Sin can cause heartburn (2 Nephi 16)

In 2 Nephi 16 (compare Isaiah 6) Isaiah records a vision he had of the throne of God.  As far as the Isaiah chapters go, this is one of my personal favorites.  This is mostly because it's a cool, visual story, with angels and hot coals and stuff.  According to verse 1 where it says that this happened the same year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw this vision around the year 740 B.C.

What I really like about this chapter is its depiction of repentance and forgiveness.  If you'd like to read it for yourself, it ain't very long.  I'll probably only quote a couple 9 verses of it here. 

I identify with Isaiah's feeling of unworthiness, and his declaration that he is not clean enough to be in The Lord's presence.  I'm pretty sure I've done far more dumb stuff than Isaiah ever did.  He probably did his Home Teaching every month.

So, here we go...

2 Nephi 16: 1-7

1.  In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also The Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

2.  Above it stood the seraphim; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

3.  And one cried unto another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, is The Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.

4.  And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

5.  Then said I: Wo is unto me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips; and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen The King, The Lord of Hosts.

6.  Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar;

7.  And he laid it upon my mouth, and said: Lo, this has touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

8.  Also I heard the voice of The Lord, saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said: Here am I; send me.

9.  And He said: Go and tell this people -Hear ye indeed, but they understood not; and see ye indeed, but they perceived not.

Hey, wanna get dazzled?  See the Japanese writing above where it says Golden Curry?  That's a phonetic alphabet used for foreign words called katakana, and it says go-ru-da-n ka-re.  Sound it out and you'll understand it.

Now, I don't much care for spicy foods.  I don't dig the unquenchable fire in my mouth, nor the heartburn soon after.  But I can't imagine eating a hot coal...

This being more metaphorical than literal, I'll try to get back on the subject...

So, here we have God calling for a messenger to teach Israel that they're not getting it.  Isaiah has the desire, but doesn't feel worthy.  He declares to The Lord that he has unclean lips.  The Lord's angel takes a hot coal off of the altar with tongs and places it on Isaiah's lips to purge his sin and make him clean.  Let's talk about some general steps of repentance...

Repentance:  Acknowledge your mistake, and that it was a sin.

Repentance:  Feel sorrow for your sin.

Repentance:  Be humble, sincere and contrite.

Repentance:  Ask for forgiveness

Repentance:  Make the changes necessary.

"A live coal, which he had taken with tongs from off the altar."

 

I need to go back and interject something here, even though I sent this post to the presses days ago.  I forgot to mention something about the altar in Isaiah's vision.  In The Church's temples there are altars.  These altars signify the covenants that we make in the temple.  A covenant is a binding promise between ourselves and our Heavenly Father.  An example of one such covenant is obedience.  We promise to be obedient to The Lord's commandments.  A covenant is a two-way promise.  For His part, The Lord promises us blessings in return for our obedience.  We may fail to keep our part of the covenant, but He will never, no never, no never forsake His end of the deal.  Part of repentance is turning away from whatever sin it is, and making a covenant to not repeat that sin.  Many's the time that I have had to repeat that same repentance process over the same dumb thing, over and over.  One of the greatest, most wonderfullest things about our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, is that their capacity for love and forgiveness has no end.  The apostle Paul experienced this first hand when he had to repent of some very serious sins.  He was forgiven.  Then Paul says to the Ephesians:

Ephesians 3: 14-19

14.  For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15.  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.

16.  That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.

17.  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

18.  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

19.  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Repentance:  Have faith in Jesus Christ.

Even to Paul, the love of Christ "passeth knowledge", or is beyond his ability to comprehend.  Keep that in mind if you keep making the same mistakes over and over, like I have, and try not to beat yourself up too bad.  Just keep swimming.

Repentance:  If you make another mistake...

At least, that's the lesson I get out of this chapter.  There is another mention, of course, of the scattering of Israel and how a "remnant shall return".  My guess is, we'll hear that a few more times before 2 Ne 25.

One more thing...

