The means of salvation for the righteous is the Atoning Messiah, the Holy One of Israel, the prophet of Moses’s prophecy. By invoking Moses, Nephi forestalls any objection from his brothers that Nephi is passing on only his own ideas. Nephi can identify the Messiah as Moses’s Holy One of Israel because of his tree of life vision, which furnished the theme for his entire ministry.
Reference:This text as written paraphrases Deuteronomy 18:18–19, but more closely resembles the paraphrase in Acts 3:22–23: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”
After Christ’s death Peter preached: “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people” (Acts 3:22–23).
Once again, the New Testament influences Joseph Smith’s language in translating this Book of Mormon translation of the brass plates.