Latest / Scripture Central / 3 Nephi 20-26 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited

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3 Nephi 20-26 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited · Scripture Central

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Today, third Nephi chapters 20 through 26, really setting
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chapters. We're going to begin with kind
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of a larger perspective of God's promises and his work.
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We're going to spend some time talking together about what God
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is actually doing here and why Jesus is speaking very
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specifically about his work. Now you'll remember last time
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Jesus had come down with a set of instructions from the Father
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commandments to teach all these certain things about the House
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of Israel to these Nephites and Lamanites.
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And he'd only gotten part way through that list when he was
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kind of interrupted and and changed plans.
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And it was a beautiful experience there in 3rd Nephite
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17. Well, now it's day 2.
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He's back. And notice what he says in
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chapter 20, verse 10. And it came to pass that when
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they had all given glory unto Jesus, he said unto them,
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Behold, now I finish the commandment which the Father
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hath commanded me concerning this people who are a remnant of
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the House of Israel. So he's given him the sacrament
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right before that in chapter 20. And now he says, all right,
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you're refreshed, you're you're filled ready to go.
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I'm going to finish this commandment.
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And you need to know about the House of Israel.
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If you turn over to verse 27, it says, and after that you were
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blessed, then fulfill with the Father the covenant which he
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made with Abraham, saying, in thy seed shall all the kindreds
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of the earth be blessed. Brothers and sisters, that
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passage, that promise that God gave to Abraham, that it's
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through you and your seed that all kindred's nation's tongues
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and people will be blessed. That is one of only two
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scriptures that I know of. I'm sure there are probably
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others, but those are two that I know of that are contained in
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all four standard works. And in that particular case,
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it's not just standard works, but it's Old Testament, New
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Testament, but also Book Mormon doctrine incumbents, Pearl, a
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great price. Ironically, the other one that's
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included in all four standard works, Bible Book Mormon
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Doctrine Covenants, Pearl, a great price is going to come in
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the end of this lesson. So we're going to get both of
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them today. It's the passage from Malachi
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chapter 4, verse 5 and 6. So we'll get that towards the
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end of the lesson, but let's pick up this one.
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Here's the key. God promised Abraham some things
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and these blessings. This covenant wasn't just for
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Abraham. It was through Abraham and
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through his family that all nations kindred's tongues and
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people would be blessed. You'll notice you start this
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story with the Jews, this family of Israel that we've given this
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label to the Jews, the Israelites.
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Now what happens? All the kindreds of the earth
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are going to be blessed from this covenant given to this
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family. How does God do that?
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When they stay really, really homogeneous, they stay very
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faithful to marrying only in the covenant.
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Well, they come into the promised land.
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So here's Jerusalem, here's Nazareth where Jesus was was
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raised most of his growing years.
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Just a quick overview. Abraham's seed comes in and
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takes the promised lands. Later on it divides into two
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kingdoms, the northern and the southern Kingdom.
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You have 10 tribes up north 721 BC.
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You have Assyria comes in and scatters, carries the northern
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10 tribes captive. What do they take with them?
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They take with them memories, stories, in some cases
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scriptures, the Jewish scriptures, these perspectives,
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and it now goes out. So we have scattered Israel and
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they take with them these blessings of the covenant in
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memory to 1° or another. Then what happens?
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The Gentiles, the non Israelites that they live among, have the
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opportunity to be exposed to these things.
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Same thing happens in the New Testament.
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The Jews are taken in in 6869 and 70 AD and they're scattered
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again. So 30 some odd years after
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Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection, we get another
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scattering, this time of the Jews who are living in
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Jerusalem. And they take with them their
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what we would call not just the Jewish scriptures of the Old
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Testament, but the the letters and the writings that now have
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become our New Testament. So Paul goes on this mission
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predominantly among the Gentiles.
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What is he taking a knowledge of?
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Of God's covenants, a knowledge of Jesus Christ.
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And it's scattering this to the Gentile nations in Greece, Italy
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and Spain and other regions in Turkey and Asia and down South.
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As a reminder, covenant sometimes is a word that seems
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kind of a little bit over our heads.
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It really just means a promise. We all know about promises.
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We make promises to those that we love.
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Whenever you pay a bill, like with a credit card, you sign
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your name, you're making a promise to pay that money off.
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And what's interesting here, in Genesis 12123, God comes to
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Abraham and gives him promises. God is the one who will fulfill
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the promises. God doesn't go to Abraham and
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say, Abraham, I want you to do these promises.
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God says I will fulfill these promises, and this is the work
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that Jesus has been assigned to do to teach people how God has
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and will fulfill these promises. This is why the Book of Mormon
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is such a crucial revelation for us to understand God's work.
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And if you want to understand what God is focusing on and what
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his plan of salvation is, his promises are summarized right
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here in Genesis 12, one to three.
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So as we continue today, listen to how Jesus teaches what God
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will do to fulfill promises that he'd made centuries before that
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now have become available throughout the entire world, and
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not just to the Jews and the Israelites.
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Which by the way, if you stop and think about that, we we want
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desperately to be a covenant keeping people.
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We want to be more like God. We want to be more like the
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Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, they keep their promises.
