#14 JANUARY 20-26: 1 NEPHI 11

1 Nephi Chapter 11

            Nephi believes the words of his father Lehi about the dream of the Tree of Life and wants to see the things which his father saw in vision. Because of his faith, the Lord grants Nephi’s request. In the next four chapters, Nephi describes a remarkable vision when extends from the Savior’s birth to the end of the world, except that he is stopped by the Spirit from describing for us the events that extend beyond our day. These are wonderful chapters, especially chapter 11 which we will now consider and which contains some precious and holy doctrine not found with such purity and power anywhere else in the scriptures. This chapter is a treasure! 

Chiastic structure of the Book of First Nephi

            As evidence of the importance of 1 Nephi Chapter 11 is its central role in the whole book of First Nephi. This is diagramed by Bro. John Welch in Book of Mormon Central. Here is the link: https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/1-nephi-11-15

            You’ll see in Bro. Welch’s diagram that the whole of the Book of First Nephi is in chiastic structure, i.e. it repeats itself in reverse order thus emphasizing the importance of the central part of the structure, like the Greek letter chi, which looks like an “X”. The center of the chiasm in the Book of First Nephi is Chapter 11, the chapter which we will now consider, which deals with Nephi’s vision of the birth and life of the Savior. 

1 Nephi 11:1 Formula for receiving personal revelation

            Nephi tell us in the first verse of this chapter that he believed the words of his father and desired to see the things his father had seen. He said that he 

. . . desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart . . .

Nephi gives us here an excellent formula for receiving personal revelation! Three critical steps in accessing the light which our Father is willing to give to us are to -

(1) Desire to know – a sincere desire, not just curiosity, but a desire based on a willingness to act upon the knowledge given. This is the “real intent” referred to in Moroni 10:4;

(2) Believe in the Lord – a heartfelt belief that the Lord is not only able to give us knowledge, but that He wants to and will respond to our humble request; and

(3) Ponder in our hearts – a quiet, contemplative frame of mind open to the revelations of heaven. Some good ways to foster this frame of mind, to create a pondering heart, are sincere prayer, thoughtful scripture study, and reverent worship in sacrament meeting or in the temple. In each case, pondering is to contemplate, to listen, to let our minds be guided by the Spirit. This requires peace of mind and discipline to shut out distraction, worry, fear, anger and other emotions that block the Spirit. 

Joseph Smith said, The things of God are of deep import, and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out (Teachings, p. 137)

If we want to know the “things of God”, we must be willing to take the time and exercise the discipline to ponder. We don’t necessarily have to be sitting still in a quiet room to ponder. But we do need to shut out the things of the world, the distractions that compete for our attention. I found years ago that, if I will turn off the radio in the car while driving to work, I turn on my mind and my thoughts soar. We spend so much of our lives with sound around us, sometimes we need to take out the AirPods, turn off the TV, radio, Alexa, Audible, or Pandora and just be alone with our thoughts – whether walking, jogging, biking, hiking, driving, working at home or in the yard, or wherever we can be alone with our thoughts and with the Lord. 

            A good friend and wise teacher/leader, Roger Clarke, suggested a similar formula for accessing the source of revelation from on high. I remember well a stake conference talk he gave over 10 years ago in which he encouraged stake members to “remember the DILO.” DILO is an acronym for 

Desire to know;

Inquire with faith;

Listen to understand; and

Obey the light and instruction given. 

This is an inspired formula! Like the process Nephi followed, if we sincerely desire to receive revelation from our Father in Heaven, the Source of all light and truth, and if we inquire, ponder and listen with faith and with a commitment in our heart to be obedient to that which we receive, He will answer. 

            I’ve learned some things over the years about receiving personal revelation from the Lord. I’m not very good at it. It is always a struggle. If we strive to live worthy of it, I think there is actually a constant flow of light that comes to us through the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives. This constant light helps us in every decision and is with us in all of our goings and comings. This is how the Holy Ghost most often ministers in our lives. Like the air we breathe, we aren’t really aware of it unless it is no longer there. (Persons who lose their Church membership through transgression are very aware of its loss.) But I’m talking now about receiving more obvious or defined revelation in response to a significant specific question or need in our life. These kinds of answers come infrequently, but it is marvelous when they do come. Some things I’ve learned about this process are that:

(1)  Answers come on the Lord’s timetable, not our own. We ask; we believe; we ponder; we listen; and we wait. We never demand or command. He will answer when we are ready to receive the answer. Sometimes, He needs to allow adversity, suffering or some other life experience to carve out in us over time a place to hold the answer He intends to give. 

