The Miracle of Righteousness

In the vision that Nephi and his father Lehi saw, they are shown the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. When Nephi sees them he is told that “These twelve ministers whom thou beholdest shall judge thy seed. And, behold, they are righteous forever; for because of their faith in the Lamb of God their garments are made white in his blood” (1 Nephi 12:10). There are two things in this verse that caught my attention.

First, we are told why the apostles are righteous forever. But the answer isn’t what you would suspect. It isn’t because they are so wonderful or marvelous or good. No! The apostles are righteous forever because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Too many of us are worrying so much about being righteous that we miss the point. Yes, we need to do good, but righteousness comes about by trusting in Jesus Christ not just by being good. Trusting means that when adversity comes or hard times, we trust that the Savior will guide us through the problems and that all that is happening is for our good. We don’t complain or become bitter or fret or stew—we trust.

The second thing that struck me is that the verse says the apostles “garments are made white in his blood.” Now I’m a woman who has done a lot of laundry and I know for a fact that you can’t make clothes white by soaking them in blood. So what does the Savior mean by this metaphor? What would it take to make clothes white in blood? It would take a miracle. And that is exactly what He offers us. The Atonement that will make us righteous forever is a miracle—the greatest miracle in the world.