John chastises the Pharisees and Sadducees

As John is baptizing, we get this little bit:

7 ¶But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: (Matthew 3:7-8)

The question John puts to the Pharisees and Sadducees—“who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”-- has always puzzled me.  It seemed so odd.  I couldn’t get a grasp on what he was trying to say.  It is obvious he is trying to persuade them to repent, but what exact argument he was making seemed garbled.

Eventually I realized John was demonstrating great discernment about their spiritual state.  John knew they knew they had been called to repentance.  He also knew they knew they would suffer the wrath of God if they didn’t repent.  He also knew they were uncertain about whether their sins were that serious and whether they really needed to be concerned about them.  (Of course we know the answer to that—all sins require repentance.) He also knew they were uncertain about the source of this message.

The warning to repent was an opportunity to flee from the wrath (of God) to come (at judgment day), and John asked them to consider what source would want them to repent and escape God’s wrath.  It’s an easy answer—it’s God.  Satan doesn’t encourage repentance; only God does.  So they needn’t hesitate to repent and worry about the source of the message.

It’s a good message today.  Who tells us we’re fine how we are and we don’t need to change?  That’s a message Satan would like us to swallow.  Who instead warns us to repent?  God.  

For commentary on "generation of vipers," see another of my posts.

Thoughts on Mary and Zacharias’s experience with Gabriel

I had a few thoughts about the stories of Mary and Zacharias in Luke 1 during the Sunday school lesson this last week.

When we talked about the story of the Annunciation, when Gabriel came to announce to Mary that she would conceive, I asked myself the question, “What does it tell us about the character of God that He sends a messenger to tell Mary ahead of time that she will conceive instead of just making it happen without any warning?”

It was an intriguing question and I came up with a few answers.

I think it tells us the Lord wanted her to understand the significance of what was going to happen and wanted to prepare her.  There is also in her submissive response the suggestion that she saw it as an implied request for permission, which permission she gave.

Just to pursue for a second that idea of asking permission, this suggests that the Lord was respecting Mary’s agency.   But then we have to wonder what the Lord would have done if Mary had refused.  The Lord’s plans are not frustrated, so He would have a backup plan ready.

Who was Mary’s backup?  It would have to be a woman named Mary, also of the house of David, for Old Testament and Book of Mormon prophesies to be fulfilled.

Oddly enough, it seems Mary had a sister also named Mary (which is rather weird), but it could have been a half sister.  “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene (Luke 19:25).  Of course, this is a bit speculative and depends upon how you interpret the meaning of that comma, whether it attaches “Mary the wife of Cleophas” to “his mother’s sister” or whether it continues the list with more people.  Still, I think it highly likely that the Lord had a backup in place in case Mary chose to refuse.

A point was made in the lesson that I hadn’t thought of before.  It is likely that Mary wasn’t so very popular among her peers because of her righteousness and it would have been startling to her to be told she was highly favored among women, thus her troubled feelings at the greeting, and thus the need for Gabriel to clarify that she was favored of God.  I think the experience she had standing strong against the temptation to seek for the world’s favor would have been important to her development for when she would find herself in a position that would look wrong, but be okay—pregnant, yet not having known a man.   It takes a spiritually strong person to stay faithful while everyone around them thinks they have done a very wrong thing when they haven’t.

Moving on to the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth..

The case of Zacharias and Elizabeth is interesting as well.  They were barren, and both well stricken in years, implying Elizabeth is into menopause.

The angel Gabriel, when he comes to tell Zacharias he will have a son, says something interesting: “…for thy prayer is heard.”  (Luke 1:13)  This makes it seem like this son is what Zacharias has been praying for that day as he offered incense.

Yet Zacharias is very old and his skepticism is opposite what his response would be if he’d been praying for it that day.

I think it is likely that Zacharias and Elizabeth had prayed for children for a long time, but that they (or Zacharias) had given up that particular petition once Elizabeth had moved into menopause, thinking it wasn’t going to happen.  That fits more with his skepticism.

So this brings us to some interesting questions now about how the Lord works when Gabriel says, “thy prayer is heard.”  Why tell Zacharias this now?  Why not visit him at the beginning of his prayers back when he was young and tell him, “Thy prayer is heard, but you’ll have to wait for years.”  It tells us that there may be long times when God is silent and doesn’t give us our petition.   And why?   It becomes a test of our faith whether we will continue to follow Him when we don’t know why He is not giving us immediately a righteous thing we ask for.   We’re probably pretty good at waiting a long time for things if we know why.  But can we wait a long time when we don’t know why?  It’s hard.  We have to trust that God is still good.

Another question that occurs to me is, “Why did John the Baptist have to be born so late?  Why not earlier?”  I think we don’t know much at all about why John had to be born so close to Jesus.  Perhaps if he were born earlier, he might have been martyred before Jesus came on the scene.  Perhaps his prophetic testimony of the coming Savior was meant to be witnessed very soon after it was given in order to show that God was moving fast and so there was necessity for quick repentance.

