Second Nephi — Chapter 2
Lehi talks to Jacob.
1 And now, Jacob, I want to tell you this: You are the first child of mine to be born during our hard times in the desert. The bad things your brothers did made you sad while you were growing up.
2 But even so, Jacob, my first-born in the desert, you know how good God is. He will bless you that all the sad things which have happened to you will be for your good.
3 Your soul will be blessed, and you will live safely with your brother Nephi, and you will serve God all your life. I know you are saved because of the Savior’s righteousness. You have seen that he will come to save people when the time is right.
4 You saw Jesus’ glory when you were a child, so you are as blessed as the people who will see him when he has a body and does his work on earth, because the Spirit is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The way has been planned since the Fall, and salvation is free.
5 People have been taught enough to know good from evil, and the law is given to people. But the law cuts people off from God. Yes, the earthly law cuts them off from God, and the spiritual law makes them die to good things, and they become miserable forever.
6 Salvation comes in and through the Holy Messiah, because he is full of grace and truth.
7 He will make himself a sacrifice for sin, to pay the price of the law for all who have a broken heart and repentant spirit. The price of the law can be paid only for people like that.
8 It is very important to tell these things to all people on earth, so they will know that no one can live with God except through the goodness, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah. The Messiah will give up his life and take it again by the power of the Spirit, so the dead can live again. He will be the first to rise from the dead.
9 He is the first to go back to God. He will ask for mercy on all people, and those who believe in him will be saved.
10 All people will come before God because the Messiah will ask for mercy on them. They will stand before God so he can judge them in truth and holiness. There is a punishment to go with the law the Holy One has given. This punishment is the opposite of happiness, which is why the atonement is needed.
11 Everything has to have its opposite. If this were not so, my first-born in the desert, righteousness could not happen, nor could wickedness. Holiness could not be, nor misery; good could not be, nor bad. All things are a mixture of two opposites in one. If it were only one thing by itself, without an opposite, it would be a dead thing, having neither life nor death, imperfection nor perfection, happiness nor misery, thinking or not thinking.
12 It would be a thing which was made for nothing, and there would be no reason for it to be at all. That would destroy God’s wisdom and his eternal plans, and also his power, and mercy, and justice.
13 If you say there is no law, you also say there is no sin. If you say there is no sin, you also say there is no righteousness. If there is no righteousness, there is no happiness. If there is no righteousness nor happiness, there is no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not, then there is no God. And if there is no God, then we are not, and the earth is not, because nothing would have been made, to act or be acted on, and all things would go away.
14 Now, my children, I am telling you this for your own good, so you will learn. There is a God, and he made everything in heaven and earth — things that act and things that are acted on.
15 Everything had to have its opposite, so that God could make his eternal plan work for people — after he made our first parents, and the animals, and the birds, and everything else. Even the forbidden fruit was the opposite of the tree of life — one sweet, and the other bitter.
16 God made people able to choose and act for themselves. But people could not choose if they were not tempted by one thing or the other.
17 And because of the things I have read, I, Lehi, believe one of the angels of God fell from heaven and became a devil, because he tried to do evil before God.
18 He became miserable forever because he fell from heaven, and he tries to make all people miserable. So the devil, that old snake, the father of lies, said to Eve: “Eat the forbidden fruit, and you will not die. You will be like God, because you will know good from evil.”
19 After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they were sent away from the Garden of Eden and became farmers.
20 They had children — yes, the family of all the earth.
21 God let people live longer so they could repent during this life. So this life became a test to see if people would keep God’s commandments. He commanded that all people must repent, and he showed them that they would all be lost because of their parents’ sin.
22 If Adam and Eve had not sinned, they would not have fallen, but would have stayed in the Garden of Eden. All things would have stayed the same forever, without an end.
23 Adam and Eve would have had no children. They would have been innocent. They could not have joy, because they did not know misery. They could do no good, because they did not know sin.
24 But everything was done in the wisdom of him who knows everything.
25 Adam and Eve fell so that people could be, and people are so that they might have joy.
26 The Messiah will come when the time is right to save people from the Fall. And because they are saved from the Fall, people are free forever, because they know good from evil. They can act for themselves and not be acted on, except by the punishment of the law at the great last day, as God has commanded.
27 So people are free in this life, and everything they need is given to them. They can choose freedom and eternal life through the Savior’s atonement, or choose slavery and death through the power of the devil. The devil wants all people to be as miserable as he is.
28 Now, my children, I want you to look to the Savior, and listen to his commandments. Obey his words, and choose eternal life, which is the will of his Holy Spirit.
29 Do not choose eternal death, which is what the evil part of our body wants. This evil part can give the devil power to make your spirit a slave, and to bring you down to hell to rule over you in his kingdom.
30 I have said these few words to all of you, my children, at the end of my life. I have chosen the good part the prophets have talked about. I care only about the good of your souls forever. Amen.
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