For years I have been trying to share this information by going through verses in 1 and 2 Nephi but it seems that the point is always lost. So, instead of trying to teach verse by verse, I am sharing a very general overview of what to look for and how to see. Then I hope you will take these things and study and read 1 and 2 Nephi for yourselves.
In the books of 1 and 2 Nephi, we read so many wonderful stories full of incredible truths and doctrine. Among the virtues and principles we learn are humility, obedience, repentance, and consistency. We see deeply throughout those books two kinds of love - the love for God and the love for family. We learn about the sweetness of drawing near to Christ and the bitterness of turning away. We learn how consistent actions bring about mighty changes. The lessons go on and on.
We also learn one very important over-arching lesson which is what I’d like to focus on. We learn what it takes to enter back into the presence of the Lord. Nephi, as an old man, was trying to think of what would be of most worth to those who would one day read his words. Surely that which is of most worth is to return into the presence of the Lord, to receive the testimony of Jesus.
Nephi and Jacob teach us in these two books the order of gifts needed to receive that most sacred testimony. We begin by learning the voice of the Spirit. Than we add to that learning the voice of revelation. Once we are able to confidently identify these two voices and commit ourselves to always listening and acting, we are able to gain the gift of prophecy. This gift comes first in knowing and understand who Jesus Christ is - not what He did, but who He is. His character and even more, His personality. We come to have a personal relationship with Him. After all these gifts are in order and we have obtained a hope in Christ, then comes the gift of seership. Obtaining this gift is what allows us the receive the testimony of Jesus and to come to know the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
This is what we learn from Nephi as we read his words in one big story rather than as separate memories with individual morals and lessons.
He begins by telling us about watching his father become a prophet and being given a prophetic charge. The profound lessons learned from this story are all important things that, by the end of 2 Nephi, we begin to comprehend. Although if we try to put them into practice before gaining the first gifts needed, always and without exception we will be lead astray.
The important pieces to know in the beginning are that Nephi is telling us he had a pattern to follow and someone who taught him, someone who had already walked this path. He had a mentor and a guide to help him learn the things he is about to teach us. The lessons learned from Lehi’s early-on experiences help us further test a source of revelation by our body’s reactions. My body, which is the urim and thummim made specifically for me, is that tool which helps me to discern the experiences of the Spirit. This is what is important to understand as we begin seeking the gifts of God so we are not led astray.
After this beginning, Nephi tells us some stories about how he began to know the voice of the Spirit. He tells us the experiences of praying and receiving the witness from the Spirit that his father’s words are true. He tells us stories of learning to follow instruction from the Spirit when his own logic and reasoning say it cannot be done.
Nephi walks us through, step by step, the feelings he experienced as he came to know the voice of the Spirit and to learn how to be true to that which the Spirit had testified, regardless of persecution or adversity. As he is doing this, he begins to receive revelation. The Spirit is no longer just giving him truth, but is now giving instruction. He tells us stories about knowing the voice of the Spirit and then having to do a very hard thing but he has, by this time, refined the knowledge of the Spirit enough to trust the voice when he hears it. He begins to gain the Spirit of Revelation, this function of the Holy Ghost by which He tells us “all things, what we should do.” (2 Nephi 32)
Through the gift of revelation we learn to receive God’s commandments. “Thus far I and my father had kept the commandments of God.” What does this mean? It means the commandments of God are individual and given by the Spirit. They are not the generic, one-size-fits-all ideas of the lessor law. They are the higher law which is obtained after we pursue obedience to the lower or lessor laws.
Please note, it is essential to understand that I cannot obtain the higher laws without a deep and central core of integrity to the lessor laws. The lessor laws must be written upon my heart first or I will err and be deceived. There is no skipping over or picking and choosing. Exact obedience brings the gifts of the Spirit. Partial obedience brings temptations, justifications, and deception. If the first law of heaven is obedience, it is because by this law we come to comprehend all the other laws. By the law of obedience we begin to experience a portion of the Holy Spirit which then opens the doorway for us to know and comprehend the voice of the Spirit in a personal way through our perfect-for-each-us personal urim and thummim.
Once we have obtained the Spirit of Revelation and have shown obedience to Him, we obtain the gift of prophecy - which always begins with Christ. Prophecy is not a gift to give fortunes or to predict the stock market. It is not a gift which will tell you how to more fully immerse yourself in Babylon. Again, if this is what you seek or why you seek the gift, you will be deceived. With every gift God gives, there are expectations which come; a code of conduct, if you will. When a gift is used to build up the kingdom of me rather than the Kingdom of God, the gift is taken away and I am left to my darkness and deception. These gifts are only for the building up of the Kingdom of God and to help establish Zion upon the earth.
The gift of prophecy helps us answer the questions we have about Jesus Christ. Who is He? What is He like? Does He have a personality? Does He feel emotions and experience the human things of life? Is He real? The gift of prophecy takes Jesus off of His unreachable pedestal and brings Him to us in a personal and close and deep relationship by teaching us His motives, His heart, His desires.