At any rate, the miracle of Elizabeth’s pregnancy was used by Gabriel as a sign to Mary that God could do impossible things.  If God could help a menopausal woman conceive by her husband, then God could certainly cause a virgin to conceive without coitus.

But back to this declaration, “thy prayer is heard.”  Sometimes we don’t know our prayer is heard until it is answered and the thing we pray for comes to pass.  It takes a lot of spiritual sensitivity to know the Lord has heard, even when our requests aren’t granted.  Granted requests are the biggest way we know prayers are heard, yet the angel’s pronouncement also teaches us that God hears our prayers all along, even if He can’t grant them yet according to His plan.

It also teaches us that God remembers and may answer our prayers far past the time that we’ve prayed them.  It teaches us something about the emotional strength of God, that He can hear our prayers and enter into the deeps of our yearnings and pains, and love us so, and yet refrain from granting our petitions for a greater purpose known to Him.  How badly He must want to bless us, and yet He can’t yet.  How many parents can stand that long a wait along with their children?

If I were to summarize the principles from the story, it would be this way:

--God respects the agency of His children, even those who are linchpins in His plan.

--Formative experiences often become a big part of our life purpose.

--God delays answers to prayer to try our faith

--God delays answers to prayer to fulfill His greater purposes.

--God’s miraculous answers to prayer are often used to help strengthen others’ faith in His power.

--God remembers our prayers even if we’ve forgotten or think it is past time for them to be answered.

--God hears our prayers all along, but has the emotional strength to delay answering and to lovingly wait along with us.

What else do you see in these stories?

Lehi’s Prophecies about Israel in 1 Nephi 10

1 Nephi 10 is kind of overlooked by us today because it is pretty much a summary of Lehi’s prophecies at that point in time.  It is almost like a chapter heading itself, except it is longer.

The notable thing about this chapter is its lack of notability.  There is nothing that surprises us because we know that it all happened as Lehi said.  Jerusalem was destroyed.  The Jews were carried away to Babylon and later brought back.  The Savior was born.  A prophet came to prepare the way for the Messiah and said what it was predicted he would say. That prophet baptized the Messiah and witnessed who it was.  The gospel was preached to the Jews, the Jews dwindled in unbelief, and they killed the Messiah.  The Messiah rose from the dead and made Himself manifest to the Gentiles through the Holy Ghost.  Israel was scattered again. 

Again, we know all this happened, and it may be really tempting for unbelieving readers to say that Joseph Smith just wrote a summary of important events in the Bible and this wasn’t really prophecy.  But I think that fails to understand the function of the chapter.  If the object was to commit fraud and fool us into believing, it is too obvious.  It is too easy for a suspicious person to “detect” and disbelieve, therefore it is really prophecy, and it is instead allowing the reader to choose whether to believe or not, meaning it is a test of the reader more than a test of the writer.  You have to believe in modern prophecy and seership in order to believe in ancient prophecy and seership.

So we must think about the function of this summary.  For Nephi it may have acted as a way to preserve the most salient elements of his father’s prophecies, and for him these were points of faith.  And considering he was writing this all while looking in retrospect of the prophecies, and since he was about to tell us about his vision/interpretation of Lehi’s dream, it seems that he picked out the points that corresponded to his vision, which makes him and his father two witnesses as to the truth of the future-history he is about to reveal.  In essence, Nephi sets his father as the first witness of the future and himself as the second.  (He does this most clearly when he quotes from Isaiah then quotes his brother Jacob, and then calls attention to those quotations as 2 witnesses in addition to his own.)

Now, one thing that puzzled me was why it was important to reveal so much information about John the Baptist to the Lehites and at this stage of time.  Usually the focus is on the Messiah, so why does the prophetic eye fall upon John the Baptist in such detail?

Right now my best answer is this—I think it is a sign that in spite of being scattered physically from Israel, it was for the Lord to show the Lehites that they were still grafted into Israel spiritually and that to those who are a part of Israel there is no difficulty in obtaining a knowledge of the counsels and will of the Lord in any time and place.  It is a manifestation of the grace and generosity of the Lord in bestowing knowledge that will connect His people’s together though they may be separated by hundreds of years and thousands of miles. 

For those of us who believe in prophecy, this chapter is a sign to us that prophecy is real.  The Lehites knew about John the Baptist long before he lived and far away from where he lived.  The prophecy coming true is confirmed to us in a totally different book—the Bible.

It also helps give us confidence that the other prophecies Nephi shares that have yet to happen will come to pass.

