1 Nephi 3:17-20
1 Nephi 3:17
17 For he knew that Jerusalem must be destroyed, because of the wickedness of the people.
I testify that throughout the ages God has spoken to His children through His prophets. (See Amos 3:7; Hel. 8:13–20.) Only when His children rejected the prophets were the prophets taken out of their midst, and then tragedy followed. (See 1 Ne. 3:17–18; 1 Ne. 7:14; Hel. 13:24–27.)
1 Nephi 3:18
18 For behold, they have rejected the words of the prophets. Wherefore, if my father should dwell in the land after he hath been commanded to flee out of the land, behold, he would also perish. Wherefore, it must needs be that he flee out of the land.
The Kingdom of God
Some say the kingdom of God was not set up on the earth until the day of Pentecost,3 and that John did not preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.4 But I say, in the name of the Lord,5 that the kingdom of God was set up on the earth from the days of Adam6 to the present time, whenever there has been a righteous man7 on earth unto whom God revealed His word and gave power and authority to administer in His name.8 And where there is a priest of God9—a minister who has power and authority from God to administer10 in the ordinances of the gospel11 and officiate in the priesthood12 of God—there is the kingdom of God.13 And, in consequence of rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ14 and the Prophets whom God hath sent,15 the judgments of God16 have rested upon people, cities, and nations, in various ages of the world, which was the case with the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,17 that were destroyed for rejecting the Prophets.18
The Kingdom of God
Some say the kingdom of God was not set up on the earth until the day of Pentecost,3 and that John did not preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.4 But I say, in the name of the Lord,5 that the kingdom of God was set up on the earth from the days of Adam6 to the present time, whenever there has been a righteous man7 on earth unto whom God revealed His word and gave power and authority to administer in His name.8 And where there is a priest of God9—a minister who has power and authority from God to administer10 in the ordinances of the gospel11 and officiate in the priesthood12 of God—there is the kingdom of God.13 And, in consequence of rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ14 and the Prophets whom God hath sent,15 the judgments of God16 have rested upon people, cities, and nations, in various ages of the world, which was the case with the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,17 that were destroyed for rejecting the Prophets.18
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1 Nephi 3:19
19 And behold, it is wisdom in God that we should obtain these records, that we may preserve unto our children the language of our fathers;
Press Forward and Be Steadfast
On a pier in Copenhagen, Denmark, is a bronze statue of a young woman named Kristina. Kristina stands looking out to sea toward her goal to join the Saints in Zion. The wind is blowing against her fiercely, but she does not look back. She is steadfast as she presses forward doing a very hard thing, but one she knows to be right. I love that statue, for to me Kristina represents my own Danish great-great-grandmother who chose to join the Church amid great resistance. I am grateful for her courage and testimony. On her choice that day rested not only my eternal destiny but also the destiny of generations.
In the Book of Mormon, Nephi tells us that we can “press forward” (2 Ne. 31:20). He says we not only can but must. Perhaps Nephi, like Kristina, could see that the steadfast choices of one individual affect generations. When Nephi’s father sent him back to Jerusalem to obtain the plates of Laban, Nephi said, “Behold, it is wisdom in God that we should obtain these records, that we may preserve unto our children the language of our fathers” (1 Ne. 3:19; emphasis added). Nephi was thinking of his future family, even though he had no prospect for marriage. Remember, his family was alone in the wilderness! Nephi not only had a vision of how to return to his heavenly home, but he also had a vision of what he wanted in his earthly home.
The Savior will help you see and understand the vision He has for you. You are His beloved daughters. He knows you personally and has a plan for your life. He has promised that as you live worthily, His Spirit will always be with you.
Just as the wind blew fiercely in the opposite direction Kristina faced on that pier in Denmark, each of you will experience resistance from worldly forces. “Pressing forward” implies resistance. The scripture doesn’t say walk forward, or move forward, or simply proceed forward. It says to press forward! In order to do this, you must have a vision of where you are going. The Holy Ghost will help you remain steadfast, and your testimony of the Savior will help you proceed with a perfect brightness of hope.
1 Nephi 3:20
20 And also that we may preserve unto them the words which have been spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets, which have been delivered unto them by the Spirit and power of God, since the world began, even down unto this present time.
I speak to those who have never read the Book of Mormon. This includes many members who have started to read it several times, but, for one reason or another, have never finished it.
My message may help those as well who have read the Book of Mormon once but have not returned to it.
I have chosen as a title “The Things of My Soul.”
Perhaps no other book has been denounced so vigorously by those who have never read it as has the Book of Mormon.
Because of that, I hope to introduce the book in such a way that, in case you decide to read it, you will know beforehand what awaits you.
Except for the Bible, the Book of Mormon is different from any book you have read. It is not a novel. It is not fiction. For the most part, it is not difficult to read. However, like all books of profound value, it is not casual reading. But if you persist, I assure you that it will be the most rewarding book you have ever set your mind to read.
The Book of Mormon is not biographical, for not one character is fully drawn. Nor, in a strict sense, is it a history.
While it chronicles a people for 1,021 years and has the record of an earlier people, it is in fact not a history of those people. It is the saga of a message, a testament. As the influence of that message is traced from generation to generation, more than twenty writers record the fate of individuals and of civilizations who accepted or rejected that testament.
The saga began in Jerusalem six hundred years before Christ. King Zedekiah ruled the doomed kingdom of Judah.
The prophet Lehi was warned in a dream to take his family and leave Jerusalem before that destruction which soon was to be recorded by the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. (See Jer. 44:1–8.)
Lehi was commanded of the Lord to obtain and take with them a record of their people. It is with that record, the brass plates of Laban, that the saga of the Book of Mormon began.
Lehi’s son Nephi obtained the record for his father and said, “It is wisdom in God that we should obtain these records, that we may preserve unto our children thelanguage of our fathers.” (1 Ne. 3:19; italics added.)
They found that the record contained:
- • “The five books of Moses, which gave an account of the creation of the world, and also of Adam and Eve, who were our first parents.” (1 Ne. 5:11.)
- • And “the words … of all the holy prophets, which have been delivered unto them by the Spirit and power of God.” (1 Ne. 3:20; italics added.)
- • “And also a record of the Jews from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah”;
- • And “a genealogy of [Lehi’s] fathers.” (1 Ne. 5:12, 14.)
Lehi’s little band left Jerusalem with the record. In time, they were separated from their homeland by an ocean. But they had that precious spiritual record.
A later prophet, Benjamin, said of this record:
“Were it not for these things, which have been kept and preserved by the hand of God, that we might read and understand of his mysteries, and have hiscommandments, … [we] would have dwindled in unbelief.” (Mosiah 1:5; italics added.)
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