(2)  The Lord usually wants us to do our best to work it out for ourselves before He answers. (See D&C 9:8) His answer is often a confirmation of what we have “studied out” and determined for ourself. I remember one time when I had struggled with a very difficult issue over several months, an issue that would affect a lot of people. I prayed often about it, but it was not until I changed my mind and took a different answer to Him that I got a clear (almost humorous) answer from the Lord, “You finally got it right!” 

(3)  When the Lord does open the window of heaven and speak to us in our mind and in our heart (see D&C 8:2), the answer is clear, concise and brief. It is accompanied by many positive feelings – joy, peace, love, relief, clarity, etc. These feelings often stimulate emotion, such as tears, but not always. Sometimes, there is a peaceful, joyful sweetness that moves us to rejoice without tears. 

(4)  When the Lord answers, He usually gives us more than that for which we asked. Surely He is the Giver of all good gifts. (See Matt 7:11) Elder Richard G. Scott taught that, when we receive a much sought after answer from the Lord, we should learn to humbly ask, “Is there more I should know?” (“To Acquire Spiritual Guidance”, Ensign, November 2009) Because there often is!

(5)  As soon as possible after (or even while) answers are coming from the Lord, it is helpful to record impressions, thoughts and feelings to help in remembering and revisiting the experience at a later time and to facilitate acting upon the light which is given. 

I’m sure you could add important truths which you have learned from your own experience about how to receive and recognize answers from the Lord in your life. To a large degree, this is a process we each have to learn for ourselves. Some learn it earlier in life than others and some get better at it than others. Those who do find their life guided more surely by His tender hand. 

Anyhow, thanks Nephi for shedding some light on this important process!

1 Nephi 11:1 I was caught away . . . into an exceedingly high mountain

            Nephi tells us he was “caught away” into an exceedingly high mountain. We don’t know if he was taken in spirit to a high mountain with his physical body still in the valley of Lemuel or if he was actually taken physically to a mountain. Either is possible. Others have been literally transported to high mountains. Think of the experiences of Moses (Moses 1:1), the Brother of Jared (Ether 3:1) and the Savior (JST Matt 4:8). There was no temple in the valley of Lemuel, so the Lord took Nephi to a “mountain temple” where He could show Nephi the things he desired to see. 

            I had the occasion many years ago as a recently-returned missionary with a friend of mine to interview Dr. Truman G. Madsen, a distinguished professor and author at BYU. One of the questions we asked him was when he felt closest to the Lord. I remember his answer well. And it came quickly – “Temples and Mountain Tops!” He went on to explain that in the holy temples of the Lord and while in the solitude of nature, especially in the mountains, were the times when he had the most clarity of thought and felt closest to the Lord. 

            It appears that, like Moses, Peter, James and John and perhaps others on mountain tops, Nephi had a temple-like experience and received an endowment of knowledge and power that equipped him for his mission in life. Those who have been endowed in the temple may recognize some temple-like aspects of Nephi’s experience. I’m mention one or two as we go through this chapter. 

            The authors of Book of Mormon Central have some good comments to make about Nephi and his temple experience on the high mountain. 

It is impossible to know exactly what Moses and Nephi experienced in their mountaintop encounters with God. Yet their experiences should give us all a greater appreciation for the temples that dot the earth in this dispensation. As one goes to the temple today and learns things related to what Moses and Nephi learned, one can come to see the temple as our own mountaintop experience—a time for us to draw close personally with God.

As we make covenants with God, we can look back on the long line of faithful saints who went before us and appreciate the similarities between our temple experiences and theirs. Our time in the temple can be just as powerful as Moses’ and Nephi’s time on their mountaintops if we are prepared to enter into a solemn covenant to keep all the laws mentioned in the Endowment and to receive all the revelations and blessings God is willing to give us.

The accounts of Moses and Nephi remind us all of the significance of the temple. In these sacred buildings, we are symbolically being invited into God’s presence to partake of all that He has to offer us. We should all strive to think a bit more about the grandeur of our temple experiences and remember that when we are in the temple, the house of the Lord, we follow in the footsteps of Moses and Nephi and are truly in the company of God and stand in holy places.

https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/how-do-the-book-of-moses-and-book-of-mormon-help-us-understand-the-endowment

Nephi definitely had a temple experience on the mountain. We always go up to the temple! Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. (Isaiah 2:3)

1 Nephi 11:2 “and the Spirit said unto me”

            Beginning in verse 2, Nephi, now on a high mountain, has a dialogue with “the Spirit.” Most interactions with the Spirit, even for prophets, (presumably the spirit of the Holy Ghost) are in the mind and heart, spirit to spirit, heart to heart. But the physical senses of sight and hearing are not usually involved. However, in this interaction, Nephi actually sees the Spirit! He says later (v 11) 

            for I spake unto him as a man speaketh; for I beheld that he was in the form of a man; yet nevertheless, I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another.

