2 Nephi 27:6-11

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Reference Search: 2 Nephi 27:6-11

6 And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book, and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered.

7 And behold the book shall be sealed; and in the book shall be a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof.

8 Wherefore, because of the things which are sealed up, the things which are sealed shall not be delivered in the day of the wickedness and abominations of the people. Wherefore the book shall be kept from them.

9 But the book shall be delivered unto a man, and he shall deliver the words of the book, which are the words of those who have slumbered in the dust, and he shall deliver these words unto another;

10 But the words which are sealed he shall not deliver, neither shall he deliver the book. For the book shall be sealed by the power of God, and the revelation which was sealed shall be kept in the book until the own due time of the Lord, that they may come forth; for behold, they reveal all things from the foundation of the world unto the end thereof.

11 And the day cometh that the words of the book which were sealed shall be read upon the house tops; and they shall be read by the power of Christ; and all things shall be revealed unto the children of men which ever have been among the children of men, and which ever will be even unto the end of the earth.

Quotes for Discussion

Sealed Plates

The people of Limhi brought to Mosiah a record, “engraven on plates of ore” (Mosiah 21:27), which record Mosiah translated, by the aid of “two stones which were fastened into the two rims of a bow,” and which gave an account of the Jaredites, (Mosiah 28:11-19.) In translating this record Mosiah kept from going forth to the people that particular part forbidden by the Lord to be revealed until after he was lifted up upon the cross (Ether 4:1). These sacred revelations given to the Brother of Jared were kept from the Nephite people, as well as many other things, until after the resurrection of Christ (Alma 63:12). After the appearing of the Savior to the Nephites, the vision of the Brother of Jared was revealed to the Nephites. When Moroni made his abridgment of the record of Ether, he copied on his record the vision of the Brother of Jared (Ether 4:2-7).

At the command of the Lord, however, Moroni also sealed up the greater things in this vision and also the interpreters—which were the same “two stones” had by the Brother of Jared—so that this vision should not be made known even in our day among the Gentiles, in the day of their wickedness (2 Ne. 27:8); it could not be revealed “until the day that they shall repent of their iniquity, and become clean before the Lord.” (Ether 4:6.) So we today do not have the fullness of the account written and sealed up by the Brother of Jared and again sealed by Moroni. This part of the record the Prophet Joseph Smith was forbidden to translate. We have, then, received but the “lesser part” (3 Ne. 26:8-11).

Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation: Sermons and Writings of Joseph Fielding Smith, ed. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954-1956], 3:224-25

Now the Lord has placed us on probation as members of the Church. He has given us the Book of Mormon, which is the lesser part, to build up our faith through our obedience to the counsels which it contains, and when we ourselves, members of the Church, are willing to keep the commandments as they have been given to us and show our faith as the Nephites did for a short period of time, then the Lord is ready to bring forth the other record and give it to us, but we are not ready to receive it. Why? Because we have not lived up to the requirements in this probationary state in the reading of the record which had been given to us and in following its counsels.

Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, Oct. 1961, 19-20

I have had many people ask me through the years, “When do you think we will get the balance of the Book of Mormon records?” And I have said, “How many in the congregation would like to read the sealed portion of the plates?” And almost always there is a 100-percent response. And then I ask the same congregation, “How many of you have read the part that has been opened to us?” And there are many who have no read the Book of Mormon, the unsealed portion. We are quite often looking for the spectacular, the unobtainable. I have found many people who want to live the higher laws when they do not live the lower laws.

Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982], 531-32

When, during the Millennium, the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon is translated, it will give an account of life in the premortal existence; of the creation of all things; of the fall and the Atonement and the Second Coming; of temple ordinances, in their fullness; of the ministry and mission of translated beings; of life in the spirit world, in both paradise and hell; of the kingdoms of glory to be inhabited to resurrected beings; and many such like things.

Bruce R. McConkie, CES Symposium, Aug. 1984, 1