Jacob's Errand from The Lord (Jacob 1)

Jesus Christ ordaining his apostles

The book of Jacob in the BOM is only 7 chapters.  That's great  news, since I started 2nd Nephi back in March of 2012.  Sticking to my current APR, Jacob should just take 1 or 2 years.  So, without further adieu (until Jacob 7: 27), in the words of my 2-year old grandson, Gordon, "K, do it!"

The "Them" in verse 17 is the people of Nephi, or Nephites.  After Nephi died, the people loved him so much that they wanted to keep his name going.  So, anyone who followed Nephi as King and Prophet were called "Nephites", even though they were actually Jacobites, Josephites, Samites, Ishmaelites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, Zoramites, etc.  And, yes, I think some of the kids of Laman, Lemuel and Ishmael followed Nephi when he departed the land of Lehi and went to the land of Nephi.  Mostly, though, the descendants of Laman, Lemuel and Ishmael chose to not follow The Lord nor His prophet.  These guys were collectively called "Lamanites".  For the most part throughout the BOM, the Lamanites were the "Bad Guys", even though they were at times very good, and the Nephites were the "Good Guys", even though they were at times very bad.  Simple, huh?

Anywayz... The Nephites were getting a little wild, so Jacob went to the temple to preach to them.  Jacob didn't take this duty on himself willy-nilly.  He first received his "errand from The Lord".  I like the way he put that, but what does it mean?  Jacob said that he and his brother Joseph were consecrated priests and teachers by the hand of Nephi.

Jacob received his Priesthood Office by the laying on of hands from Nephi, who was the Prophet and presiding High Priest over the people.  Nephi received this Office the same way from his dad, Lehi, who received it the same way from... well, someone, and so on. 

This is Moses ordaining his brother Aaron to the High Priesthood

So, what does Jacob tell the Nephites?  What did Nephi tell them?  What did Lehi tell them?  It's been the same since clear back to Adam's day...  

 Come unto Christ and partake of the goodness of God.

Jacob 1: 7-8

3 Notes from these verses:

• God's wrath ("...lest by any means He should swear in His wrath that they should not enter in..."):  If I read the word wrath outside of the context of Our Heavenly Father I would take the meaning to be anger.  In this case, however, I do not interpret it that way.  I would probably substitute the word chasten for wrath, and the meaning to be more along the lines of a strong reminder for us to clean up our acts in order to be the most happiest we can be, because us being the most happiest we can be is what Heavenly Father wants for us. He is our Father, after all.

• The "provocation in the days of temptation" refers to the children of Israel not being allowed to enter into the promised land, but instead had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.  

• View His death, suffer His cross and bear the shame of the world:  This is some deep stuff and deserves some deeper thinking.  I don't want to give my opinion of the meanings here, but encourage you to ponder about it.  One thing that comes to my mind, though, about "bearing the shame of the world"... I'm reminded of Lehi's dream back in 1st Nephi 8 where certain people followed the right path to the tree of life (the love of God), but then noticed there were people in the great and spacious building (the world) pointing their fingers and laughing at them. Unfortunately, their reaction was to cast their eyes down in shame and wander off into darkness.  That part always makes me sad.

So, let's recap the BOM story so far...

• About 600 B.C. Lehi had a vision of the impending destruction of the Jews in Jerusalem, and took his & Ishmael's families and a guy named Zoram, who was a servant of his cousin Laban, & fled the scene in secret.

• They first went southwest to the Red Sea, then southeast along the Red Sea for a ways, then due east to what they called "Bountiful".  

• After traveling in the wilderness and living there in Bountiful for a period of 8 years, Nephi, with his brothers' willing help, built a nice boat and sailed across the Indian and Pacific Oceans for near a year, landing in their promised land,  the Americas.  

• Lehi and Ishmael settled their families in what they called "The Land of Lehi", it being a tradition to name a place after the leader of the settlement.  Whether The Land of Lehi was located in Mexico, California, Peru or Timbuktu (unlikely) is not important to me or my ramblings.

• Lehi got old & was going to kick the bucket, so he got all of his kids & grandkids (including Zoram's family) around him & gave them all Priesthood blessings, asking The Lord to watch over them and all of their descendants. 

• Lehi died.  And, not long after that, Laman, Lemuel & Ishmael's kids got more and more wild, throwing loud parties, blasting rap music in the middle of the night, etc.  So, The Lord told Nephi to get out.  

• Nephi, Sam, Jacob, Joseph, Zoram, an unknown number of Nephi's sisters and an unknown number of his bad brothers' kids fled the scene.  These guys are the Nephites, and they moved north to a little place they like to call.... The Land of Nephi.  

• Laman & those other guys stayed in The Land of Lehi, & became the Lamanites.  The Lamanites not only failed to teach their kids anything about God, but brainwashed them into believing that the Nephites were a horrible bunch of no accounts who needed to be wiped out because of the many wrongs they committed against them.  The bad decisions of Laman, Lemuel & Ishmael's kids plunged their descendants into darkness for generations.

