Latest / Scripture Central / 1 Nephi 11-15 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited

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1 Nephi 11-15 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited · Scripture Central

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Welcome to Scripture Central. We're thrilled to have you here.
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Just a quick note, this video is a revamped edition of this video
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series from four years ago. The content, however, is as
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relevant and insightful as ever. We also invite you to explore
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our extensive collection of resources and programs designed
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to enhance your study of the scriptures.
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You can do this by visiting Scripture central.org.
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Now let's dive into the lesson. This is an amazing section of of
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the Book of Mormon where you you get Nephi sharing his vision.
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So this this vision that we could call a a panoptic vision.
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A vision of all he sees. He sees so many things and we
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only get a little flavor, a little sampling of the of the
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elements that he had that he has shown before.
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We dive into the actual vision. We want to begin with what
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brought on the vision. So join us in verse one of
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Chapter 11 and notice the order of the verbs here.
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What did Nephi do? OK, here we go, for it came to
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pass after. That's a significant word.
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It wasn't the beginning or during it was after.
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I had desired to know the things that my father had seen.
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It begins with a desire, brothers and sisters.
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So many of you and us end up beating ourselves up because
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we're not perfect and we don't do things exactly the way they
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need to be done. I love the fact that the
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scriptures emphasize the desires of our hearts and the desires of
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of our our covenant relationship with God.
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We we desire. We want to be better.
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We want to be good. I love the word that appears
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multiple places. For instance, in the temple
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recommend interview Do you strive?
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I love that word because to me it denotes this.
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I it's what I want. It's what I'm seeking for.
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Am I perfect at it? No.
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But am I working at it? Yes.
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So after I had desired to know the things that my father had
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seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known
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unto me. So it's not just this blind
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desire thinking man. I sure wish that he would.
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He would show me some things, but he's not capable or I'm not
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capable of receiving them. No, He has faith.
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I believe that God is able to make them known.
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Not just make them known unto people in general, or make them
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known unto my father, who happens to be a prophet.
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Lehigh in this case, Notice that the Lord was able to make them
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known unto me. Brothers and sisters, I love
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that little word me, because I know we're reading Nephi's
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words. But in likening all scriptures
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unto us, you could circle the Me and put in the margin your name,
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because you've got to believe that God is able to make all
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things that are that are needful known unto you in your own
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language and after your own understanding.
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Notice step three as I sat pondering.
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Now if I were to ask what are the order of the operations of
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the verbs here, you would say desire, believing, and most
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would jump quickly to pondering. But you'll notice there's a
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little helper verb in here. As I sat pondering and he
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qualifies. He gives a significant qualifier
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to what kind of pondering it is, as I sat pondering in mine
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heart. Normally you and I in our
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western modern culture would would refer to the mind as the
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place where we ponder, where we think deeply.
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You'll notice, he says as I sat pondering in mine heart.
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This is pondering that has sunk deep into his soul.
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It's it's soul stirring feeling, and and thoughts and emotions
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that are that are they have his full attention.
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Now why am I making a big deal of this?
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Can you see the difference in in English it would have made if he
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said I desired to know the things that my father had seen,
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and believing that Lord was able to make them known unto me, and
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as I was pondering them would feel very different than as I
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sat pondering them. That little simple verb does an
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awful lot to that bigger verb. Why?
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Because it's as if Nephi is saying, look, I wasn't working
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in the fields. I wasn't working with the
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flocks. I wasn't sitting around after
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dinner letting my mind wander and ponder while everybody's
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having a conversation. I wasn't falling asleep or
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waking up, he says as I sat pondering.
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It's as if everything else has taken a backseat, pushed to the
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to the periphery, and he is now sitting, putting his full
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energy, effort and attention on pondering the things that Dad
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shared with us from his dream. I'm pondering them so deeply it
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it ends up in my heart. It's moving me now.
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What is that? What difference does that make
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for us? What are many of you doing right
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now? Many of you are probably
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sitting, and many of you are probably thinking deeply about
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words of prophets, words of the scriptures.
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You've set aside time. You've carved out some space in
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your calendar for the day to devote some full energy and
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attention to pondering the words of prophets.
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In Nephi's case, it was the words of his living prophet that
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happened to be his father, Lehi, that he's pondering on those
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those words. But brothers and sisters, when
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you set aside time to ponder words of prophets both living
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and in the past, revelation flows, Revelation comes, and it
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comes in a variety of ways for a variety of different people.
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But this pattern that Nephi just showed you in verse one is alive
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and well. I think the reason you're you're
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spending time studying the Book of Mormon right now is because
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you really want to know. And I think that you're doing
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that because you actually believe God can teach you things
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and he can help you move forward on the covenant path, and you're
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spending time not doing other things.
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You're actually devoting time to pondering those words which will
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lead to revelation. Probably not a panoptic vision
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like Nephi had, but he will give you revelation.
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Look at the conclusion to chapter one, verse one, or
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sorry, Chapter 11, verse one. I was caught away in the spirit
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of the Lord. Yeah, into an exceedingly high
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mountain which I never had before seen and upon which I
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never had before set my foot. So he sees things, and he's
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going to experience things that he's never ever encountered
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before. Now, let me make this really
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simple. When I was younger, when I was a
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teenager, I read that verse and I thought, yeah, I want that
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too. And I prayed.
