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Jacob 5-7 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited · Scripture Central

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Before we dive into today's block of Scripture, I think
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that's an important thing to to mention here.
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Whenever you have an opportunity to share things like we're
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doing, you need to understand that this is just a supplemental
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resource to what heaven is going to teach you at an individual
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level with with yourself, with your family, with members in
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your in your church and in your community.
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That this is not intended to be the the source.
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We're we're just giving you some ideas, some things to think
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about. If we do our job right, then
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when we're done, you're going to want to open the book and study
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deeper with with a new perspective and gain greater
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insights that will help connect you with the Savior and with His
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atoning power in very real and very authentic ways.
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So we should set up what's happening here with Jacob five.
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So the video is going to focus primarily on Jacob 5, even
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though the readings assignment is Jacob 5 through 7.
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And we saw in the past that when Isaiah is quoted in the
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scriptures, particularly in first and second Nephi, first
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they lay out an introduction, then they do the quote, and then
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they explain what they've done. And we see something similar
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here in these Jacob chapters where Jacob has had this
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incredible speech he's been doing at the temple.
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And so Jacob, and we'll read these verses at the end of
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chapter four, sets up why he's going to quote from an ancient
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Israelite prophet named Zenus. And then in chapter 6, Jacob
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then interprets why he quoted Zenus, which happens to be the
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longest chapter in the Book of Mormon.
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And when I was a teenager, this was the chapter I always loved
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to skip in my reading assignments.
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I'm like, oh, this is so much reading.
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Can you just give me one of those two verse chapters?
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And I call it good, right? Read a chapter a day.
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And I remember when I was a missionary in the MTC, we
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studied this. And for the first time, it made
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sense. And it actually is related to
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what President Nelson said. And you, you reminded me of
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this. We wrote it up on the board.
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The greatest challenge, the greatest cause and the greatest
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work on earth is the gathering of Israel.
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That's President Nelson 2018. Yeah, there is nothing that we
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can be involved in that is more exciting, more thrilling, more
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worthwhile, according to our our dear President Nelson and his
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words. That's why Chapter 5 again, if
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we do our job right, when we finish today, you are going to
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want to go and grab your Book of Mormon and open up Jacob 5 and
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dive in like never before. Because I'm telling you, this is
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one of the greatest chapters of scripture anywhere.
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It is a handbook for how to do this.
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It's a handbook because in this chapter what you're going to get
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is this overview, this overarching look at the history
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of the House of Israel. So you're going to see the
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sweeping scope of of this big collective group.
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So in a Hebrew context, that's where you get your identity is
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with the group. We live in a world that is
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dominated by more Greek thought, which is more individualized
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identity, a democracy where where every person finds
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identity at a more individual level.
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So the reality is, is if you look at this chapter, we're
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going to fire on 2 cylinders. We're going to be talking about
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the history of the House of Israel looking back in time and
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and coming forward through the different dispensations of the
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gospel. But we're also going to be
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watching the scriptures at an eye level where we're likening
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them to us. And we're seeing not just what
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God has done with the the, the children of Israel through the
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history of time, but how that relates to what he's doing with
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us today. Very similar to Isaiah where you
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have fulfillments in his own time and Jesus time and our time
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and the Millennium and other times as well.
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We're going to be doing that with those two levels.
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Jacob gets his learners to start thinking, and questions are very
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powerful. Questions are quests for
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adventure. And and I mean that in a
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positive light. And here's what Jacob asks his
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people to consider. But behold, according to the
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Scriptures, this stone shall become the great and the last
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and the only sure foundation upon which the Jew can build.
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And just for clarity, we're talking about Jesus Christ And
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now, my beloved, how is it possible that these, after
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having rejected the Sure Foundation, can ever build upon
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it, that it may become the head of their corner?
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Behold, my beloved brethren, I will unfold this mystery unto
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you if I do not by any means get shaken from my firmness in the
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Spirit and stumble because of my over anxiety for you.
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He's just so real. He is.
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He's so worried about. He's so desirous to teach them
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the truth. He's actually worried in his
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anxiousness to do it well and truthfully that he's going to
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mess it up. And actually, have you ever felt
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that way getting on video? Oh.
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My heavens, every day, stepping in front of students and in this
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setting, stepping in front of a camera and not having any idea
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who's actually going to watch it at the end of the day, but just
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wanting to be appropriate, wanting to be an instrument in
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the hands of the Lord, it it's there's there's some anxiety.
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There's a little bit of anxiety. OK, let's do this.
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We've got 77 verses. We're not going to cover all of
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them, but we want to give you some things to think about, some
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tools in your tool belt that when you open up this this
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chapter, you can be empowered to go in and say, hey, I get this
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at least to to a certain level here if you begin in verse one.