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They don't. They don't tell you they'll do
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something and then never mind, I'm not going to do that.
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They never break their promises and yet we do.
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But as we want to be more like Him, let's start there with
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focusing on the promises that we've made and strive like never
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before to keep them in this covenant relationship.
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Notice the flow here. So you have the Book of Mormon
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people who are a remnant of the House of Israel.
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They're scattered Israel. They've left the homeland.
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They've come over to the New World, to the Americas, Nephi on
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down. They see themselves as a part of
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scattered Israel. Now here's Jesus who comes to
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these other sheep and he's teaching them about who they
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really are, who God really is, and what their role is.
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And then he in chapter 20 and 21, he is giving them this
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overview lesson of the whole House of Israel, and it's
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beautiful. Pay close attention to these
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different groups of people as you go through chapter 20,
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because what happened is Israel broke their promise.
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They broke their covenant with God, turned their back on him.
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So look at it this way. To summarize, you have this
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family that's given all of these blessings, privileges that
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they're promised, priesthood, power, posterity, possessions,
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the land, they're promised all these amazing things.
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Then they break their side of all of those promises.
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They're then they've turned their back on God symbolically,
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so they're scattered and now they find themselves among
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people who hear some of their stories, who hear the narrative
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flow of what God has done for that people in the past and that
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group becomes interested and they turn to God.
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So when Paul goes out and teaches, you get the Gentiles
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who are God fears, they turn to God and they want to become
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converts to this Christian 'cause that's being preached.
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And it's beautiful because now you get the rise of the Gentiles
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as they come into this covenant as well that came to them
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through this scattering effort. Which fulfills what God was
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saying, that in thy seed will all the peoples of the earth be
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blessed. And that was the promise here,
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that God actually made use of the unfaithfulness of His people
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to actually eventually help all people to know Him.
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I just love how God does His work.
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He's able to take what, from our perspective, seems like a
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failure or like a it's all lost and he turns it into part of his
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plan to move it forward and in some cases even accelerated, it
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seems. We'll throw out one more brief
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thing. The largest concentration of the
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word covenant in the Book of Mormon shows up right here, 3520
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to 21. Throw in 22 as well if you want
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to understand God's covenants. What we're talking about here.
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3520 through 22. The largest concentration of the
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word covenant throughout the Book of Mormon.
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Now watch as you go through chapter 20 initially, watch how
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the Gentiles rise up because they've turned to God.
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They they trust in the God of Israel and he's blessing them.
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It's this, the ultimate element of the covenant is where he says
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I will be your God. And the nutshell definition is
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you will be my people. Well, now you have his people
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saying we don't want to be your people anymore, but the Gentiles
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saying we'd like to be your people.
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And so he treats them like their God and you get the rise of the
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Gentile nations. And then in chapter 20, you're
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going to notice that something happens with those Gentile
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nations. They become so prosperous that
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they don't want him to be their God anymore.
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They want money or power or prestige or whatever to become
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their God. Then the promise says he will
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then turn back to those who had been scattered and eventually
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back here. So the first shall be last and
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the last shall be first in this in this flow.
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Well, brothers and sisters, we're living in a day when the
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Gentiles and the Gentile nations of the earth increasingly seem
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to be turning their back more and more on God.
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And so he's going to increasingly be turning more and
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more to scattered Israel and bringing them and remembering
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that covenant and bringing them in and including to the Jews.
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Now if you go to chapter 20, verse 29, he says I will
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remember the covenant which I have made with my people and I
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have covenanted with them that I would gather them together in
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mine own due time. So we talked a lot about the
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scattering. But now in our day, in the
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latter days, the focus here in the Book of Mormon is on
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gathering the this gathering them back into the House of
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Israel and notice it says bringing them into the land of
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their inheritance, which is the land of Jerusalem.
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Notice verse 32 Then shall their Watchmen lift up the tower. 33
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Then will the Father gather together them and give them
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Jerusalem for the land of their inheritance.
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You could just write in the margin that really kicks off in
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1948 when the Jews get to return to the land of Israel.
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Verse 34 then shall they break forth into joy. 36 Then shall be
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brought. 40 Then shall they say, 41 Then shall go forth, Brothers
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and sisters, what he's giving them is a this, then this, then
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this, then this. It's an ordered list of things
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that are going to happen leading up to the events preceding the
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Second Coming regarding the Jews in Jerusalem in the Old World.
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Now you turn over to chapter 21 and in verse one through 7 you
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you come face to face with one of the most complex sentences in
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the entire Book of Mormon or thoughts this one complete
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thought in verse one through 7. But Jesus is taking multiple
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tangents and subtangents before he finally comes back around and
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answers his initial setup from verse one.
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And it's going to take 7 verses to do this.
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Basically what he's saying is let me give you a sign that
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you'll know that God is beginning to fulfill his promise
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to then start this gathering process, coming back this
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direction in the latter days. And by the time you get to the
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end of verse 7, you find out that the sign that Jesus is
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giving us from the Father is this right here.
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When you see this come forth, he says, then you know, you know
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that God has begun to do his work.
