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 Plain Doctrine of Christ (2 Nephi 31)

These last few chapters of 2nd Nephi are some of my very favorites.  Last week year we talked about 2nd Nephi 30, in the which Nephi made a bunch of prophesies about our day, and what would happen to both Jew and Gentile.  In Chapter 31 it's as if Nephi puts down his prepared lesson and just speaks from his heart.

After spending days and days reading his favorite Isaiah scriptures to his people, and seeing their reaction...

... Nephi breaks it down to the plain Doctrine of Christ.  For his soul delighteth in plainness.  So let's talk about what Nephi really wants us to get out of all of his teachings.

First:  Baptism is essential to salvation

In order to enter into the Kingdom of God, a person must be baptized by an authorized Priesthood holder.  Exceptions to this commandment include children who have not reached the age of accountability (8 years old) and those who are disabled to the degree that they are also unaccountable.

I was baptized when I was 8 years old, sometime in November of 1974.  My dad was an inactive member of the church, and did not hold the proper Priesthood Authority, so he couldn't baptize me.  Some guy named Bro. Lowe happened to be in the font and already wet from baptizing his son, Mark, so he did the dunking.  In The Church we are baptized by immersion, so when my big toe stuck out of the water, I had to be baptized again.  There went the toe again.  Third time's the charm;  Bro. Lowe planted his foot on my foot, and was able to put me all the way under the water.  Whew! I was finally clean from all those sins I'd accumulated since my birthday on November 9th.  I don't remember how many there were, but I'm glad they're gone.

So, since we know that Jesus Christ was completely without sin, did he need to be baptized?  Is baptism just for cleansing our sins, or is there more to it than that?

                 Verse 7 

Christ was baptized not for His past mistakes, but as an act of obedience, and a covenant that He would always be obedient.

The Gift of the Holy Ghost is essential to salvation

After baptism, baptismees are confirmed a member of The Church, and are given the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, also by one holding the proper Priesthood authority.  I have zero memory of my confirmation, but I'm sure it looked something like the photo above (except I'm a dude).

 

Where baptism cleanses us from sin, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, or the baptism of fire, sanctifies us, and makes us (or has the potential to make us) holy.  And this "speaking with the tongue of angels" thing and this "shouting praises unto the Holy One of Israel" thing, I think that means that once we receive the Holy Ghost, and the witness of Christ and His Gospel that follows those who sincerely seek it, the Holy Ghost will testify to others when you testify of Him.  Anywayz, that's what I think.

Repentance is essential for salvation

I'm kinda going outta order here, but next in the chapter is Repentance.  To repent means to turn away from bad junk, and turn toward God.  Most definitely a person sincerely repenting must ask Heavenly Father for forgiveness, but even more important than that is what comes next.  Which leads me to...

Enduring to the End is essential for salvation

The word "enduring" conjures up images of marathons and summits of high mountains.  It seems to connote (one of my favorite words) hardship and suffering.  I like how President Monson puts it much better.  Enduring to the End to me is less about always choosing the right, no matter how hard the rain falls, and more about daily repentance, no matter how hard I fall.

And lastly (but really firstly)...

Faith in The Lord Jesus Christ is essential for salvation

So, there you have it, the Doctrine of Christ.  To sum it up in JB-ese...

• Have Faith in Jesus Christ
• Repent and follow Jesus Christ
• Covenant to be obedient to Jesus Christ through baptism and other ordinances
• If you fail, start over
• Rely alone on the merits of Jesus Christ; He is mighty to save

The End.  I'll see you next year time.


Peace be with you

Testifying Out of the Dust (2 Nephi 27)

The Prophet Moroni buries the golden plates near Palmyra, NY about 450a.d.

The coming forth of the Book of Mormon was prophesied of in several places in the Bible, Old and New Testaments, but none so clear as the one in Isaiah Chapter 29.  Nephi throws this one last Isaiah chapter into the Plates of Nephi in 2 Nephi 27.  I bet it made old Nephi glad when he read this chapter and understood that Isaiah was talking about the very plates he was writing on, that his sore fingers weren't for nuttin'.

In 2 Nephi 27, Isaiah talks quite plainly about a book containing the "words of them who have slumbered in the dust" (dead people) coming forth in the last days, which will contain revelation from God (scripture).

2 Nephi 27: 6-7

6.  And it shall come to pass that The Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book, and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered.

7.  And behold the book shall be sealed; and in the book shall be a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof.

