Of Great Worth

In Nephi’s vision of what the world would be like in the last days, recorded in 1 Nephi 13, he saw how the people of the earth were fixated upon the things of the world. He wrote, “I also saw gold, and silver, and silks, and scarlets, and fine-twined linen, and all manner of precious clothing; and I saw many harlots. And the angel spake unto me, saying: Behold the gold, and the silver, and the silks, and the scarlets, and the fine-twined linen, and the precious clothing, and the harlots, are the desires of this great and abominable church.” This group that was focused on “the praise of the world” and persecuted the saints of God. We certainly see today that many are focused upon obtaining this type of thing: wealth and clothes and fine things that puff them up and lead them to trample upon the people of God and that which is really of most worth. So how do we overcome the desire and pull of these things that the world offers us? I believe the answer is found later in the chapter when he saw a book among the people. The angel asked him, “Knowest thou the meaning of the book?” The angel told him: “The book that thou beholdest is a record of the Jews, which contains the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; and it also containeth many of the prophecies of the holy prophets; and it is a record like unto the engravings which are upon the plates of brass, save there are not so many; nevertheless, they contain the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; wherefore, they are of great worth unto the Gentiles.” It was of course the Bible, or “the book of the Lamb of God” which Nephi more appropriately named it. That is what is “of great worth”—not the gold and silver and possessions of the great and abominable church. And so, to resist the pull of these material possessions we need the word of God. We need a knowledge of the covenants of the Lord and the testimony of the Lamb of God which it contains. That is what can protect us from the temptations of the world.

                The Bible is not the only book that Nephi saw in this vision. He recorded, “I beheld other books, which came forth by the power of the Lamb, from the Gentiles unto them, unto the convincing of the Gentiles and the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the Jews who were scattered upon all the face of the earth, that the records of the prophets and of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are true.” These books were brought forth in the last days and include the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. And why do we have them? The angel answered, “These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved” (1 Nephi 13:39-40). They confirm the truth of the testimony of the apostles in the New Testament about the Savior and declare that Jesus is the Son of the Eternal Father and the Lamb of God. We must all come unto Him—and not unto the riches of the world—if we want to be saved. And so the protection that we and our families need against the enticements of the adversary in the last days is the scriptures and their testimony of the Lamb of God. As Mormon declared, “Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven” (Helaman 3:29-30). The scriptures are our best defense against the cunning and snares and wiles of the devil.