Study it Out

Come, Follow Me 2024: January 22-28; 1 Nephi 11-15

One of the greatest experiences I’ve had studying the scriptures was while reading 1 Nephi 13. It happened a long time ago, but it is an event in my life that Elder Quentin L. Cook would call a “foundation of faith.”¹

I learned a great lesson, but what I learned was not as important as how I learned it. In that moment, I learned for myself what the Savior said when he told us to not just ask, but to also “study it out.”²

The last shall be first

This experience happened in the fall of 1992. I was 18, recently graduated from high school, and was attending my first semester at BYU.

Throughout my younger years, I didn’t have much interest in the church. I came from a family of pioneers, on both my mom’s side and my dad’s, and so “church” was just what we did. But I didn’t really think about what we did, or why we did it. I was more like the Zoramites, who after their church services, “returned to their homes, never speaking of their God again until they had assembled themselves together again to the holy stand.”³ It could be said that I was living the culture of the church, but just going through the motions without really thinking about why.

Throughout my youth, my family often read scriptures together in the evenings, but I never made the effort to read on my own. I attended seminary during high school, but even in that, I just went without putting in much effort, because seminary didn’t impact my high school GPA.

In September 1992, I started college at BYU, where religion classes were required and counted toward a student’s GPA. During that first semester, I took a Book of Mormon class from Clyde J. Williams. As part of the class, he required that we keep a study journal.

Early in the semester, as I was doing my homework one evening, I read in 1 Nephi 13, and verse 42 caught my attention:

“And the time cometh that he shall manifest himself unto all nations, both unto the Jews and also unto the Gentiles; and after he has manifested himself unto the Jews and also unto the Gentiles, then he shall manifest himself unto the Gentiles and also unto the Jews, and the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.”⁴

As I read that, the phrase “the last shall be first, and the first shall be last” caught my attention. So I wrote in my study journal something like, “those who are last on earth will be first in heaven, and those who are first on earth will be last in heaven.”

Like so much of my studies in high school, and my attitude toward “church,” I didn’t really think about it, I just wrote something down to fulfill my assignment so I could get a good grade, and then I moved on. I had other homework I needed to finish, and I just wanted to be done.

A stupor of thought

As I continued with my reading in 1 Nephi 14, those words kept running through my mind: “the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.” What I had written in my study journal didn’t seem right. It just felt . . . off. It was like when you’re putting a puzzle together, and a certain piece seems like it should fit, but it doesn’t. I fought that feeling because I just wanted to finish my homework, but those words kept running through my mind. I couldn’t focus on chapter 14. I kept having to go back and re-read the chapter because all I could think was “the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.”

So, I decided that the only way to finish my assignment was to get those words out of my head, and the only way to do that was to take another look at those verses.

Study it out

I re-read verse 42. I focused on the context of the verse, reading not just those words that were filling my mind, but the whole verse. I also went back several verses to get the context of more than just verse 42.

1 Nephi 13 is part of Nephi’s vision. It is a grand scene, in which he discusses hundreds of years of history. He sees the “nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles,” (13:3), and that “many waters” divided the Gentiles “from the seed of [Nephi’s] brethren.” (13:10). Nephi then sees “a man among the Gentiles,” and that the “Spirit of God . . . wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon th emany waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.” (13:12).

This “man among the Gentiles” is Columbus. He left Europe, or the “nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles,” to travel to the Americas where he encountered the Native Americans, who were the descendants of Lehi. Then Nephi sees that the “seed of [his] brethren [were] scattered before the Gentiles and were smitten.” (13:14). This refers to the horrible way the early European settlers treated the Native Americans.

Then Nephi sees that the “mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against” the Gentiles. This reference is the Revolutionary War, and Nephi sees that “God was with” the Gentiles, and they were “delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.” (13:16-19). Nephi then sees a book, which was a “record of the Jews,” (13:23), which obviously was the Bible. Nephi is told that the Lord “will be merciful unto the Gentiles in that day, insomuch that I will bring forth unto them, in mine own power, much of my gospel, which shall be plain and precious, saith the Lamb.” (13:34). To accomplish that, Nephi sees other books, “which came forth by the power of the Lamb, from the Gentiles unto them.” (13:39).

This is the story of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Nephi’s vision, he sees the preparation for the gospel to come forth, which was the establishment of the United States of America, a land of religious freedom where the Lord’s Church could thrive. His reference to “other books” is significant, as it is the record that Nephi himself was creating.

So as I studied these verses, and pondered their meaning, I once again looked at verse 42, and it was like a light went off. All of a sudden, I understood that phrase that had been bothering me.

Verse 42 says “after he has manifested himself unto the Jews and also unto the Gentiles, then he shall manifest himself unto the Gentiles and also unto the Jews.” (13:42). In other words, in Nephi’s vision, he sees the establishment of the Lord’s Church among the Jews during the Savior’s mortal ministry. Then he sees the establishment of the Lord’s Church among the Gentiles.

