Latest / Scripture Central / 3 Nephi 8-11 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited

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3 Nephi 8-11 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited · Scripture Central

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So here we are, Third Nephi chapter 8.
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If you look at your scripture page, we've been 422 pages into
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this Book of Mormon where prophets have been giving signs
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regarding the coming of the Messiah.
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And now over in the old world, he's being crucified, he's being
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killed, he's performing that infinite atonement, and we get
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to see the effects in the new world of what the natural
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disasters are that come as a result of the crucifixion of
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Jesus Christ in the old world. Look up chapter 8, verse one.
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Mormon gives us some pretty powerful description of prophets
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validating and verifying prophet.
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Look at verse 1. And now it came to pass that
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according to our record, and we know our record to be true, for
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behold, it was a just man who did keep the record, for he
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truly did many miracles in the name of Jesus.
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And there was not any man who could do a miracle in the name
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of Jesus, save he were cleansed every wit from his iniquity.
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So he's saying, look, we can trust this record written by
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Nephi, this man of God. And he tells you that verse 5,
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it came to pass in the 30 and fourth year.
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In the first month, on the 4th day of the month, there arose a
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great storm. If we were using a Gregorian
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calendar, that would be January 4th.
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We're not using a Gregorian calendar.
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They're on a totally different calendar system.
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The point being, it's the fourth day of the very first month of
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the year. Well, this is where we finally
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can do a little bit of crossover between the old world and the
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new worlds because we know when Jesus was crucified, He was
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killed on or one day, give or take, on Passover.
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Well, we know when Passover falls, it's the first full moon
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after the spring equinox every year.
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So it looks like the Nephite calendar is turning over
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sometime really close to that spring equinox.
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Notice the descriptions now that Mormon uses with the storm verse
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6. There was also a great and
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terrible Tempest and there was terrible Thunder in so much that
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it did shake the whole earth as if it was about to divide
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asunder. And there were exceedingly sharp
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lightnings such as never had been known in all the land.
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This isn't what you'd call a typical thunderstorm.
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This is exceedingly sharp lightnings such as have never
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been known in all the land. We're we're into this story over
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600 years and they've never seen anything like this.
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Notice verse 8. The city of Zarahemna did take
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fire. Moroni was sunk into the depths
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of the sea and the inhabitants there were drowned.
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The earth was carried up upon the city of Moraniha, and in the
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place there became a great mountain and there was great and
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terrible destruction. Brothers and sisters, we don't
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know all of the details about exactly where the Book Mormon
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took place, but when you read the destructions in 35 chapter
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8, wherever it took place, it seems that there is this
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cataclysmic natural disaster series of events that's
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unfolding that involves a whole series of things, huge storms
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that have never been known before from above Earth shaking
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and quaking from beneath these exceedingly sharp lightnings.
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Now, I'm not a geology expert, but I I've heard quite a few of
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our of our geology professors at BYU talk about elements from 35
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eight and they're all seeing major major geologic natural
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disasters taking place. Specifically, think about what
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happens in a volcano. For fun.
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Google volcanic lightning sometime and watch some of the
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videos or look at some of the pictures.
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Exceedingly sharp lightnings. A volcano can create its own
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weather pattern and it just, it's shocking.
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Notice what happened in the state of Washington many years
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ago when Mount Saint Helens erupted.
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Everybody was expecting this eruption to go up, but it didn't
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go up. It went out the side.
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So what used to be Mount Saint Helens, now all of a sudden off
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to the side there was a small mountain and if people had had a
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city that was built anywhere near that area, you could say,
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as it says in verse 10, the earth was carried up upon the
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city of Moraniha, that in the place of the city there became a
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great mountain. You can see the earth swallowing
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some of the cities with major earthquake and shifting of
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plates in the plate tectonics going on verse 12.
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And behold, there was a more great and terrible destruction
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in the land northward. For behold, the whole face of
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the land was changed because of The Tempest and the whirlwinds
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and the thunderings and the lightnings and the exceedingly
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great quaking of the whole earth, to the point where 13
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describes highways broken up, level roads spoiled, many smooth
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places became rough, great notable city sunk, others
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burned, many shake until the buildings had fallen and they
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were left desolate. How bad were the winds, the
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whirlwinds, either hurricane or tornado kinds of wind action?
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Verse 16 There were some who were carried away in the
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whirlwind, and whither they went no man knoweth say they know
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that they were carried away. Brothers and sisters, the point
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here is that the God of nature seems to be unleashing all of
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the possible natural disasters you could imagine, all
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compounded into one to the point where this destruction is going
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on for three hours. Verse 19, he says Now, many
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thought it felt like a lot longer than three hours, but
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Mormon informs us it was about the space of three hours that
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this terrible destruction was coming.
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And then behold, darkness came upon the face of the land.
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You've killed the light of the world over in Jerusalem.
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There is no more light seen in the Americas for the the three
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days. Notice verse 20.
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It came to pass that there was thick darkness upon all the face
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of the land in so much that the inhabitants thereof who had not
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fallen could feel the vapor of darkness.
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It's not just that somebody turned out all the lights and
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there's thick clouds. There's a vapor of darkness.
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They can feel it in the air. Once again, I'm not an expert,
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but you look at what happens after major volcanic activity.
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Spewing all of those gases and those ashes and those, those
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various elements into the air creates this thick of vapour of
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darkness to the point where they couldn't even light a fire.
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Even with their exceedingly dry and fine wood, they couldn't
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even get the fire to light. That's interesting if the air is
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filled with all of these other gases and they're struggling to
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just live themselves, they can't even get their fires to start.
