ETERNAL BOND

 

In His Tender Care by Jay Bryant Ward

The most comforting of LDS doctrine is one of family eternal bond, especially when it comes to death of children. There is no greater sorrow. It’s the unknown of what could have been had they lived.

The Prophet Joseph Smith and his wife, Emma, who had six of their eleven children die, had reason to ask why. The Prophet said: “I have meditated upon the subject, and asked the question, why is that infants, innocent children, are taken away from us, especially those that seem to be the most intelligent and interesting. The strongest reasons that present themselves to my mind are these: This world is a very wicked world…..The Lord takes many away, even in infancy, that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were too pure, too lovely, to live on earth; therefore, if rightly considered, instead of mourning we have reason to rejoice as they are delivered from evil, and we shall soon have them again. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2007), 177)

Emma lived almost 35 years after the martyrdom of her prophet-husband. A few days before she died she told her nurse, Elizabeth Revel, that Joseph had come to her in a vision and said: "'Emma, come with me, it is time for you to come with me'.

As Emma related it, she said, 'I put on my bonnet and my shawl and went with him; I did not think that it was anything unusual. I went with him into a mansion, and he showed me through the different apartments of that beautiful mansion'. And one room was the nursery.

In that nursery was a babe in the cradle. She said, 'I knew my babe, my Don Carlos that was taken from me'. She sprang forward, caught the child up in her arms and wept with joy over the child. When Emma recovered herself sufficiently, she turned to Joseph and said, 'Joseph, where are the rest of my children?'

He said to her, 'Emma, be patient and you shall have all of your children'. Then she saw standing by his side a personage of light, even the Lord Jesus Christ." (Gracia N. Jones, My Great-Great-Grandmother, Emma Hale Smith, Ensign Aug 1992)

And this is the most comforting doctrine of all:

“President Joseph F. Smith (1838-1918) lost many children to early deaths. He was comforted by the doctrine that little children would be resurrected as little children and raised to maturity by their righteous parents after the Resurrection. President Smith once shared the following: “Joseph Smith taught the doctrine that the infant child that was laid away in death would come up in the resurrection as a child; and, pointing to the mother of a lifeless child, he said to her: “You will have the joy, the pleasure and satisfaction of nurturing this child, after its resurrection until it reaches the full stature of its spirit.”

“There is restitution, there is growth, there is development, after the resurrection from death. I love this truth. It speaks volumes of happiness, of joy and gratitude to my soul. Thank the Lord he has revealed these principles to us.” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith (1998), 132)

Not only will little children reach full maturity, but they will also reach full exaltation. Abinadi taught that “little children also have eternal life” (Mosiah 15:25). The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “you shall have your children, for they shall have eternal life, for their debt is paid.” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (1998), 177)

We owe the payment of this debt to one man: our Creator, our God, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Gethsemane was not only the place of sweat but a place of tears. The payment for the Fall and the sins of the world was paid by the sweat and blood of Him who satisfied the law of justice but His tears flowed in the Garden of sorrow for all the broken hearts of grieving parents to this day.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

THE VICTORY

 

The Victory by LDS Bookstore

As Golgotha raged and tore

Your flesh without mercy

The Garden sprang anew,

As from every drop You spilt

New flowers came into bloom.

How pitiful the cross that claimed You

Not knowing it sent a God to a

Darkened tomb!

-     Cathryne Allen

HEALING IN HIS WINGS

 

Love's Redeeming Work by LDS Bookstore

When You rose from Your grave

With healing in Your wings,

Did I live on in Your heart

As you ascended to Your throne

To seal my destiny?

Did You carry us all in Your bosom

With the crucible of the cross

Forever etched in Your memory?

 

-       CATHRYNE ALLEN

 

 

 

A GLORIOUS HOPE

 

“When we go out of this life, leave this body, we will desire to do many things we cannot do at all without the body. We will be seriously handicapped and we will long for the body; we will pray for early reunion with our bodies. We will know then what advantage it is to have a body….” (Melvin J. Ballard, “Crusade for Righteousness” p 213)

I have never much appreciated my body in until I entered the stage of prolonged bad health. Simple tasks became huge ordeals and successfully putting on socks came to be a triumph. I have longed to walk unassisted and to perform the simplest tasks with ease, the ones I used to take for granted.

