“This Is the Way”
The prophet Nephi gives about as simple a testimony as it’s possible to give, leaving us with no excuse not to know that “this is the way.”
I’m Mark Holt, and this is Gospel Talktrine.
Thank you for joining us for Gospel Talktrine. And this week’s lesson is a short one, it’s only three chapters. And so, I think I will skip the questions for this week, but we’ll be getting to those next week. And if you have a question, please send me an email at gt@gospeltalktrine.com. And as always, your five-star reviews on iTunes, Apple podcasts and Facebook are much appreciated, help us to find new listeners.
So if we jump right in, to 2 Nephi 31, read this once quickly through, as you’re studying it this week, and recognise that it has a pretty simple message. Now the “Come Follow Me” manual this week points us to a wonderful resource, which is a talk by Elder D Todd Christofferson, which is “The Doctrine of Christ.” It’s from the April 2012 Conference. Basically, what Elder Christofferson teaches in this talk is the same thing that Nephi is teaching in chapter 31.
I wish I could read the whole talk, because basically he covers our lesson today, and I highly recommend this talk, it’s a wonderful talk. But it reduces the gospel to all its simplicity, and that’s what Nephi is trying to do. So in talking about when Jesus was on the earth, he says:
“Jesus Himself defined that doctrine in these words recorded in the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ:”
Then just leaping ahead a little bit, this is from 3 Nephi 11 when he’s teaching the Nephites in person, and he says:
“And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God.
“And whoso believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned.
“… And whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost. …
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them” (3 Nephi 11:32–35, 39).
And that’s the end of his quote, but back to Elder Christofferson, he says:
“This is our message, the rock upon which we build, the foundation of everything else in the Church. Like all that comes from God, this doctrine is pure, it is clear, it is easy to understand—even for a child. With glad hearts, we invite all to receive it.”
Now I’d love to go on, but we’ve got to get back to the Book of Mormon, so… If you read this first chapter quickly through, and then you read that talk, you realise that is exactly right. That this doctrine is so simple that anyone can understand it, even a child.
The main message of chapter 31 is that we have to follow the example of Jesus Christ in being baptised. And baptism doesn’t mean simply following him down into the water, which is an important part, as we find out. But it also means, he makes reference a couple of times to the baptism of fire which is the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and Jesus, in that quote from 3 Nephi 11, also calls… He says: “My father, who so believeth in me and follows me, My Father will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost.”
So fire and the Holy Ghost are equated here. Or baptised by fire, the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost are put together, several times throughout this chapter. So I just want you to be thinking about that as we’re talking.
First of all, Nephi asks the question, why did Jesus have to be baptised? He says, “What was the need of it?” Because in verse 6, for example, he asks:
6 And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water?
7 Know ye not that he was holy?...
So the question is, “Right, we’re baptised for the remission of sins, why did he have to be baptised?”
And the answer that Nephi gives is a little different from the one I will give. But let’s read his first:
“…But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments.”
Then skipping to verse 9:
9 And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate...
10 And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?
So Nephi’s point is, Jesus was baptised, even though he didn’t need remission of sin, he was baptised to show his obedience, and as an example.
Now this is 100% true. But I want to point out something I… If you’re interested in understanding a little bit deeper the message about the baptism of Jesus, I recommend going to Season 2, Episode 5 of the Gospel Talktrine podcast series, and that is when we studied the chapters in Mathew when Jesus was baptised.
And what I discovered in preparing for that lesson was, the baptism of Jesus also provides a symbol. As we learn in Romans 5, we learn that baptism was a symbol of death and resurrection. But Jesus was doing a ton more than that. So just to give you a quick summary of what I taught in that lesson: the life of Jesus was always intended to parallel the struggles of the Israelites. And so the baptism of Jesus also symbolised the crossing of the Red Sea and the crossing of the Jordan River on the way into the Promised Land. And there are also many other water-based crossings from the Old Testament that Jesus’s baptism was meant to symbolise.
So, it symbolises death and resurrection. It symbolises the Exodus. And it also symbolises the entrance, the beginning of the new creation, the entry into the Promised Land.
