Latest / Scripture Central / 3 Nephi 17–19 | Oct 7–13 | John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon

Transcript

3 Nephi 17–19 | Oct 7–13 | 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
I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson. And I'm Jack Welch.
0:05
And today we get to talk about some of the most beautiful
0:08
chapters in the whole Canon of scripture.
0:11
Third Nephi chapter 17 through 19.
0:14
These chapters are indeed a pinnacle, certainly the center
0:17
of Third Nephi, and it's amazing what we have here.
0:20
It's I'm I'm so humbled and thrilled to be able to talk
0:24
about this and imagine what it must have been like.
0:26
These experiences are still at the temple, and we're talking
0:33
about Jesus spent that first day right there at the temple of.
0:37
We're just finishing up the first day and then we get to
0:39
start the second day. And we don't know exactly where
0:41
the second day came, but I think they mostly came back to the
0:44
same area. And those who hadn't been there
0:48
at the temple needed to be given those same kind of experiences
0:52
so they would be all brought together and up to speed with
0:55
what's happening here. So this is this is sacred
0:59
material and here they are in the presence of the resurrected
1:03
Lord overwhelming. And you can imagine here at the
1:08
end of that first day, Jesus thought, well, I don't want to
1:11
wear out my welcome. And he was about to leave.
1:15
It sounds also like he had perceived their thoughts.
1:17
They were on stimulation overload.
1:19
They had had, they had, they tried to absorb everything, but
1:22
they're to the point now where they can't take any more.
1:25
But they don't want him to leave.
1:27
They just can hardly bear the stand the idea of of him not
1:30
being with him. And they have these needs,
1:33
especially their sick and afflicted.
1:36
And he reaches out. And so in the 1st chapter today,
1:40
chapter 17, we have those wonderful healings.
1:43
And then in chapter 18, he says, now let's have the sacrament so
1:49
that they can now make a covenant.
1:51
I don't want them to go home without having entered into a
1:54
covenant because of all of these experiences that they've had.
1:59
It's not just for their intellectual curiosity.
2:02
He wants them to be bound to him.
2:06
So we end with chapter 18 and then the lesson wants us to go
2:10
on into chapter 19. And you know, I'm not sure why
2:16
the come follow me lesson split it that way, except that Chapter
2:21
19 introduces so many more chapters.
2:24
The second day goes all the way to the end of chapter 26.
2:29
So you have a lot of chapters there and it's maybe good to get
2:32
a warm up, but we'll review chapter 19 again next week.
2:37
So read that carefully and it will help us go into the second
2:41
day. And then there are other days
2:42
beyond that. I'm also fascinated that the
2:45
first day begins with our Savior authorizing the 12 to baptize,
2:52
and the first day ends with our Savior authorizing the 12 to
2:56
give the gift of the Holy Ghost. And then that's a great point
2:59
because baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost are the first
3:03
steps in what we call the the gospel or the doctrine of Jesus
3:09
Christ. And by the end of Third, Nephi
3:14
will have that filled out even further.
3:17
So Jesus doesn't want to leave them, I think, until they have
3:22
at least some knowledge of what's coming next, it's not
3:28
over. And the gospel of Jesus Christ
3:31
is a progressive thing. I think Joseph Smith especially
3:35
understood how we grow step by step, line upon line, precept
3:40
upon precept. And you'd think that being in
3:44
the presence of Jesus Christ would have been enough.
3:47
And that's the end of the story. But there's always more.
3:51
And we like to talk in the church about eternal
3:54
progression. And we see, I think that modeled
3:57
here. Yeah, in today's chapters
3:59
there's a. Lot 1 Last comment on the kind
4:01
of structure of Third Nephi is that if you just look at how
4:05
many chapters are used in General Conference in 3rd Nephi,
4:11
to a significant extent many of the chapters are not, and for
4:16
good reason. The ones where he quotes Isaiah
4:18
Malachi are not used as often as his own.
4:21
But if you I I just added up looked at all of these, the most
4:25
frequently cited chapter is Chapter 11.
4:29
OK, his coming. 473 citations in General Conference over the
4:34
years to that and chapter 27 where he explains this is my
4:40
gospel and we'll get to that in a couple more lessons. 451
4:46
citations. In the middle we have chapter 17
4:49
and 18, our topics for today, 251 and 221 citations.
4:57
All the others are 100 or fewer. So these 4 chapters, you know,
5:04
if you don't have time to really do all of Third Nephi, I think
5:08
those are the four chapters we want to spend most of our time
5:11
on. Well, let's start then in
5:12
Chapter 17. I'm so touched with the Saviors
5:21
in verse 3. Ask the Father in my name that
5:25
He may understand and prepare your minds.
5:28
You know, He's told them perhaps you're not able to absorb
5:31
anymore. So pray, pray that you can.
5:34
And I just take that so personally to myself when I feel
5:38
like I'm on overload, whether it's a general conference or
5:40
scripture study or whatever it is in my life.
5:43
Pray to absorb more things the Spirit has to teach us.
5:47
He says, prepare your minds for the Morrow, and I will come unto
5:52
you again. They don't need to feel like
5:54
he's not coming back. There's more.
5:57
Interestingly, the next few verses also fall into a nice
6:02
little chiastic structure. Verses 6 and seven.
6:06
The Savior sees that they're crying.
6:08
They don't want him to leave. And he responds in verse 6,
6:11
Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you.
6:14
Have you any that are sick among you?
6:16
And then the sick is repeated again in verse 7 as I will heal
6:20
them. So you see that parallel and in
6:22
the center of this little chiastic structure it says bring
6:26
them, hit her. Have you any that are lame or
6:28
blind or halt or mane or leprous?
6:29
You know he goes through the different kinds.
6:31
Bring them, hit her. I will heal them.
