What the brother of Jared saw was a premortal Jehovah, prior to the time that He took upon himself “flesh and blood.” The conversation continues with the Lord asking the brother of Jared: “Sawest thou more than this?” This question was at least interpreted as an invitation to have a wider vision of the premortal body of Jehovah.
Because of his faith, the brother of Jared is able to see what had previously only been assumed to have been in the cloud. Verse 13 is fascinating because it assumes information that is not given in the conversation. Jehovah declares that because of the brother of Jared’s faith, he is redeemed from the fall, and could be brought into God’s presence. This is an important statement even though we do not know how much of the atoning mission of the Messiah the brother of Jared knew. What he did know is the most important thing, i.e., through the redemption from the fall, the brother of Jared could be in God’s presence. That theological doctrine became a dramatic reality as he was literally in the presence of his God.