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So they are literally going to sit there in complete darkness
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during this this time when the vapor is covering the land.
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Now turn over to Chapter 9, verse one that came to pass that
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there was a voice heard among all the inhabitants of the earth
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upon all the face of this land. You'll notice that when you're
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in a place that is so dark that you can't even see your hand in
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front of your face, it forces your other senses to maybe be a
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little more in tune than they otherwise might have been.
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I can only imagine how it must have felt for these people
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sitting there in that darkness, wondering who's survived, who
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hasn't, what's happened to their world and all of their
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exceedingly fine buildings and workmanship and their monies.
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That's all now taken away, so to speak, as they're sitting there
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in the darkness. Then they hear this voice.
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Woe, woe, woe unto this people. In ancient languages, there a
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variety of ways to add emphasis to something or to make
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something superlative. One of the ways to do that is to
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repeat a concept 2 times to add emphasis, or three times if you
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want to give it more of a superlative sense.
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So when you get a triple woe, oh, that is as woe as you can
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go. It doesn't get any lower than
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that, right? This is the ultimate
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pronouncement of destruction, by the way, that phrase, the triple
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woe, you're only going to find it four times in Scripture, two
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times in the book form, once in the Doctrine and Covenants, and
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once in in the Book of Revelation.
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So notice who gets the triple woe here, and why woe unto the
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inhabitants of the whole earth, except they shall repent.
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For the devil laugheth, and his angels rejoice because of the
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slain of the fair sons and daughters of my people.
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And it is because of the iniquity and abominations that
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they are fallen. It's not because God is cruel.
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It's not because God is random and he just.
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Oh well, looks like something bad just happened.
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It's because of their iniquities and their abominations that they
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are fallen. And then he describes.
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Look at the personal pronouns here, verse 3.
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Behold that great cities Erehimwa have I burned with fire
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once again. With a volcano, it's easier to
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have fire kinds of events or earthquakes.
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If they have torches to fall and light things on fire.
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There are a variety of ways that that could have happened, but
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Zarahemla specifically described as being burned.
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Look at verse 4. Behold that great city Moroni
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have I caused to be sunk in the depths of the sea.
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Verse five he talks about Moraniah being covered with the
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earth and the inhabitants thereof.
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Why? To hide their iniquities and
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their abominations from before my face, that the blood of the
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prophets and the Saints shall not come anymore unto me against
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them. Look over six city of Gilgal
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cause to be sunk. 7 Onaiha Mokum means city of Jerusalem, and the
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inhabitants thereof, and waters have I caused to come up in the
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stead thereof. To hide their wickedness and
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abominations from before my face, that the blood of the
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prophets and the Saints shall not come up anymore unto Me
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against them. So we see a pattern here in 3rd
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Nephi that releases things we see in the book of Genesis.
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But let me just look at a couple of verses with you here in 3rd
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Nephi Chapter 9, verse five, that great city Roniaha have I
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covered with earth in the inhabitants thereof to hide
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their iniquities and their abominations from before my
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face, that the blood of the prophets and the Saints shall
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not come anymore unto me against them.
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So it's this interesting thing. It's almost like God does not
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want to hear the noise of the righteous expressing their grief
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at the injustices that they are experiencing.
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That eventually God and his divine justice and divine love
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finds a way to fix the problem. He covers it, He wipes it out,
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He erases the problem. If you turn back to Genesis, for
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example, we have a similar situation, Genesis chapter 6,
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verse 5. And God saw that wickedness of
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man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
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thoughts of His heart, the heart of mankind was only evil
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continually. And it repented the Lord,
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meaning he felt very sorrowful that He made man on earth and it
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grieved him at his heart. He was really sad that humans
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had corrupted this good earth that He had created and
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corrupted the things that He had tried to provide for them.
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And so as we see, He sends the flood to bury the wickedness, to
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cleanse the wickedness, to erase the wickedness, to wipe out the
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wickedness. And we hear throughout
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Scriptures, God does not just pull out the weeds right when
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they pop up. He lets the wheat and the tares
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grow together. But eventually there will be a
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reaping. Justice will happen.
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It doesn't always happen in our timing, but there are prophets
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who warn us and if we listen carefully, not only are we
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warned about potential timings of things that we should be
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aware of, but far more important, we are continuously
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reminded that if we repent and turn to the Savior who has His
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arms open to us, we will be safe.
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It doesn't mean we will never suffer or no bad things will
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ever happen to us, but it does mean that we can have the peace
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of His prosperity, which is having a spirit with us, and
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ultimately we will be covered. Now, what's interesting is that
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God will cover the wickedness. He will destroy it out, but for
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those who repent, He will actually cover their sins with
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the blood of His atonement. It's a very powerful thing.
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So one way or the other, God's going to cover things.
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He will cover you in His atoning blood.
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Baptism is a great representation of that.
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Now I think for most of us, we all have a desire to follow
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Jesus Christ, and the Book of Mormon is preserved for our day
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to remind us that we can't have that peace if we turn to Him in
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faith. After Mormon describes these 16
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cities that are mentioned by name being destroyed, he then
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gives us some clarification. Look at verse 13.
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O all ye that are spared because you were more righteous than
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they, will you not now return unto Me and repent of your sins
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and be converted, that I may heal you.
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Notice the reason they were spared.
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It's not because they were righteous.
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It's because they were more righteous than those who got
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destroyed and the people who got destroyed.
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He describes the kinds of things that they had been doing.
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They had been rejecting the prophets and killing the
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prophets. And so He caused these great
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destructions to come up on the land.
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Now his invitation to those who survived all of these these
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destructive events is repent. Come to me.
