Shall Establish the Truth of the First

In his vision in which he saw the latter-days, Nephi beheld several different books of scriptures. He first saw the Bible: “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that they did prosper in the land; and I beheld a book, and it was carried forth among them.” The angel explained, “The book that thou beholdest is a record of the Jews, which contains the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; and it also containeth many of the prophecies of the holy prophets.” Nephi then also saw the Book of Mormon: “I will manifest myself unto thy seed, that they shall write many things which I shall minister unto them, which shall be plain and precious; and after thy seed shall be destroyed, and dwindle in unbelief, and also the seed of thy brethren, behold, these things shall be hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles, by the gift and power of the Lamb.” But he saw more than those two books: “And after it had come forth unto them I beheld other books, which came forth by the power of the Lamb, from the Gentiles unto them, unto the convincing of the Gentiles and the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the Jews who were scattered upon all the face of the earth, that the records of the prophets and of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are true” (1 Nephi 13:20, 23, 35, 39). These “other books” likely include the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price and perhaps other prophetic teachings that we have. This suggests that one of the important missions of all scriptures outside of the Bible is to convince the world that the Bible is true. Here Nephi referred to “the records of the prophets” (Old Testament) and the records of “the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (New Testament), highlighting the importance of both for us. In Latter-day Saint theology, books of modern scripture are inextricably linked to the prophecies of the ancient prophets and the testimony of the Savior’s apostles in the meridian of time.

               I have written much in the past about how the both the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants testify of the Bible and confirm the reality of its people and truthfulness of its message. We see the same thing in the shortest book of scripture, the Pearl of Great Price. Its first book, Moses, is of course an expanded translation of several chapters of the book of Genesis. It confirms the reality and power of the prophet Moses, affirms the truth of the Creation story, and declares the reality and goodness of Adam and Eve, the first mortals in the Bible. If we believe in the truthfulness of the Pearl of Great Price, then we know that Biblical characters such as Seth, Abel, Cain, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah were all real people. We see that indeed the city of Enoch was taken up into heaven, that Cain really did slay his brother Abel, and that there was a flood in the days of Noah. The second book in the Pearl of Great Price affirms the reality of the great prophet Abraham. We learn that the covenant the Lord made with him was real and that we are indeed beneficiaries to that covenant in our day: “I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations” (Abraham 2:9). In Joseph Smith—History the prophet Moroni also confirmed the truth and importance of other Old Testament passages, citing Malachi 3-4, Isaiah 11, and Joel 2. The Pearl of Great Price also affirms the truth and importance of the words of the New Testament. Moroni quoted from Acts 3, and we see the power of this promise of James that led Joseph Smith into the Sacred Grove: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (JSH 1:11, 40). In Joseph Smith—History we also read of the impact that Paul’s example had on Joseph Smith: “I have thought since, that I felt much like Paul, when he made his defense before King Agrippa, and related the account of the vision he had when he saw a light, and heard a voice; but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others said he was mad; and he was ridiculed and reviled. But all this did not destroy the reality of his vision” (JSH 1:24). Joseph Smith—Matthew is a translation of Matthew 24 and confirms the truth of the Savior’s words to His apostles on the Mount Olivet shortly before His death. The articles of faith affirm the correctness of the church in the meridian of time: “We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth” and highlights the truth of Paul’s teachings: “We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.” Indeed, this statement summarizes the connection and commitment of the Pearl of Great Price to the Bible: “We believe the Bible to be the word of God” (Articles of Faith 1:6, 8, 13). The angel understood how powerfully modern books of scripture would affirm the truth of the Bible when he declared, “These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved” (1 Nephi 13:40).