Nephi Catches the Vision - First Book of Nephi, Chapter Eleven (1 Nephi 11)

As explained in the previous chapter, Nephi responds to Lehi’s account of the vision of the tree of life by going to the Lord in pondering and prayer to find out if he can see the things his father did.

Nephi writes of being “caught away in the Spirit of the Lord,” into an “exceedingly high” mountain, and right away we realize that Nephi’s experience will be somewhat different from his father’s. It starts with a different vantage point. If you remember, Lehi was met by an angel in a field. He saw things from ground level. By contrast, Nephi is going to probably have a much more panoramic view.

Another striking difference is that the Spirit tells Nephi what he is going to see even before he sees it. After an initial conversation verifying Nephi’s faith in Lehi’s words, the Spirit says that after Nephi sees the tree of life, he will see a vision of the Son of God (Jesus) descending out of heaven. Clearly, the Spirit is intimating that the significance of the tree and of Jesus are closely related—something we’ll get greater confirmation of later. It’s also interesting to hear Nephi talk about the Spirit (the Holy Ghost). Nephi says that the Spirit takes the form of a man, and they basically are having a face-to-face conversation. 

What Nephi desires more than anything is to understand the meaning of the vision his father saw and that he is now seeing. But instead of just communicating the meaning of the beautiful white tree through words, the Spirit and an angel (the same one who appeared to Lehi?) show Nephi a parallel vision of the Virgin Mary—first in Nazareth, then being carried away by the Spirit (conceiving Jesus), and finally bearing a child (the infant Christ) in her arms.

It is by means of this parallel vision and an explanation from the angel that Nephi connects the tree with the “love of God,” which is “most desirable above all things.”

The parallel vision continues, as Nephi sees Jesus go among men—teaching them, ministering to them in “power and great glory,” having many fall at His feet in worship. Remember, this is about 600 years before Christ’s life, but Nephi is seeing it happen. He also sees the coming of John the Baptist as the preparer of the way, and beholds the scene of Jesus’ baptism.

All appears to be on display here—the great miracles Jesus performed, the disciples who followed Him, the others who rejected Him. Nephi notes that while Jesus was among the people, angels (presumably unseen to most mortal eyes) were also joining Jesus in his ministry.

Finally, the vision shows the world’s judgment and execution of its own Redeemer, and the outnumbering of Jesus’ apostles by the multitudes arrayed against them.

As this parallel vision comes before Nephi, he recognizes that the rod of iron that leads to the tree of life and the fountain of water nearby symbolizes the “word of God.” So, essentially, he now knows that the vision is telling him that seeking, holding fast to, and following the word of God leads in a straight a line as possible to the love of God.

 

I’ve always thought that the love of God has two angles. First, there’s God’s love for us, which is infinite and perfect. We get to feel this love the more we open ourselves up to it. Second, there’s our love for God, which is a work in progress, and grows stronger and more apparent as we seek to know and to carry out the Lord’s will in our lives. If you are familiar with the first chapter of the Gospel of John, you will recognize that the “word of God” is in fact Jesus Himself. 

So, if it is true that the word of God leads to the love of God, by equating Jesus with the word of God we learn that coming to know Jesus and staying as close to Him as possible helps us both enjoy and actively participate in God’s love. And, ultimately, there is no higher way of experiencing the love of God than becoming more like His Son. He sacrificed everything for us as a perfect manifestation of love, and we are learning to become more like Him by how we love Him and His children (everyone else).

Nephi also learns that the multitudes he sees persecuting Christ’s apostles are the people from the “great and spacious building” of Lehi’s vision. They represent the “pride of the world.” And Nephi’s experience leaves him in no doubt of the fate of those with pride--to paraphrase Proverbs 16:18, “pride goeth before a fall.” The fall of the prideful who reject Christ and His followers is the tragic other side of the coin to the inevitable victory of Christ and His Father’s plan for all who seek the happiness They offer.

You can read the chapter here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/11?lang=eng 

The Scattering and the Gathering - First Book of Nephi, Chapter Ten (1 Nephi 10)

Nephi picks up from where Lehi left off after relating Lehi’s vision of the tree of life. If the tree of life told an allegorical (symbolic) story about the spiritual consequences of Lehi’s family, among a much larger human family, now we’re about to hear some very specific prophecies of the future. Whether this knowledge had been revealed to Lehi at the time he was warned to leave Jerusalem as the book begins, or it came later as he asked the Lord for greater understanding of the experiences he and his family were having, we don’t know. What Nephi does tell us is that Lehi seems to direct his account with particular emphasis to Laman and Lemuel, apparently in an attempt to highlight the potential impact their choices can have on the destiny of the house of Israel.

