Lehi's theophany

[rameumptom]

1 Nephi 1 begins with the book with a vision that many of us quickly pass by. However, in studying Lehi's first visions, we can find many ancient and powerful themes.

Lehi's vision is a theophany - a vision where the recipient enters into the presence of God and His throne. This is significant that the BoM begins with this revelation, as this event is the key event that threads throughout all of LDS teaching: to prepare us to enter into God's presence in our own personal theophany! Even the temple endowment is a practice that leads us through life's steps until we reach the throne of God in the Celestial Room.

The event that Lehi sees, where the angels are praising at God's throne is a common Theophany vision of the Grand/Divine Council. Isaiah 6 also present us with a theophany of his own, representing not only Isaiah's current experience, but the Creation. Discussion occurs in the council, and the question goes forth from God's throne: "Whom shall I send?" (see Abraham 3).

Then, he sees the one who would be sent: Jesus Christ, descending from above, followed by his 12 apostles. This is reminiscent of the Isaiah's theophany in another ancient Christian book, "Ascension of Isaiah", where Christ descends through the levels of heaven, enroute to his mortal ministry.

Books are tied to theophanies. John the Revelator receives a book to swallow, and becomes a mission to the peoples of the earth. In the Ascension of Isaiah, Isaiah receives a book to read and prophecy from - exactly as does Lehi!

Later, Nephi will record his own theophany that comes from Lehi's Vision of the Tree of Life (1 Ne 8-15). In Nephi's vision, he is taken up to a high mountain (as is the apostle John, Isaiah and others) to experience the throne of God. In this story, the Holy Ghost, as a man is his guide. This resembles the Apocalypse of Paul, where the Holy Ghost as a child is Paul's guide to the cosmos. In Paul's journey through the levels of heaven, sentinels stand at certain points to challenge him. In one instance, the sentinel demands to know why Paul should continue forward. The Holy Ghost prompts Paul to give the sentinel the token he has. Upon doing so, he moves up to the next level of heaven. This story closely ties in to the LDS endowment, where we must stand before sentinels and use the assistance of a guide to enter into the Celestial Room, and God's presence. Of course the Apocalypse of Paul was unknown until its discovery in the late 1940s.

While Joseph Smith did not develop the endowment until the Nauvoo period, threads of the endowment and of its goals to prepare us to enter God's presence, are woven throughout the Book of Mormon. Jacob's discourse at the temple, King Benjamin's discourse at the temple, Alma 9-13, Jesus' visit to the Nephites, and the Brother of Jared's seeing God's finger are all closely tied to Theophanies and endowment, as are other BoM stories and teachings.

With such a tapestry woven from a key theme, one cannot but wonder how a poor farm boy with a 3rd grade education could have fit such themes into the Book of Mormon, and have them reflect concepts in ancient manuscripts not available in his day!