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And I prayed. And I prayed and I prayed with
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faith. And I fasted.
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I wanted to see Nephi's dream or Nephi's vision or have Lehi's
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dream. I wanted to see these things,
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too. And the answer that came to me
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over and over and over again was Tyler Reed, read the Book of
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Mormon. It's here.
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I'll show these things to you through their words, and you're
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going to experience them in a different way than Nephi and
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Lehi experience them. But it's going to be just as
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revelatory for you as it was for them in their position.
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Now what does that mean for you and for me?
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Now, moving forward, brothers and sisters, you don't have to
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create these these super spiritual events for yourself or
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for your family home evening or your your Gospel Doctrine class.
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If if you are doing your best, you're going to the Lord you're
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desiring to know, and you gather the people around you, whether
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it's your family or class members or a seminary class,
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whatever roles you may fill, and you devote time to set aside to
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actually ponder the words of prophets, sears, and revelators,
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the promise is sure, you're going to be taking places
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spiritually that will open up the eternities to you in in a
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manner that is, that is helpful and instructive for your next
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phase and the people around you for their next phase of life.
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And it doesn't have to be this huge heavens open, angels
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speaking, choirs singing, light shining kind of an experience.
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It can be a very quiet moment in a front room with a single
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person or with a small family, or with an aged couple as they
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study together, or with a whole class studying the scriptures
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over the Internet together. It can be in any of these forms.
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The Holy Ghost is not bound by time or space or any of these
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things, so I wanted to point that out.
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The leading in here, this is within our reach to be able to
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apply these things that are happening here.
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So we too actually can have visionary experiences, but
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perhaps in a different way than Nephi.
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And let me actually just point this out.
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The word vision is related to the word wise.
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You might be able to see how similar those words are and
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wisdom. So when you gain wisdom from
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God, you're having a vision. In fact, our word video, you're
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watching a video right now actually comes from the same
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word as vision. And even the word evidence.
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You can even see in the word evidence, the word for video.
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So right now you're watching a video, you're kind of having a
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vision. We hope that you become wise as
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you study with us. And together we learn from the
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scriptures. It gives us the vision of seeing
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and understanding more from God. So when you think about visions,
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don't just limit yourself to these grand experiences that
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Nephi had. But say, let me take the
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totality of what visions are possible and then I can become
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wise and have by learning from the word of God and have
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evidence of God's love by seeing his love in my life.
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Now I want to talk about that word love a bit.
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The word desire is really important here.
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It turns out that the Egyptian word for desire and remember
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that the book of more writers remind us that they're using
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Hebrew language. Egyptian language to write.
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The Egyptian word for desire is actually the name Nephi.
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So imagine how much joy Nephi had in recounting this
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experience he had about the desires he had.
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He got to make use of the meaning of his own name to
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describe his righteous desires. And you might go through this
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vision and circle all the points where the word desire shows up,
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or even Nephi, and know that those interchangeable.
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But it's even better because Nephi as an Egyptian word can be
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translated as desirable, beautiful, lovely or good.
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So why you think about those words and also look for those in
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the vision and you might discover that Nephi talks about
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the love of God. He talks about how beautiful the
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fruit is, that it's good. And all these things all are
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wrapped up in the meaning of Nephi's name.
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So now he didn't have this great vision.
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He got to express so many of the key concepts of the vision
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through the meaning of his name. So these are key concepts you
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can be looking for in this vision.
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It all comes really back to God, that God is desirable.
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God is beautiful. He is lovely, He is good.
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And that is expressed through His atonement.
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And one more is the word Mary. Now Mary is mentioned in this
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vision, but not by name, And it turns out also in Egyptian, the
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word Mary means love. So again, that theme of love is
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just just packed into this vision.
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It just reminds us that the purpose of the Book of Mormon is
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God's love endures forever, and this vision expresses that very
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powerfully. So here's Nephi.
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He's standing on an exceedingly high mountain, and the spirit of
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the Lord came to him and asked the question in verse two.
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What desirest thou? Isn't it interesting that that
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the Savior, and in this case the Spirit of the Lord, seems to
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like this pattern of asking questions, the answer to which
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God already knows better than than you know, but he asks the
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question anyway to activate agency.
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There's something powerful about learners verbalizing and
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participating in this learning process.
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So he asked him that question. What desires down?
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He says. Well, I I desire to behold the
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things which my father saw. You'll notice early on Nephi
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just says, I want to see what Dad saw.
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So the Spirit of the Lord asks him, well, do you believe all
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the words of of your Father? And he responds, yes, I believe
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all of them. At which point the Spirit cried
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with a loud voice, Hosanna to the Lord, and then part way down
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through verse six he says, Blessed art thou, Nephi, because
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thou believest in the Son of the Most High God, wherefore thou
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shalt behold the things which thou hast desired.
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Now things get very interesting in verse 7 because he says I'm
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going to I'm going to show you some things and he gives him a a
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pre vision, a prelude if you will, to the vision.
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Behold, this thing shall be given unto thee for a sign.
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So he he gets us thinking symbolically for a minute.
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I'm going to show you this thing for a sign.
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So there it's a type. We're we're we're in a symbolic,
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metaphorical realm. Is is what he's preparing
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Nephi's mind for here, that after thou hast beheld the tree
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which bore the fruit which thy father tasted.