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The, the, the momentum is now moving forward and God is going
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to gather the elect out of the four corners of the earth for
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the last time and we're going to fulfill all those promises which
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he made to Abraham. Now you'll notice that as as you
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come down into chapter 21, the focus is more on scattered
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Israel and the new Jerusalem, where this one was more on the
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Jews and old Jerusalem over in Israel.
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Chapter 21 is more focused on New Jerusalem and the scattered
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Israelites. Notice verse 14.
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Yeah, woe be unto the Gentiles, except they repent, for it shall
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come to pass in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off
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thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy
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Chariots, your ability to move and transportation and to to
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have power and control and army kinds of things.
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Look at verse 15. I will cut off the cities of thy
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land and throw down all thy strongholds.
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These are strongholds of the gentiles.
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And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy land, and they shall
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have no more soothsayers. Just as a side note, often we in
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English read the word witchcrafts and we think only
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sorcery. Like it kind of mentions
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soothsayers at the end of 16. The reality is in Galatians 5 in
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the New Testament, it talks about witchcrafts being a part
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of the the world. The Greek word there for
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witchcrafts is pharmakeia has to do with drug use.
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In that regard or in that context, unfortunately, that is
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a big part of our world today. It's a tool of the devil to bind
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the minds and the hearts and to create addictions.
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And it's painful for if you have loved ones or if you yourself
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have struggled with, with drugs and, and those kinds of
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addictions, it's painful. But you'll notice there's some
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promises. All of this power is going to be
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cut off one day. And then he gives you all these
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other things that are going to be cut off.
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Look at verse 20. For it shall come to pass, saith
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the Father, that at that day whosoever will not repent and
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come unto my beloved Son, then will I cut off from among my
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people, O House of Israel. And then he jumps into a
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description of the New Jerusalem, and the events
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leading up to the New Jerusalem in 23, verse 23.
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And in verse 24 he says, And then shall they assist my
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people, who are scattered upon the face of the land, in unto
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the New Jerusalem. 25 Then shall the power of heaven come down
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among them, and I will be in the midst, and then shall the work
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of the Father commence in that day.
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Brothers and sisters, once again He gives you a this, then this,
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then this list for the New Jerusalem.
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But he doesn't tell you how the two from 20 and 21 combine
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together. He, He leaves them separate.
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Old Jerusalem, here's your list. New Jerusalem, here's your list
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of things that need to happen. This, then this, then this.
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And it's a beautiful progression.
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What we want to also show here is the beautiful structure that
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Jesus provides for this speech. So in a previous video with Jack
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Welch, we talked about a literary pattern called
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chiasmus, where an idea begins and then it repeats itself back.
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We have something similar going on in the greatest concentration
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anywhere in the Book of Mormon of the word covenant.
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There also happens to be chiasmus that we just went
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through. And the turning point.
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Well, let me tell you, the beginning points started off at
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Third Nephi verse 20, verse 10. It seems to end at Third Nephi
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chapter 21, verses 28 to 29. And the turning point where the
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whole focus is, is Third Nephi 21 verse four.
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Let me read that to you for His wisdom in the Father, that they
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should be established in this land and be set up as a free
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people by the power of the Father, that these things might
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come forth unto them, unto a remnant of your seed, that the
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covenant of the Father may be fulfilled, which you have
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covenant with His people, House of Israel.
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All this talking by Jesus is centered around God's the
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covenant of the Father, which goes right back to the promises
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made to Abraham in Genesis 12, and that God has been doing his
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work with the Jews, scattered Israel, the Gentiles are back to
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scattered Israel and the Jews. So as you look at this again,
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you might say, what is Jesus and God the Father trying to
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communicate to me? It's that God will always
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remember his covenants. He will always remember the
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promises that he has made and it is His obligation to make them
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real. And this process we're seeing at
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Tyler's review is how God is going to make that happen.
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And again, it's centred this whole port.
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These two chapters are centred on God fulfilling his covenants.
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And that's one of the biggest reveals of why Jesus showed up
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to the Nephites in the new world is to reinstate to them.
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God is entirely trustworthy, fully trustworthy.
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You can always trust God because He will always remember His
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covenants and to fulfill them. Let's shift focus to what He
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teaches us regarding how that covenant is even possibly able
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to be fulfilled throughout time. And it's all rooted and centered
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in Jesus Christ and His infinite and eternal sacrifice that we
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call His atonement in Isaiah. There are a lot of passages in
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Isaiah that point us to Christ in the Book of Mormon.
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The focal point on Christ's atonement could very possibly be
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summarized in chapter 53, which was used by Abinadi clear back
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in in Mosiah chapter 14. It's interesting.
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This is called the suffering servant chapter where Christ the
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greatest of all comes down and he takes upon himself all of our
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infirmities and, and with his stripes we are healed.
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And, and that beautiful chapter showing us what Christ would do.
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Here's the irony. Here's Jesus himself after he's
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completed his atonement, speaking to Nephites and
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Lamanites. And back in chapter 20, he gave
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us a couple of passages or a couple of verses from Isaiah 52.
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Let me just point one of these out.