The other day as I was struggling with my socks and its frustration, I came to understand the above quote. I could see how a spirit without a body he or she once experienced would feel without it. Indeed, we get a glimpse of that from President Joseph F. Smith’s vision of the spirit world which tells us that ‘the dead looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage’ (D&C 138:50). I began to appreciate that maybe my body is a privilege……

The other day I quoted Melvin J. Ballard who shared his conviction of our unreserved willingness to come to earth and obtain a body whether it be cripped, maimed, or deformed. I thought as I was struggling with my socks, surely those afflicted with such bodies would have regretted that choice. I know all about physical pain and limit of movement. I cannot imagine that to be my whole earthly experience.

Elder Ballard continued to express our pre-earthly knowledge of the necessity of a body for our ascension to godhood which enabled us to be centered on an eternal view rather than the sorrows and troubles of this life ("Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin J. Ballard, p 179). Reconciling our pre-earthly perspective and the reality of living on this side of the veil is something of a challenge though.

In his last conference talk Elder Bednar spoke about enduring to the end and he connected to it a very necessary component, that of trust. It is something that has been on my mind of late. As I considered his talk I realized that this is the key to acceptance of earthly suffering and the power to endure to the end.

I realized my willingness to trust that my life is playing out according to God’s plan for me and my trust that what is to come in next life is imperative for my existence here and now.

And my ultimate trust comes with a hope which is this: to be faithful and valiant in my testimony of Jesus whilst in mortality with ‘a hope of a glorious resurrection, through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ’ (D&C 138:12-14)

Because the valleys do not

Lead to where I need to be,

You give me mountains to climb

To reach Your divinity.

 

You are so high

And my reach is so low.

To come to Your arms

I accept the mountains

That show me which way to go.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Ponder Anew by LDS Book Store)

SALVATION

 

 

I saw You today in my heart and I wept knowing

As more believe, the tree that bore Your weight keeps growing.

I saw the love flow from the deepest

Well within Your soul - Your salvation for us all.

 

My heart was rent knowing Your pain

And the tears You spilt on that day remain.

They are the gems I treasure in my heart…

I am one of Your many children of light. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Way In The Wilderness by Chris Brazelton)

HE IS RISEN

 

He Is Risen…..

 

The suffering endured

The power displayed

The love manifested

 

(Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement)

(Matthew 28:6)

The Hope of Israel

King of Nations

The Lord of Hosts

Eternal King

The Son of God

The Balm of Gilead

The Son of Man of Holiness

The King of Zion

The Rock of Heaven

The Son of Righteousness

The Great I am

The Good Shepherd

The Stone of Israel

The Son of Man

The Great Amen

The Mighty One of Jacob

The Shepherd of Israel

The Word of Life

Man of Counsel

The Bright and Morning Star

The Holy One

Endless

Eternal

Messiah

The Lamb of God

The Great Jehovah

The Rock of Our Salvation

The liberator of the captive, the succor of the weak, the balm of the afflicted, the well of all perfection, the fountain of all righteousness…..

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Jesus Ascends by Chris Brazelton)

 

THE RISING

 

With what heavy steps

You approached the garden’s gate!

You suffered, You atoned,

You hung lifeless on the cross,

As you met Your appointed fate.

 

I waited for my turn on earth

And watched with angels

Your rise from the darkened tomb

That could not contain

The magnitude of You.

 

I saw Your glory that shone so bright

Defeating death and making all anew

And I wept for the greatness of hope

That rose with You.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: On The Third Day by Greg Collins) 

NOT YET

 

The promises that we receive through the Gospel are legitimate but many come with a caveat of “not yet”.

I reflected on Abraham again yesterday and how rich he was in cattle, gold, silver and servants yet he lived in tents his whole life never owning a piece of land. And when death came knocking on the door, he purchased a cave for his and Sarah’s burial from the sons of Heth (Genesis 25:9,10).

The land of Canaan was promised to Abraham even though he never possessed it personally (Genesis 17:7; 13:15; 17:8). This was a classic example of “not yet”:

“The Lord gave the promise to Abraham that he should have Palestine, or the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession. Yet…Abraham never received as much as a foot of it as a possession while he lived. Then what did the Lord mean in making a promise to Abraham of that kind?....