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I'll heal you, I'll save you, I'll cleanse you, I'll cover
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you. And then he, for the first time,
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this voice in the darkness. And keep in mind, it's so dark
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they can't even light a fire. They can't see any light of any
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kind, but they can hear the voice of the light of the world.
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Look at verse 15. Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the
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Son of God. I created the heavens and the
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earth and all things that in them are.
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I was with the Father from the beginning.
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I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and in me hath the
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Father glorified his name. Brothers and sisters, this is
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the voice of Jesus Christ speaking to these inhabitants of
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the new world. Well, what just happened in the
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old world? He just got crucified, so he's
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now speaking to them. If you take this literally from
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the spirit world, having just given up the ghost in the old,
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it doesn't necessarily have to line up perfectly with the
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timing over there, but if we read it literally, that's what's
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going on. Now look at verse 18.
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I am the light and the life of the world.
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I am alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
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I'm the beginning of the world and I'm there at the end of the
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world. My hand is through it all.
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Let's talk about this phrase that we've all seen this alpha
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and Omega in the Greek language and really in any language that
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actually has an alphabet. Not all languages do.
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You have a first letter and a last letter and in Greek you
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have the 1st letter is alpha. The last letter happens to be
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the long O, which is it's actually called Omega.
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It means the Big O and all the letters in the alphabet are
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between that. Jesus is the author and finisher
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of our faith. Because he's the author that
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gives him authority. You notice that the word author
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and authority both have author in it.
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You can't author without letters, and you need all the
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letters of the alphabet to do that.
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He's the author and finisher of our faith.
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He writes the story of the plan of salvation.
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He invites us to participate in that narrative if we show up, as
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happens here in the Book of Mormon, and try to become the
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author ourselves and to take the narrative in another way, which
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is like injustice and iniquity and destroying the people who
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speak on behalf of God, who is the author.
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He will eventually say, I have to wipe you off because you
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aren't the author and you're not the authority.
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I'm the one who's writing the story of the plan of happiness,
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the plan of salvation. And so this is kind of what he's
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saying, like I am everything and I want to share it fully with
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you. Just accept it.
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Just embrace what I've had to offer you instead of rejecting
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it because of your fallen natures and losing all that I
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have to offer you. That's just a little insight on
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what the idea of alpha and Omega means.
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We talked about how you'll be buried in water one way or the
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other, either the waters of mercy of baptism or the waters
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of justice that God will have to bring upon us if we don't
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repent. We have a similar thing going on
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if we look at verse 20 in 35, Chapter 9.
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And you shall offer for sacrifice unto me a broken heart
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and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a
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broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with
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fire and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because
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of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were
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baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it
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not. So before I mention the
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symbolism here, let me just point out the word fire.
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I find this really quite powerful.
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And the word pure actually come from the same root.
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To become pure, you need fire, and fire purifies.
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So just like we, you'll either be baptized or buried, Mercy or
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justice. The same thing with fire.
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We see it right here in 3rd Nephi 9.
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Either we can accept the purging, purifying fire of the
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Holy Ghost, which brings the atonement to our lives, or we
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will get the fire of justice. Get the fire of mercy, Holy
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Ghost, or the fire of justice as we saw, for example, the city of
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Zarahemla burned. And so we have these symbols
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that are going on in the scriptures and God is trying to
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teach us. You have a choice.
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There are two ways. You can choose the right hand of
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God, or you can choose not to be on any side of God and to be
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chopped out of His presence. Now you'll notice that in verse
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10 the earth did cleave together again, that it stood, and the
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morning and the weeping and the wailing of the people who were
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spared alive did cease, and their mourning was turned into
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joy, and their lamentations into the praise and Thanksgiving unto
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the Lord Jesus Christ their Redeemer.
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I like that pattern. They take time to mourn and
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lament. They're sad.
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But at this point they now recognize there's a lot of work
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to do. So they now move forward towards
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Christ. Verse 11.
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And thus far were the Scriptures fulfilled, which had been spoken
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by the prophets. And it was the more righteous
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part of the people who were saved, and it was they who
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received the prophets and stoned them not.
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And it was they who had not shed the blood of the Saints who were
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spared. Towards the end of this chapter
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in verse 18, Mormon interjects some editorial comments where he
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says, and it came to pass that in the ending of the 30 and 4th
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year, remember when the destruction started, it was on
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day four of the 30 and 4th year. So here he's saying at the
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ending of the 30 and 4th year, behold, I will show unto you
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that the people of Nephi who were spared, and also all those
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who had been called Lamanites who had been spared, did have
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great favors shown unto them and great blessings poured out upon
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their heads. So what we have here is if this
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is your 30 and 4th year, you have day 4 here and he's saying
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sometime in the ending of the 30 and 4th year there are great
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favors shown unto the people. So this would be like 11 months
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later. However, he then adds this other
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line that says in so much that soon after the ascension of
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Christ into heaven, he did truly manifest himself unto them Jesus
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come right away right after the the destructive events listed
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here. Was it in, you know, that right
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after the three days of being in the spirit world and then coming
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out of the grave? Was it soon after the ascension
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was at the ending of the 30 and four?
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Here Mormon seems to leave some options open here.
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All we get are some bookend possibilities.
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So we know that Jesus is crucified.
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We would assume that that's where the destruction is taking
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place. And in the three days of
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darkness as he, as he's on the cross, and then in the tomb for
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three more days, which would be day 7 in our year.
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And then we know that the ascension over in the Old World
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occurs after about 40 days with the apostles and the Saints, the
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women and and men over there in the Old world.
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And then is the ascension into heaven.
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So is it soon after that ascension right in here?
