The morning commute on the train provides a nice opportunity to feast on the scriptures and other good books. One morning several years ago I was on the bus on my way to work. I was engaged in a manuscript for a book I was writing dealing with addiction and recovery.
On this particular morning I was pondering on the witnesses of Christ as described by Nephi in the Book of Mormon. Nephi delighted in the words of Isaiah because, as he writes, "he verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him." Then he goes on to say, "And my brother, Jacob, also has seen him as I have seen him; wherefore, I will send their words forth unto my children to prove unto them that my words are true. Wherefore, by the words of three, God hath said, I will establish my word. Nevertheless, God sendeth more witnesses, and he proveth all his words" (2 Nephi 11: 2-3).
The Lord established His law of witnesses in the Old Testament by requiring two or three witnesses to testify of crimes, especially if the death penalty was to take effect (see Deuteronomy 17: 6). Interestingly, this law of witnesses comes into play with covenant making and the "book of the law." Much later the book of the law was found in the temple by Hilkiah the high priest, who delivers the book to Shaphan the scribe, who in turn delivers it to king Josiah. The verse records, "And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king" (2 Kings 22: 10).
In this same chapter in Deuteronomy, the duties of a king in Israel are set forth. The king is not supposed to "multiply to himself silver and gold" (Deuteronomy 17: 17). The king would report his stewardship and kingship to the people at the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). Jews still celebrate this feast today. Click here for a link to this festival.
It is significant that King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon reports his stewardship and even quotes these verses in Deuteronomy, which was anciently called "the paragraph of the king." He said, "I say unto you that as I have been suffered to spend my days in your service, even up to this time, and have not sought gold nor silver nor any manner of riches of you" (Mosiah 2: 12).
It is almost certain that King Benjamin gave his marvelous sermon during the Feast of Tabernacles. There are references to sacrifices according to the Law of Moses. King Benjamin's people came up near the temple in tents, and during the Feast of Tabernacles the people would gather to the temple in booths. Later on Ezra addressed the people during this feast from a pulpit, while King Benjamin used a tower to address the people. There are other similarities (see Mosiah 2: 3-8; Leviticus 23: 42; Nehemiah 8: 4, 14).
As King Benjamin's people prepare to make sacred covenants to become sons and daughters of Christ, he employs the law of witnesses by saying, "And of all these things which I have spoken, ye yourselves are witnesses this day" (Mosiah 2: 14). The congregation will stand as witnesses to the covenant, according to the book of the law.
Getting back to my original intent, as I was looking for this law of witnesses and turning to page 80 in the Book of Mormon where the three witnesses of the Savior testify, namely Nephi, Jacob, and Isaiah, I turned to page 79 on the other side of the page. I have to interject here that my scriptures are kind of messy with words highlighted in orange, and lines running to notes all over the page. One day, my orange highlighter had run out of ink, and apparently when I had previously marked the page with the three witnesses, I had used yellow highlighter.
That morning on the bus as I accidentally turned to page 79, the sunlight coming through the windows of the bus illuminated page 79. Four words were highlighted in what looked like yellow sunlight coming through the back of page 80.
Here are the verses highlighted:
"And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles.
"And I will fortify this land against all other nations.
"And he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God.
"For he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them forever, that hear my words" (2 Nephi 10: 11-14).
The four "kings" were highlighted on the page, surrounded by glowing yellow in the morning sunlight.
I had a distinct impression and a powerful feeling come over me. I had written chapters in my book about kings and this particular festival. But it felt as if the Lord had a powerful message for me and my audience--those diligently seeking to find their way back from the darkness of addiction.
I didn't hear a voice, nor has my Redeemer ever appeared to me as He did to Nephi, Jacob, and Isaiah. But the impression was clear, as if He was saying to me, "You tell your addict friends (and yourself), I don't want you back as second-class citizens, or mere servants. I want you back as kings and queens!"
