The Words of the Book Which Were Sealed

At the end of Nephi’s vision of the last days and end times, he stopped recording what he was seeing and was told that the apostle John would write the rest. The angel said to him, “But the things which thou shalt see hereafter thou shalt not write; for the Lord God hath ordained the apostle of the Lamb of God that he should write them. And also others who have been, to them hath he shown all things, and they have written them; and they are sealed up to come forth in their purity, according to the truth which is in the Lamb, in the own due time of the Lord, unto the house of Israel” (1 Nephi 14:25-26). Surely one of those “others” who would write them was the brother of Jared who received the greatest of all revelations. He saw the premortal Jehovah face to face and then the Lord “showed unto the brother of Jared all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth.” In conjunction with this vision, he was commanded, “And behold, when ye shall come unto me, ye shall write them and shall seal them up, that no one can interpret them; for ye shall write them in a language that they cannot be read…. Write these things and seal them up; and I will show them in mine own due time unto the children of men” (Ether 3:22, 25, 27). Moroni then summarized, “And 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.” Moroni was apparently privileged to read them, and he wrote a copy of the words of the brother of Jared upon the plates of the Book of Mormon: “Behold, I have written upon these plates the very things which the brother of Jared saw; and there never were greater things made manifest than those which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared. 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 4:1, 4-5). Moroni included this revelation from the brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon, and it became the “sealed portion” that was on the plates when Joseph Smith received them.

                Nephi also wrote about this sealed revelation towards the end of his writings. He said, “And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book, and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered. And behold the book shall be sealed; and in the book shall be a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof.” That is the same  revelation that the brother of Jared received, and Nephi was clear that Joseph Smith would not give us these sealed words: “But the book shall be delivered unto a man, and he shall deliver the words of the book, which are the words of those who have slumbered in the dust, and he shall deliver these words unto another; But the words which are sealed he shall not deliver, neither shall he deliver the book. For the book shall be sealed by the power of God, and the revelation which was sealed shall be kept in the book until the own due time of the Lord, that they may come forth; for behold, they reveal all things from the foundation of the world unto the end thereof.” In some future day, though, we will have the words of this revelation to the brother of Jared. Nephi continued, “And the day cometh that the words of the book which were sealed shall be read upon the house tops; and they shall be read by the power of Christ; and all things shall be revealed unto the children of men which ever have been among the children of men, and which ever will be even unto the end of the earth.” This will not come until we are ready, and when Joseph Smith was done translating what we have today as the Book of Mormon, he gave the plates back to Moroni: “Wherefore, when thou hast read the words which I have commanded thee, and obtained the witnesses which I have promised unto thee, then shalt thou seal up the book again, and hide it up unto me, that I may preserve the words which thou hast not read, until I shall see fit in mine own wisdom to reveal all things unto the children of men.” I presume that this day will be in the Millennium when the people are righteous enough to have those words read to all. It is interesting that the next verse is where the Lord defined Himself as a God of miracles: “For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith” (2 Nephi 27:6-7, 9-11, 22-23). Thus, one of His greatest miracles will be to give us the words of this the greatest of all books. But for now we must wait and work to live up to this invitation to prepare to receive those words: “They shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me.” Only after that has happened do we have His promise: “Then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are” (Ether 4:7).