1 And now it came to pass that when Jesus had ascended into heaven, the multitude did disperse, and every man did take his wife and his children and did return to his own home.
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Wo unto him that shall deny the revelations of the Lord, and that shall say the Lord no longer worketh by revelation, or by prophecy. 3 Nephi 29:6 29:6
Trivia: What happened to Jesus's Nephite disciples after he blessed them?
1 And now it came to pass that when Jesus had ascended into heaven, the multitude did disperse, and every man did take his wife and his children and did return to his own home.
After Jesus returned to heaven to spend the night with the Father, all of the people returned to their homes.
2 And it was noised abroad among the people immediately, before it was yet dark, that the multitude had seen Jesus, and that he had ministered unto them, and that he would also show himself on the morrow unto the multitude.
But it was noised abroad that Jesus would be visiting again tomorrow,
3 Yea, and even all the night it was noised abroad concerning Jesus; and insomuch did they send forth unto the people that there were many, yea, an exceedingly great number, did labor exceedingly all that night, that they might be on the morrow in the place where Jesus should show himself unto the multitude.
so an exceedingly great number of people labored exceedingly hard all night so they could be there the next day when Jesus showed himself again.
4 It came to pass that on the morrow, when the multitude was gathered together, behold, Nephi and his brother whom he had raised from the dead, whose name was Timothy, and also his son, whose name was Jonas, and also Mathoni, and Mathonihah, his brother, and Kumen, and Kumenonhi, and Jeremiah, and Shemnon, and Jonas, and Zedekiah, and Isaiah -- now these were the names of the disciples whom Jesus had chosen -- It came to pass that they went forth and stood in the midst of the multitude.
When the crowd gathered the next day to see Jesus, the twelve Nephite disciples were there with them.
One of the twelve was Nephi's brother, Timothy, whom Nephi raised from the dead. [1]
These are the names of the other eleven disciples: Nephi, Jonas, Mathoni, Mathonihah, Kumen, Kumenonhi, Jeremiah, Shemnon, Jonas, Zedekiah, and Isaiah.
5 And behold, the multitude was so great that they did cause that they should be separated into twelve bodies.
The crowd was so big that they had to separate it into twelve groups.
6 And the twelve did teach the multitude; and behold, they did cause that the multitude should kneel down upon the face of the earth, and should pray unto the Father in the name of Jesus.
7 And the disciples did pray unto the Father also in the name of Jesus. It came to pass that they arose and ministered unto the people.
Each group was told to kneel down and start praying to the Father in the name of Jesus.
8 And when they had ministered those same words which Jesus had spoken -- nothing varying from the words which Jesus had spoken -- behold, they knelt again and prayed to the Father in the name of Jesus.
9 And they did pray for that which they most desired; and they desired that the Holy Ghost should be given unto them.
The disciples taught the people the exact words that Jesus had spoken, not missing a single word.
Then everyone prayed again to the Father in the name of Jesus.
After they finished with that, everyone prayed for what they most wanted -- the Holy Ghost.
10 And when they had thus prayed they went down unto the water's edge, and the multitude followed them.
After the prayers, everyone went down to the water's edge,
where Nephi was baptized first, [2]
12 And he came up out of the water and began to baptize. And he baptized all those whom Jesus had chosen.
and then the other disciples.
13 It came to pass when they were all baptized and had come up out of the water, the Holy Ghost did fall upon them, and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
As soon as all the disciples were baptized, the Holy Ghost fell upon them, and they were filled with fire and the Holy Ghost.
14 And behold, they were encircled about as if it were by fire; and it came down from heaven, and the multitude did witness it, and did bear record; and angels did come down out of heaven and did minister unto them.
Then a fire came down from heaven, along with some angels.
15 It came to pass that while the angels were ministering unto the disciples, behold, Jesus came and stood in the midst and ministered unto them.
16 It came to pass that he spake unto the multitude, and commanded them that they should kneel down again upon the earth, and also that his disciples should kneel down upon the earth.
17 It came to pass that when they had all knelt down upon the earth, he commanded his disciples that they should pray.
When everyone was filled with fire and the Holy Ghost and the angels had come down from heaven, Jesus made his appearance.
He told everyone to kneel down and pray some more.
18 And behold, they began to pray; and they did pray unto Jesus, calling him their Lord and their God.
So everyone prayed to Jesus and called him God.
19 It came to pass that Jesus departed out of the midst of them, and went a little way off from them and bowed himself to the earth, and he said:
Then Jesus left for a while, going over to talk to the Father. He said to him:
20 Father, I thank thee that thou hast given the Holy Ghost unto these whom I have chosen; and it is because of their belief in me that I have chosen them out of the world.
