Isaiah and Nephi testify of the future redemptive work for the dead

In my last post “1 Nephi 21 (Isaiah 49) The Lord can gather Israel with both hands tied behind His back,” I discussed how 1 Nephi 21 shows us all the different ways the Lord can gather Israel. Yet that is not all this chapter teaches us about. If we read it keeping in mind the great work of redemption for the dead that occurs in temples, we find that theme vibrating with barely suppressed excitement throughout the chapter and explored with much greater depth than in the verses we usually quote in Isaiah 2:2-3

Would it make sense for such a great seer as Isaiah to see the modern temples in vision and then not mention that great redemptive work for the dead in his writings at all? Granted, he was living among an apostate people who could not handle the mysteries of godliness, since they rejected the foundational principles of the gospel, but there was nothing stopping Isaiah from writing about redemption for the dead using his masterly style that both concealed and revealed the truth.

So now let us read and notice how it is all laid out in Isaiah 49, which Nephi quotes in 1 Nephi 21!

It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel….thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth. (v6) Saving ordinances can be done for all the souls of the dead.

That thou mayest say to the prisoners: Go forth; to them that sit in darkness: Show yourselves. (v9) When temple work is done for souls in spirit prison, they are allowed to leave.

And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. (v11) Once again, the temples are the highway to exaltation for the living as well as the dead.

Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth…; and break forth into singing, O mountains; for they shall be smitten no more; for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. (v13) The whole of creation (those in heaven, those on the earth, and those in the temples) rejoices over the work for the dead. This is how the Lord comforts His righteous people who have died without a chance of accepting the gospel in the flesh.

But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not. (v14) This shows us that there are converted souls of the dead who belong in Zion but who are not yet numbered among the covenant people and who feel the Lord has forgotten their faithfulness. Temple work for the dead is how the Lord shows these souls He remembers them.

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands (v16) The ordinances of the temple symbolically remind us of this. These tokens also are a constant reminder to the Lord of those souls of the dead who He has redeemed.

Thy children shall make haste against thy destroyers (v17) The work for the dead will go faster and faster to save souls from spirit prison. We’ve seen this happen as more temples have been built and genealogical software has streamlined the process of finding records, organizing records, preparing names, and recording ordinances.

The children whom thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the first, shall again in thine ears say: The place is too strait for me…Then shalt thou say in thine heart: Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive…?...Behold, I was left alone; these, where have they been? (v20- 21) The souls of those who have been sealed to their children will be able to be with them again and the children will start to feel crowded. The parents will be surprised and wonder where the children had been all this time.

I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. (v22) Remember all those little slips of names that you take with you to the temple, stuck in the pocket of your temple tote that you have slung over your shoulder? Those are someone’s sons and daughters that you are carrying in your arms and on your shoulders.

And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers (v23) Since every endowed member is a prospective king or queen, these will be the people who will be preaching to the souls in spirit prison, feeding them doctrine.

kings… and their queens… shall bow down to thee with their face towards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet (v23) If we in any way neglect our duty to do temple work, we’ll have a lot of apologizing to do on the other side.

thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me (v23) Those who accept the gospel on the other side of the veil will gain testimonies too and they will not be ashamed of waiting for their temple work.

For shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives delivered? But thus saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered (v24-25) The dead souls who are not of the house of Israel are lawful captives of death and hell, but temple work will deliver them because of the atonement of Christ.

I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. (v25) It is Satan who contends with us. Christ makes it so that the gates of hell do not prevail against the house of Israel whose temple work is done.

all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. (v26) Since all are subject to death, all nations will gain a testimony and know that Christ saves the dead as well as the living. In this way, the covenant will be fulfilled that was made to Abraham that in his seed all kindreds of the earth would be blessed.

From this perspective we see that Christ was absolutely right when he said that Isaiah’s words were great and that he spoke concerning all things pertaining to the house of Israel. We see that Isaiah spoke of temple work for the dead.

I believe that Nephi saw this as well and he spoke of it too, although just as carefully as Isaiah did, so that those with ears to hear and eyes to see would notice it while all others would miss it. Look beyond the usual interpretation of “missionary work” in these verses and look for temple work:

8 And after our seed is scattered the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed; wherefore, it is likened unto their being nourished by the Gentiles and being carried in their arms and upon their shoulders.
9 And it shall also be of worth unto the Gentiles; and not only unto the Gentiles but unto all the house of Israel, unto the making known of the covenants of the Father of heaven unto Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
10 And I would, my brethren, that ye should know that all the kindreds of the earth cannot be blessed unless he shall make bare his arm in the eyes of the nations.
11 Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to make bare his arm in the eyes of all the nations, in bringing about his covenants and his gospel unto those who are of the house of Israel.
12 Wherefore, he will bring them again out of captivity, and they shall be gathered together to the lands of their inheritance; and they shall be brought out of obscurity and out of darkness; and they shall know that the Lord is their Savior and their Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel. (1 Nephi 22:8-9, emphasis added)

After finding all this stuff, I feel like I’ve been completely blind before. I never knew this was in here! It is wonderful to know that the ancient prophets looked forward to the great redemptive work in temples and wrote about it in such a way that we would someday notice it when it was being fulfilled. How great the Lord’s wisdom is to prepare these things for us!

