The Plan for Happiness Illustrated to Us in a Book

Sometimes I like to look at the entire narrative of the Book of Mormon from a panoramic perspective that tells the plan of salvation through symbolism.  As everything I write on this blog, these are merely my own reflections and musings according to where my religious symbolism and gospel studies have led me in my understanding this far in my life.  Dear Reader, I hope you enjoy the food for thought...

Let's start with the beginning of the book. 1 Ne. 1:14-16.  Nephi says he could have written many things that Lehi said, but chose not to.  Among the words he chose to write were these "O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high in the heavens, and the power, and goodness, and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth; and because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish!" Perhaps this is what mankind shouted premortally when we lived with God, were told the plan of salvation, and accepted participation in it. 

Then Nephi takes us straight into his family dealings and the city in which they lived, Jerusalem.  

Jerusalem = Christ's kingdom, which is earth, which in its current state is a fallen world and corrupt, which place will have to be destroyed and cleansed before Christ dwells here and reigns again in New Jerusalem during and after the Millennium.  

Lehi's family = mankind.  Each of us here on earth.  Like Lehi's family needing to leave Jerusalem before its destruction, each of us can choose to leave the fallen world and find safety with Christ before earth's final cleansing.  

Nephi killing Laban = In this moment we can view Laban as a symbol of Christ's role in God's plan.  Laban possessed the plates of brass which contained the religious law and the genealogies.  Christ possesses the word of God, the law, the covenants, the way to link us forever in our genealogies and as God's family. 

Laban's sword = Christ's word. Laban's sword was made of the finest workmanship and materials even pure gold and precious steel.  Christ says his word is as a two-edged sword.  Similar to Laban's sword being fashioned by the most incorruptible metals man could find and use, Christ's word stands the test of time.  It will stand uncorrupted forever.  It is backed by the ratification of the Holy Spirit and the Celestial standard of God the Father.  It is unyielding.  It divides the wicked from the righteous.  

Nephi = representing the Jews in Jerusalem at the time of Christ.  Christ was wounded in the house of his friends, not seen for who he is among his own people.  Nephi uses Laban's own sword to kill Laban, alluding to how the Jews would one day twist and turn Christ's words and refuse to accept and understand his teachings. The Spirit delivering Laban into Nephi's hands can be seen as an allusion to God allowing his Son to be delivered into the hands of enemies and be killed.  

Laban drunk with wine at the time he was delivered into Nephi's hands = Christ having freshly performed the atonement in the Garden of Gethsemane wherein he took upon him the sins of the world and bled from every pore, which blood is symbolized by wine, then Christ was caused to bleed and suffer and fatigue further during the physical brutalities he suffered when being scourged, nailed to the cross, and starved.  

At this point in Nephi's writings we also get the masterful one sentence sermon from the Spirit to Nephi, a powerful allusion to Christ's role of Savior, Redeemer, and Scapegoat upon the altar-  1 Ne. 4:13 "...It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief."  This teaching from the Spirit causes Nephi to remember an earlier promise from God 1 Ne 4:14 "I remembered the words of the Lord which he spake unto me in the wilderness, saying that: Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my commandments, they shall prosper in the land of promise.” The wilderness = our mortal journey.  Yes, it was best that one man, (even the Son of God) should perish (and conquer sin and death) than a nation (or God's children) should dwindle in unbelief (be spiritually lost and permanently separated from God's presence).

1 Ne 1:20 = the purpose of the plan and the outcome we can receive according to our agency. "I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." Sure, Nephi inserts this scripture when talking about Lehi's deliverance from those who wanted to stone him.  Nephi is maybe also inserting it here to preface his own many future circumstances of being delivered, but I suspect Nephi knew his writings would serve a much greater purpose than to simply journal about his life.  They would one day be known to the world and used to teach a message about the power of Christ, who is The Only Way to eternal life. 

Lehi and Ishmael's families leaving the current land of their inheritance and dwelling in the wilderness with a promise of one day arriving at further inheritance land = 

1. Tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh being given a double inheritance portion then being scattered throughout the inhabitants of the world.  Lehi was of the tribe of Manasseh. Ishmael was from the tribe of Ephraim.  In Gen 49:22 Jacob says "Joseph is a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall".  I like to think of this wall as the fences that divide neighbors' yards.  In this case, each tribe of Israel and Gentile nation has a separate "yard".  In Joseph's yard his seed is extending from and receiving nourishment because of a well of water. Interestingly, Jacob’s well is located geographically within Joseph’s tribe’s ancient boundaries. Christ is that living water in the well.  A well brings pure water from deep within the earth.  Christ descended to the depths of  God's Kingdom, conquered spiritual and physical death and now provides that purified, nourishing water brought about by the atonement, resurrection, covenants and priesthood authority.  In Joseph's tribe's yard that fruitful bough grows over the fences into neighboring yards.  God nourishes Joseph's tribe with the gospel and the priesthood and grows it/scatters it into neighboring yards so that others will partake, be organized, and receive instruction from Christ on how to gather themselves and their own lost families safely back home with God and Christ. 

2.  Using the metaphor of Jerusalem being a city of peace ie the peace we enjoyed premortally when we lived with God, and using my above mentioned symbolism of  Lehi's family representing mankind, then Lehi's family leaving Jerusalem can be an allusion to how we had to leave God's presence and dwell in the wilderness (partake of mortality) in order to progress and gain further inheritance and greater peace and prosperity in the eternities.  

