Latest / Scripture Central / 3 Nephi 12–16 | Sep 30–Oct 6| John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon

Transcript

3 Nephi 12–16 | Sep 30–Oct 6| John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon · Scripture Central

0:00
Hello, welcome back to Scripture Central.
0:02
We're so excited to talk about Third Nephi Today.
0:05
I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson. I'm Jack Welch and and like we
0:09
said last time, we're going to pick up with chapter 12 and do
0:12
all the way to to the end of chapter 16 today as Jesus speaks
0:17
to the people and his disciples there at Bountiful.
0:20
And this is very similar. Some people make the correlation
0:23
between the Sermon on the Mount, but we want to emphasize this as
0:27
a different sermon. It's to a different people, It's
0:29
the sermon at the temple and there's a lot of similarities,
0:33
but Jack's done some interesting research on this.
0:36
Well, I have, and it's been something that's borne great
0:39
fruit for me academically and spiritually for over 40 years.
0:44
In many ways I may be best known for discovering Caiasmus in the
0:48
Book of Mormon, and many people have been able to go and find
0:53
and make use of that principle. But I would have to say that the
0:59
recognition of the temple pattern in what's going on in
1:04
Jesus's words here and his actions in 3rd Nephi chapters 11
1:10
to 18 mean more to me and I think are maybe more sublime
1:18
than the discovery of chiasmus. And, and let me tell you a
1:23
little bit about how this discovery came about.
1:27
It was back in the 1980s when I was a young professor at BYU and
1:35
I was teaching Book of Mormon classes almost every semester as
1:39
a, an assignment to be a, a good citizen at the university.
1:46
And we'd started farms, and we often were asked to answer
1:52
questions that came up frequently.
1:56
And one of these questions was, what's the Sermon on the Mount
1:59
doing in the Book of Mormon? It looks like Joseph just
2:03
plagiarized this text. And, you know, there were some
2:06
pretty prominent people who were putting pressure on the church
2:10
and some who were very disappointed with the church
2:14
because of what they saw as this problem.
2:17
And I personally think that's because they didn't look closely
2:19
enough. So I want you to keep going with
2:20
your story, but I want to make sure everyone knows that a close
2:24
look shows a lot of differences. And it, it was more than a close
2:27
look. It's also a broad look.
2:31
And it's it was also an inspired look because I was wrestling
2:37
with this question that many people do.
2:40
And I had thought of the obvious answers.
2:43
Well, I don't think Joseph could have pulled a copy of the New
2:46
Testament out and and copied it and read from it as he dictated
2:51
to Oliver Cowdry. Emma said they didn't have a
2:53
Bible in their house. And Oliver would have said,
2:55
what's going on here? It didn't happen that way.
2:59
And I don't think Joseph had memorized the whole Sermon on
3:02
the Mount. And beside that, there are
3:05
significant differences. So how it happened, I I couldn't
3:10
explain how it happened, but but I did want to have a, a way of
3:17
figuring this out. I said there must be more to
3:20
this than we've seen before. And I had studied the Sermon on
3:25
the Mount intensely as a missionary.
3:28
I'd used it in Germany, and one of the assignments I had been
3:32
given by the zone leader in the language training mission was to
3:39
memorize the Sermon on the Mount auf Deutsch in German.
3:44
I knew enough German that I already had memorized several of
3:48
the missionary discussions, and he wanted to be sure that I was
3:52
learning. And when he came and told me, I
3:57
want you to come and recite the Sermon on the Mount to me on
4:00
Thursday, I thought he just meant the Beatitudes.
4:05
And so I said, well, these would be the verses.
4:08
He said, no, I want all three chapters.
4:12
And I said, all right. And I did it.
4:17
I was able to recite for him in German all three chapters.
4:22
You are blessed by the Lord that's.
4:23
Amazing. I think this happens in the LTM
4:26
where you're used, but that turned out to be one of the best
4:29
things I I ever did in terms of missionary preparation.
4:32
Whenever I was asked to give a sacrament meeting talk, I had, I
4:37
had my talk right there, all basically memorized with and in
4:42
discussing questions with with Germans, whether they were
4:48
Catholic or Protestant, to be able to get on a level with them
4:53
on their own ground. I could bring up questions and
4:56
things that were there in the Sermon on the Mount.
5:00
So it was a great blessing to me.
5:02
But with but even with that, I had never really thought about
5:06
this question. What's the Sermon on the Mount
5:08
doing in 3rd Nephi? Well, I had taught that Book of
5:14
Mormon class. It was an 8:00 class.
5:17
What 9:00? I, I finished up and I had a
5:22
small study office in the basement of the old Joseph Smith
5:26
building. And I had a computer there and
5:30
one of our old green screen IBM three 60s or whatever it was.
5:35
And, but there was no phone and nobody knew that I was there.
5:43
And so it was a nice new place that I'd been given and it was a
5:47
quiet place where I could just go.
5:49
And I went down to the basement there, went in and sat down and
5:54
I said, Lord help me, I want to figure this out today.
6:00
And I felt, all right, I should begin outlining what I know.
6:06
And I'm going to look at the English.
6:08
I had my Greek New Testament there.
6:10
I was going to look at the Greek.
6:12
I'm going to look at these things more seriously than I had
6:15
before. The revelation was to outline
6:18
the sermon, to see the patterns and the flow of it.
6:21
OK. My question was why would Jesus
6:24
use this at the temple? So I started and opened up the
6:33
very first verse and it says and this is in the King James.
6:40
Jesus went up into the mountain. Well, mountains are temples in
6:45
the Bible well. That's right.
6:47
And it says in Psalm 24, Who shall ascend into the mountain
6:51
of the Lord? He who hath clean hands and a
6:53
pure heart is going up into the temple.
6:55
It's kind of a temple recommend question.
6:57
So it makes the Sermon on the Mount a a temple setting, just
7:02
as the Sermon in Bountiful was at a temple setting.
7:05
Exactly. I said, Oh well, maybe there is
7:08
some reason to think temple here and that's why it's in the Book
7:11
of Mormon. Now, what was particularly
7:13
interesting to me there is because in Greek it doesn't just
7:16
say he went up into a mount. And I'd always thought of Jesus
7:20
just giving the Sermon on the Mount on a hillside somewhere.
7:24
But what it says in Greek is he went up into the mountain.