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If you go back to chapter 20, verse 44, so it's in this
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segment, this little sequence that's being quoted from Isaiah
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52, as many were astonished at thee, His visage or his
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countenance. His appearance was so marred
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more than any man and His form more than the sons of men.
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It's interesting when you look at this passage in verse 44
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where he's talking about His visage being so marred, the word
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marred in Hebrew, if you get to the underlying language in
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Hebrew, it's the same root word as He who is anointed.
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His visage is so anointed by God that he becomes so marred by man
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just by switching out the vowels in the Hebrew.
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So here He is, this being who it's been prophesied would be so
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marred by man performs this infinite atonement.
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Now he's teaching the Nephites and the Lamanites, and what does
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he do? He gives us chapter 54 in its
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entirety. In 35, chapter 22, notice the
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outcome of his, of his atonement from 53.
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Notice how it starts. And then shall that which is
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written come to pass. Seeing, O Baron, thou that didst
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not bear break forth into singing and cry aloud, Thou that
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it's not travail with child. For more are the children of the
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desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the
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Lord. Brothers and sisters, it's as if
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Jerusalem or Judah or the House of Israel is symbolized by this
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woman who is sitting there feeling barren and desolate
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because her children have been scattered.
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They've been taken away out of her land and out of her home,
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and she's sitting there quite sad, and God's saying, lift up
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your head, rejoice, sing. Why?
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Look at verse 2. Enlarge the place of thy tent
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and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations.
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Spare not lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes.
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Stretch it out. Make your house bigger than it's
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ever been before. And she's like, I'm barren.
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Notice. For thou shalt break forth on
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the right hand, and on the left thy seed shall inherit the
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Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
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So in this process of gathering, you're going to get more people
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coming into your house than you ever imagined.
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Verse 7. For a small moment have I
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forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.
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Remember what we were talking about before, how they turn
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their back on God? And so He scattered them.
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He kicked them out of the land, and they broke the covenant.
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And so He kept those contractual agreements by spreading them
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throughout the world. For a small moment were they
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forsaken. But with great mercies will I
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gather thee. Verse eight.
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In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, But with
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everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord
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thy Redeemer. Brothers and sisters, this is
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really powerful to me when I think in a House of Israel
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global context. I love it it it makes me
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excited, but in my heart I really love verse 7:00 and 8:00
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because of what it means for little old Tyler Griffin.
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Because every time we sin, it's a symbolic scattering.
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Every time we repent, it's a symbolic gathering.
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Every time I willingly use my agency to do things I know I
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shouldn't do, I end up with verse 7, a small moment of
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feeling forsaken. But anytime, and sometimes even
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before I've repented, I experienced these great mercies
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from the Lord. You get this everlasting
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kindness that comes from the Lord our Redeemer.
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So we can read these verses from Isaiah 54 in the big context and
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get great strength from them. But honestly, for me, my
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greatest motivation from these chapters comes at the eye level,
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the me here now I need to be gathered.
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I need the mercy and the grace of Jesus Christ.
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And I love how he continues this on verse 10.
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For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my
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kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant
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of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on
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thee, O thou afflicted, tossed with Tempest, and not comforted.
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I would imagine that there are many who watch these videos who
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are in the midst of all kinds of terrible storms, whether they be
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physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, financial,
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relational, on and on and on the list goes.
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I love the fact that these Isaiah chapters that Jesus is
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quoting here bring us back to the reality of he is bigger and
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more powerful than all of those problems combined times a
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million. He is capable and notice he
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says, I will lay thy stones with fair colors and lay the
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foundations with sapphires. Once again, he doesn't give us
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any promises on timing here, which means you may have to
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endure much longer than you think you should through a a
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dark trial or a difficult addiction or struggle.
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But his promise is sure that it won't last forever.
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If you'll turn to him and say I want you to be my God and I want
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to be thy people, then there's the promise that you can move
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forward. These are such beautiful verses.
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I love the scriptures, I love the gospel.
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And look at this other verse, verse 9.
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For this the waters of Noah unto me.
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For I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over
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the earth. So have I sworn that I would not
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be wroth or angry with thee? I think about that.
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I'm like, wait a second. Every time I see a rainbow, God
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has now just reinterpreted for us what the rainbow means.
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Originally it was, hey, I'm not going to destroy the earth.
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He's now telling us every time you see a rainbow, that is my
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direct promise to you. I will not be angry with you.
27:39
You have my covenant of peace and with tender mercies and
27:44
loving kindness I will internally gather you in.
27:48
That's just incredible. Sure, as Tyler mentioned, every
27:52
now and then we all make mistakes, but the promise from
27:55
God is sure that we will have His loving kindness and He will
27:58
not be angry and all we need to do is just turn to Him.
28:02
For me, very significant connecting point with these
28:08
teachings is in verse 13, because it's not enough for me
28:14
to have these promises. The real blessing of the
28:18
Abrahamic covenant is not just for yourself, but it's for your
28:22
posterity. And we're going to see that
28:24
again when we get to to chapter 25.
28:27
Look at verse 13. And all thy children shall be
28:31
taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy
28:34
children. I think it's safe to say that
28:36
the only thing I like more than my own peace and happiness and
28:41
and progress on the covenant path is to see and recognize the
28:46
progress and the development and the growth of my children along
28:51
that covenant path. And that promises here.