6:34
It's this beautiful promise that he will do the same thing with
6:39
these children of Israel as he did for those that were in the
6:43
Old World. And then it finishes with the
6:46
for my compassion, I have compassion upon you.
6:50
And that word is a very fascinating word.
6:53
We often talk about the Passion of Christ, meaning his
6:57
suffering. Did he ever put compassion with
6:59
the passion? Well, when he says I have
7:01
compassion upon you, he's referring to his own suffering,
7:05
his own passion. And I did it for you.
7:10
But also calm passion means to suffer with the together with.
7:19
And so my bowels are filled with mercy for you.
7:24
And the word in the New Testament that's always used for
7:27
mercy refers to your gut. So something is just gut
7:32
wrenching when I'm so I'm so compassionate.
7:36
I am so sorry. Complete empathy to the point
7:40
that he can feel again. Depths of feeling to the bottom
7:44
of your soul. And so this word, compassion, a
7:48
beautiful, wonderful word. That he repeats twice in verse 6
7:52
and. Seven And it's a word that Jesus
7:53
used in the parable of the Good Samaritan, so he uses it here as
7:58
well. I also love in verse 8 when the
8:00
Savior points out, I see that your faith is sufficient that I
8:05
should heal you and he's honoring them.
8:08
He's saying because you have faith, you will be able to
8:11
receive this great gift of the Spirit, this gift of faith.
8:15
And I think it's interesting if you look ahead a few verses at
8:18
the after the healing in chapter 17, verse 20, he says, blessed
8:23
are you because of your faith. And now behold my joyous.
8:27
Once he performed the healings, once their faith was exercised
8:32
and they were able to receive that gift from God, that's when
8:36
Christ's joy was full. This is just fascinating to me
8:40
how our faith is really tied to his happiness.
8:45
It goes back to Moses chapter 1. All of his work is for our own,
8:49
our good. And this is my work and my glory
8:53
and the joy that Lehigh also spoke of.
8:59
I love what you're saying about the I and the I am because of
9:04
what you are. This the pronouns going back and
9:07
forth between I and you. To me.
9:11
You wonder what is it in this report that Mormon has given us
9:16
that makes it so personal and so powerful?
9:18
And I think it's all these pronouns.
9:21
This is first person. This is immediate.
9:23
This is something that we can also identify with.
9:26
For example, look at verse seven.
9:28
He says, I perceive that ye desire that I should show unto
9:34
you what I have done unto your brethren at Jerusalem, For I see
9:39
that your faith is sufficient that I should heal you.
9:43
Now this back and forth isn't that interesting?
9:47
And what's it telling us? What's it telling you?
9:51
Tells me that he wants this relationship to be very personal
9:56
and going back and forth. It's a two way relationship.
10:00
Our faith, his mercy and all of this is to bind us and make US1.
10:05
And in that little verse 7, there are actually five and five
10:09
Five Eyes 5 views for a total of 10.
10:13
And you know, I love the number 10 and I think Mormon did too.
10:17
And he gives us these tense IU statements.
10:22
Martin Buber was a very important German theologian and
10:28
and wrote extensively about the AI thou relationship of
10:32
Christian doctrine and of Christian faith.
10:37
Now of course he was a 20th century philosopher, but here we
10:40
have in the Book of Mormon already.
10:43
But the relationship that we have with the Savior is so
10:46
crucial to his ability to bless us.
10:49
We have to have the faith. You know, they say it's not the
10:53
faith of the person giving the blessing, it's the faith of the
10:56
person receiving the blessing. Exactly.
10:58
And the this two way relationship is something that
11:03
is so obvious here in the Book of Mormon.
11:07
We rarely stop to comment on this, but I just want to say
11:11
that it's very profound and people have written extensively
11:16
to try to develop this idea outside of our tradition, which
11:19
is which is nice. So the multitude comes with one
11:22
accord. They did bring forth their sick,
11:24
skipping down a little bit. They bowed down at His feet and
11:28
did worship Him, and they did bathe His feet with their tears.
11:33
The Savior will cry with them a little bit later, but right now
11:38
they are just filled with gratitude.
11:41
And I can't imagine not only all the birth defects, all all the
11:44
challenges, all the I mean. The injuries from the
11:47
destruction, the. Injuries from just normal life
11:50
and then the destruction, you know, earlier that year, just
11:53
horrific. And I've, I've also wondered,
11:55
have you ever thought who caused those deaths or those injuries?
12:01
It was partly because of the death of Jesus.
12:05
Oh of. Course, you know, of course he
12:06
is suffering with them in a way, but and obviously not for the
12:11
same purposes or that extensively.
12:14
However, I think Jesus when he says I'm compassionate, I've
12:17
suffered and I know you have too.
12:20
And at the same time he's he's also saying if it hadn't have
12:26
been what I needed to do, you wouldn't have had these lame and
12:30
blind and injured people. So what a blessing it must have
12:34
been for him to be able to say, let me make that right.
12:39
And after the healing, the Savior asks that the little
12:42
children should be brought. This is verses 11 and 12.
12:46
It's my favorite section. It's a very popular part, I
12:50
think, for good reason. And Jesus asks, bring your
12:57
little children. Why little I I imagine these are
13:02
the very young ones, but they're able to sit there alone.
13:06
I guess they've been there enough for the day.
13:08
They must be pretty tired. But he says bring the little
13:11
ones. And they were apparently quiet
13:16
and comfortable with Jesus at that point.
13:19
I think they are under 8 years old so they aren't yet in need
13:25
of baptism. So they are pure and they can be
13:28
brought right into the presence of Jesus.
13:32
Jesus sets them on the ground and he stands in the middle of
13:38
them and then he has the parents kneel in a circle all around
13:46
them. So you have like a prayer circle
13:49
and Jesus, the altar is in the middle with the children there
13:55
around him. Of course he's the altar.