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And two, he introduces this prophet, Zenith, that is an Old
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Testament prophet that we're assuming he's getting off of the
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brass plates. We don't have him in our Old
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Testament today. So it's a lost book.
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And Zenith likens the O House of Israel like unto a tame olive
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tree which a man took and nourished in his vineyard.
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So we begin this whole story with a tree.
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Now he says, the tree is likened unto the House of Israel.
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If we just look at the the root structure of this tree, and
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coming up the trunk we have Abraham and Sarah, and then we
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have their son Isaac and his wife Rebecca.
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And then their son is Jacob, whose name is changed to Israel.
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And he marries two of his cousins, Leah and Rachel, and
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takes two of the hand, the the two handmaids, Bilhah and
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Zilpah. And through that set of
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marriages, we get Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan,
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Naftali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin.
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That's it. That's our story.
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That's where it begins, the House of Israel.
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So now it's going to branch out from here.
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And Zenith is saying, this is a complex story, and I'm going to
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tell this story to you in symbolic form.
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So this isn't a story about Adam, Enoch or Noah.
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It starts here. Now we look for clues to to
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Orient ourselves in this vineyard allegory.
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Notice that a man took it in verse 3, nursed it in his
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vineyard, and it grew and waxed old and began to decay.
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Well, where's the first time that this family and their
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descendants began to really wax old and and decay?
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And the answer is keep in mind, keep in mind with symbolism we
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have to be really careful not to pigeonhole you and say it's only
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that one experience. Period.
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End of story. Don't think about anything else.
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There are layers of fulfilment. There's obviously an ultimate
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fulfilment of of the prophecies and of the symbols, but don't
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discount other interpretations as well.
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For me, the biggest interpretation would be the
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first time that they grew old would be when they're down in
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Egypt and they fall into Egyptian apostasy.
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That lasts for about 400 years. So you're in this in this
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apostasy down in Egypt for 400 years.
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Then it's time to go and start working with that tree again.
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Look at verse 4 came to pass. The master of the vineyard went
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forth, and he saw that his olive tree began to decay.
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And he said, I will prune it, I will dig about it and nourish it
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that are perhaps it may shoot forth young and tender branches
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and it perish not notice that the first thing he's going to do
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is prune it, then he's going to dig about it, then he's going to
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nourish it. And by the way, while I'm at it
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and and making the list of what God does with the actual trees
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in the vineyard, let's add verse 8 where he says that he will
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graft and we'll talk about that as well.
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Now, many of you probably already understand all of this
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and you're good, but let's make sure we're all on the same page
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here for a moment. Some of you are familiar with
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the story told by Elder D Todd Christopherson, where he's
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retelling the story of President Huby Brown about the current
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Bush. So on his property has this big
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current Bush that is just going wild, but it's not producing
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very many currents. And so he goes down and he has
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to cut off all these branches. He has to prune them, cut them
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back to size. And he said it's as if the
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current Bush is sitting there crying, weeping, saying, why did
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you do this to me? I was trying so hard.
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I was doing so well and the answer is I'm the gardener here
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and I know what I want you to be.
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I don't want you to be a tree, I want you to be a current Bush
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and I want you to produce currents.
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The reality is that the House of Israel, like a tree like me,
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like you, if if left totally alone, if you leave a tree
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alone, a fruit tree, it will simply grow branches and limbs
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and twigs and leaves and it will be trying to compete for the
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light. It becomes a Bramble of of wood
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and leaves. It doesn't produce fruit.
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It's only when a wise gardener comes in and strategically cuts
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out certain branches of the tree that it's almost a signal to the
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tree. We we can't get inside of the
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psyche of a tree, but it's as if the tree is saying, Oh no, I'm
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going to die, at which point you want to preserve the species.
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So the tree now puts more of its energy into growing fruit with
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seeds and make the fruit bigger and more healthy and less effort
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into growing wood. That's what's happening
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throughout this story. God knows what he's doing and
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he's trying to help the children of Israel be fruitful, not just
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proliferate and and just be humans to have a human
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experience. He's trying to create covenant
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path experiences, fruitful things where they can experience
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enduring joy. There's a lot more things we're
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going to talk about here, and as Tyler's wiping this off, let's
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just encourage you to look at the characters that show up in
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Zenith's allegory. Couple of key characters.
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You have the master of the vineyard, You can ask yourself,
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well, who might that be? You obviously realize that this
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is God or Jesus. And then you have the servants.
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And who are those people that are in the vineyard working so
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hard? And these are God's chosen
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prophets. And actually all of us have been
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invited to participate in that work.
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I love this. This what you've done is you've
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taken us from the history of the House of Israel, where God has
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to prune some of them off. He has to take them out of Egypt
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and then even out in the wilderness.