“Simply this, that the time would eventually come, after the resurrection from the dead, when Abraham and his children who have been faithful in the keeping of the commandments of the Lord, should possess that land, and they shall also spread forth as far as it is necessary for them to receive an inheritance.” (Smith, “Doctrines of Salvation”, 1:88)

So why “not yet”?  Because this life is the time for faith and not fulfilment. In his epistle to the Hebrews, Paul expounded on this perfectly. He listed in detail prophets and people of renown who led amazing lives of faith but never received the promises and “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13)

Paul goes on to say that they through faith “subdued kingdoms, stopped the mouths of lion, quenched the violence of fire,  were tortured, scourged and imprisoned, stoned and sawn asunder, slain by the sword, were destitute, afflicted and tormented, wandered in deserts and in mountains and caves of the earth…..yet they never received their promises”……  And then he gives the reason why…..”God having provided some better things for them through their sufferings, for without sufferings they could not be made perfect……and obtain a better resurrection” (Hebrews 11:33-39; JST 40a)

“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” (Hebrews 10:35;36)

“….and in time ye shall possess the goodly land.” (D&C 103:17-20)

 

I suffer the passing of time

In this season of my discontent;

And count the moments of

Loneliness that rob me of my promises.

I am so far from home I once knew

I ache and ache

For the reality of You.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Come by David Bowman)

THE RETURN

 

 

I came into the world:

To give peace to the suffering

To give hope to the down-trodden

To strenghten the weak

To lighten your burdens

To lift the downtrodden

To give sight to the blind

To give power to the faint

To give might to the weary

To comfort those who mourn

To bind up the broken-hearted

To show mercy to the penitent

To give you living water

To free the captive

To be a refuge from the storm

And a shadow from the heat

To give you rest from sorrow and fear

To break the bands of bondage

To empower the powerless

To conquer the sting of death

To be a light unto the world

To establish truth

To atone for you

To love you 

To help you

To save you.

 

I will return:

To conquer the enemy

To destroy the wicked

To govern in righteousness

To unite the nations

To gather my people Israel

To establish peace

To take away the sorrow

To make all things known

To flood the earth with truth

To resurrect you

To judge in righteousness

To give mercy to the penitent

To take you to the Father

To give you eternal life

To exalt you.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Jesus Beacon of Hope by Ivan Guaderrama)

THE GLORY OF YOUR SPIRIT

 

The more I study the Plan of Salvation, the more amazed I am at what a system of precision and intricate planning it took for us to evolve into a peopled planet with a view of eternal destination, the success of which we very much owe to two people.

There were two things in the Garden of Eden that hung in balance and could have arrested the Plan of Salvation and they were in the form of two trees.

Not partaking of the tree of knowledge of good and evil would have been devastating to the Plan as Adam and Eve could not have had children and thus could not bring about the human family. Partaking of that fruit planted seeds of mortality within them and thus it brought about The Fall. That was the right choice we all expected but partaking the fruit of the second tree, the tree of life, would have been such a dangerous act that God the Father positioned a cherubim with a flaming sword to prevent that from happening (Moses 4:28-31).

Had Adam and Eve partaken of the fruit of the second tree, they would have been doomed forever by becoming immortal prematurely. Had this happened this too would have annihilated the whole Plan of Salvation. Had it happened there would have been no repentance, no redemption, no advancement, no probation, no children, no exaltation. They would have become immortal in their fallen state and been forever miserable (Alma 12:26)

And one other very important thing – no death.

And this is why death is important. Death purifies the physical body, which is a temporal mass of atoms, in preparation for the resurrection (President Joseph Fielding Smith, “Answers to Gospel Questions”, 5 vols [1957-66], 4:185).  The spirit, however, is an eternal matter made of light that goes through refinement, improvement and progress which adds to its glory (B. Grant Bishop, M.D., “The LDS Gospel of Light”, p 106). The spirit is the pilot, the body is the vehicle .

“When the spirit leaves the body and passes into the spirit world, it is entering a kingdom specifically organized to prepare each spirit for the resurrection. Alma had a revelation concerning it and said: “now there must needs be a space betwixt the time of death and the time of resurrection” (Alma 40:6).

“This space of time is used for the cleansing, redemption and education of the spirit. The spirit is prepared for as high a degree of glory as it is capable of receiving. How the individual conducted himself during mortality determines, to a very large extent, what that degree of glory shall be.” (Clean Skousen, “The First Two Thousand Years” p 70).

