Nephi as a Type of Christ

Nephi, the son of Nephi, was clearly a type of Christ in the Book of Mormon.  In 3 Nephi 1:11 he “cried mightily to his God in behalf of his people” who believed in the sign of Samuel that they might be saved from destruction.  Similarly, Christ “is pleading [our] cause before [the Father]--saying… Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name” (D&C 45:3-5).  Later Nephi ministered among the people doing some of the same things as the Savior at the very same time the Savior was walking the roads of Palestine.  “In the name of Jesus did he cast out devils and unclean spirits; and even he his brother did he raise from the dead” just as Christ cast out devils and raised several people from the dead in His ministry (3 Nephi 7:19).  After Nephi performed these miracles, “the people saw it, and did witness of it, and were angry with him because of his power,” just as the Pharisees and chief rulers of the Jews were angry because of Christ’s miracles (3 Nephi 7:20).  Nephi preached so powerfully that “it were not possible that they could disbelieve his words,” just as the Savior “taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (3 Nephi 7:18, Matt. 7:29).  There’s one other rather unusual way the story of Nephi reminds us of the story of Christ in the New Testament: the fact that we have almost no record of his actions for about 30 years, the same time period of Christ’s life before His ministry.  Nephi was first introduced in 3 Nephi 1 when he pled for the people and learned of the Savior’s birth.  After this account, from chapters 2 – 6, we don’t hear of Nephi any more except in Mormon’s reference to him keeping a record in chapter 5.  In the whole account of the Nephite war against the Gadianton robbers, Nephi was not mentioned once and Lachoneus appeared to be the leader-prophet of the people.  Then suddenly in verse 15 of chapter 7 Nephi appeared on the scene again as if he had never left, performing miracles like the Savior.  I’m not sure why he wasn’t mentioned at all for nearly 30 years, but it is interesting that this is very similar to the account we have of the Savior in the New Testament.  We have a lot of the story about what happened around the time of his birth, and then we have only a small amount of information until he suddenly appeared 30 years later to begin His ministry.  This “disappearance” of Nephi for 30 years in the record seems to be another way in which he served as a type of Christ.