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What happens with the older group?
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They refuse to go in and take the promised land.
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So they have to go back out in the wilderness and wander for 40
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years. What did Moses promised them?
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He said. None of you, none of the adults
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are going to get to come in here.
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They have to all over the next 40 years, get pruned to make
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room for the new shoots to come forth that are hopefully going
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to now bear fruit. But I love the idea of bringing
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it home to to our day today, to realize that you might have
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spent years growing, putting energy and effort into a whole
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branch of your life, a relationship, and maybe
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something happens, a death or a divorce or a broken covenant on
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somebody's part or something that causes that relationship to
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be pruned and severed in it. That hurts.
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It hurts. Or a lost job or a lost
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opportunity, a closed door that you've put a lot of energy in
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and it then just gets cut off in a moment.
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So this story of what God's doing in the vineyard, like you
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said, it then makes us be fruitful in other areas of our
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life. It's alive and well today.
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Now, the second thing that we want to talk about.
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So there's the pruning, digging. If if you're a tree and you're
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you're planted here and some farmer comes out with his shovel
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and it's a sharp spade, what's your first reaction?
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Careful, because what do you have under the surface here?
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You have all of these roots, but some of them are surface roots,
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and that ground has a tendency over time if you leave.
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If you leave ground alone in a garden or in a vineyard, you
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leave it alone and it will become hardened.
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It becomes hard packed. Huh?
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I wonder if there's any relationship to the hearts of
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men and women. You leave them alone and they
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become hardened. If God doesn't soften that soil,
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doesn't help us find humility to to churn up the soil to loosen
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things up a bit, to make it so that when he does nourish us,
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the nourishment can actually sink in and be absorbed by the
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roots and become a part of the tree and help produce fruit.
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So there are a lot of ways to looking at at the digging.
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There's not just one. Anything that would humble us
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and open our hearts to the teachings that that God through
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his prophets and the scriptures and the Holy Ghost can give us
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that fits. But look at this one.
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What happens when a shovel starts churning up that soil at
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the surface? Some of those smaller surface
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roots, They are going to get severed.
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The tree probably isn't going to like that, because no tree likes
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having those kinds of things cut.
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But here's the reality. The Lord of the Vineyard knows
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that just because you've been able to get nutrients here in
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the past, the Lord of the Vineyard knows that there are
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going to be some storms. There may be going to be some
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periods of drought or famine where there's less moisture and
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these roots just won't do. So.
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There might be periods in the history of the House of Israel
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where God does some things that temporarily might slow down the
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production and the growth of the trees fruit.
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But in the long run it's causing that tree to send its roots a
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little deeper into the soil for the nourishment, for the
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moisture that it's going to need to be fruitful down the road
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when life gets a little harder. And I think we might see that as
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you look in our church history at the different periods of
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growth when things slow down, it's not always a bad thing.
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Sometimes God is causing he's cutting some some surface roots
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to get us to dig a little deeper.
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And then there's the grafting in verse 8.
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So grafting actually can be a bit of a painful process for the
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tree. It's you chop off a branch, but
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you actually do it in a very specific way so that you can
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take a branch from another tree that you've chopped off.
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And it's almost like a transplant.
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So tree A loses A limb that you've taken off and you replace
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it with a limb from tree B. And what you might be trying to
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do is maybe cross breed some for new, different fruits you see as
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you go to the supermarket today. So grafting is a way to maybe
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save a dying tree and get some of its branches onto a live
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tree, or to actually help a living tree to grow in new ways
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and to produce new types of fruits that the tree didn't even
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know what were possible. And so in your own life again,
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you might say, yeah, I'm producing this fruit, and God's
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like I actually want you to accomplish other things.
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And it might be a bit of a painful process, but then you'll
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be you'll grow into this fruitful tree that actually
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becomes a blessing to many people.
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So if you look at verse 8, this is where you're introduced to
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the concept of grafting, says, Behold thus or saith Lord of the
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vineyard, I take away many of these young and tenor branches,
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and will graft them whithersoever I will.
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And it matters not that if it so be that the root of this tree
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will perish, I may preserve the fruit thereof under myself.
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He then describes that process. And then look at verse 14.
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It came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard went his way and
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hid the natural branches of the tame olive tree in the
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nethermost parts of the vineyard, some in one and some
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in another, according to his will and pleasure.
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So what's happening here is you have the House of Israel, which
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is our central tree in the in the the allegory and he's going
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to take branches and he's going to spread them into the
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nethermost parts of the vineyard by grafting.
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What event does that look like? There are lots of times when
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God's taking people from the House of Israel and taking them
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other places. But the biggest single event
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happened in 721 BC, when Assyria came to town and conquered the
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Kingdom of Israel with 10 tribes and carried them captive and
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scattered them into the nether northernmost parts of the
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vineyard. But here's the neat thing.