13:57
Yes, symbolically, always, yeah. Now we, we don't know exactly
14:02
what's happening here, but I think it's something akin to
14:09
sealing these children to their parents and the parents to the
14:14
children. Would you?
14:16
Would you buy that? The reason why is because last
14:19
week we went through how Christ's message of the temple.
14:23
It parallels much of the teachings that we receive in our
14:27
endowment and our washings and our administratories.
14:30
And now the next step would be the ceiling of the children.
14:35
It it, it just flows. And so look what it says in the
14:39
text. Jesus first prays to the Father
14:43
for the parents. So the parents need to have some
14:47
kind of instruction or blessing or or be involved.
14:52
To me this is saying the parents have got to be in harmony with
14:56
each other before the children can be brought into their sealed
15:00
relationship. So we have some instruction or
15:06
prayer by Jesus to the Father, asking I think, that they be
15:11
blessed and accepted as parents of these children and as
15:15
husbands and wives. And Jesus then turned and
15:18
blessed each child, and it says 1 by 1.
15:23
Individually. So this is some kind of of
15:27
particular blessing. It's not just I love all the
15:29
children and it's different than what we have in Matthew chapter
15:34
18 when Jesus says bring the little children to me and and he
15:37
blessed them. The parents weren't there then,
15:40
at least as far as we know. And I hear after he blesses them
15:46
one by one, they he then invites the parents.
15:51
He turns to the parents and he says, behold your little ones.
15:57
Now he could be saying, aren't they cute?
15:59
I don't think so, Jack. The word behold, yes, behold has
16:02
much more I I see it in light of this idea of a ceiling.
16:08
Look at them in a new light. Behold, this is who they are.
16:13
And whose are they? They're yours, your little ones.
16:17
And I think the emphasis there, I don't know how he might have
16:20
stressed that word, but I think he could be saying they are
16:25
yours forever. They are really yours.
16:28
Well, and what happens after that is that.
16:30
When the angels. Come angels then come down and
16:33
encircle them again, so there's another circle of some kind, and
16:37
they ministered to them all. Now that's an interesting word.
16:42
Why? Why is that an interesting word?
16:44
Because they, the angels, are doing something that was not
16:48
done before. They are ministering to them.
16:50
Is it additional healing? Is it additional ordinances?
16:53
Is it additional? I don't know, but they're
16:56
ministering. They had to do something.
16:58
And Minerva Tiger thought they were bringing some bread.
17:00
They've been, they've been involved with this for a long
17:03
time, all day long. And I don't know that they had a
17:05
lunch break. So Minerva would think of that,
17:09
and rightly so. And there might be some
17:11
ministering in that regard. But more than that, the
17:16
witnesses then bear record of what has done.
17:20
Now, usually that means at the end of a covenant, like we have
17:24
with King Benjamin's speech, they took down the names of all
17:28
who had entered into the covenant.
17:31
And so as a summary here at the end of Chapter 17, we see that
17:37
what has happened here was in the presence of God, angels and
17:41
witnesses. And that's a temple formula.
17:47
So we don't know what was said. But you know, in chapter 26 we
17:53
will be told that Jesus does return often and instructs these
17:58
people, and we don't know what more was explained or told
18:03
during those days. Mormon will say some of these
18:06
things can't be written. I don't think that means they
18:11
aren't able to write it. They don't have permission to
18:14
write it. I.
18:15
Think it's sacred? And especially if it's got some
18:17
kind of temple ordnance connection, they could.
18:22
This all could very well have been explained to them.
18:25
On these other days we usually think of Jesus just visiting 3
18:29
days. It says he came back off and it
18:31
reminded me of after his resurrection.
18:34
In the New Testament we have the 40 day ministry.
18:37
We may be reading some into that text, but I'd rather read more
18:40
than less. Well, and I just feel like we
18:42
have to rely on the Spirit to guide our study.
18:45
That's a good point. And if the Spirit speaks to you,
18:48
and as you read this in the temple and use it, you can of
18:53
course adopt this as something that you want to appreciate and
18:57
say, I want this in my own family, in my own life.
19:03
And it can be just as real as that, because God will make it
19:07
that for you. And I believe also that Joseph
19:09
Smith taught that the prophets had received their the
19:14
equivalent of an ordinances in the temple, their endowment.
19:19
They were endowed with power. And if the prophets had those in
19:22
the past and they taught from that perspective, wouldn't we
19:25
see the same thing in the New World?
19:27
That makes perfect sense, doesn't it?
19:30
Well, that's the end of Chapter 17, but it's not the end of the
19:32
day. Chapter 18, the way that it's
19:40
recorded for us anyway, goes back and forth from the 12 to
19:44
the multitude to the 12 to the multitude, and he starts out
19:47
talking to the 12. Then we get a little bit to the
19:49
multitude. I guess they did that in 17 as
19:51
well, went back and forth, but it's even more so in chapters 18
19:54
and 19 and we go back and forth. Actually, Lynn, you put your
19:56
finger on a very important reading tool here.
20:00
Yeah, I think so. Actually, the back and forth
20:02
begins way back in Chapter 11 where some things are said to
20:05
the people and then to the 12, and then Jesus says some things
20:09
to the whole multitude and then at the end of chapter 13 it's
20:13
just to the disciples. Well.
20:14
I think it's significant because he usually gives specific
20:17
information for the priesthood leadership or those with the
20:20
keys. And I think that Joseph Smith
20:22
would have learned from that, that there are certain things
20:26
that there are priesthood responsibilities and with
20:30
greater responsibilities and powers come greater obligations
20:35
and blessings and other things that yes, we are all equal as
20:41
disciples of Jesus Christ, but we are also unequal as disciples
20:45
in lots of ways, depending on our experience, our callings,
20:49
our responsibilities, and so on. So my, my point is, what you've
20:53
put your finger on is as people read Third Nephi, it's really
20:58
good to have a little way of marking.