It would be pretty cool to flip to the end of the Book of Mormon and see how the world ends.  Too bad that part of the plates was sealed off, and therefore not translated by Joseph Smith into the BOM we have today.

I hope I didn't miss it!

It's probably a good thing we don't have the "sealed portion" yet.  We will have it some day, and then we'll read it on top of our house.  I guess that's a good place to be alone.

Moroni delivers the plates

Moroni delivering the plates to Joseph Smith in1827

Having buried the plates in the ground on a hillside close to the future site of Palmyra, New York sometime around 450 A.D., the Angel Moroni, now a resurrected being, delivered the golden plates to 21-year old Joseph Smith on Sept 22, 1827.  The miraculous work of translation from the ancient text (written in what the BOM calls "reformed Egyptian") into English commenced, but because of persecution and multiple attempts by evil men to steal the plates, it took Brother Joseph 2 years to get the first edition to the printers.  The actual translation took a combined total of only about 90 days.  

 Professor Anthon

In this chapter, Isaiah prophesied that when this book comes forth, the unsealed portion will be delivered to a "learned man", who will reject it. 

During the early days of translating the BOM, Joseph Smith wrote down some of the hieroglyphic characters from the BOM plates and their translation, and his buddy Martin Harris took them to New York City to a Charles Anthon, a professor at Columbia University, and who was known for his "literary attainments".  Anthon studied the characters, and wrote a certificate, certifying both the authenticity of the characters, saying that they were true characters from the Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac and Arabic languages, and the accuracy of the translation.  Anthon asked to see the entire set of golden plates.  He doesn't say anything about greed being his motive, but the BOM says so. 

2 Nephi 27: 15-18

15.  But behold, it shall come to pass that The Lord God shall say unto him to whom He shall deliver the book [Joseph Smith]:  Take these words which are not sealed and deliver them to another, that he [Martin Harris] may show them unto the learned [Professor Anthon], saying:  Read this, I pray thee.  And the learned [Professor Anthon] shall say:  Bring hither the book, and I will read them.

16.  And now, because of the glory of the world and to get gain will they say this, and not for the glory of God.

17.  And the man [Martin Harris] shall say:  I cannot bring the book, for it is sealed.

18.  Then shall the learned [Professor Anthon] say:  I cannot read it.

When Martin Harris said, "I cannot bring the book, for it is sealed," to the professor, Anthon replied, "I cannot read a sealed book."  He then tore up the certificate that he'd written, and said that angels do not appear to man in our day. 

But of course he now denies it; you'd expect that of a con.  But he couldn't run forever, not even Charles Anthon.

Joseph Smith

Isaiah then says that the book will be delivered to an "unlearned man", who will do the marvelous and wondrous work of God.

2 Nephi 27: 19-21

19.  Wherefore it shall come to pass, that The Lord God will deliver again the book and the words thereof to him that is not learned [Joseph Smith]; and the man that is not learned shall say:  I am not learned.

20.  Then shall The Lord God say unto him:  The learned shall not read them, for they have rejected them, and I am able to do mine own work; wherefore thou shalt read the words which I shall give unto thee.

21.  Touch not the things which are sealed, for I will bring them forth in mine own due time; for I will show unto the children of men that I am able to do mine own work.  

With only 3 or so years of formal education, Joseph Smith was an "unlearned man".  One of the criticisms against Joseph in his day was that he was an uneducated farmer, and yet professed to be a prophet of God.  Goodness knows, The Lord should never, would never, could never use a poor commoner to share His words...

Oh, except for David the shepherd

Oh, and Peter, James, John and Andrew; they were fishermen

Oh, and except for Jesus Christ; He was a carpenter

Twelve Witnesses

A certain number of people were given the chance to be witnesses of the plates of Nephi, which was talked about in this chapter as well.

2 Nephi 27: 12-13

12.  Wherefore, at that day when the book shall be delivered unto the man of whom I have spoken, the book shall be hid from the eyes of the world, that the eyes of none shall behold it save it be that three witnesses shall behold it, by the power of God, besides him to whom the book shall be delivered; and they shall testify to the truth of the book and the things therein.

13.  And there is none others which shall view it, save it be a few according to the will of God, to bear testimony of his word unto the children of men; for The Lord God hath said that the words of the faithful should speak as if it were from the dead.

The Three

The 3 witnesses testified to the world that they had seen the angel Moroni and the golden plates.  You can read their account in the first few pages of the BOM.  These 3 men all eventually left The Church, but none of them ever denied this witness.

Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris both returned to The Church eventually.  David Whitmer did not return to The Church, but gave a strong testimony on his deathbed, swearing to the truth of his vision of the angel Moroni and the golden plates.

The Eight

The Eight Witnesses testified that they saw the golden plates.  These 8 did not see the angel Moroni, but they saw and "hefted" the plates.  The testimony of the eight witnesses is found at the beginning of the BOM.

The 8 witnesses were:  Christian Whitmer, Jacob Whitmer, Peter Whitmer Jr, John Whitmer, Hiram Page, Joseph Smith Sr, Hyrum Smith, Samuel H. Smith.

But, Three + Eight = Eleven

The 12th witness to whom I referred when I says there'd be 12 witnesses is yours truly.  I saw no plates, nor angels, but I know that there were angels in the room on January 24, 1987, when I had the light and warmth and love and gratefulness of the Holy Ghost drill a hole into my heart and deposit there, underneath untold layers of fat and cholesterol, a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and the marvelous and wonderful story of its coming about.  Tears sprung from my face like a shook up Sprite, and in that unforgettable and most important moment I received the following treasures:

• God lives
• God is my Father in Heaven
• Heavenly Father loves me
• I am worth Heavenly Father's time to answer
• Jesus Christ lives
• Jesus Christ loves me
• Joseph Smith was visited by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ
• The angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and delivered the golden plates to him
• Joseph Smith translated the golden plates into the BOM
• The Book of Mormon is the Word of God
• The Priesthood that was given to me by Richard Barney, and to him by Mike Barney, and to him by Dale Pelo, and to him by Alvin R. Dyer, and to him by Joseph Fielding Smith, and to him by Joseph F. Smith, and to him by Brigham Young, and to him by the 3 Witnesses, and to them by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and to them by Peter, James and John, and to them by Jesus Christ is real
• I'm glad I went on a mission

JB at the MTC, Jan 1987

And I'll here repeat what was and has remained the most important one to me on this list....

• I am worth Heavenly Father's time to answer!

Peace be with you...

The heart of Father Lehi (2 Nephi 1)

I started this blog 5 months ago, on October 14th.  When I had the idea of blogging the BOM from start to finish, I knew it would take some time, but I had no idea.  5 months just for the first book, and many to go.  Alma is going to take me a year by itself.  I'm committed, though, so if you feel like continuing with me, please do.  When I get this thing finished, it will be one of the biggest accomplishments of my life.  Hopefully, it will be a legacy I can be proud to leave behind. 

At the beginning of 2nd Nephi there is a short summary written by the prophet Mormon.  It says,

An account of the death of Lehi.  Nephi's brethren rebel against him. The Lord warns Nephi to depart into the wilderness. His journeyings in the wilderness, and so forth.

Lehi doesn't die until chapter 4, but he knows  it's coming.  He takes this opportunity to gather his children together and give them his last lecture.  It's one of my mostest favoritest parts of the BOM, especially chapter 2.  So, let's light this candle...

A Choice Land Above All Others

Lehi said in 2 Nephi 1: 5-6

5.  But, said he, notwithstanding our afflictions, we have obtained a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands; a land which The Lord God had covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, The Lord hath covenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever, and also all those who should be led out of other countries by the hand of The Lord.

6.  Wherefore, I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of The Lord.

I says back in Journeyings without murmurings that one of the big reasons Lehi had to leave Jerusalem so secretively, and why Laban couldn't be kept alive, and why Zoram had to go with them, and why they couldn't have any cooking fires while they traveled was because it was vital that nobody followed them or knew where they were going.  I offer this next verse as exhibit Gamma Charlie:

2 Nephi 1: 8

8.  And behold, it is wisdom that this land should be kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations; for behold, many nations would over-run the land, that there would be no place for an inheritance.

Later on in Alma or somewheres it says something like: "And no one knew it [that they left Jerusalem and where they went] save themselves only."  I'll bring it up again when I get to it.  I'm forgetting more than I'm remembering not to forget anymore.

On my Dad's side, my family came over from Ireland, Scotland and England in the early 1600's.  My great great whatever Jacob Barney was born in Bradenham, England in 1607 and was a Baptist Minister in the mid 1600's in or around Salem, Massachusetts.  I don't know how or when he actually came over, but may have even been on the Mayflower, which is really cool.   

I do feel that he was, like verse 6 says, "brought by the hand of the Lord." 