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Even though they were in a state of apostasy, the tree wasn't
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doing well. They have the DNA, They have the
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capacity to produce good fruit. So God's preserving that
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capacity by transplanting it, putting it into different trees.
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And we we watch him do his work that way.
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By the way, grafting for the House of Israel is this, but
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grafting for us. There are a lot of ways that you
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can see this where one person might lose a job, it gets cut
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off and they're sitting there struggling when all of a sudden
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the Lord of the Vineyard brings in a different job and grafts it
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in. And now they can actually become
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more fruitful than they ever were before.
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Sometimes, from our perspective, we're like, God, why did you do
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this to me? And his answer is because you
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can actually become even more fruitful.
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Just trust me. Trust that I'm the gardener
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here. All these different areas of
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life where God knows what He's doing.
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Our job is not to to govern everything.
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It's to respond appropriately to what God is doing with us
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individually as a family and collectively as as bigger groups
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of people as well. The garden should not be
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dictating to the gardener about what the gardener should be
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doing. And I have fallen into that trap
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before where I want to tell God, listen, I think I have a pretty
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clear plan here. And if you listen to me, God,
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it'd work out really well. And we should talk just briefly
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about this because it connects to President Nelson's comment
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about the greatest work today is gathering Israel.
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And really what happened is way back here after a bunch of
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apostasy God's like, I'm going to actually transplant you guys
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elsewhere Now. They're lost to history.
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Our job now is to help God's chosen servants to find
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scattered Israel that's been scattered for all these
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centuries and to help gods work to graft them back in.
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Now, there have been other ones that we're gonna talk about
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where people have been sent out of the vineyard into other
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vineyards or into other parts of the vineyard, to be more
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specific. But this is what we're talking
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about, is bringing Israel back in, to be grafted in to the one
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tree, the House of Israel, which really represents God.
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So as an as an important addendum to this, two of the
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tribes that were scattered that were lost were Ephraim and
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Manasseh. Those are the two most frequent
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tribes mentioned in in in people's lineage today.
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But we have people from all 12 tribes.
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Patriarchal. Blessings.
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Patriarchal blessings. But the two dominant in number
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in size and volume are Ephraim and Manasseh.
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And they were they were lost. They're not as lost as they used
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to be. We aren't as lost as we used to
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be, so to speak. The scattering happened, but the
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gathering is well underway. OK, One thing that will really
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help us organize this chapter and make better sense of what
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we're reading is to recognize that God is going to make 4
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visits to the Vineyard and this then becomes different periods
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of time in the history of the House of Israel and the
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unfolding of God's work with with the whole world, not just
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the House of Israel. So the first visit comes in
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chapter 5. All of these are chapter 5,
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verse four through 14. The second visit is going to be
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15 through 28. The third visit is going to be
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29 through 59 and the last visit our day is going to be 60
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through 77 when God finishes his work and then the the Millennium
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is kind of referred to at the very end when it's when it's all
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done. So when we understand this now,
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this is, this is a a huge generalization.
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But basically you can look at that first visit as as things
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that happened in the Old Testament, starting with the
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House of Israel in Egypt, so starting with Moses all the way
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through the prophets and the working with the people through
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the rest of the Old Testament leading into the ending of that
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visit where you get the scattering which now leaves us
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for the second visit, which is going to be kind of that
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intertestamental period as well as the time of Jesus and the New
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Testament as well as things going on in the book of warm.
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And we'll show you that as well. So let's pick that up here.
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Notice as we open up verse 15, it came to pass that a long time
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passed away. And the Lord, Avengers said unto
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his servant, Come, let us go down.
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So there's your second visit. We're going to go in.
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It's been a long time. We're going to labor in the
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vineyard again. We're going to do these same
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things again. We're going to look at the
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fruit. We're going to help these trees
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become productive. Notice that verse 17 says it
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came to pass. The Lord of Vineyard looked and
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beheld the tree in which the wild olive branches had been
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grafted, and it had sprung forth and begun to bear fruit, and
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behold that it was good. The fruit thereof was like unto
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the the natural fruit. What's happening is there's the
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the central tree of the of the allegory.
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There were wild branches that were grafted in, just like there
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were branches scattered. There were wild olives put into
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the natural tree, and they've actually become fruitful,
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productive. So if you pause and think
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through your New Testament stories, there are Gentiles that
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get brought into the House of Israel and baptized.
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Peter opens that work by baptizing Cornelius.