21:01
So is this to everyone or is this just to the disciples?
21:05
And you'll, you'll see that it goes back and forth.
21:08
What about a dozen times? At least Yeah, yeah, yeah.
21:11
But then we get to sacrament. The end of the first day brings
21:14
the sacrament. Interestingly, Jacket, there's
21:17
no miraculous bread this time. He sends them back to get the
21:21
bread and the. Wine.
21:22
Who does he send back? Well, he sends the his
21:25
disciples. He sends the 12.
21:28
And who brings the bread for our sacrament?
21:32
The teachers. The teachers quorum.
21:34
It's a priesthood responsibility.
21:37
You'll see in this that we do things in our administration of
21:41
the sacrament because that's how Jesus did it.
21:44
And I think this is one of those points anyway.
21:46
They go get the bread and then what?
21:48
Verse 7 This shall ye do in remembrance of my body, which I
21:52
have shown unto you. I love that.
21:55
Just the reality. He's right there, and it shall
21:58
be a testimony unto the Father that you do always Remember Me.
22:01
And if you do always Remember Me, ye shall have my Spirit to
22:06
be with you. Those words sound kind of
22:07
familiar, don't they? As a Bishop, I would go over
22:10
this with the priests to be sure that they could see the
22:15
connections between our words. Where do we get our words for
22:19
the sacrament prayer? From Moroni chapters four and
22:22
five, you can see how closely though those words have been
22:26
adapted. Obviously when Jesus is offering
22:29
the prayer, it's going to be again in the I thou language.
22:35
And so we have in yellow marks the pronouns I in you or ye.
22:41
If ye do this, always Remember Me.
22:44
Ye shall have my Spirit to be with you, and our prayers say.
22:47
And if they always remember him, they shall have his spirit to be
22:51
with them, and so on. But it's a subtle little shift.
22:55
And yet the substantive words are all here in the words that
22:59
Jesus is using as he offers the prayer and.
23:01
Every time I step back on one of these literary interesting
23:05
things that are not exactly the same but consistent, I have to
23:09
say it's a masterful editing. It's in a masterful translation
23:15
and it could not have been done without care.
23:19
Joseph writing Lickety Split or Oliver Squill going Lickety
23:23
Split didn't have the time to stop.
23:25
This is another example Jack of the reality of this book as an
23:29
ancient text that was carefully prepared, not 60X days writing
23:35
as fast as you could. That's right.
23:37
And who, who do you think made this adjustment to take the
23:40
words which we call the Vox ipso, the actual words of Jesus,
23:45
and transformed them into a liturgical mode so they could be
23:51
used in a liturgy and a prayer of of that did did that happen?
23:55
Did Jesus make that transition and say to the 12 just as he had
23:59
told them, these are the words you should use when you baptize?
24:03
Maybe, he said. And now these are the words that
24:04
you should use when you bless the sacrament.
24:06
You know that he told Nephi specifically other things, who
24:10
can take the sacrament and who can't.
24:12
So I assume that he spoke to his prophet, he spoke to the
24:16
leaders. I would think so.
24:18
And in chapter 19 we'll also learn and elsewhere that they
24:23
would break up into groups because the groups were too
24:25
large and they will administer the sacrament there.
24:29
So they must already be using the words of Jesus not in a
24:34
first person mode, but in an ordinance mode.
24:38
So in verse 11, Jesus says to them when they're blessing the
24:42
the wine or the water for us, This shall ye always do to those
24:46
who repent and are baptized in my name, and ye shall do it in
24:50
remembrance of my blood. Once again, the pronouns need to
24:53
be shifted so that the prayer will eventually come out
24:57
sounding right. I know it's the priest who is
24:59
pronouncing those words, but he's representing Jesus Christ,
25:04
and as you hear those words, personalize them.
25:08
I always put in my name or I or whatever, yeah, just to
25:12
personalize them. Good.
25:14
Great weighted, even one step further.
25:16
He then gives instructions on prayer, starting in about verse
25:19
15 of chapter 18. He's talking first to the 12 and
25:22
then to the multitude. But he asked them to watch and
25:25
pray often. But just like he did in his
25:28
example of prayer in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, he says
25:34
pray always lest you be tempted by the devil.
25:37
You know, I feel like sometimes we're praying for our physical
25:40
safety more than we are our spiritual safety.
25:43
And I am so touched by the fact that this is something that we
25:47
need to always be aware that the devil is attempting to overcome
25:55
the goodness. And yet he repeats the same
25:58
thing when he talks just to the 12.
26:00
And when he talks to the 12, he says, for Satan desireth to have
26:04
you that he may sift to his wheat.
26:05
And he had said the same thing to Peter.
26:07
Do you remember that at the Last Supper?
26:09
And yet here he's talking to the multitude and he's saying be
26:14
careful, be careful, be on your guard.
26:18
And that's something I need to add more to my prayers that I
26:20
will not be LED into temptation. And not that God is leading me,
26:24
but I need his extra protection. And I, I think the sense of this
26:28
part of the Lord's Prayer is to let us not be LED into
26:33
temptation, That and, and temptations can mean all kinds
26:39
of things, trials and testing and so on.
26:45
But the important thing there is we also say, but deliver us from
26:50
evil. And so, however the temptations
26:54
come, the. Atonement of Jesus Christ can
26:56
deliver us. And we will be delivered from
26:59
evil for and why? How can we do this if we do it
27:03
for His glory? For thine is the glory and the
27:06
Kingdom forever. Those aren't just kind of a
27:08
mechanical ending. That is the motive clause, why
27:14
we are doing these things. Praise fills at least 1/3 of
27:18
that prayer. When I counted up the words,
27:20
Yeah, I'd like to read from verse 20.
