1 Nephi 10:20 - 11::2

1 Nephi 10:20 Therefore remember, O man, for all thy doings thou shalt be brought into judgment.

Because of these uniformity of purpose and the constancy of the program, man will be judged by it. Since it never changes, all generations will be judged by its standards and no one can say that one person was judge by one standard and another person by another standard. No excuses can be made to call the judgments of God not fair or just.

1 Nephi 10:21 Wherefore, if ye have sought to do wickedly in the days of your probation, then ye are found unclean before the judgment-seat of God; and no unclean thing can dwell with God; wherefore, ye must be cast off forever.

As a result of this uniformity of judging, if a person is found unclean, they will have no excuse for their actions. They will show their true sentiments of character and will be put out of the presence of those whose true desires are for their fellow man and for God.

1 Nephi 10:22 And the Holy Ghost giveth authority that I should speak these things, and deny them not.

Nephi fells very strongly about this. He has seen the actions of his wicked brothers, the wars between his people and the Lamanites and wants us to know what a waste of time and effort they are. He can also speak with the authority of the Holy Ghost which is telling him not to hold back on this.

1 Nephi 11:1 For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain, which I never had before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot.

Now Nephi is not content with the telling of the visions his father has had. He wants to see them for himself. His desire made me question just how much I want to know for myself the things written in this Book of Mormon. He was not content with the Holy Ghost merely bearing witness of the truthfulness of his father’s words. I sure it was not to overcome his disbelief, it is just that Nephi wanted to have the same experience of seeing visions too.

He starts the process by sitting down to think about them. I suspect that he went some distance from the camp. Maybe to the place where he had previously talk to the Lord and gotten his confirmation of what his father had told the family about the destruction of Jerusalem mentioned in 1 Ne 2:16.

Nephi is pondering in his heart which is the first step in getting a revelation. This is how revelation is received. Thinking intensely about something with a great desire to know for oneself. But even more important, having faith that he could receive such enlightenment. How many of us think that we could really have such an experience for ourselves? Do we really believe it is possible for us to have revelation given us as the read and study the scriptures. I give testimony that it is not only possible but a real necessity in these times of great temptation and trial.

Anyway Nephi is taken to a high mountain to receive the information he desires. This additional enlightenment will be important to him personally as he not only gives another witness of what Lehi saw, but that it will help him get through the trials that yet await him. Mountain tops are substitute for Temples. So some type of Temple experience is about to happen to him.

Nephi mentions that this is a mountain he has never seen or set foot on. Wonder if this means that he has climbed mountains in the past and has been on many of them in his life. Have wondered if this is the same mountain that he prayed on at Bountiful when he received instructions on how to build the ship for the crossing as spoken in 1 Ne 17:8 which he refers to as ‘the mountain.’

And it is the Spirit that takes him there. Wonder by what means Nephi could be taken from the spot where he is pondering to a high mountain where he is shown visions? A good idea how angels can move from place to place that are many miles apart in an instant. Something we will be able to do the future and probably what we could do before we were mortal.

1 Nephi 11:2 And the Spirit said unto me: Behold, what desirest thou?

Now begins the teaching technique that is so powerful. The angel asked Nephi what he wants to know. I’m sure the Spirit already knew that, but wanted Nephi to voice it. Why? One is only ready to receive information when he can asked for it. One does not asked for information he does not know exists. It you know it exists, then you are ready to be instructed. More often than not it is something that we have heard of that causes us want to know more about it. That is the reason for missionaries going about preaching. I think that what we hear about and what we want to know about is what we can remember from the pre-existence.

In every verse there are mysteries. Or in other words there are doctrines and concepts within each verse that are not apparent at first glance. How does one get at them? Nephi tells us in 1 Ne 10:19 that “he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost,”

How does this work or what is the method one uses to get to the mysteries? One way that I have thought of is by asking questions. Then the answer to your first will always lead to a second question and so on. The second question was not known or conceived of until the first question had either been asked or answered.

For example: in this verse (11:2) my first question was why did the angel ask Nephi what he wanted. I mean Nephi had been transported to the mountain at who knows how far a distance from the place where he had been ‘pondering’ and it must have been to answer Nephi’s questions, so the first question I had was why the question from the angel? Why not start showing him what he wanted to know?

Well the answer as I stated above is that the angel wanted Nephi to state the question. Why? Not that the angel couldn’t read his mind or didn’t know what Nephi wanted but that Nephi had to state it in words out of his mouth. Why? Often questions maybe only stirrings in the heart or vague desires which often go unanswered in the which you may not really care if they get answered. But being forced to voice them makes them a little more concrete and easier to contemplate on. So that was the first mystery that was discovered by me by asking the first question.

On the second question: why is so important to voice questions? First to see if there is a follow up question which was not seen until the first question was answered.

Here a second question based on the first answer could be why do questions have to be clearly stated by the questioner? Well it could be that it is a indication of what we know about in the first place upon which to build our knowledge. A first grade child can not be taught about calculus if he or she does not know how to add 2 + 2. But if a child can asked a question about how figure out how fast a ball is falling say three seconds after being dropped off a cliff, then you can show them how to figure that out with calculus. So that question is an indication of what they know and want to know. In order to go on to even higher mathematics, they need to be asking even more complicated questions. But getting back to the child who can only add 2 + 2, we have to then scale our answers to their level of knowledge.

Now going deeper into the mysteries about this verse: the angel wanted Nephi to show that he was ready to receive more knowledge. By asking the question, he showed the angel and himself that he was in a state of mind to receive more or that he was in a ‘humble’ state.