“Except He Was a God He Could Not Know of All Things”

Joseph F. McConkie, Robert L. Millet

All revelation is itself a miracle, for revelation is not the child of natural causes. It is an eternal verity that God can be known only by revelation, and thus it naturally follows that all we know about our Eternal Father comes to us, as did the Book of Mormon, in the form of a sign or wonder. So it is with the establishment of all dispensations and the call of all prophets. Each has its attendant signs. With Moses it was first the burning bush; then the rod that became a serpent; following that, the hand that turned leprous and was healed again (see Exodus 3 and 4). Gideon thought it not improper to test his call to save Israel by requiring the Lord to dampen his fleece during the night while leaving the surrounding ground dry, and then asked to have the process reversed the following night (Judges 6:36-40). So familiar was this principle that Hezekiah, when Isaiah promised him an extension of his life, asked, “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me?” Isaiah responded by asking the king if he would choose to have the shadow on the dial go forward ten degrees or back ten degrees. Hezekiah chose to have the shadow go backward, and so it was done. (See 2 Kings 20:8-11.)

Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 3

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