Angels are nearly always depicted in art and literature as having wings.  Chapters like this are the reason for that, I suppose.  The Church teaches things differently.  Angels are either spirits who are living in God's presence waiting their turn to be born, or spirits who have already gone through mortality and have returned to His presence, or resurrected beings who have already gone through mortality.  Having said written that, I think it's fine if people choose to envision winged messengers as angels.  I love this picture, which I'll end with.

The scriptures tell us that we can come and buy milk and honey without price, but the forgiveness that comes from true repentance cost our Savior dearly.  I love that an angel was sent to comfort Jesus in Gethsemane in answer to His prayer.  I think that Carl Bloch failed to realize that even this angel depended on The Savior for his salvation.

Peace be with you...

The Grapes of Wrath (2 Nephi 15)

My project of blogging the entire BOM is going pretty slow.  These Isaiah chapters are very difficult for me.  Add a busy summer to that, and, violin, I'm only up to 2 Nephi 15 after almost 11 months of effort.  To the countless millions who read these fascinating and vitally important blog posts I apologize for my feet dragging.

So, here's 2 Nephi 15, which corresponds to Isaiah 5...

1.  And then will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved, touching his vineyard.  My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill.

2.  And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a wine-press therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

3.  And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.

4.  What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it?  Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes it brought forth wild grapes.

What the heck's Isaiah talking about; what does all this mean?  Well, I'll interpret for you, and then I'll share with you the trick to my brilliance so that you, too, can amaze your friends...

The vineyard is The House of Israel. 

The grapes are the men of Judah.

And now here's the secret of my success:

2 Nephi 15: 7

7.  For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant; and he looked for judgment, and behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

Ok, so sometimes it helps to read ahead.  Anywayz, The Lord did what He could for the house of Israel, but they went wild anywayz.  I really love verse 4:

4.  What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it?

Because The Lord's efforts for His people yielded no repentance from them, they were scattered.  This may bring to your mind an image of an angry Father kicking his kids out of the house.  I don't see it that way.  I see it more like The Prodigal Son parable from the New Testament.  It was the son's choice to leave, and the circumstances (starvation) that brought him back to his father's house were the natural consequences of bad decisions.

2 Nephi 15: 12-13

12.  ...but they regard not the work of The Lord, neither consider the operation of His hands.

13.  Therefore, my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

This time I'll do it without a net.  

"They have no knowledge" means no revelation from God, "their honorable men are famished" means their spiritual leaders are not worthy to receive the revelation and inspiration to lead them, and "their multitude dried up with thirst" means that the people are not receiving the life-giving nourishment of the living waters of Jesus Christ.  Well, that's my thought on it anywayz.

The rest of this chapter continues on with prophecies of the scattering of the house of Israel, a much repeated and important topic with Isaiah.  2 more verses and then my closing arguments...

2 Nephi 15: 24

24.  Therefore, as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, their root shall be rottenness, and their blossoms shall go up as dust; because they have cast away the law of The Lord of Hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

So there you have the real sin:  Casting away the Law of Moses (commandments), and despising the word of God.  The danger in this is not only the consequences to ourselves (spiritual starvation), but also the danger to our posterity.  The "root" is that from whence we came, and the "blossoms" are our own children and descendants. Did I just use whence and are our in the same sentence?  Cool.

But there's good news, the best news

Prodigal Son Returns, -Rembrandt

Part of the following verse is repeated several times in these Isaiah chapters, and is one of my faves...

2 Nephi 15: 25

25.  ...For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.

Talking about The Lord's anger sounds a little strange to us.  "God is love", right?  I think the word anger in this context means justice, or the fact that disobedience brings consequences.  So, in other words...

No matter what sins we may be guilty of committing, Jesus Christ always stands, with pierced hands open, ready to welcome us home.

Peace be with you.

The Provo Pillar of Fire (2 Nephi 14)

I do not own these books.  Maybe if I did I might be able to explain some of these chapters better.  I read some of this Isaiah stuff and, like many of you, just say, "What?"  I might just as well be 5 years old.

This is my pre-school (Head Start) class picture.  I was 5 years old.  This was 40 years ago.  40 years ago?!

So anywayz, in this long and lengthy 6-verse chapter of 2 Nephi 14, I'm just going to talk about the last 2 verses.  You can talk amongst yourselves and figure out who the 7 women and 1 man are, and what the reproach is that the women want taken away in the 1st verse.

