Blue Cross, Blue Shield (2 Nephi 9, part 2 of 3)

The Crosses of the World

Continuing in 2 Nephi 9, there's this verse that says that the righteous, or the saints of the Holy One of Israel, will inherit the Kingdom of God, and that they will have joy forever.  Sounds good.  The verse also goes so far as to define who the "righteous" are.

2 Nephi 9: 18

18.  But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever.

So, the righteous, or saints of Christ, are they that do the following:

• Endure the crosses of the world
• Despise the shame of the world

So, the question is begged... 

What are the crosses of the world?  

What did the cross represent to Jesus?  Help me think of some...

• Duty
• Calling
• Obligation
• Sacrifice
• Pain
• Purpose
• Death
• Will of His Father
• Love
• Difficult
• Offering
• Your additions here

 And if we translate that to ourselves...

• My duties
• My callings
• My obligations
• My sacrifices
• My pain
• My purpose
• My death
• The will of my Father
• My love
• My difficulty
• My offering
• My accepting
• My your additions here

Lehi's Dream -by Minerva Teichert. Don't you love her?

 And...                                What is the shame of the world?

Are you ready for this one?  I'm going to Isaiah for an insight into "shame"...

3 Nephi 22: 4 (see Isaiah 54: 4)

4.  Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame; for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.

Isaiah is speaking to the house of Israel, how it will be they who crucify Him.  And he tells them that, when the time comes for the gathering of Israel, they will forget the shame of the past, and not remember the reproach of their early days.  The widowhood is referring to when the bride (Israel) puts her groom (Christ) to death and becomes a widow.

So, the shame of the world is the putting to death of their own Savior.  And we are to despise this shame, or not join in with the worldly men and women that did this to Him.  It may be silliness in me to suppose that we, or I, would be one of the ones who yelled out, "Crucify Him!!" if we would have been there, but in a way, each time we willfully commit an act of disobedience to God's commandments, if we have the knowledge to be held accountable, that's kind of what we're doing. 

And here's ya another few verses, but not very happy ones.  Just remember, I HIGHLY doubt this applies to you, but there is a principle there...

D&C 76: 35, 37-42

35.  Having denied the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father, having crucified Him unto themselves and put him to an open shame.

37.  And the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power;

38.  Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of The Lord, after the sufferings of His wrath.

Fenway Park, Boston Redsox

The Green Monster

I think I've told you before, I try to color code my scriptures as much as possible.  When it works, what you'll find in my BOM is that GREEN verses are bad.  GREEN usually means Wrath of God, Eternal Punishment stuff.  You don't want to be GREEN.  There are lots of GREEN verses in 2nd Nephi 9.

This is sort of mixed GREEN and RED...
2 Nephi 9: 14
14.  Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness.

16.  And assuredly, as The Lord liveth, for The Lord God hath spoken it, and it is His eternal word, which cannot pass away, that they who are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be filthy still; wherefore, they who are filthy are the devil and his angels; and they shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them; and their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever and has no end.

The RED stuff:

"The righteous will have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment."  I like that a lot.
"They who are righteous shall be righteous still."  I like that a lot too.  If you've forgotten what you need to do to be righteous, go over the above list again.  And, this list doesn't say you can't have committed sin.  Repentance is the key.  A real attitude of repentance.

The GREEN stuff:

"We shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, ..our uncleanness, and our nakedness." 

• Guilt:  A feeling of sorrow resulting from disobeying or displeasing our Heavenly Father.  Remedy?  Repent.
• 
  
• Uncleanness or filthiness:  Sins make us unclean, and "no unclean thing can enter into the presence of God."  Remedy?  Repent, and the Atonement will clean us up, but good.
• 
  
• Nakedness:  When Adam and Eve partook of that which they were forbidden to partake, in disobeying The Father's commandments, they discovered their nakedness.  What does disobedience have to do with all of the sudden realizing you don't have any clothes on?  Well, this is another way of saying that Adam and Eve saw that they were no longer innocent before The Lord.  How do you fix this one?  Well, we learn in Genesis and in the book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price that, when Adam and Eve repented and promised to do good stuff, The Lord made coats of skins for Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness.  Since this is symbolic, what does it symbolize?  I'm glad you asked.

In order to make a "coat of skins" for Adam and Eve, one of God's innocent creations had to give its life to cover their nakedness.  The symbolism is:  Christ, who was innocent above all, sacrificed himself to cover their (our) disobedience, and make them (us) once again innocent & clean.  How do we access this miracle?  Repent, and promise to do better.

The Blue Stuff:

The Best Color is BLUE

Blue is the color I chose for the Atonement, cuz blue's my favorite... 

2 Nephi 9: 20-21

20.  O how great the holiness of our God!  For He knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it.

21.  And He cometh into the world that He may save all men if they will hearken unto His voice; for behold, He suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.

 Perfect Faith in Christ

I'm not sure if it is possible to gain Perfect Faith in this life, at least for me.  So, what's up with this next verse?

2 Nephi 9: 23

23.  And He commandeth all men that they must repent, and be baptized in His name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God.

Here's my take, for what it's worth...

Do what you may, try as you might, say what you want, work as hard as a rhino in Springtime, or flap your arms as hard as you can; ain't gonna do you no good without the saving Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We must rely on him completely, and know that we are NOTHING without HIM.  If we do, like the parachute above, He will open His arms and bring us home safe.  Without Him, nothing we could do would ever be enough to keep our guts from splattering all over the ground.  Robert Millet said it greatly when he wrote:

"Pray as if everything depended on The Lord, and work as if everything depended on The Lord."

I'll have to finish this stuff in part 3.  Too many steaks in this chapter.

Peace be with you...