The book of Ether is a great teacher of how to receive revelation. The first principle it teaches is that a person must be worthy to receive revelation of the Lord. Why was the brother of Jared highly favored of the Lord (v. 34)? He kept the commandments. The Lord told his disciples in Jerusalem:
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. [John 14:15–17]
As a second witness to the promise given in the Gospel of John, we read in modern revelation: “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise” (D&C 82:10). Therefore, the Lord had compassion on Jared and their friends and their families (Ether 1:37). The brother of Jared’s request to be carried where the Lord wanted them to go was honored because the brother of Jared and his friends apparently kept the commandments (vv. 38–39). Notice that Jared did not ask to be led to a land choice above all the earth, but asked where the Lord wanted them to go. Jared seems to be representing all of his friends as he goes to his brother. He suggested that they might be led to a choice land, but recognizes that they must be faithful if they were to receive such a blessing (v. 38).
The Lord’s compassion on the brother of Jared (v. 40) was again shown as he instructed them on who and what to take with them (v. 41). Knowing their desires, he promised to lead them to the choice land that had been imagined in their hearts (v. 42), but even exceeded their desires by promising them to become a nation as great as there would be upon all the face of the earth. Again, their longtime faith, and certainly their righteousness, was recognized by the Lord.