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Is it near the ending that Third Nephi 11 occurs when he comes at
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the end of the day? I would just leave it somewhere
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in this range, which isn't a very big period of time, but
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somewhere in there Jesus is going to come and visit these
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people. But there seems to be a natural
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break right here from Mormon. Notice he says at the very end
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of verse 19. Therefore, for this time, I make
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an end of my sayings. So he's taking an editorial
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break from his record keeping. Maybe he has to go fight another
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battle, maybe Misses Mormon is going to have a little baby boy
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at this point, I don't know. We don't know, but he's going to
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take a little bit of a break and he'll come back to it.
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So when he picks it back up, it's going to be in 3511.
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Now, what's the therefore what for chapters 8-9 and 10 filled
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with all of this destruction? I think Taylor has stated it as
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best we can as we can say it. God will cover our sins.
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God will cover our weakness. We can either choose to go to
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Him and ask Him to cover those sins and those weaknesses, or we
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can continue to glory in those sins and those weaknesses.
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One way or another, they're going to get covered.
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One way is pleasant, the other way is not.
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Just know that God is in charge. He is the author and the
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finisher of our faith. He's the Lord of the
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Outstretched Arms, inviting us to come under the wings of his
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safety. I want to share with you some
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things that I know. I have felt the power of the
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love of Jesus Christ in my life. I have felt the true power of
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the Atonement of my life. And I know that Jesus Christ is
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my personal Savior. And I know that that is a
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blessing for all people, that He is the Savior for all of God's
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children. We live in a world with a lot of
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challenges and confusion and difficulty.
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There is purity and peace in Jesus Christ.
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And the Book of Mormon was written and preserved to testify
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to us that we can fully trust Jesus Christ.
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And as we do, we can feel the power and the peace that comes
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from being immersed in His love. And I invite you to fill His
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love in your life. And I know that it is real. 35
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Chapter 11 verse one, it begins by telling us that there's a
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great multitude of people gathered together round about
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the temple which is in the land Bountiful.
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So people in great numbers are gathering to come to the temple
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in land Bountiful and this is following 35 chapter 8-9 and 10
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this this great destruction. Notice what it tells us.
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They're marveling and wondering one with another, showing one to
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another the great and marvelous change which had taken place.
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I believe that they're talking about the change in the land and
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the buildings and the destruction and the things that
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that are now looking different, but there's another change
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that's taken place. It's not the the specific focal
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point of verse one, but for me it's one of the most critical
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parts of verse one. The greater change that's taken
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place is the change that's in their heart, not the change in
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the land. As great and marvelous as those
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changes may be in the physical world, the reality is, is now
26:04
they're focused differently than they were back in 35 seven.
26:08
They're now focused on coming to the temple.
26:10
They're focused on talking about Jesus Christ.
26:14
Look at verse 2. They were also conversing about
26:16
this Jesus Christ of whom the sign had been given concerning
26:20
His death. It's in that setting where we
26:24
now get this incredible experience, which you might be
26:30
able to refer to 3rd Nephiah 11 through 27 as the Holy of Holies
26:36
of the Book Mormon. In that this whole time up to
26:40
these pages we've been waiting for and anticipating the coming
26:44
of the Savior to the world and He's finally here and these
26:49
people get to come into His presence and have this
26:52
experience. Here's how it begins.
26:55
Verse three. It came to pass the while they
26:57
were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as
27:01
if it came out of heaven and they cast their eyes round about
27:04
for they understood not the voice which they heard.
27:07
And then he goes on to describe the voice not being harsh,
27:10
neither was it a loud voice and it was a small voice, but it did
27:13
Pierce them that did here to the very center and that caused
27:16
their whole souls to quake and their hearts to burn.
27:20
Did you notice what happened? You have a large multitude of
27:23
people gathered at the temple. They hear a heavenly voice come
27:29
to them, and what was their response?
27:32
They didn't understand. They heard a voice speaking, but
27:35
they didn't understand it. So what was their response?
27:39
They cast their eyes round about, for they understood, not
27:43
the voice. They're looking horizontally.
27:50
They're, they're scanning the crowd, probably with a confused
27:54
look on their face, like I, I'm hearing something, but I have no
27:59
idea what it is. And I'm looking around this vast
28:02
multitude horizontally. And what am I looking for?
28:07
I'm looking for somebody who has a look of understanding, a look
28:12
of recognition, a look of, hey, I know exactly what's what's
28:16
being said. The reality is, is every one of
28:19
those people in that great multitude is just as confused as
28:23
everybody else in the multitude. They're all looking for answers
28:26
horizontally. When impressions have come
28:31
vertically, you'll notice they're not.
28:33
They're not looking up in verse 3.
28:35
And so consequently they end up just as confused at the end of
28:39
verse 3 as they are at the beginning of verse three.
28:42
Now it's easy for us to read the Scripture like this and say, why
28:46
are they doing that? Can't they figure this out?
28:51
But be very careful when you point fingers of scorn or
28:54
judgment into the past, or when you try to judge people in the
28:58
past based on modern day standards or norms or or
29:04
societal perspectives. Because whenever you point a
29:09
finger of scorn at somebody, you've probably heard this
29:12
before, you've got 3 pointing back at you.
29:15
Look at verse 4. It came to pass that again, they
29:19
heard the voice and they understood it not.
29:22
These people aren't terribly different than we are today.
29:27
We hear things, we get messages from heaven and we don't
29:30
understand them always at 1st And instead of going to the
29:35
source, our societal knee jerk responses to do exactly what
29:39
they did in verse 3, which is to look horizontally.
