PANORAMIC VISION SHOWN TO NEPHI BY AN ANGEL

The handout for my Sunday School class on Nephi's Vision. (I Nephi chapters 12-14)

“No message appears in scripture more times, in more ways than ‘Ask, and ye shall receive’”

(Conference Report, Oct. 1991).

Nephi applied the invitation to ask for the “things that [his] father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known” (1 Nephi 11:1). Nephi’s righteous desires were rewarded, for he not only recorded information that was similar to what we have recorded about Lehi’s vision, but he recorded a panoramic vision of this world to the end of time. In putting this handout together I had a greater appreciation for Nephi as a prophet, seer, and revelator. He saw future events. He preached repentance. He revealed truth.

Sidenote: In reading the student Manual for the lesson, I read the following passage that I liked:

President John Taylor spoke of the necessity of going beyond simply being members of the Lord’s Church if we are to be sufficiently worthy to stand before our Father in Heaven: “There is something that goes a little further than we think about sometimes; and that is, while we profess to be followers of the Lord, while we profess to have received the Gospel and to be governed by it, a profession will amount to nothing unless we have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. It is not enough for us to be connected with the Zion of God, for the Zion of God must consist of men that are pure in heart and pure in life and spotless before God, at least that is what we have got to arrive at. We are not there yet, but we must get there before we shall be prepared to inherit glory and exaltation; therefore a form of godliness will amount to but little with any of us. . . . It is not enough for us to embrace the Gospel . . . and be associated with the people of God, attend our meetings and partake of the Sacrament of the Lord’s supper, and endeavor to move along without much blame of any kind attached to us; for notwithstanding all this, if our hearts are not right, if we are not pure in heart before God, if we have not pure hearts and pure consciences, fearing God and keeping His commandments, we shall not, unless we repent, participate in these blessings about which I have spoken, and of which the Prophets bear testimony” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: John Taylor [2001], 114–15).