 1.  And in that day, seven women shall take hold of one man, saying: We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach.

Now, I can sit here and think...

We must take upon ourselves the Name of Jesus Christ, so the one man must be Christ, and the women need to take upon themselves His name in order to take away their reproach.  Reproach probably means guilt in this context.  That makes sense.  Why are there 7 women?  Well, Isaiah used the number 7 to symbolize.... uh...  I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Let's talk about The Temple instead :)

This is the Provo Temple.  I took this picture while I was in the Missionary Training Center, preparing to serve a mission for The Church.  Back then the spire was this orange-ish color.  Nowadays the steeple thing is white, and the angel Moroni is standing atop, sounding his trump.  I prefer the orange-ish spire, and I'll tell you why.

When I was that 5-year old pictured above, my family went to the open house of the new Provo Temple.  That is, all of my family except me.  I had the chicken pox.  My parents dressed me in my favorite outfit, my Casper the Friendly Ghost costume, and dropped me off at my Aunt and Uncle's house.  Everyone else got to go see the temple but me.

 Wait for meeee!!!!

From that time forward it was my goal to go inside the Provo Temple.  Spanish Fork is 7 miles south of Provo, but Utah Valley is shaped like a... like a valley, and the Provo Temple was visible to me from nearly everywhere in my growing up world.  That white, shining building with its bright, orange steeple thingy on top was like a magnet to me.

Can you see it? 

From age 5 to age 20 I had a goal to get inside the Provo Temple.  We used to take rides in the car around the Provo Temple when I was a young feller.  Later, when preparing to go on a mission by working the graveyard shift at Signetics in Orem, UT, I used to park next to the temple during my lunch break at 3am.  I had some very edifying experiences there.  Sometimes I would swing through the parking lot and look inside the doors.  When I took my lunch late, I would often see people in white in the front lobby.  Many of the opposition's "don't go on a mission" attacks on me were confounded in the parking lot of the Provo Temple in the middle of the night, looking at that big white building with the big orange carrot on top.

So, what's my point?  What does this have to do with 2 Nephi 14?

2 Nephi 14: 5-6

5.  And The Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all the glory of Zion shall be a defence.

6.  And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and covert from the storm and from rain.

Ya see kids, the Provo Temple was designed to represent the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, which guided the children of Israel through the wilderness to the promised land.  It served the same purpose for me.  And when I was finally able to enter therein on December 20, 1986 at 10am, it and all LDS Temples really became for me a place of refuge, and a defense from storm and rain, and a shadow during the heat of the day.

Peace be with you...

The plague of pride (2 Nephi 13)

Remember after he received the 10 Commandments from The Lord how Charlton Heston Moses walked down off Mt. Horeb to find the children of Israel in open rebellion against God, and worshiping a golden calf? 

Charlton Heston Moses was pretty ticked off.  I was a little bewildered myself.  I mean, these people saw some stuff, right?

Not to mention the 10 plagues in Egypt...

So, why did the children of Israel rebel so often, and get lost in sin?  Seems pretty dumb of those folks...

Oh shoot!!!  I do the same thing!!!  Man, I hate it when I do that!!! 

WHY??? 

I'm brushin' up on lookin' down, I'm workin' on my roar.

Pride!!!

2 Nephi 13: 8-11

8.  For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen, because their tongues and their doings have been against The Lord, to provoke the eyes of His glory.

9.  The show of their countenance doth witness against them, and doth declare their sin to be even as Sodom, and they cannot hide it.  Wo unto their souls, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves!

10.  Say unto the righteous that it is well with them; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

11.  Wo unto the wicked, for they shall perish; for the reward of their hands shall be upon them.

 

We will all receive the consequences of our own sin.  That is, unless someone else takes upon Himself those consequences.  When we repent, Christ pleads our case in love, and provides the mercy that saves us.  If we don't, Christ judges our case in love, but must abide by the justice that is necessary. 

2 Nephi 13: 13

13.  The Lord standeth up to plead and standeth to judge the people.

Photo by Steve Bloom

Did you hear about the cannibal lion who finally humbled himself?  He swallowed his pride. 

