Book of Mormon (Plain English Version)/2 Nephi/Chapter 2
Lehi speaks to his youngest sons...
(compare 2 Nephi, chapter 2)
Now I speak to you, Jacob, my first-born in the wilderness. You've suffered in your childhood because of your brothers' rudeness, yet you know the goodness of God, who will compensate you for your afflictions. Your soul will be blessed, and you'll live safely with your brother, Nephi, for your days will be spent in the service of your God.
I know you are redeemed because of the righteousness of your Redeemer, for you have seen that in the fullness of time, He will come to offer salvation to all.
Jacob, you're like the children of a future day, to whom the Lord will appear, for you've seen His glory in your youth.
The Spirit is the same yesterday, today and forever, and since the fall of Adam and Eve, the way has been prepared for the free salvation of all their descendants.
Men and women have been taught to know good from evil. They are given the law, but it cannot justify them. Breaking the law cuts them off from what's good in this life and in the afterlife, bringing eternal misery.
Redemption comes only through the Holy Messiah, for He is full of grace and truth. He will offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin to satisfy the law on behalf of those with a broken heart -- those who are truly sorry. This sacrifice answers the demands of the law for them.
It is so important to make known to the inhabitants of the earth that they can only live with God through the merits, mercy and grace of the Holy Messiah, who will lay down His life in the flesh and take it up again by the power of the Spirit, bringing to pass the resurrection of the dead, He being the first to rise.
This makes Him the firstfruits to God the Father. He will stand between us and the Father, and all who believe in Him will be saved.
Because He will stand between us and the Father, all will come and stand before Him to be judged according to the truth and holiness in Him.
- The result of the Law that the Holy One has given is for the wicked to receive His punishment.
- And the result of the Atonement that the Holy One will make is for the righteous to receive His happiness.
Thus, by way of the Law and Atonement, everything has its opposite.
If not so, goodness and joy would not be separate from evil and misery. If not so, all things would be combined.......no life separate from death, no mortality separate from immortality.
There would be no meaning in such a state, for it would destroy God's wisdom, eternal purposes, power, mercy and justice.
- For with no law, there's no sin.
- And with no sin, no righteousness, nor a reward for the righteous or misery for the sinful. And if none of these things exist, then there's no God. And if no God, then earth and everything on it, including us, would not exist, for there would have been no creation, wherein things act and are acted upon. Instead, there would be nothing.
My sons, I tell you these things for your profit and learning, for there is a God! He has created all things in heaven and earth...
..all things that act and are acted upon.
Note: Things that act are intelligences, and things that are acted upon are raw materials of the universe. Our spirit (created from raw Intelligence) and our body (created from raw matter) together constitute our very soul. "For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy." (D&C 93:33).
To bring about His eternal purposes for men and women, after He created all things, there had to be opposition. This is why the forbidden fruit was created opposite the tree of life...one sweet, the other bitter.
By this opposition, God gave Adam and Eve the chance to act for themselves...something they could not do without this choice.
And I believe, according to what I have read, that one of God's angels fell from heaven and became a devil, having desired evil before God. After he fell, he wanted everyone to become just as miserable as himself.
That old serpent, the devil, the father of lies, told Eve that if she ate of the forbidden fruit she would not die, but would become like God, knowing good and evil.
After Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they were sent out of the Garden of Eden to till the earth and grow food.
After leaving the Garden, they had children. Their descendants’ lives were lengthened to give them time to repent, and God commanded each generation to repent, showing them how they were lost because of their first parents' transgression.
If Adam and Eve had not transgressed, they would not have been sent into a fallen world. They would have forever remained in the same condition in which they had been created.
They would not have had children, but would have been as children, remaining in a state of innocence, for they could feel no joy or misery without knowledge of good and evil.
But all things were done according to God's wisdom.
Adam chose to fall from his state of innocence in order to have children with Eve.
And even in this fallen world, their children are meant to have joy.
For the Messiah will come in the fullness of time to redeem all of Adam and Eve's children from the fall. Being redeemed from the fall, we are free forever....free to act for ourselves.
We will only be acted upon at the great and last day, when we will suffer for the sins of which we did not repent.
In this life we are free to choose captivity and spiritual death according to the power of the devil, and join him in his misery.
Or we may choose freedom and eternal life through Christ, the Great Mediator for all who will repent.
Now my sons, I hope you will always look to Christ, obey His great commandments, and be faithful to His words, choosing eternal life according to the prompting of His Holy Spirit.
I hope you will not choose eternal death, according to the evil desires of the flesh, which desires give the devil's spirit power to bring you down to his kingdom to reign over you.
These are my last words to you, my sons. I have chosen the good part according to the words of the prophet, and my only desire is the everlasting welfare of your souls. Amen.