24 And behold, the things which this apostle of the Lamb shall write are many things which thou hast seen; and behold, the remainder shalt thou see.
25 But the things which thou shalt see hereafter thou shalt not write; for the Lord God hath ordained the apostle of the Lamb of God that he should write them.
Nephi saw the same things as John, but it was given to John to write them down. It seems that part of the job of a prophet is not only knowing what to write, but also to know what not to write. And it seems there are various reasons to leave things out of the record. Mormon was forbidden to write the names of the three Nephites who would not taste death (3 Nephi 28:25). I’m not sure why, since we are given to know that John (who is called to write the part of the this vision that Nephi is forbidden to write) was granted the same request as the three Nephites were. Mormon is just told that they are hidden, and then goes into some of their ministry, which for some reason must remain anonymous for now. Another example of writing is when Jesus prayed at his coming to the Nephites (3 Nephi 19:32–34). In this case the words were too sacred to write or even speak. We also have the example of The Book of Mormon itself. We are only given 1/3 of the book. Why not the rest? It could be that we don’t appreciate the part we do have, let alone the possibly greater mysteries recorded in the rest of the book. Jacob tells us that there are many things we cannot understand, so they are held back. The Jews desired those things, to their detriment when the Lord gave it to them (Jacob 4:14). So not everything that can be written has been written. But we can be assured that the things that are written are for our benefit and salvation. They are written because the prophets have a job to do, that if they don’t do, they are brought under condemnation (Mormon 9:35; Jacob 1:19). And the notion held by sectarian Christians that the Bible contains all the word of God just doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
- John 20:30 (30–31)
- John 21:25
- Revelation 1:19
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