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Paul and his mission companions do a great deal of work among
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the Gentiles, bringing them in, and they actually become
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fruitful. They become beautifully
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productive members of that early Christian Church, and it's quite
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remarkable to watch that happen. Now you you watch this fun
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little story unfold as you're reading through the different
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elements here. Watch what happened in 21.
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This is one of my favorite places in this whole allegory.
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It's where a servant has a little experience.
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Verse 21 It came to pass that the servant said unto his
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master, How comest thou hit her to plant this tree, or this
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branch of the tree? For behold, it was the poorest
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spot in all the land of thy vineyard.
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In other words, you can picture this earlier on with that
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scattering, some people were taken one place and others
25:51
another, and they're scattered all over.
25:54
Well, this one servant goes, and he finds one particular tree
25:58
that's planted in a place that is just awful ground out there
26:03
in the in the nether parts of the vineyard.
26:05
And he's like, Lord, what were you thinking?
26:07
Why did you ever plant a tree here?
26:09
Didn't you see the ground? Didn't you know how bad this
26:12
was? And I love what the Lord of the
26:15
vineyard does with this servant. He's going to teach him some
26:19
some principles. Here, look at verse 22, The Lord
26:22
of the vineyard said unto him, Counsel me not, it's back to
26:26
Taylor's statement. Since when does the garden get
26:28
to tell the gardener how to do his work?
26:30
I knew that it was a poor spot of ground.
26:34
Wherefore I said unto thee, I have nourished at this long
26:38
time, and thou beholdest that it has brought forth much fruit.
26:42
Brothers and sisters, in our culture today, in our current
26:46
society, we are so hyper focused on results.
26:51
We are so hyper focused on trying to evaluate everything
26:56
and and determine the roots and stir up dirt on people.
27:01
Especially in in political cycles and with wars and with
27:04
with conflicts of all kinds. We're looking to stir up dirt.
27:09
We're looking at the roots. What's wrong with this person?
27:13
Let's find something on them. I love the fact that Jesus never
27:16
said by their roots ye shall know them.
27:20
If you want to know if a tree is good, you partake of the fruit.
27:23
That's how you know if it's if it's good.
27:26
I believe it was. Elder Maxwell wasn't who said
27:28
you don't pull up the daisies to look at the roots to see how
27:30
they're doing it. That doesn't work.
27:33
So consequently, there are a lot of a lot of dollars spent and a
27:39
lot of time spent in a lot of effort spent trying to discredit
27:45
God's prophets or the scriptures themselves.
27:48
Looking for flaws in in Joseph Smith's character or in our
27:52
history or in the unfolding of the restoration, trying to find
27:56
something back in the roots that would say, see the tree can't be
27:59
good because this happened. Doing that only makes us dirty.
28:03
Now, it doesn't mean we turn a blind eye to history where we're
28:06
aware of it, we we study it. But at the end of the day, if
28:10
you want to know if the Book of Mormon is true, for instance,
28:14
you partake of its fruit. It's by their fruits that you
28:17
shall know them. I love the fact that he's
28:18
saying, look, I nourished it and it's brought forth good fruit.
28:22
You're looking at the ground. I'm looking up is what the
28:25
Lord's saying to the servant. Now that's that's big picture.
28:30
Let's come down to the to the eye level for a moment.
28:35
Do you know somebody who was born into a pretty, into a
28:41
pretty rough setting, into a situation where you're thinking
28:44
to yourself, oh, that poor kid, he has no chance, or she's never
28:49
going to be able to succeed because of that family that she
28:52
was born into. This is, this is so hard.
28:55
In those moments I can hear the voice of the Lord saying,
28:58
counsel, me not. I knew that that was a poor spot
29:01
of ground wherefore I have nourished at this long time.
29:05
Or can you picture somebody in your circle of influence who was
29:09
born with something that is seen as less than ideal and they just
29:16
wrestle. They struggle, they don't like
29:20
themselves and they say this is this is a poor spot of ground.
29:23
Why did I get this? I can hear the voice of the Lord
29:28
of the vineyard saying, I knew that this was a poor spot of
29:31
ground, and if you'll respond to me, I will continue to nourish
29:36
you. You can be fruitful with all
29:39
kinds of rocky soil in your own soul in in a in a Collective
29:45
Soul analogy as well, and in at any level.
29:48
The point is, God's really good at producing fruit if we let
29:53
him. I want to build on this.
29:55
We're talking about trees. And back in verse 18, it talks
29:59
about these wild branches that have been grafted in.
30:02
And it says the wild tree had taken hold of the moisture of
30:08
the root thereof, and the root thereof have brought forth much
30:12
strength. So Tyler talked about these
30:13
roots. We want to grow deep and they're
30:16
growing deep to get moisture. And let me just connect this to
30:20
us a bit. We have been promised by God
30:23
that when we keep the commandments and we stay on the
30:25
covenant path, we will have marrow to our bones.