The last part of 2 Nephi 13 is about the inevitable fall that follows pride.  It talks about women who wear too much jewelry, and make a tinkling sound as they go.  I always thought these verses were pretty funny.

24.  And it shall come to pass, instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle, a rent; and instead of well set hair, baldness; and instead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth; burning instead of beauty.

Let's all be humble instead of bald, long-necked, stinky girls.  Isaiah is just giving a warning to Israel about pride, which is apparently what leads people toward wrong choices. 

Remember, the greatest example of humility was He who had the best reason not to be...

Next time we'll talk about the Provo Temple...

Peace be with you.

Mountain of the Lord (2 Nephi 12)

My friend Frank Bojdo visiting the Salt Lake LDS Temple from North Carolina last Summer.

Lots of people visit the SLC Temple and Temple Square every year.  I got this following info from  Wikipedia.

Tourism

Attracting 3 million to 5 million visitors a year, Temple Square is the most popular tourist attraction in Utah, bringing in more visitors than the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone National Park. By comparison, Utah's five National Parks —Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches— had a combined total of 5.3 million visitors in 2005.^[5]

Pop Quiz:  Why do they come?

A.  'Cause they wanna.

B.  'Cause it's pretty.

C.  'Cause they're architecturally interested.

D.  'Cause there's nothing else to do in Utah.

E.  Religious reasons

F.  Led here by the Spirit of The Lord

G.  Other stuff.

Answer?  Yup.

What did Isaiah have to say about it?

2 Nephi 12: 1-3

1.  The word that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2.  And it shall come to pass in the last days, when the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.

3.  And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of The Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of The Lord from Jerusalem.

Screenshot from link below

I learned as a youth, and saw in the video Mountain of The Lord, that the word Utah means "tops of the mountains".  I thought that was pretty cool.  Trouble is, it doesn't...

It isn't really known when this myth started, but I don't believe it was meant to mislead.  Myths are often just taken as truth, and were difficult to check on in the days before the internet.  The word Utah comes from the word Ute, an American Indian tribe located in the Colorado, Utah and Arizona area.  Ute came from the Spanish word Yuta, which I guess means "meat eaters".  The Ute's name for themselves was noochee, which, as is so often the case, means The People.  Are you disappointed?

So, I guess Isaiah didn't know what he was talking about.  

Oh, I wouldn't say that...

2.  And it shall come to pass in the last days, when the mountain of The Lord's house shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.

I'd say that description fits. 

Anyways,

2 Nephi 12: 5-6

5.  O house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of The Lord; yea, come, for ye have all gone astray, every one to his wicked ways.

The scattering of Israel is always a big topic with Isaiah.

6.  Therefore, O Lord, thou has forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and hearken unto soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.

"They be replenished from the east":  Had babies with gentiles.  "Please themselves in the children of strangers":  Had babies with gentiles.

The promise is that the day of The Lord will come to everyone, everywhere, and all of these issues will be righted.

This is a painting of Jonah getting chucked off of the ship that is headed to Tarshish, right before the whale eats him.  Too bad he didn't speak whale.

Anyways,

I'll close this boring post with this Tarshish thing.  Most of the rest of chapter 12 talks about how the day of The Lord will happen everywhere.  I've just always thought this next verse was interesting.

2 Nephi 12: 16

16.  And upon all the ships of the sea, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.

Taken alone, it ain't really that interesting, but if you look at the footnote, it's kinda cool.  Apparently the original Greek has this verse as:

16.  And upon all the ships of the sea, and upon all pleasant pictures.

The original Hebrew has this verse as:

16.  And upon all the ships of tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.

This verse as quoted in the Book of Mormon, which was taken from the Brass Plates that Nephi took from Laben back in 1 Nephi 4, contained both phrases.  Don't you think that's interesting.  No?  Well, I do.  Either Joseph Smith really did some good research, or he was a true prophet of God.  Joseph Smith had only 3 years of formal education.  I believe he could not have written the BOM on his own, without the gift and power of God, but that is not why I believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet.  I believe Joseph Smith was a prophet because I asked Heavenly Father whether he was or not, and whether the Book of Mormon is true or not, and The Lord told me that he was and it is through the Holy Ghost in answer to that prayer. 

