Book of Mormon Feast
God in 1 Nephi 14
Father • God • Lamb
Lamb of God • Lord
Lord God • Spirit
1 Nephi 14:16
Wrath of God continued
And as there began to be wars and rumors of wars
among all the nations which belonged to the mother of abominations,
the angel spake unto me, saying:
Behold, the wrath of God is upon the mother of harlots;
and behold, thou seest all these things -
This verse repeats exactly the message of the previous verse, but in reverse order. There is a lot of this repetition in the Book of Mormon. In a language with no punctuation, as the original English dictation likewise lacked punctuation, it serves as a concept divider and organizer as punctuation does. Ancient Hebrew often employed repetition in the form of parallelism, either in the same order or reverse order, for beauty and emphasis. Or, as Joseph explained to Pharaoh, “For that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice, it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass” (Genesis 41:32).
However, there is one addition in verse 16: the angel emphasizes to Nephi “thou seest all these things.” We may live in the generation when these things come to pass, and we will see and hopefully recognize them. We should take the angel’s words as an admonition, and see all these things. Too often we focus on what the news media wishes us to see, only on the bad news aspect of it. We must constantly remember and “see” the whole picture – that this is the wrath of God, that He has a purpose in guiding our history in this path, and that no events or chaos in the world or in our nation or in our own neighborhoods need invalidate our cheerful hope of God’s goodness and power. As we see the work of the devil escalating, and the wrath of God commencing, we must also see the power of God at work among His saints, and be part of the people choosing that righteousness which is in Christ.
1 Nephi 14:17
The Work of the Father shall commence
The Book of Mormon teaches that during the destructions of the last days,
the work of the Father will commence to fulfill His covenants
And when the day cometh that the wrath of God is poured out
upon the mother of harlots,
which is the great and abominable church of all the earth,
whose founder is the devil, then, at that day,
the work of the Father shall commence,
in preparing the way for the fulfilling of his covenants,
which he hath made to his people who are of the house of Israel.
Three times the angel has repeated that the wrath of God is upon the great and abominable church of the devil. This wrath, in the form of wars, comes upon the people of the world as they gather together to persecute the saints of God. Not only is this some sort of protective measure, but it serves to introduce “the work of the Father. . . in. . . fulfilling. . . covenants.” We can see that some work of the Father commenced with the restoration of the keys of sealing and gathering, but apparently, as intimated in Article of Faith #9, there is more to come, which is not yet manifest.
1 Nephi 14:20
An apostle of the Lamb
And the angel said unto me: Behold one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
As the angel introduces – or re-
1 Nephi 14:24
The apostle of the Lamb shall write
The Book of Mormon teaches
that an ancient apostle will write about the end of the world
And behold, the things which this apostle of the Lamb shall write
are many things which thou hast seen; and behold, the remainder shalt thou see.
No, the angel has not jumped around in the chronology; he is introducing a second
witness to the world of the things which he is showing Nephi. The angel’s words
to Nephi also explain to us the scope of the Book of Revelations. (I’m jumping the
gun on identifying these apostle’s writings, before the angel has made the positive
identification.) The apostle will write of that “which has been” (in 600 B.C.) and
“the end of the world.” It is neither all last-
1 Nephi 14:25
Nephi may not write the apostle’s assignment
The Book of Mormon teaches that God ordains those chosen to write scripture
But the things which thou shalt see hereafter thou shalt not write;
for the Lord God hath ordained the apostle of the Lamb of God
that he should write them.
Nephi has not yet received a command to write, and, traveling through the wilderness and dealing with the new challenges of that life, writing was probably not on his mind. The angel has previously told him that his seed will write what has been revealed to them, and he has seen what a blessing these writings will be as they join the “record of the Jews” in bringing people to repentance and to following God. Whether the idea had occurred to him that he was certainly experiencing information that should be written or this was the first inkling he got of his part in the writing, the angel assumes that Nephi will be writing. And so the angel demarcates how much Nephi can write – thus far and no farther.