28:54
Verse 14 In righteousness shalt thou be established.
28:58
Thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt not
29:01
fear and from terror for shall not come near thee.
29:04
Brothers and sisters, if you've been terrified of the Lord or or
29:10
fearing punishment that might come because of stupid decisions
29:13
we've made in life, can I just say, let that go, drop that at
29:19
the Savior's feet and say, yes, I have been very, very
29:26
inappropriate in the way I've used my my agency at times and I
29:29
desperately need help. And the promise is he is a God
29:34
of mercy. And we will taste more fully of
29:37
that mercy if we stop beating ourselves and each other up
29:40
because of past mistakes and look more to the gathering, not
29:45
just the physical gathering of Israel, but the gathering of our
29:49
own soul unto the God who gave us life.
29:52
That's what Jesus whole mission is about is not to come down
29:55
here to condemn us, but to come down here to save us.
29:58
And he's very good at what he does.
30:00
Now chapter 23 opens with Jesus saying some very interesting
30:05
things about Isaiah. So he's quoted Isaiah.
30:09
We've skipped 53, but then he jumps to the outcome 54 in this
30:13
these beautiful promises. Then he finishes that and he
30:17
says verse one. Now behold, I say unto you that
30:20
ye ought to search these things. Yeah, a commandment.
30:24
This isn't a suggestion. It's not a recommendation.
30:27
It's a commandment which commandments are given as part
30:31
of covenantal agreements and covenantal connections.
30:33
And he is the author and the finisher of that faith or that
30:37
covenant that he's made with us. So he's saying, I'm giving you a
30:40
commandment that ye search these things diligently for.
30:43
Great are the words of Isaiah. Don't you love learning from the
30:47
Scriptures by not just what they say, but what they don't say?
30:51
You'll notice he didn't say a commandment I give unto you to
30:54
read Isaiah, or a commandment I give unto you to quote
30:58
occasionally from Isaiah. He said search these things
31:02
diligently, brothers and sisters.
31:05
If you just read Isaiah, you're not going to get much out of
31:07
him. You have to search.
31:08
You have to understand the covenantal language he's using.
31:11
You have to understand some things about the lands that he's
31:14
referring to and the people in the manner of prophesying among
31:16
the Jews. And once those things become
31:19
more and more native to our our language, so to speak, the more
31:24
we recognize that Isaiah truly was a prophet and seer of our
31:28
Lord, that his words are so great that Jesus gave us a
31:34
specific commandment to search them diligently.
31:38
Because Jesus is using the words of Isaiah like he did the Book
31:42
of Mormon as a fulfillment prophecy to say, when you see
31:47
all of the words of Isaiah begin to be fulfilled in the latter
31:50
days, then you'll know God is accelerating the work.
31:53
Basically he's, he's performing his, his covenantal obligations,
31:59
his duties in that covenant for the last time in the latter
32:03
days. Then he, he goes to the
32:06
Scriptures and he asks Nephi to come forth and he says, didn't I
32:12
command Samuel my prophet, Samuel the Lamanite to prophecy
32:16
unto this people? And the Saints would arise from
32:19
the dead and appear unto many in verse 9, and it's not written in
32:22
here. And then he gives a commandment
32:24
to Nephi, make sure that's written in there.
32:26
Now we're not clear. Does that mean that Nephi had
32:29
already written most of the prophecies of Samuel the
32:31
Lamanite, but had left out that one particular issue about the
32:35
the grave's opening? He's not clear in the text.
32:38
Or did he completely leave out all of Samuel Lamanite's speech
32:41
entirely and it needs to be put in, including this part?
32:45
I don't know. And that's less important than
32:47
the fact that Jesus wanted that particular part of Samuel's
32:53
prophecies to be included. I think that's important because
32:57
once again, it's wonderful to know about the resurrection of
33:00
Jesus Christ. But the So what part of that is
33:06
you are going to also be resurrected once again, bringing
33:10
you down to the I level, you and me level to say we will be
33:16
brought forth. And so Nephi rectifies that
33:19
situation and puts that in and gratefully we have Samuel's
33:23
prophecies. Now chapter 24, Jesus opens this
33:28
chapter by telling them there are scriptures that you didn't
33:33
have with you when you came over because Malachi is our last
33:37
prophet in our Old Testament writing approximately 400 BC.
33:43
Well, Lehi left Jerusalem 200 years before that, so he's not
33:47
known to these people over in the Americas.
33:49
So Jesus gives them two chapters, chapter 3 and chapter
33:52
4, which for us in in our KJV King James Version of the Bible
33:57
are the last two chapters of the Old Testament.
34:01
And they're rooted in covenants. Interesting covenants come back
34:06
again. Now, before I jump into to what
34:09
we're going to talk about here with Malachi three, let me just
34:11
say this. Most people when they think
34:12
about Malachi 3, they just think about tithing and the
34:15
commandment for tithing. But look at the context that
34:19
leads into tithes and offerings. There's a reason for those and
34:23
it's not financial. Look at verse 7, Even from the
34:26
days of your Father's, ye are gone away from mine ordinances
34:31
and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will
34:36
return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.