Image: Fanpop, http://www.fanpop.com/spots/mormonism/images/330130/title/salt-lake-temple-photo

1 Nephi 21 (Isaiah 49) The Lord can gather Israel with both hands tied behind His back

In this chapter, Nephi quotes Isaiah to show the many methods Lord plans to use to gather His scattered people. So, how many different ways are mentioned that does the Lord plan to gather His people? A bunch. And some of them are quite creative. They look hard to us, but they are no problem for the Lord because of His great power. Nephi quotes this chapter so that his people (and us) can have hope and trust the Lord.

…saith the Lord—that formed me from the womb that I should be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him… (v5) The Lord raises up prophets to gather Israel. This phrasing also applies to Jesus Christ.

thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob (v6) Raising righteous families gathers Israel.

I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth. (v6) Being a good example helps to gather Israel.

Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time have I heard thee, O isles of the sea, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee (v8) The Lord answers the prayers of those who are seeking the true church.

I will preserve thee, and give thee my servant for a covenant of the people…to cause to inherit the desolate heritages (v8) The Lord gathers the people to empty lands to save them, as when the Saints moved west.

That thou mayest say to the prisoners: Go forth; to them that sit in darkness: Show yourselves. (v9) The Lord also involves the spirits of the dead in the gathering, as Joseph F. Smith saw in his vision of how the preaching of the gospel was organized among spirits. (see D&C 138)

And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. (v11) The Lord gathers the people using the temples. He gathers them to build temples, He gathers families in the eternities through temple work, and all the dead who accept the gospel are gathered into the house of Israel through temple work. Temples are truly the highway to exaltation and gathering.

these shall come from far; and lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim. (v12) The Lord will gather people from all nations through missionary work.

But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not. (v14) The Lord will gather the depressed and alone. He will also do miracles to show He has not forsaken or forgotten His people.

Thy children shall make haste against thy destroyers; and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee. (v17) There are several ways of looking at this verse. Firstly, it is a chiasmus.

Thy children
Shall make haste
Against thy destroyers
And they that made thee waste
Shall go forth
Of thee.

The chiasmus gives me the impression that the Lord will gather people to Israel who had previously fought against it through ignorance. Children of Israel will make haste to set these people straight, and then they will be converted and “go forth of thee,” or be counted among the house of Israel.

Oddly enough, it could also be interpreted to testify of church discipline, how those who are destroying the church from the inside will be corrected or otherwise “go forth of thee”, meaning they are removed from the church. (Casting the wolves out of the fold helps gather Israel.)

as I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on even as a bride (v18) This imagery expresses how the Lord gathers His people to Zion gradually in waves, like clothing and jewelry is put on. Each wave of gathering adds glory and beauty to Zion. Each wave will add excitement and anticipation for the second coming of the Lord, just like a bride gets more and more excited for her wedding as she dresses in her wedding dress.

For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants;…The children whom thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the first, shall again in thine ears say: The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell. (v19-20) The Lord gathers so many people that it puts a strain on the land, bursting at the seams, so they have to create new colonies and split wards and split stakes.

Then shalt thou say in thine heart: Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate (v21) The Lord gathers children to Israel through adoptive services.

Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles…and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. (v22) The Lord involves the Gentiles in the work of gathering Israel. (Amazing!)

I will…set up my standard to the people (v22) The Lord uses the standards and the commandments to gather Israel.

And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers (v23) The Lord uses royalty to help gather Israel. Rulers change their laws and policies to permit the church to proselyte and meet in their country. Also, since every endowed member is a prospective king or queen, they are involved in the work of gathering Israel by feeding nourishing doctrine to new members and investigators.

thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me (v23) Everyone who is gathered to the house of Israel will have a testimony and will not be ashamed for having waited for the truth so long.

But thus saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. (v25) Even the oppressed and captive peoples in the world will be delivered so that they can be gathered.

and all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. (v26) Everyone will know this because everyone will have heard our testimony of it by the time the gathering is over.

This chapter is meant to show us how many different ways the Lord has of gathering His scattered people. Through this chapter we see that to the Lord, gathering Israel really is a “light” (easy) thing. It’s as if He says to us, “Look! It’s so easy I can do it with my eyes closed and both hands tied behind my back! I can even gather Israel using people who wouldn’t ever dream of gathering Israel!” This helps us have greater faith and trust in the Lord and to see His hand in our lives and in various world events. Most of all, it gives us encouragement to share the gospel with people.

But that’s not all this chapter does. My next post will examine how this chapter testifies extensively of the great work of redemption for the dead in the temple.

The fundamental purpose of 1 Nephi 20 (Isaiah 48)

I’ve read through the Book of Mormon a number of times and something that would make me wonder every time I ran across it was Nephi’s quotations of Isaiah. I often wondered what points he was trying to make with it and why he felt it was important to put it right there.

Recently I was reading through again and I got to the ending of 1 Nephi 19 where Nephi talks about his purpose of writing and something popped out at me in verse 23: “but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah.” (emphasis added) Nephi talks about a bunch of other purposes that he wants his writings to fulfill, but this one stood out to me, so I decided to look to see if I could find things in the following chapter 1 Nephi 20 (which quotes Isaiah 48) that help us believe in the Lord.