29:43
We just don't do it quite as in person as they maybe you're
29:47
doing it in verse three. We turn horizontally by grabbing
29:52
things like Google or texting or turning horizontally through
29:57
digital means to see if somebody can tell me how to live my life
30:01
or how to make sense of the confusion that I'm facing.
30:04
I love this next verse because it shows me a pattern of what we
30:08
can do better as a society, as a culture today, as individuals
30:14
and as families. Look at verse five.
30:15
Look at the difference between verse 5 and those previous two
30:20
attempts. And again, the third time they
30:22
did hear the voice and it opened their ears to hear it and their
30:27
eyes were towards the sound thereof.
30:30
Brothers and sisters, they the voice didn't change.
30:34
It's not as if God was speaking a foreign language in verse one
30:38
or in verse three and four and then spoke their language in
30:41
verse 5. God's saying the same thing in
30:43
verse 3-4 and five would be my assumption.
30:46
The only thing that changed is they opened their ears to hear
30:51
it and they turned their eyes towards the sound thereof.
30:55
They looked heavenward. They stopped relying on each
30:58
other to interpret what it was that they were supposed to do,
31:01
and they looked to God. That's the only change.
31:05
Now it says, behold, the third time they did understand the
31:09
voice which they heard. And then he's going to tell you
31:12
what it says here. Applying that to us today,
31:15
brothers and sisters, is is a really powerful principle.
31:19
We can tune our ears to the voices of the world's experts,
31:23
to the voices of people who may be self-proclaimed that they've
31:27
got things figured out and they'll tell you exactly how to
31:29
live your life and how to how to make decisions.
31:31
Or we can have our knee jerk response be to tune our ear
31:36
upward, open our ears to hear the words of the Lord, and to
31:41
turn heavenward with our eyes and focus first there.
31:45
That doesn't mean He's not going to inspire us to use horizontal
31:49
sources. They have their place.
31:52
It's just that we start by turning to God, looking to God,
31:56
trusting in the Lord with all our heart and leaning not on our
32:00
own understanding and other people's understanding, or
32:03
trusting in the arm of flesh. It's trusting in the almighty
32:06
hand of God. Here's what the voice says.
32:10
Behold, my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I
32:16
have glorified my name. Hear ye him.
32:22
You'll notice that whenever the voice of the Father is recorded
32:27
in Scripture, he's usually introducing the Son, whether
32:31
it's at the baptism of Jesus, the Mount of Transfiguration
32:34
here in 3511 at the Sacred Grove with Joseph Smith.
32:39
The Father seems to be most interested in testifying of the
32:44
divine nature of his only begotten Son.
32:48
And you'll notice in the times when the Father is introducing
32:52
the Son, he always uses the word beloved.
32:56
If you want to be more like Heavenly Father, don't just love
33:00
people, but express your love for people.
33:04
Heavenly Father, every single time he introduces the Son, he
33:07
calls him his beloved Son. Cognitively, Jesus would know
33:11
that Heavenly Father loves him, but oh how it must make him feel
33:16
when he hears the Father express that love for him.
33:23
As human beings, we love hearing people say things like well done
33:29
thou, good and faithful servant, or I love you, or this is my
33:33
beloved, that just it just motivates us.
33:38
Love is the single greatest motivator.
33:41
It's not fear, it's not hope of some grand reward.
33:46
It's love. I love seeing in scriptures that
33:51
love being expressed and reciprocated.
33:54
The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father, and that
33:58
love is very, very apparent throughout these stories.
34:03
Now verse 8, after they hear this introduction, they look up
34:07
and they see a man descending from the heavens dressed in a
34:11
white robe. It says, and he came down and
34:15
stood in the midst of them, in the middle of them, and every
34:19
eye is on him. And they're saying, oh, don't
34:22
say anything because an Angel just showed up.
34:25
I like this because it it teaches a principle that in
34:30
verse 7, they heard the voice of the Father introducing his
34:34
beloved son. Then they saw this man
34:36
descending and they think it's an Angel.
34:39
In other words, they understood what the Father said in verse 7,
34:44
but they didn't understand what the Father meant.
34:48
And he's OK with that. He's OK with taking us where we
34:51
are, stretching us to the next level and then the next level,
34:55
line upon line, precept on precept.
34:58
God's very patient. Thank heaven for God's patience
35:03
with us in our progression to come to know him, to come to
35:07
understand him and come to understand ourselves and come to
35:10
progress in our in our journey of faith, in our quest of
35:13
discipleship in life. So these people are sitting
35:17
there, they're thinking this is an Angel.
35:18
And then this Angel stretches out his hand, and says, Behold,
35:24
I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come
35:28
into the world. And then notice how he
35:30
introduces the rest of his identity.
35:33
Behold, I am the light and the life of the world, and I have
35:37
drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me,
35:41
and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the
35:44
world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father
35:47
in all things from the beginning.
35:50
Something very interesting happens.
35:52
Now to introduce this for those of you who have been in a
35:56
setting where the prophet of God enters the room, you know what
36:01
happens and it happens instinctively.
36:04
It just happens spontaneously. Everybody stops talking and
36:08
stands up very reverently when God's prophet enters the room.
36:13
When God's Son comes into into your presence, the opposite
36:21
occurs. Everybody stopped talking and
36:25
they're they're standing there. And the minute they knew who he
36:27
really was, you'll notice the response of the crowd.
36:31
Verse 12. It came to pass that when Jesus
36:34
had spoken these words, the whole multitude fell to the
36:39
earth. For they remembered that it had
36:42
been prophesied among them that Christ should show himself unto
36:45
them after his ascension into heaven.
