Category: 1 Nephi

1 Nephi 11:16  

16 And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God?
17 And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things (1 Nephi 11:16-17).

“Condescension” is an interesting word. Since neither condescend nor condescension are found in the Old Testament, we cannot turn to the Hebrew to help discover its meaning. That leaves the Oxford English Dictionary as our best source. It reads:

Condescension, n.
The action, habit, or quality of condescending.
1. Voluntary abnegation for the nonce of the privileges of a superior; affability to one’s inferiors, with courteous disregard of difference of rank or position.
2. The action of descending or stooping to things unworthy. Obsolete.
3. Gracious, considerate, or submissive deference shown to another.
4. The action or fact of acceding or consenting.

Only the obsolete definition (#2) suggests a self-degradation of the helper that emphasizes the inferiority of those who are helped.

All of the other definitions suggest love and an acknowledgment of the others’s intrinsic worth—an assertion that the greater recognizes the value of the lesser. To condescend in this way is what the Savior required of his apostles when he said, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:11-12). The Savior was even more explicit in a revelation to the Prophet Joseph, “

He that is ordained of God and sent forth, the same is appointed to be the greatest, notwithstanding he is the least and the servant of all”(D&C 50:26).

To help Nephi understand, the angel showed him that the Savior—the great Jehovah, the Father of Creation, the Only Begotten Son of the Eternal Father —would be born into this world as the child of Mary—he would become a little, helpless baby human being. He would have a body like we have—one that gets hungry, endures fatigue, and feels pain.

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1 Nephi 11:13-15 

13 And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.
14 And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest thou?
15 And I said unto him: A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins.

The Savior’s title “the Lamb of God” is used more frequently by Nephi while he is reporting this vision than anywhere else in the scriptures. While the title is clearly a reference to his Atonement, Nephi uses it to evoke another image as well. It is that of a little lamb—innocent, incapable of hurting anything or anyone, but completely vulnerable and easily hurt. Nephi tenderly describes the Savior as a baby held in Mary’s arms.

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1 Nephi 11:10-12 

10 And he said unto me: What desirest thou?
11 And I said unto him: To know the interpretation thereof—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
12 And it came to pass that he said unto me: Look! And I looked as if to look upon him, and I saw him not; for he had gone from before my presence.

The Spirit of the Lord asked Nephi what he desired, and Nephi responded that he wanted to know the meaning of the tree. Nephi does not tell us if the Lord answered his question or He had not told Nephi the meaning, Or perhaps Nephi chose not to tell us that part of their conversation. Nephi looked, but the Spirit of the Lord was gone. But rather he showed Nephi a vision of the city of Nazareth and of a beautiful virgin who was there.

An angel now appeared who will conduct Nephi through the rest of his interview. He first asked Nephi if he could identify the girl, then asked, “Knowest thou the condescension of God?” Nephi did not fully understand. The angel did not explain (or else Nephi chose not to share the explanation with us), but showed him another vision.

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1 Nephi 11:8-9 

8 And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me: Look! And I looked and beheld a tree; and it was like unto the tree which my father had seen; and the beauty thereof was far beyond, yea, exceeding of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow.{1}
9 And it came to pass after I had seen the tree, I said unto the Spirit: I behold thou hast shown unto me the tree which is precious above all.

Nephi wrote that he saw a tree that was whiter than the “driven snow.” He did not just say “whiter than snow.” The difference is that the “driven snow” is in the air, but just “snow” would be on the ground. When one tries to envision the Shechinah,{1} the best we might do is remember how a snowstorm looks when we turn on the bright lights of the car, or how snow looks when the wind is blowing it about on an otherwise bright, sunny day. The whiteness is simply too bright for our eyes to see beyond. What Nephi saw was probably something like that, a very bright opaque light that initially separated himself from the tree. Then he saw the tree itself, equally white, and which he recognized as being “precious above all.”

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FOOTNOTES

{1} See: “1 Nephi 8:10-12, Lehi’s description of the tree, the water, and the fruit.”

{2} For a discussion of the shechinah and the veils see the footnote at the end of the section called, “1 Nephi 1:1-6, A Three Act Play.” For further discussions see the section called, “1 Nephi 11:2-7, One Must Say and Do Truth.”

