Tuesday, July 21, 2009

1 Nephi 22:1-2

We have just finished a bit on Nephi teaching his brothers the words of Isaiah. He loves Isaiah and applies them to his life and the life of his family. I was impressed that his brothers listened to him, reading something that was not totally comprehensible and trying to understand it.

So, in verse 1, after Nephi has finished reading the selections of Isaiah to them, they asked what those things meant. Should they be interpreted as just spiritual events and not temporal?

Nephi answers this question in an interesting way. He begins his answer in verse 2, by testifying to his brothers of the process of revelation from the Lord to His prophets. He says:

"Behold they were amanifest unto the prophet by the voice of the bSpirit; for by the Spirit are all things made known unto the cprophets, which shall come upon the children of men according to the flesh."

There may have been several reasons he did this, but I think that he wanted to instruct and testify to them that this is the Lord's method. This is what happened, how, and why we left Jerusalem, came across the desert, built a ship, sailed to the Americas, and settled here. They were commandments from the Lord. Now, in addition to instruction, the Lord shows his prophets all things that will happen to mankind. Nephi did have such a vision.

I know that the prophets and apostles today are inspired by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We must heed their counsel and also receive a confirmation of their revelation.

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