Nephi’s sweeping vision of the future continues with a glimpse of the grand mission of John, one of Jesus’ twelve apostles, otherwise known as John the Beloved or John the Revelator. John would write of the things that Nephi saw and many things of the past, “and he shall also write concerning the end of the world.” The angel guiding Nephi bore testimony of the justice and truth of John’s writings, exclaiming that his writings were “plain and pure, and most precious and easy to the understanding of all men.”
Wait! you say. Is this referring to John’s Revelation, the final and great apocalyptic book of the New Testament—“plain” and “easy to the understanding of all men”? That is not the way most people view those writings. Joseph Smith actually declared, “The book of Revelation is one of the plainest books God ever caused to be written.” 41 True, Joseph Smith may have seen the whole vision also, but with the Spirit and some serious study, we too can understand much of what John wrote. It is meant to be understood in order to help us comprehend events of the last days and prepare ourselves for the final day.