Without death there is no resurrection and without resurrection there is no immortality and eternal life. And this is resurrection: “They who are of a celestial SPIRIT shall receive the same body which was a natural body….and YOUR glory (the glory of one’s spirit) shall be the GLORY by which your bodies are quickened.” (D&C 88:28)

A personal view. The most enlightened prayers I have had in my life have been the ones where I had asked for the Holy Ghost to give me the words of my prayer. Some years ago I was given to say that I will “rise to be the glorious being I was before the earth began”. Never before then have I ever entertained the idea that my spirit possessed any glory in any degree. If we could all see ourselves without this body of clay, we would see ourselves in a very different light indeed.

In the end, the real success of our story belongs to only one person, The Saviour Jesus Christ….the Creation, the Redemption, the Resurrection, the Exaltation……all glory be to His holy name!!!

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Soul's Surrender by Greg Collins)

HOPE

 

I have been actively in pursuit of perfection since I joined the Church in my youth. I thought that’s what the Church was all about and I latched onto such an endeavour because I am a perfectionist.

I have always maintained that by the time you reach the last leg of your journey, you should pretty much be extremely close to perfection. I thought by the time I get to the age I am now, I would have myself all together. Imagine my surprise when I arrived here to discover that is not the case.

On a positive note, I have noticed greater strides in improvement from where I was 20 years ago. The lessons have been amazing; my patience has improved and my expectations are getting more realistic as my kindness toward myself grows.

Over the years I have come to understand that opposition in all things, the impact of others on our lives, and life circumstances make us fall short of excellence over and over and so our awareness that perfection is an unattainable ideal in this life becomes our reality. At this point some of us start to battle with yet another challenge called discouragement.

We are constantly living in the gap between the ideal and the real in just about every stage of our lives. Consider raising a young family. Before you marry you have visions of the ideal but after children are littering your home, you realise how very naïve you were.

Elder Hafen painted a good picture of this: “Somehow it has not been altogether natural for our children to glide reverently into their places all at once and all on time, prepared to ponder thoughtfully the wonders of eternity. More than likely, especially when they were young, they seemed to come swinging into the family room on the chandeliers like Tarzan on the vines, then would stand on their heads or flip themselves over the back of the couch during most of the lesson” (Bruce C. Hafen, “The Broken Heart” p 178).

Then you think, my life will be perfect when the children are grown and have lives of their own and I have myself back. To my surprise, that hasn’t worked out for me either.  It would seem the motivation levels in retirement take a nose dive. It keeps getting harder and harder to keep up with the pace that my idealistic level of achievement requires.

The truth is, this life is far too messy to be perfect. Perfection is an eternal incremental process and the path has to be laced with hope to make it lasting. That hope becomes viable when it is coupled with realism of the expected perfection. President Spencer W. Kimball has said that being perfect means to triumph over sin. Perfection in that respect is an achievable goal (see Miracle of Forgiveness, p 208). Perhaps our focus should be righteousness. Perhaps this is what the Saviour meant after all when He commanded us to be perfect (Matthew 5:48; 3 Nephi 12:48) because this is the greatest realism there is:

The only way we can reach perfection is through the atoning grace of Christ, after all we can do on our own (2 Nephi 25:23). This will happen long after we leave this mortal existence, become resurrected and made complete in Him who has the power of perfection.

Until then He is our hope: “For I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” (D&C 84:88)

You enliven my spirit;

You bring me to life;

You enrich my impoverished heart.

You are the God of power and might;

You make of me what I alone could never be,

You light my way into eternity.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Light by Land of Dreams)

ETERNAL BEAUTY

 

I know a Russian lady who had a hip defect in her youth which caused her to walk with a gait. Because of it she grew up thinking she was ugly and yearned to be beautiful. When she immigrated to America some years later she had a hip operation that corrected her impediment and she took up yoga and adopted the raw food diet to make herself beautiful.

She has been a raw foodist for over 30 years now and is nearly 70 years old. She maintains a very regimented beauty protocol which is her main focus in life. As a result she looks much younger with flawless skin and a slim toned body. She turned her pursuit of beauty into a business which she runs to this day and has even written books about it.

You will find such committed and dedicated raw foodists on social media today who have made this lifestyle their main focus. This is not a critique of such people. I have for a long time admired their dedication and self-discipline. I certainly have not been as consistent and vigilant in taking care of my own body.

