1 Nephi 13 Overview

Nephi sees in vision: the church of the devil set up among the Gentiles; the discovery and colonizing of America; the loss of many plain and precious parts of the Bible; the resultant state of gentile apostasy; the restoration of the gospel, the coming forth of latter-day scripture, and the building up of Zion. Between 600 and 592 B.C.

This is a very interesting chapter for a couple of reasons. Nephi, thanks to this vision he’s been in since chapter 11, outlines the history of the world, focusing on the American continent. But this is no outline, as you would read in history books. Rather this is history from a “God’s-eye view,” so to speak. In this history, recorded before it happened, we see how involved our Heavenly Father is in the events of mankind. We also see how involved Satan is in those events. We learn about the importance of the scriptures. Nephi sees the foundation of both the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil as established on the earth. In a sense, he sees the battle plans of both sides.