Sunday thoughts

Nephi, writing on the plate of brass now known as The Book of Mormon

Isn't it amazing that 600 years before Christ was born, Lehi and Nephi were told about and wrote about Christ's birth, his death, and his Resurrection. This all is in Nephi chapter 10 and 11.

I really enjoyed this talk from Ezra Taft Benson

Tonight after a very nice discussion with my husband, I imagined the Great reunion of Joseph Smith and Nephi in Heaven. We discussed the time after Moroni until Joseph Smith. There were about 1600 years, we both wondered what and why the Lord waited so long to restore the church. John commented that we don't know that he didn't try. Joseph Smith endured a lot of persecution and heartache, and pain. Not many could endure that and press forward. That of course is our discussion, nothing has been told about the Lord trying to restore the church earlier than Joseph Smith.

"And it came to pass that I beheld that the rod of iron, which my father had seen, was the word of God, which led to the fountain of living waters, or to the tree of life; which waters are a representation of the love of God; and I also beheld that the tree of life was a representation of the love of God." 1 nephi chapter 10:25.

What was that fruit? It was the pure love of Jesus Christ. The impact of that symbolic fruit remains as fresh and delicious for us today as it did to that tiny band of uprooted Israelites.

"It is seldom we find a character in the history of the ancient world that was as faithful and righteous as that of Nephi. He delighted in the things of the Lord, but sorrowed in the weakness of his own flesh. He wrote, in beautiful prose, what is now known as "The Psalm of Nephi." "

Nephi desired to know the things that his father had seen in a dream, and he believed the Lord was able to make them known to him, also. Nephi saw the heavens open, and an angel came down and stood before him and asked, "Nephi, what did you see?" "A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins," was Nephi's reply to the angel. The angel also taught him that she was 'exceedingly fair and white,' introducing her as the earthly mother of the Son of God. Nephi then beheld that she was 'carried away in the Spirit' for a space of time, and then returned, 'bearing a child in her arms.'

The son of god our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