1 Nephi 1: Prophets and Scripture

It is interesting that the Book of Mormon starts out with a discussion of the role of prophets and scriptures because these two topics are central to the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and are a big part of what makes it a unique church.

The Mission of Prophets:

The mission of prophets, as described in the first chapter of 1 Nephi, is to gain revelation, prophesy of those revelations to the people for whom they have stewardship, and, specifically, to preach repentance. (vs. 4, 18)

Latter-day Saints believe in continuing revelation. That is, we believe that God speaks to man today just as he spoke to man in ages past. Many other churches believe that revelation has ceased. But if you believe that one of the main purposes of prophets was to preach repentance, you can understand why we still need prophets today. Everyone has a need to repent. We're not any more perfect than early man was, and therefore, we still need people to tell us to repent.

Also, prophets receive other revelation. We (Latter-day Saints) believe in personal revelation, that God can give us direction in our personal lives. But we also believe in a larger organization, a church. To keep order in the church, we (and God) need someone who is designated as the person to receive revelation for the entire church. This is another important function of prophets today.

It is interesting to note that in Nephi's time, at least in Jerusalem, there seem to have been multiple prophets. I don't know if this means the prophets were consecutive, or, not really preaching at the same time, or if they were there at the same time. If they were there at the same time, it could have been something like the organization of the modern church. The quorum of the twelve apostles and the first presidency are all sustained as prophets, seers, and revelators. So, it is possible to have more than one prophet at a time. Only one can preside though.

Also, with the technology revolution, it's possible for the words of one man to reach the entire world. In the ancient world, this wasn't really a possibility. There were definitely prophets prophesying to different groups, e.g. Nephi in the Americas and Isaiah in the Holy Land.

The Rejection of Prophets:

The rejection of prophets is a lot easier to explain. Prophets don't always have really feel-good things to say. Now, they do say the best things in the end, that Jesus Christ redeemed us, and that we have reason to hope for eternal life with the ones we love. But they also tell us other truths (like the need to repent that we talked about earlier). Is it any wonder then that prophets have been rejected since the beginning?

We are lucky to live in a day and in a place where, although the prophets are rejected by many, they are not persecuted and killed like they have been anciently. It's not easy to be a prophet even today, I'm sure, but it might be a little bit of a relief to know that they probably won't have to die for their beliefs and the things they say. For Lehi, death was a distinct possibility.

On the other hand, the Lord looks out for his prophets today, just as he looked out for his prophets in the past, and whether or not they died in the end, he was aware of them.

The Writing of Scriptures:

In many ways, the writing of scriptures ties into revelation much as prophets do. The words of prophets, when they are inspired by the Holy Ghost (known sometimes as the Holy Spirit), are considered scripture. The Lord can also, inspire someone to keep records of things that will be important to future generations.

In Christianity, there is the metaphor of the Word of God become flesh in Christ. In Islam, their is the idea of the Word of God become book in the Qur'an. In Islam, then, the idea is that scripture as found in the Qur'an is perfection. In Christianity, on the other hand, Christ is perfection, and the word of scripture, while it is the word of God, is the word of God as it is, in many cases, translated or filtered by prophets.

Now that doesn't make it any less important. It just shows how God uses man to accomplish his purposes.

And in the end that's why God has prophets, men he trusts to do his will. We can be profoundly blessed by the power of God as it reaches us through the words of prophets, ancient prophets in the scriptures, and modern prophets still alive today.