reasonably state that Lehi has been shown the history of the world and the coming of the Messiah and all things to the end?
After these things occurred Lehi was "sent". The record clearly states that it was then that Lehi "began to prophesy."
Is this when Lehi's "reign and ministry" began?
Does Nephi's experience in any way mirror the experience of his father?
For purposes of the discussion, I would like to again state that my understanding of the word repent is that it means to turn more and more to face God.
The following is from the glossary of terms in the Teachings and Commandments under Repent/ance
A “change” requiring believers to turn away from the world and toward God. It is the change in life that follows from seeing things in a better, truer light. There is another, higher way to live available to everyone. But to move upward, people must make changes in their lives to incorporate more light and truth. By living a higher way, they are repenting. This process is not a single event. It does not happen once. It should happen over and over as all increase the light in their lives.1 Repentance is granted by God (see Alma 10:4; 19:15; Acts 6:9). It involves acquiring light and truth — meaning intelligence. Repentance is abandoning a foolish error, a vain tradition, or a false belief and replacing it with truth.2 Penitence is another way to describe repentance (or the process of change and growing beyond sins that limit your happiness). It comes as you allow Christ to “succor” you through the power of the atonement. Through penitence, people do away with the darkness in their lives and add light instead.3 Repentance is turning away from all other distractions to face God.4
To repent is to turn to Him. To turn to Him is to face Him, listen to Him, heed Him, and pay attention to what He is, says, and does. It is to seek to be in contact with Him. If one is in contact with Him, He will teach him all things he should do (see 2 Nephi 14:1). “Constant contact between you and [God] can and will occupy your desires, thoughts and deeds. But turning to face Him is left to you. He cannot enter where He is not invited. He may want to be a part of your life more than you want Him to. It is your choice to let Him in. Hearing alone will not save you. Doing is the thing which saves.”
When I refer to Lehi repenting and Nephi repenting this is what I personally am thinking of.
1) Did Nephi experience repentance and humility and did he arrive at a point where he felt to intercede for his brethren?
2)Did Nephi come into the presence of the Lord? (1 Nephi 2:19 - 20, NC 1 Nephi 1 par. 9)
3)Was Nephi brought into the presence of the Father and made a member of the Family of God?
I believe so.
I base my belief on Nephi's recorded conversations with both the Lord and the Father together.
As an example,
But behold, my beloved brethren, thus came the voice of the Son unto me, saying, After ye have repented of your sins, and witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to keep my commandments by the baptism of water, and have received the baptism of fire and of the holy ghost, and can speak with a new tongue — yea, even with the tongue of angels — and after this should deny me, it would have been better for you that ye had not known me. And I heard a voice from the Father saying, Yea, the words of my beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
(2 Nephi 31:14 - 18, NC 2 Nephi 13 par. 3)
In fact, I have wondered if this conversation took place while Nephi was receiving his great vision of all things.
Nephi recorded that he saw the baptism of the Lamb of God in his vision.
Is it possible that in the section of the record, further along, Nephi is now commanded to expand the record by setting down more details of what he, Nephi, saw and heard concerning the part of his vision that showed the Lord's baptism?
I am aware of other incidents in scripture where the individual receiving a vision and/or revelation is only allowed to record a certain part of the vision at one point and then later they are commanded to expand the record of what they viewed on a part here or there of the vision/revelation that they received.
I have wondered if Nephi was not allowed to describe his experience coming into the presence of the Father like his father Lehi did.
Part of the reason I have wondered this is because of what Nephi declared in the following,
For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way and receive the holy ghost, it will shew unto you all things what ye should do. Behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and there will be no more doctrine given until after he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh. And when he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh, the things which he shall say unto you shall ye observe to do.And now I, Nephi, cannot say more. The spirit stoppeth mine utterance and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men. For they will not search knowledge nor understand great knowledge when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be. (2 Nephi 32:1 - 7, NC 2 Nephi 14 pars. 1 - 2)
Right after Nephi tells us plainly that when Christ appears to us in the flesh (mortality) that then we need to do what He is telling us to do personally, then Nephi is constrained to stop his utterance.
Then Nephi exhorts us to pray always in order to come to an understanding of what he is presenting here.
If what Christ declared is true, that no one comes to the Throne of the Father without Him, then is Nephi being restricted here from revealing his own experience; what Christ personally instructed Nephi to do, in the flesh (mortality), so that Nephi could come before the Throne of the Father?
Is all of this indicative that Nephi did, in fact, enter into the Father's presence?
4)Did Nephi also receive a vision of all things with respect to the earth?
Could we reasonably state that Nephi's experience of becoming qualified to have a "reign and a ministry" mirrors Lehi's experience?
Would it be reasonable to expect that if the above is a true pattern that the Prophet Joseph followed the pattern as well?
Can we detect that preparation was required for the Prophet Joseph before he had a "reign and a ministry"?
And you have a gift to translate the plates, and this is the first gift that I bestowed upon you. And I have commanded that you should pretend to no other gift until my purpose is fulfilled in this, for I will grant unto you no other gift until it is finished. (D&C 5:4, T&C 1, Joseph Smith History, part 12 par. 1)
Is this the process the Lord was referring to when He told Hyrum that it was not yet time for him to preach?
Behold, this is your work: to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind, and strength. Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosened. Then, if you desire, you shall have my spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men. But now hold your peace, study my word which has gone forth among the children of men, and also study my word which shall come forth among the children of men, or that which is now translating, yea, until you have obtained all which I shall grant unto the children of men in this generation, and then shall all things be added thereunto. (D&C 11:20 - 22, T&C 1 Joseph Smith History Part 14 par.14)
Is this experience Nephi is going to having what will complete Nephi's obtaining the Lord's word so that his tongue can be loosed and he will qualify to receive the power of God unto the convincing of men?
