1 Nephi 10

Monday, July 1, 2013


In this chapter, Nephi starts off talking about the vision his father had of the coming of Christ. Many of the Jews did not like the idea of the Messiah at all and many tried to kill Him during His time here on earth. Verse 6, which says "Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer," tells us the reason we need Christ. During this time, the people had fallen into a state called an Apostasy where the people rejected and killed the Prophets. They turned away from Heavenly Father and decided to do as they wanted and worship false gods and idols. Heavenly Father decided the best solution to this was to send His Son so that He could come and save us all. Verse 10, "[He] should take away the sins of the world," says what He did for us. Because Christ died for us, we are able to repent for our sins. 
The Jews crucified Christ and Christ rose again on the third day. Because Christ lived a perfect life, He was able to perform the Atonement which is what enables us to be able to repent for our sins and much more. 
Nephi's father went on to speak about the Gentiles and also the house of Israel. Lehi says that the house of Israel should be compared to the branches of an olive tree. And they will be broken like the branches and scattered all over the world. I think this describes us as people today. I think the tree can be a representation of our Heavenly Father and the branches would be symbolism of us. Many of us have broken away from the Father and scattered about much like the broken branches of an olive tree. 
Lehi then speaks of the literal gathering of the house of Israel. This will happen when everyone has received the "fulness of the Gospel" (verse 14). 
To help guide us down the right path we have the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost "is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him." To diligently seek Him is to find the fulness of the gospel and do all that the Lord asks us to. To receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which means that as long as you remain worthy, you will have the Spirit as a constant companion, you must be baptized into the Mormon Church and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by proper authority. 
Verse 18 gives us the reminder that Heavenly Father is here forever and ever and that He will never forsake us. I find this to be incredibly comforting and reassuring each time I read it. 
Verse 19 says that we will learn more about the gospel and of our Heavenly Father as we continue to seek and earn of the truth of all things. The ways we can learn is through prayer, reading scriptures daily, and applying what we learn to our own lives. The scriptures are like a guide for us - we constantly look in them when we need help. I also find that they bring a great amount of comfort when I read. 
As we live through this life, we need to remember that there will come a day when we are to be judged. And all the things we have not repented of will be held against us. We need to remember that "no unclean thing can dwell with God" (verse 21). or in His kingdom. 
All of these things we know to be true because we know the Book of Mormon is true and should not deny the things we know to be true because of this (verse 22).