As always, Nephi and the angel are very specific in their names of Deity. If I were writing this verse, I’d probably write something like “God has ordained His apostle to write them.” The angel uses two different names for God in the same short sentence. He has always referred to the Twelve as apostles of “the Lamb,” being a continual reminder of their role as special witnesses of Christ and His sacrifice and the power of His atonement. The “Lord God” is the Supreme Being to whom we owe obedience and allegiance; thus He is the One to ordain.
This verse is another reminder of the importance and centrality of the Bible. The Book of Mormon does not stand alone. The angel points us directly to the Bible to read the rest of the story, which Nephi in plainness has begun for us. At this point we should be so engrossed in the narrative that we want to go to the Bible and see what happens next.
In fact, it would be an interesting and profitable study to compare Nephi’s vision with the Book of Revelation. The Revelation completes Nephi’s vision, while Nephi’s vision should serve to clarify the Revelation.
1 Nephi 14:26
The Lord has shown all things to some
The Book of Mormon teaches that other prophets through the ages have written all things in their purity, and we will have them in the Lord’s time
And also others who have been, to them hath he shown all things,
and they have written them; and they are sealed up to come forth in their purity, according to the truth which is in the Lamb, in the own due time of the Lord,
unto the house of Israel.
The Lord delights to honor those who serve Him “in righteousness and truth unto the end” (Doctrine & Covenants 76:5). The Bible says “Delight thyself also in the LORD, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Psalm 37:4). When one of His people has a desire to know more than his own life situation, his immediate surroundings, his own calling, while still fulfilling his responsibilities with faith, the Lord has shown great things of the past and future history of humanity on this earth.
Enoch was shown a tremendous panoramic vision of the whole future of the world. It
wrought great emotional distress in this righteous and tender-
“He showed unto the Brother of Jared all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth. For he had said unto him in times before, that if he would believe in him that he could show unto him all things – it should be shown unto him; therefore the Lord could not withhold anything from him, for he knew that the Lord could show him all things.” (Ether 3:25,26) We really have no further details of this vision, for the Lord said “Thou shalt not suffer these things which ye have seen and heard to go forth unto the world. . . ye shall treasure up the things which ye have seen and heard, and show it to no man. . . ye shall write them and shall seal them up.” (Ether 3:21,22) Surely this is a key record to come forth.
Moses’s great vision included “many lands, and each land was called earth, and there were inhabitants on the face thereof.” (Moses 1:29) Moses requested twice to know of the earth and the heavens. The Lord gave him that glimpse of the heavens, but stated firmly “Only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, give I unto you.” (Moses 1:35) “Moses cast his eyes and beheld the earth, yea, even all of it; and there was not a particle of it which he did not behold, discerning it by the spirit of God. And he beheld also the inhabitants thereof, and there was not a soul which he beheld not.” (Moses 1:27,28)
Thanks to Moses’s vision and desires to know more, we have the treasured “mission statement” of God Himself: “This is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Moses 1:39) These words resonate in our souls as reassurance of our divine worth and potential, and help us feel great respect and love for our fellow children of God.
While we have few details on these three great visions, they share the commonality of being focused on individuals – every single one, on the inhabitants thereof, on their spiritual condition. In God’s view of history, this is more important than kings and conquerors, governments and wars. So it is curious that after the Lord’s tender statement of purpose, the vision that we do have is of the creation of the earth. Science has gradually substantiated most of Moses’s creation narratives (The Creation Story, by Robert Cowan). In addition, we may suspect there is more to the story – an allegorical recitation of the future history of the world. And Moses may have written more of his vision “in purity,” which will join the group of revelations that we can look forward to reading.
Isaiah may have also been one who was shown “all things.” There may be other prophets who wrote who we currently know nothing about.
In addition, the angel says these others “have been.” While he does not, in 600 B.C., state that others in the future will see, both Ezekiel (a contemporary of Nephi) and Daniel (shortly after) may have also seen more than is written. All the accounts of these great visions we have may only be teasers, encouraging us to look forward to the opening of the seals, the release of the full version.
And speaking of teasers, while the Lord’s work continues according to His own due
time, the world has its own enticements. A movie reviewer wrote “So, crack the seal
on your 2016 calendars, and pencil in all of these dates, because you’re going to
want to be in a movie theater for these upcoming films.” The vast majority of these
films are of non-
1 Nephi 14:27
John the Apostle would write
The Book of Mormon writers knew that John the apostle would write
And I, Nephi, heard and bear record,
that the name of the apostle of the Lamb was John,
according to the word of the angel.