27:22
Whatsoever he asked the father in my name, which is right,
27:26
believing that he shall receive. Behold, it shall be given unto
27:29
you. The same message is repeated by
27:32
Mormon. We can read it in Moroni Chapter
27:35
7, verse 26. And this is one of the most
27:39
significant verses to me that I have got to make sure my prayer
27:43
is asking in alignment with God. But this verse became very
27:47
important to me when my little 7 year old was dying of
27:51
meningitis. And I read this first to him as
27:54
a Sunday school lesson while he was laying in bed unable to move
27:58
or talk. And he gathered enough voice and
28:03
said, I know I can be healed. And within 20 minutes after that
28:08
prayer, that little boy was healed.
28:10
So this verse has great meaning to me.
28:14
Whatever you ask the Father which is right, believing, it
28:19
will be given unto you. And then he commands them to
28:21
pray in their families in the next verse.
28:23
And I love family prayers. I always felt before my kids
28:27
went to school, my morning prayer over the oatmeal was like
28:32
a mother's blessing. I prayed that the Spirit of the
28:34
Lord would be with them. I prayed for their minds and
28:37
their hearts and their spiritual safety.
28:39
Anyway, I I really love this ability that we have to pray for
28:43
our children calling upon the powers of heaven.
28:46
And what we have here, of course, is one more very
28:50
specific instruction that we pray in our families because
28:55
Jesus told us to. We're not just doing this
28:58
because a sociologist told us this would be a good idea.
29:03
And when we keep the commandments, then we are
29:06
blessed. And this is one of those many
29:09
examples which we should read Jesus's words here, not just as
29:14
philosophical or interesting, but as and, and not commanding,
29:22
but how gentle God's commands. He doesn't lay it on heavily,
29:26
but he just says meet together often or pray in this way and
29:33
it's more of the invitation. But we know that when it's
29:38
coming from him, that invitation is one that we want to take very
29:42
seriously. Verse 22 You shall not forbid
29:45
any. So when you're meeting together,
29:47
have everyone come, he says, but suffer them, that they may come
29:51
unto you and forbid them not. However, when it comes to the
29:54
sacrament, he's a little more cautious about that.
29:58
And this is organized again in a beautiful chiastic structure.
30:02
He says, I've got to leave. And that's in verse 27.
30:05
And he repeats it in verse 35. I must go to the Father, He
30:09
says, but I have one more commandment that I have to give
30:11
unto you. He repeats that again in verse
30:13
33 to 34. But then he goes on and says, Ye
30:17
shall not suffer anyone knowingly to partake of my flesh
30:22
and my blood unworthily, because in verse 29 he says he that
30:26
eateth and drinketh damnation to his soul.
30:29
So you have to invite them to come and meet with you, but do
30:32
not partake the sacrament. And Jack, I think this is just
30:35
to the 12. I think this is one of these
30:37
sections that is to the leadership saying have everyone
30:41
come. But he says, but make sure that
30:43
you don't cast them out. This is verse 30.
30:45
You shall minister to them because they might repent.
30:49
You know they might return and the center then is that if he or
30:54
she does not repent, they will not be numbered among my people,
30:58
but I want you to keep ministering to them is how he
31:00
comes out of it again in verse 32.
31:02
And so he works his way out of that.
31:05
You know, don't think it ends because we have this concern
31:09
that if they don't repent, you don't want them to partake of
31:12
the sacrament unworthily. But they should be their own
31:15
judge of whether they're worthy or not.
31:17
But they need to be encouraged and be and know and.
31:20
Ministered and loved. And know that this is a serious
31:23
matter. And so he goes on to say,
31:27
nevertheless, like you, you say, continue to minister to them,
31:31
that you might be the means of bringing salvation unto these
31:35
people. We talk about ministering in the
31:37
church and a lot of it's being friendly and of course inviting.
31:42
The purpose for all of that, however, is to ultimately bring
31:46
them not just to Christ, but to the salvation of Jesus Christ
31:51
to. A covenant with him that he can,
31:54
the atonement can apply to them as well.
31:57
And right before he leaves, he has to make sure this is in
32:00
place. Yeah.
32:01
I think it's fascinating to see what was in that first day.
32:03
And there's one more thing. It must have been growing a
32:05
little bit dark. The day has been long, but
32:08
there's one more thing that Jesus wants to do before he
32:12
leaves. In verses 35 to 37, He now is
32:16
finishing his last conversation with these 12 and he touches
32:22
them with his hand 1 by 1. Again, that's some kind of a
32:28
signal of conferring authority or blessings or powers of some
32:34
kind. And he spoke to them as he
32:36
touched each one of them. Now, we don't know what he said
32:41
from Third Nephi 18, but it does say, I'll tell you this later.
32:49
So Mormon is aware, and he wants us to remember as readers that
32:55
as they all left that night, they had no idea what had been
32:58
done. So we're left as readers in the
33:01
position that those participants had been in the.
33:03
Multitude didn't know. But he does say, and he wants to
33:06
be sure that this point is taught later.
33:10
Now Moroni is the one who will remember in Moroni Chapter 2, we
33:14
never told people what was said on this occasion.
33:20
So you have to flip back to Moroni Chapter 2 or?
33:22
Wait till December. But look at it now, because
33:26
there you will see what it was that Jesus did as He gave the 12
33:31
the higher power to give the gift of the Holy Ghost.
33:36
So here we have a clear indication that there are two
33:39
levels of power at the beginning of this.
33:42
The first thing he did for the 12, he gave them the power to
33:44
baptize, which we would call the Auronic priesthood.
33:48
And now he's given them the power to give the gift of the
33:51
Holy Ghost. So it's right there in the Book
33:54
of Mormon that these two levels of power are are presented as
33:59
Jesus creates and organizes his church there.
