The Scriptures We Don't Have

There are several scriptural records which we do not have, but which one day we may be able to receive.  One of these accounts is the record of the words given by God to the lost tribes of Israel.  Nephi gave us these words of the Lord: “I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it….  And the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel” (2 Nephi 29:12-13).  There doesn’t seem to be any condition on the promise that we will one day have the words of these people who were the descendants of the lost ten tribes.  We don’t know much about what this record would contain, but presumably at least part of it would tell of Christ’s visit to them.  The Savior told the Nephites, “Now I go unto the Father, and also to show myself unto the lost tribes of Israel” (3 Nephi 17:4).  We don’t seem to have any indication as to when we will receive this record, but surely someday we will and it will help show just how inclusive God’s plan is to save all of His children. 

A second scriptural account that we may one day receive is the remainder of the record of what Jesus taught to the Nephites during His visit to them.  Mormon told us this about what he wrote for us in our 3^rd Nephi account: “And these things have I written, which are a lesser part of the things which he taught the people….  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.”  He then said that he was “about to write them” because they were on the plates of Nephi, but the Lord forbade him saying, I will try the faith of my people” (3 Nephi 26:8-9, 11).  So to receive the full account of what the Savior did and taught among the Nephites we must believe in the account we already have and develop the faith the Lord requires.  To have such a record would surely be a pearl of great price of immeasurable worth to the Saints. 

A third and perhaps most famous scriptural account that we do not yet have is the record of the brother of Jared’s vision.  This was actually on the Book of Mormon plates in the sealed portion which Joseph Smith did not translate.  Moroni told us that he recorded “on these plates the very things which the brother of Jared saw; and there never where greater things made manifest than those which were manifest unto the brother of Jared” (Ether 4:4).  Like the record of what Jesus said to the Nephites which we don’t have, this is also conditional upon us being read to receive it.  We are told that “in the day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw” (Ether 4:7).  Nephi’s account adds that these words which were in the sealed portion of the plates will come forth to us in “the own due time of the Lord” (2 Nephi 27:10).  To have such a record it seems that the Lord would require a great sanctification on our part.  At any rate, to receive any one of these three scriptural accounts, the first step we must take to show the Lord we are ready for them is certainly to love and cherish the scriptures that we already have.