Now in addition to that, if you remember in John 3, I believe it is, when Nicodemus comes to Jesus and says… or Jesus says, “A man has to be born again to order to see the Kingdom of God.” And Nicodemus, who was one of the Sanhedrin; a very learned Jew, but he was humble, he was wanting to actually learn from Jesus, and be one of Jesus’s disciples; he says to Jesus, “What, are we going to go back into our mother’s womb to be born again? What do you mean, ‘born again’?”
Now he understood, obviously, that Jesus was speaking metaphorically. But this was his way of… he wasn’t being precious, he wasn’t being difficult, this was his way of asking for further explanation from Jesus. And Jesus says, “Verily I say unto you, you must be born of water… and when a child comes into the world, it’s born of blood and water and of spirit. And you must be born again of blood and water and of spirit.”
Now a lot of us think when Jesus said that to Nicodemus, he was saying, “You have to born again when you’re baptised of water,” but actually what Jesus meant - on the surface, Jesus obviously did mean that, right? - But his surface meaning to a Jew, who may not have understood the practice of baptism as Jesus did, was this, when he said “You must be born of water,” he was speaking of the water of purification, that is sprinkled upon an observant Jew in order to become ritually pure, to enter into the temple and perform temple rites or participate in them.
So this is the water of purification. As it says in the Book of Ezekiel, “I will sprinkle many nations,” meaning God in the last days will purify many nations by sprinkling the water of purification on them, which is described in the Law of Moses. And people were always becoming ritually impure, so they had this continual process of going to the priest and having him sprinkle the water of purification on them as part of their ritual purity.
So you have to be born again of water, and then of blood - which was the blood of the sacrifice that was performed outside of the temple - and of the spirit. And the spirit, was this… a word which doesn’t appear, I don’t think, in the Old Testament, but Old Testament scholars have taken to calling the presence of God in the Temple the shekinah, which is the palpable presence of God when God was actually dwelling in the temple, and his presence was said to be there. And that’s the shekinah.
So you need to be born of the spirit, meaning you’re worthy to be in the presence of God, near the temple. Every Jew could go to up to a certain distance of the temple, and participate in the spirit.
So all these things happened at the temple, where Jesus was saying to Nicodemus was, “You are born, when you are a baby, you are born of water, blood and the spirit. And the temple is how you’re born again.” And the final one is the hard one, right? In order to be born of the spirit, you have to be willing to stand, and worthy to stand, in the presence of God. So that’s what baptism meant to Jesus.
That’s another of the reasons… Obviously Nephi is right, that Jesus was baptised to give us an example of obedience to the Father. But he’s also giving a further reason when he speaks to Nicodemus. He says that we have to be born again, and baptism is a way to symbolise this. So now in our context, we look at baptism and we see, “this is a form of rebirth as well”. And Paul saw it that way. It’s not that we’re erring when we say that, it’s just that Jesus has had an additional meaning in talking to Nicodemus.
But Paul says that when we are buried with him in death in baptism, we are raised again in newness of life. So in other words we are born again when we come out of the water. So baptism was definitely a form of rebirth.
But then, Nephi here, in chapter 31, talks about being born of fire and of the Holy Spirit. And basically, the doctrine of Christ is this. It really is simple. Nephi says at the end of the chapter, Elder Christofferson says, “these are simple things.” In fact, Nephi says, “My heart, my soul, rejoices in plainness,” and this is explained about as plainly as it could possibly be, because it’s so important to him that we understand it. So I’ll talk more about that in a minute.
But the doctrine of Christ is, that we have to be willing to humble ourselves and seek after God and follow Jesus into the waters of baptism. And then if we do that without any deception before God, if our hearts are really pure, if we really do want to repent, then God sends the Holy Spirit. And it’s the Spirit that does the purifying.
So in chapter 31, verse 13, Nephi says:
“…by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.”
Now what is the tongue of angels? Think about the visions of all of the prophets that Nephi grew up with, the visions that they had. Their visions of God were: God on his throne, surrounded by angels, all in the attitude of glorifying God. And that’s what his father saw, that’s what Isaiah – who is a strong contender for Nephi’s favourite prophet – that’s what he saw, and that is also what Nephi… we have some indication that when Nephi had his wonderful vision that begins in 1 Nephi 11, we have some indication that he saw something similar. It was the part of the vision he couldn’t really talk about.
