Book of Mormon Feast
God in 1 Nephi 12
Eternal God • God
Holy Ghost • Lamb • Lamb of God
The Lord • Messiah
1 Nephi 12:5
The terrible judgments of the Lord
The Book of Mormon teaches that the more wicked people were destroyed before the resurrected Christ visited the people of the Promised Land
And it came to pass after I saw these things,
I saw the vapor of darkness, that it passed from off the face of the earth;
and behold, I saw multitudes who had not fallen
because of the great and terrible judgments of the Lord.
The next section of Nephi’s panoramic view of history shifts to focus on his own people, the descendants of his father Lehi, and is marked by the great number of people they have grown to, and their wars. He speaks of “multitudes of people. . . in number as many as the sand of the sea, many cities, many generations,” and “battle… against the other . . . wars and rumors of wars and great slaughters with the sword . . . wars and contentions.”
This dismal human situation is followed by terrific natural weather and geological
events, which culminate in the destruction of many cities. Nephi informs us that
these events are the judgments of the Lord. The Lord is fighting fire with fire.
Through most of history He fights the fire of wickedness with the water of the gospel
of peace. However, when He knows that only total destruction is imminent, He may
choose to light a back-
All of this is only the background for what comes next, and Nephi is introducing us to those who have survived the cataclysms. He does not refer to them as a remnant, but as “multitudes.”
1 Nephi 12:6
The Lamb of God descended out of heaven
The Book of Mormon teaches that prophets knew that
Jesus Christ would visit the people of the Promised Land after His resurrection
And I saw the heavens open, and the Lamb of God descending out of heaven;
and he came down and showed himself unto them.
Nephi, like Lehi before him, saw the heavens open, and Jesus descending out of heaven.
Lehi’s vision was symbolic of Jesus’s earthly ministry; Nephi’s was literal, and
fits into his historical overview. Nephi has previously told us that he saw Jesus’
birth to a virgin, healing and teaching ministry, and death on the cross, but he
didn’t mention the resurrection or Jesus’s post-
1 Nephi 12:7
The Holy Ghost fell upon Twelve
The Book of Mormon teaches that Jesus chose 12 Church leaders
in the Promised Land, just as He did in Palestine.
And I also saw and bear record that the Holy Ghost fell upon twelve others;
and they were ordained of God, and chosen.
There is something unique and essential in the Twelve. Nephi testifies of the calling of the Nephite Twelve in language just as emphatic as his testimony of Jesus.
Nephi’s first observation of the Twelve is that the Holy Ghost fell upon them. This was of course true of many at that event, as well as many throughout Book of Mormon history and world history. That is a prerequisite for membership in the Twelve, but it cannot be the defining factor.
Nephi specifies that they were chosen: they did not choose themselves, and there
is no implication that they were chosen by majority vote – they were chosen by God.
They were ordained: it is not an ad hoc project -
When replacing Judas Iscariot, Jesus’s Old World apostles had specified that the new apostle must have been a witness of Jesus’s full ministry and resurrection. However, Paul the apostle hadn’t participated in any of this; he knew the Lord through a vision.
In Nephi’s vision we learn that the testimonial requirement to be one of the Twelve is received by the Holy Ghost. Although in this Nephite visitation event the resurrected Jesus will be seen by all, and this very Twelve were later visited personally by Jesus when they had an important question (3 Nephi 27), it is the Holy Ghost who will fuel their ministry, and take their message to the hearts of the people.
There are Latter-
1 Nephi 12:8
The Twelve disciples of the Lamb are chosen
The Book of Mormon teaches that God chooses His church leaders
And the angel spake unto me, saying: Behold the twelve disciples of the Lamb,
who are chosen to minister unto thy seed.
The angel wants Nephi to understand who these Twelve are. He specifies that their limited calling is to minister to Nephi’s seed. We will later learn their names, but of their ministry we know less than of the Twelve of Judea, who were chosen to minister to the whole world, including us.
1 Nephi 12:9
The Twelve will judge the world
The Book of Mormon teaches that the Twelve are commissioned as Judges
And he said unto me: Thou rememberest the twelve apostles of the Lamb?
Behold they are they who shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel;
wherefore, the twelve ministers of thy seed shall be judged of them;
for ye are of the house of Israel.