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Sunday, August 21, 2016
The Give and Take of Sin and Sorrow
I have thought of the irony of the give and take of my sins and character defects. It was probably my third or fourth meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous at the Wednesday Old Timers Meeting as I pondered and seriously read the Twelve Steps. I had hoped to knock them out in a week or so, so I could graduate, learn to manage my drinking and my life, and get on with the rest of my life. Twenty seven years later I'm still trying to figure it out--one day at a time.
Step Three looked hard. Do I really have to give Him my will and my whole life just to get sober? But Seven looked rather easy, "Humbly asked Him to remove my shortcomings." Over a year later when I got around to Step Seven (because a friend said, "They're numbered for dummies like me."), I found it wasn't nearly that easy.
I had read plenty about surrender and turning it over, but the concept of having my sins and shortcomings removed meant Somebody had to take them, or make them magically go away.
As I started coming back to the Gospel I found scriptural passages to magnify this idea.
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1: 29).
"Behold, I say unto you, that it is he that surely shall come to take away the sins of the world; yea, he cometh to declare glad tidings of salvation unto his people" (Alma 39: 15).
"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53: 4).
And many years later I read about the scapegoat in ancient Israel. On Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, the priest would lay his hands on the head of the live scapegoat, confess the sins of the people, and then turn him loose into the wilderness to carry the sins away (see Leviticus 16: 21-22). I learned just last week at Education Week that someone was assigned to follow the scapegoat to chase him off a cliff to insure that those sins did not return to the camp of Israel.
I never had such a luxury, and many of those old sins and character defects would return and I have to keep surrendering.
Of course the "take" is the easy part. My Savior has already carried my sins and sorrows and taken them upon Himself. His Atonement is infinite in scope and time, although He has "finished (His) preparations unto the children of men" (D&C 19: 19). The price has already been paid at an infinite, staggering cost, causing Him to "tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore."
Now the ball is in my court as I struggle to give them away. Truly, everything I surrender has claw marks in it. In the Book of Mormon, Lamoni's father was ready to forsake his kingdom in order to have his sins taken away. He pleaded with God saying, "I will give away all my sins to know thee" (see Alma 22: 15, 18).
In a masterful discourse, Jacob pleads with us to prepare for that "glorious day" that we will not shrink in the presence of God, "and be constrained to exclaim: Holy, holy are thy judgments, O Lord God Almighty—but I know my guilt; I transgressed thy law, and my transgressions are mine" (2 Nephi 9: 46).
They are mine only if I am not willing to give them away.
Step Three looked hard. Do I really have to give Him my will and my whole life just to get sober? But Seven looked rather easy, "Humbly asked Him to remove my shortcomings." Over a year later when I got around to Step Seven (because a friend said, "They're numbered for dummies like me."), I found it wasn't nearly that easy.
I had read plenty about surrender and turning it over, but the concept of having my sins and shortcomings removed meant Somebody had to take them, or make them magically go away.
As I started coming back to the Gospel I found scriptural passages to magnify this idea.
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1: 29).
"Behold, I say unto you, that it is he that surely shall come to take away the sins of the world; yea, he cometh to declare glad tidings of salvation unto his people" (Alma 39: 15).
"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53: 4).
And many years later I read about the scapegoat in ancient Israel. On Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, the priest would lay his hands on the head of the live scapegoat, confess the sins of the people, and then turn him loose into the wilderness to carry the sins away (see Leviticus 16: 21-22). I learned just last week at Education Week that someone was assigned to follow the scapegoat to chase him off a cliff to insure that those sins did not return to the camp of Israel.
I never had such a luxury, and many of those old sins and character defects would return and I have to keep surrendering.
Of course the "take" is the easy part. My Savior has already carried my sins and sorrows and taken them upon Himself. His Atonement is infinite in scope and time, although He has "finished (His) preparations unto the children of men" (D&C 19: 19). The price has already been paid at an infinite, staggering cost, causing Him to "tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore."