Nephi’s vision of Christ’s baptism

2 Nephi 31 is known for these verses that missionaries use to convince people of the importance of baptism:

5 And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!
6 And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water?
7 Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments. (2 Nephi 31:5-7)

Underlying these verses though, are indications that this knowledge came in a miraculous way—through a vision and through the voices of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ speaking to him. It is easy to miss, but if we slow down, we’ll see it as we notice the prevalence of the word “show” (and all its forms) and how many times dialogue is presented.

Show

…remember that I have spoken unto you concerning that prophet which the Lord showed unto me, that should baptize the Lamb of God, which should take away the sins of the world. (2 Nephi 31:4, emphasis added)

Nephi was given a vision of John the Baptist and his baptism of Christ.

Wherefore, after [Christ] was baptized with water the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove. (2 Nephi 31:8)

The fascinating thing about this verse is that it was written before Christ was baptized, yet it is written in past tense. This strongly suggests that Nephi had seen a vision, and because of it, he thought of Christ’s baptism as an accomplished fact rather than an event yet to happen.

9 And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them.
10 And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father? (2 Nephi 31:9-10)

This tells us that in Nephi’s vision he had seen Christ teach people to follow His example. (And again, it is interesting that Nephi speaks to his people of following Christ even though Christ’s baptism would not occur until many hundred years after they lived.)

And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son. (2 Nephi 31:11)

Nephi sees that Heavenly Father became a second witness to the principles of repentance and baptism. When Heavenly Father speaks to witness of something, you know it is of utmost importance.

Divine commentary

After this, Nephi hears the voices of both Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father giving commentary on the vision that Nephi had seen.

And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do. (2 Nephi 31:12, emphasis added)

(Notice also that Christ points out that Nephi has seen Christ be baptized (and probably much more).)

14 But, behold, my beloved brethren, thus came the voice of the Son unto me, saying: After ye have repented of your sins, and witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to keep my commandments, by the baptism of water, and have received the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, and can speak with a new tongue, yea, even with the tongue of angels, and after this should deny me, it would have been better for you that ye had not known me.
15 And I heard a voice from the Father, saying: Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. (2 Nephi 31:14-15, emphasis added)

Both the Father and the Son explained to Nephi the importance of following Christ’s example to be baptized and the importance of enduring to the end. Wow. Then Nephi adds his testimony:

And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved. (2 Nephi 31:16)

Nephi also tells why this great witness has been given to him.

Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost. (2 Nephi 31:17, emphasis added)

The fact that Nephi’s knowledge of the importance of baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end came through a vision and through the voices of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ makes this one of the most powerful scriptural witnesses of these principles. What greater witness can we have than from God?

Dysfunctional family dynamics: Herod, Herodias, and daughter Salome

16 But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.
17 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife: for he had married her.
18 For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.
19 Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not:
20 For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man [and a holy man, and one who feared God and observed to worship him; and when he heard him he did many things for him].
21 And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;
22 And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.
23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.
24 And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
25 And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.
26 And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath’s sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her.
27 And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
28 And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother. (Mark 6:16-28, JST inserted)

I have to make several observations about this story. First, even though Herod respected John, listened to him, and did many things for him, Herod’s leadership did not extend to his own family. He didn’t teach his wife or his daughter to respect John as well. Think what would have happened if he had. This whole tragic episode might have been avoided completely. If he had been a better leader to his family, perhaps the desires of his wife and daughter might have been different. They might have learned to ask for righteous things instead of something so terrible as a prophet’s head on a platter.

Another thing--from what Herodias instructed her daughter to ask, we can see that mothers can pass on their evil desires and inclinations to their children. Herodias’s daughter didn’t know what to ask for. She didn’t know what was worth having when offered what amounted to a blank check. If Herodias had been a righteous woman, think what good might have been done!

Another thing I observe is that Herodias had a problem with cattiness and holding grudges. She would have had John killed right off, but Herod wouldn’t let her. Yet she pressured Herod until he had John put in prison. Did that satisfy her to have a prophet’s freedom abridged so that he was unable to preach? No. She wanted him dead and that was at the top of her mind when her daughter came to her to find out what request she should make of Herod. She didn’t even consider asking something that could have benefited her daughter in any way. Her daughter was the one that deserved the reward for her dancing skills, but Herodias put herself first even before her daughter.

If we look even deeper, we find that Herod’s family affliction was rooted in his disobedience of a particular portion of the Law of Moses—taking his brother’s wife. “Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.” (Leviticus 18:16) “And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness...” (Leviticus 20:21) (And evidently the woman he chose wasn’t the greatest.) As a prophet, John the Baptist was obligated to decry wickedness and call to repentance all people, including those in high places, such as Herod and Herodias. Herodias would be highly offended by this and view John the Baptist as a meddler who was coming between Herod and her. Her opinion was probably the same as is sometimes seen today—“It is not the prophet’s business to say who is allowed to marry who! That’s a private decision!” It is also possible that Herod and Herodias wanted people to think they were religiously devout and John the Baptist was spoiling their public relations.