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1 Nephi 11:2-7 

2 And the Spirit said unto me: Behold, what desirest thou?
3 And I said: I desire to behold the things which my father saw.
4 And the Spirit said unto me: Believest thou that thy father saw the tree of which he hath spoken?
5 And I said: Yea, thou knowest that I believe all the words of my father.
6. And when I had spoken these words, the Spirit cried with a loud voice, saying: Hosanna to the Lord, the most high God; for he is God over all the earth, yea, even above all. And blessed art thou, Nephi, because thou believest in the Son of the most high God; wherefore, thou shalt behold the things that thou hast desired.
7 And behold this thing shall be given unto thee for a sign, that after thou hast beheld the tree which bore the fruit which thy father tasted, thou shalt also behold a man descending out of heaven, and him shall ye witness; and after ye have witnessed him ye shall bear record that it is the Son of God.

There is a pattern here that may be reminiscent of the judgment that we all will experience before we are permitted to enter the place where God is. Nephi is not automatically permitted to enter. Rather, he is asked questions which he must answer correctly. He does, and the person who stands before him rejoices at the answers. Even so, Nephi is not given immediate entrance. Rather, he is given promises that foreshadow and explain the experiences he is about to have.{1}

We live in a world where we are separated from the Savior by two veils. One is of the world around us—the one we see with our natural eyes. Beyond that is the Shechinah{2} —the veil of light that prophets see before they enter into his presence. An eternal principle is that while standing there, one must only speak truth. If one does not say truth one may not enter (2 Nephi 9:41-42). John quotes the Savior as saying it a little differently: “But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John 3:21). A way to understand that is given by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph:

40 For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom receiveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light; mercy hath compassion on mercy and claimeth her own; justice continueth its course and claimeth its own; judgment goeth before the face of him who sitteth upon the throne and governeth and executeth all things (D&C 88:40).

When Paul wrote about the “whole armor of God,” he described it as one might describe the sacred clothing worn by the High Priest when he went behind the veil into the Holy of Holies. As far as we know, there were no symbolic markings on the High Priest’s garments. However, it is interesting that his belt was woven of the same colors as were woven into the veil. So he was encircled about by the colors of the veil.{3} That may have been what Paul was referring to when he wrote, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth” (Ephesians 6:14).

Levi’s vision where he is clothed with priesthood authority describes his clothing similarly.{4}

Nephi’s is one of several accounts where someone who is about to enter the place where God is, is asked questions that he is expected to answer truthfully. Two of those were Nephi and the brother of Jared. Job had a similar experience.{5}

Psalm 21 was sung during the Feast of Tabernacles temple drama when the king approached the veil of the temple, just before he entered the Holy of Holies.{6} Nephi’s experience was essentially the same: the Spirit asked, “Behold, what desirest thou?”

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FOOTNOTES

{1} There is a similar interview in Ether 3:7-9.

{2} For a definition of shechinah see the dictionary at the back of the LDS Bible.

{3} The accounts read:

5 And the curious girdle of his ephod, that was upon it, was of the same, according to the work thereof; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; as the Lord commanded Moses (Exodus 39:5).
1 Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains [the veil] of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them (Exodus 26:1). The instructions state further that these curtains were put together to make one continuous veil, except for a place in the center where the veil could be parted to give access to the Holy of Holies.

{4} “The Testament of Levi” in The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs in The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English, ed. R. H. Charles, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913), 2:308-09. It is quoted above.

{5} For a discussion of Job’s experience see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, First edition, p. 155-57; Second edition, p. 116-18.

{6} For a discussion of Psalm 21 as a veil ceremony see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, First edition, p. 553-57; Second edition, p. 397-400.

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1 Nephi 11:1 

1 For it came to pass after I had 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 I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain, which I never had before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot.{1}

The setting of this interview is important. It was on “an exceedingly high mountain, that I [Nephi] never had before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot.” Enoch, in The Book of Enoch, describes its heights as the place of the throne of God.

This high mountain which thou hast seen, whose summit is like the throne of God, is His throne, where the Holy Great One, the Lord of Glory, the Eternal King, will sit, when He shall come down to visit the earth with goodness.{2}
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FOOTNOTES

{1} The ancient temples were designed to represent such a mountain. For a diagram showing the similarity between Mt. Sinai and Solomon’s Temple see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, First edition, p. 365; Second edition, p. 263.