The angel points out the subordinate nature of this Nephite Twelve who, although they will never meet in mortality, will nevertheless be judged by the Twelve Apostles of Jesus’s time. The Nephite Twelve are called disciples and ministers, but never apostles. Here we catch a glimpse of how orderly is the kingdom of God.
1 Nephi 12:10
Their garments are made white because of faith in the Lamb
The Book of Mormon teaches that faith in the Lamb of God makes us pure
And these twelve ministers whom thou beholdest shall judge thy seed.
And, behold, they are righteous forever;
for because of their faith in the Lamb of God
their garments are made white in his blood.
The angel explains the eternal nature of the calling of this Nephite Twelve, which, like the Old World apostles, will culminate in their sitting in judgement over their own stewardship.
In the same breath, the angel passes a judgment on the Nephite Twelve themselves. He pronounces them “righteous forever.” The basis of this righteousness is not their great works or their abstinence from sin, but it is their faith in Jesus through His atoning sacrifice.
If you feel guilty about something, consider the idea that it is a lack of faith which requires you to hold onto the guilt. You are not righteous, not because of the sin or fault that caused the guilt, but because you have not taken that sin or fault and asked that the blood of the Lamb wash it away.
1 Nephi 12:11
Three generations of faith in the Lamb of God
The Book of Mormon teaches that common people also receive
the gift of righteousness through faith on the Lamb
And the angel said unto me: Look!
And I looked, and beheld three generations pass away in righteousness;
and their garments were white even like unto the Lamb of God.
And the angel said unto me:
These are made white in the blood of the Lamb, because of their faith in him.
As verification of the source of righteousness for the Twelve, the angel credits the same agents – faith in the Lamb of God, and cleansing through His blood – as the foundation of the righteousness we will later read about in 3 Nephi.
This was not a utopian society that developed spontaneously because the wicked had been destroyed. These were individuals who were still subject to temptations and human proclivities, who day by day chose to repent, keep their vision fixed on Jesus and His life and teachings and redemption, and follow Him.
This is not a mechanical formula. When one knows and recognizes the incredible sacrifice made by the Lamb of God in one’s behalf, one has a revulsion for sin.
Latter-
1 Nephi 12:18
The Holy Ghost beareth record from the beginning of the world
The Book of Mormon teaches that the Holy Ghost is our witness of the Messiah
And the large and spacious building, which thy father saw,
is vain imaginations and the pride of the children of men.
And a great and a terrible gulf divideth them;
yea, even the word of the justice of the Eternal God,
and the Messiah who is the Lamb of God, of whom the Holy Ghost beareth record, from the beginning of the world until this time,
and from this time henceforth and forever.
The angel again gives credit to the Holy Ghost, who eternally bears record of the Lamb of God.
The angel is further explaining the symbolism of the Tree of Life vision. A great
and terrible gulf separates the worldly from the righteous. We already know that
the righteous are those with faith, whose sins are washed away through the blood
of the Lamb. Now the angel tells why the unrighteous cannot cross the gulf of justice:
because they do not rely on the Lamb of God, but on their own vain imaginations
and pride. Their myriad of self-
Chapter 12 Summary – the Scenes of the Vision, as demarcated by “Look!”
10. Population growth and wars among the seed of Lehi; the great destruction before
Jesus comes; Jesus’s appearance among the Nephites; Jesus calling the Nephite Twelve.
1-
11. Three generations of righteousness; Interpretations of the vision: fountain
of filthy water = depths of hell, mists of darkness = temptations of the devil, great
& terrible gulf = justice of the word of God; his seed destroyed by his brothers’
seed, who then dwindle and become abominable. 11-
(This began as a wonderful part of the vision for Nephi. He has seen his seed and his brothers’ seed in so many wars through so many generations. Now they seem to be over. He probably would have liked to have lingered on this scene. But more is to come. Imagine his horror when he sees another view of the Great and Spacious Building, which fell when Jesus was killed, but now he sees his own seed represented there, and falling at the hands of his brothers’ seed.)
God in 1 Nephi 12 by the Numbers
23 verses
God is mentioned by name: 8 verses = 35%
Verses about God: 8 verses = 35%
Eternal God: 1
God: 1
Holy Ghost: 2
Lamb: 3
Lamb of God: 4
Lord: 1
Messiah: 1