"Surely the Lord God will do nothing," said Amos, "but He revealeth His secrets unto His servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7) It was ever thus. The great Ruler of the Universe has so decreed, and from the beginning He has, for the benefit and betterment of His children, taught them His Ways that they, in a higher and greater degree, might understand His Salvation. Through His servants, the prophets, the Lord has revealed to them His holy Mind and Will that they may not stumble in darkness over every unseen obstacle placed in their way, but walk uprightly before Him.
By His power, God revealed unto Adam, the venerable ancestor of the human family, the things he should do, and what he should not do; in doing, or not doing them, Adam would be pleasing in the sight of the Lord. The same is true of us.
Moses, Israel's great leader in its Exodus from Egypt, was caught up into a high mountain, and in vision saw, "God face-to-face, and he talked with Him...And God spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is My Name; for I am without beginning of days or end of years; and is not this endless? And, behold, thou art My son; wherefore look, and I will show thee the workmanship of Mine hands; but not all, for My works are without end, and also My words, for they never cease....And now, behold, this one thing I show unto thee, Moses, My son; for thou art in the world, and now I show it unto thee. And it came to pass that Moses looked, and beheld the world upon which he was created; and Moses beheld the world and the ends thereof, and all the children of men which are, and which were created; of the same he greatly marvelled and wondered." (Pearl of Great Price, Moses 1:2-8)
Moses, continuing in that vision, saw father Adam, and that in his day, "Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the Earth....And Adam and Eve blessed the Name of God, and they made known all things unto their sons and daughters." (Ibid., 5:10-12)
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, by that same power, was shown the world and its inhabitants that were to come for many generations. Moses, in his writings as they were revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith in December 1830, said, quoting Enoch: "And it came to pass that I turned and went up on the mount; and as I stood upon the mount, I beheld the Heavens open, and I was clothed upon with glow.
And I saw the Lord; and He stood before my face, and He talked with me, even as a man talketh one with another, face-to-face; and He said unto me: "Look, and I will show unto thee the world for the space of many generations." (Ibid., 7:3-4)
"And the Lord showed Enoch all things, even unto the end of the world; and he saw the day of righteousness, the hour of their redemption; and received a fulness of joy." (Ibid., 7:67)
The Brother of Jared, one of the leaders of that wonderful people, the Jaredites, whom the Lord said should become the greatest nation of the Earth, was shown all the inhabitants of this planet, both those who had been and those who were to be. The great Giver of that vision, Who was the Lord, told Mahonri Moriancumr, for that was the name of the Brother of Jared, to write down the things he had both seen and heard and seal them up; and said the Lord: "I will show them in Mine Own due time unto the children of men." (Ether 3:25-27) The Gospel, in its purity, has been revealed to God's children in every age.
Let us now turn to the history of the Nephites who were a people blessed beyond measure in Heavenly Gifts. Their story is one marked everywhere with the proofs of Providential care. Revelations from Heaven were their constant guide; angels from the Courts of Glory ministered to them; the Savior Himself, personally and with His Own mouth, taught them the principles of Life and Salvation. Mormon, the abridger of their record, says of them that during the period of their national life when they all listened to what God revealed to them through His servants, "Surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God," because, he noted in the preceding verse, "of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people." (IV Nephi 15-16).
Nephi, the son of the Prophet Lehi, because of his righteousness, had revealed to him of the Lord, His wonderful ways, and the beauties of Christ's Gospel. These marvelous things Nephi recorded in the Record he was making upon metal plates the Lord had commanded him to make. This record became the first of the Nephite Scriptures, and the revelations of God which were therein guided and admonished them even as long as righteousness prevailed among them. Not only that, but to us, the Saints of these latter days, they are as a light unto our feet which cannot be darkened, and a voice as of one from the dead, not saying, but shouting praises to the Holy One of Israel. (See, II Nephi 31:13)
"Behold," said Jacob, Nephi's brother, "great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of Him; and it is impossible that man should find out all His ways. And no man knoweth of His ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God. For behold, by the power of His word man came upon the face of the Earth, which Earth was created by the power of His word....Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from His hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that He counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all His works." (Jacob 4:8-10)
The words of revelation among the Nephites were many, and the exhortations of their leaders were fearless and mighty. "Behold, will ye reject these words?" asked Jacob, of whom we have just referred. "Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning Him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great Plan of Redemption, which hath been laid for you? Know ye not that if ye will do these things, that the power of the Redemption and the Resurrection, which is in Christ, will bring you to stand with shame and awful guilt before the Bar of God?" (Ibid., 6:8-9)
In speaking of the revelations of God, Nephi declared in a few words the thing of which we have been writing: "And He surely did show unto the prophets of old all things concerning them...." (Mormon 9:27)
The words, deny and despise, as used in the Book of Mormon are not synonymous, but to us they connote the same thing, reject. To reject the commandments of the Lord, would be adding the burdens of blameworthiness upon our shoulders. Blame because of guilt, therefore we are made recipients of blame because of our enlightenment, or in spite of it; and in it we choose not to acknowledge the truth of God's Holy Words.
"But, behold, ye not only deny my words, but ye also deny all the words which have been spoken by our fathers, and also the words which were spoken by this man, Moses, who had such great power given unto him, yea, the words which he hath spoken concerning the coming of the Messiah." (Nephi, the son of Helaman, Helaman 8:13)
"I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. Behold, I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the Gospel of Christ...." (Mormon 9:7-8)
We are told in many places of Scripture that the Lord knows the end from the beginning, therefore, we say, "He can command and it is done!" The Earth is not a great laboratory in which the Creator experiments. Life is not empirical, neither is it fortuitous. Things are not by chance. The Bible or the Book of Mormon does not even recognize the word. By chance or by accident, things do not so occur to the writers thereof. What we sometimes call accidents are really not so. As we have said: "The accidents of man are the inspirations of God, and the incidents of this life, are the teachings and the guidings of Him Who made it."
"And again, I exhort you, my brethren, that ye deny not the gifts of God, for they are many; and they come from the same God. And there are different ways that these gifts are administered; but it is the same God Who worketh all in all; and they are given by the manifestations of the Spirit of God unto men, to profit them." (Moroni 10:8)
"For behold, I am the Father, I am the Light, and the Life, and the Truth of the world." Therefore Jesus Christ says: "Come unto Me, O ye Gentiles, and I will show unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid up because of unbelief." (Ether 4:12-13)
Yea, wo unto him that shall deny the revelations of the Lord, and that shall say the Lord no longer worketh by revelation, or by prophecy, or by gifts, or by tongues, or by healings, or by the power of the Holy Ghost!" (v. 6)