7:31
And that's the exact expression that is used when Moses goes up
7:35
into the mountain to receive the law and to be in the presence of
7:39
God. And so I thought, well, that
7:44
makes sense. Jesus is using this at the
7:48
temple. And Jack, when I refer to a
7:50
temple text, I refer to a text that teaches us about how to
7:54
return to God's presence. And every verse here is Christ
8:01
trying to encourage that. Of course he would repeat this
8:04
to his lost sheep. Of course he would want them to
8:06
know how to return and be purified to live in his
8:11
presence. Of course he would want to have
8:12
the Sermon on the Mount probably repeated everywhere he went in
8:16
order to teach them how to return to God.
8:25
The first thing you run into and I was starting here with chapter
8:29
12 in the Book of Mormon that's that's Matthew chapter 5.
8:35
I hadn't yet thought back to the number of things that already
8:38
happened in 3rd Nephi 11 that were temple related.
8:43
The voice of the Father introducing the Son, the the
8:48
giving of the power of the priesthood to baptize.
8:51
You can't go on in priesthood ordinances and in the endowment
8:55
without first being baptized and so.
8:57
And then the Lord showing his hands coming down from heaven,
9:03
they're entering into his presence.
9:05
There's lots of temple symbols here.
9:08
Now, these kind of things I didn't realize until after I had
9:13
worked my way through chapters 5-6 and seven of Matthew.
9:18
Well, let's go through your outline.
9:20
So the first thing that you do when you go to the temple, after
9:25
of course, baptism, is the initiatory.
9:27
You're washed and anointed and clothed.
9:30
And you were promised certain blessings with those initial
9:35
blessings. These are things that if you are
9:38
true and faithful, these things will happen and you're washed
9:42
and you're anointed for these purposes, right?
9:46
And. Then we start here in chapter 12
9:49
with 12 blessings. And these are preliminary
9:53
blessings. They are blessings that are
9:56
actually even in the Greek, it's more obvious than in the
10:00
English. These are blessings that are in
10:03
the future. Blessed will be the merciful,
10:09
for they shall obtain mercy. Well, and interestingly, there's
10:13
only eight in the New Testament, but we have an augmentation here
10:18
because we've been told in verse one, Blessed are ye, if ye shall
10:24
give heed unto the words of these 12.
10:26
And 2nd, blessed are those who believe your testimonies and
10:30
receive remission of sin. So this is kind of a preliminary
10:34
blessing much connected with baptism because they have all
10:40
been baptized or have been taught that they must be
10:44
baptized. Yeah, we talked about that last
10:45
week. And then in chapter 12, at the
10:47
end of verse two, he says, and blessed are they who come down
10:50
in humility and are baptized, for they shall be visited with
10:54
fire and with the Holy Ghost. Ah.
10:57
There we go, the cleansing agent.
10:59
A preparatory, initiatory step. After you've gone through those
11:04
initial blessings, now you can go forward.
11:08
But then starting in chapter 12 of Third and Nephi, we pick up
11:12
with what are familiar as the Beatitudes.
11:15
First of all, blessed are the poor in spirit.
11:19
That's starting in verse 3, but I still think it's significant.
11:22
When Joseph was writing this out, or when Joseph was reading
11:25
from the urine thumma men, Oliver was writing it out.
11:28
They would have recognized verse 3, but they didn't recognize the
11:32
others. I think it's really beautiful
11:35
that we have a, a richer text in many senses here in this.
11:40
And I want to point out on this first one, verse 3, blessed are
11:46
the poor in spirit. We have an extra additional
11:49
phrase there who come unto me. This to me is the whole way, the
11:54
whole answer as to how what to do when you're poor in spirit.
11:58
We're not blessed just because we're sad.
12:00
We're blessed when we come unto Christ.
12:03
That's when we're able to find joy again.
12:05
And then we have blessed of those who mourn, and I think the
12:08
mourning is of course related to those mourning for those who
12:13
have died, but also mourning over our sins.
12:16
Mourning over any kind of loss, and they've gone through a lot
12:19
of loss right now, there's probably a lot of mourning in
12:21
these people's hearts. Blessed are the meek, for they
12:24
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who do hunger
12:27
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled, and
12:30
not just filled, but with the Holy Ghost.
12:33
That's a new addition here in this text rather than in
12:35
Matthew. Some people have noticed that if
12:38
you're poor in spirit, it's a spiritual thing that you need to
12:40
strengthen and you will be blessed with faith.
12:43
And then mourning is sentence and then the meek inheriting the
12:48
earth is the meekness to be baptized.
12:51
And then the hunger and thirsting is the gift of the
12:53
Holy Ghost. So you have the 1st 4 principles
12:56
of the gospel. Oh.
12:57
That's interesting, and I had always seen these first four as
13:01
our relationship to God. We come before him with when
13:06
we're poor in spirit, when we're in mourning, but we have to come
13:09
before him meekly, and we have to hunger and thirst after
13:13
righteousness, and then God will fill us.
13:16
And the rest of the Beatitudes are how we can bless those
13:19
around us, how we can love our neighbors.
13:21
And we need to be prepared before we can go forward by
13:25
being merciful. That's a gift we give to others.
13:28
By being peacemakers and also being willing to suffer
13:32
persecution. For the Lord's sake.
13:34
One last thing on this word blessed that we see here 12
13:37
times. In the Greek, the word is
13:41
makarioi, and this word doesn't mean happy, it doesn't mean even
13:50
fortunate or something like that.
13:52
But those who will be Makarioi are those who enter into in the
13:58
Greek mythology, into the Elysian Fields, and into the
14:02
sublime blessings of the afterlife.
14:07
So in the early Christian understanding, these were
14:10
blessings of eternal promises that were being given.
14:15
If you are merciful, you will obtain mercy in the next life,
14:20
and you will be forgiven mercifully, and you will see
14:24
God. And if you're going to inherit
14:26
the earth, isn't that eternally? You're going to inherit the
14:30
Kingdom of God. That's the Celestial Kingdom.
14:32
So with all of that, I started piercing together.
14:37
This is a preparation, this is the initiatory, and then we go
14:42
on to the next step. So what happens right after
14:47
that? It's the salt of the earth.
14:53
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the salt
14:57
of the earth. And I remember back in the Old
15:00
Testament, and every sacrifice, whether it was a sin offering or
15:04
a thank offering, you always sprinkled salt on it.
15:07
And so salt is part of the sign of the covenant.
15:10
And he's asking now these who have just now witnessed him to
15:16
become the sign of the covenant, the salt of the earth.
15:20
I want you to bless the earth. You will be the salt of the
15:24
earth, meaning you will be the ones who will carry the covenant
15:27
forward. And this covenantal language is
15:30
not the way most people read the Sermon on the Mount, but we are
15:36
now being invited to see it as a covenant making text.
