THE HEIGHTS OF MERCY

 

I Would Gather Thee by Liz Lemon Swindle

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...how often would I have gathered thy

children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens

under her wings, and ye would not!

(Matthew 23:37)

No other book of scripture highlights the mercy of Christ as does the Old Testament. Most people will challenge this thought saying that honour belongs to the New Testament due to the account of the Saviour’s Atonement.

The Old Testament is my book. It is the root of the covenant of God with His people. A covenant He has sworn He will never break (see Deuteronomy 4:31; Leviticus 26:44,46; Isaiah 49:15,16; 2 Kings 13:23). Over and over Jehovah worked with His prophets to preserve His people, to declare His undying love, and to make promises of restitution no matter how far they stray.

And stray they did and earned themselves the name of ‘backsliding Israel’ (Jeremiah 3:6,8,11,12,14,22; 31:22; 49:4; Hosea 4:16; 11:7; 14:4). Using the imagery of marriage, Israel became a ‘harlot’ who had betrayed her love for her husband, ‘upon every high mountain and under every green tree’….. (Jeremiah 3:6). For this unfaithfulness Israel paid a high price of bondage but even then only the promised mercy of her God will bring her back to His fold:

“For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” ( Jeremiah 30:11).

And herein lies the lesson of futile idolatry for which Israel rejected the Holy One: “All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have [caused thee to be wounded] with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity…..” (Jeremiah 30:14b)

And then the sting of payment for their sin with a hope of healing : “…thy bruise is not incurable, although thy wounds are grievous. Is there none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up? Hast thou no healing medicine?.... Is thy sorrow incurable?” (JST Jeremiah 30:12,13,15)

 “….because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee….but all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity…For I WILL restore health unto thee, and I WILL heal thee of thy wounds…the whirlwind of the Lord shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked…..And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God” (Jeremiah 30:16,17,22,23)

When will this healing and restoration happen? Over two millennia after the promise….when the lessons have been learnt, the price for disobedience paid and a willingness to repent born…’when He has performed the intents of his heart….in the latter days when they shall fully understand this’ (v 23,24; see also 2 Nephi 25:8-11).

And this is the lesson that they need to understand….every disobedience carries with it consequences. Yes the mercy and deliverance will come but after many wars, captivity and sorrow…..the experience of consequences crucial towards repentance, a broken heart and a contrite spirit for the restorative power of mercy is only offered to the penitent (Alma 42:24,25). It’s something all of us need to remember.

There is a prevalent belief in Christendom today that Christ is all about love and mercy and that is true but this love and mercy is not freely given because no man can be saved in his sins. He can only be saved from them. If he was saved prematurely in them, without repentance, he would continue to sin and the mercy would be of no benefit.

The Kingdom of Judah proved that they were not ready for the Saviour’s mercy to deliver them from the dominance of their enemies. When he manifested himself to them in the flesh, they rejected him “because of their iniquities, and the hardness of their hearts, and the stiffness of their necks” and they crucified Him instead (2 Nephi 25:12,13). The  salvation was offered but the repentance was still in embryo, unborn…the lesson of bondage and the loss of freedom not yet fully learnt and so it continues to this day with the price of hatred, killing and wars.

Because they despised the Holy One of Israel they have wandered in the flesh and perished, and become a hiss and a byword and been hated among all nations…but He will remember His covenants which he made to their fathers when they no more turn their hearts against him (1 Nephi 19:14,15)

As Israel, we have trodden worldly paths

That have left us battered, scarred,

And parched in search of love.

Our lovers were many but

Our hearts were empty.

At long last

We embrace the love that lasts,

We prepare for the wedding feast

And abandon our treacherous past.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

THE FINAL HARVEST

 

Chapter 23 of Leviticus contains a series of holy days that the Lord commanded all Israel to observe. Three of the most important are: 1. The Feast of Trumpets; 2. The Day of the Atonement and; 3. The Feast of the Tabernacles.

The Feast of Trumpets in particular signifies: 1. The beginning of Israel’s final harvest; 2. The day God had set to remember His ancient promises to gather Israel; 3. A time for new revelation that would lead to a new covenant with Israel and; 4. A time to prepare for the Millenium.

