I hope you enjoy some insights from my Come Follow Me 1 Nephi 11-15. (If you missed last week click here for insights for Come Follow Me 1 Nephi 8-10) Save this pin to read later.
Knowest thou the condescension of God?
“And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God?”
1st Nephi 11:16
The word condescension is not often used today, and the meaning has changed over time to something negative. But the older meaning is “to put aside one’s dignity or superiority voluntarily and assume equality with one regarded as inferior”
Or in English, the Spirit was asking something like: Do you know why the Messiah is coming? Do you know why He is going to voluntarily “descended below all things”? Why He, Jesus The Christ, a God, the Creator of the Heavens and Earth, the Great I AM! The Jehovah of the Old Testament. Why He will come down among the creations of His hands and subject himself to them, suffer and die!? To this question Nephi replied:
“And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.”
1st Nephi 11:17
Nephi hit the nail on the head! Why would He do it? Because He loves us. We vastly underestimate how much love both God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ had, and have for us. The atonement is the single greatest act of love we have or will ever have given to us.
It reminds me of the lyrics I heard often in the south: “What kind of king would choose to wear a crown that bleeds and scars to win my heart?” So the question we have to answer is, was it enough? Has He won your heart?
Worshiping Christ.
“And after he had said these words, he said unto me: Look! And I looked, and I beheld the Son of God going forth among the children of men; and I saw many fall down at his feet and worship him.”
1 Nephi 11:24
One of the most inaccurate accusations against Latter-day Saints is that we are not Christians. They claim we worship Joseph Smith, which is false, we do not pray to, we do not worship, and we do not bow down or kneel to the Prophets, Apostles, or anyone other than God the Father and His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ the Savior of the World.
“I worship Him as I worship His Father, in spirit and in truth. I thank Him and kneel before His wounded feet and hands and side, amazed at the love He offers me.”
Gordon B. Hinckley
The Book of Mormon: War and Peace.
“And I saw them gathered together in multitudes; and I saw wars and rumors of wars among them; and in wars and rumors of wars I saw many generations pass away.”
1 Nephi 12:21
The scriptures teach us that if we live the Gospel we will have peace. Period the end. Only in our wickedness does the Lord cause wars to afflict His people to stir them up unto repentance.
The recipe for peace is not armistices, truces, or treaties. It is not found in the halls of governments. Peace comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. It is found in the lives and homes of His followers. Only when the world accepts the Prince of Peace will they ever experience world peace.
“Only the gospel will save the world from the calamity of its own self-destruction. Only the gospel will unite men of all races and nationalities in peace. Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family”
Ezra Taft Benson
If we harden our hearts.
“Therefore, wo be unto the Gentiles if it so be that they harden their hearts against the Lamb of God.” 1st Nephi 14:6
In the scriptures, a wo is something important to understand.
Wo = a curse from God.
Wo, wo = urgent warning, basically the last call for repentance.
Wo, wo, wo = the destruction/judgments have been sent forth from God.
Anyways back to the topic of hardening hearts. Why is it important?
The Book of Mormon was written for the last days. This verse is directed to the gentiles (that’s us). It is warning our nation not to harden our hearts both collectively and individually. But it does not end with just a “wo”
“For the time cometh, saith the Lamb of God, that I will work a great and a marvelous work among the children of men; a work which shall be everlasting, either on the one hand or on the other—either to the convincing of them unto peace and life eternal, or unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, both temporally and spiritually, according to the captivity of the devil, of which I have spoken.”
1st Nephi 14:7
Because the time has come where there will be no fence-sitters. Hard hearts will be rewarded with destruction. Soft hearts will be rewarded with deliverance and salvation.
If we have faith in Jesus Christ He will deliver us. He always has, and always will take care of His people. God has made clear that he has persevered this nation, but if we harden our hearts we will bring down the fullness of His wrath. We are not immune to what happened to the Nephites and Jaredites. The Book of Mormon is to warn us, to wake us up before we lose our nations as they lose theirs.
So wake up! Let us not go the way of the Nephites. Repent and soften your hearts.
The Truth of The Bible.
“Wherefore, thou seest that after the [bible] hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God.”
1st Nephi 13:28
Sometimes members of the Church rationalize a lack of studying the bible because of the plain and precious parts that have been removed. This is erroneous because the fact that evil or careless men have take parts of the Bible away it does not change the fact that the Bible as originally written was and is the word of God.
When the Bible is read with the JST and the Book of Mormon we are able to understand the original intent and meaning of the authors. And able to detect false doctrines inserted by men. We are under no obligation to adhere to the additions and alterations of man but rather the revelations of God, and we can discern between the two when we use the Bible, the JST and the Book of Mormon together.
“The Book of Mormon testifies of modern books of scripture. It refers to them as “other books” and “last records” which “establish the truth” of the Bible and make known the “plain and precious things which have been taken away” from the Bible.”
Ezra Taft Benson
A Marvelous Work
“For the time cometh, saith the Lamb of God, that I will work a great and a marvelous work among the children of men; a work which shall be everlasting…”
1 Nephi 14:7
Countless times in the scriptures it refers to a “Marvelous work” that the Lord would perform in the last days. That work is the restoration. From humble beginnings of a mere 6 members in 1830 the Church now stands at almost 16 million members strong. And this is only the beginning! I want to share the thoughts of Count Leo Tolstoy on what he called ‘the American religion’ that he shared with the American Ambassador Dr. White.
“The Mormon people teach the American religion; their principles teach the people not only of Heaven and its attendant glories, but how to live so that their social and economic relations with each other are placed on a sound basis. If the people follow the teachings of this Church, nothing can stop their progress — it will be limitless. There have been great movements started in the past but they have died or been modified before they reached maturity. If Mormonism is able to endure, unmodified, until it reaches the third and fourth generation, it is destined to become the greatest power the world has ever known.”
Count Leo Tolstoy
Acquiring Knowledge Through Prayer.
“And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?”
1 Nephi 15:8
We live in a world overflowing with knowledge but lacking in understanding. This is what Nephi encountered with his brethren. They had been told many things by their father but they did not understand them. Nephi poses the question to them “Have you asked God?”
Nephi is trying to teach us something vitally important, to understand the words of God, you must ask God for understanding. There are some things that you can’t find the answer to on Google, you have to turn to God.
“Go directly to the Source of Truth for answers to our questions. If we seek Him humbly and sincerely, He will help us discern truth from error.”
M. Russell Ballard
Christopher Columbus and the Restoration
“And I looked and beheld a man among the gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many water; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land. “
1 Nephi 13:12
Few people in history evoke as much controversy as Christopher Columbus. And fewer have had their character assassinated as much as Christopher Columbus. Progressives in Academia have tirelessly slandered The Church and its leaders, America, the Founding Fathers, and Columbus by teaching revisionist history. Including at BYU.
Many Latter-day Saints going to colleges have been taught a version of history where Columbus is a genocidal villain who is responsible for all evil ever done in North or South America. about Columbus and in turn struggle with this verse as it causes them to question their professors or the gospel. The Restoration restores the truth about Columbus. I wrote an article on this topic that is too long to be copied here: (Click here to read about the 3 truths the restoration teaches about Columbus).
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