1 Nephi 12

Continuing with the interpretation of Lehi's dream for Nephi, chapter 12 begins with Nephi's gaze being redirected from by the angel to the land of promise, which in this case means the Americas (1 Nephi 12:1). He saw wars and contentions, then destruction of cities as well as all sorts of natural disasters (2-5). After all that, Nephi then saw the Lamb of God descending out of the heavens and organizing the church among the people, just like he did among the Jews (6-10). He saw how the people were perfectly righteous for three generations and much of the fourth, but soon enough they fell away resulting in the Nephites destruction (11-20). It left the remanent of the people dark, loathsome, filthy, full of idleness and all manner of abominations (21-23).



I'm pretty positive that I'd like to be considered righteous versus someone you really don't want to spend time with because of the lack of happiness. Verse 11 spoke about the three generations that passed in righteousness that I'd like to emulate:

And the angel said unto me: Look! And I looked, and beheld three generations pass away in righteousness; and their garments were white even like unto the Lamb of God. And the angel said unto me: These are made white in the blood of the Lamb, because of their faith in him.

What does it mean to have garments that are made white like unto the Lamb of God, but that is made white through the blood of the Lamb of God because of faith?

It means that even when we go throughout our day and make mistakes that stain our clothes, our soul, that when we exercise our faith and turn to the Lord and the Atonement made for us, we can be made clean of those mistakes. The Atonement makes it possible to wash our stained clothes and have our clothes, our souls, become perfected once again as if that stain was never there. The Atonement is where Jesus Christ suffered and died for us, where he shed his blood for us, so that we can be made perfect through him. That's what it means.

To stand in the presence of Heavenly Father, we are required to have stainless white garments, pure souls. Often we think that to have white garments, it just means we have to be members of the church, that we only have to be baptized and we're done. President John Taylor said:

There is something that goes a little further than we think about sometimes; and that is, while we profess to be followers of the Lord, while we profess to have received the Gospel and to be governed by it, a profession will amount to nothing unless we have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. It is not enough for us to be connected with the Zion of God, for the Zion of God must consist of men that are pure in heart and pure in life and spotless before God, at least that is what we have got to arrive at. We are not there yet, but we must get there before we shall be prepared to inherit glory and exaltation; therefore a form of godliness will amount to but little with any of us. . . . It is not enough for us to embrace the Gospel . . . and be associated with the people of God, attend our meetings and partake of the Sacrament of the Lord’s supper, and endeavor to move along without much blame of any kind attached to us; for notwithstanding all this, if our hearts are not right, if we are not pure in heart before God, if we have not pure hearts and pure consciences, fearing God and keeping His commandments, we shall not, unless we repent, participate in these blessings about which I have spoken, and of which the Prophets bear testimony (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: John Taylor [2001], 114–15).

In summary, it's not just being baptized and being members, to have white garments you have to live righteously. Mistakes are made. We are only mortal. But that's why we have the Atonement. So I suppose it is more accurate to say we should be living the Atonement. Live the best we can and correct our mistakes as soon as possible. We always want to make sure we have no stains on our clothes. We want to be a "delightsome people" (4 Nephi 1:10).