They Must Retain Their Brightness

To my son,

               When Alma was speaking to his son Helaman, he taught him about the importance of the scriptures. As you know they had scriptures on the plates of brass that Nephi miraculously obtained and brought out of Jerusalem. He said this about those plates of brass: “And these plates of brass, which contain these engravings, which have the records of the holy scriptures upon them, which have the genealogy of our forefathers, even from the beginning—Behold, it has been prophesied by our fathers, that they should be kept and handed down from one generation to another, and be kept and preserved by the hand of the Lord until they should go forth unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, that they shall know of the mysteries contained thereon.” Thus the plates of brass were meant to be handed down from generation to generation so that the people had the word of God to teach them. But that posed a problem—brass deteriorates over time. One source online says this about brass: “Brass, like silver, tarnishes because its metal components--copper and zinc—are exposed to oxygen. This is a natural process. The oils in your skin also have an effect on brass, so the more an item is used, the more corrosion or tarnish can occur.” But these brass plates needed to last one thousand years so that the Nephites could have the word of God. And the miracle was that they did! Helaman explained it this way: “And now behold, if they are kept they must retain their brightness; yea, and they will retain their brightness; yea, and also shall all the plates which do contain that which is holy writ.” He prophesied that the plates would “retain their brightness” or, in other words, not deteriorate or dull over time. He continued, “Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.” This miracle was a small, imperceptible thing: the brass did not lose its brightness and the scriptures were preserved for hundreds of years. But that small thing brought about a “great and eternal purpose” of the Lord in preserving the righteousness of His people. Alma summarized to Helaman, “They are preserved for a wise purpose, which purpose is known unto God” (Alma 37:3-12).

               I believe that this is symbolic for us in our own scripture reading. Most of the time when we read a book, we are done with it after one time. Perhaps there are some books that we really like that we might read two or three times, but after that we are usually bored with them because we know the whole story and everything that happens. So we set them aside and move on to other books. But we don’t do that with the scriptures; just like the Nephite prophets wanted their scriptures to maintain their brightness and continue to be read throughout the lifetime of their whole civilization, so too do we want the scriptures to remain “bright” and be read throughout our lives. We should never finish reading the scriptures; there is always more to gain from them no matter how many times we have already read them. They retain their brightness for us individually, meaning that they remain relevant and powerful in our lives. Unlike secular books that become boring after a one or two reads, the scriptures remain vibrant and interesting and relevant to us because the Holy Spirit is found within their pages. Each time we read a particular scriptural story or teaching we are in different phases of our lives and the words will apply to us in new and different ways. President Hinckley as the prophet promised that if we would read, “regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.” Similarly, the Prophet Joseph Smith said this of the “sacred volume” of scriptures: “He who reads it oftenest will like it best, and he who is acquainted with it, will know the hand wherever he can see it.” We must make the study of the scriptures a lifetime pursuit, and no matter how many times we have previously spent in the pages of holy writ, we must keep coming back for more inspiration and direction from the Lord. I hope you will learn in your youth to read from the scriptures each day so that this habit can bless you with an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord your whole life through. I promise that the miracle of maintain their brightness for you individually will occur as you do so.  

Love,

Dad