One of the many beautiful symbols of God's work is that of gathering. It's a concept that President Nelson recently acknowledged studying throughout his time as an Apostle.
I love the concept, too. There is so much to learn about it, and so many deep related concepts.
One of these is that in the latter days, the word of God will be gathered in order to gather Israel. Stisa has posted about this on several occasions, most notably here.
The angel's words to Nephi sum up the purpose of the gathering of the word. The records "shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved. And they must come according to the words which shall be established by the mouth of the Lamb..." (1 Nephi 13:40-41)
Kept and preserved
If the purpose of the records is to bring about the grand latter-day gathering of Israel, then it's no wonder they must be preserved for that purpose.
I was reminded of this beautiful doctrine as I studied the phrase "kept and preserved" in the Book of Mormon. Notice what is explicitly described as having been "kept and preserved" by the Lord:
- the plates of brass (see Mosiah 1:3-5, Mosiah 28:11, Alma 37:3-4 and 14)
- the plates of Nephi (see 2 Nephi 25:21, Mosiah 28:11)
- righteous leaders (see Mosiah 2:11)
- God's people (see Omni 1:6, Mosiah 2:20, Mosiah 7:20, Alma 9:22, Alma 44:4)
- the Urim and Thummim (Mosiah 28:14)
We could lump these into two big categories: God's people and God's word (including the records, the seers, and the instruments given to seers).