“And it came to pass that he commanded that their little children should be brought; so they brought their little children and sat them down upon the ground round about him, and Yeshua stood in the midst. And the multitude gave way until they had all been brought unto him. And it came to pass that when they had all been brought and Yeshua stood in the midst, he commanded the multitude that they should kneel down upon the ground. And it came to pass that when they had knelt upon the ground, Yeshua groaned within himself, and said, Father, I am troubled because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Isra’el.”
When Jesus calls the Nephite children forward and sees them, his immediate thought upon looking at these children is being “troubled because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Isra’el”. Why is that his immediate reaction? Is he distracted, thinking about something other than the people and place where he presently is? Or is there something about these children that directly reminds him of the “wickedness of the people of the house of Isra’el”?
Recall that just a year before, these children, a bit smaller than they are now, lived through one of the most terribly destructive calamities ever recorded in this world. At that time, the more wicked part of the people were killed. Only the more righteous part of them were spared to live. Now Jesus, looking upon these children that he asked to come forward, upon seeing them come forward, is struct with a harsh reminder of the wickedness of the people of the house of Isra’el. Why would that be?
Perhaps because many of these children were not being brought forward by their parents. What a troubling thought, indeed.
The account continues:
”And when he had said these words, he himself also knelt upon the earth, and behold, he prayed unto the Father, and the things which he prayed cannot be written; and the multitude did bear record, who heard him. And after this manner do they bear record: The eye has never seen, neither has the ear heard before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Yeshua speak unto the Father. And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Yeshua speak. And no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.”
“And it came to pass that when Yeshua had made an end of praying unto the Father, he arose, but so great was the joy of the multitude that they were overcome. And it came to pass that Yeshua spoke unto them and told them to arise. And they arose from the earth, and he said unto them, Blessed are you because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full. And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bore record of it. And he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them and prayed unto the Father for them. And when he had done this, he wept again. And he spoke unto the multitude, and said unto them, Behold your little ones. And as they looked to behold, they cast their eyes towards Heaven, and they saw the Heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of Heaven, as it were in the midst of fire. And they came down and encircled those little ones about — and they were encircled about with fire — and the angels did minister unto them. And the multitude did see, and hear, and bear record; and they know that their record is true, for they, all of them, did see and hear, every man for himself. And they were in number about two thousand and five hundred souls, and they did consist of men, women, and children.”
Having compassion upon these children, and those who are taking care of them, Jesus prays on their behalf. His prayer fills them with incredible joy. Jesus then takes each child, one by one and blesses them. After this blessing, the heavens are opened and angels come down with fire and encircle them with their fire and minister to these children.
Note, how this experience of the heavens being opened and angels coming down with fire, closely resembles the experience of the disciples of Jesus after they pray to receive the holy ghost and are baptized by water and then had the heavens open and angels come down with fire and minister to them, the day following this experience with the children. There is also the experience of the Lamanites, who were surrounded by a thick darkness in the prison with Nephi and Lehi then prayed to the voice who spoke to them and had the heavens open and angels come down with fire out of heaven and minister to them. Now, these children are encircled about by fire and ministered to by angels.
On the second day of his visit among these people, with an even larger crowd present, Jesus again blessed the children who were there, as it is said:\
”And it came to pass that he did teach and minister unto the children of the multitude of whom has been spoken. And he did loose their tongues, and they did speak unto their fathers great and marvelous things, even greater than he had revealed unto the people, and loosed their tongues that they could utter.”
Then on the third day that Jesus did visit them, “the multitude gathered themselves together, and they both saw and heard these children; yes, even babes did open their mouths and utter marvelous things. And the things which they did utter were forbidden, that there should not any man write them.”
The most that we have in the account given to us are the events on the first day of Jesus’ visit among them. Then some of what took place on the second day. We have almost nothing about what took place on the third day except the excerpt above, which tells us that children, even babes uttered marvelous things they they were forbidden to write. We are also told that the account we have contains the lesser part of what happened when Jesus came among them. The greater things are withheld from us, to our condemnation unless we repent and believe the lesser things which we have been given.
What we have been given informs us that great things happened on each day involving children.
When Jesus says that we are to become as a little child, we are to be like these little children, indeed!