15:40
And on a different level, the salt makes something taste
15:43
better. It can preserve something and
15:45
you can see that this is such a beautiful image that Christ is
15:48
using for us to apply as a disciple.
15:51
But more than that, with a covenant there will be blessings
15:56
for obedience, but there will also be consequences for
16:00
violating that covenant. And what does it say about the
16:03
salt of the earth? It says if you lose your savour,
16:10
if you become tasteless to God, or if you lose somehow by
16:16
contamination, the salt becomes dirty and then it becomes it's
16:22
going to be cast out and trodden under foot by men.
16:26
He's giving us a warning. So there's a warning there of
16:30
the covenantal obligation and the seriousness of this.
16:35
And the word to be cast out is actually the same word that is
16:42
used for excommunicated when you are cast out.
16:45
It's a serious warning. These principles, if you enter
16:48
into this covenant, you are taking upon yourself obligations
16:52
that are important and that's only natural.
16:55
If you expect those kind of magnificent blessings, you need
17:00
to be sure that you do not lose your savour.
17:03
Also it says as a part of this little warning, you must not
17:09
hide your lamp under a bushel. Verse 15 and 16.
17:16
I'm going to give you light, and you will become the light of the
17:21
world. Remember Genesis I at the very
17:23
beginning. God is the light.
17:25
He is the one who creates it. Let there be light is right from
17:28
the creation. And the warning here is a city
17:32
upon a hill cannot be hid. You may think you can hide, but
17:37
you cannot. And when it says you don't put
17:42
your candle under a modius. That's the bushel Modius.
17:47
The bushel, but that was a symbol that was sacred to one of
17:52
the Greek gods, by the way, the one of the grain gods.
17:55
So you don't take a Greek God's bushel and put it over your
17:58
lamp. Your light is the light of
18:01
Christ and you don't let otherworldly gods influence or
18:05
cover that up, but instead you put it on, it says on a
18:09
Candlestick and the word there is luchnia.
18:12
The word for menorah is luchnia. So it's not just putting a
18:17
little oil lamp on your mantle, it's you are putting a light on
18:22
the Candlestick in the temple. The menorah is right before the
18:26
veil. This is in the holy place and
18:29
it's the way back to the presence of God.
18:31
Once again using this as a temple text.
18:34
And what we are being invited to do and told to do is that we
18:38
need to become a part of that menorah and that great menorah
18:44
and the light of the Temple. Of course, the Temple is up on a
18:48
hill and it can be seen from all around.
18:50
And the menorah represents the tree of life all.
18:53
That we do, and makes the tree of life available and visible to
18:57
the rest of the world. And Christ is the fruit, yeah.
19:00
So there's a lot packed into this initial charge that's given
19:05
to us. We're given the charge to be the
19:06
salt and to be the light. And then what happens next in
19:16
verses 17 to 18, a requirement is given to obey all the
19:22
commandments. So it says unto here think not
19:26
that I've come to destroy the law.
19:28
I've come to fulfill. Therefore not one jot or title
19:32
course, that's just a little tiny mark on a script will pass
19:35
away. All of it has been fulfilled in
19:38
me. And then he goes on to say here
19:41
in 3rd Nephi, which is not found in Matthew, Behold, I have given
19:46
you the law and the commandments of my father, that ye shall
19:49
believe in me, and shall repent of your sins, and come unto me
19:52
with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
19:55
That's not in Matthew 5. But why is he mentioning it
19:58
here? Jack he has now fulfilled the
20:01
law of sacrifice with the shedding of blood.
20:05
And so he's saying we have, that has been fulfilled.
20:08
Let us continue on here. So he couldn't have added this
20:11
earlier because he had not yet suffered for the sins of the
20:14
world. And why?
20:16
Why would he say it to these people?
20:18
What had they heard from the heavens?
20:20
Oh. That the law was fulfilled.
20:23
They heard it both from the first voice in Chapter 9, again
20:26
in Chapter 11, and now here in chapter 12.
20:29
He's now explaining what he meant and what those Old
20:31
Testament passages meant. And therefore, verse 20, come
20:36
unto me and be saved. Verily accept that you shall
20:38
keep My commandments which I've commanded you at this time.
20:42
So he's going to be giving commandments.
20:44
These aren't just nice suggestions.
20:48
These are commandments that people are taking upon
20:51
themselves as obligations. And if you do this, you will be
20:57
admitted into the presence of God.
20:58
And if you do not, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom
21:02
of heaven. So once again, can you see how
21:07
this is not just what you might call a moral discourse, the
21:13
Sermon on the Mount? It's not just a lot of nice
21:15
social ideas. The Book of Mormon makes it
21:18
very, very clear that this is what God wants us to do in order
21:22
to become like Him. And that's what we'll see for
21:25
the next three chapters here. So now we will see a series of
21:28
commandments and they will begin by talking about some of the 10
21:33
commandments and what's the first one that he talks about?
21:35
Verse 21 Ye have heard that it has been said by them of old
21:39
time. It's also written before you
21:40
that thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in
21:43
danger of the judgment of God. But I say unto you that
21:46
whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of
21:50
the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his
21:51
brother, Raqqa shall be in danger of the council.
21:54
And he is saying, I'm more worried about your heart and
21:56
your condition of your thoughts than I am just your actions.
22:00
You can't can't just be purified by the outward, you have to
22:03
purify the inside. That's a big part of.
22:06
It and the Council I think, is also referring to the Church.
22:09
Being in danger of the council would be in danger of a church
22:13
court that this is then subject to breaking a covenant that
22:18
you've made. Now when you think of the
22:20
covenant that we call the law of the gospel, that law of the
22:25
gospel tells us that we can't be angry.
22:28
We can't be ridiculing and laughing and saying you fool.
22:33
Yeah, this is a prohibition against all that.
22:35
What you've said about thoughts, of course our thoughts will
22:38
condemn us, but here Jesus is warning us about our words, and
22:45
our words as are just as lethal as our weapons might be.
22:51
And so, especially within the covenant community, if you
22:56
ridicule a covenant member, you are in danger of judgement
23:02
because you have now violated your covenant to to be bonded
23:07
with each other within the covenant of the gospel.
23:10
This is not only a higher law, but it's a more difficult law.
23:14
We're having to really learn to control our tongues.
23:16
You remember you pointed out that Jesus said I don't want
23:19
disputations among you. Well, he doesn't want contention
23:22
either. And so this kind of language or
23:26
you say you fool shall be in danger of health fire.
