Power To Bring Forth My Word

Lehi quoted these words of Joseph of Egypt to his son Joseph, speaking about Joseph Smith who would come many centuries later: “But a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins—and not to the bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them” (2 Nephi 3:11). As we think about the work that the Prophet Joseph did, perhaps of most importance was what was prophesied here: he brought forth the word of God to the world. In John Taylor’s summary of the Joseph Smith’s work and mission, bringing forth the word of the Lord to us was indeed his focus: “He has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men” (Doctrine and Covenants 135:3). The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price all came through him to “bring [the Lord’s] people unto salvation” (2 Nephi 3:15). Not only did he bring forth all of this new scripture, but he also devoted much of his life “to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them.” In other words, through his work on the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible and his focus on expounding passages of the Bible in his teachings, he devoted much of his life to convincing the children of men of the true meaning of God’s word that came to us through the Jews. And with his work to bring us new scripture and to convince us of the truthfulness of the old, we now have two sources of truth that “shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of [Joseph’s] loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord” (2 Nephi 3:12). The greatest work of the Prophet Joseph Smith was to bring us words, words so powerful that they bring us to make covenants with the Savior Jesus Christ unto salvation.

                Ultimately Joseph was killed because of the words that he brought forth to us. John Taylor suggested that their deaths came “to seal the testimony of this book and the Book of Mormon,” and that “the reader in every nation will be reminded that the Book of Mormon, and this book of Doctrine and Covenants of the church, cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world” (Doctrine and Covenants 135:1, 6). Joseph lived to bring forth the words of salvation unto our generation, and he died to seal his testimony of the truthfulness of those words. And so that his life and death be not for naught, we should also dedicate our lives to those same sacred words. In Lehi’s quotation of Joseph of Egypt to his son he also said this: “And the words which [Joseph Smith] shall write shall be the words which are expedient in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins. And it shall be as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from the dust; for I know their faith. And they shall cry from the dust; yea, even repentance unto their brethren, even after many generations have gone by them. And it shall come to pass that their cry shall go, even according to the simpleness of their words.” The words of the Savior that Joseph Smith brought forth to us in the Book of Mormon and other scriptures and teachings should ultimately lead us to repentance if their truth worth is to be seen. As those sacred words bring us to our knees in repentance before the Savior and inspire us to make covenants with Him, then they will have fulfilled their mission for which they were brought forth. We must “hearken unto the words” and “remember the words” and ultimately live by all the words that have proceeded forth out of the mouth of God through His servant in these last days (2 Nephi 3:19-20, 25). He who is the Word personified has given us an abundance of His sacred words in our day to guide us safely back to Him in His Father’s kingdom.