Lehi starts by telling them that some time after the Jews’ exile to Babylon, the Jews would return from captivity to once again possess Jerusalem and its vicinity. But, he goes on, the story really is only beginning at that point. For then Lehi relates that the great prophet known as the Messiah will come among the Jews of Jerusalem six hundred years from Lehi’s time. Lehi describes the Messiah as the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind from their sins, points to many other prophets who had foreseen his coming, and also tells of the prophet who would come before Him and baptize Him (John the Baptist).

In essence, Lehi tells his sons, “If you think the exile to Babylon will be bad, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” After the leaders of the Jews in Jerusalem reject the Messiah and His gospel for their people, and approve of His death, He will rise again. Only, now, He will make Himself known among the non-Jews (known as the Gentiles) of the world by the power of the Holy Ghost. This signifies a period in history where the whole house of Israel (which includes, but is not limited to, the Jews) will endure the hardship of being scattered throughout the world. Lehi explains that his own family’s journey to their “land of promise” is an early fulfillment of this scattering of Israel.

If this were the end of the story, it would be quite a downer. But Lehi saves the most interesting twist for the end. He tells his sons that scattered Israel will be gathered again, like branches from a tree that are grafted back in, after the Gentiles are given what Lehi calls “the fullness of the Gospel” (which we interpret as the Lord’s Restoration of his Church and authority through Joseph Smith in the early 19th Century).

It strikes me as significant that right after Lehi tells this very personal story of the tree of life, which has great spiritual importance for him and his family, he reinforces the importance of that story by revealing how his family’s destiny will unfold in the greater context of human history. That they will be a part of these two great phenomena—first, a scattering; second, a gathering. In my opinion, he’s trying to give his sons (especially the wavering Laman and Lemuel) reassurance that despite the challenges and difficulties of the transition they are experiencing, it’s all part of a basic plan for their happiness that involves both a spiritual end-goal (the fruit of the tree of life) and a tangible one (the land of promise they seek).

And then we see a familiar pattern emerge. Just as Nephi—unlike Laman and Lemuel—had gone directly to the Lord after Lehi led his family out of Jerusalem and into the wilderness, to gain a confirmation that it was the right thing to do, he goes to the Lord after Lehi shares his prophecies. This time, Nephi wants to know if what his father is saying is correct. As the chapter ends, Nephi tells us that he learned Lehi was right, but we realize that what Nephi received was not a simple confirmation, but a revelation of his own that in some ways is even more profound than Lehi’s. This teaches us a very important principle: that we should never underestimate how much God wants to share with us directly, if we only think to ask Him for guidance.  

You can read the chapter here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/10?lang=eng.

The Lord's Ways Are Not Our Ways - First Book of Nephi, Chapter 9 (1 Nephi 9)

Most of us have had situations where we agonize over why God would allow something to happen a certain way. Usually the feeling is most acute when something hurtful or traumatic has taken place (a life-changing condition or circumstance, or the loss of a loved one). These are not trivial matters, but go to the heart of questions about existence, about divine justice, and ultimately about love.

We learn in this chapter that not even those whom we see as “closest to God,” such as a prophet like Nephi, knows exactly how God’s plan works. But this chapter is part of a story that played out 2,400 years after Nephi wrote it to give us the benefit of hindsight about the fruits of trusting in God’s plan and His ultimate knowledge. This type of faith is one of the hardest to achieve in life, but it is so worth the effort to acquire bit by bit. The Apostle Paul, in his famous message to the Corinthians about faith, hope and charity, described it by saying, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face.” (1 Cor. 13:12). 

In my own life, I often get a strong feeling that I should do something, but find it challenging to follow through on because the outcome seems so uncertain. That glass Paul talked about seems to me to be very dark indeed. But I have learned over time to trust those gut feelings and take the next step, largely because the best things in my life have happened that way, and I wouldn’t have grown otherwise.

OK, now to this 2,400-year story. A little after 600 B.C., Nephi is sharing with us, the reader, that he has been instructed by the Lord to create two different sets of record-keeping plates. We discussed this three chapters ago (1 Nephi 6) as well. One set Nephi calls “these plates” because it is from them that we eventually get this chapter (and the rest of this first part of the Book of Mormon that runs until the section known as The Words of Mormon). “These plates,” also known as the small plates of Nephi, hold those things that are most important for understanding how the Lord directly dealt with Lehi’s family and descendants and established a spiritual ministry involving priests and a church. The “other plates,” also known as the large plates of Nephi, contain much more of a comprehensive history and genealogy of the people.

Why do we have the account from the small plates, not the large ones? Well, that’s the point of the story. Nephi doesn’t fully understand why he found himself writing down a lot of the same things on both sets of plates, but he contents himself with the thought that the Lord knows why, and that’s all that matters.