This is the significance of the Feast of Trumpets as it relates to us and this last dispensation. The final harvest of Israel began on 22 September 1827, the very day Israel celebrated the Feast of Trumpets. This is the day that Moroni gave the golden plates to the Prophet Joseph Smith. The timing of its deliverance was not coincidental. This was a carefully orchestrated and rehearsed event for four years prior. Picture Joseph receiving the golden plates from Moroni whilst trumpets blew in Israel. (see The Golden Plates and the Feast of Trumpets by Lenet Hadley Read, Ensign 2000)

We know that many truths have been lost and taken away from the Bible, but none more significant that the prophecies of the restoration of the gospel in the latter days missing from Isaiah 29 and which Nephi quoted in its completion in 2 Nephi 27 as were contained on the brass plates:

1.      Letter-day context of the prophecy (2 Nephi 27:1)

2.      A ‘book’ that Isiah prophesied would come forth in the last days (verse 6)

3.      The book would be ‘sealed’ (verses 7-8)

4.      Roles of Moroni and Joseph Smith in bringing forth the Book of Mormon (verses 9-10)

5.      ‘Three witnesses’ who would behold the ‘book’ and testify ‘to the truth of the things therein’ (verses 12-13)

I stand in awe of God who orchestrates His work with such perfect precision to fulfil His purposes which cannot fail. The adversary might be working hard to ‘pervert the right ways of the Lord that he might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men’ (1 Nephi 13:27) but he cannot win. God’s plan for our salvation runs like clock-work with every step put into place long before its’ reality.

So ordered are the events that will transpire upon this earth that they cannot possibly fail, because ‘God created all things spiritually before they were naturally upon the face of the earth’ (Moses 3:5). Everything was designed, proven and tested before it came into being.

The Final Harvest is under way and in our hands we hold the book that is gathering Israel…..

 

We Israel, His chosen seed

will come to Zion

With songs of everlasting joy

To worship our Lord and our King

And to Him forever our praises we will sing. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Reaping the Harvest by Nathan Greene)

HURRAH HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

 

There is one phrase that is firmly etched in my mind from all the years I have studied the scriptures and that is, “my people Israel”. I searched this phrase in the Gospel Library this morning and pages and pages of scriptures came up. I could not possibly get through them all. I realized Israel is central to the Saviour’s Gospel.

The Saviour was sent exclusively to the House of Israel (Matthew 15:24). The Gospel was not taken to the Gentiles until after His death. The restoration of His Church is predicated on the gathering of Israel hence the importance of the Book of Mormon. The early members of the Church grasped this importance from the beginning and made many sacrifices to this end.

In 1839 Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball set off as missionaries to the British Isles. They were both ill and their families were left sick and destitute, “nevertheless, the two climbed into a wagon, and while still in sight of their loved ones, Heber said, “Let’s rise up and give them a cheer.” The two struggled to their feet and shouted, “Hurrah, hurrah for Israel!” (Ronald A. Rasband, “Right Before Our Eyes”, GC April 2025)

I quoted scriptures in my post yesterday of the Saviour’s abiding love for the House of Israel and how  we are referred to as ‘the apple of His eye’ (Det 32:9,10; Zechariah 2:8; Psalm 17:8). There is something else that has remained etched in my mind from studying the Old Testament.

When Moses’ brother Aaron was appointed the head priest, the Saviour gave instructions that among his priestly garments, he should wear a breastplate with four rows of stones set in it. The first row was set with sardius, a topaz and a carbuncle (smaragdus); the second with emerald, a sapphire and a diamond; the third with ligure, an agate and an amethyst; and the fourth with a beryl, an onyx and a jasper. These stones were gems and jewels and they had an inscription on them representing each tribe of the 12 tribes of Israel (Exodus 28:15-21).

This is the worth and value that the Saviour places on ‘His people Israel’. And the most significant thing? The breastplate with the gems had to be worn ‘upon Aaron’s heart before the Lord continually’ (Exodus 28:29,30). Can you see the significance of this?

How much are you worth to Christ as a member of ‘His people Israel’?

·        “And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels” (Malachi 3:17)

·        “For I the Lord, rule in the heavens above….and in the day when I shall make up my jewels, all men shall know what it is that bespeaketh the power of God” (D&C 60:4)

·        “Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels (D&C 101:3)

We are not gathering Israel…..we are collecting jewels……

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Jesus of Nazareth by Greg Olsen)