23:30
Well, that's the beginning of contention.
23:33
So what are we supposed to do then?
23:36
Well, this goes back next to the point that I mentioned that kind
23:41
of got me thinking about this. He says, Therefore, if you shall
23:43
come unto me, and desire to come unto me, and remember that your
23:47
brother has ought against you, go and settle, and be reconciled
23:52
with your brother, and then come unto me with full purpose of
23:56
heart. That's verse 24.
23:57
Now he doesn't mention the altar here.
23:59
That's in Matthew. Why not?
24:02
Well, I don't know, but he does say that this is applicable in
24:08
all of life. But if you if you know that your
24:11
brother has odd against you, you have a problem.
24:15
Of course, you shouldn't be coming to the temple, but you
24:19
shouldn't be going to the ward either, or you shouldn't be
24:21
doing any ministering. You have to be sure that you are
24:26
at peace and reconciled with everyone.
24:29
So I think it's broader than just the temple ordinance, but
24:32
it's certainly consistent with. It I also feel like the altar is
24:35
not there now, Jack, because the great and last sacrifice has
24:39
taken place. Well, that is true.
24:42
We do, however, still have altars in the temple.
24:45
Well, altars are used for other things as well, yes, but the
24:48
there's no more blood sacrifices.
24:50
What I should have said? But what will be happening in a
24:53
few verses here is that there will be a group prayer, and when
24:58
ye pray, you don't want to come to that prayer if you haven't
25:02
first reconciled. And so the reconciliation is all
25:05
described here. That's beautiful.
25:07
Thank you. OK, so what's next?
25:11
The law of chastity. This starts about in verse 27.
25:15
The law of chastity? That sounds kind of temple
25:18
related to me. Verse 27 reads Behold, it is
25:21
written by them of old times, that thou shalt not commit
25:24
adultery. But I say unto you, that
25:26
whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed
25:30
adultery already in his heart. Now, Jack, this has a special
25:34
meaning in a day and age where our tragic sin of pornography is
25:42
as lethal to the mind and body as if it were adultery.
25:48
So what we're learning here is that there was, of course, the
25:51
old law of adultery, but people understood that in fairly
25:57
simplistic ways. And people said, well, I'm only
26:01
committing adultery if I'm having sexual relations with
26:04
someone else's husband or wife. But we can have sexual relations
26:09
if we're not married. But that's not true.
26:14
And Jesus wants us to know that being married and being a family
26:20
will ultimately be the objective of all of the temple ordinances.
26:25
And therefore, when you aren't prepared and aren't worthy to
26:29
enter into that final step of the temple, then all of this
26:34
other which is preliminary to that loses its ultimate eternal
26:39
purpose. So I think he wants us to take a
26:42
step above just living the law of of morality to living what we
26:50
would call the law of chastity. And so it's dealt with in some
26:56
detail. He also then says, well, even
27:00
divorce, he says won't go get a divorce.
27:06
I think he's thinking, and we know that there were people who
27:09
would try to go and get an easy divorce and now they're not
27:11
married anymore. So they can go and marry someone
27:13
else very quickly. And Jewish scholars said, well,
27:16
that's really not honoring the law of marriage and that's not
27:20
an appropriate thing. Now it doesn't say you're
27:22
violating the the law. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
27:25
And so they didn't go kill that person, which normally if you
27:29
commit adultery, that's a, that's a capital offense or can
27:33
be. But what they're saying is even
27:38
getting a divorce for the wrong purpose, if that is simply a
27:41
means to being able to commit what was basically adultery,
27:45
Jesus says that's wrong too. I'd like to add that in our day
27:48
and age, we do not live in a perfect world and unfortunately
27:52
we wish that we were all more charitable and loving.
27:56
But I'd like to point out that forgiveness and repentance
28:00
allows, whether you're divorced, whether you've sinned, whether
28:04
you've committed adultery, or whether you have been chased
28:07
your whole life, that the Lord allows all who come unto him to
28:12
enter their temples. That in our broken world where
28:15
things are not perfect, our prophets have said you may go to
28:19
the House of God when you have been forgiven of your sins.
28:24
And sometimes our divorce is not our fault and sometimes our
28:29
situations are because of persecution.
28:33
And the Lord is a understands the conditions of our heart and
28:38
repentance will allow everyone to go to the temple now.
28:41
Absolutely. And Jesus will say over and over
28:44
again, come unto me, do what I'm asking and you will be forgiven.
28:50
And the the end of the Sermon on the Mount or the sermon at what
28:54
I call the Sermon at the Temple, we'll then talk about asking for
28:59
forgiveness and being forgiven. So the next stage in this was
29:03
the former commandment. You shall not forswear thyself.
29:07
That's one of the 10 commandments.
29:09
And Jesus now says do, do not forswear thyself, but just let
29:15
your oaths be valid and just say yes, yes or no, no and anything
29:21
more than that comes from evil. And that's how we make our oaths
29:25
now, by saying yes and no. And in the temple, that's right,
29:28
you bow your head and say yes. And no matter which of the
29:33
temple ordinances is, that's the way we do that.
29:36
Now the next one. We might call this Stage 10.
29:39
Verses 38 to 47. And this is a brought out
29:43
because you've heard a set of old You shall love your neighbor
29:47
and hate your enemy. Now love your neighbor as
29:50
yourself was in Leviticus chapter 19.
29:54
Yeah, it's the center of the Law of Moses.
29:56
But what Jesus now wants to know, wants us to do, is to love
30:00
even our enemy. That's verse 43 and he gives
30:04
different examples on them. And he asked for us to pray for
30:07
them who despitefully use you and persecute you in verse 34 to
30:11
bet to love our enemies. Then leads the way to verse 4048
30:16
where he says I would that you should be perfect.
30:19
And this time he changes it even as I that's not in the New
30:25
Testament. Just now that he has been
30:28
perfected. His name is there, but perfect
30:31
doesn't mean the same thing it does in our modern world.
30:34
Correct in in the Greek, the word here for perfect comes from
30:38
the word telos. Telos, like a telescope, is
30:40
something that you can see far away with the telos of a race is
30:45
the end of the race. So when you have reached the end
30:47
of the race, you've actually become perfect.
30:51
So he's asking us to be complete.
30:53
You've completed your course. Or to be whole.
30:55
And the way we can look at this as a text, I want to just zoom
30:58
out for a minute and say if we're living the law of gospel,
31:01
we're living the law of chastity.
31:02
Keep going until you're perfected.
