Commanded to Write the Book of Mormon

One of the themes that we see in the Book of Mormon is that the Lord was guiding His prophets to make the record that we would one day have.  While the book is indeed a kind of history, the inspired record keepers did not simply write the things that transpired in their day. Rather, they wrote the things that the Lord commanded them to write.  Nephi made this very clear. He told us, "Nevertheless, I have received a commandment of the Lord that I should make these plates, for the special purpose that there should be an account engraven of the ministry of my people" (1 Nephi 9:3).  The record he made was under the inspiration of the Lord, and he emphasized that again near the end of his life: "And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness" (2 Nephi 33:11).  The promise is that we will one day know specifically that Nephi was commanded by the Lord to write what he did in the Book of Mormon. 

Other prophets of the Book of Mormon similarly made it clear that what they were writing was under the strict commandment of God.  For example, "The Lord commanded the brother of Jared to go down out of the mount from the presence of the Lord, and write the things which he had seen" (Ether 4:1).  It was because of that command that the Jaredite record came into being and ultimately made it into the hands of Moroni so he, under a similar command, could write it for us.  He wrote of the brother of Jared's words, "Wherefore the Lord hath commanded me to write them; and I have written them. And he commanded me that I should seal them up; and he also hath commanded that I should seal up the interpretation thereof; wherefore I have sealed up the interpreters, according to the commandment of the Lord" (Ether 4:5).  He emphasized again later, "And now I, Moroni, have written the words which were commanded me, according to my memory" (Ether 5:1).  Moroni gave us, under the command of God, the summary that we have today in the book of Ether, and we await the day when we will have the full account of this marvelous vision.  When the Savior was among the Nephites He directed them to write certain things which we now have in the Book of Mormon.  He said, "And I command you that ye shall write these sayings after I am gone, that if it so be that my people at Jerusalem, they who have seen me and been with me in my ministry, do not ask the Father in my name, that they may receive a knowledge of you by the Holy Ghost" (3 Nephi 16:4).  Later when He found out about something that was missing in their record, "Jesus commanded that it should be written; therefore it was written according as he commanded" (3 Nephi 23:13).  He similarly "commanded them that they should write the words which the Father had given unto Malachi" so that we have another witness of those words in the Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 24:1).  The Savior was constantly conscientious of the writings that needed to be in the Book of Mormon.

               Mormon similarly testified that what he wrote was because of the commands of the Lord.  He said, "Therefore I, Mormon, do write the things which have been commanded me of the Lord. And now I, Mormon, make an end of my sayings, and proceed to write the things which have been commanded me" (3 Nephi 26:12).  He wrote again on another occasion, "Hearken, O ye Gentiles, and hear the words of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, which he hath commanded me that I should speak concerning you, for, behold he commandeth me that I should write" (3 Nephi 30:1).  He wrote what the Lord told him to.  What we have in the Book of Mormon is a result of the commands of the Lord that He gave his ancient prophets for our benefit today.  This gives us all the more reason to diligently seek to understand and apply its teachings in our own lives.