2 Nephi 31:1 - 31:5
2 Nephi 31:1 And now I, Nephi, make an end of my prophesying unto you, my beloved brethren. And I cannot write but a few things, which I know must surely come to pass; neither can I write but a few of the words of my brother Jacob.
Nephi ends his foretelling of the future of the earth and of the house of Israel. He has only so much room on the plates to write. However, he wants to include some of the preachings and words of his younger brother Jacob.
2 Nephi 31:2 Wherefore, the things which I have written sufficeth me, save it be a few words which I must speak concerning the doctrine of Christ; wherefore, I shall speak unto you plainly, according to the plainness of my prophesying.
Nephi tells us that what he has written is enough to accomplish his purposes. He wants to emphasize the doctrines concerning the mission of Jesus Christ. He will try to be as clear as possible concerning what Christ will do for mankind and how we can take advantage of His saving efforts on our behave.
2 Nephi 31:3 For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding.
Nephi likes plain speech. He wants to make sure that there are no misunderstandings in men’s minds as to what the Lord wants us to know. It is in plainness that the Lord speaks to men and using a vocabulary they familiar with and which they are used too. The Lord does not use language or metaphors or symbols that men have no idea what they represent to convey His message. (So how do we justify the images that John or Isaiah use in the scriptures? We don't know what a lot of the creatures and symbols mean in their writings. Well the people at the time they wrote their prophecies knew what these things referred too. We don't it seems, so we have to now look to modern prophets as well as the other scriptures to know of their meaning. Thank goodness for the Book of Mormon and the D&C to help with these scriptures.)
2 Nephi 31:4 Wherefore, I would that ye should remember that I have spoken unto you concerning that prophet which the Lord showed unto me, that should baptize the Lamb of God, which should take away the sins of the world.
In this light, Nephi reminds the reader of the prophet he spoke of previously, that is, John the Baptist who will baptize the Messiah which Nephi has seen in vision. Once more that baptism would be the mechanism by which men can help rid themselves of their sins.
2 Nephi 31:5 And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!
Nephi reminds us that if the Messiah has need to be baptized and He being without sin and to comply with the requirements to enter heaven, then we cannot say that we don’t need to do the same. Baptism is a requirement to enter heaven, period. And if you consider we are not as holy as the Messiah we would have need baptism even more than He.