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So he says, you you've asked to see the tree that your father
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saw in his dream. I'm, I'm going to show that tree
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to you as a sign and then after you've seen the tree, then I'm
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going to show you something else, he says.
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You'll also behold a man descending out of heaven, and
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him shall you witness. So there's a man descending out
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of heaven. You're going to see a tree.
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Then you're going to see a man and notice he goes on to say,
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and after you have witnessed him, you shall bear record that
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it is the Son of God. This is interesting because the
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word it, you could circle that. And what is the antecedent?
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Is the IT this or is the IT that?
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Because in English you could make an argument for either one.
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But I love the fact that we've already been put in a symbolic
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realm by the spirit of the Lord. That I think what he's saying to
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Nephi is I'm going to show you the tree of life that your
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father told you about in his dream, and then I'm going to
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show you a man descending out of heaven.
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And you remember witness that it is the Son of God.
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I think he might be trying to say to us it's the same thing.
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The man is symbolically represented by the sign of the
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tree. Look at verse 8.
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And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me, Look now as
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you're this is, this is just a simple overview for Nephi's
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vision. As as we have the chapters
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recorded in the Book of Mormon. In Chapter 11 you're going to
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get 8 looks. In chapter 12 you're going to
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get 2IN chapter 13 you're only going to get one, and in chapter
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14 you're going to get two. You could, you could see these
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as if they were seeing changes. So it's as if the Lord is
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saying, OK, you've been looking at this screen, this vision,
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this part of the unfolding story.
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Now look, I want you to look over here, look at this new
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story. Now look, look, look.
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So you're seeing that there's this huge set, more than more
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than all the other three chapters combined in Chapter 11.
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This is the chapter that has all of the scenes depicting Christ,
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his coming, his life, his miracles, his infinite
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atonement, and and his death on the cross.
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It's all contained in Chapter 11.
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So notice the first look and I looked and beheld a tree and it
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was like under the tree which my father had seen.
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And now watch carefully at the adjectives, the descriptor words
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for the tree. The beauty thereof was far
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beyond, yeah, exceeding of all beauty, and the whiteness
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thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow.
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Side note, this won't get any of you into heaven.
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It's just for fun. But right there in that verse is
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the only time in the entire Book of Mormon where you get any
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reference to what we would classify as cold, wintry
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conditions. Snow.
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That's it. The whiteness of the driven
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snow. It's the only place in the
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entire Book of Mormon you never get frost or ice or blankets or
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having to light a fire because we're shivering.
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Cold. No.
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No winter storms mentioned ever in the Book of Mormon, for what
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it's worth. And I spent a semester at the
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BYU Jerusalem Center many years ago.
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And I remember this passage as a kid, like, man, there's no snow
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in the Middle East. And I remember I was there
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through December and I remember 1 morning waking up and there's
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like basically this massive snowstorm in Jerusalem.
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I just remember being shocked like I'm from Minnesota.
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We we know snow. And I guess I just never
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imagined that there was like snow in a place like this.
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And there it was. It was like a total white out.
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I'm like, oh, me if I grew up in Jerusalem, of course he's going
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to know about snow. It's a great reference.
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Beautiful. OK, so here you go.
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So it is exceedingly beautiful. So it's beauty exceeded all
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beauty, and it's whiteness was so exquisite that it did exceed
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the whiteness of the driven snow, which is the whitest
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thing. The brightest thing Nephi could
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have could have known about is the sun shining on on freshly
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fallen snow and just that bright white.
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But as he's talking about the tree and the fruit thereof, he's
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saying it's it's more beautiful than anything you've ever seen,
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and it's wider than anything you can ever imagine.
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That's interesting. Hold that thought.
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We'll come back to it. So, do any of you see what has
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has happened here? The spirit of the Lord asked
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him, what do you want? Us.
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What do you want, Nephi? I want to see the tree which my
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father saw. Well, check that's done.
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Or are we finished? It came to pass that after I'd
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seen the tree, I said unto the Spirit, I Behold, thou has shown
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unto me the tree which is precious above all.
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So now he adds the word precious to describe it.
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And verse 10 He said unto me, What desirest thou?
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I said unto him, to know the interpretation thereof.
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So before it was just. I want to see it.
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Now that he's seen it, are you noticing this line upon line?
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Precept upon precept here a little there a little
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progression of revelation that sometimes we kneel down and we
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ask for Our Daily Bread and we get it, but then we realize we
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actually want more in in different realms.
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And that's what's happening here.
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And so he's He describes here that the Spirit of the Lord is
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speaking to him like a man. Speak it to another.
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And then in verse 12 you get your second scene change.
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So scene one is see the tree? Scene 2.
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It came to pass that he said unto me, Look.
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And I looked as if to look upon him, and I saw him not, for he
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had gone from before my presence.
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And it came to pass that I looked.
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And I beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other
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cities, and I beheld the city of Nazareth.
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And in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin.
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And she was exceedingly fair and white.
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Huh. Now, keep in mind, here we are
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sometime around 600 BC. Nephi is on an exceedingly high
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mountain upon which he's never before set foot.
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The spirit of the Lord is showing him these visions, these
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different scenes. And he sees in in the second
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vision the city of Jerusalem. And then he sees the city of
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Nazareth. And then inside of the city of
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Nazareth he sees a virgin. He sees Mary, the mother of the
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mother of Jesus. Brothers and sisters, there is
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an attribute of God that is for the human mind.