So when he says the tongue of angels, what he means is: you are able to understand what these angels feel when they want to spend all eternity praising God. Because they feel the importance of the plan of salvation, and they feel gratitude for their part in it, and for the fact that God has performed such a wonderful work with all of us. To put us into this plan, and serve us in the way that he does. That’s the tongue of angels. So, “shouting praises unto the Holy One of Israel,” that’s your clue, at the end verse 13 of chapter 31.
So let’s talk a little more about plainness. Nephi uses the word plainness, and it’s exactly right. I just want to point out, this is our second farewell discourse. You’ll remember that just a couple of weeks ago, we talked about Lehi, bidding farewell to all of his family. So this is, prophetically, him doing what… and at the time we also drew the parallel between Lehi and Moses, so this doing what Moses did, this is doing what Lehi did, and giving his final words, his final admonitions, to all of his children, everyone whom he served, during his life and ministry.
And it’s interesting to compare what, the way, for example, Lehi did the same thing, but also the way Moses did it. So Lehi was very much in the tradition of an Old Testament prophet. He used figurative language, he used a lot of scriptural references, and if you think about it, there are very few places in the Old Testament where the doctrine of God – how am I saved? What do I need to do to achieve salvation? – where it’s just plainly explained in the Old Testament. We get clues, we get hints, we get advice; you know, the Book of Proverbs is full of doctrine. But it’s not doctrine on how to be saved; it’s how to live our lives, it’s how to be good human beings to each other. But this is the doctrine of Christ, and it’s so plainly explained here.
So that was Lehi’s tradition, and that’s how he grew up. And Nephi seems to have been changed by this wonderful vision, or perhaps by some other experience that he had, or maybe he was just created differently than his father. But he seems very much in the tradition – if you read these three verses, after just having studied the New Testament – to me they seem very similar to a Pauline epistle, where he is sending a letter to the people that he loves, that he’s taught, and he wants them to understand their Saviour.
So one prophet in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets, and here is Nephi, long before the time of Christ, nevertheless in the tradition of a New Testament prophet. He’s speaking plainly about how Christ is going to save us, and also plainly about how we can get him to do it.
So Nephi’s whole point with this chapter is, you’re going to be baptised. That qualifies you to receive the sanctifying power of the spirit, the spirit is what cleanses you. And after that point, obviously your work isn’t done. You’ve just begun the process, and now you have to endure to the end. Now it sounds so easy to say, and yet we hear it and we’re like, “Well, that’s the hard part!” So how is this really helpful? And the point he makes is: the spirit that qualified you to begin the path, this is also what will enable you to walk the path.
He says in verse 20… and this used to be the motto, when I was in Young Men’s, this was the motto of our youth and our ward, and our Bishop had them add on a few words. He had them recite verse 20, and then had them add on a few words from verse 21. So I’ll read that to you. In verse 20:
“Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.”
And then we would skip forward into verse 21, and say, “This is the way.” And I repeat that because that’s the title of our lesson.
So that is basically in a nutshell, Nephi’s entire message, which is: “Here’s how you follow Christ. But you have to press forward, and you have to be steadfast.”
So in chapter 32 is where he talks about how we accomplish that goal of being steadfast. So he says, look…”
“…I suppose that ye ponder somewhat in your hearts concerning that which ye should do after ye have entered in by the way. But, behold, why do ye ponder these things in your hearts?
2 Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?” (2 Nephi 32:1-2)
So, he talks about how we need to: feast on the word of Christ, listen to the Spirit, and then pray. And I want to point out in verse 8:
“…my beloved brethren… it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing.”
And then he talks about how they should pray.
Now I’ve spent a little time looking at this verse, cause it seems strange that he would be grieved to have to tell them to pray. And the only thing I can come up with is, that it must be he was really, really disappointed in how little they were actually willing to pray. It may be that when he says, “it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing,” and then he says, “For if you would hearken unto the Spirit,” then I think, “Oh, maybe he’s just saying we need to pray, in order to counter the evil that he’s about to talk about.” But then all he talks about is prayer. And so that’s what I think he meant, when he said, “it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing.” “You should know, it’s not God that teaches you not to pray, it’s the evil spirit that teacheth a man not to pray. And, I say unto you that you must pray always.”
And it’s interesting, a lot of things that we pray for are, that God will help us in our goals. But what this says, is, “You should not perform anything unto the Lord, except you first pray to the father that he will consecrate it unto the welfare of thy soul.”