BINGO!!

I found a lot. All of a sudden I started to see the cohesion in that chapter. Without that perspective, the chapter feels like a mass of individual sayings that have no relation to one another. But by looking at the pieces as part of an attempt to demonstrate why we can believe in the Lord and have faith, the chapter takes on startling majesty.

So, I give you the simplified list of reasons why we can believe in the Lord.

The Lord lets us know what happened in the past. (“I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them. I did show them suddenly” v3) This helps us have faith in the Lord's knowledge of what has occurred and the Lord's interpretation of those events.

The Lord gives us personal revelation and tells us mysteries of godliness. (“I have showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. ” v6) This helps us have faith in His holiness and in His power to reveal all things to us in their time.

The Lord knows that we’re stubborn. (“I did it because I knew that thou art obstinate” v4) This helps us have faith in His ability to see past any hypocritical show we try to put on. We can’t fool Him, so we might as well submit to Him.

The Lord knew from the beginning that we were going to sin. (“I knew that thou wouldst deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb. ” v8) This helps us have faith in the Lord’s foreknowledge and in His plan of salvation for us to overcome sin. It shows us He knows our fallen human nature well and He knows the temptations we face, and while He can’t countenance it, He understands it.

The Lord delays our punishment for our sins, so that we have time to repent. (“for my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain from thee, that I cut thee not off.” v9) This helps us have faith in the Lord and how He respects our agency. He wants us to choose on our own to repent.

The Lord does not allow any unclean thing to enter His Kingdom. (“I will not suffer my name to be polluted” v11) This helps us have faith in the Lord’s holiness.

The Lord refines us through affliction. (“I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction” v10) This helps us have faith that the Lord sees the difficulties we go through and that He means for those afflictions to make us into His Chosen. As a result, we become much more determined to endure through them and seek to understand how those afflictions actually benefit us.

The Lord created the heavens and earth and everything in it and He has control over it all. (“Mine hand hath also laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens. I call unto them and they stand up together. ” v13) This helps us have faith in the Lord’s creative powers and gives us an idea of the scope of His influence.

The Lord loves those who share the gospel and testify of Christ. (“who among them hath declared these things unto them? The Lord hath loved him” v14) This helps us have faith that we can please the Lord if we share the gospel with others.

The Lord fulfills the words spoken by the prophets. (“he will fulfil his word which he hath declared by them” v14) This helps us have faith in the relationship between the Lord and His prophets. It shows us that the Lord wants us to respect His prophets, so He fulfills their words.

Even though the wicked don’t acknowledge Him, the Lord still has all power over them and will do what He wants with them. (“he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall come upon the Chaldeans” v14) This helps us trust that all the judgments the Lord has declared against Babylon and the wicked will come to pass. This also gives us reason to flee Babylon.

The Lord wants us to come to Him. (“Come ye near unto me” v16) This helps us have faith that it isn’t a scary thing to come to Christ and that He will welcome us.

The Lord has not made the gospel a secret; He’s had it preached in the world from the beginning. (“I have not spoken in secret; from the beginning, from the time that it was declared have I spoken” v16) This helps us have faith that the Lord means what He says and He’s not holding anything vital back from us.

The Lord teaches us commandments so that we can prosper and leads us in the best way. (“the Lord thy God who teacheth thee to profit, who leadeth thee by the way thou shouldst go, hath done it.” v17) This helps us have faith that the Lord will teach us in a way that benefits us the most.

To those who keep His commandments, the Lord gives constant peace and makes them more and more righteous. (“O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments—then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. ” v18) This helps us have faith that it is very important to keep the Lord’s commandments.

The Lord urges us to repent. (“Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans” v20) This helps us have faith in His holiness.

The Lord saves His covenant people and He wants us to testify of it to everyone. (“with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter to the end of the earth; say ye: The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.” v20) This helps us have faith in Him, that He truly does want to bless all mankind.

The Lord has done great miracles for us to provide for us, even miracles greater than those He did for the children of Israel in the desert. (“And they thirsted not; he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he clave the rock also and the waters gushed out….he hath done all this, and greater also” v21-22) This helps us have faith in the Lord’s power to intervene in our lives to provide for our needs.

The Lord withholds peace from the wicked. (“there is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked” v22) This helps us have faith that the Lord means what He says about spiritual death.

Seen in this way, 1 Nephi 20 (and Isaiah 48) could easily belong among the talks of general conference, since it categorically declares all the grounds we have for faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nephi used this chapter to try to build faith in Jesus Christ among his own people and we can use it to help us today.

What do you remember that helps you have faith in the Lord?