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I'll just speak for myself instead of for for all of
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humanity. I'll speak for for little Tyler
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Griffin. For me, one of the hardest
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attributes and perfections of God for for my my finite mind to
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to understand is God's omnipresence.
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The fact that he's not bound by time, that he doesn't wear
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wristwatches like we do and have Gregorian calendars on his on
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his walls, that he lives in what some have have described as an
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eternal Now that he's not, he's not dwelling in time the same
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that that we do. So here's a prophet on a
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mountain peak in six near 600 BC and he's seeing Jerusalem and
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Nazareth and Mary. I don't think Nephi is looking
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at heavenly holograms presents our best guess as to what
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Jerusalem and Nazareth and Mary might look like 600 years from
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now. I think what Nephi is looking at
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is Jerusalem and Nazareth and Mary 600 years down the quarter
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of time. And that that is so hard for our
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minds to wrap around because then it brings up all these
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philosophical questions of, well, wait, how can I have
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agency if God already sees the end from the beginning?
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Those are good questions and I don't have great answers for
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them other than I know that I have full agency.
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And based on scriptures and and some of the words of the Prophet
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Joseph Smith, I know that there's nothing that's going to
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happen down the road in the future that is going to catch
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God by surprise or catch him off guard because he didn't quite
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put all of the the predictive statistics together quite right.
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And something happens way down the road in the future that
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doesn't turn out the way he anticipated.
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God is not bound by time. He doesn't have those same
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chronological blinders that you and I have.
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So notice his description of Mary in verse 13.
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And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open, And an Angel
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came down, and stood before me. And he said unto me, Nephi, what
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beholdest thou so now? The Angel who is going to be his
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tutor for the rest of these chapters?
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His his mentor, his teacher, his guide asks him this question.
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What? What are you seeing?
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What do you? What did you behold?
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I said unto him, A virgin most beautiful and fair above all
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other virgins. So let's put that word fair on
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the board. I forgot to mention that one of
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the Egyptian meanings of the word Nephi is fair.
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So when the names are the lesson Nephi's name, the lesson he's
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trying to teach is that God's goodness is lovely, desirable,
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beautiful and fair. And even the mother of Jesus
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exemplifies these qualities, which are actually bound up in
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the meaning of Nephi's name. I just think it must have been a
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huge delight for Nephi to be able to talk about this vision
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and to use the meaning of his name over and over again to talk
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about Mary and to talk about Jesus and to talk about the
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Atonement. I just find that fascinating.
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So keep in mind we have the tree that was described with these
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adjectives and now we have his mother described using the same
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adjectives and back to the sign of the tree being a type or a
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shadow for Christ Himself, beautiful Savior.
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This shining, resplendent, glory filled Savior and everything
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about him is precious and fair. Now let's talk for a minute
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about these struggles that we sometimes face and mortality and
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in a social or cultural context regarding things such as race.
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Notice the description of Mary. She was exceedingly fair and
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white. I don't think he's referring to
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her skin pigmentation here. I think that when prophets are
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looking in a seership in a prophetic sort of a way, that
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they're looking through heaven's eyes more than through mortal
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eyes at Mary and and at the tree and at Christ himself.
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So for me, all of these these words have very little to do
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with race and have everything to do with purity regarding the
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Spirit and the soul and the eternal identity of of both Mary
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and of Jesus Christ symbolized by this tree.
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So for me, I love the fact that all of these three elements, the
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tree, the Savior and His Mother, are all getting the same
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descriptive words because it that that symbolic connection
29:26
between them to me is, is beautiful.
29:30
Now notice verse 16, he said unto me, Knowest thou the
29:35
condescension of God? Now most of us, if we were asked
29:40
that same question, would say, the what?
29:44
But look at what Nephi says, I said unto him, I know that he
29:48
loveth his children. Nevertheless, I do not know the
29:51
meaning of all things. Did you see what Nephi just did?
29:56
He just taught you a pattern of what to do when you're asked
30:00
questions that you don't know the answer to from from
30:05
meaningful in meaningful conversations, not in, not in
30:09
arguments or contentious Bible bash sorts of conversations.
30:13
I need to clarify that you'll notice instead of focusing on
30:18
what he didn't know, he went back to what he does know.
30:24
I know that he loveth all of his children.
30:25
Nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things is a is a
30:29
nice way to say? I have no idea about the
30:31
condescension of God, but I do know that he loveth all of his
30:34
children. There's something beautiful
30:36
about that, about acknowledging that I I don't know that, but I
30:40
do know this. That's a really beautiful
30:43
pattern. Now I want to show you something
30:46
that I think is beautiful in In how the Book of Mormon is laid
30:53
out here you'll notice in verse 18 it says he said unto me,
30:57
Behold, the Virgin whom thou seest, is the mother of the Son
31:01
of God, after the manner of the flesh.
31:05
In the 1830 edition, in the original and Printers
31:09
Manuscripts of the Book of Mormon, when you come to that
31:13
section, what you read is it says this.
31:19
Behold, the Virgin whom thou seest, is the Mother of God
31:24
after the manner of the flesh. And it was in the 1837 edition
31:30
where Joseph Smith changed it from Mother of God to Mother of
31:34
the Son of God. Why?
31:37
Because there were so many people who were confused by
31:40
that. They were saying, wait, Mary's
31:42
the Mother of God? So you you do believe in the
31:46
Trinity. And so Joseph made this
31:50
adjustment to Mother of the Son of God.
