A Heart Turned to His Children

One of the great missions of the latter-day work is to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers as declared by Malachi 4:6.  In that famous final verse of the Old Testament he also prophesied that the heart of the fathers would be turned to their children.  I believe that Nephi in the beginning of the Book of Mormon gave us a powerful example of doing just that—in his writing he focused on his children and posterity and their future acceptance or rejection of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He looked beyond just his own day, turning his heart to his children, and sought to help all who would come after them to choose to follow the Redeemer. 

               Nephi seems to have been imbued with this sense of concern for his posterity by the vision he received in 1 Nephi 11-14, before he was even married, in which he saw what would become of them in the land of promise.  He was shown 1000 years into the future when his posterity would be largely destroyed, and he described his feelings this way afterwards: “And it came to pass that I was overcome because of my afflictions, for I considered that mine afflictions were great above all, because of the destruction of my people, for I had beheld their fall” (1 Nephi 15:5).  He mourned that some of his posterity would reject the Savior and be destroyed.  This knowledge motivated him to write for and prophesy to and focus on his children and posterity.  For example, he painstakingly engraved the words of Isaiah on the plates for them: “I, Nephi, write more of the words of Isaiah, for my soul delighteth in his words. For I will liken his words unto my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children, for he verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him…. I will send their words forth unto my children to prove unto them that my words are true” (2 Nephi 11:2-3).  After writing 13 chapters of Isaiah, he further explained his purpose in writing: “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do…. And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Nephi 25:23-27).  One of his main motivations for writing upon the plates was to help future generations come to know the Savior and understand how they could receive a remission of their sins through Him.    

Nephi was not speaking only to his actual children and grandchildren alive in his day, but he spoke to his descendants far into the future in hopes that he could help them as well to come unto the Savior.  He wrote to those who would live over 600 years later, “And after Christ shall have risen from the dead he shall show himself unto you, my children, and my beloved brethren; and the words which he shall speak unto you shall be the law which ye shall do” (2 Nephi 26:1).  He was concerned with helping them to accept the Savior.  He had this promise of the Lord about where his words and subsequent prophets’ words would go: “And also, that I may remember the promises which I have made unto thee, Nephi, and also unto thy father, that I would remember your seed; and that the words of your seed should proceed forth out of my mouth unto your seed” (2 Nephi 29:2).  Nephi understood that his writings could have a great impact on his future posterity and so he diligently sought to testify to them of the Savior.  He summarized his efforts to take the gospel to his children and posterity in these words, “But I, Nephi, have written what I have written, and I esteem it as of great worth, and especially unto my people. For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry. And I know that the Lord God will consecrate my prayers for the gain of my people. And the words which I have written in weakness will be made strong unto them; for it persuadeth them to do good; it maketh known unto them of their fathers; and it speaketh of Jesus, and persuadeth them to believe in him, and to endure to the end, which is life eternal” (2 Nephi 33:3-4). 

Nephi showed us truly what it means for us to turn our hearts to our children.  His concern for the salvation of his posterity perhaps should serve as an example to us of how we should be similarly concerned about the salvation not only of our children but also of our fathers.  He had the opportunity to help countless generations come unto the Savior by leaving them his testimony of Jesus Christ for them in writing, and we likewise have the opportunity to help countless ancestors receive the ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the proxy work of holy temples.  We can “become even as Nephi of old” in our efforts to spread the gospel not only to our own children but also to our fathers who have come before us (Doctrine and Covenants 33:8).