34:38
But you say, wherein shall we return?
34:41
So he's saying, you've broken this covenant, you've turned
34:43
your back on me, and you've left me.
34:45
And he says, return to the covenant, return to me.
34:48
And he, he's asking this question, Well, how can we
34:50
return? And then he gives the answer,
34:54
How do you return to this covenant?
34:56
Look at verse 8. Will a man rob God?
35:00
Yet ye have robbed me. But you say, wherein have we
35:03
robbed thee? The answer in tithes and
35:06
offerings. Now that's odd.
35:09
They've broken a covenant. They need to return to the
35:11
covenant. How do they return?
35:12
He says, through tithes and offerings.
35:14
Brothers and sisters, let me share a little parable with you
35:17
to teach this principle. This is my favorite non
35:21
scriptural parable of all time. I love this.
35:23
It was told by Elder James E Talmage clear back in the early
35:26
1900s. And I'm going to modify it
35:28
slightly. I'm going to take some some
35:30
license and, and, and tell the story just slightly different
35:33
than how he did in general conference many, many years ago.
35:37
It's called the parable of the grateful cat.
35:39
Once Upon a time there was a naturalist lived out in the
35:41
woods in a cabin. One day he's walking home past a
35:44
little pond near his home and there are two neighbour boys who
35:48
walk up to the pond carrying a picnic basket followed by a a
35:51
mother cat. They set the picnic basket down.
35:55
The first boy reaches into the basket and pulls out.
35:57
A brand new born baby kitten turns to the pond.
36:02
Mother cat is going ballistic on the the shoreline.
36:06
She's not happy as the second boy is reaching in for another
36:10
kitten. The naturalist stops them says
36:12
hey, wait a minute, wait a minute and he comes down and he
36:16
he knows that they're poor so he says can I buy them from you?
36:20
They agree. He gives them some money.
36:23
He takes the basket and goes to his cabin and they go home.
36:26
Which direction is mother cat go?
36:29
Pretty obvious she's going to follow the kittens.
36:32
So he makes a little corner in his cabin with a a blanket and
36:36
provides some some milk or cream for the mother cat Doesn't think
36:40
much of it. The next day, the naturalist has
36:43
a house full in his front room of of distinguished guests who
36:48
have come as as he's sharing some some scientific findings.
36:52
Halfway through his presentation, through the front
36:55
door that's open, walks Mother Cat up the center aisle.
37:00
She drops at his feet, the biggest, the juiciest mouse
37:04
you've ever seen, fresh caught. She hasn't eaten any of it, she
37:08
just freshly killed it and drops it at his feet, rubs up against
37:12
his legs, then turns and walks very proudly back out the door.
37:18
There's the parable, brothers and sisters.
37:20
What just happened is the naturalist standing there
37:23
thinking to himself, A mouse freshly caught.
37:28
Just what I wanted. The mouse means absolutely
37:34
nothing to the naturalist, but the mouse meant a great deal to
37:39
the cat, and he recognized the sacrifice that was made.
37:44
She gave up something that would have meant a great deal to her
37:49
as an expression in in a cat's way of expressing gratitude for
37:54
what had been done to save her young.
37:57
She's now dropping a a thank you gift at his feet because in her
38:01
mind, what could a living Organism want more than a
38:04
freshly caught mouse when in reality it's just going to cause
38:08
him more work. Brothers and sisters, let's be
38:11
clear, when I go to the servants of the Lord and I drop tithes
38:17
and offerings at their feet, when I put that there and then
38:22
walk away, don't think for a minute that God up in heaven is
38:26
rubbing his hands together saying look at all this money
38:30
that's coming in today. It's a fast Sunday.
38:32
Look at all these, all these donations and tithing offerings.
38:36
Think of all the things I can do with it.
38:38
Brothers and sisters, this doesn't mean anything to God.
38:42
He created all the world. This is nothing.
38:46
And some would say, Oh no, brother Griffin, God needs this
38:49
kind of stuff in order to do to to run the the church programs
38:54
as the creator of worlds without number, how hard would it be for
38:58
him to go to our prophet and say, you know that property that
39:02
you own in such and such location, Just dig down 20 feet
39:06
and they dig down and find the world's biggest diamond mine
39:08
That could solve any financial questions that could ever arise
39:13
for hundreds of years to come. God could finance this church
39:18
without even thinking about it, but he doesn't do it that way.
39:24
He does it this way. It's part of the covenant.
39:26
Brothers and sisters, tithes and offerings are not about dollar
39:31
bills or currency in your own nation.
39:35
It's about you saying God, I love thee more than I love this.
39:42
Just like the cat saying naturalist, I love you and I'm
39:47
thankful for what you did. So I'm going to sacrifice
39:50
something that means a lot to me as a as a sign of my gratitude
39:55
to you. Now let's follow this for just a
39:57
second. What does God do with this when
40:00
we drop this at his feet? Because unlike a mouse at a
40:03
naturalist's feet, God can actually do things with this.
