Jacob 1 - That We Might Persuade Them to Come Unto Christ I'm taking an online economics class right now, which prompted me to think of the definition of economics in the context of the scriptures. Economics is the study of the allocation of scarce resources. In the case of Nephi and his successor Jacob, the plates upon which they engraved their record was a scarce resource. They were costly to make and difficult to engrave, and instilling a tradition of passing them through generations was surely cumbersome. Recognizing the great importance of spiritual things and the challenge of maintaining records, Nephi instructed Jacob to prioritize religious instruction saying, " if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates, and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of our people" (Jacob 1:4). This priority was not only reflecte...
Through dramatic and miraculous prophesy, Nephi solves the murder of the chief judge, and established his credibility as a prophet. After Nephi predicted the murder of the chief judge, five men ran to the judgement seat to investigate saying, "Behold, now we will know of a surety whether this man be a prophet and God hath commanded him to prophesy such marvelous things unto us. Behold, we do not believe that he hath; yea, we do not believe that he is a prophet; nevertheless, if this thing which he has said concerning the chief judge be true, that he be dead, then will we believe that the other words which he has spoken are true" (Helaman 9:2).
One interesting aspect of this story that stands out to me is Nephi's use of signs to persuade disbelieving Nephites. Searching under gospel topics on the church website, there is a section specifically focused on signs. It reinforced some of the assumptions I had that signs follow faith, and "faith does not come by signs." Jesus taught, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign” (Matthew 12:39). And yet signs have been used throughout the history to demonstrate God's power, announce significant events, or bear witness of an important truth. Jesus taught His disciples, “Signs shall follow them that believe” (Mark 16:17; see also Mormon 9:24–25).
So when and why does God choose to use signs? As Bren and I talked with some friends from the Philippines the other night about their elderly family members who are directly in the path of Typhoon Mangkhut it was another reminder of circumstances in which God is not likely to intervene. Similarly, commemorating the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks reminds me of the wonderful, decent, God-fearing people who certainly pled with God for their loved ones to be spared to no avail. Only when viewed through the lens of God's love, and a testimony that the atonement of His Son covers the suffering of the human race, can the purpose of otherwise senseless tragedies begin to come into focus.
Only God knows the condition of our collective and individual hearts, and through His omniscience can anticipate when demonstrating His power through signs might brings souls closer to Him (and when there is more to be gained by letting us struggle, or when a sign would condemn instead of uplift His people). The Nephites did not request a sign. Nephi proactively displayed this spiritual gift, presumably by inspiration, and as a result "there were some of the Nephites who believed on the words of Nephi; and there were some also, who believed because of the testimony of the five, for they had been converted while they were in prison. And now there were some among the people, who said that Nephi was a prophet. And there were others who said: Behold, he is a god, for except he was a god he could not know of all things" (Helaman 9:39-41).
Application Questions
When has God shown you signs? When has He not intervened? How have both situations affected you (for better or worse)? Can you see any patterns or make meaning of those experiences?
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