And though it was Uncle Jacob and his buddies, and lots of others from other lands just like him, who kicked the crap out of the indigenous peoples of the Americas (It's been estimated that there were 14 million American Indians along the eastern coast of North America before Columbus, and only about 2 million after the American Revolution), these things were prophesied by Lehi way back then.

2 Nephi 1: 10-12

10.  But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of The Lord -having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of The Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise -behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of Him that is just shall rest upon them.

11.  Yea, he will bring other nations unto them, and he will give unto them power, and he will take away from them the lands of their possessions, and he will cause them to be scattered and smitten.

12.  Yea, as one generation passeth to another there shall be bloodsheds, and great visitations among them; wherefore, my sons, I would that ye would remember; yea, I would that ye would hearken unto my words.

Can you hear the pleading love in his words?  I just love Lehi.  He continues...

2 Nephi 1: 13

13.  O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe.

Why are "waking up" and "breaking chains" metaphors for repentance and obedience?  What does Lehi mean by "Sleep of hell?"  I have thought that this kind of sleep means procrastination.  Later in the BOM the words "slumber of death" are used.  Or, maybe sleeping means a failure to do what you know you oughtta be doing.

For Laman:  You know the gospel; you know it is true.  Live it, NOW!

For John Barney:  You know what you should be doing and what you shouldn't be doing.  Live and love the whole Gospel; NOW!  If not now, then when?

And what if you have developed some bad habits while you were sleeping?  What if your sleepiness weakened your resolve to follow The Savior, so that you soon lack the strength to stop sinning?  If someone threatened to chain us down we would fight like mad wolves, but so often we lock those chains around us our own selves.

BREAK THEM!!  HOW?  Lehi is a mortal man, subject to the same temptations as Laman, Lemuel, Nephi or John Barney.  What makes him the kind of man who is awake enough to stay away from those chains, and be the kind of man who is able to warn others about them?

2 Nephi 1: 15

15.  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.

Lehi understands the gospel and his dependence on his Savior.

2 Nephi 1: 14, 16-21

14.  Awake! and arise from the dust, and hear the words of a trembling parent, whose limbs ye must soon lay down in the cold and silent grave, from whence no traveler can return; a few more days and I go the way of all the earth.

16.  And I desire that ye should remember to observe the statutes and the judgments of The Lord; behold, this hath been the anxiety of my soul from the beginning.

17.  My heart hath been weighed down with sorrow from time to time, for I have feared, lest for the hardness of your hearts The Lord your God should come out in the fulness of His wrath upon you, that ye be cut off and destroyed forever;

19.  O my sons, that these things might not come upon you, but that ye might be a choice and favored people of The Lord.  But behold, His will be done; for His ways are righteousness forever.

Lehi loves his kids.  His understanding of the gospel gives him so much worry for his stubborn kids.  What can he do?  He lectures them, prays for them, and, because he is a man of God and holds the Melchizedek Priesthood, he can offer each of them a father's blessing.

I find these verses so moving.  I can just feel Lehi's love, and his heart breaking.  As a parent, he can't help but hope.  As a prophet, he knows what's coming.

I know you can read these verses for yourself, but I just want to write a couple more down...

2 Nephi 1: 21 & 23

21.  And now that my soul might have joy in you, and that my heart might leave this world with gladness because of you, that I might not be brought down with grief and sorrow to the grave, arise from the dust, my sons, and be men, and be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things, that ye may not come down into captivity.

23.  Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness.  Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity and arise from the dust.

I love my own Dad dearly, but there was always a part of me that wished that he was the kind of Dad that Lehi was, and could have told me to get out of the dirt and be a man when I needed it.  I guess that's what the scriptures are for, huh?  Dad had a few chains on him in mortality, put there by his own self.  He knew they were there, and he knew what they were doing to him, but chose to remain asleep.

Big Finish

Lehi blessed all of his sons, and also Ishmael's sons and Zoram, and their posterity.  To each he exhorted to obey The Lord, lean on The Savior, be faithful.  And, he gave them this promise, which is a principle repeated so many times in the BOM:

2 Nephi 1: 20

20.  And he hath said that:  Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.

I know that was true for the peoples of the BOM because we can read it right in the narrative of the book.  I also know that it's true for me.  I know that, if I am faithful and obedient, I will prosper in the land.  I'll be ok.  I will always have The Lord with me. 

Same goes for you.  I know it.

Peace be with you...