Now the ball is in my court as I struggle to give them away. Truly, everything I surrender has claw marks in it. In the Book of Mormon, Lamoni's father was ready to forsake his kingdom in order to have his sins taken away. He pleaded with God saying, "I will give away all my sins to know thee" (see Alma 22: 15, 18).
In a masterful discourse, Jacob pleads with us to prepare for that "glorious day" that we will not shrink in the presence of God, "and be constrained to exclaim: Holy, holy are thy judgments, O Lord God Almighty—but I know my guilt; I transgressed thy law, and my transgressions are mine" (2 Nephi 9: 46).
They are mine only if I am not willing to give them away.
Monday, August 15, 2016
Robes of Righteousness
Jacob, who is arguably the best doctrinal teacher in the Book of Mormon, expounds the centrality of the Atonement in one of the book's most classic sermons. Interspersed within the doctrine the reader finds attributes of godliness, and elements of the divine plan. Alma would later call this "the great plan of happiness" (Alma 42: 8).
Jacob emphasizes the greatness of the Plan by saying,
"O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect" (2 Nephi 9: 13).
The one hand is contrasted with "the other hand" in a beautiful parallel of opposites. The separated spirit and body are reunited to become inseparable. The corruptible elements of the grave are delivered up to become incorruptible, and our imperfect knowledge and tainted memories become a perfect knowledge.
He continues,
"Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness" (2 Nephi 9: 14).
Guilt is contrasted with enjoyment, uncleanness versus purity, and nakedness is contrasted with being clothed.
"Clothed in the robes of righteousness" is a phrase loaded with symbolic meaning. Of course the best robes this side of the veil are found in the holy temple. In those early days of recovery, I returned to Church activity and sobriety, feeling fortunate if I could be accepted as a lowly servant like the Prodigal Son, who begged for mercy and was offered the "best robe" (see Luke 15: 22).
People of rank wore robes, particularly kings and queens. Click here for a link to the Hebrew word for robe. The high priest in ancient Israel also wore a robe called the "robe of the ephod" (see Exodus 28: 31). Thus, the robe was to be worn by kings, queens, priests, and priestesses.
You may notice (if you click on the link) the definition of the Hebrew word describes the robe as being long, so as to cover the body in its entirety. This ties the concept of robe with atonement, since the Hebrew word for atonement is kaphar meaning to coat or cover over. The complete covering of a robe is a symbol for the Atonement.
After the Fall, Adam and Eve "knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons" (Genesis 3: 7). This constituted a form of covering they did for themselves. In a sense it represents our own works, and those things we think we can do for ourselves. But a few verses later, the scriptures record, "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them" (Genesis 3: 21). This interestingly is the only item provided by the Lord for Adam and Eve to help them in their mortal journey. He didn't give them a house, or a car, but rather a coat, or covering, of skins. The Hebrew word for skins is actually singular and means "the skin of a man." It is obvious whose skin is in the game. It represents an Atonement on our behalf--something we could not do for ourselves. It constitutes grace.
In clear temple imagery the Lord admonishes, "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see" (Revelation 3: 18).
I have to say that when I put on those robes--a garment encircling my entire body, I almost feel as though "I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love" (2 Nephi 1: 15).
"Clothed in the robes of righteousness" is a phrase loaded with symbolic meaning. Of course the best robes this side of the veil are found in the holy temple. In those early days of recovery, I returned to Church activity and sobriety, feeling fortunate if I could be accepted as a lowly servant like the Prodigal Son, who begged for mercy and was offered the "best robe" (see Luke 15: 22).
People of rank wore robes, particularly kings and queens. Click here for a link to the Hebrew word for robe. The high priest in ancient Israel also wore a robe called the "robe of the ephod" (see Exodus 28: 31). Thus, the robe was to be worn by kings, queens, priests, and priestesses.