Throughout this vision, in dozens of references, the angel and Nephi have referred to Jesus as “the Lamb.” Nephi had not previously used that name, and he did not use it subsequently except once, in speaking of the baptism of Jesus.
It is particularly significant that Nephi’s vision begins with the baptism of the Lamb, and ends (the written portion, anyway) with identifying the apostle of the Lamb ordained to write the rest of the vision as John.
None of the synoptic gospels calls Jesus “the Lamb.” In chapter 8 of the book of Acts we learn that Isaiah’s description “like a lamb dumb before his shearer” refers to Jesus. And Peter speaks of Christ “as of a lamb without blemish.” He is not named the Lamb, but the lamb is used as a simile for aspects of His sacrifice.
It is John the Beloved who tells us that John the Baptist twice, on two consecutive days, indicated Jesus, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God!” It is John the Beloved who, throughout his own apocalyptic recorded vision, spoke repeatedly of the Lamb, beginning with the Lamb who was slain, and culminating with the Lamb who is the Light, and who shall overcome.
While many prophets through the ages received the great vision, they were required to seal up their accounts. John was given the blessing of transmitting his vision for all to read. “And he saith unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” (Revelation 22:10) And we are given the blessing of reading it, with the expanded version written by Nephi, to aid our understanding.
1 Nephi 14:29
Nephi testifies that he saw
A Book of Mormon writer testifies of the truth of his record
And I bear record that I saw the things which my father saw,
and the angel of the Lord did make them known unto me.
As he concludes his recitation of his own vision, Nephi brings us back full circle to how it all started – with his father’s vision. He says the angel made known to him the things which his father saw. Actually, it was the Spirit of the Lord, not the angel, who showed Nephi the tree, the specific view that his father saw. But the Spirit stepped out after this, and it was the angel who carefully explained the meaning of all that Nephi saw. “Make known” means so much more than just “show,” and includes all these explanations.
Of Lehi’s vision we know little except the details of the tree dream and information about the coming Savior. We do not know if he, too, saw a history of the world, and that was part of what Nephi’s father saw, that the angel made known unto him.
By reminding us of what we know that Lehi saw, and saying that the angel of the Lord made these things known to him, Nephi is implying that everything he saw relates back to that Tree. All that fighting against the Lamb must be included in the mists of darkness, the great and spacious building, and the filthy torrent. The wrath of God must be included in the love of God.
The historical structure of the Catwalk was removed a few years ago, damaged by flood. It has recently been rebuilt, stronger than ever, with better observation decks placed strategically so that visitors can enjoy the marvelous scenic views. So, too, the iron rod has been reinforced by the introduction of the record of the Nephites. It continues to be strengthened by the words of living prophets.
The Tree of Life vision/allegory is timeless, and speaks of every individual’s journey as well as the challenges of every time and place. Every person is in that scene. Whether he calls to or is called by others, he must make the choice to walk to the tree and partake. He is not born under its shade, with a perpetual umbilical cord.
1 Nephi 14:30
Carried away in the Spirit
The things written in the Book of Mormon are true
And now I make an end of speaking concerning the things which I saw
while I was carried away in the Spirit;
and if all the things which I saw are not written,
the things which I have written are true. And thus it is. Amen.
Thus, rather abruptly, the account of the vision is concluded. At the beginning of the vision Nephi said that he was carried away in the Spirit of the Lord. (1 Nephi 11:1) This context must be remembered when punctuating this verse. (Some editions of the Book of Mormon write “spirit” uncapitalized.) Carried away in the spirit would be a valid experience; many people have experiences “in the spirit,” such as Near Death Experiences. But Nephi’s experience is more than that: he conversed with the Spirit of the Lord, and the Spirit led the vision.
God in 1 Nephi 14 by the Numbers
30 verses
God is mentioned by name: 22 verses = 73%
Verses about God: 22 verses = 73%
Father: 2
God: 6
Lamb: 6
Lamb of God: 11
Lord: 4
Lord God: 1
Spirit: 1