There is, however, a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants that warns against total commitment to the body and negligence of the soul:  “Therefore, care not for the body, neither the life of the body, but care for the soul, and for the life of the soul.” (101:37)

I have always thought this scripture means that our salvation is dependent on the state of our souls and not our bodies…..which is true, but there is something else that is dependent on the soul: our resurrection.

We prize physical beauty in this world way too much and we struggle when youth fades and old age and sickness sets in. Despite our efforts to live in an anti-aging world, we cannot escape the fact that we live in corruptible bodies which will one day meet death. How well we have looked after our bodies here will not be the deciding factor of our eternal beauty.

Everything on this telestial plane is in its crude state of existence. Apostle Paul called our earthly bodies ‘vile’ which the Saviour will ‘fashion like unto His glorious body’ (Philippians 3:20-21). In resurrection, our eternal beauty will be the reflection of our soul and our bodies will reflect the glory of the kingdom in which we will dwell eternally.

Those who inherit celestial kingdom will assume the glory of the sun, even the glory of God. Those who inherit terrestrial kingdom will assume the glory of the moon and those who inherit telestial will assume the glory of the stars….(D&C 76:70,71,81). In short, our brilliance will depend on how much darkness is in us.

All in all, our righteousness determines the eternal beauty we will live with forever. Even the most physically beautiful person on the earth today could end up being just average in eternity….so yes, even though it is important to care for our bodies, if you want beauty, the care of your soul, surpasses that care. We live with our physical bodies for a time but with our resurrected bodies we will live forever.

The Saviour is an immortal, celestialised being of light. There is no darkness in Him because of the perfection of His soul (1 John 1:5; D&C 88:6,7). When He returns to earth in His glory, the sun shall hide its face in shame and ‘the need will disappear for the sun and the moon to give light to God’s covenant people (D&C 133:49; Isaiah 60:19,20; Orson Pratt in Journal of Discourses, 14:355-56). Imagine being so pure and so full of light of truth that you shine brighter than the sun.

I am a visual person. I appreciate beauty in many forms. It lifts my soul to be surrounded by the beauty of flowers, nature, people and homes. Yes, I would like to be one of the beautiful people but above the beauty of the body, I value the purity of my soul more. When I am resurrected I want my righteousness to shine and I don’t want any darkness in me. I want love, kindness and truth in the very depths of my soul to shine throughout immensity of time and space. I want it shining forever.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Light by The Land of Dreams)

FULNESS OF JOY

 

When the Saviour was still with His disciples, they asked Him of the signs of His second coming. One might wonder why they would be so anxious to know that, seeing so much time would transpire between the meridian of time and the last days. Herein is the actual answer. They knew it would be a long time and that they would anxiously await the day of Redemption, for one reason: they would look ‘upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies’ as a ‘bondage’ (D&C 45:17).

The evidence of this truth is recorded in Section 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants which describes the jubilation of the righteous in the spirit world when the Saviour came to them following His death ‘declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful’ from the chains of death, ‘for the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a ‘bondage’ (v 18).

Years ago I read one General Authority saying that we were so eager to come to earth that we were willing to accept lame, infirm, handicapped and even dysfunctional bodies. It puzzled me terribly because I had never looked upon my body as a great blessing.

At the time I presumed that we understood possessing a body only theoretically but not experientially, that we didn’t really know what it is like to have a body because we had never had one before. It was theory vs reality, like a woman who longed for a child ignorantly, not knowing what giving birth is really like.

So why would we look upon the absence of our bodies as bondage once we have experienced earth life with all its pains and sorrows, most of which are due to having a ‘corruptible’ body subject to illness and discomfort, a body which is ‘subject to the power of the Devil, and is under the mighty influence of that fallen nature that is of the earth’ (David A. Bednar, “Ye Are the Temple of God”, Ensign Sept 2001). This is why:

“When we go out of this life, leave this body, we will desire to do many things we cannot do at all without the body. We will be seriously handicapped and we will long for the body; we will pray for early reunion with our bodies. We will know then what advantage it is to have a body.

“Then every man and woman who is putting off until the next life the task of correcting and overcoming the weakness of the flesh are sentencing themselves to years of bondage, for no man or woman will come forth in the Resurrection until he has completed his work, until he has overcome, until he has done as much as he can do. (Melving J. Ballard, “Crusade for Righteousness, p 213).

A sobering thought, but this is the real reason. We are told that those who awaited the day of Resurrection in the spirit world, awaited it with eagerness ‘that they might receive a fulness of joy’ (D&C 138:17).