31:04
Keep going until you're whole or complete.
31:07
And notice here also that in the New Testament it says be ye
31:13
therefore perfect, which looks like a commandment.
31:15
But here it's ye should. I would that ye should.
31:20
It is my desire that you should be perfect.
31:23
This is an invitation, a double invitation.
31:31
And then he goes to a little bit of a Chapter 13 is a higher
31:34
order as he talks about giving to the poor.
31:38
Also, when I turned the page to this chapter to go into chapter
31:41
13, I I recognized that what's been going on in chapter 5 all
31:47
dealt with the ironic priesthood, the Law of Moses,
31:51
the lower law, and yes, those are important things, but now we
31:57
are turning to a higher order of priesthood.
32:01
It's like this is talking about the law of consecration.
32:03
Well, we will have consecration here and other things as well,
32:06
but most of Chapter 13 deals with the law of consecration in
32:10
one way or another. It begins by giving to the poor,
32:15
and that's we consecrate our goods by donating and helping
32:21
and assisting with the poor and what else?
32:24
Verse 4 says we need to make sure as we're giving to the poor
32:27
that we're not parading around and doing it in public.
32:30
We need to do it just be with our God.
32:31
And, and what it says here when it says these things should be
32:35
done in secret. Now there was actually a place
32:39
in the temple called the secret place.
32:42
And when you give it in crypto, when you give it into the secret
32:45
place, there's no one there receiving the gift.
32:50
It's like a donation box where you put in your gift and no one
32:54
could tell how much was being put in.
32:56
So it's an anonymous gift. And so that's I think also this
33:02
higher order. And then we go on to prayer.
33:04
Many of the people in Jesus's day would pray on the street
33:07
corners, would pray in public, and that was a good thing
33:10
because wherever they were at a certain time, they had to offer
33:14
certain prayers on the clock. But Jesus isn't that.
33:19
That's got some problems because here you are on the street
33:21
corner and you're kind of making a show of it, and the louder you
33:24
pray and so on, the more righteous people think you are.
33:27
He asks us to pray privately when we're praying in our
33:30
personal prayers in verse 6. That's right.
33:32
So he says, go into your closet and when you pray privately,
33:37
then the Lord will answer you also in private.
33:42
So you don't ask God to bless you with things that will make
33:45
you famous or wonderful or give you honor and glory.
33:52
What we want is to be blessed in ways that we can then honor our
33:58
Heavenly Father. But verse 7 then turns to a
34:00
public prayer. It does.
34:02
Verse 7 is interesting where we now say, but when ye pray and
34:07
the and the Greek has switched here, and the English properly
34:10
too from a singular to a plural. So we have a group prayer which
34:17
is known as the Lord's Prayer. It's different here in the Book
34:23
of Mormon. It is a little different and
34:25
it's different every time. It's not that this was intended
34:28
to be a rote prayer, because Jesus has said do not pray with
34:33
vain repetitions. But here's a model that you
34:37
might follow. And one of the things I noticed
34:39
in this model is that it's filled with praising God, but
34:43
it's interesting that the difference here, it begins the
34:46
same our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
34:49
But then he doesn't say thy Kingdom come because it's
34:52
already come. And so the, the, the meticulous
34:55
care here is perfect for this audience.
34:58
Verse 10 Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
35:01
OK. And what's he thinking there?
35:03
When we pray, let thy will be done.
35:07
We are binding ourselves to be the agents to make that.
35:10
Happen. I love that.
35:12
OK. And we also have to do something
35:15
to be forgiven. What's the next one?
35:17
Forgive us our debts or our transgressions or our sins as we
35:24
forgive our debtors. That word as is a really
35:28
important word. It should be translated to the
35:32
extent that or when we as a condition for our being
35:38
forgiven, we need to forgive. That's a a righteous judgment
35:42
isn't? It and it goes on to say if you
35:44
forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
35:47
forgive you that's. Verse 14.
35:49
If you forgive men not, and you will not be forgiven your
35:53
trespasses. And it ends, like you say, with
35:55
glory. For thine is the Kingdom, and
35:58
the power and the glory forever. Amen.
36:02
This is called a doxology where you end by praising God and in
36:07
the Jewish world he would not end with a doxology outside of a
36:13
holy place. You just end with a simple Amen.
36:17
And sometimes in the prayers of Jesus in the New Testament, he
36:20
will just end with Amen. But if this is a sacred place.
36:23
It's in the temple. He's using this sacred ending.
36:27
So it appropriately ends with a doxology.
36:31
So we we do find some Greek manuscripts, even of Matthew
36:36
that don't include the doxology, but that's because they don't
36:40
have a temple where they're praying.
36:43
And in the early Christian Church, you could use this as a,
36:46
an ordinary daily prayer. But when you pray this in
36:52
connection with a Mass or a church service, even in early
36:56
Christianity, it would come with the doxology.
37:00
That's a little subtle difference, but it's a temple
37:02
related factor. And here we have the temple
37:06
element. And after this group prayer that
37:08
we've had, Jesus then gives some instructions on how you should
37:12
fast. Remember that fasting and prayer
37:15
often goes together and you fast sometimes a long time.
37:20
Jesus even fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and suffered.
37:24
He says. However, I don't want you to go
37:27
around fasting and parading your agony that you may appear unto
37:34
men to be fasting you. You don't do that when you fast.
37:40
Keep things simple and look good.
37:43
Wash. Your.
37:44
Face wash your face, anoint your head, and this way God will be
37:50
able to see in your private life and your private conduct.
37:55
He will be able to see in secret, and then He can reward
37:59
you openly. OK, now the word openly here can
38:05
also be an allusion to the openness of the final judgment,
38:11
when all the books will be opened.
38:14
It's not like he will reward you openly when you go to church,
38:18
but I think he will reward you ultimately in heaven.
38:22
Once again, the sacred nature of this temple experience.
38:26
Thinking celestial in verse 19, he begins talking about the
38:28
treasures. And don't let your eye be
38:31
singled to money and your wealth.
38:34
Have your eye be singled to God. Because wherever I love, verse
38:38
22, the light of the body is the eye.
38:41
If therefore thine eye be singled, thy whole body shall be
38:44
full of light. I think of this as the glory of
38:47
God, and He's asking us to have God be our treasure.
38:51
So you're not supposed to lay up treasure, but you should have an
38:54
eye single to the glory of God. And we make covenants to abide
39:02
by him and serve him and serve him alone.
39:06
And Jesus says you know you, you cannot serve 2 masters.
