The Vast Vision Comes to America - First Book of Nephi, Chapter Thirteen (1 Nephi 13)

Nephi’s expansive vision does not end with the events documented in the Book of Mormon. After he learns of the tragic fate of his descendants (killed or made to depart from their true beliefs by the “Lamanites”—the descendants of his brothers) in the previous chapter, the vision becomes even grander. Nephi still has the angel with him to help explain the meaning of what he sees.

Before launching into a description of what follows, I think it’s important to take a moment to say that Nephi is not being shown this vision just to satisfy idle curiosity. There are specific purposes for what he sees. I don’t claim to know all of these purposes, but I perceive two key purposes that jump out at me and I’d like to share:

1. Importance of the Record (Book of Mormon). Making clear to Nephi that the writings that he and his descendants will leave behind will contain plain and precious teachings about Jesus Christ and His plan of salvation that will come forth to the Gentiles (European settlers in America and their descendants) at a critical moment in history when the Gentiles, along with the “remnant” of Nephi’s “seed” and the Lamanites (who make up at least some of the Native Americans) desperately need access to a greater degree of truth and spiritual guidance. As Nephi learns how directly the fate of civilizations depend on him, it must be a powerful motivator to keep him on the right path and concentrate his mind on the important tasks at hand.
2. A Second Witness to His Family. Many times in the scriptures the Lord speaks of the importance of having at least two or three witnesses to establish the truth (for example, Deut. 19:15 and 2 Cor. 13:1). Lehi has functioned as the family leader to this point, and based on what he has seen, has tried to communicate the importance of life decisions to the family, especially Laman and Lemuel. We get even more detail from Nephi’s vision than from Lehi’s previous ones. Even though prophecy indicates that Laman and Lemuel will fall away, and lead their descendants into spiritual blindness, it is important for Lehi and Nephi to present them with a clear choice between good and evil so that the choices they make are with full knowledge of the consequences. Perhaps just as important is for Lehi to recognize that he does not shoulder the burden alone—that Nephi is backing him up. And of course, Nephi then continues to grow into the role of becoming the family leader as Lehi's youth and strength fade.

As for the actual events the angel guides Nephi through in the vision, let’s hit some of the highlights:

• They see the many nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles after the initial spread of Christ’s church in the area of the Roman Empire.

• At the same time, a “great and abominable” church is established. To my understanding, this does not specifically refer to any one earthly organization, but represents anything that pulls people away from the precious truths Jesus taught. Something of great significance this abominable church does is to take away these precious truths from the Biblical records of the Jewish prophets and early Christian apostles. We don’t necessarily know exactly how this happened (mistranslation, intentional changing of manuscripts, etc.). The important thing to note is that the Bible is left in such a state that it becomes necessary for the Book of Mormon to come forth so that the Bible and uncorrupted Book of Mormon can reinforce and clarify the truth that each holds.

• The story of the discovery of America through Columbus and the American Revolution is unfolded before Nephi’s eyes (remember, this is around 600 B.C., about 2,100 years before Columbus). It also enriches our appreciation of these events and those who took part in them not as accidents of history, but as inspired parts of a loving God’s plan to establish a haven of freedom on Earth.

• It took the climate of religious freedom that America afforded for Joseph Smith to translate this record (including this very chapter) and for the message of the Book of Mormon to go forward. In the discussion above, key purpose #1 gets into the “why” of this point. Nephi refers to the Book of Mormon in verse 39 when he speaks of “other books” coming forth from the Gentiles to the Lamanites. Because of the use of the plural “books,” one wonders if there might be records in addition to the Book of Mormon that might be found someday to reinforce the truths it and the Bible present.
  
  
• Finally, Nephi learns of a great truth that Jesus himself will later share (in Luke 13:30) about how God works through different groups of his children to give everyone an opportunity to know of his truth and its saving power. The last (the Gentiles) shall be first, and the first (the Jews) shall be last. It doesn’t mean that either is naturally superior or inferior to the other, but that each will have its turn at coming up with profound messages from God that are valuable to the other. And, maybe most importantly, the relationship between the two groups is necessary for the ultimate salvation of both. Bottom line: We are all God’s children, and we need one another.

There's a lot going on here! Please let me know if you have any questions.

You can read the chapter here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/13?lang=eng