Pedestals are dangerous things. We often will put God or Jesus or the prophet or anyone we see as being greater than ourselves on a pedestal. This is never good. But it is especially dangerous when it comes to Jesus Christ. The Jesus who is up on a pedestal is a false Christ. He has never asked to be up there. We are to worship the Father in the name of Christ.
Worship, I believe, is the word which throws us off. In the world, in Babylon, worship is to put someone up on a pedestal. But in the Kingdom of God, to worship is to give your whole heart. Worship is prayer, true and sincere and ALL of my heart kind of prayer. The prayer Isaiah teaches us about, the prayer which includes our “strangers” and our “terrible ones” that are buried deep within our hearts. To worship God, we open our whole soul to Him. We pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, a prayer given to us by the Spirit.
Worship, then, is how we develop that deep and bonded relationship with God and Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit - being brought by all three members of the Godhead into a oneness with Them.
When Jesus Christ is no longer on a pedestal, I begin to comprehend Him and who He is. He is not some untouchable, unreachable being. He is not a terrifyingly version of the world’s definition of perfection. He is a being of flesh, He is creator of all things in heaven and in earth, He is the one who comprehends all things - including my own heart. The word “perfect” as used in the Old Testament - the origin of the commandment to become perfect - is not understood in our world today.
When I study a word in Hebrew, I take each letter of the word and dissect the layers of meaning of each letter. In Hebrew, each letter has 7 layers of meaning. Some of those layers are lost to us, but there are still enough known to help us comprehend a more full understanding of the things written than English gives us.
The word “perfect” as written when we are told that Noah was a perfect man in his generation and Abraham was commanded to be perfect, this word is very different from the idea we have that perfection means everything looks right on the outside. It would be very difficult to put the definition here in the full study I have done of it. But a very, very, diluted summary is this: perfection is a complete awareness of all of the parts that make up the whole. This means I am conscious of my motives, my desires, my feelings, and I am not in any way reactive. I see my triggers and know why I have them and I choose rather than react. Perfection is about awareness of myself, ALL of myself. It is about letting the natural man have it’s proper place in my life (The natural man is only the enemy to God if it does not yield, but in yielding it becomes as great an ally to our progression as the gift of the Holy Ghost. This deserves it’s own treatise and will not be addressed here because there just isn’t space.)
Comprehending this definition of perfection then helps us to take Christ off of that awful pedestal and see Him. We gain the gift of prophecy as we come to know Him as He is. And we see Him (not literally but meaning comprehend Him) “as He is, for we shall be like Him.” (1 John 3) The gift of prophecy is first and foremost the gift to know Jesus Christ, as He is and not as we imagine Him to be. Often this gift is accompanied by visions and dreams.
After we have refined and gained a comprehension of these gifts, all being built upon that foundation of exact obedience, we eventually obtain the gift of seership. The purpose of this gift for each person is to allow us to see Jesus Christ, to view the things of eternity, and to come to a knowledge, rather than a faith, of Christ.
Next we have all those Isaiah chapters. Those wonderful, beautiful chapters that, in symbolism, teach us how to open our hearts, how to let God into our hearts. In the words of dear President Nelson, how to let God prevail in our lives. Isaiah is literally trying to teach us how to heal - to see with our eyes, hear with our ears, understand with our hearts, convert and be healed.
Nephi and Jacob teach us Isaiah because he is the ultimate how-to prophet in the scriptures. If you want to come to know Jesus, obtain the gifts of the spirit - specifically the gifts of revelation and of prophecy - then read Isaiah. The Spirit will reveal to you the meaning of the words and you will come to know Jesus Christ as you have never known Him before. If anything helps you bring Jesus into a place of intimate relationship and off of that pedestal, it’s Isaiah. But to understand Isaiah, we need the Spirit or else the words are just crazy gibberish that are supposed to be some sort of high-minded puzzle or something. With the Spirit, Isaiah becomes a teacher, mentor, and guide on how to know Jesus is the Christ and how to know Him, not just about Him. The chapters quoted in 2 Nephi are the core and central chapters to understand.
Nephi then tells us that “Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”
And at last, Nephi is frustrated with us. Why is He frustrated? Because we “ask not, neither do [we] knock; wherefore, [we] are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.” (2 Nephi 32:4)
Let’s look at this a little closer. “Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost” - what does that phrase mean? What does it mean to speak by the power of the Holy Ghost? In General Conference in April 2024 we were admonished to learn to pray by the Spirit. That is the most recent admonition of which I am aware, but the first admonition I remember hearing was when I was shown the Bible Dictionary definition for “prayer” and was asked to study it. I was in high school - which was quite a while ago. This is not a new teaching but it is something most of us do not think about doing or know how to do. Again, the reason Nephi begins his teachings by telling us the first thing we must do is gain an intimacy with the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer, as guided by the Holy Ghost, is different than prayer as guided by my mind. This is why 2 Nephi is full of Isaiah. It is the key to opening our hearts. Without an open heart, I cannot pray by the Spirit because I cannot hear nor understand the Spirit. I don’t mean my heart as in emotions. I mean that physically, in the area that would be my heart space of my body or the center of my heart chakra area, there is a sensation that comes and with it, it brings feelings which come up to my head and I then have to learn how to put those experiences into words. The Holy Ghost aids in all of this. He instructs and give images and snippets of feeling which teach us what we should say. It is similar to what a Melchizedek priesthood holder experiences as he waits upon the Spirit to give him utterance with his hands upon someone’s head. The Spirit speaks to our hearts. In all of scripture you will never once read the words, “understand with your mind” - it simply does not exist. Always and forever the admonition to understand includes the heart. If we are seeking to understand with our mind, thoughts, head, intellect…we will never comprehend the mysteries of the kingdom or the majesty of God. We are not capable of it with that part of our body. Because it is not meant to be the leader. The ego and the natural man reside in that part of the body. And when we let our head lead, we do err.