30:30
And I once looked up the word marrow in Hebrew, and it turns
30:32
out the word marrow comes from the Hebrew word for moisture.
30:37
And to have strong bones, you have to have moisture in them.
30:41
And a strong tree has moisture. And what's really powerful here
30:45
is that where's that moisture come from?
30:47
It's God. We are symbolically trees that
30:51
God is trying to nurture. Even if it happens to be poor
30:54
soil, if we listen to the raindrops of revelation that
30:58
come through the scriptures, the Spirit, the living day prophets,
31:02
God will moisture us again and again till our roots become
31:06
strong, our bones become strong and we become trees of eternal
31:09
life through Him. So beautiful to recognize the
31:13
fact also that this is a process, this you you don't
31:17
plant an olive tree or a branch. Olives are unique because
31:22
they're one of the few plants where you can just cut off a
31:24
branch and you can actually plant the branch in the ground
31:27
and take care of it and it will grow root structure and it will
31:32
become a fruitful tree if you take good care of it takes a lot
31:35
of time, 141516 up to 17 years to eat your first olives.
31:42
Meaning give yourself a break, give your family members a
31:46
break, give your ward members your leaders a break.
31:49
If things aren't moving as fast as you would like, just it's OK
31:54
for this to take some time. That's that's one of the
31:57
beautiful things that I like about this analogy of an olive
32:00
tree. Is it just That's why it's the
32:02
symbol of peace, because it takes so long to get them that
32:06
if you're eating olives in antiquity, you are a nation of
32:08
peace because one of the first things conquering armies will do
32:11
is destroy your your productive fields and fruits and vineyards.
32:15
So just give it the time. Now look at what God does with
32:20
the the servant in verse 23. And it came to pass that the
32:24
Lord of the vineyard said unto his servant, Look, hit her,
32:26
Behold, I have planted another branch of the tree also.
32:29
And thou knowest that this spot of ground was poorer than the
32:32
first. But behold, the tree I have
32:36
nourished at this long time, and it hath brought forth much
32:38
fruit. Therefore gather it, lay it up
32:40
against the season, and I may preserve it unto mine own self.
32:42
So what the Lord says is, oh, servant, you thought that was
32:47
bad soil. Let me take you over to this
32:49
other part of the vineyard and show you this other tree that
32:52
you hadn't noticed before. It's planted in even worse soil
32:57
than that one. And look, it's brought forth
32:59
good fruit. In other words, you might think
33:02
you have it bad, or you might think that that that individual
33:05
has it bad. The idea is as God is saying, it
33:09
really doesn't matter what the constraints of the soil are.
33:14
It really doesn't determine fruitfulness.
33:16
How the tree responds to me and my efforts determines the
33:20
fruitfulness, because they're not going to get it out of the
33:21
ground. And then to make that point even
33:24
stronger, he says, Now come with me, I want to show you a
33:30
different tree. And he takes him in verse 25.
33:34
He says unto the servant, Look, hit her and behold the last
33:37
Behold this. Have I planted in a good spot of
33:41
ground? So we've got this nice ground.
33:44
And he says, and I have nourished it this long time, and
33:47
only part of the tree has brought forth tame fruit, and
33:49
the other part of the tree has brought forth wild fruit.
33:52
And behold, I have nourished this tree like unto the others.
33:55
The point being, God now takes him to another place that has
34:00
really good ground. And he says, check out that
34:03
tree. Only half of it is producing
34:08
good fruit and the other half is producing wild fruit.
34:11
I've often wondered if when Jacob gets to this part reading
34:15
to his people from Zenith's allegory, he's winking at them,
34:19
saying good ground, promised land.
34:22
Lehigh's tree planted half brings good, half brings bad.
34:26
We've got to be fruitful. We've got to work with this with
34:30
this constraint. It was this insight that I
34:33
learned as a missionary at MTC and like, oh, this is not just a
34:37
story about planting trees. And as a kid, I didn't really
34:39
care about planting trees. For me, being out in the garden
34:42
meant I was not playing video games in an air conditioned
34:44
house. I was sweating outside under the
34:46
hot sun. I didn't like it when my parents
34:49
actually wanted to give me, like, life experiences outside.
34:51
So I was never very interested in this until somebody pointed
34:55
out this actually deals with God's history of the House of
34:58
Israel, and this is a great symbol of the Nephites and the
35:01
Lamanites. I'm like, what?
35:04
OK, now I'm interested. Now I can read Zenith as helping
35:08
me understand God's work with his people.
35:11
And as we get into this a bit more, we'll see how Jacob quotes
35:15
Zenith, because he actually speaks quite clearly about what
35:18
God's going to do to the Nephite and Lamanite nations, to this
35:21
tree that he's planted in this very good ground.