So it’s interesting the way he teaches us to pray is not to say “God, help me to do good in my job, or do good in school today,” but help me that whatever I do today, that it will redound to my eternal benefit, that it will be to the welfare of my soul. Not that I’m going to get an A on the test, but that the way I take the test, in other words, you know, I have a choice when I go into the test, I can bring an extra note card more than is allowed by the test rules, and therefore cheat a little bit. I know I won’t get caught, and that will get me an A on the test. Or, I can be 100% honest and do the best that I can, and that will redound to the benefit of my soul forever.
So that was just one example of how praying for what we want, could actually not necessarily help our eternal salvation.
So what Nephi is saying is, when you pray, ask God that he will take your performance that you are about to dedicate unto him, and have it be for the welfare of your soul forever.
One more thing I want to point out about chapter 32 is verse 4. Now a couple of weeks ago we talked about the word knock. [S03E07] If you remember 2 Nephi 9:42, it says, “To him who knocks, God will open up,” right? The whole point of the scripture is to talk about that God is going to open up. If you have pride of the world, if you are puffed because of riches, then God will not open up to you.
So the first thing - and this is a little logical syllogism, so follow me through it, and then we’ll understand what the meaning of the word knock is - the first thing he says is, that “God will open if you knock.” And then he says, “if you’re prideful and puffed up, he won’t open to you.”
And what I understand from that is, the way that we knock, as he says in chapter 9 verse 42, he says those who consider themselves fools before God, he will open up to them. So that is the way that we knock. So you’ll notice that when Jesus talks about “ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you,” he says three different things, and they are three different acts. But seeking and asking are two different things, but then how is knock different from ask? Most people think “Oh, knock just means we just knock at the door, and we ask.” Basically, it’s two ways of talking about knocking.
Here is where Nephi explains what it actually means, how knocking is different from asking. If we take these two verses together, 2 Nephi 32:4 and 2 Nephi 9:42, they both talk about knocking. And chapter 9 verse 42 explains what it means, and if you, basically, follow that little logical syllogism through the verse, you’ll understand “Wow, he is equating considering ourselves fools before God, being willing to sacrifice our belief that we are right, that we know better, that is what it means to knock.”
So now knowing that, taking that understanding, bringing it to verse 4, let’s read it again:
“4 Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock…”
Notice, Nephi is also making a difference, highlighting the difference between asking and knocking.
“…wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.”
So, that is the same message from 2 Nephi 9. Most of chapter 9 is talking about how those who consider themselves smarter than God cannot receive any knowledge from God, they cannot be taught. And this is a very, very succinct and compact way to teach the exact same lesson. “If you can’t understand my words, it will be because you ask not, and because you don’t knock. In other words, you’re not willing to consider yourself a fool before God. You’re too prideful. You think you have all the spiritual answers you need, and therefore you’re never willing to get humble.”
Now, getting humble looks different for each situation, for each chapter, you might say, in our lives. There are times when we have to absolutely humble ourselves to the dust, before God can reach us. And there are times when we simply have to ask the same question another way. Being humble can mean something for you today, and it can mean something different for you next year, or next month, or even next week.
So pay attention to that. If you are not learning, then it may be an indication that you haven’t knocked correctly, you haven’t humbled yourself before God, you have not been willing to consider yourself a fool before God. In my opinion this is a very powerful verse. Very powerful correlation between this verse and 2 Nephi 9:42.
And that takes us to our final chapter, chapter 33. Before I get into the main idea of the chapter, I’m going to talk a little bit about verse 1. I’ll read it to you:
“1 And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.
2 But behold, there are many that harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them; wherefore, they cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught.”
Now we’ll skip verse 3. Verse 4:
“4 And I know that the Lord God will consecrate my prayers for the gain of my people. And the words which I have written in weakness will be made strong unto them; for it persuadeth them to do good…”
If you are having a little tingle of recognition, to Ether 12, then you’re exactly right. So, in Ether 12, you’ll remember it’s talking about weak things becoming strong. So let’s go there, for that is the context… or I should say, this - 2 Nephi 33 - this is the context that Moroni doesn’t explicitly say, but this is the context in which he wrote that verse. And it’s such an important verse that I think it’s worth reading again, now that we’ve been reminded of it.
