Jacob has had an epiphany like Nephi’s, coming to know for himself about the Messiah’s mission. Lehi’s phrase, “beheld… his glory,” suggests either that a personage of glory visited Jacob (paralleling Nephi’s vision) or that the vision focused on the glory of the Messiah’s mission. Lehi’s suggestion that Jacob was blessed exactly as those who receive Christ’s ministrations in the flesh are blessed suggests that the Messiah himself may have visited Jacob.
Without further details on Jacob’s mission, Lehi then uses as a transition his affirmation that “the Spirit is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. And the way is prepared from the fall of man, and salvation is free.” Lehi’s object of affirming the Spirit’s constancy is related to his testimony that Jacob received the same ministration as those who would, in the future, speak with the incarnate Messiah. The eternal nature of the Spirit also allows Lehi to shift his focus from the future to the past, as signaled by his references to “the beginning.” The rest of his discourse focuses on events established before and after the fall of man, with the atonement being the “way… prepared from the fall of man.”