35:23
Yeah, on that line. Look at verse 26.
35:26
It came to pass that the Lord of the vineyards said unto the
35:28
servants, pluck off the branches that have not brought forth good
35:31
fruit, and cast them into the fire.
35:34
So the Lord of the vineyard, it's it's fascinating to watch
35:37
his voice through the whole allegory.
35:39
He sometimes will make rash statements, and I don't think
35:42
he's saying that because that's what he really wants to do.
35:46
I think it's a teaching technique for the servants to
35:49
say, own this, help, be a part of this process, and notice what
35:54
happens. Verse 27 The servant said unto
35:56
him, No, wait, let us prune it, dig about it, nourish it a
35:59
little longer, that perhaps may bring forth good fruit unto thee
36:03
that thou canst slate up against the season.
36:05
If that's the case, that we're talking Nephites and Lamanites,
36:09
Now you've got these illusions of Ammon, Aaron, Omnar and Hymni
36:15
going on missions down to to serve among the Lamanites, to
36:19
try to convert 7 cities in Alma, chapter 17 through 26.
36:23
Later on in the book of Helaman, starting in Helaman 5 Nephi and
36:27
Lehi, the sons of of Helaman, they go on a mission and because
36:33
of their efforts, the Lamanites actually become more righteous
36:36
than the Nephites as a whole. So you see this, this beautiful
36:40
unfolding of the story using a symbol of a tree having having
36:46
fulfillment later on in the Book of Mormon.
36:49
Now the Lord leaves in Chapter 5, verse 28.
36:53
After a great while passes in verse 29, he says, come, let us
36:57
go down again in the vineyard. It doesn't matter whether we're
37:00
looking at the mother tree or whether we're looking at any of
37:03
the other trees that were out in the other nethermost parts of
37:07
the vineyard. Everywhere he goes, he finds
37:09
lots and lots and lots of fruit, tons of fruit.
37:13
But it's all wild. It's smaller, it's not as
37:16
usable, it's not tame. And everywhere he goes, that's
37:20
all he can find. You'll notice it's by far the
37:24
longest period of time in the allegory.
37:28
This is the great apostasy. We're talking hundreds and
37:32
hundreds of years where the tree, the trees in the vineyard
37:36
are allowed to grow and and keep producing, but the fruit is
37:41
wild. And so God, at the end of this
37:44
visit, he's weeping. He's been saying, what could I
37:47
have done more for my vineyard? Should we just cut it down and
37:50
be done? And this is the part that for
37:52
me, makes this one of the greatest chapters of all time.
37:57
It's when the servants step forward and say, no, let's go
38:01
labor one last time, let's go down into the vineyard.
38:06
We're going to try some things. We're going to go back.
38:09
We're not going to change the program, but we're going to try
38:11
this one more time and see if we can produce a good fruit.
38:17
And this time we're going to try to produce the good fruit, not
38:20
just at the central tree, but in the whole world.
38:24
Prepare the world for the second Coming of the Savior.
38:27
So you'll notice in verse 61 Wherefore go to and call
38:33
servants, that we may labor diligently with our might in the
38:35
vineyard, that we may prepare the way, that I may bring forth
38:38
fruit. Look at 62 Now wherefore let us
38:40
go to and labor with our might this last time.
38:44
For behold, the end draweth night, and this is the last time
38:46
that I shall prune my vineyard. Now we get to come into the
38:50
story. Obviously Joseph Smith, the
38:52
prophet and seer of our dispensation, opens the way the
38:57
Lord opens the way through him with the first vision in 1820.
39:02
But from that little teeny seed. Now we're going to spread this
39:06
work, and we call servants. Oh, and by the way, look at
39:08
verse 70 came to pass. The Lord of vineyard send his
39:12
servant, and the servant went and did his Lord commanded him
39:14
and brought other servants, and they were few.
39:18
There aren't very many servants who were working in the vineyard
39:22
compared to the size and the scope and the scale of the work.
39:26
Can you see why President Nelson's inviting us to come and
39:30
engage? Because it's really easy in the
39:32
vineyard to sit back and relax and say all is well in Zion Zion
39:37
prosperous versus saying, hmm, I only get one shot at mortality.
39:43
I I only get one mortal life. And of all of the things I can
39:48
put my effort into, producing branches of life, entertainment,
39:53
money, power, prestige, glories of the world.
39:58
Of all the things I could put my energy into, President Nelson's
40:01
telling us there is nothing, nothing more exciting, nothing
40:06
more thrilling, nothing more worthwhile, nothing more lasting
40:10
than to help gather Israel. It doesn't mean that we get to
40:14
go and play video games. That means we have to get out
40:17
there and sweat. It's a lot of work, but how
40:21
great shall be our joy in the in the fruit that gets produced by
40:26
us? Now look at verse 72.