Think of all the pain and suffering of this life and contrast that to the perfect happiness we saw our heavenly parents in possession of before we were born. We wanted that……and we wanted this:

“The body that has been given to us was for the purpose of allowing the spirit to exalt itself to a nobler condition.”  (Melvin J. Ballard, “Crusade for Righteousness, p 12)

And so ‘the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy’ when the Saviour of our souls ‘laid the foundations of the earth’ (Job 38:4,7)…..and all glory and honour be to His name!!!  Forever and ever…...

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: World by Greg Olsen)

 

BEYOND THE GRAVE

 

 

“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” – John 11:25

Imagine if death was the marker of finality. Imagine if all the effort of self-improvement and human evolvement became null and void at death. Imagine the futility of the few years that are afforded to us here: the loss of loved ones, the wasteland of our dreams and hopes and achievements of humanity. No wonder so many of us who don’t believe there is anything beyond the grave, cling to this life so tenaciously. What surprise awaits them when they discover there is more, so much more!

The crowning glory of the Atonement is the Resurrection. If the Saviour did not overcome the sting of death, the suffering of Gethsemane would have been useless, the humiliation of Calvary even more so. What good would all His suffering be if we ceased to exist when mortality lays its claim on us and sends us to Mother Earth? If there is no ‘tomorrow’, ‘yesterday’ was a waste and ‘today’ is futile.

I give thanks to the Father of my soul who created me, who created the plan for my eternal existence, who sacrificed His Son so that I might live and have joy eternally. I give thanks to the Son who considered nothing was too hard to bear in ensuring this plan worked for my advantage and my eternal destiny. He is the truth, the light and the way, He is the resurrection and the life…..

 

If You were not,

I would not be,

Silence would have wept at Calvary!

 

If You were not,

I would not be,

As death would claim me eternally.

 

If You were not,

I would not be,

Joyless would be my destiny.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: On The Third Day by Chris Brazelton)

A PATH TO PERFECTION

 

“Abraham saw in vision all the spirit hosts of heaven. Among them were ‘the noble and great ones’ who participated in the creation of this earth and who were foreordained to serve the Almighty in special capacities while they dwelt in mortality. Christ was there, the foremost spirit of the innumerable host. Of him the account says:

“There stood one among them that was like unto God….in intelligence, in knowledge and understanding, in the possession of truth, in conformity to divine law, and therefore in power. Like God in plan and purpose, in desires for righteousness, in a willingness to serve his brethren, in all things that lead to that fulness of the glory of the Father….. (Abraham 3:24).

“But the Son of the Father had yet to pass through a mortal probation, to overcome the world, to attain a resurrection, and to come back to his Father with his own glorious and tangible body…..He had to work out his own salvation by doing on earth the will of the Father in all things.”

-        Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah, p 53-4)

It is sobering to think that Christ advanced so far in His development as a spirit child of God that such power was given Him of the Father for the creation of worlds….yet He was not perfect. That perfection could only come through the journey of mortality and resurrection.

The Saviour affirmed this truth when He gave out the mandate to the Jews prior to His death to be ‘perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect’ (Matthew 5:48). Whilst visiting the Nephites after His resurrection, the Saviour included himself in that command, because as a resurrected being, His perfection was obtained (3 Nephi 12:48).

It is equally sobering to think that He too had to pass through a mortal probation to achieve perfection. This important truth stands: one cannot obtain perfection without a resurrected body.

We knew this truth before we were born and we desired it greatly. This opportunity, when presented to us, was ‘so transcendently glorious’ that we burst forth into song and shouted for joy (Job 38:7; see also James Talmage, Jesus the Christ, 8).

I am certain that our shouts of joy and songs of elation echoed throughout eternity giving praise to the Father’s Son who was willing to pave the way to our perfection.

I am certain we sang glory to His name even as the angels heralding His birth. For without birth, there is no death; without death there is no resurrection and without resurrection there is no perfection.

The day you were born

You split the heavens open

And angels descended

Trailing in their flight

golden stars spilling over the night.

 

The moon hid in shame

As they spread Your godly light

And from their lips fell

Homage to Your glory

In the still of the night.

 

How I wish I could fly

Spreading the message far and wide:

Our God and our King was born

On a Meridian night!

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Mother of God by Lester Yocum)