Book of Mormon Feast
God in 1 Nephi 13
God • Holy Ghost • Lamb
Lamb of God • Lord • Lord God
Savior • Shepherd • Son of the Eternal Father
Spirit of God • Spirit of the Lord
1 Nephi 13:37
Blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion
The Book of Mormon
gives wonderful promises to the Lord’s people in the latter days
And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day,
for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost;
and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day,
and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb;
and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy,
how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be.
What a wonderful verse this is! Here the Lord Himself gives us three succinct and beautiful promises, made especially to the Saints of the Latter Days!
First, He tells us how to truly have the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, which was bestowed upon us after our baptism: seek to bring forth His Zion. Many people and organizations propose ideas about how to make the world a better place, and there is doubtless merit in many of them. We may choose to implement some of those ideas in our lives. But when our focus is on establishing Zion as the Lord has planned, the Holy Ghost magnifies our efforts and sharpens our ideas. We can begin to see how we can work to bring forth Zion in all areas of our lives.
The Lord’s second promise is a warning. Despite the comfort, companionship, and guidance of the Holy Ghost, we will be tempted not to endure to the end. This can of course mean abandoning the faith. But it may also mean slowing down or diminishing our efforts and zeal. Because of the way Jesus phrases this, “endure to the end” does not stand alone. It is linked to the idea of bringing forth Zion. So if we are merely going through the motions of saintly life, we may think that we are enduring, but we are not continuing to seek to build Zion. This is why we are admonished to “lengthen your stride” and “hasten the work,” and “Can ye feel so now?” (Alma 5:26). The promise associated with this admonition is eternal life in the kingdom of God. Those who seek God’s kingdom on earth will receive it for eternity. Those who, through their faithfulness and diligence, continue to enjoy the Holy Ghost in this life will find that it has been a token of the promise of eternal life.
Third, Jesus quotes briefly from Isaiah’s eloquent words about the beautiful feet of those who publish peace, adding a phrase that would be spoken by the angel at His birth: “tidings of great joy.”
If we had only the words of Isaiah, we might not be certain of the precise meaning of his declaration about “publish peace.” Is it people who reject gossip, and only speak well of others? People who don’t dwell on the dismal state of the nation and the world? People who work to abolish the war culture and attitudes that cause division among peoples? These may all be good endeavors.
But when we supplement Isaiah’s words with those of Jesus and Abinadi (Mosiah 15), we can see clearly that he is speaking specifically of those who share the gospel – the good news. Sharing the gospel with others is the apex of building the Kingdom of God, and seeking to bring forth the Lord’s Zion. Furthermore, by linking Isaiah’s words with the nativity angel’s words, Jesus also introduces the idea of joy as a bridge between the work of publishing peace and the result of being “beautiful upon the mountains.” This reminds us of Doctrine & Covenants 18:15,16, where we learn that joy is the fruit of sharing the gospel with others.
As an editor, I suggest that the proper punctuation for this verse is an exclamation point. This is a verse to treasure up in our hearts, and let it direct our paths and shine through in everything we do!
1 Nephi 13:38
The Book came forth
The Book of Mormon teaches that
the early American colonists blessed the native peoples by giving them the Bible
And it came to pass that I beheld the remnant of the seed of my brethren,
and also the book of the Lamb of God,
which had proceeded forth from the mouth of the Jew,
that it came forth from the Gentiles unto the remnant of the seed of my brethren.
In Nephi’s day there was no “Bible,” which actually simply means “book,” and which has come to mean “Book of Books,” but there were scriptures, so Nephi continues to use the lengthy description “the book of the Lamb of God, which had proceeded forth from the mouth of the Jew.” Columbus’s original intent had been to Christianize the “Indians,” and from that time on European Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, brought the message of Christ and the Bible that contained it to the native peoples.
It is interesting how Nephi presents this historical process right after Jesus’s
message of the blessedness of those who publish peace. Latter-
1 Nephi 13:39
Other books came forth by the power of the Lamb
The Book of Mormon teaches
that one of its purposes is to support the truth of the Bible
And after it had come forth unto them I beheld other books, which came forth by the power of the Lamb, from the Gentiles unto them, unto the convincing of the Gentiles and the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the Jews who were scattered upon all the face of the earth, that the records of the prophets and of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are true.
Here is yet another purpose of the Book of Mormon: to prove to the three races – Lehi’s seed, the rest of the house of Israel, and the rest of the world – that the Bible is true. This verse is talking about more than the Book of Mormon, because Nephi says he saw other books. They are proving the truth of the records of the prophets (Old Testament) and of the twelve apostles (New Testament). These other books would include the Doctrine & Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. They may be limited to scriptures, because they come forth by the power of the Lamb. But they may not be limited to the scriptures we currently have.
