Go and Build a Boat

The First Book of Nephi

Chapter 17

"Nephi is commanded to build a ship—His brethren oppose him—He exhorts them by recounting the history of God’s dealings with Israel—Nephi is filled with the power of God—His brethren are forbidden to touch him, lest they wither as a dried reed. About 592–591 B.C."
-Introduction to 1 Nephi Chapter 17




They continue traveling eastward. Their families grow with new children, and they are blessed with enough food, and other blessings. They came to a place they called Bountiful, because of the beautiful abundance there, and it was by a sea they called Irreantum, or many waters.

They were there for only a few days, camping, resting, taking in the beautiful scenery, when the voice of The Lord came to Nephi, commanding him to go up into the mountains. Nephi obeyed, doing what The Lord commanded him, and The Lord spoke with him. He commanded Nephi to build a ship.

So Nephi keeps the commandments and starts making tools and starts a fire and starts making a ship. Laman and Lemuel see, and being the same old ornery older brothers Nephi's always had, they start
murmuring and cutting Nephi down.
"You're a fool, just like our father!"

"You think you can build a ship?"

"You can't build a ship!"

"We should have never left Jerusalem!"

"We could be enjoying our inheritance right now instead or wandering in the wilderness!"

"You've put us through too much!"

"Our wives have struggled so much bearing children in the wilderness."

"We could have died!"

"We're not helping you in your vain imaginations!"

"We could have been happy!"

"The people in Jerusalem were righteous! They kept the law of Moses."

"They couldn't have been destroyed."

"We should be living in Jerusalem now instead of following you and our foolish father."

They continued to murmur and complain about everything, but Nephi could not stand their murmuring. He told them the story of Moses leading the children of Israel out of Egypt and all their struggles, but He knew that God was there and leading them, and he told his brothers off for all of their murmuring.  His brothers were furious with him.  How dare he, their youngest brother, tell them that they are in the wrong! They tried to take him and throw him off a nearby cliff into the deep waters.  The Lord would not allow that, and He told Nephi what he needed to do, and Nephi was given the power of God to shock them.  He told his brothers not to come any closer, but they didn't listen, and Nephi shocked them by the power of God.

Immediately they fell to the ground and started to worship him because they knew it was God's power, but Nephi pulled them up and shook his head, saying "no, don't worship me, worship God. I'm only your younger brother."
Though Nephi had just been in danger, and he had just showed tremendous power, he knew that it was God watching out for him, and it was nothing from himself.  He would not let his brothers worship him.




To read the scriptural account, go to 1 Nephi 17.

Is This a Soap Opera?

The First Book of Nephi

Chapter 16

"The wicked take the truth to be hard—Lehi’s sons marry the daughters of Ishmael—The Liahona guides their course in the wilderness—Messages from the Lord are written on the Liahona from time to time—Ishmael dies; his family murmurs because of afflictions. About 600–592 B.C."

-Introduction to 1 Nephi Chapter 16

After Nephi talks to his brothers, Laman and Lemuel murmur, complaining that Nephi had spoken hard things. Nephi continued to talk to them and teach them God's commandments, and it made them stop and think and humble themselves.

As they continued to camp out in the wilderness, Nephi married one of the daughters of Ishmael. Zoram followed suit and married the oldest daughter of Ishmael.

Lehi discovering the ball, which is called the Liahona.

Lehi had a dream that they needed to leave the valley of Lemuel, and the next morning, Lehi comes outside his tent, and a metal ball was sitting neatly at the opening. It was made of brass and had two spinning needles that would direct them where they would need to go. They made their preparations, collecting seeds and food and supplies, and they headed off into the wilderness.

Nephi hunting for food for his family with a bow and arrow.

They traveled a little ways, and when they had set up camp, Nephi and his brethren went hunting for food.  They wandered through the wilderness, guided by the ball, and they were able to obtain meat for their families, but while they were hunting, Nephi broke his bow! Laman and Lemuel, as always, were angry with him.  Nephi found a way, though.  He made a bow, and he was guided by the ball to where he could find enough animals to hunt for food for his family.  Everyone humbled themselves with gratefulness with Nephi's return, and they learned how the ball worked.

The ball had writing on it, which let them know the will of the Lord and guided them.  The writing would change from time to time, but it would only work according to their faith and diligence.

They continued on their journey, and as they travelled, Ishmael died, and his children mourned and complained against Nephi, and Laman and Lemuel joined in, all of them saying that they should have never have left Jerusalem.  Laman and Lemuel again wanted to kill Nephi.

The compass like ball, called the Liahona

The Lord was watching over this little band, though, and their hearts were softened enough so that they were humbled and repented, and they continued on in their journey.

