Nephi Seals His Testimony and Mission: To Serve (and Save) Man - Second Book of Nephi, Chapter Thirty-Three

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/33?lang=eng.

  

Let us not lose sight of the significance of this chapter. To this point in our study of the Book of Mormon, all that we have known is what Nephi has written. Before entrusting his record to another (it will be his brother Jacob), he is summing up and sealing his record with his personal testimony that what he has shared is accurate and applicable in the lives of all who read it.

Nephi starts with a curiously humble assertion where he acknowledges the limitation of his own words to convert us, to change our hearts. First, he tells us that he is better at speaking than at writing, and explains that when a speaker has the power of the Holy Ghost with him, that power carries his words unto the hearts of the children of men. But even so, the hearer still needs to be receptive. If he “hardens his heart,” even the most sincerely shared and spirit-filled message of love and truth will not take hold. One of our Church’s apostles, David A. Bednar, has taught that the scripture here (verse 1) teaches that the Spirit carries a message unto but not necessarily into the heart without the receiver’s help.

Despite his limitations, Nephi knows that his writings are of great worth because they speak of Jesus, persuade the reader to believe in Him, and teach us to endure to the end, “which is life eternal” (verse 4). And Nephi’s confidence regarding his words’ ultimate effectiveness is bolstered by his many prayers and tears. “And I know that the Lord God will consecrate my prayers for the gain of my people” (verse 4).

Nephi also knows that his words speak “harshly against sin,” and may provoke those with the “spirit of the devil” (verse 5). But it is a sign of his charity, not his enmity, toward temporarily lost souls. Nephi has faith that by pricking the hearts of those who need to repent, and setting them on the Lord’s path of obedience, that he will meet many souls “spotless” at the judgment seat of Christ (verse 7).

He shares his serene confidence with us that his view of things will be proven right when we “stand face to face” before the Lord after this life (verse 11). He insists that even if we don’t believe Nephi’s words, we should believe in Christ, because if we can do that, somehow the Lord’s influence will work on us so that we recognize at some point down the road that Nephi’s words are in fact Christ’s own (verse 10).

In his final statements, Nephi’s love for plainness is clear. He wants us to know that we are accountable by stating without any equivocation that his message is for all (Jew and Gentile) and that those who will not “partake of the goodness of God” and respect the words of Christ will be condemned by those very words (verse 14). As much as Nephi loves all men and women, he has understood through revelation from the Lord and his own recognition of our freedom to choose that not all will be saved. But he is serious about making sure that as many as possible can be (verse 12). And that is an effort that is well for us to emulate.