1 Nephi 15 - key messages

Quickly wanted to highlight some of the flow of topics in 1 Nephi 15 and 16.

1 Nephi 15

1) How to get revelation

11 Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ^aask me in ^bfaith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.

2) Discussion on restoration of Israel to the gospel (olive tree)

14 And at that day shall the remnant of our ^aseed ^bknow that they are of the house of Israel, and that they are the ^ccovenant people of the Lord; and then shall they know and ^dcome to the ^eknowledgeof their forefathers, and also to the knowledge of the gospel of their Redeemer, which was ministered unto their fathers by him; wherefore, they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be saved.

3) Explanation of key parts of the dream:

a) tree of life

b) iron rod (word of God)

24 And I said unto them that it was the ^aword of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would ^bhold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the ^ctemptations and the fiery ^ddarts of the ^eadversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction.

c) river of water (great gulf - hell - separating wicked from righteous)

28 And I said unto them that it was an awful ^agulf, which separated the wicked from the tree of life, and also from the saints of God.

These are fascinating thoughts to make it into the scriptures. How to be guided by God, the restoration of their seed to the gospel (important prophecy, important to understand how God works - over hundreds and thousands of years), key parts of plan of salvation and how to succeed in life.

Plan of Salvation - Allowing us to make mistakes

I learned something new this week. I have been involved in several important mistakes our startup has made over the last two weeks. While these mistakes are painful, they also teach us the most about what needs to change in the business and what we should do to improve. The value of mistakes is very high. When thinking about this, I started comparing it to life. God's plan was to send us to earth so that we could learn from our own experience the results of doing good and the results of doing bad. He wanted us to leave his presence and come to a place where we could prove ourselves and also learn from the mistakes we would inevitably make. In fact, he knew that there would be enticing things about doing both good and evil (2 Nephi 2)

16 Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should ^aact for himself. Wherefore, man could not ^bact for himself save it should be that he was ^centiced by the one or the other.

This realization about the value of mistakes in business and life gives me a different view about how God views us when we want to come closer to him. He knew that we would all make mistakes. He simply wants us to come back to him. Some make bigger or smaller mistakes, but that's not critical. What's critical is that we learn from our experiences.

Mistakes were so inevitable that the key component of the The Plan of Salvation was for Jesus Christ to come to the earth to pay the price for mistakes and sins and the failings of the world. That is what makes God's plan the perfect plan. He not only knew we would make mistakes, but he also made sure that the consequences of those would be paid for by someone else. I know this is indeed true and that everything that is wrong is this world will eventually be made right through Jesus Christ.

I appreciate the chances to make mistakes.

Have a good day.

All are redeemed

The magnificence of the plan of salvation is in part shown by this: Concerning the sons of perdition:

D.C. 76: 38Yea, verily, the only ones who shall ^anot be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath.

Every other person that comes to the earth will be redeemed eventually. That's quite a blessing. It's a pretty great plan in which everyone who follows the Savior by choosing to come to the earth receives a blessing of resurrection and will be redeemed at some point (redeemed in the sense of will be resurrected and I think will not feel any pain for their sins/mistakes at that point although some will be in the telestial and terrestrial kingdoms). The only way that's not true is if you openly reject Jesus Christ in the way similar to how it was done by some in the premortal life - i.e., you know him personally and then reject him.

Everyone is blessed for the good things they do and the people they become, and following Jesus Christ has big rewards.

Continuing on about other people:

39For all the rest shall be ^abrought forth by the resurrection of the dead, through the ^btriumph and the glory of the Lamb, who was slain, who was in the bosom of the Father ^cbefore the worlds were made.

40And this is the ^agospel, the glad ^btidings, which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto

It's a great plan of salvation!

D.C. 76

Skipping back to D.C. today:

This is in the preface to D.C. 76:

“Upon my return from Amherst conference, I resumed the translation of the Scriptures. From sundry revelations which had been received, it was apparent that many important points touching the salvation of man had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled. It appeared self-evident from what truths were left, that if God rewarded every one according to the deeds done in the body the term ‘Heaven,’ as intended for the Saints’ eternal home, must include more kingdoms than one. Accordingly, … while translating St. John’s Gospel, myself and Elder Rigdon saw the following vision” (History of the Church,1:245). It was after the Prophet had translated John 5:29 that this vision was given.

Joseph had an incredibly open mind about doctrinal topics. It's an interesting conclusion to make: "the Bible is missing a lot about salvation, there's got to be more to the story." I think Joseph Smith gives another good example here about how to learn.

D.C. 76:1

1^aHear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, and rejoice ye inhabitants thereof, for the Lord is ^bGod, and beside him there is^cno ^dSavior.

Interesting that heaven was supposed to hear this revelation as well. That doesn't happen too often.

D.C. 76:5-10 - This is kind of long, but it's very powerful. Think about these promises for those who serve the Lord to the end:

5For thus saith the Lord—I, the Lord, am ^amerciful and gracious unto those who ^bfear me, and delight to honor those who ^cserve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end.

6Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their ^aglory.

7And to them will I ^areveal all ^bmysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come, will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom.

8Yea, even the wonders of ^aeternity shall they know, and things to come will I show them, even the things of many generations.

9And their ^awisdom shall be great, and their ^bunderstanding reach to heaven; and before them the wisdom of the wise shall ^cperish, and the understanding of the ^dprudent shall come to naught.

10For by my ^aSpirit will I ^benlighten them, and by my ^cpower will I make known unto them the ^dsecrets of my ^ewill—yea, even those things which ^feye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.