The final thing I observe about this story—which is actually in the first verse of the quoted material above—is that after it was all over and John was dead, when Herod heard of the things Jesus was doing, he made statements that it was John risen from the dead. I don’t think this indicates that Herod was superstitious and thought that John was coming back to take revenge. I think Herod preferred to think that it meant that his own heinous act of murder had been cancelled out somehow, perhaps forgiven, somehow reversed. Maybe he said it to try to anger his wife too. Imagine the guilt he must have felt for killing John the Baptist and how this must have affected his relationship with his wife.

So what does this sad story teach me? It shows me how important it is for a man and a woman to be equally yoked in marriage and how difficult it can be when one partner wants to listen to the prophet and the other is offended by the prophet. It makes my heart ache when I think of members whose marriage partner is even just inactive or a nonmember. How difficult that must be want to do right but feel unable to whole-heartedly embrace it because of a critical or skeptical family member or partner.

In summary, this story conveys:

• The importance of marrying a righteous person in the Lord’s way
• The need to teach family to revere the prophets and listen to them
• The importance of forgiveness
• The importance of teaching children to want righteous things
• The importance of looking for wise ways to reward our children for their skills

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Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord

I’m continually looking for new ways to understand phrases in the scriptures and one that has always eluded me was “prepare ye the way of the Lord”. My question has always been, “The Lord is pretty powerful; why does He need us to prepare the way?” The main thing I always thought of was of John the Baptist preparing the way for Christ.

Thanks to Desert Highway Ministries, I found a fascinating insight here.

So the general gist that I get is that there are obstacles between us and the Lord that keep Him from coming closer to us. Those obstacles are our sins, and in spite of all He wants to do for us, He can’t get closer until those obstacles are removed through our repentance. How hard are we making it for God to get to us? What obstacles are you putting in His path? (I’ve made a mental list of the obstacles I have to get rid of.)

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low;
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough places plain:
(Isaiah 40:3-4)

In verse four, we are given a list of various obstacles that need removal.

“Every valley shall be exalted” – Certainly valleys could symbolize depression. Sometimes I get into a blue funk just because I can. Fortunately, I know how to get out. (see the chapter of my book on obtaining joy here) For others with depression from chemical imbalances, it may require professional intervention and medication. Escaping depression allows us to experience the joy that the Lord wants for us.

“every mountain and hill shall be made low” – I feel that this is talking about how we need to remove pride from our lives. I have troubles with pride often and I’ve found counting my blessings and remembering how the Lord has blessed me humbles me. Removing pride prepares us to receive the greater truths that He wants to teach us.

“and the crooked shall be made straight” – I feel that this is talking about how crime is an obstacle that we need to remove. Dishonesty of any kind, crooked dealings certainly estrange us from God. Removing crookedness gives us confidence.

“and the rough places plain” – I think this could be talking about maybe two different things. It could be referring to the abrasive parts of our personalities and how we need to put some polish on our social skills and learn how to smooth things over. It could also talk about teaching styles and changing from an attitude of trying to make it hard for people to learn something (like weed-out classes) to trying make ideas as clear as possible. I think this prepares us with charity.

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together:
for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
(Isaiah 40:5)

Here is the promise we are given about what will happen when we have removed those obstacles between us and God. His glory will be revealed to us. I take that to mean both spiritual and literal. Spiritually, we will understand better what the Lord is like, because we will have made ourselves more like Him. And literally, as we remove the obstacles, sooner or later He will visit us and we will see Him face to face.

Generation of Vipers

I always wondered just what that phrase meant and why it was so bad. John the Baptist used it to refer to the Pharisees and Saducees who came to his baptisms but wouldn’t be baptized themselves. (Matt. 3:7) and Christ used it when He was telling off the Pharisees for their hypocrisy:

Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? (Matthew 23:33)

Interestingly enough, I ran across a Youtube video of a comedian—Brad Stine—who threw just enough light on the matter that I was able to figure the rest of it out.

He pointed out that our culture for some reason seems to like to insult people by calling them the son of a dog--no, he did not say the real phrase--and Christ called certain people sons of a snake. Instantly I remembered that phrase Christ used—“generation of vipers”.

It flashed through my mind like lightning that when Christ calls people a “generation of vipers” (sons of a snake), He didn’t mean just any old snake. He meant THE snake. The snake from the Garden of Eden. Satan.

He was calling them children of the devil. A generation of devils. That’s the worst thing that Christ could call them, and that's exactly what they were. They were a generation that tempted people to do evil, just like Satan does.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. (Matthew 23:15)

This when they were supposed to be a good influence.

Do any of our words or deeds tempt others to do evil? How good is our example? Is there anything we try to rationalize and justify as being "not that bad" and then invite others to do it too?