This post originally appeared on Power in the Book of Mormon.
The Introduction page of the Book of Mormon states that βthe crowning event recorded in the Book of Mormon is the personal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Nephites soon after His resurrection.β I couldnβt agree more. Iβm reading the account of that idyllic period right now. Christ says none of that generation were lost. The closest thing to a fight is their disagreement about what to call the Church, even that is settled in short order.
Iβm at the end of Third Nephi, but I donβt want to leave; I know what comes next. The Savior will ascend into Heaven. Then weβll have a few verses covering a few hundred years of utopian peace. And then it ends Rogue One style: massive destruction, the bad guys win, and everyone dies. And youβre supposed to be happy that at least the records were saved so the good guys have a chance in the future.
The Book of Mormon is 531 pages. Christ first manifests Himself on page 428. His last recorded personal ministration is page 463. Thatβs 17 chapters. 35 pages. 6.59% of the Book of Mormon in total. And that 17 chapter span includesΒ 3 whole chaptersΒ where Christ just quotes chapters of Isaiah and Malachi. By contrast, the Book of Mormon contains 16 dreaded βcompare Isaiahβ chapters, dozens of chapters on theΒ 15 or so recorded wars, and a ton of Jaredite genealogy.
The Book of Mormon is βAnother Testament of Jesus Christ.β And Christβs appearance is the βcrowning event.β So you would think that Mormon would have set aside aΒ littleΒ more space for it, wouldnβt you? Especially when at the end of the book, he and Moroni seem surprised to have some plates leftover? Why would Mormon leave us hanging like that?
Maybe Christβs visit, important as it was, just wasnβt enough content to make the cut? I mean, as far we know, He only visited for a few days, right? Nope. Although Christβs initial visit to the Nephites only lasted three days, that wasnβt the last time they saw Him:
The Lord truly did teach the people, for the space of three days; and after that he did show himself unto them oft, and did break bread oft, and bless it, and give it unto them.
And during the many days, He gave them a lot to chew on. He βdid expound all things, even from the beginning until the time that he should come in his glory.β He βexpounded all the scriptures unto them.β He βdid expound all things unto them, both great and small.β Mormon records that he only recorded βa lesser part of the things which [Christ] taught the people,β and that βthere cannot be written in this book even a hundredth part of the things which Jesus did truly teach unto the people.β So the reason Mormon cut the ministration chapters so short was not a lack of source material.
OK, so maybe since Mormon was the chief historian and military captain of the Nephites, he just had a natural preference for war and history and used up too much space on that. No, more than anything else, Mormon was a prophet.Β He tells usΒ that he intentionally omitted a lot of the war and wickedness of his people because he was just so sick of it. So he didnβt skimp on the βgood stuffβ because he wanted to, either.
So why did Mormon give us so little? Mormon gives this excuse for not writing more of Christβs teaching:
I was about to write them, all which were engraven upon the plates of Nephi, but the Lord forbade it, saying: I will try the faith of my people. Therefore I, Mormon, do write [only] the things which have been commanded me of the Lord.
OK, as far as excuses go, that one is pretty good. But hereβs the cool part. This is not one of those commandments where the Lord doesnβt explain Himself. Mormon records the reason a few verses later:
If ye had all the scriptures which give an account of all the marvelous works of Christ, ye would, according to the words of Christ, know that these things must surely come.
The way I read this, if we had the whole account, there wouldnβt be any debate about DNA or horses or anachronisms. It wouldnβt be a struggle to defend the truth that Mormons are Christians. We wouldnβt have to hunger and pray and seek in order to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon.Β Like the words of the prophet Nephi, the message Book of Mormon would be so powerful and convincing that it would be literallyΒ impossibleΒ for anyone to disbelieve it. There would be no room for doubt or faith, so God instructed His prophets to omit some details. The gaps must exist so He could βtry the faithβ of His people.
The good news is that when we exercise faith, those gaps donβt close us off to the βgood stuff.β Mormon records this promise about the Book of Mormon:
And when they shall have received this, which is expedient that they should have first, to try their faith, and if it shall so be that they shall believe these things then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them.
So, as we faithfully receive and study the Book of Mormon, we will receive βgreater thingsβ than the Book of Mormon. Thatβs saying a lot. The Book of Mormon is βthe most correct of any book on earthβ such that βa man will draw nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book.β Itβs the keystone of our religion and the evidence of the message of the Restoration. The Book of Mormon changes lives. Itβs powerful (hence the title of this blog). Itβs hard to imagine how something could be greater than that, but Iβm eager to find out.
So what kind of βgreater thingsβ can we expect to find? What will those βgreater thingsβ be? The most dramatic interpretation could be new scripture. We know the canon is not closed. We believe God will βwill yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.β So, when will we see more revelation and books of scripture? In keeping with Mormonβs promise, we have to wait until weβre fully appreciating the scriptures we already have. Christ had some βwordsβ for the Saints of this dispensation along these lines:
You have treated lightly the things you have receivedβ
Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation.
And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all.
And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written.
I think when we as a Church develop a true love for the Book of Mormon and a hunger for its teachings, we will be more prepared for the additional light and knowledge God wants to give us. But God will not reveal additional scripture until we all in general are ready, and not a moment before.
But we donβt need to wait for Pres. Nelson to announce a new section of the Doctrine & Covenants before we can realize Mormonβs promise of βgreater thingsβ being revealed to us. Thatβs one of the cool things about God: Heβs really good about doing βgreat thingsβ with βsmall and simple means.β He turned Satanβs efforts to tempt Eve and turned it into a pillar of the Plan of Salvation. He turned a tongue-tied Egyptian prince into the mighty prophet who delivered Israel. He turned an anti-Chrisitan lawyer into a might missionary for Christ on the road to Damascus. He turned a 14-year old farm boy into the Prophet who has βdone more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it.β He isΒ reallyΒ good at doing marvelous things with existing materials.
The first few times I read the Book of Mormon, I thought it was really boring. But as I started becoming familiar with the people, learning the history, and making connections, I started to experience Pres. Bensonβs promise that the power of the Book of Mormon would flow into my life. I love this book. And a good chunk of what I love and the lessons Iβve learned from the Book of Mormon are not things that were spelled out explicitly on its title page. Theyβve come from the way a verse was worded. Theyβve come from thinking about what Mormon did (or didΒ not) choose to write the way he did. Theyβve come from the moments when a verse triggers a spiritual flood of other verses I had never thought were related before.
Some of those insights are blog-worthy and I write about them here. Others are more personal revelations, and I keep them close to my heart. But all of them are treasured insights to me and fully fit my definition of the βgreater thingsβ God promises to reveal to us as we study His word and seek His will.
So if you ever read the scriptures and think βwhy is this so sparse?β, try reading it again π
This post originally appeared on Power in the Book of Mormon.
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