Prophets and Scriptures: God's guides to man since the beginning (3/18/2013)
(This article inspired by an October 1982 talk given by Boyd K. Packer, an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
Since the time of Adam to the present, the words of the Lord (Scriptures) have been given to man for our knowledge and benefit.
Since the beginning, prophets were chosen to receive revelation from the Lord and had the authority to speak in the name of the Lord.
The Lord has told us about His chosen servants and their roles in sharing divine revelation, in the Doctrine and Covenants, a book which is itself revelation through the Prophets who were chosen to set up the Church and Kingdom of God on earth in our time before Second Coming of Christ:
“What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”
(Doctrine and Covenants 1:38)
Put plainly, when then a Prophet of the Lord speaks by the power of the Holy Spirit, their words are in line with the will of God.
The Bible and Revelation
Many people view the Bible as one book, when in actuality the Bible is 66 individual books put together in one volume. The first five books were written by Moses. There are books written by Isaiah, Malachi and so forth.
We are the sons and daughters of God the Father. Jehovah, who came to earth as Jesus Christ is our Elder Brother and our Savior.
The Father sent us here to get a body and be tested in how we make choices between good and evil.
If we make the right choices here, that will tell the Father if we can be trusted and given more authority and responsibility in the eternities.
This is our final test. We have passed many other tests successfully up to this point in time.
He has given us prophets who have put their words into what we call the Scriptures to guide us in this life in making those choices, if we would take the time to read, pray, and ponder over them, so the Third Member of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost can testify of the Truth of what we read.
The Lord knew that misguided or even evil and corrupt men would change key passages in the transcription of the Bible because of either their evil designs or their lack of knowledge of the meaning of a word or verse, changing the meaning of the words, or just leaving some out entirely.
The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ
During the history of Israel as recoded in the Old Testament, ten of the Tribes of Israel were split off from the Tribe of Judah and Levi and were guided to other places.
In 600 B.C., a contemporary Prophet of Jeremiah, whose name was Lehi, a descendent of Joseph who was carried into Egypt, was telling the people of Jerusalem to repent. They tried to take his life. The Lord told him in a vision to take his family and only his necessities and leave Jerusalem and that he would be guide to another place.
He was told to take the record of Israel with him. He did. They built a ship and set off across the sea. After arriving in the Americas, his Prophet son, Nephi, began recording their journey and recorded them on Gold Plates so they would last.
A thousand years later, about 421 A.D., the last Prophet Moroni, buried the plates. These plates are an abridgment of the thousands of plates that were recorded over the years and hid away for a future time. This Prophet who abridged them was Mormon, the father of Moroni.
All of these prophets were chosen by the Lord, each to do a specific mission here on earth when it was their time. The Prophet Joseph Smith’s mission was to come in the last days and establish the foundation for the restoration of the Lord’s Church and the restoration of the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Moroni was also called to visit Joseph Smith and reveal the location of the records that he had buried in life. The record that Joseph Smith began to translate was named after Moroni's father Mormon, the one who abridged the records. This is the Book of Mormon.
Ezekiel prophesied the Bible and the Book of Mormon working together
The Prophet Ezekiel wrote about the scriptures that would come forth in the last days:
“Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, (The Bible) and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, (The Book of Mormon) and for all the house of Israel his companions:
And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.”
(Ezekiel 37: 16-19, parenthetical statements added)
This is what we have today, both records, the Bible and the Book of Mormon (another testament of Jesus Christ), bound together in one book, one in thy hand. The Prophesy of Ezekiel fulfilled.