40:07
He takes our once again mortal offering, and he turns it into
40:12
some things that become eternal. He builds temples, he prints
40:17
scriptures, he publishes general conference, he provides means
40:21
for the general authorities to run the programs of the church
40:25
worldwide. He provides a missionary
40:28
program. All of these things that he
40:30
doesn't need in order to be saved.
40:32
He's already saved, But they help us on our journey to become
40:37
more like him. Elder Talmage finished his
40:40
parable and he said our need to sacrifice for God or give things
40:48
to God is incalculably greater than his need for our service to
40:53
Him. God doesn't need us to serve
40:55
him, but we desperately need to serve Him as a sign that we're
41:02
returning unto Him. And one means that He has done
41:06
that is through tithes and offerings.
41:08
Brothers and sisters, there are some of you who are thinking to
41:10
yourself, I can't afford to pay tithing.
41:13
Can I just say we're talking about the God of the universe
41:17
holding worlds without number in his hand.
41:20
It's a serious test of faith, a leap into the darkness for some
41:24
of you. But if you make it, His promises
41:27
are sure that he, the God of the universe, combined with your
41:32
faith and your diligence turning to Him in that act of faith, is
41:37
going to be able to do more with 9/10 of your income than you
41:42
without His help are going to be able to do with all of your
41:46
income reserved for yourself. And how that works, I don't
41:50
know. But I have proven this over and
41:53
over and over again, my wife and I in our, in our marriage and
41:58
before that even in my life. Look at the promise, verse 10.
42:03
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be
42:06
meat in mine house, and prove me now here with saith the Lord of
42:10
hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour
42:15
you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
42:18
receive it. This is one of those principles
42:20
of the Gospel, Brothers sisters, that we could preach forever and
42:24
it won't do nearly as good as you living it, putting God to a
42:29
test and see what happens. Twice in one lesson is 2
42:32
references to Noah. This phrase, the windows of
42:37
heaven, it doesn't show up a lot in scriptures, but when it does
42:40
the first time in the Book of Mormon, sorry in the Old
42:42
Testament is when God opened the windows of heaven and flooded
42:47
the earth, flooded it. And that's the reference he's
42:50
talking about here is like, go ahead and test me, pay your
42:53
tithing, pay your offerings, and see if I won't basically flood
42:57
your life like I did in the time of Noah.
43:01
And let me just hear a very brief story.
43:03
Once when I was in grad school, I was under serious financial
43:06
distress and I prayed to God like your promises were if I
43:11
paid my tithe and offerings that you would take care of me.
43:14
And God sent a little flood, literally.
43:17
I lived in a small basement studio apartment and one night a
43:20
massive thunderstorm flooded my apartment.
43:24
And the landlord gave me 3 months of free rent because of
43:27
that, which allowed me to survive.
43:30
And I just think, Lord, I really wanted the flood of your
43:33
blessings, but I didn't need a literal flood.
43:36
But he just has a good sense of humor.
43:39
And I think it's important for us to acknowledge the fact that
43:42
sometimes we as human beings put an unreasonable expectation on
43:47
God that if I pay this, then somehow I'm going to become
43:49
rich. That's not his promise.
43:52
He'll open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings upon you.
43:55
It may be financial in nature, but it will probably be
44:00
spiritual for sure, along with a variety of other ways that might
44:04
be related to health or Peace of Mind or opportunities for
44:09
different employment or a move. Different opportunities will
44:13
come as we put our trust in him. It really is that simple, he
44:18
says. I'll be your God.
44:20
Just be my people. And if you'll treat me like a
44:23
God, I'll treat you like my people.
44:26
And I know how to take care of my people, but I also know how
44:30
to try my people and I know how to prove them by giving them
44:34
them tests. So don't don't assume that just
44:38
because you pay your tithing, all of a sudden life's going to
44:39
get easy. It it'll still be a test.
44:43
Now, chapter 25, he takes us into Malachi 4, the last
44:48
chapter. And this is one of those other
44:52
passages that is included in all four standard works, verse 5 and
44:56
6. You'll notice here verse 5,
44:59
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of
45:03
the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
45:07
The Jewish tradition, the rabbinical tradition among
45:10
Jewish people is that before the Lord, the Messiah will come,
45:16
that Elijah will come to turn the hearts of the the fathers to
45:19
the children, and the children are the fathers.
45:22
That's why every Passover Seder service that they have, they
45:26
leave a plate at the table that's set with food and a chair
45:30
that's empty, ready for Elijah. And at a certain point they send
45:35
people to the door to open the door to see if Elijah's there
45:38
because they believe that Elijah will come on Passover.
45:41
That's that's rabbinical tradition among them.
45:45
It's been that way for millennia.
45:47
Here's the interesting thing. On April 3rd, 1836, in the
45:52
Kirtland Temple, Elijah did come and he did bring keys and give
45:59
them to Joseph Smith and Sidney Riggan.
46:02
At the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, you had all of
46:07
these heavenly ministrations and these keys being passed.
46:11
Guess what? The calendar would have shown
46:14
you on April 3rd, 1836. If you flipped and looked at a
46:19
Gregorian calendar, guess what event was also taking place on
46:22
April 3rd that year? Yep, it was the first full moon
46:27
after the spring equinox that year, which is Passover.
