Joseph Smith’s First Vision marks the beginning of the Restoration of the Gospel in this last dispensation. It is the foundation of our testimonies that the Father and the Son appeared in a pillar of fire to Joseph Smith. The Prophet Joseph described this vision in one of his accounts as being so bright that he thought all the trees in the forest would be consumed. A similar experience occurs at the beginning of the conversion of a whole Lamanite nation. This was their “First-Vision experience,” and it bears quoting and telling just as much as we relate the First Vision story in every missionary discussion today.
Two missionaries, Nephi and Lehi, were arrested after arriving in Lamanite territory and held in a Lamanite prison for many days. When the Lamanites came to kill them, they had a Shadrach-Meshach-and-Abendnego-type of experience. In Helaman 5:23, the two were “encircled about as if by fire” and the Lamanites were afraid to touch them. Verse 24 describes the scene in more detail—the two missionaries were encircled by a “pillar of fire.” There is mention of a pillar of fire in other scriptural accounts. For example, as the Lord led Israel out of Egypt through the wilderness, there was a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. The Old Testament makes it clear that the pillar of fire manifested the presence of the Lord. In the modern-day account of Joseph Smith’s First Vision, he relates, “I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head” (Joseph Smith—History 1:16). Two personages, God the Father and Jesus Christ, appeared in this pillar of light.
Nephi, and Lehi, were about to be killed. The pillar of light encircling the Lord’s high priest and brother was a manifestation of the divine presence surrounding them and providing protection. The Lamanites instinctively seemed to know not to touch the fire. They stood as if they were struck with amazement; they could not speak.