39:10
That's verse 24 for either he will hate the one and love the
39:13
other, or else he will hold the one and despise the other.
39:16
Ye cannot serve God. And I'm interested that he says
39:19
the word mammon here because doesn't it mean filthy lucre?
39:23
I mean, yeah, money here, yeah, but we are using that same word.
39:26
But then we have a change of audience again.
39:28
And the Book of Mormon is different here than the Sermon
39:31
on the Mount. It clarifies.
39:33
And the difference may be because when Jesus is first
39:36
giving this to the disciples, it's not a public speech in
39:42
Matthew chapter 5, it's to a small group of his chosen 12.
39:46
It says he leaves the crowd and goes up the mountain and then
39:49
called just his chosen disciples.
39:52
But now here in the Book of Mormon, Jesus is speaking to
39:56
everyone, and so he does make a point of separating and calls
40:01
the 12 and to their attention. He now promises them that they
40:06
will have sufficient food and drink, and that they will be
40:10
given glorious garments. That's verse 31.
40:15
Garments more glorious than Solomon's.
40:18
Is that a temple element? Yeah.
40:20
In fact, he calls it don't worry about how you're going to be
40:23
clothed. And this covering that they're
40:29
worrying about is far more important as a spiritual
40:32
covering where we refer to these in the Scripture as robes of
40:35
righteousness that are mentioned here in verses 3132.
40:40
And we know that the Nephites have been tempted away by wealth
40:43
and fancy clothing and things like that.
40:46
So all the more relevant what what I think is important here
40:51
and what eventually confirmed what I was seeing here in the in
40:57
the Sermon on the Mount is that when Jesus says do not worry
41:03
about your clothing, the word there is indumata and that you
41:07
will be robed or clothed. The word is induo.
41:11
I endow or I clothe you. So our word to be endowed
41:17
literally means to be clothed. Yes, it's very appropriate here
41:21
in the text as we read these verses on that too.
41:24
Everyone will be clothed, but there will be certain disciples
41:29
who will be clothed with even greater blessings and powers.
41:32
And so I think that that's where he has turned his special
41:37
attention to, knowing that those who have particular callings,
41:42
they should not worry about daily matters, but they should
41:46
worry about carrying out their duties as ministers of the Lord
41:51
Jesus Christ. They're living a consecrated
41:54
life now and they have to live full time for God, so don't
41:57
worry about them. Then after that, we turn to
42:04
Chapter 14. And the first topic is
42:06
judgement. Yeah, because we're all going to
42:07
be judged. Judge not that you be not
42:09
judged. Does that say we can't judge?
42:11
No, I appreciate the Joseph Smith translation on this one.
42:14
It says judge, not unrighteous judgement.
42:17
So whatever measuring stick we use to measure other people,
42:22
that measuring stick will be judged against us.
42:25
So you need to be where how you judge.
42:27
Sort of scary, isn't it, Jack? Yeah, yeah, that's when he gives
42:32
the mote and the beam and all that.
42:34
So what he's talking about now in this last chapter of the
42:37
Sermon on the Mount or Chapter 14 here is preparing us to enter
42:43
the final judgment. And everything in this chapter
42:48
will prepare us for that ultimate eventuality.
42:54
And so we we don't want to find fault in other people.
43:00
We don't want to even say, let me take the Moat out of your
43:03
eye. The Moat means just a little
43:05
tiny speck. Of dust.
43:08
When I've got a great big timber in my own eye, Look to yourself
43:12
and judge yourself and don't worry about other people.
43:16
And I think that that's really good counsel for how we can
43:22
prepare to stand before God in the final judgement.
43:26
So this next point was something again that when I first found
43:30
this, that first day really confirmed, yes, what we are
43:33
finding here is temple related because in verse 6 it says do
43:39
not give that which is holy unto the dogs.
43:44
It's talking about a holy thing that has been given to us.
43:48
And a dog is an unclean animal, just like a pig is an unclean
43:51
animal. And we're not to give our
43:53
pearls. Remember Jesus.
43:56
We'll talk about the Pearl of Great Price.
43:58
Pearl was the greatest gem that you could own.
44:01
It was greater than any other stone.
44:03
Pure white usually, and so it don't give your eternal
44:08
treasures out casually. Don't throw them to the dogs,
44:13
don't give them to the pigs. Even you don't even take
44:16
something that is that precious and start there.
44:22
You can certainly help the dogs or help anyone.
44:26
I don't want to be demeaning of any person, but any human being.
44:31
We can then help. But there are holy things that
44:35
you don't start giving away. And if you do, what will happen?
44:39
They will be trampled under their feet and turn again and
44:42
rend you. So be careful.
44:44
There's a usually a warning with the beautiful promises that I
44:47
appreciate that he gives this requirement right before verse 7
44:52
where we're told to ask, seek and knock so that it can be
44:57
opened. Now I thought this verse was
44:59
mentioned all over the place. It's not.
45:01
It's only in two places in the New Testament, both the sermon
45:05
in the plain and the Sermon on the Mount.
45:07
But it's mentioned more often in the latter day Revelations.
45:11
But the fact that it's 3 words, they're all sort of doing the
45:16
same thing, Asking, seeking, knocking, it's all trying to
45:20
enter into God's presence, isn't it?
45:22
It is and it says, if you will ask, seek and knock, then who
45:29
will open unto you? Jesus helps us answer that
45:32
question because he explains for if a son knocks and asks for
45:38
bread are. You going to give him a stone?
45:40
Will he be given a stone? And he says, and if you ask for
45:43
a fish, will you be given a serpent?
45:46
Well, these are symbolic. If you ask for the bread of
45:50
life, are you going to be stoned?
45:53
If you ask for the fish And the fish, We don't know when the
46:00
fish became a symbol of Christianity, but fairly early.
46:04
It's certainly the fish are pure and they are in the water.
46:08
And the serpent is not. It's an another unclean animal.
46:11
Having said that, verse 11 says, well, if if you being still
46:17
subject to mortality, you're you're evil, you make mistakes.
46:22
If you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much
46:25
more shall your father who is in heaven give good things to them
46:30
that ask him? So who will be there when we
46:33
ask, seek and knock in this temple context?
46:39
The Father will be behind the veil to greet and welcome us.
46:43
The Father who's in heaven and interestingly in verse 12 it
46:48
says do unto others and I'm thinking in a temple context of
46:54
vicarious work. Absolutely.
46:57
Now, of course, the Golden Rule has it's good social and
47:02
cultural applications in daily life.
47:05
But the scriptures are have many levels of interpretation here.