36:48
They're not standing. They're not running up to, to
36:51
give him an embrace. They're humbly and reverently
36:55
falling to the ground, remembering, oh, the prophets
36:59
told us that he was going to come and, and he's here and I'm
37:02
here, I'm in his presence. So you can picture this probably
37:05
earlier in the morning because of all the events that have to
37:08
take place in this, in this day here at the temple, great
37:10
multitude. You can picture it, all these
37:12
people on the ground with Jesus standing in their midst.
37:15
You can imagine the thoughts and the feelings going through their
37:18
hearts and their minds on the ground.
37:21
And then they hear him say this. Verse 14 Arise and come forth
37:27
unto me, that you may thrust your hand into my side, and also
37:32
that you may feel the Prince of the nails in my hands and in my
37:35
feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel and the God of
37:42
the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.
37:45
Wait a minute. I thought they already knew who
37:48
he was. The Father introduced him, now
37:51
He came down himself. Then he stretched out his hand
37:54
and told them who he was. They already know who He is, but
37:58
he said he wanted them to come up to touch the marks, the
38:03
wounds, so that they would know that He is the God of Israel.
38:08
Once again, Christ taking them from one level of understanding,
38:14
one level of knowledge, one level of testimony and faith to
38:17
the next. And this is all happening in
38:20
very rapid succession. It was my good friend Mark
38:24
Wright who shared this insight that in the old world in the
38:27
Bible, when the resurrected Lord appears to people in the New
38:32
Testament, he invites them to come and fill the Prince of the
38:35
nails in his hands and in his feet and then fill the wounds in
38:40
his side so they would know that he had been crucified, slain for
38:44
the sins of the world. Mark pointed out that in the
38:47
Book of Mormon, when Jesus appears, the first invitation is
38:51
for them to thrust their hand into his side, then to fill the
38:56
marks of the the prints of the nails in his hands and in his
38:59
feet. In a New World context, human
39:03
sacrifice is performed by by cutting into the heart, not by
39:09
crucifixion. So it's one of those little
39:12
subtle differences between the biblical and the Book Mormon
39:16
accounts that just stays beautifully lined up with their
39:21
cultures. The connecting point for people
39:24
in the Americas to know that Jesus had been slain for the
39:27
sins of the world was to 1st be invited to touch, to to thrust
39:32
their hands into that wound in the side.
39:34
Now this is very sacred ground that we're treading on.
39:38
Chapter 11, verse 15 is my personal favorite verse of
39:42
scripture in all of the Canon that we have, including Bible,
39:48
Book of Mormon, Doctrine Covenants.
39:49
This is my single favorite verse.
39:52
And it came to pass that the multitude went forth and thrust
39:57
their hands into his side, and did feel the Prince of the Nails
40:00
in his hands and in his feet. And this they did do, going
40:05
forth 1 by 1 until they had all gone forth.
40:09
And did see with their eyes, and did fill with their hands, and
40:12
did know of a surety, and did bear record that it was he of
40:16
whom it was written by the prophets that should come.
40:19
You'll notice that often in our video and our our visual
40:27
depictions of 3rd Nephile 11 will often portray Jesus coming
40:32
through a crowd slowly and his hands are outstretched and the
40:36
crowd is there and they'll reach through and they'll, they'll
40:38
touch his hands as he passes through or passes by them.
40:42
I guess it could have happened like that at other times during
40:46
this event, but verse 15 to me is very clear that it's a
40:52
multitude that was gathered there at the temple and the
40:55
multitude went forth. They came forth, but how did
41:00
they do it 1 by 1? So it wasn't a crowd experience
41:07
with Christ, It was everyone in the crowd got to have an
41:11
experience with Christ one-on-one.
41:14
Now we don't know because Mormon doesn't include that detail
41:18
here. How did this occur there?
41:20
There are a lot of options you've you've could have
41:23
spontaneously people coming up 1 by 1.
41:26
You could have a line forming. You could have family groups
41:29
coming up and then one by one, we don't know how the actual
41:33
mechanics of this experience took place.
41:35
We know that each individual got one-on-one time.
41:40
So rather than focusing on what we don't know, let's focus on
41:44
what we do know. Every person gets to spend
41:48
one-on-one time with the Savior where they get to interact with
41:54
with Him personally and to feel the the wounds in his side and
41:58
in His hands and feet. The question is, what would you
42:03
say to the Lord if you had that one-on-one time?
42:07
How would you respond? What, what would you ask?
42:10
What would you do? The older I've gotten and the
42:13
more I've thought through this scenario, the more I've thought
42:17
to myself, I don't know that I would be able to say anything.
42:22
There are a million things I'd want to say, but I don't know
42:25
that I'd be able to say any of them because of, of inability to
42:29
express them physically and emotionally.
42:32
Here's the reality. Every one of you, every one of
42:38
us are going to have this opportunity one day in the next
42:43
life. And for some it, it might happen
42:46
in this life, but we'll at least all get this opportunity
42:49
one-on-one with the Savior in the next life.
42:52
The beauty of this experience is that I don't think Jesus is
42:58
asking these individuals and that he's going to ask you to
43:01
interact with the the elements of his infinite atonement to to
43:07
make us feel guilty or to gloat over how much he's done for us.
43:12
I think he's going to give us this opportunity so that we feel
43:17
one-on-one, just a small portion of the price that he paid for me
43:22
and for you, one-on-one. He will not, on those moments,
43:26
be looking into people's faces with questioning eyes, wondering
43:31
what it's like to be you and to struggle with the the unique
43:35
combinations of of trials and tribulations that you've faced
43:39
in your life. He is the only one who perfectly
43:43
understands what you're going through.
