Nephi’s discussion of the sets of plates and their different purposes led him to talk about value systems, which then led to his prophetic testimony of Christ. Some people esteem the sacred things as of great worth, whereas others set them “at naught.” Some even trample the sacred things under their feet, as it were, and go so far as to trample God himself under their feet (a shocking image, to be sure). Twice in verse 7, Nephi mentioned setting God “at naught,” the same God who would condescend to become mortal “six hundred years from the time [Lehi] left Jerusalem.”
Verse 9 describes the sinful world judging God, the Savior, as “a thing of naught.” Other passages of the Book of Mormon define this concept: that which is just and good is considered “of no worth” (2 Nephi 28:16); the words of God are esteemed “as things of naught” (2 Nephi 33:2); the commandments of God are “set at naught” (Helaman 4:21); the counsels of God are “set at naught” (Helaman 12:6); and the atonement of God is set “at naught” (Moroni 8:20). In these contexts God and his eternal principles are ignored, disregarded, avoided, rejected, disobeyed, and reviled against. “Set at naught” means they are considered worthless, regarded as unimportant.
Imagine men, in their nothingness (see Mosiah 4:5, 11; Helaman 12:7; Moses 1:10), deeming God, in his greatness and power, as worthless and unimportant. Nephi described the Savior’s magnanimous response to this insulting ignorance of men: “They scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men” (1 Nephi 19:9). It will be remembered that this earth, upon which Jesus lived, is one of the most wicked of all those created (Moses 7:36), and the Savior’s own people, especially their leaders, were the only group who would crucify their God (2 Nephi 10:3). What a glorious Being we revere, who is willing to suffer the offensive abuse of men and still extend his loving kindness and forgiveness! “O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown,” a powerful Latter-day Saint hymn, declares:
No creature is so lowly,
No sinner so depraved,
But feels thy presence holy,
And through thy love is saved.
Tho craven friends betray thee,
They feel thy love’s embrace;
The very foes who slay thee
Have access to thy grace.48
That truly is amazing grace.