47:09
I agree with you entirely in this context.
47:13
We're told not to go and cast the pearls before the swine, but
47:19
we are told to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
47:25
You have to be kind to them. But most of all, like you say,
47:29
if they can't do these things and vicariously work for the
47:33
dead needs to be done, do that much for them.
47:37
So I think this is an open door saying the Father wants everyone
47:43
to come and receive these blessings and you should help
47:47
that to happen. Well, in the open door is what
47:49
verse 13 says. Ye enter ye in at the straight
47:53
gate. Now straight is spelled the way
47:55
that it means a narrow opening, you know, Straits of Gibraltar
47:59
or something, a difficult way. Enter in at the straight gate,
48:02
for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leaded to the
48:05
destruction. But he's talking about a narrow
48:07
opening and we have to ask, seek and knock, and then we can find
48:14
it. We can come in.
48:15
And then as a part of this, as often happens, when the Lord
48:21
promises these blessings, he also gives a warning.
48:25
And he did that earlier at the beginning of the Sermon on the
48:27
Mount. And now he also will say I need
48:30
to give you a warning. That's verse 15 you.
48:33
Have to beware, there will be false prophets and they will
48:36
come in sheep's clothing, so they will look like they are
48:39
wearing the clothing of the Lamb of God.
48:42
But we need to look through that and see that inwardly there may
48:46
be the ravening wolf behind that.
48:50
Now, this is, of course, a kind of parable, but he's saying we
48:54
have to always be careful, we have to judge carefully.
48:59
Well, he says to judge them by their fruits.
49:00
And that's the key he gives us here.
49:02
So back to the very beginning of this chapter.
49:06
Judge righteously and you can. Now judge the fruits.
49:12
You can. And then you know whether a tree
49:13
is good or not. Now, of course, this is also a
49:16
reference to the Tree in the Garden of Eden and the Tree of
49:20
Life. And the tree of good and evil.
49:22
But in verse 21, it's going back to this idea of entering into
49:26
the Kingdom which I love because to me that's entering into the
49:29
presence of God. Or the celestial room.
49:31
Yeah, verse 21 not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall
49:35
enter into the Kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the
49:37
will of my father who is in heaven.
49:39
Many will say, Lord, Lord, have we not?
49:42
You know, he gives a lot of examples here of what that
49:44
means. Yes, it's interesting that in
49:47
verse 23 the Lord will say you must depart from me.
49:52
You are a worker of iniquity, and He will say I never knew
49:56
you. But how can He say I never knew
49:58
you when He knows full well that they have worked iniquity?
50:02
Well, isn't no, in the scriptural tense a very intimate
50:06
relationship? It's actually a term that is
50:10
used for entering into a covenant with a person.
50:13
So when you know someone, you enter into a covenant with that
50:17
person. And so I think what he's saying
50:21
is, yes, you're knocking. You want to come, but not quite
50:25
yet. You have not entered into the
50:28
covenant. That's necessary.
50:30
Now, it may be too late at some point, but he is going to say
50:35
you are not able to withstand the glory and the and to be able
50:40
to come into my presence yet. So once again, here we have
50:43
another point that even though we might not have understood it
50:46
in this temple context, it does fit sequentially perfectly into
50:51
its place here in the temple context.
50:54
And then the chapter ends with this small little story of the
50:57
wise man building his house on the rock and the rains
51:00
descending. And I think it was so pertinent
51:04
for them that year. And you remember that at the end
51:08
of last week's discussion, it was at the end of Chapter 11
51:13
that Jesus also gives this little terrible about building
51:17
your house upon the rock. So he's now kind of with the
51:21
bookend closing what he's told them.
51:24
He he gave the opening cover and now the back cover of this.
51:29
So it did. Thank you for saying that we
51:33
need to build our house upon the rock.
51:37
If you read the the translation here, it's a wise man builds his
51:42
house upon a rock. Now the Greek is the rock, and I
51:49
think the implication clearly is here that you build your house
51:53
upon the rock. Now who is the rock or what is
51:55
the rock? If we are wise, the rock is
51:57
Jesus Christ, and the wise men and women will build on Christ.
52:01
And the temple is also built on the temple rock.
52:05
Which is the foundation of how to return to God's presence.
52:09
So building your house upon the Lord and His temple will then
52:15
allow you to enter. But if not, the rains will
52:18
descend, and the floods and the winds and all those things that
52:21
they had seen, and great will be the fall.
52:29
In Chapter 15, he says he ends his sayings to the multitude.
52:36
But he wants, he says, as I taught these things, I wanted to
52:39
tell you I told you these things before verse one.
52:43
Therefore whosoever remembereth these sayings of mine and do
52:47
with them him will I raise up at the last day.
52:50
That is a promise that also fits into the temple context.
52:55
But he now talks a little bit about answering their question
52:58
on the covenants. He says, I want, I can tell that
53:03
you're confused still a little bit about fulfilling the law.
53:06
And between verses 5 and verses 8, he makes an interesting
53:10
connection here in verse five, he says, behold, I am he that
53:16
gave the law. I am he who covenanted unto this
53:19
people of Israel. Therefore the law is fulfilled
53:22
in me. This is now the third time this
53:24
has been repeated. You know, the law they're
53:26
referring to, I think is the Mosaic Law.
53:28
That was 1400, about BC, 1400 BC, give or take 100 or 200
53:32
years all the way through now until 34 AD.
53:36
But in verse 8 he says the covenant which I have made with
53:41
my people is not all fulfilled. Now I refer to that sometimes as
53:46
the Abrahamic covenant, but we know this covenant was also
53:49
given to Adam. This is a covenant from the
53:52
foundation of the world, and it has not been fulfilled because
53:56
we are still living it. Yeah, there's a difference
53:58
between the law and the covenant.
54:00
Yes, and that's what he's trying to emphasize here in verse 9.
54:04
Behold, I am the law and the light, look unto me, and endure
54:09
to the end, and ye shall live to me.
54:12
This is the message of the covenant.
54:14
I was fascinated to look into how many times covenant is used
54:18
by our Savior here in this text. And I just did a comparison
54:22
between sections in the Book of Mormon Nephi, First and second
54:26
books of Nephi uses the word covenant a lot, 13 times.
54:29
Book of Alma, a lot, 25 times. But here in these third Nephi
54:34
chapters, this is emphasized twice as often.
54:37
You know, 39 times we're seeing these things mentioned, and then
54:40
the last two books just just 10 times.
54:43
Now, Len, you're really good at looking at these little details.
