2 Nephi 25:28-30

Why does Nephi speak plainly to his people?  “[B]ehold, my people, ye are a stiffnecked people” (2 Nephi 25:28).  His people have become like the Jews.  King Benjamin told us “the Lord God saw that his people were a stiffnecked people, and he appointed unto them a law, even the law of Moses” (Mosiah 3:14). 

Listening to our leaders today, these men and women speak plainly to us today.  They follow in the tradition of Nephi.  They are making sure their words and message cannot be misunderstood.  They make certain the Lord’s words are understood. 

Teaching the people of Ammonihah, Alma₂ told them:

And now, my beloved brethren, for ye are my brethren, and ye ought to be beloved, and ye ought to bring forth works which are meet for repentance, seeing that your hearts have been grossly hardened against the word of God, and seeing that ye are a lost and a fallen people.

Now it came to pass that when I, Alma, had spoken these words, behold, the people were wroth with me because I said unto them that they were a hard–hearted and a stiffnecked people.

Alma 9:30-31

Nephi’s words will stand as a testimony against all who read them.  He teaches the word of the Lord and “the right way is to believe in Christ and deny him not” (2 Nephi 25:28).

Nephi makes it clear “that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not” (2 Nephi 25:29).  We must “bow down for him and worship him” (2 Nephi 25:29).  Mathew L. Bown explains:

By casting the commandment to "bow down . . . and worship" the Lord in the language of the Shema [a Jewish prayer], Nephi reveals the proper mode of proskynesis [Greek name of the ritual greeting at the eastern courts^[1]]  before God: it must be done with all one's might, mind, strength, and one's whole soul, like the offering of "whole souls as an offering unto [the Holy One of Israel]" (Omni 1:26).³¹ Acceptable proskynesis is inseparable from faith in Christ ("the right way is to believe in Christ . . . ; wherefore ye must . . . ," 2 Nephi 25:29) and is a supernal manifestation of it.

The promise to those who so worship is a promise of eternal life: "ye shall in no wise be cast out" (2 Nephi 25:29). Through faith in Christ, the "children of men" (1 Nephi 11:22, 24) can again have access to the tree of life. They must therefore come forth, fall down, and partake of the fruit of that tree.[2]

When we worship him, we must worship him with “all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul” (2 Nephi 25:29).  Here, Nephi could be reminding the Nephites about the words of Moses when he commanded the people, “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:5).

Speaking to a scribe, the Savior taught:

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  There is none other commandment greater than these.

          Mark 12:29-31

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[1] Proskynesis, LIVIUS - Articles on Ancient History, accessed November 1, 2013.

[2] “They Came Forth and Fell Down and Partook of the Fruit of the Tree,” Matthew L. Bowen, accessed November 1, 2013.