31:53
Not because it wasn't correct in its original edition, but to
31:58
give what you would call prophetic insight or prophetic
32:03
commentary on what the intent of that original author was.
32:08
That prophetic author, Joseph knew what Nephi meant.
32:13
Nephi knows what he means and he has no problem at all calling
32:18
Mary the Mother of God. Because who is the Messiah?
32:22
Who is the Christ To Nephi, he is God, the God of the Old
32:27
Testament. They have no problem referring
32:29
to him as God. For for those of you who want
32:35
further clarification on that, if you go to Jacob chapter four
32:40
really quickly, look at this. In fact that would be a great
32:43
cross reference to verse 18. First Nephi 11/18 cross
32:47
reference it with Jacob 4 verse five listen to this.
32:51
This is Nephi's brother Jacob speaking.
32:54
Behold they Speaking of all the prophets which came before him.
33:00
They believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his
33:03
name. And also we worship the Father
33:05
in his name. And for this intent we keep the
33:08
law of Moses it pointing our souls to him.
33:11
Now go down to the very bottom where he talks about it was
33:14
accounted unto Abraham in the wilderness to be obedient unto
33:17
the commands of God in offering up his son Isaac, which is a
33:21
similitude of God and his only begotten son.
33:24
So don't think that the Book of Mormon prophets are confused
33:28
about the Godhead and who's God and who's the son of God and
33:33
who's the father? Who's the son.
33:35
They're not confused. Jacob's making that very clear.
33:38
But Nephi has no problem at all referring to Jesus Christ as God
33:44
without having to always use the phrase Son of God.
33:49
Hence Mary becomes the Mother of God after the manner of the
33:55
flesh. There's something beautiful
33:58
about that, but to reduce the confusion, Joseph changed it.
34:02
Now detractors of the work would look at that and say, oh, see,
34:06
you changed the bookwormon in a really significant way.
34:08
So it can't be true. Brothers and sisters, I hope.
34:13
I hope you'll be able to understand, looking back in
34:16
through the quarter of time at Joseph Smith, you'll be able to
34:20
to cloak yourself or or clothe yourself with a cloak of
34:25
charity, historical charity, and understand what's going on back
34:29
here. Joseph's not changing it because
34:31
he needs to change the doctrine. He's simply clarifying the text
34:34
to remove confusion. And you'll notice he didn't
34:37
change. Mosiah Chapter 15 where it
34:41
leaves it in talking about Jesus as God.
34:44
He didn't change that one, but he did change this one because
34:48
this is the one that was causing more confusion among people as
34:51
they were reading it. To the detractors, they see this
34:54
as as evidence that the book can't be true.
34:57
And to me, I see this as evidence that we had a prophet
35:01
of God who was ordained and authorized with power and
35:04
authority from God to bring forth the words of God and to
35:09
teach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
35:12
And one of the means by doing that is bringing forth
35:14
Scripture. And that's what's happening
35:16
here. Now you'll notice the next look
35:19
in verse 19, he now sees the Virgin bearing a child in her
35:24
arms. How amazing that must have been
35:26
for Nephi 600 BC to see the Messiah in that little infant
35:33
form being born by his mother in her arms.
35:38
The God of the universe whose hand has created worlds without
35:42
number. And now those little hands are
35:45
little teeny, tiny hands. An insight from my good friend
35:50
and colleague Sean Hopkin. He pointed out the fact that the
35:54
Word of God, who spoke and was able to do incredible creative
36:02
acts in the universe, now became so vulnerable to take upon him
36:08
are human condition that the Word now no longer has any words
36:14
at all. And those hands that created
36:16
worlds without number, they no longer have control to do
36:20
anything that he wants them to do.
36:23
There's such a beautiful yet simple vulnerability going on in
36:29
this vision of Nephi. Seeing Mary holding that little
36:33
baby in her arms, it's hauntingly beautiful to consider
36:39
the the reality of what the Angel asked him.
36:44
Knowest thou the condescension of God?
36:46
Now he shows him this is the condescension of God.
36:52
He came down to the earth, took upon him flesh.
36:55
Now look at verse 21, the Angel said unto me, Behold the Lamb of
36:58
God. Even now, in the original, it
37:03
didn't say Son of this is one of those additional changes to
37:06
clarify so the people aren't confused.
37:08
But you understand from Nephi's context what he meant in the
37:11
original form when he said, behold the Lamb of God.
37:15
Yeah, even the Eternal Father who becomes this adoptive father
37:19
for us. Knowest thou the meaning of the
37:22
tree which thy father saw? Are you noticing what the
37:26
angel's doing? Here's this.
37:28
This baby who's come down condescended.
37:33
Now do you know the meaning of the tree?
37:35
Are you making that that connection, Nephi and his
37:39
answer, verse 22. I answered and said, yeah, it is
37:42
the love of God which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of
37:45
the children of men, Wherefore it is the most desirable, above
37:48
all things. For God so loved the world that
37:53
he gave his only begotten son. The meaning of the tree is this
37:58
glorious news, this glad tidings of great joy, that God is now
38:04
with us. He has come down from heaven, He
38:06
is condescended, and he has taken upon himself the human
38:10
condition. He's with us.