The Lord tells us to understand with our heart. Prophets over and over again ask us to ponder - not in our heads - in our hearts. If you will search the scriptures, you will find this same message repeated over and over and over again. It is the heart which is meant to lead. NOT the emotions. Please, please learn to discern between the two of those. The emotions are also where the ego and the natural man reside. Discernment between the Spirit and the emotions and thoughts we have is essential. When we have that discernment, we can learn to ponder in our hearts, meaning the place where my eternal being, my spirit resides within my body. Physically, it seems to be in the same location for all of us because the prophets write about it and the Savior talks about it all throughout scripture. It is the core, eternal part of us. The more we learn to discern that voice, the more access we have to those pre-mortal covenants we made and can learn who we are and what we must do to fill the measure of our creation.
The voice of the Holy Spirit is first and most deeply understood in our hearts. He speaks to us through moments of truth and light that cause enlightenment within us and causes that our bosom will swell, or expand. As this happens, our mind begins to comprehend things we could not otherwise comprehend and just as the dawn brings clarity, it bursts upon us and we understand wisdom and great knowledge. This is also the way angles speak - the do not speak to us with mouths and words but with a whole-being experience. The words may be there, but words are so very limited in communicating to us the full meaning of things. My words are not your words and your words are not my words so even though we both speak the English language, we do not speak the same language. A word or phrase means something completely different to me than it does to you. This is why angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost - if they did not, they would be severely limited in the messages they could bring. As it is, they are unencumbered because the Holy Ghost allows them to convey whole experiences to us without the need for words. Words may be there, but they are to give a more pointed focus not the fulness of the message. When we learn from the Holy Ghost, it is full and complete moments of truth which fill us with wisdom, light, and knowledge.
Nephi tells us to feast upon the words of Christ, for they will tell us all things, what we should do. (2 Nephi 32:3) We are seeking Christ. And if we are seeking Christ, then we must seek to understand His language - which is the language of the Spirit. This is also the language by which all scripture has been written. The more we are in the scriptures, the more we become accustomed to the voice of the Spirit. Feasting upon the words of Christ - words written by prophecy and by revelation - the more we come to know both the gift of prophecy and of revelation. If we feast upon the words of Christ, we will grow in our capacity to know Christ and to truly understand the voice of the Spirit - which is the gateway gift to gaining all the gifts of God.
Yet, if we do not take in all of 1 and 2 Nephi and comprehend his message and then get to work on learning, then we are in the group for which he mourns. “And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be…I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit…ye would know that ye must pray…”
At the end of it all, it comes back to prayer. Pray to understand the words of Nephi. Pray to gain the ability to speak the language of the Holy Ghost. Pray to be able to discern between your own thoughts and feelings and those impressions which come from the Holy Ghost. Pray to gain the gift of revelation. Pray to be given discernment from the Spirit. Pray to have taught to you what Nephi experienced when he had moments of learning from the Spirit. Pray to have Isaiah become clear to you. Pray to know how to converse with angels. Pray to gain the Spirit of Prophecy. Pray. Pray. Pray. “Prayer is a form of work and is the means appointed for obtaining the highest of all blessings.” (Bible Dictionary: prayer)
Search 1 and 2 Nephi and see what Nephi is trying to teach us. Ask to know how to apply his teachings today, in your daily life. Then practice and learn and discern. Let the Atonement of Jesus Christ take care of the millions of mistakes which will surely be made in trying to learn to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit. Then practice and learn some more. You will likely hurt others along the way - but with the best of intentions. You will likely mix up what is the spirit and what is your own thoughts or emotions. That’s okay. That’s expected. That is why we have a Savior who delights to save us and who can make anything turn to our good and to the good of those whom we have innocently wronged.
If you seek Jesus, then Nephi gives an excellent how-to manual. He walks us through from where we are and points in the direction of the Savior, Jesus Christ. He teaches us just how to walk back into His presence and gain eternal life. He teaches us how to become a little “p” prophet in our own lives - one who has gained the testimony of Jesus Christ. Read these two books with fresh eyes. See beyond the surface story to the messages written to us. Pray to see them. Pray to understand them. Pray to know how to implement them. Then get to work.
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