To read the scriptural account, go to 1 Nephi 16.

 

So What?

Why do we care about this?  This just sounds like a lot of drama about a whole bunch of nothing, deserving enough to be on a soap opera, right?  It's brother against brother. People get married.  People die.  Bad stuff happens.  The good over come the trials.  It's the stuff of fairy tales and television dramas.

It's cooler that this is true, though, that these things actually happened to real people.  It makes our families seem a little less weird, right? 

There are so many lessons to be learned from this though. 

1. Anybody can triumph over anything!
2. Everybody, no matter how righteous, will be faced with trials.
3. Attitude makes all the difference.
4. God will guide you, but only as much as you listen to Him and His promptings.

There are so many more lessons!  Did anything stick out to you?

How Do We Know? We Ask.

The First Book of Nephi

Chapter 15

"Lehi’s seed are to receive the gospel from the Gentiles in the latter days—The gathering of Israel is likened unto an olive tree whose natural branches will be grafted in again—Nephi interprets the vision of the tree of life and speaks of the justice of God in dividing the wicked from the righteous. About 600–592 B.C."
-Introduction to 1 Nephi Chapter 15

A representation of Lehi's dream of the Tree of Life,
found in Mexico in 1941.

Nephi's vision ends, and as he returns to his family, he finds his brothers, Laman and Lemuel, arguing about the interpretation of one of Lehi's dreams.  As Nephi approaches, his brothers ask him what the visions mean.

Nephi had just come from learning what his father's dreams meant for himself, and so he knew exactly how to respond to the inquiries.  "Have ye inquired of the Lord?" he asked.

They hadn't, and Nephi scolds his brothers for not praying, but he tells them what some of the visions mean.  He tells them about the vision of the olive tree, which branches had been grafted away and then grafted back into the original tree. 

The olive tree is symbolic of the House of Israel, and the branch that is taken from the tree represents Lehi and his descendants that have left Jerusalem.  Nephi tells his brethren how the fulness of the gospel will be revealed to the Gentiles, and that through the Gentiles, Lehi's descendants will come to know that they are a part of the house of Israel.  The branch will be grafted back into the main tree of the House of Israel, which is the restoration of everything. 

Laman and Lemuel then ask him about Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life, with the river of dirty water and the iron rod, and Nephi shares the interpretation he was given earlier.

To read the scripture story, go to 1 Nephi 15.

So What?

How do we know about spiritual things?

We ask our Heavenly Father who will communicate answers through the Holy Ghost. We can know anything. All we have to do is what Nephi did and what he told his brothers to do. That was go to the Lord, ponder, pray. Prayer is an essential part of knowing what is true, of learning truth. That is the only way we

can know if it is of God, through prayer.

If you want to know if something is of God and if it is true, there is no other way than to ask God himself.

Prophets See Visions

I have made a decision to now, instead of separating the "So What" discussion sections and the summary sections, to have them together, and the "So What" will immediately follow the summary in the same post rather than having a separate post.

The First Book of Nephi

Chapter 14

An angel tells Nephi of the blessings and cursings to fall upon the
Gentiles--There are only two churches: the Church of the Lamb of God
and the church of the devil--The Saints of God in all nations are
persecuted by the great and abominable church--The Apostle John will
write concerning the end of the world. About 600–592 B.C.

• If the Gentiles hearken to Jesus Christ, then He will bless them.
• If the Gentiles do not repent, they will perish. 
• A great work will commence where either men will be convinced of peace and eternal life or they will be delivered to their hard hearts.
• There are two churches, the Church of the Lamb of God and the Great and Abominable Church or the Church of the Devil.
• There will be a small number of those belonging to the Church of the Lamb of God.
• There will be a great number of those belonging to the Great and Abominable Church.
• The churches will battle against each other.
• God will pour out power on the Church of the Lamb of God.
• Nephi then saw one of Christ's 12 disciples.
• The disciple will see and write about the end of the world.
• Nephi is told that he will see what the disciple will see, but Nephi is told that he will not write about it.
• Nephi is told that the disciples name is John.

To read the actual chapter, go to 1 Nephi 14.

So What?

So why was Nephi given these really cool glimpses into the future?  Why was he shown the end of the world and these things that clearly John the Beloved who wrote the Book of Revelations saw?

Simply because God has decreed that in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established, and Nephi, among others, is another witness of this revelation.

What is the Great and Abominable Church?

Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles defined it as "all … organizations of whatever name or nature … which are designed to take men on a course that leads away from God and his laws and thus from salvation in the kingdom of God" (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 137–38).

There is no one set abominable church.  It is not the Catholics.  It is not the Protestants.  It is not the Buddhists.  It is not the Mormons.  It is not the Jewish.  It is not the Pagans.  It is not one specific church.  If a church or organization is leading people away from the truth, then they are considered as the great and abominable church. 