Thanks for giving the Holy Ghost to the people that I have chosen. I chose them because they believe in me.
21 Father, I pray thee that thou wilt give the Holy Ghost unto all them that shall believe in their words.
Please give the Holy Ghost to whoever believes whatever the people who believe in me say.
22 Father, thou hast given them the Holy Ghost because they believe in me; and thou seest that they believe in me because thou hearest them, and they pray unto me; and they pray unto me because I am with them.
You gave them the Holy Ghost because they believe in me, and you know they believe in me because you saw them praying to me.
23 And now Father, I pray unto thee for them, and also for all those who shall believe on their words, that they may believe in me, that I may be in them as thou, Father, art in me, that we may be one.
I pray for those who believe them, so they can believe in me, and so I can be in them like you are in me, so we can all be one.
24 It came to pass that when Jesus had thus prayed unto the Father, he came unto his disciples, and behold, they did still continue, without ceasing, to pray unto him; and they did not multiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should pray, and they were filled with desire.
When Jesus finished repeating his prayer, the disciples continued to pray without ceasing, but without repeating any prayers, since they were taught by Jesus what prayers to repeat.
25 It came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his countenance did smile upon them, and the light of his countenance did shine upon them, and behold they were as white as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus; and behold the whiteness thereof did exceed all the whiteness, yea, even there could be nothing upon earth so white as the whiteness thereof.
After they were blessed by Jesus, the disciples became as white as Jesus, whiter than anything else on earth.
26 And Jesus said unto them: Pray on; nevertheless they did not cease to pray.
27 And he turned from them again, and went a little way off and bowed himself to the earth; and he prayed again unto the Father, saying:
Jesus told the people to keep on praying while he went a little way away again to pray again to the Father.
Here's what Jesus said to the Father:
28 Father, I thank thee that thou hast purified those whom I have chosen, because of their faith, and I pray for them, and also for them who shall believe on their words, that they may be purified in me, through faith on their words, even as they are purified in me.
I'm glad you purified my disciples, so they can be purified in me.
29 Father, I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me out of the world, because of their faith, that they may be purified in me, that I may be in them as thou, Father, art in me, that we may be one, that I may be glorified in them.
I pray that they will be purified in me, so that I can be in them as you are in me, so we can all be one, and I can be glorified in them.
30 And when Jesus had spoken these words he came again unto his disciples; and behold they did pray steadfastly, without ceasing, unto him; and he did smile upon them again; and behold they were white, even as Jesus.
Jesus finished up his prayers to the Father and came over to his disciples who were busily praying without ceasing to him.
Jesus smiled at them and behold the disciples were white -- as white as Jesus!
Then he went off to pray again.
32 And tongue cannot speak the words which he prayed, neither can be written by man the words which he prayed.
The words that he used were so great and marvelous that they can't be spoken or written,
33 And the multitude did hear and do bear record; and their hearts were open and they did understand in their hearts the words which he prayed.
34 Nevertheless, so great and marvelous were the words which he prayed that they cannot be written, neither can they be uttered by man.
but the crowd was close enough that they could hear what he said, and they understood with their hearts.
35 It came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of praying he came again to the disciples, and said unto them: So great faith have I never seen among all the Jews; wherefore I could not show unto them so great miracles, because of their unbelief.
36 Verily I say unto you, there are none of them that have seen so great things as ye have seen; neither have they heard so great things as ye have heard.
Then Jesus made an end of his praying and told the Nephites that they were much better than the Jews.
Jesus couldn't show the Jews the cool miracles that he had shown them because of their unbelief.
And he couldn't say as many things to them either.
The Jews were just too disbelieving. His Nephite disciples were way better than his Jewish ones.
Notes
See 3 Nephi 7:19.
So Nephi was baptized first, and then he baptized everyone else.
But who baptized Nephi then? Did Nephi baptize himself? (Isn't that illegal in Utah?)
And wasn't he already baptized? He'd been going around baptizing thousands of people for years (3 Nephi 7:24), so he must have been baptized too. What was wrong with the first baptism?
Favorite Phrases:
And it came to pass: 19:1, 4(2), 7, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 24, 25, 31, 35
Exceedingly: 17:3(2)
Behold: 17:4, 5, 6, 8, 14, 15, 18, 24, 25(2), 30(2),
(19:23) Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. John 17:20-21
(19:23) Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. John 17:20-21
(19:29) I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me ... and I am glorified in them. John 17:9-10