43:45
He will look with knowing eyes and with hands and arms of mercy
43:50
to encircle us in Can you imagine the the aftermath of
43:55
this? This whole group of people came
43:56
through one by one. Now they're they're finished
44:00
with that experience. This great multitude have have
44:02
all had this one-on-one experience.
44:04
Now what they had been told by the Father, this is my beloved
44:08
son. They had seen him come down.
44:10
They had heard him say I I'm him.
44:13
This is me, I'm Jesus Christ, the one that all these prophets
44:15
have been testifying of. And I've I've completed this
44:18
atonement, but now they got to experience it personally,
44:23
one-on-one. And now after that happens, look
44:26
at verse 17. They're all crying with one
44:29
accord saying Hosanna, blessed be the name of the most high
44:34
God. And they did fall down at the
44:35
feet of Jesus and did worship him.
44:37
Taylor, what do you have to say about Hosanna?
44:39
It's a word that we all love. We do Hosanna shouts at temple
44:43
dedications when a new prophet has been called.
44:46
And I just love how these people have been talking about the
44:50
mighty changes and then they have this experience of hearing
44:53
God the Father, seeing Jesus and they're silent and the very
44:55
first thing they say after experience Jesus is hosanna.
45:00
Beautiful word. Hosanna comes from 2 Hebrew
45:04
words. The Hosa or Hosea actually is
45:08
where the name Jesus comes from. We don't have to get into all
45:12
how that changes, but Jesus name is actually packed into this
45:16
part of the word and Nah actually means please.
45:21
And Hosanna in some ways is like Jesus please or Jesus name
45:28
really means to save. His name is the testimony of
45:33
what he does for us. And so to say, Hosanna is
45:36
salvation please or Jesus please, or Jesus save us, which
45:43
is actually what he had done. And they're just spontaneously
45:47
saying that. And so whenever you have a
45:49
moment to think about what God has done for you, you can just
45:52
say he has saved me. And Hosanna conveys that sense.
45:56
It's a beautiful, powerful and very simple witness from the
46:01
people about Jesus, culminating this whole cycle of Jesus coming
46:06
down to demonstrate he has saved them.
46:10
Isn't it interesting that that as Taylor mentioned, we we do
46:14
the Hosanna shout when we dedicate a temple and when we
46:18
sustain a new prophet and at other special occasions in the
46:22
Church. But these are opportunities for
46:25
us collectively as a group to plead with heaven for salvation,
46:31
for the earth, for all of us. And at this point, you'll notice
46:35
in verse 17, after they had all shouted together, Hosanna, they
46:41
all fell down at the feet of Jesus and did worship him.
46:46
Did you notice this? This is the second time that
46:49
they've been on the ground. They fall in verse 17, and it
46:53
was back in verse 12 when they fell the first time.
46:57
If you contrast this for a second, first time they fell
47:02
seemed to be out of reverence, out of respect and awe, and
47:07
maybe a bit of surprise. The fall in verse 17, to me
47:13
feels a lot more Worshipful, more intentional.
47:17
This feels kind of like a reaction.
47:20
This feels like an action in verse 17 where they are now
47:26
worshipping him with all of their heart, might, mind and
47:30
strength pleading with him for salvation.
47:33
I don't know that they're concerned at this point about
47:36
the brand name of clothing they're wearing or the number of
47:43
followers they have, or the the amount of prestige they have or
47:49
power or money or any of that. I think their focus has been
47:55
taken off of the world's perspective, these horizontal
47:59
things, and it's now turned vertically like they did back in
48:03
the beginning of the chapter. And they're focused on Christ.
48:06
They're focused on what really matters most and they want to be
48:09
saved. Isn't it interesting that his
48:12
response to that petition, to that, that group petition for
48:16
salvation, is for him to call a prophet up to come before him,
48:23
Nephi. So Nephi comes, he bows down,
48:27
kisses the feet of the Lord, and then the Savior raises him up
48:31
and tells him that he's going to give him authority to baptize
48:36
the people. And he tells them in verse 23,
48:38
Verily I say unto you that whoso repenteth of his sins through
48:41
your words and desires to be baptized in my name on this, why
48:45
shall you baptize them? And then he gives him the
48:48
instructions of how to baptize them.
48:51
Notice the connection. They pled for salvation.
48:54
Nothing else mattered to them at this point.
48:56
They've they've had this experience with Christ and they
48:58
don't want it to ever be forgotten.
49:02
And they want to be able to be with Him forever.
49:05
And so he says, OK, you want that?
49:07
First thing we need to do is establish this covenantal
49:09
connection with me. Let me teach you how to baptize
49:13
and give proper authority to a person to be able to be
49:17
authorized to do those baptisms. So after teaching him how to
49:22
baptize, he then tells them, Oh, don't let there be any
49:26
disputations among you. Look at verse 29.
49:29
For verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of
49:32
contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father
49:37
of contention, And he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend
49:42
with anger one with another. Jesus comes to unify, to bring
49:46
together. Does that mean that we have to
49:49
be the same, that we have to think exactly the same as
49:52
everybody? No, but we need to be at one
49:56
with Him and with each other as much as possible, united in in
50:01
causes, moving forward rather than divided and contending with
50:05
anger one with another. As a precursor. 4th Nephi, when
50:10
the Nephites and the Lamanites finally get to that point where
50:13
we have 200 years of a perfect design society, the number one
50:19
attribute of that society that Mormon mentions, he, he
50:22
mentioned, he's going to mention it four times and we'll talk
50:24
about this when we get to 4th Nephi.