There is only one church though that is the Church of the Lamb of God, and it is the church that He has set up Himself, that He has visited its prophets personally, that existed in the very beginning of the world with Adam and Eve, that existed with later prophets, that Christ Himself organized when He was on the Earth, and that church is The Church of Jesus Christ, and today, it is known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the Latter-Day Saints part is only added to designate that it is His church in these last days and that it was lost, and then it was restored.  I know that this is true, that Christ's church is on the Earth today, and that is why there is the Book of Mormon, to show to the World that God has His Church on the Earth once more, because if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith, the man who translated it by the power of God, was a prophet, and if Joseph Smith was a prophet, then The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's Church on the Earth today.

Back to the Future!

The First Book of Nephi

We're back to where we were!

What has happened so far?

• Lehi received revelation from God that he had to take his family and flee from Jerusalem, or else they would be destroyed.
• The Lord told Lehi to send his sons to get the Brass Plates, which contained the words of the prophets from the time of Adam and Eve to the time they left Jerusalem, which would have been most of the scriptures chronologically from Genesis to Isaiah, possibly some of Jeremiah.
• The four sons tried repeatedly to get the Brass Plates from Laban, and then with the guidance of The Lord, Nephi succeeded.
• Lehi has his dream about the tree of life.
• Nephi has his vision of the tree of life.

We are now looking at the rest of Nephi's vision.

Chapter 12

Nephi sees in vision the land of promise; the righteousness, iniquity, and downfall of its inhabitants; the coming of the Lamb of God among them; how the Twelve Disciples and the Twelve Apostles will judge Israel; and the loathsome and filthy state of those who dwindle in unbelief. About 600–592 B.C.

• Nephi is shown the future.
• He is shown what happens on the American continent at the time of the Crucifixion, namely darkness and destruction.
• He is shown Christ coming to the Americas after the resurrection.
• Christ chooses and sets apart 12 disciples, just as he did in Jerusalem.
• The people were completely righteous for 3 generations, and many were in the 4th generation.
• The people then started to battle against each other.

To read chapter 12 in the scriptures, now that you know what is happening, go to 1 Nephi 12.

Chapter 13

Nephi sees in vision the church of the devil set up among the Gentiles, the discovery and colonizing of America, the loss of many plain and precious parts of the Bible, the resultant state of gentile apostasy, the restoration of the gospel, the coming forth of latter-day scripture, and the building up of Zion. About 600–592 B.C.

• Nephi saw the Gentiles and their many nations.
• The Devil set up a church among the Gentiles that was a "great and abominable" church.
• The Gentiles and the descendants of Nephi were separated by "many waters."
• The Spirit of The Lord influenced a Gentile to cross the water and to go to the land of Nephi's descendants.
• The Gentiles followed and left the bondage of the great and abominable church to go to the freedom of the promised land.
• Nephi's descendants had become very wicked.
• The Gentiles were blessed to prosper in the land.
• The "mother Gentiles" gathered on the waters to battle against them.
• The Lord protected and delivered the Gentiles out of the hands of their enemies.
• Nephi saw the Gentiles carrying a book.
• The book was written by a Jew.


• The book contains the covenants or promises made by The Lord with the house of Israel and the prophecies of the prophets.
• When the book was first written down by the Jews, it held the fulness
  of the gospel.
• When the words went from the Jews to the Gentiles and their great and abominable church, many plain and precious hints were taken out of the book.
• After the precious things were taken out of the book, the book was carried about everywhere by the Gentiles and it was very important to them.
• Since there were many things taken out, it caused many Gentiles to stumble.
• God still blessed the Gentiles in the promised land to be blessed.
• God did not allow the Gentiles to get rid of all of the remnants of Nephi's descendants.
• God will not leave the Gentiles to suffer because of the things that the great and abominable church has taken out of the book.
• The Lamb of God will visit the remnant of the House of Israel, which is the descendants of Nephi and his brothers.
• After a lot of hardships, the Lamb of God will bring to the Gentiles His gospel with those plain and precious things that were lost.
• Other books were brought forth to convince men, Jew and Gentile, that the words of the prophets and Twelve Apostles are true.

To read this chapter, I know it's a lot, but it's wayyyyyy better than the bullet list, go to 1 Nephi 13.

So someone thousands of years ago is seeing into the future???? COOL!

So why is God telling Nephi about this stuff that's going to happen in the future? Can you tell what these chapters are prophecying about?
Where are Nephi's descendants?
Who was the first man to go there?
Who were those people coming over?
What mother country was fighting them?
What book were those people carrying?
??????