Wednesday, February 24, 2016

1 Nephi 11:13

13  And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities.  And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of aNazareth I beheld a bvirgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.
            -remember that the content of the current vision is to answer Nephi’s request:  to know the interpretation of his father’s “tree of life” vision.  Interestingly, the opening scene of Nephi’s vision is to see Mary, the mother of Jesus.  This, so far as we have record, was an element entirely absent in Lehi’s vision.  Already, Nephi is experiencing additional light and truth beyond the scope of what his father saw.  We are entitled to a similar expansion of knowledge.  How often have we left a class, a general conference, an interview or a session of scripture study and taken time to ponder and pray about what we have just learned, mulling over the principles and measuring them against our current understanding?  We will not likely have a vision that includes a panoramic view of the Savior’s birth because this is truth that is already possessed in scripture, in several video productions and other formats  -in a sense what was novel and illustrative to Nephi is well known to us.  But there are other, truths pertaining to our personal situation, which we are entitled to just as Nephi was to this vision.  We should, however, always remember a principle of revelation:  God will not reveal by miraculous means that which he has already given –and often by much repetition- through the scriptures, modern prophets or by previous personal experience with the Holy Ghost.  We will find that many of the things we wish to know have already been revealed.  The question is not so much with knowing a thing as with accepting and doing it.

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