Lastly, Mormon gives yet another statement of “the intent” for which the Book of Mormon was written. Through these plates, the remnant of his people will eventually “know concerning their fathers, and also the marvelous works which were wrought by the power of God.”
Recall the other two earlier statements of intent mentioned by Mormon in this book of Mormon: First, when Mormon was getting started with the records project, during the ten-year time of peace, he said the reason he was writing the Book of Mormon was so that people would know that they will stand in the future before the judgment bar of God (Mormon 3:17–22).
Second, he said that his purpose was to persuade them now, in the present, to believe in Christ more fully, and believe now that the covenant will be restored (Mormon 5:14–15).
Then here in his final statement in Mormon 7:9–10, he states his “purpose” in writing the Book of Mormon so that the Nephites will remember their past and their heritage, that they might
Indeed, knowing all three—the past, present, and future—was important to Mormon and Moroni. In the Title Page of the Book of Mormon, Moroni includes again this triad: that the remnant may know “what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers [past]; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord [now], that they are not cast off forever [future].”
Remembering who we are and what the Lord has done for us is indeed of crucial importance. In most reconversion efforts in the Book of Mormon, the missionaries often began by reminding the prospective learner to remember “the marvelous works which were wrought by the power of God.” People were exhorted to remember such things as the rescue of the Hebrews from Egypt, and the ultimately safe journey of Lehi and his family. President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) taught that the most important word in our religious dictionary is remember. “Because we have made covenants with God,” he said, “our greatest need is to remember” them.
Spencer W. Kimball, “Circles of Exaltation” (address to Church Educational System religious educators, June 28, 1968), 5.