From the Greatest Sorrow to the Arms of God’s Love: the Valleys and Peaks of Lehi’s Experience

And now I speak unto you, Joseph, my last-born. Thou wast born in the wilderness of mine afflictions; yea, in the days of my greatest sorrow did thy mother bear thee. (2 Nephi 3:1, emphasis added)

This tells us that Lehi suffered a terrible bout of depression while traveling in the wilderness, and it might have had something to do with the time when he murmured against the Lord when Nephi broke his bow. ”And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came unto my father; and he was truly chastened because of his murmuring against the Lord, insomuch that he was brought down into the depths of sorrow.“ (1 Nephi 16:25, emphasis added)

It may seem odd to us that Lehi would take things so much to heart, but this had to be a case when a person who had received the greater light and sinned against it was under the greater condemnation. (Joseph Smith himself went through a very dark time when it became clear that the 116 pages had been lost and he through his fear of men had let them go to Martin Harris.)

Also, this would explain why Lehi seems to drop off the spiritual radar of the account for a substantial time and Nephi seems to figure much more prominently. If Lehi was struggling with terrible depression and was practically incapacitated by it, someone had to keep things going in the family.

I take some hope from finding this because it shows me how human Lehi was; he dealt with some of the same problems we do.

Yet we also have an indication that he was able to pull out of it with help from the Lord because in 2 Nephi 1:15, Lehi says “But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.”

This gives me hope that even those of us who suffer from depression can ultimately behold the glory of the Lord, be wrapped in visions of the Almighty, and be encircled about eternally in the arms of His love.

What Monster Need We Fear?

I personally am not a fan of spook alleys or scary movies. When I was about eight or nine, my dad took my brother and I through a spook alley. The coffin with the creepy hands coming out and raising the lid was not so bad, but the cackling judge holding a string to a bloody guillotine which he raised and let fall with fiendish glee was a bit much. But what really got me was the skeleton-man behind bars. He started dancing around and THEN, if that weren’t enough, he burst out of the bars (which were only hanging in place rather than fixed in place) and mingled among us. To my young mind, the horror of something like that breaking out made me feel very unsafe. I’ve never gone to a spook alley since.

I’ve read that one of the reasons that our society likes scary stuff is that we like to be able to confront our fears and then be able to escape them. Something about watching vampires, werewolves, and zombies attack and then be beaten back seems to make real life seem safer? I don’t know.

A few years ago I ran across a verse that is a great thing to remember in all the Halloween stuff.

O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. (2 Nephi 9:10)

This verse tells me that the only thing we need to fear is death and hell. Death has been conquered by Christ’s resurrection, so our submission to death will only be temporary. This leaves hell, which is entered through sin. So I guess that we only really need to worry about the monster of sin. As things get worse in society, our lives will turn into the equivalent of a monster movie, but just remember that when the sin zombies are after you, Christ has overcome all sin too, through his atonement, and because He has, we can overcome it by repentance and faith in Christ.

Have you ever seen heaven?

I happened to run across Spencer W. Kimball’s book Faith Precedes the Miracle and as I scanned though it looking for something that could help me, I ran across an incident he recorded. He was sitting for his portrait to be painted and the artist unexpectedly asked him, “Have you ever seen heaven?”

Spencer W. Kimball told the artist of when he officiated at a marriage in the temple and how he felt the Spirit of the Lord there and how he felt that was a vision of heaven. He then told the artist of visiting at a home in which the children were obedient and respectful and helpful and the parents were kind and loving and there was order and how he thought that was a vision of heaven as well. He told several other experiences, pointing to each one as a place where he had seen heaven.

As I was reading the first of Spencer W. Kimball’s heaven experiences, I at first thought that it was a total cop-out. I knew the artist wanted to know whether President Kimball had seen a vision of the celestial kingdom like Joseph Smith saw as recorded in D&C 76, and I thought President Kimball was trying to avoid the issue that he hadn’t really seen. However, I kept reading, and when I got to the story of the family that seemed like heaven, I started to remember some things. I thought of the hymn lyrics “Home can be a heaven on earth when we are filled with love”. I thought of how my own mother had tried so hard to keep peace in my family while I grew up. I thought of how my parents would sometimes point out little moments when we were so happy to be together that it seemed like heaven. That’s when I realized something startling.

I realized that we tend to think in terms of what can be taken to heaven and what will be eternal and what heaven will be like, when really, it is should be the other way around. Family isn’t something of the earth that we take to heaven with us, but it is something heavenly that we can have on the earth. The commandments aren’t something of the earth that get us to heaven, the commandments are celestial and we can have them on the earth! Principles we will live by in heaven have already been given to us to live on the earth. We make a heaven here so that we’ll be worthy of it there, along with celestial glory.

When I realized this, I suddenly saw that I had seen heaven over and over and over without recognizing it. I saw heaven when I got to welcome a woman into the celestial room of the temple after she got her endowments for the first time. I saw heaven at family reunions. I saw heaven when I was sealed to my husband for time and eternity. I saw heaven when I saw people donating their surplus to Deseret Industries. I saw heaven when I saw people serving each other at ward activities. I saw heaven in countless family home evenings and countless family prayers and sessions of scripture study, when the Spirit was there. I saw heaven in obedience, sacrifice, service, missionary work, temple work, and so on. I saw heaven in growing families, in continued courtship after marriage, in my husband’s love, in friendship, in forgiveness, in choirs singing triumphant, ringing praises. In every good holy thing I was seeing a piece of heaven.

