Watching from the Past

As I put my daughter to sleep last night we read a brief verse from 1 Nephi 13 and I explained that it described the vision that Nephi had, and I explained to her that he saw our time.  “Did he see me?!” she asked.  “Does he know my name?”  I told her that I didn’t know about that for sure, but that he definitely saw the formation of our country and that perhaps he had even seen her.  He wrote, “I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth” (1 Nephi 14:12).  Whether he saw us only collectively or beheld through the power of God each of us individually I’m not sure, but I did explain to my daughter that Moroni also saw our day and saw us.  He wrote when describing the last days: “Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing” (Mormon 8:35).  The important question for each of us personally is this: what did Moroni see when he saw us?  Were we among those to whom he wrote were “polluted because of the pride of your hearts” or were we among the “few” who were not lifted up in pride? (Mormon 8:36)

               There were others who, according to the scriptures, likewise saw us in the last days.  Moroni wrote this about the great vision of the brother of Jared: “And when the Lord had said these words, he showed unto the brother of Jared all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth” (Ether 3:25).  That’s a pretty comprehensive list to see all the people which have been or who ever will be—that means we indeed are in that list.  The vision of Moses was equally incredible; we read this about what the Lord showed him: “Moses cast his eyes and beheld the earth, yea, even all of it; and there was not a particle of it which he did not behold, discerning it by the Spirit of God.  And he beheld also the inhabitants thereof, and there was not a soul which he beheld not; and he discerned them by the Spirit of God; and their numbers were great, even numberless as the sand upon the sea shore” (Moses 1:28).  While it is possible from this description that he saw “only” those people alive on the earth at his time, given the comprehensiveness of his vision to include the creation in the past, it’s most likely that he too saw the future and us.  At any rate, it’s humbling to think that there were those who have seen us and seen our day.  Are we living so that we are not ashamed of what they saw?  One day our acts will be “spoken upon the housetops” and no longer hidden; but we need not wait until then to realize that we are even now seen of others, for the ancient prophets already watched us a long time ago (D&C 1:3).