When the Savior preached his gospel among the Jews, he did not preach to the Gentiles. Instead, after his ascension into heaven, his disciples took his gospel to the Gentiles. These stories are told in the book of Acts and the writings of the apostle Paul. But then in the latter days, the gospel would be established first among the Gentiles, who would then take it to the Jews. In other words, in the latter days the “last,” or the Gentiles, will be the first to receive the gospel, and the “first,” or the Jews, will be the last to receive the gospel. “The last shall be first, and the first shall be last.” That meaning was pretty different from what I originally thought it meant, but it made a lot more sense based on the context in which it was discussed.

Class the next day

I wrote that thought in my study journal. Surprisingly, it hadn’t taken too long to gain that understanding. But I felt lighter. I no longer felt like there was a puzzle piece that hadn’t fit. To the contrary, it was a thought that came to my mind in a flash of insight, and it felt right. That feeling of “rightness,” compared with the feeling of “wrongness,” made me think that I had probably learned that by revelation. It was the first time I remember learning something by the influence of the Holy Ghost. But again, I didn’t think much of it at the time, I just moved on so I could finish my homework.

The next day in class, our professor talked about this specific verse. He asked the class what they thought it meant, and those who commented said the same thing that I had originally written in my study journal. The professor talked about the “big picture” story of 1 Nephi 11-13, and the restoration of the gospel, and he gave the same interpretation that I had learned in my study session. That was amazing to me. I realized that I had gained understanding of a verse before it was explained by the professor. I realized that I had learned by the Holy Ghost, and if the Holy Ghost could be my teacher, I could learn and understand anything. I felt like Nephi when he said, “I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost.”⁵

What did I learn?

In this experience, I learned what these verses meant. I learned more about Nephi’s vision, and that he prophesied about the restoration of the gospel in the latter days.

I learned that I could understand scriptures by studying their context. Too often I would take words and just focus on only those words, but I learned by looking at the context, including the full meaning of the verse and the chapter, I could gain greater understanding. I have come to think of this as the “story” of the scriptures. As I look at the story, or the big picture, I find significant meaning.

But most importantly, I learned that I could gain knowledge by revelation. The Savior said that the Holy Ghost would “teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance.”⁶ I learned for myself what that felt like.

I learned that in order to gain revelation, in order to receive knowledge by the Holy Ghost, I had to follow the pattern set by the Lord:

“Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.

“But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

“But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me.”⁷

In that experience, I learned what it means to study it out. I learned what it means to have a stupor of thought, and I learned what that “burning” felt like. By gaining that knowledge through my own experience, I was able to learn for myself, rather than just having someone else tell me about it. And that personal experience has made all the difference for me as I continue to study the scriptures.

How have I used what I learned?

That experience is a foundation of my faith. I learned that the Holy Ghost is real and that through the Holy Ghost we can gain knowledge, but that it takes study and effort. I learned that scripture study is about so much more than just reading and just learning stories. As we study the scriptures under the influence of the Holy Ghost, we can not only learn true doctrine, but we can have experiences with the Spirit that will teach us so much more than just what we are reading. Essentially, scripture study can be a training ground to learn how to receive revelation.

Nephi taught that we should “feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”⁸ Ultimately, the scriptures are just words in a book. Only when we seek to learn by the power of the Holy Ghost can we truly feast upon the words of Christ. And doing that, we can learn what the Lord wants us to do.

Focus on the process

As we study the Book of Mormon this year, we can do so much more than just learn the words from a book. The process matters. The way we study matters. There are many scriptures that show us the process.

Nephi explains how he sought to understand what his father had seen: “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.”⁹

President Joseph F. Smith tells us what led to his vision of the spirit world: “On the third of October, in the year nineteen hundred and eighteen, I sat in my room pondering over the scriptures; And reflecting upon the great atoning sacrifice that was made by the Son of God, for the redemption of the world; . . . While I was thus engaged, my mind reverted to the writings of the apostle Peter . . . I opened the Bible and read the third and fourth chapters of the first epistle of Peter, and as I read I was greatly impressed, more than I had ever been before, . . . As I pondered over these things which are written, the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great.”¹⁰

Perhaps the most famous example is in Moroni: “I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”¹¹

We can gain great knowledge, but it is challenging work. We must have a great desire, believe we can gain knowledge, seriously study, ponder, and pray. The Holy Ghost will reveal to us great things, allowing us to feast upon the words of Christ, but only if we put in the effort.

References

1. Elder Quentin L. Cook, “Foundations of Faith,” Ensign, May 2017, 127, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2017/05/sunday-afternoon-session/foundations-of-faith?lang=eng&id=title1#title1. ↩︎
2. Doctrine and Covenants 9:8. ↩︎
3. Alma 31:23. ↩︎
4. 1 Nephi 13:42. ↩︎
5. 1 Nephi 10:17. ↩︎
6. John 14:26. ↩︎
7. Doctrine and Covenants 9:7-9. ↩︎
8. 2 Nephi 32:3. ↩︎
9. 1 Nephi 11:1. ↩︎
10. Doctrine and Covenants 138:1-11. ↩︎
11. Moroni 10:3-5. ↩︎