Now we see that we must not only avoid procrastinating our repentance, but we must also not put off preparing for heaven. We have to put heaven’s principles to work here, we need to practice obedience here, we need to acquire integrity and generosity here, and make a heaven that the very angels can visit here.

I haven’t seen heaven like Joseph Smith saw it, but I expect someday I will, if I continue to sanctify myself. You will too, if you do the same. At the tail end of D&C 76, there is this:

“But great and marvelous are the works of the Lord, and the mysteries of his kingdom which he showed unto us, which surpass all understanding in glory, and in might, and in dominion; Which he commanded us we should not write while we were yet in the Spirit, and are not lawful for man to utter; Neither is man capable to make them known, for they are only to be seen and understood by the power of the Holy Spirit, which God bestows on those who love him, and purify themselves before him; To whom he grants this privilege of seeing and knowing for themselves; That through the power and manifestation of the spirit, while in the flesh, they may be able to bear his presence in the world of glory” (D&C 76:114-118, emphasis added).

This is a promise of seeing and knowing about heaven both through the Spirit, and with our very eyes. The spiritual part must come first, though, so that we will know what it is we see with our eyes, and recognize it for what it is.

Will you tell me about a time when you recognized a bit of heaven in your life?

Isaiah on Praising the Lord in the Celestial Kingdom

10 Sing unto the LORD a new song,
and his praise from the end of the earth,
ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein;
the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedardoth inhabit:
let the inhabitants of the rock sing,
let them shout from the tops of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory unto the LORD,
and declare his praise in the islands.
(Isaiah 42:10-12)

I always wondered why the prophets in the scriptures were always so quick to praise the Lord. Then I started thinking about why any person deserves praise. It is because the praised person did something great, and from gratitude for that great work.

This caused me to think, “Well, if Isaiah tells me to sing praises to the Lord, what has the Lord done for me?” And I started thinking through my life and examining how the Lord helped me. My journals were a huge help for me to remember, and there were many incidents I could see in which the hand of the Lord was a big part. Taken all together as a mass, it is simply overwhelming.

Consider that in the celestial kingdom we will have a perfect remembrance of all that the Lord has done for us, and see it clearly. It will overpower us. It will awe us how kind He was to us, how carefully He led us through our trials, how watchful He was over us in danger, how ready He was to enlighten us when we asked for knowledge, how merciful He was when we repented of our sins, how He put people in our lives to bless us, in short, how He did all things for our good. It will absolutely overwhelm us with gratitude and wonder and we will be so happy about it that we will want to sing all the time and tell everyone who will listen what the Lord did for us.

But we won’t be content with just doing that.

And it shall come to pass,
that from one new moon to another,
and from one sabbath to another,
shall all flesh come to worship before me,
saith the LORD.
(Isaiah 66:23)

Everyone will want to come and thank Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for everything he did and all of us will get a turn to do it. Crowds, thousands, millions and more will come, week after week, month after month, each in their turn, to worship and personally express their gratitude to the Lord.

Complaining in 1 Nephi

Recently I read something that suggested that when similar events reoccur in the Book of Mormon, we should study those events to see what the differences are between those events. Something that happens over and over in 1 Nephi is complaining and murmuring, so I decided to study the different incidents to see what I could learn. I ended up making a chart in which I examined who did the complaining, what was complained about, and then what the solution turned out to be. I felt this was important for me to study because I recently had a few days of complaining against the Lord and I got heavenly admonishment for it, so I wanted to learn what I could do to fortify myself against situations that might cause me to complain.

Some questions I asked myself after having made this chart were the following:

Is there a pattern in the type of things that Laman & Lemuel complain about?

Do the types of things they complain about change over time?

If so, how does it change?

How are the complaints solved?

Who tends to administer the solutions to the complaints?

Who complains besides Laman & Lemuel and why?

Who doesn’t complain? Why?

Why do Laman & Lemuel change from complaint to anger? What are they angry about? Are these good reasons to be angry?