Traveling in the wilderness then arriving in a place by the sea that they named Bountiful = The dispensations of mankind from Adam to Christ's birth.  When Christ came physically he was not only now with mankind performing miracles for those who believed him and giving them rest, he fulfilled the law and showed mankind the blessings that would come from living the covenants.  His coming is a bookmark "place of Bountiful" spot in the timeline of the world.  

Lehi's family crossing the ocean = the Great Apostasy.  Sometimes in scripture sand is used to mean people (think Abraham's promise about his descendants).   A sea is also used to mean people, specifically the popular opinions of a body of people.  Lehi's family left the sandy beach and had to ride the waves of a sea.  Covenant mankind (the sands) were carried away by the waters, swallowed up, buried under the sea and lost to mankind on earth.  Interestingly, Nephi uses this point in the narrative where his family is dwelling on the beaches of Bountiful to announce the births of his younger brothers, Jacob and Joseph, who each have very symbolic namesakes and provide more allusion  to Abraham's covenant children as sand.  

Lehi's family arrives in the new land = the age of the timeline of the world where the gospel is restored and a land of liberty is once again attainable for those who make and keep the covenants.  Just as Satan increased attacks when the gospel was restored, so too, opposition increased for the people of Nephi at this time in their story.  

Nephi using the sword of Laban to fashion weapons of defense against his enemies = being backed and protected by God when we choose righteousness and oppose evil.  Remember what I previously wrote  about what Laban's sword symbolizes to me?

Nephi and his family fleeing from his brothers who wanted to kill him = All of mankind who will accept the call to flee the wickedness of the world and spiritual death, and be gathered into the fold of Christ and counted as the children of Israel.  

Book of Mormon timeline between this point in the book and the time when Christ visits = The time of missionary labors during this dispensation of preparing the world for Christ's second coming and the Millennium.  The vines of the tribe of Joseph are grown over the wall, the vines are now bearing fruit and are readily available to be partaken of by the neighbors of the world, both Jew and Gentile.  Bruce R. McConkie once called this dispensation "the final dispensation of grace".  Indeed, we have been told this time before the Millennium is the time to get our hearts right so we can abide the day of Christ's return and be found able to live on a purer Earth.  The Nephites come into contact with a variety of other civilizations during the course of their civilization in America.  Soon enough blood lines mix and there are now essentially only two divisions of people- those who are righteous and those who are wicked.   Their society ebbs and flows in and out of righteousness, prosperity, and wickedness.  Sometimes the tide of righteousness seems to prevail and relative peace is found, sometimes the tide of wickedness pounds them like a tsunami wherein many suffer- those fighting for righteousness and those who are wicked.  This is happening in the Nephite civilization right before the resurrected Christ visits them in person, which happens to be at a place named Bountiful.  Perhaps when the city was built and named it was a sign from the people to God that they were trying desperately to once again find and build a land inheritance of peace and abundance.   Apparently at some point God saw their sign and said, "let me help you try to remember what Bountiful truly entails" because this city had a temple in it. 

Resurrected Christ appearing to the Nephites = Christ's Second Coming and millennial reign.  Christ's physical, in person ministry to the Nephites was short, but it served to establish perfect peace among all the inhabitants in the Nephite civilization at that time.  The peace and righteousness of all the inhabitants lasted for many years.  Restoring peace to the inhabitants of the earth is the work Christ will organize among us and assign us to help him with during the Millennium.  This includes more gospel teaching and opportunities for covenant making for God's children.  

Rebellion building up again after a few generations of Nephite bliss = Satan being loosed again for a short season at the end of the Millennium.  Notice how there were times earlier in the Book of Mormon where Christ extends mercy and grace to the wicked descendants of Laman and Lemuel reminding that they are wicked because of the traditions of their fathers.  During that time he works with righteous men and women to help those who live the Lamanite teachings to understand how to free themselves of the deceit of their forefathers' and Satan's teachings.  Weren't the Lamanites often in anger about land inheritance they claimed was stolen from them by Nephites?  Doesn't Satan think this earth is his kingdom and his inheritance and he desperately doesn't want Christ to "steal" it from him?   Now there is a shift in the way Christ talks about the wicked people who are again choosing to identify as -ites and take up the Lamanite mindset.  This time there is no merciful allowance made.  He acknowledges their open and willful rebellion.  The days of grace are past for mankind.  The wicked will destroy the wicked, then the work of mankind's redemption will be fully reported to God, the perfect judge, who will then give the rewards and punishments as the consequences that His law requires, a judgement he can give out because of Christ now having completed his assignment as Savior and Redeemer. In Mormon 2 the chapter heading states "Their day of grace is passed".  Verses 13-15 further drive these points home.  "...behold my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin.  And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die.  Nevertheless they would struggle with the sword for their lives. And it came to pass that my sorrow did return unto me again, and I saw that the day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually; for I saw thousands of them hewn down in open rebellion against their God..."

At this point, if you have read this far into the  Book of Mormon, whether you are reading it as a potential follower of Christ or as a casual follower, you may be developing into a serious disciple of Christ,  so Congratulations! and Bravo! both for reading a lot of pages and for growing, but in hopes of really sealing the deal for each reader, God says, "Ok kid, did you get all that???? If not, let's run it again in shortened summary." Then He brilliantly gives us a cliff notes version of the whole plan of salvation again, which we can read as the book of Ether, which is the second to last book of scripture compiled into the Book of Mormon, the last book being words and testimony of Moroni. What a marvelous teaching tool the Book of Mormon is to mankind.  The layers upon layers found in the pages and narrative of the Book of Mormon beckon us to claim the gift of the power of Christ unto salvation.  There absolutely is hope, safety, and security to be found in the God of mercy and grace who works for His Father the perfect judge.