In the months after Joseph Smith acquired the gold plates from the angel Moroni in 1827, Joseph translated an abridged version of Lehi’s and Nephi’s account from the large plates. The work was time-consuming, and Joseph and his new wife would have had great difficulty devoting their time to it without the financial and moral support of others. One of these helpers, an older and more well-to-do man named Martin Harris, wanted to be able to show his wife the evidence of Joseph’s work so she would have more confidence in her husband’s efforts to help Joseph. The Lord warned Joseph (in answer to Joseph’s prayers) not to share the 116-page translated transcript with Martin, but eventually told Joseph (after Joseph kept asking) that He wouldn’t stop him. It didn’t take long for Joseph to find out the reason for the Lord’s warning. Martin or his wife shared the transcript with other people, and it became lost or was stolen.

Joseph was devastated, and lost the privilege of translating for some months. Eventually the Lord allowed him to resume, but under the condition that—when it came time to cover the events of Lehi’s and Nephi’s lives—he had to switch from the abridged version of the large plates to the small plates (which, through the efforts of Nephi and those who followed him, contained many of the same key events and teachings contained in the account from the large plates). The idea was that if Joseph tried to replicate his translation from the abridged version of the large plates, those who had taken the 116 pages would be able to alter them and thus publicly challenge the authenticity of Joseph’s work. But if Joseph started translating from an entirely new source, that danger was gone.

It’s interesting to think about what went through Joseph’s mind as he translated the words of this chapter from the small plates. Did he recognize that the purpose Nephi had wondered about was being fulfilled in that very moment through his own actions?

You can read the chapter here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/9?lang=eng.

Lehi's Vision of the Tree - First Book of Nephi, Chapter Eight (1 Nephi 8)

Not long after Lehi’s family was reunited in the wilderness, Lehi calls them together to share something. First, he tells them he had a dream, then he adds that he considers the dream to be a vision. Although the difference might seem subtle to us, I think it’s quite significant. Dreams can come in many kinds—some with great meaning, others perhaps just escapes of the imagination. When Lehi specifies that his dream was a vision, he is providing an important example for us. We need to ponder those experiences of the mind and soul, whether in our conscious or unconscious state, and when we have a conviction that the experience goes beyond a mere flight of fancy, we need to have the faith to be able to say so, and even more importantly, heed the teaching of what the experience tells us through our actions.

In this case, the experience is a very rich one. No wonder Lehi was convinced that it was a vision. There are so many specific details he can remember, and they all seem to fit together in some way. I don’t know about you, but I can count on one hand the number of dreams I can remember in great detail, and none are as vivid and internally consistent as Lehi’s. Most of mine leave strong emotional impressions with maybe one or two images that really stay with me, and are usually fairly disjointed in how they move from one scene to the next.

This is a chapter you need to read yourself to get a full sense of what Lehi is unfolding to his family and, through his son Nephi's inscriptions on the plates translated by Joseph Smith, to us. The symbolism and themes the chapter introduces will stay with us throughout the Book of Mormon, and again center on the theme of family.

In fact, before relating any details from his vision, Lehi first tells his sons what he has learned regarding what lies ahead for them. He is not telling the future as though it is set in stone. Instead, he is trying to motivate them to use his experience for their benefit—hoping to influence the choices they make. You may not be surprised that Lehi expresses hope regarding Nephi and Sam based on what he has seen of them and the generations following them, and he expresses alarm regarding Laman and Lemuel.

Now to the vision. I’ll just briefly sketch it out here. We’ll have an opportunity to discuss the symbolism in future chapters.

·         Lehi finds himself in a “dark and dreary” wilderness

·         A man in a white robe appears to him and leads him onward

·         Lehi prays to the Lord for mercy after traveling in darkness for many hours

·         After his prayer, he sees a large and spacious field, with a tree whose fruit seems very desirable

·         Lehi eats the fruit, describes the happiness he feels from doing so, and immediately looks around in hopes of sharing the fruit with his family.

·         He calls to his wife Sariah and to Nephi and Sam, and they come and eat of the fruit as well

·         He sees Laman and Lemuel at the head of a river in the distance, but they will not come to eat the fruit

·         Where Laman and Lemuel are, Lehi sees a narrow path alongside the river. The path and a rod of iron both lead to the tree.

·         Many people begin on the path, but a mist of darkness arises and some are lost, while others grab hold of the iron rod to guide themselves to the tree

·         Lehi sees a “great and spacious” building suspended in the air on the other side of the river

·         The people in the building point and mock at those who eat of the fruit from the tree, leading some of those who eat to feel ashamed and wander away from the path they had previously traveled

·         Others (including Lehi, Sariah, Nephi and Sam) do not heed the mocking voices from the great and spacious building

What strikes me about the people in the great and spacious building is the hollowness of an existence that seems to be based mainly on tearing down other people, with little reference to building anyone up (including themselves).

Once Lehi finishes his account, he pleads with Laman and Lemuel to hearken to his words and the Lord’s commandments so that they might find happiness and communion with the Lord. There’s this emotional mix of anxiety and hope that Lehi feels for his children, which most fathers and mothers can appreciate through their own experiences in watching their kids make the decisions that will ultimately determine how their lives take shape.

You can read the chapter here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/8?lang=eng