After being overcome by the Spirit and retiring to his room, Lehi has a marvelous vision in which he sees God sitting upon His throne, and then sees One descend and come toward him. He recognizes this One as being the Lamb of God. Picking up with verse ten:
And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament.
These twelve represent the twelve apostles, and their luster, being that of the stars, is somewhat less than that of Christ Himself, who was described as having a luster of the sun at noon-day. While the apostles are less brilliant, they still have a radiant countenance of their own. Moving on to verses eleven and twelve:
And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth; and the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read.
And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord.
The twelve acted as messengers to convey important information to Lehi. He was allowed to see God the Father and Jesus Christ, but at this time, he is not communicating directly with them, but rather, with the twelve, who are acting as intermediaries. Verse thirteen:
And he read, saying: Wo, wo unto Jerusalem, for I have seen thine abominations! Yea, and many things did my father read concerning Jerusalem – that it should be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof; many should perish by the sword, and many should be carried away captive into Babylon.
Reading these things must have been difficult for Lehi. He already knew they must come to pass – there had been prophets in the area already, warning the people of what was to come – but to see it face to face, laid out in specific detail, must have caused Lehi great sorrow. These were his people, his friends, his business associates – and many of those friends and associates had already mocked the existing prophets. Verse fourteen:
And it came to pass that when my father had read and seen many great and marvelous things, he did exclaim many things unto the Lord; such as: Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high in the heavens, and thy power, and goodness, and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth ; and, because thou are merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish!
Even seeing the destruction that was about to come upon the people of Jerusalem, Lehi finds joy in his heart. He knows that the judgments of the Lord will be fair and just, and they will also be executed in great power and might – thus the wonder in his voice as he sings these praises. He understands that the Lord is working for the good of all men, and that He will do nothing in anger, but as a well-earned rebuke for wickedness. He also expresses his knowledge that the faithful shall escape the foretold destruction.
I wonder if Lehi stopped to consider how his own words would be received. He knew he had to go out and try yet again to tell the people and to warn them—did he have any foreboding about his assignment? I think his biggest fear wouldn’t have been for his own safety, but rather, he would fear that the people would not listen, and they would eventually be destroyed.
As we seek to apply today’s reading to ourselves, how can we prepare ourselves so that when the voice of a prophet comes unto us, we can receive it without question? How can we strengthen ourselves so that when we are told to give a word of warning to a friend or family member, we can do it, unafraid?
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