Reference & event	Who complains	Cause of Complaint	Solution
1 Nephi 2:11-13 leaving Jerusalem	Laman & Lemuel	Father Lehi is a visionary man Father led family out of Jerusalem We left precious things behind We will perish in the wilderness	Lehi speaks with power and the Spirit Lehi confounds them Their frames shake They dare not speak against him They obey
1 Nephi 3:5 getting the plates	Laman & Lemuel	We have to get the plates from Laban (hard thing)	Sam & Nephi to go with them
1 Nephi 3:28 losing family inheritance to Laban	Laman & Lemuel (beat Sam & Nephi, speak hard words)	We lost all property to Laban We have not obtained the plates (returning to Jerusalem to the same standard of living as before is now not an option)	Angel comes Angel chastises L & L Angel commands them to go get plates Nephi goes to get plates, succeeds
1 Nephi 5:2 waiting for sons to return with plates	Sariah	Husband Lehi is a visionary man I’ve been led from land of inheritance My sons have perished My family will perish	Lehi comforts her: (“I am visionary, I’ve seen things of God, I know God’s goodness, We’ve left Jerusalem so we won’t perish, We’ve obtained a land of promise, The Lord will save our sons”) Lehi’s sons return safe with the plates
1 Nephi 7:6-7 returning from getting Ishmael’s family	Laman & Lemuel, 2 daughters of Ishmael, 2 sons of Ishmael + their families	? (We want to return to Jerusalem)	Nephi chastises Laman & Lemuel 1 daughter of Ishmael + wife of Ishmael plead for Nephi Laman & Lemuel repent
1 Nephi 16:1 Nephi explaining Lehi’s dream and prophecies	Laman & Lemuel	Nephi speaks hard things we can’t bear about no unclean thing inheriting kingdom of God and being cast out as filthiness	Nephi exhorts brothers to diligence
1 Nephi 16:18-22 Nephi breaks his bow	Laman & Lemuel, sons of Ishmael, Lehi	Nephi broke his bow Our families obtain no food We’re tired We’ve suffered and affliction in the wilderness Laman & Lemuel’s bows lost their springs God (is making us do this)	Nephi makes a bow and arrow Nephi asks Lehi where to hunt for food Voice of the Lord chastens Lehi New words written on Liahona to give understanding of the Lord’s ways Families fear and tremble Nephi observes guidance comes with faith and diligence Nephi gets food
1 Nephi 16: 35-38 Ishmael’s death	Daughters of Ishmael, Laman (to Lemuel, sons of Ishmael)	D: Father Ishmael has died in the wilderness We’ve wandered much in the wilderness We’ve suffered hunger, thirst, fatigue We’ll die in the wilderness of hunger L: Nephi is acting as ruler, getting revelations (suspicious of Nephi’s motives, stirring others to ANGER)	Voice of the Lord speaks to them (which ones? All of them?) Voice of the Lord chastens them exceedingly They repent Blessed with food
1 Nephi 17:17-18, 19-22 Nephi starts to build ship	Laman & Lemuel	Nephi is trying to build a ship (foolish, no boat can cross the waters, don’t want to work, don’t think God commanded him) Our wives had to labor hard while pregnant We might have enjoyed inheritance during all this We might have been happy at Jerusalem Death would be better than what we went through Jerusalem was righteous Lehi judged Jerusalem unjustly ANGER at Nephi’s words	Nephi preaches to L & L (God has chastened them like rebellious children of Israel, the righteous are favored, Israel was ripe for destruction, L & L are murderers in their hearts, L & L past feeling, fear L & L will be cast off,God can command me and help me build ship) Nephi: “Touch me not!” God tells Nephi to shock L & L L & L repent
1 Nephi 18:9,10,17 While on the ship	Laman & Lemuel, Sons of Ishmael	Nephi speaks soberly to us about our rudeness Nephi is trying to rule over us ANGER (they tie him up) Others are pleading for Nephi	Huge 4 day storm (Liahona stops working, Lehi speaks to them,family cries, parents about to die) All about to be swallowed by mountain waves
2 Nephi 4:13 Nephi preaches after Lehi’s death	Laman & Lemuel, Sons of Ishmael	ANGER at Nephi because of admonitions of the Lord We think Nephi wants to rule over us We’ve had trial because of Nephi We don’t get to rule over the people	(Nephi prays) (Nephi takes good people and leaves)

So, the following things can lead to complaining:

• Having one’s course of life unexpectedly changed in a direction one doesn’t like
• Being unexpectedly asked/commanded to complete a large and complicated project
• Trying to do something important and then failing or having an unexpected setback
• Loss of valuable belongings
  
• Breakage of important tools
  
• Circumstances of physical hardship—hunger, thirst, fatigue, extended suffering
• Seeing loved ones suffer
• Feeling one’s own common sense suggestions are being ignored in favor of a risky course with no end in sight

I noticed that Laman and Lemuel begin to try to add greater weight to their complaints by rehearsing past complaints as well. At the same time, they forget the blessings that have come. This shows me that rehearsing all past problems along with current complaints without acknowledging past solutions is ungrateful and only makes it worse.

I also noticed a progression through these incidents:

1. Being swift to do iniquity and slow to remember the Lord causes our hearts to harden. (1 Nephi 17:45)
2. Complaining arises from a hard heart.
3. Complaining about circumstances gradually leads to complaining about the people who seem to bring these circumstances.
4. Complaining against people leads to anger against people (even righteous people)
5. There may be a reason for complaint, but when ANGER enters it, soon any kind of reason is enough to raise anger. Anger is unreasonable.

Nephi always responds to complaints and murmuring by preaching faith in the Lord, using examples from the scriptures and from shared past experiences.
Nephi cries to the Lord in difficulty.
Nephi doesn’t complain in difficulty; he focuses on being part of the solution and he keeps trying solutions.
Nephi only complains once (instance not on the chart), but that is about his own sins and the temptations that so easily beset him, and then he quickly remembers all the Lord has done for him and prays for strength. (see 2 Nephi 4:17-35)


Doctrines that help us not complain:

• The righteous don’t do anything except by (or according to) the word of God. (The righteous get their assignments from God.) (1 Nephi 17:3)
• If God has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that He can’t instruct me to__________? (1 Nephi 17:51)
• If God commanded me to do all things, I could do them. (1 Nephi 17:50)
• The Lord makes us mighty. (1 Nephi 17:32)
• The Lord goes before us, leading by day and giving light by night, doing all things for us which are expedient for us to receive. (1 Nephi 17:30)
• The Lord prepares a way for us to accomplish His commandments (1 Nephi 3:7)
• If we keep the commandments, we will be led to a better place. (1 Nephi 17:13)

Is there anything that you’ve learned that helps you not complain? Will you share with me a time when you didn’t complain when in difficulty and were blessed?