38:13
And then he goes through the different stages of the
38:17
Saviour's ministry with these next looks, these next scene
38:22
changes. And then in one of the last
38:24
ones, he sees the Lamb of God in verse 32 taken by the people.
38:29
Yeah, the son of the everlasting God was judged of the world, and
38:33
I saw and bear record. And I, Nephi saw that he was
38:36
lifted up upon the cross and slain for the sins of the world.
38:41
That had to be a shocking and a profoundly difficult experience
38:50
for Nephi. To witness on that mountain in
38:53
600 BC, to see this, this Savior who was born, who has come with
38:59
all these answers and performing all those miracles and this
39:02
incredible ministry, and then to see him lifted up and slain and
39:07
crucified. That vision right there is going
39:11
to have an amazing impact on Nephi and the way he teaches for
39:17
the rest of of our scriptures that we're going to cover with
39:20
Nephi. There's so much to unpack here.
39:22
One verse is interesting, Verse 35, Chapter 11, where it's
39:28
explained what the great and spacious building is.
39:32
Look at this, It's the middle of the verse.
39:35
Behold the world and the wisdom thereof.
39:39
Now we all live in the world, and there are a lot of great
39:41
ideas out there. But we may find ourselves
39:45
replacing the wisdom of God with the wisdom of the world, and we
39:49
may unknowingly find ourselves in this great and spacious
39:52
building. In fact, there's a warning.
39:56
Here ye behold, the House of Israel hath gathered together to
40:02
fight against the 12 apostles of the Lamb.
40:07
I find that sobering because I want to be part of the House of
40:11
Israel. And so the warning here is that
40:15
the wisdom I should be seeking. Is the wisdom of God, and that
40:20
wisdom comes in part through scriptures and through God's
40:24
living prophets. Now I may go find a lot of great
40:28
ideas in the world, but if those ideas contradict the wisdom of
40:32
God, and then I go to God and his servants and say you guys
40:36
need to repent and get in line with me and the world.
40:39
I have joined the great and spacious.
40:41
I have fulfilled what's being said here of the House of Israel
40:46
gathering together to fight against the 12 apostles of the
40:49
Lamb. So the invitation for all of us
40:51
is to make sure that the wisdom that we are founded on is God's
40:57
wisdom, which is so clearly expressed in the scriptures and
41:01
in God's living day prophets. So as we jump into chapter 12,
41:07
you'll notice the scene changes drastically from from the scenes
41:13
regarding Christ's life to now. You could label chapter 12 the
41:19
Nephite Lamanite scenes and remember there are two of them
41:25
here. 2 looks. The first scene change takes you
41:31
from Nephi's time down to the period in 3rd and 4th Nephi,
41:40
where he sees his posterity and and the posterity of his
41:44
brethren, the Lamanites and their their struggles through
41:48
all these chapters. And then the second scene change
41:52
takes you from 4th Nephi at the end, all the way down to the end
41:58
of the book, where Mormon gives you that great destruction, the
42:04
description of the destruction of the Nephite nation that had
42:09
to be painful for Nephi envision to see what happens in the
42:14
sweeping scope of history down the road into the future, once
42:19
again showing us the omnipresence of God and his
42:23
ability to make these things known unto Nephi, the prophet,
42:27
in 600 BC time frame. Then in chapter 13, we shift
42:34
gears. There's this is only one look.
42:37
The entire chapter is 1 long scene.
42:43
You could label this one the the the New World.
42:49
So he's seeing all kinds of things, describing what goes on
42:54
in the new world. You get in verse 12 a man among
42:59
the Gentiles who was separated from the seed of my brethren by
43:01
the many waters and the spirit of God working upon that man.
43:06
We don't know for sure, but it looks like this could be
43:09
Columbus or some of those other early explorers who come over to
43:14
the new New World. Verse 13.
43:18
Consider the the early pilgrims coming over.
43:22
It came to pass that I beheld the spirit of God, that it
43:24
wrought upon other Gentiles, and they went forth out of captivity
43:28
upon the many waters. The captivity that they're
43:31
leaving is this captivity of A the the church, the great and
43:37
abominable church described in verse four and five and six.
43:43
They're getting away from that, coming to this land of freedom.
43:48
And here they experienced these these battles.
43:53
Verse 16 it came to pass. The Thy Nephi beheld that the
43:56
Gentiles, who had gone forth out of captivity, did humble
43:58
themselves before the Lord, and the power of the Lord was with
44:01
them. And I beheld that their mother
44:03
Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters and upon the
44:06
land also to battle against them and against all odds.
44:10
All of the various nations in the New World have to fight
44:15
these these battles for independence from the mother
44:20
countries of Europe back in the day, these revolutionary wars.
44:25
And you'll notice verse 18, the power of God was with them.
44:30
Verse 19 I Nephi beheld that the Gentiles that have gone out of
44:33
captivity were delivered by the power of God, out of the hands
44:36
of all other nations. And then he describes a book in
44:41
verse 20, and the the Angel asks him, do you know the meaning of
44:46
the book? And Nephi just says in verse 22,
44:49
I know not this time. He doesn't say what he does
44:52
know. He just says I don't know.
44:54
There's nothing wrong with saying I don't know when you
44:56
don't know. In fact, there's a lot right
44:59
about that. And then he describes this in
45:01
23. Behold, it proceedeth out of the
45:04
mouth of a Jew. And 95 beheld it.