You may notice (if you click on the link) the definition of the Hebrew word describes the robe as being long, so as to cover the body in its entirety. This ties the concept of robe with atonement, since the Hebrew word for atonement is kaphar meaning to coat or cover over. The complete covering of a robe is a symbol for the Atonement.
After the Fall, Adam and Eve "knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons" (Genesis 3: 7). This constituted a form of covering they did for themselves. In a sense it represents our own works, and those things we think we can do for ourselves. But a few verses later, the scriptures record, "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them" (Genesis 3: 21). This interestingly is the only item provided by the Lord for Adam and Eve to help them in their mortal journey. He didn't give them a house, or a car, but rather a coat, or covering, of skins. The Hebrew word for skins is actually singular and means "the skin of a man." It is obvious whose skin is in the game. It represents an Atonement on our behalf--something we could not do for ourselves. It constitutes grace.
In clear temple imagery the Lord admonishes, "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see" (Revelation 3: 18).
I have to say that when I put on those robes--a garment encircling my entire body, I almost feel as though "I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love" (2 Nephi 1: 15).
Sunday, August 7, 2016
"If the Flesh Should Rise No More"
In the Book of Mormon Jacob eloquently teaches the doctrines of Creation, Fall, and Atonement in perhaps my favorite scriptural sermon found in Second Nephi chapter nine. Jacob is arguably the best doctrinal teacher in the Book of Mormon, and here is one basic doctrine not readily found in other scripture.
Jacob poses the question of what would become of our spirits, and indeed our very spirituality, without the resurrection of the physical body. One of the unique and most powerful doctrines of Mormonism is the sanctity of the body and its role in our eternal salvation.
Jacob teaches, "O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more" (2 Nephi 9: 8).
Jacob masterfully pairs the attributes of God with elements of the plan of salvation. So in addition to the doctrine of the resurrection from the grave comes the attributes of wisdom, mercy, and grace--all from a loving Savior.
This debate goes clear back to the time of our Lord's mortal ministry as the idea of a physical body enhancing eternal glory would be challenged by Greek theology and philosophy. The popular idea of its time influencing future generations of Christianity would be that the safest course to spirituality would be to overcome the physical nature of the body and get rid of the body entirely in order to let the spirit rule freely. Indeed the source of all sin and temptation is expressed in the gratification of the carnal and the physical.
John argues against such a philosophy in his first epistle, as he opens with his testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ by saying,
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
"(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
"That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1: 1-3).
John gives his testimony of a tangible Savior, whom he has heard, seen with his eyes, and even handled with his hands. The prevailing philosophy was that Jesus could not be perfect with a physical, mortal body, so the apparent physical nature of Jesus was somewhat akin to a hologram. It looked real and three-dimensional but was not of a tangible substance.
Yet the Restoration of the gospel in this dispensation began with the end clearly in view from the beginning, as young Joseph saw in the grove two perfected, glorified Beings with physical bodies. And therein lies the source of Their power. It was almost as if God would declare, "Joseph, this is how you're supposed to end up."
As the revelations unfolded, the doctrine of the sanctity of the body would become apparent with verses of revelation such as the following:
"For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies" (D&C 84: 33).
"And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things" (D&C 88: 67).
"They who are of a celestial spirit shall receive the same body which was a natural body; even ye shall receive your bodies, and your glory shall be that glory by which your bodies are quickened" (D&C 88: 28).
In the end we will receive the same glory as that by which are bodies are quickened, or made alive, and that glory, hopefully of a celestial nature, will be made manifest in our mortal, resurrected tabernacles.
Last December as my wife, two kids, and I were in the Provo Temple waiting for my kids to perform the baptisms for their grandparents, I saw rows of college students waiting in turn to perform ordinances for the dead. For a moment I saw them as vessels of light, carrying light and life inherent in a physical tabernacle to waiting spirits on the other side, allowing resurrected bodies to possess characteristics of godliness.
It is such a beautiful and glorious plan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)