34:03
Which we also see in the New Testament.
34:10
So then we moved to the second day, chapter 19.
34:13
And when they go home that first night, some people don't get
34:17
much sleep. In fact, I kept thinking, if the
34:19
Lord asked them to go home and absorb and think about this, how
34:23
does staying up all night and running 20 miles or however far
34:27
they had to go on their animals or to gather more people to come
34:31
the next day? Yeah, they're spreading the
34:33
news. Yes, as they returned to their
34:35
homes and then in verse 2 they noised it abroad among the
34:38
people immediately before it was yet dark.
34:41
All that night it was noised abroad concerning Jesus.
34:45
When we get to this part of the text is where we finally get the
34:48
names of these 12 disciples, and I'm fascinated to see how many
34:52
are in family units. We've got Nephi and his brother
34:55
Timothy that he raised from the dead.
34:57
And then it says and his son, and I don't know if that's
35:01
Timothy's son or Nephi's son, but his name is Jonas.
35:04
And then we have two brothers, Methoni.
35:06
Methoni, Aha. And Cumin.
35:08
And Cumin maybe, maybe also brothers.
35:11
I don't know what doesn't say Jeremiah, Shemnon, Jonas.
35:13
So we have two Jonas's, Zedekiah and Isaiah.
35:16
At least we know some of those names look pretty Hebrew.
35:19
That's right. And if you look at these, I
35:23
think what we find here is good evidence of diversity in the
35:26
Quorum of the 12. You might say that if you just
35:30
look at the nature of these names, we can't be sure that
35:33
just because someone has a Hebraic looking name that he was
35:37
a Nephite. He might have been a Jacobite.
35:40
He might have been a Josephite. A Lamanite.
35:42
So I've looked at each of these names and say, well, which one
35:45
does this sound like? And obviously Nephi sounds like
35:48
a Nephite name, and we know that Timothy and Jonas were related,
35:52
so. They're obviously from Nephi
35:53
too. But muthoni is a good Hebrew
35:56
word that means the gift of the Lord.
35:58
So it translates back into Hebrew and muthoni ha is Jehovah
36:02
is my gift or my strength. We have two Jonas's like you
36:06
mentioned, and that's actually the Greek way of saying Jonah.
36:09
So the prophet Jonah. And of course Jonah was one who
36:13
was called to go on a mission and tried to go oversee.
36:17
And, and so maybe the Nephites had some connection with Jonah
36:22
and remembered him as a part of their tradition.
36:25
They obviously are naming someone Jonah and it's going out
36:29
into the international world, which the Nephites also can
36:35
relate to. Obviously Isaiah and Jeremiah
36:38
were strong Hebrew names and probably names that obviously
36:42
Lehi, Nephi, Jacob, and Abinadi all knew their Isaiah text well.
36:47
But then there are others. I think Zedekiah would be a
36:50
Mulakite name because Zedekiah was the king and Mulak is his
36:55
son. So the name of Zedekiah you'd
36:57
think would be especially meaningful in that tradition.
37:00
And cumin. And cumin on high.
37:02
You know, cumin we have in Kishkuman.
37:05
OK, semi similar sounds. So maybe they were Lamanites,
37:08
you think? Or what do you?
37:08
Think with the cumin names, I think we we don't know exactly
37:12
where they fit in but they seem to be other than Nephite.
37:15
And finally Shamnan might be Lamanite because they have a
37:19
land that's named close to that. Now this is of course just
37:22
speculation, but what we do know is that we have quite a variety
37:26
of names here and. We have a variety of people
37:29
gathered and so it makes sense that the that the leadership
37:32
would be taken from these different ethnicities before
37:35
Christ comes again. I love the fact that the 12 have
37:40
the multitude gather and begin ministering to them with prayer.
37:45
Verse 6 says the 12 did teach the multitude, and behold, they
37:47
did 'cause that the multitude should kneel down upon the face
37:50
of the earth, and should pray unto the Father in the name of
37:54
Jesus. And then skipping down to verse
37:56
9, it is my favorite verse in this whole chapter.
37:58
And they did pray for what? That which they most desired,
38:03
and they desired the Holy Ghost. Now I would have thought that
38:07
they had most desired the Lord to come again, but they wanted a
38:12
witness of the Spirit. This is just fascinating to me.
38:16
I thought that is what I should most desire, that is what I
38:21
should have utmost in my prayer, that I can have the Spirit.
38:25
They also might be thinking back to King Benjamin's speech and
38:29
other places in Alma's teaching where people did have the Spirit
38:36
came upon them and they experienced that mighty change
38:40
of heart. So this is a part of the
38:43
response. People know in the Nephite world
38:47
that when you hear revealed words or when the King puts you
38:53
in a position where you now need to respond, the prayer that they
38:58
have offered here, that they might have the Holy Ghost to
39:03
change their hearts. So whatever the problems were,
39:08
maybe they were still holding some grudges against people.
39:11
Or you can imagine they've gone through all these destructions
39:15
and all these problems, and they might be blaming themselves or
39:18
other people for what's happened.
39:21
But they want the Holy Ghost to wipe that all clean.
39:24
And I think that that's a wonderful thing to want to pray
39:27
for. I'm also fascinated that the
39:29
next thing that happens is the baptism.
39:31
The reason that's the next thing that happens, you can't receive
39:34
the gift of the Holy Ghost until you're baptized.
39:36
Yeah, but I don't know if how how they understood all this,
39:39
but it's fascinating that the the two are so the inner play
39:42
between the baptism of the water and the baptism of the Spirit.
39:44
Behold, they were encircled about as if it were by fire.