Anyways, see you next time when Isaiah talks about bald and stinky women.

Peace be with you...

I Witness of Christ (2 Nephi 11)

Eye-witness testimonies always weigh heavily in courts of law.  The believability of a witness is key to one side or the other of the debate.  And, the more witnesses one particular side has, the more groovy for them.

When the debate is over which religion is true, or whether there is even a God or not, opinions and beliefs can really heat up, even become violent (a weird paradox to me).

Jesus Christ carries our burdens to Golgotha, -by Angela Johnson

My personal belief is centered in Christianity as a member of and a believer in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon.  Now, when I say I respect others, their religion or lack thereof (as long as it is based in good principles), I am telling the truth, but my belief in my own beliefs precludes any belief in other beliefs which are contrary to mine.  But, why are my beliefs my beliefs, and how did I arrive at them?

I wanted to talk about witnesses of truth in the Book of Mormon, specifically, witnesses of Jesus Christ.

Christ in Gethsemane, -by Angela Johnson

I'm in 2 Nephi chapter 11.  It's a short chapter (yippee!!!), just 8 verses.  We have several witnesses of Christ in this little chapter.

Verse 2, Isaiah and Nephi:

2.  And now I, Nephi, write more of the words of Isaiah, for my soul delighteth in His words.  For I will liken His words unto my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children, for he verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen Him.

Verse 3, Jacob:

3.  And my brother, Jacob, also has seen Him as I have seen him; wherefore, I will send their words forth unto my children to prove unto them that my words are true.  Wherefore, by the words of three, God hath said, I will establish my word.  Nevertheless, God sendeth more witnesses, and He proveth all His words.

Verse 4, Moses:

4.  Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of Him.

These men of long ago gave accounts of seeing and hearing The Savior, and bore their sacred witnesses that they were speaking the truth.  I never met Nephi, Jacob, Isaiah or Moses, so why should I believe them? Why do I believe the Book of Mormon and The Bible to be the word of God?

In an earthly court of law where one witness says so and so did it, and another says he didn't do it, we may not know who to believe.  In the debate about whether God is real and Jesus is The Christ, there is a way to know the truth.

It's the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit.  A dove is a symbol of peace, and is often used to represent the Holy Ghost, because of the New Testament accounts of Jesus' baptism....

Matthew 3: 16-17

16.  And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw The Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

17.  And lo a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Anudder from The Bible:

John 14:26

26.  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

And...

John 15:26

26.  But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

Christ walks on water, by Angela Johnson

So, when Nephi says this...

2 Nephi 11: 6

6.  And my soul delighteth in proving unto my people that save Christ should come all men must perish.

7.  For if there be no Christ there be no God; and if there be no God we are not, for there could have been no creation.  But there is a God, and He is Christ, and He cometh in the fulness of His own time.

... I don't believe Nephi thinks the argument he presented in verse 7 is so strong that the debate is over and done with, I think he is bearing his strong testimony about The Savior, and expects the Holy Ghost to teach us what The Lord would have us know.


A sculpture of the visitation of The Father and The Son to Joseph Smith in 1820, -by Angela Johnson

It is how I feel, in my chest, in my lungs, in my toes, in my mind, when I read the Book of Mormon and The Bible, when I hear the speakers at The Church's semi-annual General Conference, and they testify that God lives, Jesus is His Christ, and that They together visited a young Joseph Smith and restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ again to the earth, that gives me my belief.  When I looked at these sculptures yesterday at a Thanksgiving Point garden exhibit, I felt peace, love, joy, purpose, meaning, sense, strength, burning in my chest.  Angela Johnson's sensitive artistry really touched me.  That and many other experiences are why I believe in the existence of God the Father, in His Son, Jesus Christ, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. The Holy Ghost has told me that it is true, and I believe deeply.

Someone Hath Touched Me, -by Angela Johnson

 Amen.





Stay tuned for Isaiah.  And remember Nephi's purpose in putting Isaiah in the BOM:  to prove to us that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World.

Peace be with you...