40:29
This is profound. It came to pass that the
40:32
servants did go and labor with their mites, and the Lord of the
40:36
vineyard labored also with them, and they did obey the
40:40
commandments of the Lord of the Vineyard in all things.
40:45
If we're really going to gather Israel, we've got to do it his
40:49
way, which means he established the covenant connection.
40:53
He established the ground rules for what it means to be on the
40:57
covenant path. He gave us the commandments, and
40:59
you'll notice they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the
41:02
Vineyard in all things, and he labored with them.
41:06
This reminds me of the call that the Lord gave to Enoch thousands
41:10
of years ago. At the end of calling Enoch to
41:13
be a prophet. His last three words were walk
41:17
with me. And the Lord's giving us the
41:21
exact same invitation. Today, in this, in this
41:26
gathering perspective, come walk with me, labour with me, go with
41:31
me and I'll teach you how to become more like me.
41:34
As you learn how to more effectively prune and dig and
41:37
nourish and graft those around you.
41:40
And as you recognize me, pruning, digging, nourishing,
41:44
and grafting you, the Lord's telling us, don't get angry,
41:48
don't don't think that I'm being cruel.
41:51
I'm helping you be more fruitful as you help the rest of the
41:54
vineyard become more fruitful. This is such a beautiful
41:58
chapter, and I love how it ends that the whole point of the
42:03
master of the vineyard planting the vineyard and laboring for so
42:06
many generations. Verse 76.
42:10
For behold, for a long time will I lay up the fruit of my
42:14
vineyard unto my own self. God wants to be with us.
42:18
He wants us with him. He's not just interested in just
42:22
being a God all alone, He wants to save us.
42:25
It's the whole purpose of the Book of Mormon to witness that
42:28
we can be saved. The allegory of the olive tree
42:31
from Zenith is another witness of what God is doing to save us.
42:35
So we all suffer, we all struggle.
42:37
But just remember the goodness of God.
42:39
He is laboring in the vineyard right now with you, and He is
42:43
with you. If you take a moment and
42:45
reflect, how have I seen God's hand in my life?
42:49
And just know that his hand, and really actually his arm of
42:53
mercy, is always there, willing to embrace you, to bring you
42:57
into the storehouse that he can be with you forever.
42:59
Now to to finish the Vineyard segment off, we would invite you
43:05
and encourage you to go back now and read Chapter 5 slowly,
43:09
carefully looking at these different time periods, you
43:12
know, from the Old Testament stuff to the New Testament
43:15
stories to the apostasy to the latter days.
43:18
And then jump into Chapter 6 and look at how Jacob now interprets
43:25
the things that he's just read from Zenith and watch carefully
43:29
for how what he emphasizes, is he going to emphasize the
43:33
justice and the and the burning? Is that the main point that he's
43:38
going to focus on, or is it going to be the mercy and the
43:41
kindness and the long-suffering of God working with not just the
43:45
House of Israel but with you? I'll just point out one verse,
43:49
Chapter 6, verse 4. And how merciful is our God unto
43:53
us? For he remembereth the House of
43:55
Israel, both roots and branches, and he stretches forth his hands
43:59
unto them all the day long, and they are stiff necked, and again
44:03
saying people, but as many as will not harden their hearts
44:07
shall be saved in the Kingdom of God.
44:09
This hardening versus the humbling that comes with the
44:12
digging. He's saying he's going to keep
44:14
working with you. Israel has had so many issues
44:18
through the ages and yet God still loves them and he still
44:22
comes back. And quite frankly, it doesn't do
44:26
us any good to point our fingers back in time and say those
44:28
dummies. Because when we do that, we're
44:31
just pointing 3 fingers at our self saying, Oh no, I've had
44:36
problems. My tree has not been what it
44:39
needs to be in every season. And it's OK.
44:44
It's OK. God knows how to produce fruit
44:46
over time. If we'll just stick with him and
44:49
let him keep doing his work, he's very, very infinitely good
44:54
at what he does. But we have to trust him in
44:56
that. And just so you know, we're not
44:58
just totally skipping Jacob Chapter 7, we're going to
45:01
actually come back and cover that in in comparison with when
45:07
we cover Nihor and Korahor later on, Cherum, Nihor and Korahor.
45:12
These three major Antichrist in the Book of Mormon would not
45:15
have agreed with each other if you put him on a debate stage.
45:18
They're teaching different doctrines.
45:20
They they have totally different belief structures for the most
45:22
part, and we'll talk about that later.
45:25
Have a great week and enjoy your work in the vineyard.
45:29
Know that you're loved.