39:48
So they have their baptisms, the 12 taken down the water, and
39:51
then angels come, and they do receive the desires of their
39:55
heart. It says the angels came down and
39:58
ministered unto them. So again, not only did the
40:00
angels minister to the children, but they inister to those who
40:04
have just now been baptized. And we see that this also in the
40:08
New Testament. John the Baptist says I came to
40:11
baptize with water, and he who cometh after will baptize with
40:15
fire. And here the apostles baptized
40:18
with water, and while they are receiving this angelic gifts of
40:24
the Spirit, the Lord comes. And the people here are who are
40:29
gathering, and the disciples who are paying close attention, as
40:32
Jesus had spoken the day before, would have made that connection
40:36
very readily. Because at the beginning of
40:39
chapter 12 in 3rd Nephi, Jesus leads into his discussion of the
40:47
Sermon on the Mount by saying, And after that year baptized
40:51
with water, behold, I will baptize you with fire and with
40:54
the Holy Ghost to remember that He has already taught them that
40:57
there will be these two important parts of the covenant.
41:01
Of conversion, actually, yeah. Yeah.
41:03
And so they're, they are now praying and asking, let's, let's
41:08
now receive that. In verse 15 is when the Savior
41:11
comes again and he stood in the midst and ministered unto them.
41:16
The Savior then asks them to pray.
41:18
But this time, Jack, I'm fascinated.
41:19
Why do you think the Savior had them pray to him?
41:22
I think it's verse 18. They began to pray unto Jesus.
41:26
It says calling him their Lord and their God.
41:30
Now, this is a unique situation that is not repeated many times
41:34
in the world's history of Scripture at least.
41:36
Well, I think that when Jesus was right there, the the natural
41:41
thing would be to say we recognize you as our Lord and
41:46
our God, and they know that they can only come to the Father
41:50
through Him. He is their Redeemer as.
41:52
Long as he's right there, why not ask him in person?
41:56
And if their prayer is even in their heart, they're communing
41:59
with him through through their thoughts, which is how he under
42:03
he understands their thoughts. So he's the perfect one to do
42:07
that. And if there's any confusion
42:09
about this because of, you know, they're just learning as they go
42:14
along, not in the next lesson, but the one after that, we will
42:18
talk about what happens in 35 chapter 27.
42:23
And they're that question of praying.
42:25
How you pray is also. Addressed again.
42:28
Great. All right, we'll wait two weeks.
42:29
Keep going. Just looking ahead a little to
42:30
3527, verse 15, it says, And for this cause have I been lifted
42:36
up. Therefore, according to the
42:37
power of the Father, I will draw all men unto me that they may be
42:41
judged according to their works. Then they will be found
42:44
guiltless before my father at the day when they stand before
42:47
the judgment. So he emphasizes over and over
42:49
again, I and my father are one. We're working together on this,
42:54
but they serve maybe slightly different roles, and maybe
42:57
that's why the people back in chapter 19 begin to pray to him.
43:03
We know that you can certify who we are and bring us unto the
43:08
Father. And then, while the people are
43:11
then praying alone, Jesus goes off by himself and prays in
43:17
verses 19 to 29. I'm fascinated that that happens
43:21
repeatedly both in the New World and in the Old World, that he
43:26
also needed to take time off and go pray.
43:28
But this prayer is amazing. This is a really wonderful text
43:34
where Jesus departs it, goes a little way off and bows himself
43:39
down to the earth. It was only a little while
43:45
before this, less than a year, that Jesus had bowed himself
43:50
down to the earth in Gethsemane. And when he says he bows himself
43:57
down, I think he probably is kneeling and kneeling with his
44:03
face may be near the dust, that he is bowing completely down
44:08
before the Lord. And what he says, first of all,
44:15
his Father, I thank thee that thou hast given the Holy Ghost
44:19
unto these whom I have chosen. That would be the 12.
44:21
He has given them already the power of the Holy Ghost, and it
44:25
is because of their belief in me that I have chosen them out of
44:28
the world. And Father, I pray that thou
44:30
wilt give the Holy Ghost unto all them that shall believe in
44:33
their words. This is a kind of what we call
44:35
an intercessory prayer, where Jesus is interceding on our
44:40
behalf. That's what the high priest does
44:42
in the temple on the Day of Atonement, this intercession.
44:45
And also if the Last Supper don't we call chapter 17 of John
44:49
the intercessory prayer. I am one.
44:52
Help me to be one with them. And the merits and the power
44:55
that he has are then employed for our benefit.
45:00
And so there's still this oneness between the Father and
45:04
the Son with a little bit of distinction.
45:08
They are separate, but they are united.
45:12
And so we have here a kind of understanding of how the Godhead
45:17
functions, being individuals with their responsibilities, but
45:22
being completely together. And the first thing that he does
45:26
here is he thanks the Father. I think that's interesting.
45:31
I think the first thing we should do when we pray is to
45:34
thank and when we begin by thanking.
45:37
And even if you've had a hard day by beginning to think about
45:42
things, I'm glad for this. Thanks for this.
45:47
It puts you in a much more commutative mode with Heavenly
45:51
Father. Helps us worship, Jack,
45:54
gratitude is the beginning of a worship state, yeah.
45:57
Thanks and praise. When we thank, we, we are doing
46:03
not just saying thank you, but I praise you.
46:07
You were so good to do that for me.
46:10
And in fact, in the ancient languages, there's really only
46:13
one word for thank and praise that it's Yeah.
46:17
So it's very similar. And we, we should, I think, draw
46:19
that closer together in our in our own prayers.
46:23
He says that I may be one in them as thou art in me, that we
46:29
all may be one. And if you go back and read John
46:32
chapter 17, this prayer where Jesus first begins speaking in
46:38
chapter 17 more directly with the Father.
46:40
And then he turns and speaks with and about the disciples
46:44
following a similar but very different prayer here.
46:48
This is not a carbon copy. This is a prayer that relates to
46:52
exactly where these people are and what their needs are.