45:06
And he said unto me, the book that thou beholdest is a record
45:10
of the Jews. This, this Bible.
45:13
It's the story of the Jewish people.
45:16
And it's brought forth. And he talks about how there
45:21
were plain and precious truths that are taken away in verse
45:27
26/27/28 and 29, how these plain and precious things are taken
45:33
out of the record of the Jews. Hence as you turn the page over,
45:37
you're seeing that Nephi is shown verse 39.
45:43
After it had come forth unto them I beheld other books, which
45:46
came forth by the power of the Lamb from the Gentiles unto them
45:52
the scattered Israel, and the descendants of his brothers.
45:56
That they have other books that come, And the records of the
46:00
prophets and the 12 apostles of the Lamb are true, is what is
46:03
taught in those other books. You could see the the power of
46:09
the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine, Covenants, the Pearl
46:11
of Great Price, and other books that come forth to establish the
46:15
truth of the Holy Bible. Notice verse 40.
46:19
The angels speak unto me, saying, These last records which
46:22
thou has seen among the Gentiles shall establish the truth of the
46:25
1st. They're not in competition with
46:28
the Bible. They're supporting and
46:31
sustaining and upholding the Bible and the claims that the
46:33
Bible makes that Jesus is the Christ.
46:36
Notice how verse 40 ends, that these shall make known the plain
46:42
and precious things which have been taken away from them, and
46:45
shall make known to all kindred's tongues and people,
46:47
that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father and the
46:50
Savior of the world, and that all men must come unto Him or
46:53
they cannot be saved. It's pretty straightforward.
46:56
The role of the Book of Mormon and other scriptures and other
47:00
books that will yet come forth, it's to establish the truth of
47:04
the first. The first one to bear that
47:06
testimony was the record of the Jews.
47:08
And it's important to not put those two in competition.
47:13
And then we go to chapter 14. You have two scene changes, and
47:17
this chapter talks about the Latter day churches, and how
47:23
they're going to be wrestling for the truth, so to speak, and
47:31
proclaiming their messages. Look at verse 10 he said unto
47:36
me. Behold, there are saved two
47:38
churches. Only one is the Church of the
47:40
Lamb of God, and the other is the Church of the devil.
47:43
Wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the Church of the Lamb of
47:46
God, belongeth to that great church which is the mother of
47:49
abominations, and she is the whore of all the earth.
47:55
To clarify, there's a beautiful cross reference you can put
47:58
right there next to that verse that will take you over to to
48:02
Nephi's brother Jacob, who clarifies what that might mean
48:07
for us. Second Nephi chapter 10, verse
48:11
16. Listen to how Jacob describes
48:17
what that that other church represents.
48:22
Wherefore he that fighteth against Zion, both Jew and
48:27
Gentile, both bond and free, both male and female shall
48:30
perish, for they are they who are the whore of all the earth,
48:36
for they who are not for me are against me, saith our God.
48:42
That's just one prophetic clarification of of seeing these
48:46
two churches. President Dalan H Oaks, a few
48:50
years ago up at Brigham Young University, Idaho, gave a
48:55
devotional address called Witnesses of God where he He
48:59
picks up on this theme, and I love his clarity.
49:02
I love the the simplicity of how he describes this.
49:06
He says. That there are two churches,
49:09
those who believe in God and seek to serve in according to
49:12
their best understanding, and those who reject the existence
49:16
of God, fits perfectly with Jacob's description.
49:21
And I like that because that allows us to now go and and work
49:25
with people of faith in other in other religions and see them as
49:31
part of the Church of the Lamb. And our message to them is bring
49:35
all the good that you have and see if we can add to it.
49:37
We're confident that we can, to borrow President Hinckley's
49:41
phrase. Then he he finishes with a whole
49:47
series of descriptions of the Church of the Lamb of God in
49:53
verse 12/13/14 and the Saints and the 12 apostles and the book
50:00
that's going to come forth. And he is seeing all these
50:05
amazing visions. But then we're told right
50:10
towards the end of chapter 14 that he isn't allowed to write
50:13
all of them down for us for our day.
50:17
Notice in verse 25 he says, but the things which thou shalt see
50:20
hereafter, thou shalt not write, for the Lord God hath ordained
50:25
the apostle of the Lamb of God that he should write them.
50:29
And you get his name down in verse 27.
50:31
The name of the apostle is John. So the Book of Revelation is is
50:35
John's description here of of his panoptic vision, his vision
50:40
of all. And you're told in 26 that
50:42
others who have come before Nephi have also written them
50:45
down. We know at least one of them
50:47
being the brother of Jared who who has this vision and writes
50:52
it down. And Moroni seals seals it up
50:56
based on what he tells us in the book of Ether.
50:59
So Nephi has had this amazing experience comes down off of
51:04
this mountain. Peak of Astronomical Revelation
51:10
comes back into the camp of Father Lehi.
51:13
And what's the first thing that he sees?
51:16
Chapter 15, verse two came to pass that I beheld my brethren,
51:20
and they were disputing one with another concerning the things
51:22
which my father had spoken unto them.
51:25
Do you see the contrast? Lehi teaches this family some
51:30
things and Nephi chose to go to the Lord to find out what does
51:39
this all mean. And I I desire to see and hear
51:41
and know and understand these things.
51:44
Lehmann and Lemuel chose to turn to each other to try to make
51:47
sense of what their dad spoke, and they end up disputing,
51:51
contending, arguing one with another about what it meant.
