The story continues as Lehi indeed informs Nephi that, in a dream, the Lord had commanded Nephi and his brothers to return from their base camp in the wilderness and go to Jerusalem to obtain the plates of brass (1 Nephi 3:2–3). Lehi specifically directs Nephi to go to the house of Laban (3:4), implying that he and his sons were familiar with Laban and his house, making the task seem at least feasible. Of course, Lehi could not go back himself. He was a wanted man and would have been apprehended and probably executed immediately.
Hearing the word of the Lord, Nephi responds to his father without hesitation and with a solemn promise: "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them" (3:7). Nephi’s unwavering confidence that the Lord would make a way for this to happen clearly sets the stage for the events that then will unfold. Nephi’s oath certifies that, come what may, the hand of the Lord would control the crucial steps in accomplishing this "mission: impossible" assigned by God.