54:47
I'd like to invite people to ask themselves, how many times in
54:51
the New Testament does Jesus use the word covenant?
54:54
I don't know how you counted it I.
54:55
Haven't, but I don't think it's very many.
54:59
And So what we are getting here is what we sometimes call
55:03
Jesus's covenant sermon and it will become even more prominent
55:07
in on day two in a couple lessons when we have the the
55:13
sermon that he gives in 35 chapter 20 to 23.
55:17
Well. He ends this chapter
55:18
interestingly, talking just to the 12.
55:21
Now he's changing his audience again.
55:22
Starting in verse 11, it says he's speaking to the 12 and he
55:26
starts talking to them about the other sheep.
55:28
Verse 17 reads other sheep I have which are not of this
55:30
fault, them also I must bring. So he's already been to
55:33
Jerusalem. He possibly had been to other
55:36
places in between, but now he's saying, oh, there are other
55:38
sheep than just you. I've got to take care of them
55:40
too. And that's sort of how verse
55:44
chapter 16 starts as well. Yes, in chapter 16 follows up
55:50
and all the rest of this chapter will be addressed simply to the
55:54
12 disciples. And He's preparing them and
55:58
giving them some challenges which are helpful to us, but
56:02
most particularly aimed at maybe the church as a whole.
56:06
For one thing, in verse 4 Jesus will tell those 12 that they
56:10
must keep records and we are a record keeping church.
56:14
First commandment given to the Church.
56:15
And behold, a record shall be kept.
56:17
Doctrine coming in section 22. But they're just following what
56:20
Jesus had said here in 3rd Nephi.
56:22
So and the record, he says the reason we're keeping these
56:26
records partly of course are to keep track of the ordinances,
56:30
but also he says these will be for the benefit of the Gentiles.
56:34
So you want to keep these records with the Gentiles also
56:39
in mind. And I like that little detail
56:42
because Mormon will say on the title page that the there's
56:46
three audiences and one of them is to the Gentiles.
56:51
So if the Gentiles of course sin and reject against this, it says
56:56
that the the fullness will be taken from them, but if they
57:02
accept, the fullness will be theirs too.
57:06
So from the very beginning, Jesus wants the mission of the
57:09
church to be worldwide. And the the timing will depend
57:15
on when we are able to proclaim the gospel in certain places,
57:19
but eventually the will of the Lord will be done and all of
57:23
these records will go unto all the world.
57:26
And that's one of the reasons we want to be sure that the Book of
57:29
Mormon, these records go unto all the world.
57:35
Finally, to say one last parting thing to the 12 Jesus will quote
57:43
Isaiah chapter 52. You remember this text about the
57:47
watchman Shelb make Bear the arm of God in all nations.
57:54
That little text, even though you might not have thought of
57:57
that in connection with the instruction to these 12 to keep
58:02
the records to go to all the Gentiles.
58:04
The the Scripture support is you are watching and you now need to
58:09
prepare these records so that the Watchmen can now make bear
58:15
the arm of the Lord in all the world.
58:18
So it's a perfect Isaiah scripture to include.
58:20
It would have sounded familiar to them because it's also one of
58:23
the scriptures that Abinadi quotes to the priests of Noah
58:29
when he's speaking there in chapter 15 of Mosiah.
58:35
So that's the the end. And Jesus is pretty tired, I
58:39
think, at that point. Or maybe he thinks they've
58:42
probably heard enough. And as we'll see in the next
58:47
chapter. They were thirsty for more.
58:50
They don't want him to go. And I hope you are thirsty for
58:53
more. And as we conclude this first
58:58
section of the Savior's visitation, I hope that you open
59:02
your scriptures and fall on your knees, and we too can
59:05
figuratively be in His presence. And as we walk through the text,
59:11
you can imagine not only being with them, but being in the
59:15
temple because it truly is. It can be a House of God.
59:21
And let me conclude with my testimony that this is indeed a
59:27
temple text. As I completed that study that I
59:34
did that one day that we began talking about, I thought, well,
59:39
it's about lunchtime me, take a look.
59:43
I opened the door to see what's going on.
59:45
I said there were no windows in that little basement room.
59:48
And I looked at the clock and it was 4:30 in the afternoon.
59:53
The whole day had just gone by as if in a dream as I had worked
59:58
back and forth from one place to another.
1:00:01
And I didn't stop until I had completed all of these things
1:00:05
that we've talked about today. So this all came.
1:00:09
In one study session. And of course I then wanted to
1:00:16
share this with the world and I began by sharing it with Elder
1:00:21
Maxwell that very night. And he said, I will take this to
1:00:27
the temple and I'll let you know what I think you should do next.
1:00:36
And he had been an advisor to us at Farms.
1:00:40
And he told me if you ever find something that you think I need
1:00:43
to know, I want to be the first to hear about it.
1:00:48
And that's why I did. I called him.
1:00:51
And from there, of course, many things opened up.
1:00:56
And I've published, first of all, an insight with Farms.
1:01:02
And then a book was published in 1990 by Deseret Book, and I
1:01:07
published this in academic journals.
1:01:10
I've spoken to the Society of Biblical Literature, to the
1:01:16
London Temple Studies group, other places where this
1:01:21
perspective on the temple. It's not that they will all see
1:01:25
and get what we are doing, but when I presented this in Boston
1:01:32
to a large biblical studies group, I had people come up to
1:01:39
me and thank me for opening their eyes to things they'd
1:01:43
never even thought of. And the last person who stayed
1:01:49
was the principal of a women's College in Massachusetts.
1:01:57
And she said, I've been attending these meetings for
1:02:00
dozens of years now. Thank you for bringing the
1:02:04
Spirit into this room. I have never felt the Spirit
1:02:10
here in one of these academic meetings as I have felt today.
1:02:16
I know that the Lord's work is with us and He will sustain and
1:02:19
help us as we strive to do His will and especially to keep our
1:02:28
temple covenants so that He can then fulfill His promises to us
1:02:35
beyond our wildest imagination. I know that this work is of the
1:02:41
Lord. I know the Book of Mormon is
1:02:43
true and that these are the words of Jesus and that this
1:02:49
text belongs in the Book of Mormon and at the temple in
1:02:56
Bountiful in the name of Jesus Christ.
1:02:58
Amen. Amen.
1:03:00
As a nonprofit organization, our ability here at Scripture
1:03:04
Central to produce content like this depends on your support.
1:03:08
If you'd like to contribute, please click the link below to
1:03:11
donate. Every contribution counts.
1:03:13
We appreciate your support and thank you for watching.