            Many have considered this theophany to be the only recorded instance in which the Holy Ghost has appeared in bodily form to a human on earth. From D&C 130:22, we know that 

            The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.

            Even a “personage of Spirit” can appear in “bodily” form, as when the pre-existent Jesus Christ appeared to the Brother of Jared (see Ether 3:16). In their excellent Commentary, Millet and McConkie give their opinion on this matter. 

The expression “Spirit of the Lord” is used some forty times in the Book of Mormon, and almost without exception it has reference to the Holy Ghost or to the Light of Christ. If, indeed, here the Holy Ghost was Nephi’s guide and teacher, this occasion is of tremendous significance, for it is the only scriptural occasion wherein the Holy Ghost makes a personal appearance to man. As the Prophet explained, “The Holy Ghost is a personage, and is in the form of a personage.” (Teachings, p. 276; see also D&C 130:22–23.)

1 Nephi 11:4 “believest thou?”

            In this dialogue with the Spirit, Nephi is first asked, What desirest thou? Nephi responds that he desires to behold the things that his father saw. Then the Spirit asks him, Believest thou that thy father saw the tree of which he hath spoken? The Spirit is testing Nephi, testing his faith and trust in the Lord. The Spirit knows that, as Moroni will later write, ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. (Ether 12:6) So the Spirit is testing Nephi’s faith. 

            This is an interesting model of testing and teaching. In the secular world, in schools and universities, we are taught by teachers and professors and then tested by their examinations to see how well we have learned. In this example of how the Lord teaches, we are tested first and then, if we pass the test, we are taught. This pattern is followed in temple teaching. We are tested by answering certain questions posed by two authorized priesthood leaders. If we answer correctly, then we are given our “ticket to learn”, our temple recommend. In the temple endowment, we are tested by asking if we are willing to make certain covenants. If we pass the test by entering into those covenants, we are taught sacred truths that will be of great value to us. It is an inspired model! The Lord and His representatives teach by asking questions. The next time you go to the temple and participate in an endowment session, observe how questions are used to test, to teach and to carry to message forward. 

1 Nephi 11:6 “Hosanna to the Lord, the most high God”

            In response to Nephi’s affirmation that he believes the words of his father, the Spirit cries with a loud voice Hosanna to the Lord, the most high God. At sacred times, such as at temple dedications, we also shout Hosannas to the Lord. 

            The word Hosanna is both an exclamation of praise and a plea for deliverance. It means literally, “Save, O God; save, we pray!” (DCBM)

1 Nephi 11:7 “this thing shall be given unto thee for a sign”

            The Spirit then tells Nephi that he will be given a sign. He will see the tree his father saw with the white fruit. After doing so, he will see the Son of God descending out of heaven. 

1 Nephi 11: 8 “Look!”

            As the remarkable vision unfolds, Nephi is told by the Spirit to look! In fact, in the four chapters that comprise this vision, Nephi is told by the Spirit or by the angel at least 14 times to look! On most of the occasions, look is followed by an exclamation mark. 

            Maybe we would see more if we looked for more. In my field in medicine, we have a saying that, “You see what you look for and you look for what you know.” I believe the same is true in gospel learning. The more we “know”, i.e. the more we learn by our own diligent study, the more we will know what to “look for” and the more we will “see.” My experience both with the scriptures and with the temple is that, instead of running out of things to “see” as I learn more, just the opposite is true. The more I learn and know, the more I see. This principle is taught in a temple context in Ezekiel 47:1-5. As we go farther down the course of the river that Ezekiel saw in vision flowing from the temple, the deeper the water becomes until it is a river to “swim in.” If we will pay the price, the scriptures and the temple will become for us rivers to swim in. Our learning will increase as we know more, look for more and thus see more. 

1 Nephi 11:13-23 What did Nephi see?

            So what does Nephi see in this vision as he looks? He sees Jerusalem, Nazareth, and a beautiful virgin in Nazareth. He sees that she is carried away in the Spirit and returns with a child in her arms. Nephi’s guide is now an angel (Who is that angel?) who exclaims, Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! The angel then asks Nephi if he now knows the meaning of the tree. Nephi exclaims in return, Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things. And the angel responds Yea, and the most joyous to the soul. 

Nephi gets it! His desires were to see the things his father had seen and to know the meaning of the tree. He now knows. The tree is a representation of the Love of God and the greatest evidence of the love of God is embodied by the image of a virgin with a child in her arms. The Son of God, the Savior of the world, is the greatest evidence of the love of God for His children. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son!” (John 3:16) 

            The angel-guide goes on to show Nephi scenes from the life of the Savior including His baptism by John, His ministry among the people, twelve others who followed Him, His crucifixion and death and the opposition of the world and the House of Israel against His followers. 