• Sorry about that...Anywayz..., 55 years after Lehi left Jerusalem, Nephi got old & died.  Before he died Nephi designated some dude to take over as king of the Nephites, and ordained Jacob and Joseph to be the spiritual leaders of his people. 

Which brings us to the end of Jacob chapter 1.  Only 6 more to go.  Excited?  Wait till we get to chapter 5. 

Peace be with you...

The Wizard or The Word: Option B (2 Nephi 18)

A fool such as I could never pretend that I understand the book of Isaiah.  Some stuff is clearer than others, but it's them others that present an insurmountable obstacle (emphasis on 'stack') to me in my goal of writing a blog post about every chapter in the BOM.  I could buy me some books, or research some online helps for Isaiah, and pass on my findings to you, but that's not been my method.  These is my thoughts and reflections.

I'm on 2 Nephi 18 (see Isaiah 8) today.  In reading through this chapter, I find that I could tell you everything I get out of it in about 1 short, boring paragraph.  I have 2 verses highlighted, verse 2 and 3, and one phrase in the preamble highlighted: "peeping wizards".

The Richmond district in Beattyville, KY (circa 1987). That's me out front.

Although I have bought a couple or 3 new B's OM since my missionary days, I always highlight "peeping wizards" because of memories from goofing around and laughing during what should have been serious BOM study time with my companions.

Anyways, let's write a couple things...

2 Nephi 18: 2-3

2.  And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.

3.  And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived and bare a son.  Then said the Lord to me: Call his name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

These verses are kinda weird.  Does this mean that Isaiah took witnesses with him when he went to "see" the prophetess?  And who's the prophetess?  Is that his wife?  Like I says, I ain't no professor of ancient scripture, so I don't know.  My guess is, the prophetess is his wife, and the 2 witnesses came to witness the naming of the child.  I don't know much, but I know I love you..., er, I believe that it's a Jewish thing to have witnesses present at the circumcision and naming of a child. Anywayz, that's my opinion.

"Maher-shalal-hash-baz" means: Destruction is imminent.  Either Isaiah suffers from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (I've heard that the acronym is not the commonly known OCD, but rather CDO, so that the letters can be in alphabetical order, as they should be) or the Scattering and Gathering of Israel is an important subject.  I'm gonna go with option B. 


2 Nephi 18: 18

18.  Behold, I and the children whom The Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from The Lord of Hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion.

"I'd like you to meet my sons.  This is Destruction is Imminent, and this is A Remnant Shall Return."
I wonder if it used to frighten Destruction is Imminent when he was a child, until he learned that this was a prophecy for the house of Israel, and not a warning for when his Dad got home from work.

Need Answers?

If you need a message from heaven to give you knowledge or comfort or whatever, there are lots of suggestions in the world.  You can, Option A: Read the stars, the tea leaves, your palm, tarot cards, your horoscope, or even your Crazy 8 Ball.  Or Option B: You can pray, read your scriptures, live your life so that the Spirit of The Lord is with you, go to the Temple, listen to The Prophet, or anything that is lovely or of good report or praiseworthy.  I would choose option B myself.

If your choice is to seek answers from a 

Peeping Wizard, like Zoltar here....

That's a Big mistake...

Rather...

2 Nephi 18: 16, 19-20

16.  Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

19.  And when they shall say unto you:  Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and mutter -should not a people seek unto their God for the living to hear from the dead?

20.  To the law and to the testimony; and if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Bind up the testimony (Have faith in Jesus Christ)

Seal the law (Obey the commandments)

Seek unto God (Come unto Christ)

Option A: Wizards that peep and mutter.

To the law and to the testimony

If not, there is no light in them

Option B: The Word of God

Go with option B.


Peace be with you

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 age of innocence (2 Nephi 9, part 3)

 Innocence

This is my niece, Annie.  She was pretty young there, back in 1990.  She just turned 23 not too long ago.  She's married now, & they have 2 little boys.  Isn't it strange how time rips by, and how fast we go through the different stages of our lives?  You're a baby, you're a toddler, you're a pre-schooler, you're a high school graduate... likity split, one-two-three, bing-bang-done.

People often describe those younger-staged little ones as innocent.  It is a fitting word. 

in·no·cent: [in-uh-suhnt]

adjective

1.  free from moral wrong; without sin; pure: innocent children.

2.  free from legal or specific wrong; guiltless: innocent of the crime.

3.  not involving evil intent or motive: an innocent misrepresentation.

4.  not causing physical or moral injury; harmless: innocent fun.

In The Church, the age of becoming accountable for your own behavior is 8 years old.  Whether that 8-year old is really capable of making behavioral and moral decisions based on knowledge and consequences is often relative, and known only to his or her Heavenly Father.  All kinds of things could come in to play here:

• the child's mental health
• the child's circumstances
• the child's role models/ parenting
• the child's culture
• the child's access to learning
• etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. + a billion and 6 other things.

If a child doesn't posses the ability to understand the difference between right and wrong, how can he/she be judged to be disobedient?  Doesn't make any sense.  Ya know why?  'Cause it's dumb, that's why.  The same relativity can also apply to adults.  Hey, that's the principle of relativity.  Ha... good one...