Answers to 7 common excuses for not reading the scriptures daily

Excuse #1 : The scriptures are boring.

From Gordon B. Hinckley:

I hope that for you this will become something far more enjoyable than a duty; that, rather, it will become a love affair with the word of God. I promise you that as you read, your minds will be enlightened and your spirits will be lifted. At first it may seem tedious, but that will change into a wondrous experience with thoughts and words of things divine. (“The Light Within You”, Ensign, May 1995, 99, emphasis added)

President Hinckley was not saying that you’ll have to deal with days and years of tedious reading before the scriptures begin to seem interesting. He was talking about every time you pick up the scriptures. Each time you do it, the reading may seem tedious at first, but then it will change into a wonderful experience.

Further, he’s giving us HIS PROMISE that if we just started reading, we will be enlightened and lifted. Put that promise to the test. Experiment upon his words.

I know that promise is fulfilled. I’ve seen it be fulfilled over and over and over in my life. I’ve seen it happen so often that the beginning tedium doesn’t bother me any more. I’ve also learned that if I pray for Heavenly Father to teach me something, then He will. You can read about how I got started reading the scriptures on my own and how I study the scriptures and apply them in my life. 


Excuse #2 : I don’t understand what I’m reading, so why would I want to read every day?

From President Joseph Fielding Smith:

It has always been an astonishment to me that so many members of the Church fail to prepare themselves by study and by faith to know the truth. (Answers to Gospel Questions, Vol. 5, 46-47)

Has it ever occurred to you that if we don’t understand something we are reading that it means we need to PREPARE ourselves to understand it? This is just barely becoming clear to me in my own study. To understand some things in the scriptures we need a strong foundation, so we have to get really familiar with what we do understand and then use that when examining what we don’t understand. For example, I found that remembering the events of the Exodus helped me understand some things in Isaiah that I hadn’t before.

Excuse #3 : I don’t see what the big deal is about reading the scriptures every day. I don’t think it matters.

From President Ezra Taft Benson:

Let us not treat lightly the great things we have received from the hand of the Lord! His word is one of the most valuable gifts he has given us. I urge you to recommit yourselves to a study of the scriptures. Immerse yourselves in them daily so you will have the power of the Spirit to attend you. (“The Power of the Word”, Ensign, May 1986, 81, emphasis added)

I've written elsewhere my thoughts on why we need the scriptures.

Excuse #4 : I don’t have time to read. There’s just too much to do.

From President Howard W. Hunter:

It is certain that one who studies the scriptures every day accomplishes far more than one who devotes considerable time one day and then lets days go by before continuing. (Ensign, November 1979, 64)

It is easy to think that President Hunter is only talking about how we learn more about the scriptures studying them consistently than we would if we read sporadically. But He’s also saying that when we read the scriptures every day first thing, Heavenly Father then helps us accomplish much more in the rest of the day than if we didn’t read.

One of my classmates in my seminary preservice class testified to this. He said that he always seemed to have so much homework and he found that if he read his scriptures FIRST, then he was always able to get everything else done on time. I can also second that witness because I’ve found the same thing happened in my life. When I have oodles to do, I can study my scriptures first and everything else works out. (I’ve seen classes get cancelled or due dates get moved back in unexpected ways.)

Excuse #5 : Daily reading is too “churchy” for me.

From President George Q. Cannon:

I have noticed….that where the people of God pay attention to the written word, and cherish and observe the written word, they are always better prepared to hear the oral instructions of the servants of God…they have greater interest in seeking to obtain instruction, than they have when they are careless about the written word of God. (CR 1897, October, 38)

From Elder Bruce R. McConkie:

I think that people who study the scriptures get a dimension to their life that nobody else gets and that can’t be obtained in any way except by studying the scriptures. (in David Croft, "Spare Time’s Rare to an Apostle", Church News, 24, January 1976, 4)

When we think of something as “too churchy,” fundamentally it means we have noticed that there is a major difference between the world and the things of the spirit. Discomfort with the spiritual happens when we haven’t had enough experience with those things to learn how wonderful they can be. It’s part of the natural man. (I remember this discomfort well from my earlier teenage years.) Daily scripture reading is how you overcome that discomfort with spiritual things so that you can enjoy them more. It’s something you do by yourself, so you don’t have to worry about how you look or what others are thinking about you. It’s a time when you’ll learn how it feels to be encouraged, enlightened, and edified by the Spirit so that when it happens other places, you’ll recognize it and embrace it rather than feeling like something weird is happening to you.

When we become accustomed to a daily dose of the word of God and recognize it as delicious, we will have been changed by the Spirit enough to be more interested in hearing the word of God.

Excuse #6 : Right now I’m working on improving something else related to my church activity. Improving scripture study will have to wait.