So first of all, one of the things that we notice, is that Moroni, in Ether 12, his concern is the same as Nephi’s, which is, number one: I am not good at writing. Verse 23, Ether 12:23:
“23 And I said unto him: Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing; for Lord thou hast made us mighty in word by faith, but thou hast not made us mighty in writing; for thou hast made all this people that they could speak much, because of the Holy Ghost…”
So remember, Nephi said the same thing. “The Holy Ghost carries my message when I speak, but when I try to write, my people esteem it as naught. They don’t even like things that are written, period. And therefore, that means that they haven’t been willing to knock.”
And that is the message that Nephi was giving, and this is Moroni’s way of reiterating the same message.
And not everyone follows this pattern. Moroni mentions in verse 24, he mentions the brother of Jared. He says:
“…thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared, for thou madest him that the things which he wrote were mighty even as thou art, unto the overpowering of man to read them.”
Incidentally, we don’t have the words of the brother of Jared. So, King Mosiah was the one that translated that record, and originally read the words of the brother of Jared. And then Moroni is the one who did for the people of Jared, what his father Mormon has done for the entire people of Nephi, which is, he abridged their records. So after Mormon was done making the whole Book of Mormon, Moroni took the Book of Ether, and abridged that from several plates worth of translations. And so, Moroni had read directly the words of the brother of Jared.
And in fact, there are indications in early Latter-day Saint journals that Joseph Smith revealed that that was what was on the sealed parts of the Book of Mormon, the sealed pages of the Book of Mormon, were the words of the brother of Jared, the first prophet, chronologically, of the Book of Mormon.
So if that’s true, then here’s Moroni talking about how powerful his words were; that gives us something to look forward to. So he’s comparing what he wrote, to what he’s just read. This is the end of the abridgement of the record of the Jaredites. And so, he’s just read the most powerful writer he’s ever encountered, and then he’s looking at what he wrote. He’s taken these powerful words, and he’s turned them into something that he feels terrible about!
Anyone who’s ever tried to write anything, by the way, you know how this feels. You feel that what you’re writing is never any good, but you know you have to get it done, so you do it anyway.
And the Book of Ether is amazing! What Moroni was able to do was absolutely phenomenal. And nevertheless, he feels like it’s not good enough. So he says, “The Gentiles are going to mock at our words,” just as Nephi felt. “I’ve just finished my plates, I’ve just finished abridging my large plates here onto my smaller plates,” – Nephi did the same thing – “and I don’t feel like my words are good enough. I’m not that good in writing. When I speak to people, the Holy Ghost makes it powerful.”
And God told them both the same thing.
This is Moroni paying homage to a prophet he had studied many times, that he greatly respected, and who he looked to as an example and as a father figure for all of his people: the prophet Nephi. And so he is quoting, basically, Nephi, when he says, verse 27:
“26…the Lord spake unto me, saying: Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek…
27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” (Ether 12:26-27)
Now notice that, we just read from 2 Nephi 33 God telling Nephi the same thing. So this is probably - this is a guess on my part - this is probably Moroni being answered through one of the scriptures that he’s read many times. And when he heard that he would say, “Oh yeah! You know, God just told me that he’s going to make weak things become strong. And I knew that, because I’ve read it. In the Book of Nephi, I’ve read that he can make weak things become strong, and he was worried about the same thing I was.”
So we’re seeing one prophet learn from another, right here in the Book of Mormon, and the original lesson was in our lesson from today.
So I think it’s helpful to remember that the context of that important verse, Ether 12:27, was Moroni’s worry that he hadn’t written something that was good enough.
So if we skip forward to verse 37, we learn, God tells Moroni:
“37 …because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.”
Now notice, him seeing his weakness, what is that? That is him considering himself a fool before God. Moroni has learned how to knock. And because of that, he will be made strong.
Now let’s go back up to verse 27:
“27 … and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”
So Moroni was willing to see his weakness, Nephi is willing to see and acknowledge his weakness, they both are willing to consider themselves fools before God, and therefore they know that their “weak things will be made strong.”
Now the rest of this chapter is a word of warning, very much like so many of the epistles of Paul, like Thessalonians or Corinthians, were he says, “Look, if you don’t think these are the words of Christ, then you better be careful, because there is going to come a time when we sit across the judgement bar of God from each other, and he’s going to tell you that these were his words.” This is Nephi’s warning. He’s getting as plain as he can, because it’s so important what he’s saying. And so it’s very powerful language. It’s meant to be unmistakeable.