Had Hyrum come up to the level where he could be "sent" and have a "reign and a ministry" when the Lord declared the following?
And again, verily I say unto you that my servant William be appointed, ordained, and anointed as a counselor unto my servant Joseph, in the room of my servant Hyrum, that my servant Hyrum may take the office of Priesthood and Patriarch, which was appointed unto him by his father by blessing, and also by right, that from henceforth he shall hold the keys of the Patriarchal blessings upon the heads of all my people, that whoever he blesses shall be blessed and whoever he curses shall be cursed, that whatever he shall bind on the earth shall be bound in Heaven, and that whatever he shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven. And from this time forth I appoint unto him that he may be a prophet, and a seer, and a revelator unto my church, as well as my servant Joseph, that he may act in concert also with my servant Joseph, and that he shall receive counsel from my servant Joseph, who shall show unto him the keys whereby he may ask and receive, and be crowned with the same blessings. I crown upon his head the bishopric, and blessing, and glory, and honor, and Priesthood, and gifts of the Priesthood, that once were put upon him that was my servant Oliver Cowdery, that my servant Hyrum may bear record of the things which I shall show unto him, that his name may be had in honorable remembrance from generation to generation for ever and ever. (D&C 124:91 - 96, T&C 141 par. 32)
Would it be important to be able to detect these fraudulent individuals?
Is there a difference, following Nephi's vision, between Nephi and his brothers with respect to Nephi teaching them?
How did Nephi share things with his brothers before his vision?
Did that change after?
Did Nephi prophesy before this vision?
What about teaching his brethren?
Did Nephi "teach" his brethren before the vision or did he show an example and exhort them to remember what had been spoken by the Holy Prophets, one of which was their father, Lehi?
What about immediately after his vision?
Is it important to see that what Lehi was teaching and prophesying to Nephi's brethren led to the very first time where Nephi ministered to his brothers?
Wasn't it questions about what Lehi had spoken that began Nephi's initial assignment?
What do we have recorded concerning Nephi teaching or ministering to his brothers after the vision?
And now it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had made an end of speaking to my brethren, behold, they said unto me, Thou hast declared unto us hard things, more than which we are able to bear. And it came to pass that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken hard things against the wicked according to the truth, and the righteous have I justified and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day. Wherefore, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center. And now my brethren, if ye were righteous and were willing to hearken to the truth and give heed unto it, that ye might walk uprightly before God, then ye would not murmur because of the truth and say, Thou speakest hard things against us. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did exhort my brethren with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord. And it came to pass that they did humble themselves before the Lord, insomuch that I had joy and great hopes of them, that they would walk in the paths of righteousness. Now all these things were said and done as my father dwelt in a tent in the valley which he called Lemuel. (1 Nephi 16:1 - 6, NC 1 Nephi 5 par. 1)
Could it be said that Nephi now has the power of God unto the convincing of men.?
His teachings, at this time, caused Laman and Lemuel to humble themselves before the Lord.
Are Nephi's feelings of great hopes for his brothers indicative of the feelings that one who possesses a hope in Christ would have for those they are sent to minister to?
If someone is to be "sent" with a "reign and a ministry", in order for them to be able to speak with the power of God unto the convincing of men do they need to see this vision in order to be able to understand how everything fits together because they will have then both seen and heard these things and be able to testify of them?
Do the events like the ones experienced by Lehi and by Nephi and all those who have been sent, (Adam and Eve, Enoch, Moses, Isaiah, and the Brother of Jared all come to mind immediately in terms of having mirroring experiences recorded in scripture) in a word cement the connections of these individuals to the mind of God for those who come up to receive these things?
Is it the powerful connection that those who have experienced these things have with the mind of God that allows them to have convincing power?
As always, there is so much to consider here but one other thing that has impressed me is the fact that Nephi, as far as I can tell from the record, does not blurt out what he has seen to his brothers other than to give some clarifications concerning what Lehi saw.
Nephi used the same comparisons of the olive tree and the scriptures as far as I can tell to teach them even though he could explain much much more.
To me this matches a principle taught by Alma and it shows meekness.
And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying, It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless, they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart — only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him. (Alma 12:9 - 11, NC Alma 9 par. 3)
This is included in the explanation of the term Meekness in the Glossary of Terms
Meekness affects a person’s relationship with his fellow man. There is nothing showy or attention-grabbing about the meek. Instead, they are content to know they have a relationship and power with God. Unless God requires something to be done or revealed, the meek do not voluntarily put this authority on display.
These thoughts are my understanding of things at present.
I believe them to be true as far as I understand the scriptures and teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith right now.
As with everything I have shared I hope it is understood that I do not put this or anything else forward as being totally or even partially "right".
This understanding makes sense to me. It tastes delicious to me so to speak.
I fully expect to repent if I humble myself. I hope to receive greater and greater light so that I can become more and more connected to the mind of God.
I hope through repentance to be able to see much more clearly so that my views will become clearer and I can have greater enjoyments until I will be able to understand the ways of God; His great mysteries.
With our little study group and with this blog I am coming to see that the Book of Mormon really is preeminent above all scripture as far as I can tell.
If even a little of my understanding is correct anyone who follows this path will find themselves ascending until they come before God and receive the very same blessings that Nephi and all who have ascended have received.
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