Having seen the revelation that would be written by Christ’s
apostle, Nephi was shown others who had written records. They will be sealed to ensure their purity
and will be released in the Lord’s own due time.
The Lord told Daniel, “And
he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the
time of the end” (Daniel 12:9).
After seeing his vision, the Lord commanded the brother of Jared:
And
it came to pass that the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: Behold, thou
shalt not suffer these things which ye have seen and heard to go forth unto the
world, until the time cometh that I shall glorify my name in the flesh;
wherefore, ye shall treasure up the things which ye have seen and heard, and
show it to no man.
And
behold, when ye shall come unto me, ye shall write them and shall seal them up,
that no one can interpret them; for ye shall write them in a language that they
cannot be read.
And
behold, these two stones will I give unto thee, and ye shall seal them up also
with the things which ye shall write.
For
behold, the language which ye shall write I have confounded; wherefore I will
cause in my own due time that these stones shall magnify to the eyes of men
these things which ye shall write.
And
when the Lord had said these words, he showed unto the brother of Jared all the
inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he withheld
them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth.
For
he had said unto him in times before, that if he would believe in him that he
could show unto him all things—it should be shown unto him; therefore the Lord
could not withhold anything from him, for he knew that the Lord could show him
all things.
And
the Lord said unto him: Write these things and seal them up; and I will show
them in mine own due time unto the children of men.
Ether 3:21 - 27
The Lord will preserve His important works from those who
will take away from their purity. Hugh
Nibley explains, “[T]he safest way to preserve a book from destruction, and the only way
to protect it from the inevitable corruption of contents that comes with
copying and handling, is simply to bury it.”[1]
(Emphasis in original)
Nephi gives us the name of the apostle who will write the
things he saw in his vision. The apostle
of the Lamb is John. Nephi then was
forbidden to write anything further than what he has written. “[T]he things
which I have written sufficeth me; and I have written but a small part of the
things which I saw” (1 Nephi 14:28).
Nephi ends his account by bearing record the he saw things
Lehi saw “and the angel of the Lord did
make them know unto me” (1 Nephi 14:29).
He closes his account by testifying “the
things which I have written are true” (1 Nephi 14:30).
[1] A
Strange Thing in the Land: The Return of the Book of Enoch—Part 1, Hugh W.
Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed March 11, 2013.
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