{2} For Enoch’s description of the mountain see: The Book of Enoch, in R.H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, 2 vols. (Oxford, Clarendon Press) Chapters 24-25, 2:204-05. It is more fully quoted in the section called “1 Nephi 8:10-12, Lehi’s description of the tree, the water, and the fruit.”

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1 Nephi 11:1 

1. For it came to pass after I had desired to know he 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 I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain, that I never had before seen, and upon that I never had before set my foot.

To ponder, as the word is used here and elsewhere in the scriptures, is to commune with the Spirit. As such, it is the key to knowing the things of God. A striking example of the use of this phrase is “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).

After the Savior had spent a day with the Nephites at the temple in Bountiful, he instructed them to go home and ponder aboout what they had been taught (3 Nephi 17:2-3). Similarly, in his journal President McKay introduced a beautiful vision that same way:

May 10, 1921 as Elder David O. McKay and Brother Hugh J. Cannon approached Apia, Samoa.
Pondering still upon this beautiful scene, I lay in my berth at ten o’clock that night, and thought to myself: Charming as it is, it doesn’t stir my soul with emotion as do the innocent lives of children, and the sublime characters of loved ones and friends. Their beauty, unselfishness, and heroism are after all the most glorious!

I then fell asleep, and beheld in vision something infinitely sublime. In the distance I beheld a beautiful white city. Though far away, yet I seemed to realize that trees with luscious fruit, shrubbery with gorgeously-tinted leaves, and flowers in perfect bloom abounded everywhere. The clear sky above seemed to reflect these beautiful shades of color. I then saw a great concourse of people approaching the city. Each one wore a white flowing robe, and a white headdress. Instantly my attention seemed centered upon their Leader, and though I could see only the profile of his features and his body, I recognized him at once as my Savior! The tint and radiance of his countenance were glorious to behold! There was a peace about him which seemed sublime—it was divine! The city, I understood, was his. It was the City Eternal; and the people following him were to abide there in peace and eternal happiness.

But who were they?

As if the Savior read my thoughts, he answered by pointing to a semicircle that then appeared above them, and on which were written in gold the words:

“These Are They Who Have Overcome The World —— Who Have Truly Been Born Again!”

When I awoke, it was breaking day over Apia harbor.{1}

President McKay, who was very sensitive to the Spirit and given to deep concentrated thought, once advised,

You young men who pass through periods of doubt about the reality of the spirit in man, and of the possibility of its being in contact with divine influence, should ponder earnestly on the fact that there is something within you which can become cognizant of happenings or incidents that are entirely beyond the limit of any one or all of your five physical senses.{2}

President Joseph F. Smith introduced his revelation about the redemption of the dead with these words:

1 On the third of October, in the year nineteen hundred and eighteen, I sat in my room pondering over the scriptures;
2 And reflecting upon the great atoning sacrifice that was made by the Son of God, for the redemption of the world (D&C 138:1-2).

Just before writing the last words on the gold plates, Moroni called our attention to the story of Adam and Eve and urged us to “ponder it in your hearts (Moroni 10:3-5).

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FOOTNOTES

{1} David O. McKay, Cherished Experiences from the Writings of President David O. McKay, rev. and enl., compiled by Clare Middlemiss (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1955), 101-02.

{2} David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals: Selections from the Discourses of David O. McKay (Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953), 516-17.

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1 Nephi 10:20-22

19 For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round.
20. Therefore remember, O man, for all thy doings thou shalt be brought into judgment.
21. Wherefore, if ye have sought to do wickedly in the days of your probation, then ye are found unclean before the judgment-seat of God; and no unclean thing can dwell with God; wherefore, ye must be cast off forever.
22. And the Holy Ghost giveth authority that I should speak these things, and deny them not.

“Unclean” was a technical term in the Old Testament culture from which Nephi came. It described someone or something that was unworthy, such as animals that were not to be eaten or sacrificed (a pig for example), or persons who were ceremonially or ritually not qualified to participate in religious or temple rites. For such persons, uncleanliness had a physical cause (such as having a sore that would not heal{1} or being in contact with a dead body). The Law of Moses prescribed ceremonies to make such persons ritually clean again.

Nephi extends uncleanliness beyond physical impurities. In doing so, in these verses, he presents a argument that is perfect in its logical construction:

. The mysteries are known to those who seek.
.     This is equally true in our past, present, and future.
.      Therefore, judgment is inevitable.
.         Wherefore, wicked remain unclean
.            and no unclean thing can dwell with God;
.               Wherefore, they must be cast off forever.