50:25
Is that there was no contention among them that people figured
50:30
out how to stop fighting, how to talk, how to come together and
50:35
to be unified and not be filled with the spirit of contention
50:38
which the, the Savior tells them comes from the devil.
50:41
Then as you turn the page, overlook at verse 32.
50:44
This is my doctrine and it is the doctrine which the Father
50:48
hath given unto me. Now pause there and look over at
50:52
verse 39 right across from it. Verily I say unto you that this
50:55
is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon
50:58
my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.
51:03
This is my doctrine. This is my doctrine. 32 to 39
51:07
What you have is this bookends 32 to 39 in biblical studies,
51:16
they would call this technique inclusio.
51:19
It's this inclusion. It's giving you the beginning
51:23
and the end. So you know, this is the
51:25
definition of my gospel. So if you ever want to know on a
51:30
on a silver platter, what is the gospel of Jesus Christ, look at
51:34
what the Savior said his gospel is and he bookends on it for us.
51:37
So we know exactly what it is. He tells us that the Father
51:42
commandeth all men everywhere to repent and believe in Me.
51:47
You'll notice back in 32, even before that, He bore record of
51:52
the Father, and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and
51:56
of me, and I bear record that the Father commandeth all men
51:59
everywhere to repent and believe in Me.
52:02
Isn't that interesting? The Savior loves testifying of
52:05
the Father and of the Holy Ghost.
52:07
The Father loves testifying of the Savior, and the Holy Ghost's
52:11
whole mission is to testify of the Father and of the Son.
52:14
They truly are one. They truly are united, and
52:18
they've shown us a pattern of what they expect of all of us
52:23
collectively as well. Notice after we we repent and
52:27
believe in Him. Verse 33 Who so believeth in me
52:29
and is baptized, the same shall be saved.
52:33
And there they who shall inherit the Kingdom of God, and
52:36
whosoever believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be
52:38
damned. Verse 35 I say unto you, this is
52:42
my doctrine, and I bear record of it from the Father.
52:46
He then gives more descriptions of the Godhead, and they're
52:50
testifying of each other in verse 36.
52:53
And then back to the repenting and being baptized in verse 37
52:57
and an additional time repenting and baptizing in verse 38.
53:02
If you wonder why we talk in the church so much about faith in
53:06
Lord Jesus Christ, repentance and baptism and gift to the Holy
53:09
Ghost, and this enduring to the end on that covenant path, it's
53:13
because that's His doctrine. Now look what he says in this
53:17
next verse 40. Whoso shall declare more or less
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than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of
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evil, and is not built upon my rock, but He buildeth upon a
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sandy foundation in the gates of hell.
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Stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds
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beat upon them. Therefore go into this people,
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and declare the words which I have spoken unto the ends of the
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earth. These are the things that He
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wants us to emphasize as you go back in your mind now to this,
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this whole overview of 3511, the experiences that these people
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have had, the the multitude got to come forth 1 by 1 and have
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this experience with the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrected
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Savior of all mankind. But at that moment, it wasn't
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about him being the Savior of the multitude.
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It was about Him being the personal Savior and Redeemer of
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each individual as they came and had some time to interact with
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Him one by one on that day. There would have been some who
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would have come forward who probably needed Jesus to to
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smile at them and to prop them up.
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There might have been others who needed Jesus to just hold them
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close after they had touched the wounds and to just hug them.
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There may have been others who needed Jesus to give them lots
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of words of encouragement or words of of affirmation.
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The point is this. Jesus isn't just A1 size fits
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all being. He's not a statue, he's not a a
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series of paintings. He's a divine, perfected,
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glorified, resurrected God. He knows everything about us.
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He knows more about you than you know about you.
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You don't have to to explain why you you've done what you've done
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or who you are. He he understands that.
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And in this moment, Jesus can be exactly what each individual
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needs him to be so that they feel of the Father's love and of
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his love and feel that all of the the testifying witness of
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the Holy Ghost in their heart through this whole process.
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I spoke earlier about many of our visual representations of
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Third Nephi 11 show Jesus walking through a crowd and then
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trying to touch him. One of my favorite
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representations of this actually comes in the form of a slideshow
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by a photographer named Mark Mabry, who with the help of
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Clyde Bowden or Baden, I'm not sure how to pronounce his last
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name, beautiful music. They created a slideshow called
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Another Testament of Christ. We invite you to view this video
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on YouTube on the channel Reflections of Christ.
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As you watch the first few minutes of this, I want you to
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notice how Mark has portrayed the events that take place here
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in 3511, as well as some of them later on in chapter 17 of how
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Jesus in these portrayals interacts one by one with
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individuals as they come forth unto him.
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And you'll notice those various needs that different people had
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and how how the Lord responds. I want to finish today's lesson
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by telling you some things that I know.
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I've never had the experience described in 3511 of of kneeling
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at the Savior's feet or touching the marks of the nails in his
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hands or his feet or the wound in his side.
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But brothers and sisters, I know as much as I know that I'm alive
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today, that Jesus is the Christ, that He is our Savior and our
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Redeemer and the only solution to our problems, both personally
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and collectively. I know that He sits enthroned in
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Yonder heavens on the right hand of the Father.
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He's full of mercy, He's full of love, He's full of power, and
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He's filled with grace. And as we turn our ears, our
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eyes, our minds, and our hearts heavenward, He will help us to
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understand and to know and to become who we were intended to
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become as we work through the trials and the tribulations and
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the temptations and the sins and the difficulties that we face in
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our life. The more I learn about Jesus
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Christ, the more I love Him. And the more I love Him and
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learn of Him, the more I want to be like Him.
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He lives. I know He lives, and we leave
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that with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.