From President Ezra Taft Benson:

Often we spend great effort in trying to increase the activity levels in our stakes. We work diligently to raise the percentages of those attending sacrament meetings. We labor to get a higher percentage to our young men on missions. We strive to improve the numbers of those marrying in the temple.

All of these are commendable efforts and important to the growth of the kingdom. But when individual members and families immerse themselves in the scriptures regularly and consistently, these other areas of activity will automatically come. Testimonies will increase. Commitment will be strengthened. Families will be fortified. Personal revelation will flow. (“The Power of the Word”, Ensign, May 1986, 81, emphasis added)

The scriptures are a conduit to personal revelation by which the Spirit will teach us everything we need to do. By incorporating daily personal scripture study, we will learn for ourselves and become agents anxiously engaged in good causes and bring to pass more righteousness than if we waited to be told by our leaders what to do.

Excuse #7 : I can find answers to my questions better by searching the internet.

From President Joseph Fielding Smith:

I think many members of the Church will be condemned for their failure to search for knowledge which is given in clearness in our Standard Works. (Answers to Gospel Questions, Vol. 5, 46-47)

From Elder Kevin R. Duncan of the seventy:

This world is full of so many self-help books, so many self-proclaimed experts, so many theorists, educators, and philosophers who have advice and counsel to give on any and all subjects. With technology today, information on a myriad of subjects is available with the click of a keystroke. It is easy to get caught in the trap of looking to the “arm of flesh” for advice on everything from how to raise children to how to find happiness. While some information has merit, as members of the Church we have access to the source of pure truth, even God Himself. We would do well to search out answers to our problems and questions by investigating what the Lord has revealed through His prophets. (“Our Very Survival”, General Conference, October 2010)

I had a question that I pondered over from time to time as a teenager. I had noticed that I tended to have a little pride cycle going on in my life and I wanted to know what I could do to avoid the negative end of it. One day I happened to find the answer in a phrase in the scriptures—“weary not of well doing.” I realized that I always started on the downward end of my pride cycle when I got tired of doing good and decided to coast for a while. So I decided to try to rejoice in doing good instead.

If you have to have the convenience of internet speed in your searching, at least try searching the scriptures on lds.org. Both the topical guide and the little search box are extremely handy and fast. (The little search box can help you find things that aren’t in the Topical Guide. ☺)

The scriptures can help us with our modern problems; we just have to get creative with our search terms. Let’s say you’re having issues in your family with cell phone usage. If you want to find the doctrine of cell phones explicitly stated in the scriptures, you’re not going to find anything. But if you search with such terms as “communicate,” “distract,” “idle,” “vain,” “vanity,” and “talk,” you’ll find some principles that are applicable to establishing fundamental standards of cell phone usage. (I tried it myself using the search box in lds.org's scriptures and I was able to accumulate at least a page worth of helpful scriptures in a document file.)

To sum up…we will be blessed if we develop a daily habit of scripture study.



To those of you who have a daily scripture reading habit, how have you overcome your obstacles to daily scripture study?

Fresh Lessons from Nephi Getting the Brass Plates

I’ve read the story of how Nephi got the brass plates so many times that I didn’t feel like there was anything more I could get from it. I’m sure you know that feeling. I’m now learning that when I feel that way as I start reading a scripture story, I must pray and ask for the Lord to teach me. I’m finding that He answers those prayers.

One of the main features of this story that cannot be avoided is that Nephi kills Laban. Today I asked myself, Just what can I learn from this? It was a tough question, and it needed to be asked. And the answer needed to be something good because we all know better than to interpret it as a message to kill people that get in our way when we’re trying to keep the commandments. It had to be something I could really apply in my life. I finally realized that it is a great message about the necessity of killing our own natural man or woman.

For the natural man [and woman] is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (Mosiah 3:19)

Laban is a prime example of what the natural man or woman is like; instead of submitting, he resists. Further, the crimes that Laban committed against Nephi and his brothers are exactly the same as the crimes that our natural man commits against our spiritual man. “I also knew that he had sought to take away mine own life; yea, and he would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord; and he also had taken away our property” (1 Nephi 4:11). The natural man tries to kill the spiritual man. He doesn’t listen or obey the commandments of God. And he tries to usurp the privileges, riches, and inheritance of the spiritual man for his own nefarious use. No compromise is possible in our war with our natural man. Our natural man must die. Laban is the natural man in all of us.

In this story, we can see Nephi as the spiritual man in all of us. Nephi’s focus was on obtaining the brass plates (the word of God) and keeping God’s commandments, and our spiritual man has that same desire to be good. (How different Nephi’s focus is from Laban’s focus on and lust after the things of the flesh!) Just like Nephi is the one who kills Laban, the spiritual man in us must kill the natural man in us.

The way that Laban was killed is very much like the process of killing our natural man. Just like Laban was beheaded, killing our natural man involves cutting off our evil thoughts. Laban was killed with a sword. The sword has been used in the scriptures as a metaphor for the Spirit and the word of God. “And take…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Helaman 4:12). When our spiritual man wields the word of God and the Spirit and submits to it, the natural man begins to be beheaded.

Image from What to Mormons Believe?, "thou shalt not kill?", http://www.whatdomormonsbelieve.com/2008/07/shalt-thou-kill/