Then there are the billions who were, and are still being, born without knowledge of the commandments of God.  The Bible was not even available to the common person before the 15th century.  If a person was in a position or geographical circumstance to attend a church or live under the tutelage of a minister or whatever, that fellow was at the mercy of that minister, who, though his intentions were often good, may have been in the least sense wrong about a lot of things, and in the most sense, a complete psychopath. 

Example

Read Flake and me in Lexington, KY, Jan 18, 1989

Flake and I taught this young woman (in her 20's) named Cathy in Lexington Kentucky back in December of '88.  She was of the Lutheran faith.  Cathy was taught her whole life up to that point that, if a child died without having been baptized, there was no hope for that child.  He or she would be consigned to "hell" forever.  Being taught this from her youth up, she didn't really question this theology.

So, here Flake and I come, he's 19, I'm 22, younger than she is, and teach her that children who die before the age of accountability (8 years old) are saved automatically through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  Cathy stopped us right there...

She said,

"Now wait a minute!!  Are you saying that children don't need baptism, because I've been taught my whole life that baptism is necessary for salvation?  I mean, this is the first I've ever heard of this..."

There was silence in the room, and both Flake and I were kind of mentally formulating our answers for the argument that was about to ensue.

She said,

"Oh, I love that!!!  You're way makes so much more sense!"

Ya see what I'm saying?  The amount of truth to which we have access can be relative, or the ability to process and act on that truth can differ gihugically.

Here's the scripture, finally...

2 Nephi 9: 25-27

25.  Wherefore, He has given a law; and where there is no law given there is no punishment; and where there is no punishment there is no condemnation; and where there is no condemnation the mercies of the Holy One of Israel have claim upon them, because of the Atonement; for they are delivered by the power of Him.

26.  For the Atonement satisfieth the demands of His justice upon all those who have not the law given to them, that they are delivered from that awful monster, death and hell, and the devil, and the lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment; and they are restored to that God who gave them breath, which is the Holy One of Israel.

27.  But wo unto him that has the law given, yea, that has all the commandments of God, like unto us, and that transgresseth them, and that wasteth the days of his probation, for awful is his state!

Pop Quiz

Let's reach far, real far, and assume that both the man on the right and the young girl on the left getting cussed out by her Mom have committed a sin of about the same level of seriousness.  I know, it's a bit of a silly thing.  Then, let's say that Tom Cruise and his IMF team had failed to stop the madman in MI4 from launching a nuclear ICBM at New York City, and both of these people were blown up, which one would be considered innocent before The Lord, the girl who is currently being taught about right and wrong, but hasn't reached the age of accountability, or the man who realizes his disobedience, and feels truly sorry, and is asking The Lord for forgiveness?

Right.  The interesting thing to me is, Christ suffered and died for the sins of all mankind, including those of children, whatever they might be.  That means that even the innocent sins had to be paid for by The Savior.

So remember, don't forget to remember not to forget to repent

The scriptures tell us we who are accountable must repent, and become as a little child, or we can't obtain the Kingdom of Heaven.  What does that mean, "become as a little child"?  Innocent!!  That's what that means.  Children are alive in Christ because of His Atonement without any effort of their own.  Us bigger people though, and in my case I mean that quite literally, we gotta repent when we do wrong.  Repentance, true repentance, brings forgiveness, and then Christ and His Atonement will make us innocent as well.

That remember thing, that's a big deal with me.  This next verse has been a theme song of mine on many occasions...

2 Nephi 9: 39

39.  O, my beloved brethren, remember the awfulness in transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of that cunning one.  Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal.

When faced with temptation to commit sin, I try to remember this verse and say...

"Wait a minute!!  Last time I sinned I felt awful.  I don't want to feel awful.  Why would I want to feel awful?  This is stupid.  I'm outta here..."

Good Gravy!!!

This chapter just has too many good things in it.  I can't do a part 4, I just can't.  I'm going to have to leave you now.  I advise you to read and glean your own wisdom from this great chapter.  I'm afraid I just can't do it justice.  Even Jacob knows he's given out pretty much all people can handle for one day.  He says...

2 Nephi 9: 54

54.  And now, my brethren, I would speak unto you more; but on the morrow I will declare unto you the remainder of my words. 

In Conclusion
I'll put down a couple of useful gems to live by as a closer.

2 Nephi 9: 29, 34, 36, 48, 51, & 52

29.  But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God.

34.  Wo unto the liar, for he shall be thrust down to hell.

(I use this reference often when confronting an untruthful person who I don't necessarily want to know that I know that he's LYING!!)

36.  Wo unto them who commit whoredoms, for they shall be thrust down to hell.

(Interesting that the consequences are the same for lying and whoredoming)

48.  Behold, if ye were holy I would speak unto you of holiness; but as ye are not holy, and ye look upon me as a teacher, it must needs be that I teach you the consequences of sin.

51. (just the end of the verse...)... and let your souls delight in fatness.

52.  Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto His holy name by night.  Let your hearts rejoice.

  I'll see you in chapter 10.  Peace be with you...

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.
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• 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...