46:31
Elijah did come on Passover and he did bring keys.
46:35
What are the keys? Look at verse six.
46:38
He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the
46:43
heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite
46:46
the earth with a curse. Brothers and sisters, if you
46:50
look carefully at this, he says, I'm going to turn the hearts of
46:54
the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to
47:01
the fathers. Here's the question.
47:04
Where are you in verse 6? Our knee jerk response, the
47:08
younger we are when we read this is to see ourselves here.
47:13
And it's all about genealogy. It's all about family history
47:20
work. It's all about looking to the
47:22
past, to our fathers and doing temple work for them and
47:26
providing means whereby they can find salvation through the
47:30
atonement of Christ. The older you get, the more you
47:34
realize, oh wait, this goes both directions.
47:39
He's also turning the hearts of the fathers to their posterity,
47:43
to their children. Throwing this out here sometime.
47:48
Sometimes we get so excited about family history work that
47:54
if we're not careful we can overlook family present work.
48:03
Those living children of God who are with us right here, right
48:08
now, sometimes we can overlook them because we're so excited
48:13
about what happened before. And I would just throw out out
48:18
here that one of the amazing things about the gospel of Jesus
48:22
Christ is its ability to give us this eternal perspective that
48:28
also included in these keys, binding of the generations, is
48:34
this notion of family, future work, so to speak.
48:41
So here you are as an individual, and you find
48:47
yourself at this pivot point between here we are in the
48:52
present, between the past and the future, and we're one link
48:57
in that chain. And we understand that there are
48:59
people who for a variety of reasons, don't get the
49:02
opportunity to be literally biological parents or to adopt
49:07
children in this life or to get married.
49:09
God knows all things and He'll provide means whereby nobody
49:14
will be denied eternal blessings in this family sense eternally
49:21
if they keep the covenant. Now, for some of you out there
49:25
watching, that's part of your test of mortality is how to move
49:30
forward without this kind of a scenario.
49:33
Now let's go back to this, this example, a husband and a wife.
49:40
There are family history obligations.
49:43
There are family present obligations, but they're also
49:47
family future blessings and promises that are given.
49:51
And I love the fact that we learn in the New Testament that
49:56
Jesus did all these things for our sake.
50:01
Well, brothers and sisters, if I stop living my life just for me,
50:08
but I start turning in all directions, I turn to my my
50:14
family history and I try to learn their stories and learn
50:18
from them as I try to engage more fully with the family that
50:22
I have right now around me. And as I think through, wait a
50:26
minute, things that I do today could actually have an effect on
50:31
my posterity down the road. There's power in that.
50:36
The spirit of Elijah doesn't just permeate family history
50:40
work, which it does. And some of you have experienced
50:43
that where it gets a hold of you and it won't let go.
50:46
And it's beautiful and it's wonderful.
50:48
But I think it also has the power to help us see ourselves
50:53
in this perspective of future posterity.
50:58
And things that I do today can actually have a positive benefit
51:04
on on them down the road. And so I love that Christ is
51:08
allowing us to see this final 2 verses of the Old Testament in
51:13
this context with the Nephites and Lamanites saying if Elijah
51:16
doesn't come and bring those keys, the whole earth is utterly
51:20
wasted. We've totally wasted all of our
51:23
time. But Elijah did come and he did
51:27
bring those keys, and we're not wasting our time.
51:29
And God is gathering the elect out of the four corners of the
51:32
earth, and He is inviting and encouraging all of us to return
51:36
unto Him. 3rd Nephi 26, a beautiful chapter, basically
51:40
closes Jesus's experiences with the people.
51:44
And it's interesting how he concludes.
51:46
He commands to make sure that things are written down.
51:48
It's really hard to remember things unless there's a record.
51:51
It is possible our memories can remember things, but it's easier
51:55
when things are recorded. And he also encourages and
51:58
focuses people on ordinances to put order into the gospel.
52:04
And the most important order for him initially was let's get
52:07
people baptized. And it's interesting how at the
52:10
end of the chapter, this is 20/21 that people did all the
52:13
things that Jesus commanded and they who were baptized in the
52:17
name of Jesus were called the Church of Christ.
52:19
So if you remember back way back in 3rd and ephi, 11/1 of the
52:22
first things Jesus talks about is baptism.
52:26
And here at the end of his time with the people, he focuses yet
52:29
again on baptism. And we see this conclusion that
52:32
people were baptized. Now, at this point, many of us
52:37
have been baptized. The sacrament is the renewal of
52:39
that ceremony. And we do that in the name of
52:42
Christ. And it invites us to remember on
52:44
a daily or weekly basis that we are covenanted to God, that we
52:50
are loyal to him. And all the promises we've been
52:52
talking about, they are all live.
52:55
They're all there for us. And as we choose to turn to God
52:59
through baptism and the weekly partaking of the sacrament,
53:03
those promises become real in our lives.
53:05
And this is one of the major reasons why Jesus showed up, is
53:08
to institute and remind us that God's promises are alive and
53:13
well for us. We love you.
53:14
We appreciate who you are. May the Lord's blessings be upon
53:18
you.