Nephi writes that persons who do not know the mysteries of God are unclean and must be judged accordingly. The ramifications of that argument are these: Before he is resurrected, every individual will have a full opportunity to know all that is necessary for salvation. Not knowing those things defines one as unclean. There are only two circumstances that could cause one to be unclean under that definition. Either a person chooses not to know the mysteries, or, having known, one chooses to forget. Alma also taught that same thing, but was more explicit (Alma 12:11).

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FOOTNOTE
{1} Another example is the woman who touched the border of Jesus’s garment and was immediately healed. She had “an issue of blood” for twelve years and would have been unclean during all that time (Luke 8:43-44).

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1 Nephi 10:17-19

17. And it came to pass after I, Nephi, having heard all the words of my father, concerning the things that he saw in a vision, and also the things that he spake by the power of the Holy Ghost, that power he received by faith [pistis]{} on the Son of God—and the Son of God was the Messiah who should come—I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him, as well in times of old as in the time that he should manifest himself unto the children of men.
18. For he is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever; and the way is prepared for all men from the foundation of the world, if it so be that they repent and come unto him.
19 For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries [mysterion in New Testament] of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round.

These verses are some of the most informative in all the scriptures about the eternal nature and purpose of the Holy Ghost. Here, one can find the relationship of the Holy Ghost with the members of the Council in Heaven.
“The course of the Lord is one eternal round” because the Savior’s Atonement is infinite and eternal, and the ordinances and covenants that give us access to all the blessings are always the same. If they not identical are in form, they are similar enough in purpose that Nephi can consider them as though they were the same “in these times, as in times of old, as in times to come.”

In every stage of our existence, it is necessary for us to learn and to repent. The “power of the Holy Ghost” enabled us to do that then, just as it does here. The Savior’s Atonement, which he performed here, is infinite and eternal, stretching back in its influence and power to the very beginnings of our beginnings. (If it could reach back in time to enable Abraham and Adam to repent, it could also reach back even further to enable us in our premortal state to repent.) Nephi assures us that throughout our existence, the Holy Ghost taught—and continues to teach us—how to “come unto Christ.”

There is enormous power in Nephi’s concept. It testifies that the Holy Ghost brought us to a testimony of Jehovah there, just as it brings to an understanding the Redeemer here—just as it confirmed to Nephi the eternal validity and persistence of the ordinances and covenants performed in the ancient Israelite and the later Nephite temples.

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FOOTNOTE

{1} For a discussion of the Greek word pistis see the section called 1 Nephi 2:19, “Meanings of Faith,”
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1 Nephi 10:12-14 

12 Yea, even my father spake much concerning the Gentiles, and also concerning the house of Israel, that they should be compared like unto an olive-tree, whose branches should be broken off and should be scattered upon all the face of the earth.
13 Wherefore, he said it must needs be that we should be led with one accord into the land of promise, unto the fulfilling of the word of the Lord, that we should be scattered upon all the face of the earth.
14 And after the house of Israel should be scattered they should be gathered together again; or, in fine, after the Gentiles had received the fulness of the Gospel, the natural branches of the olive-tree, or the remnants of the house of Israel, should be grafted in, or come to the knowledge of the true Messiah, their Lord and their Redeemer.

It appears that this may be Lehi’s abbreviated version of Zenos’s prophecy that Jacob quotes in Jacob 5. If it is, then it is also the key to interpreting the prophecy.

In ancient Israel, the olive tree was the living symbol of the tree of life, so there is a close relationship between the tree in Lehi’s dream (ch. 8) and the tree that he likens to the house of Israel.{1} The one in chapter 8 represents our coming to the Savior, and this one (10:12-14) is about scattered Israel’s coming to a knowledge of the Messiah. In chapter 11:21-22, Nephi tells us the tree represents the love of God. In chapter 15, Nephi ties all these ideas together by promising that as Israel is gathered, the people will “receive the strength and nourishment from the true vine,” for “they shall be grafted in, being a natural branch of the olive-tree, into the true olive-tree” (1 Nephi 15:15-16).
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FOOTNOTE

{1} See: 1 Nephi 8:10-12, Lehi’s description of the tree, the water, and the fruit.

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