            Nephi also sees other things that his father saw in his dream – the rod of iron, the great and spacious building and the multitudes of the earth – and he learns what these symbols represent, as we discussed when writing about 1 Nephi 8. This makes us wonder if Lehi saw the other parts of the vision which Nephi did. Probably so. Remember that Nephi was just giving a summary of what his father saw in Chapter 8 because he knows he will go on and tell about what he saw. I suspect, if we had the Book of Lehi, we would learn that Lehi saw many, if not all, of the same things as his son, Nephi. 

            This blog post has already gone on too long. I’ve probably lost most of you, but there is so much to say! I just want to go back now to what Nephi saw in this chapter and his interactions with his messengers and make two more points. 

1 Nephi 11:16 “Knowest thou the condescension of God?”

            The angel asks Nephi a profound question which stumps him. Nephi’s answer is a classic and serves as a model for us when we are confronted with questions for which we don’t have answers. Nephi responds by saying what he does know, I know that He loveth His children. We can always give that answer, if we truly know it. If we know in our hearts that we have a loving Father in Heaven who truly loves His children, then we know that He love us and that we are in fact His children. Nephi goes on then to admit what he doesn’t know, nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things. He doesn’t try to bluff the angel. He just doesn’t understand. When we encounter questions or challenges in life for which we don’t currently have answers, then we can say with Nephi, “I know that He loves me, but I don’t know the meaning of all things.” Sometimes, that’s the best we can do for now. But it is enough because we trust Him and He loves us.

            So what is the “condescension of God”? This is a profound and doctrinally deep concept. The word condescend(con = with, descend = go down) literally means to “go down with or among” as in to the level of another. The condescension of God is in two parts – the condescension of God our Heavenly Father and the condescension of His Son, Jesus Christ. Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained the doctrine of the condescension of the Father in the following words:

The condescension of God lies in the fact that he, an exalted Being, steps down from his eternal throne to become the Father of a mortal Son, a Son born ‘after the manner of the flesh’.

The Mortal Messiah 1:314. 

The condescension of the Son is described in this way by Millet and McConkie in their Commentary: 

The second aspect of the condescension of God was that of the Son, meaning Christ. Jehovah—the father of heaven and of earth, the creator of all things from the beginning, the great I AM and God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—would come to earth, leave his divine throne, take a body of flesh and bones, submit himself to the frailties of the flesh and the vile and vicious dispositions of humanity, and work out his own salvation as a mortal man; such is the doctrine of “the condescension of God,” the true doctrine of the Incarnation, the message that Jesus is not only the Christ but also the Eternal God (Book of Mormon, Title Page; 2 Nephi 26:12).

The angel asked Nephi a profound question. No wonder Nephi did not have an answer. But Nephi “looked” and beheld the virgin in Nazareth carried away by the Spirit and returning with a Child in her arms and then saw that Child, now a grown man, go forth in His ministry, submitting to baptism, healing and teaching others and offering His perfect life in Gethsemane and on the Cross. Now Nephi understands. And now we understand. 

1 Nephi 11:18 “the mother of the Son of God”

            In my opinion, the most profound and sacred truth in this remarkable chapter filled with so much truth is that Mary is truly the mother of the Son of God. This is a holy truth that requires sensitivity and reverence in even referring to it. So again I will use the words of Elder McConkie: 

Can we speak too highly of her whom the Lord has blessed above all women? There was only one Christ, and there is only one Mary. Each was noble and great in the preexistence, and each was foreordained to the ministry he or she performed. We cannot but think that the Father would choose the greatest female spirit to be the mother of his Son, even as he chose the male spirit like unto him to be the Savior. 

Mortal Messiah 1:326-327

Without overstepping the bounds of propriety by saying more than is appropriate, let us say this: God the Almighty; the Maker and Preserver and Upholder of all things; . . . God the Almighty, . . . who is infinite and eternal, elects, in his fathomless wisdom, to beget a Son, an Only Son, the Only Begotten in the flesh. God, who is infinite and immortal, condescends to step down from his throne, to join with one who is finite and mortal in bringing forth, ‘after the manner of the flesh,’ the Mortal Messiah.

Mortal Messiah 1:314-315

          I will close here. There is much more that could be written about this profound chapter, but I’ve written enough for now. I’d like to add my humble witness to that of angels, prophets and apostles that these things are true – that we really do having a loving Father in Heaven with whom we lived before we came to this life and that He is literally the Father of His Only Begotten Son “after the manner of the flesh”. The greatest evidence of the love of the Father is that He sent His Son. And Nephi learned this by seeing a precious virgin with a Child in her arms. Jesus Christ is literally the Son of God. The Son of God will have God as His Father. It could be no other way. Hosanna to the Father and to the Son!