51:57
And verse four, Nephi was so grieved by this.
52:02
His afflictions are great. It's it's as if he said.
52:06
I've got to go and rest because these incredible spiritual
52:08
experiences are physically exhausting.
52:10
There seem to be that element there.
52:12
Look at verse six. It came to pass that after I had
52:15
received strength, I speak unto my brethren desiring to know
52:20
them the cause of their dispute. Disputations.
52:22
And they said, we don't understand what did that mean by
52:26
by the natural branches of the olive trees or tree and the
52:29
gentiles. They're they're confused.
52:32
Look at Nephi's knee jerk response.
52:35
Have you inquired of the Lord? And they said unto me, We have
52:38
not, for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.
52:43
Brothers and sisters, do you remember the pattern?
52:45
At the beginning? I desired to know, and believing
52:48
that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat
52:50
pondering in my heart, I was carried away into an exceedingly
52:54
high mountain. They desire to know.
52:58
Step one, check. But they don't believe that God
53:02
is able to make these things known unto them.
53:04
They're looking at Nephi with this confused expression,
53:07
probably of why would you ask us such a silly question?
53:10
God doesn't tell us those kinds of things, so why would we
53:12
bother asking him? I love that he His response is,
53:16
how is it that you do not keep the commandments of the Lord?
53:19
How is it that you will perish because of the hardness of your
53:21
hearts? Do you not remember the things
53:23
which the Lord has said? If you will not harden your
53:25
heart and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive
53:28
with diligence and keeping my commandments, surely these
53:30
things shall be made known unto you.
53:33
And then he spends the rest of the chapter trying to shore up
53:37
their faith to believe in God and to turn to God, and to trust
53:41
that there's a God in heaven who actually loves them and wants to
53:45
reveal the the truths to them that they desire to have in ways
53:50
that they'll be able to understand and apply in their
53:53
life. And he's He's answering a lot of
53:56
their questions. And he he comes down through all
54:02
of this experience. Look how he describes it in 25.
54:06
Wherefore I And if I did exhort them to give heed unto the word
54:09
of the Lord, yeah, I did exhort them with all the energies of my
54:13
soul and with all the faculty which I possessed that they
54:17
would give heed to the word of God and remember to keep his
54:19
commandments always in all things.
54:22
Do any of you notice the irony of what's happening here?
54:29
And if I just came down off of a mountain where he was shown all
54:33
things, especially what we've covered there from chapter
54:38
11/12/13 and 14, he has seen the future of his seed and the seed
54:43
of laymen and Lemuel and what happens through the next
54:45
thousand years. He's seen Jesus be born and be
54:50
carried by Mary, and he's seen him raised up and slain for the
54:54
sins of the world. He He has this incredible
54:58
vision. And what is this solution?
55:01
It's not to share all of the big huge stuff with Lemon and
55:05
Lemuel. What is he sharing with them?
55:08
Have more faith. Keep the commandments.
55:12
Repent of your sins. Pray, turn to him and ask.
55:15
Desiring to know and believing that you can answer, He brings
55:19
all of that huge panoptic vision down to where the the boots are
55:25
on the ground, to say Laymen and Lemuel, You can do this, you can
55:29
do this, you can move forward, you can take another step
55:32
forward in faith. And he describes more of the
55:36
elements from the dream of Lehigh there and helps them see
55:41
the symbolic nature. Referring to the physical
55:45
nature, look at verse 32. It came to pass that I said unto
55:47
them that it was a representation of things, both
55:50
temporal and spiritual, for the day should come that they must
55:53
be judged of their works, even the works which were done by the
55:55
temporal body in their days of probation.
56:00
In closing, brothers and sisters, it would be wonderful
56:04
if we could all have Nephi's and John the the Apostle and the
56:08
brother of Jared's panoptic vision.
56:12
But isn't it amazing that God has given us what we do need in
56:17
the scriptures and then He's given us the added immeasurable
56:22
blessing of having living prophets, Sears and revelators
56:26
to guide us so we don't have to turn to the Internet to find out
56:31
about things like when is the second Coming going to be?
56:34
How much food storage should I should I have?
56:37
What kind of of hobby should I take up?
56:41
We can live our life and move forward with agency, seeking
56:46
God's will for us, turning to Him with things that really
56:50
matter, trusting that He'll give us answers as we desire to know,
56:54
as we believe, that He's able to make them known unto us.
56:58
And as we sit pondering and as we take time, set aside to
57:03
ponder the words of prophets both living and from the past,
57:08
and revelation will flow. That's His promise, and I know
57:12
it's true, and we leave that with you.
57:14
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Amen. Please know that you're loved.
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In this week's Gospel Explorer, there is a lot going on On the
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left side. We explore the intricacies of
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Lehigh's dream. This will enhance your knowledge
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of the meaning and symbolism of the vision.
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You will also find deeper connections of Lehigh's dream to
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your lives. The next pathway will take you
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into a study of the power of prophets in our lives.
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They are the Watchmen on the Tower and they can see what we
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cannot. The third path discusses the two
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churches in the latter days, the Church of the Lamb and the
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Church of the Devil. Lastly, you can take the 4th
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pathway and dive into a study of seeking truth in your lives.
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We hope that this encourages you to dig deeper in your personal
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study of the scriptures and draw closer to the Savior.