He says here he has charity for the Jews, and the Gentiles, and also his own people. He wants everyone to be saved in the Kingdom of God.
I want to point something out. He says, in verse 7:
“7 I have … great faith in Christ that I shall meet many souls spotless at his judgment-seat.”
And the if we skip forward to verse 12:
“12 I pray the Father in the name of Christ that many of us, if not all, may be saved in his kingdom at that great and last day.”
To me this is also a powerful idea, that the prophet Nephi thought it was possible that all people might… there would be a possibility that everyone could be saved. Now earlier we learned that – and I can’t remember exactly what chapter it’s in – but he says, “The spirit of Satan is going to lead people away, saying everyone will be saved. If it so be that we’re guilty then God will beat us with a few stripes and then we’ll all be saved in the last day.” [See 2 Nephi 28:8, also S03E09 “A Marvellous Work and a Wonder”]
So earlier Nephi had categorised this as false doctrine, that everyone would be saved. But here, at least he admits the possibility that everyone could be saved. Now the difference is this: that everyone has access to salvation, and Nephi keeps his heart open to the idea that everyone could possibly find it. It’s not that everyone will be saved in their sins, it’s that the wisdom of God is so great that Nephi believes that it’s possible that God could do exactly what the prophet Jeremiah said he would do, which is, he’ll write the law… one day, he’ll make a new covenant, and he’ll actually change people, he’ll write the law in their hearts, and people don’t need to say, “Let’s learn about God,” because everyone will have knowledge of God. That’s Jeremiah 31, which I’m fond of quoting.
So, the final message of Nephi is to give a testimony of all of his own words, to say, “Look, the things that I’ve taught to you are true, and salvation is open to all. Many people will find it, if not all. And so often - this is very encouraging for me – because so often I think many people, they believe, “Well, the salvation of God is for everyone but me, or for a few people, 10% maybe.”
I know when I was a kid, I think this was a pretty common view point, is that there would be a few people saved, and you just couldn’t predict who it would be. And I don’t know why I have that impression, but that’s the impression that I had for a lot of years of my life was, getting into the Celestial Kingdom is so hard, that there’s got to be a little bit of luck involved, in addition to doing everything you could do, and you really just have to be perfect.
And here’s Nephi saying, “Look, it’s open to everyone. You’ve got to start from where you’re at today, and have faith that you can get there. I’ve learned a lot about that in the last few years, that God really can save anybody, no matter what their position is! And we, all of us, should be rooting for that process, rather than wishing that God would punish other people a little more harshly. What we should be doing is being grateful that God is willing to extend his grace to so many. And so freely extend grace. Because then, if that’s true, then it can reach even us. If we allow the possibility that grace extends everywhere, then grace can extend even to us.
And this is how we know that Nephi had great faith in his own salvation, because he believes… earlier we read about him talking about what a sinful man he was, and now we read he believes that everybody is within the reach of God’s power, the reach of God’s grace. And if he believes that everybody is within that reach, then he believes that he is.
And so that’s how we get there. It’s that we believe that everyone is within the reach of God’s grace, and therefore, because we are part of everyone, even we can be saved by Christ. And if we are willing to humble ourselves, to see our weaknesses, to knock, to consider ourselves fools before God, he can “make weak things become strong unto us.”
So I’m going to read two quick verses to finish our lesson: 2 Nephi 32:3:
“3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”
And then 2 Nephi 33:4. And I’ll skip the first sentence:
“4 …And the words which I have written in weakness will be made strong unto them; for it persuadeth them to do good; it maketh known unto them of their fathers; and it speaketh of Jesus, and persuadeth them to believe in him, and to endure to the end, which is life eternal.”
So here’s Nephi talking about what the scriptures do, and then here’s Nephi talking about what his words do. It persuades us to do good, it makes known unto us what God has done for those who’ve gone before, and then it teaches about Christ, and persuades us to believe in him, and endure to the end, which is life eternal.
These three chapters are the words of Christ. And they are so simple, as plain - as Elder Christofferson said - as they need to be for a child to understand them. So hopefully we can read them more than once this week, ponder upon them, but recognise they’re pretty simple. We have to be baptised, let the Holy Ghost come in and sanctify us, and then be willing to follow the words of Christ, even to the point where we have to admit our own mistakes. And if we’ll do those things, not only can God save us, but he can save all people. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.