46:56
And I think that that's the way each of our prayers, they're
47:00
personal and he will meet our needs.
47:03
It says in verse 24 they were filled with desire and Jesus
47:08
blessed them. And that's interesting to me.
47:11
The desire of our hearts really governs our actions, and that's
47:16
why the Lord then blesses them. And then in verse 25, we have a
47:21
very interesting verse here that has a lot of rich background
47:25
behind it. And His countenance did smile
47:28
upon them, and the light of His countenance did shine upon them,
47:33
and behold, they were as white as the countenance and also the
47:36
garments of Jesus. And there's only one other
47:39
place. Yeah, this sounds like the
47:41
priesthood that is it called the priestly benediction.
47:44
That's right, it's what we have here.
47:46
Numbers, Chapter 6. Is a reminiscence of the passage
47:51
in the Book of Numbers. The good Lord bless and keep
47:54
thee. The Lord make his face shine
47:57
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee.
47:59
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
48:03
That's a wonderful blessing. Moses told Aaron to pray for the
48:06
people like this. Now who is the high priest?
48:09
They were all types of Jesus Christ.
48:11
They were all foreshadowing our Savior.
48:14
But now we have the real high priest, Jesus Christ, the
48:17
resurrected high priest. But this ability to to smile and
48:22
have the shared unity, this ability to have the holiness
48:27
from our Savior be shared with others in the high priestly
48:31
prayer as we are becoming 1 is just powerful.
48:36
It is and because in the blessing that of course we have
48:41
in number six. May the good Lord bless and keep
48:44
you. May His face shine upon you.
48:47
Now we have here the actual fulfillment of that.
48:51
His countenance did shine upon them, and that's mentioned twice
48:55
in case we didn't get it the first time.
48:57
Well, and I just like to remind you that this priestly
48:59
benediction was not just important to Aaron and Moses,
49:02
but I think we were together, Jack, the first time I went to
49:07
the Israeli Museum and saw our oldest artifact of a scripture
49:12
found in Jerusalem is written on a metal, and it's a scroll of
49:16
this Numbers Chapter 6. Thanks, Lynn, for bringing that
49:19
up because this is, I think, one of the most important
49:22
archaeological discoveries ever made.
49:24
Biblical scholars, of course, wonder, so how early do some of
49:28
these texts in the Old Testament go back?
49:32
You know, were they, were they there in the days of David or
49:36
Isaiah or are these being written later?
49:38
Are they being kept? Obviously they were brought
49:40
together later. But this one is found pre
49:43
Babylonian exile. This one is written in what is
49:46
called Paleo Hebrew. And as you can see on the
49:49
screen, it's a little silver scroll.
49:52
And it's so small that in the museum you remember there's a
49:55
magnifying glass to help you see the script on it.
49:59
I don't know how they wrote that small, but it's it's called a
50:01
little scroll because it was a small piece of silver and then
50:06
it was rolled up and just like you're wearing a necklace, this
50:12
scroll was put on a young girl and she wore this.
50:16
It was apparently something that was personal because she was
50:20
buried with this on. And it dates to 600 BC.
50:24
And we can date it because of the Paleo, the old Hebrew script
50:28
that's on there. Now, this has only been in the
50:32
last couple decades that this was discovered, analyzed, and
50:36
now put in the museum where you can see this.
50:40
And so it hasn't really filtered down to the general awareness
50:44
very much about how significant this is.
50:48
So I think that this text in the Book of Numbers was on the brass
50:55
plates. And so they would have known
50:59
this. And so when Mormon is writing
51:02
this account, he's not going to leave out the fact that that
51:07
scripture by this high priest was actually fulfilled by Jesus.
51:12
And when he says all things will be fulfilled by me, this is
51:16
Mormon telling us that really happened and in detail that we
51:22
otherwise might have missed. And it's something we can strive
51:25
for. To Jack, it's not just in
51:28
Aaron's day and Moses day and the Nephite's day.
51:32
I think this is a goal that I want to strive for too, that I
51:35
can have the Lord's countenance shine upon me.
51:38
When does that happen? How do you feel that I.
51:41
Think it's when you feel the spirit.
51:44
You feel his spirit. I feel forgiveness.
51:46
Acceptance, when you feel like you know you do something and
51:53
the Lord says to you, or you feel, I think the Lord was
51:57
pleased with me in that. Or when you pray to go
52:00
ministering or doing something and you hope Lord be with me.
52:05
Well, think back of the times when those prayers have been
52:08
answered. And I think you can then with a
52:12
spiritual eye see the smile, the happiness and the approval.
52:18
And that's a promised part, I think going to the temple.
52:22
This is where the high priest functions and when you go into
52:26
the temple you feel that happiness and there are plenty
52:32
of pictures around to remind you, if you can't see it
52:35
yourself, that Jesus is there smiling upon his people and feel
52:43
it and take that home. I would like to end this session
52:47
today with a testimony that Jesus is the Christ that he
52:51
appeared to the Nephites. The messages that he taught
52:54
there can bless our lives too. And Lynn, let me add a second
53:01
witness to what you have said. Everything you say is
53:05
wonderfully important and true, and I hope you feel the Lord
53:12
smiling upon you for what you do and have done.
53:17
It's such a pleasure to work with you to share this text.
53:22
I feel humbled to even try to comment on these chapters in the
53:28
Book of Mormon. They are the heart of Jesus
53:34
Christ and of his testament, the Book of Mormon, and I testify of
53:40
that. In the name of Jesus Christ,
53:42
Amen. As a nonprofit organization, our
53:46
ability here at Scripture Central to produce content like
53:49
this depends on your support. If you'd like to contribute,
53:53
please click the link below to donate.
53:56
Every contribution counts. We appreciate your support and
53:59
thank you for watching.