The Book of Mormon proves to the world that the Bible is true, that it is the word of God.
1 Nephi 13:40
The Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world
The Book of Mormon teaches that
the purpose of sacred writings is to bring people unto Jesus Christ for salvation
And the angel spake unto me, saying:
These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles,
shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known
the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them;
and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people,
that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved.
Throughout this vision Jesus has constantly been referred to as the Lamb, the Lamb of God, which is a continual reminder to us of His sacrifice. This sacrifice was a historical event witnessed by many, and recorded in the New Testament.
In our day of relativism, many people believe that there may or may not have been a “historical Jesus,” but they deny any significance to them. The dominant philosophy of our culture is the new tolerance, which teaches that there is no absolute truth; truth is only what a person chooses to believe. Any of numerous “faith systems” may lead to happiness and fulfillment.
The Book of Mormon, in presenting Jesus as either the Eternal God or the Son of the Eternal God, says otherwise. He has authority. He is the Savior of the world, not just of those who fit into that “faith system.” All those other paths that people have created may be scenic byways, but they do not lead to salvation.
The Book of Mormon supports the Bible in testifying to the world that Jesus is the only way to salvation, and people must come unto Him.
1 Nephi 13:41
One God and One Shepherd over all the earth
The Book of Mormon teaches
that we can read the words of Jesus Christ in its pages as well as in the Bible
And they must come
according to the words which shall be established by the mouth of the Lamb;
and the words of the Lamb shall be made known in the records of thy seed,
as well as in the records of the twelve apostles of the Lamb;
wherefore they both shall be established in one;
for there is one God and one Shepherd over all the earth.
All Christian religions teach that people must come to Christ to be saved. But all
religions differ in how that is accomplished. Some use ritualistic words which have
been handed down by tradition. Some use Paul as the major source of how to come
to Christ. Some Bible-
The angel says that people must come unto Christ according to His own words. He defines the terms and the path.
For the first time in the Book of Mormon Jesus is introduced as the Shepherd. The Shepherd is exactly the identity needed to describe how Jesus leads His people, and not the other way around. Sheep, if left to their own devices, will denude a pasture. They need a shepherd who will look ahead, look around, and choose their grazing ground for the day. People, left to their own devices, have invented vague and nebulous ways to come to Christ, and strict and stringent paths, and everything in between. They need the Shepherd Himself to define His expectations and directions.
The Book of Mormon complements the Bible in presenting the words of Jesus Himself, so that people may know how to come unto Him.
1 Nephi 13:42
The last shall be first
The Book of Mormon teaches that all nations may know Jesus Christ
And the time cometh that he shall manifest himself unto all nations,
both unto the Jews and also unto the Gentiles;
and after he has manifested himself unto the Jews and also unto the Gentiles,
then he shall manifest himself unto the Gentiles and also unto the Jews,
and the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.
This verse does not contain a name of God, but all the pronouns are talking about Jesus, so it is properly included in this study.
I’m not sure I really understand this verse, but here’s my take on it:
The angel says the time cometh. He is not talking about Old Testament times, but times beginning with Jesus’s mortal life, which is still 600 years in the future.
1. He manifested Himself unto the Jews in person throughout His brief ministry in the Holy Land, and in His glorious resurrection. He also manifested Himself to the “Jews” of Bountiful in the Promised Land.
2. He manifested Himself unto the Gentiles through the words of the Bible, beginning with the ministry of Paul and continuing through the ages in the Christian world.
3. He manifested Himself unto the Gentiles through the words of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.
4. He will manifest Himself again unto the Jews. Will this be a personal manifestation? The Second Coming? How do the children of Lehi fit into this? Are we to assume that all native Americans are descendants of Lehi?
Alternatively, we can consider that there are only two sections:
1. 1. He manifested Himself unto the Jews in person throughout His brief ministry in the Holy Land, and in His glorious resurrection. He manifested Himself unto the Gentiles through the testimony of those Jews, beginning with the ministry of Paul and continuing through the ages in the Christian world.
2. He manifested Himself unto the Gentiles through the words of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. The Church restored through Joseph Smith is manifesting Him to all the world, including the children of Lehi, and to a small extent (in 2017) other Jews.
God in 1 Nephi 13 by the Numbers
42 verses
God is mentioned by name: 28 verses = 67%
God is mentioned by pronoun: 2 verses = 5%
Verses about God: 30 verses = 71%
God: 10
Holy Ghost: 1
Lamb: 17
Lamb of God: 7
Lord: 9
Lord God: 3
Savior: 1
Shepherd: 1
Son of the Eternal Father: 1
Spirit of God: 2
Spirit of the Lord: 1