THE GLORIOUS GOD OF ISRAEL

 

 

It is estimated by historians that the total number of the children of Israel who left Egypt would have been close to 2 million. That number would have increased over the 40 years of journeying. Just imagine people’s struggle with this ongoing travel and its associated frustrations, fears and doubts for 40 years. It’s like a camping trip from hell!

Imagine setting up tents and then tearing them down to continue from one point of distance to another and doing that for 40 years. Now imagine running out of food and water along the way and having to fight off the people who saw you as a threat to their land.

We who live in an age of sophisticated transportation could never relate to reaching any destination on foot. Jehovah instructed Moses the congregation should march in groups of 4, with each group consisting of 3 tribes, on the west, south, east and north surrounding the tabernacle with Levites who were consecrated to the service of caring for the tabernacle and priesthood ordinances within, to be in the middle.

The places of honour, at the head and immediately following the tabernacle and the Levites were held by Judah and Ephraim (Numbers 2). These were the choice tribes who presided over the two kingdoms in the promised land. Judah, because Christ was to come from that line and Ephraim, because He is God’s firstborn:”…for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn” (Jeremiah 31:9).

It was an eleven-day journey from Mt Sinai to the promised land but because of their rebellions that journey became 40 years of wandering (Clarke, “Bible Commentary” 1:737). Years ago when I was studying this, I came to the conclusion that the children of Israel were very spiritually immature. Their constant complaining and murmurings seemed like unnecessary faith defeating melt downs. Now that I have lived a life-time experiencing hardship, I have compassion for what they went through. I who abhor camping would not have lasted two days in such a situation.

Imagine being in charge of this whole operation.  No wonder Moses exclaimed: I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me!” (Numbers 11:14). But Moses did bear it because the God of Israel sent him Jethro, his father-in-law who taught him about delegation (Exodus 18:13-27). And that was not the only help He gave.

Jehovah also travelled with His chosen people (Numbers 9;21-23; 10:34; Psalm 78:14); sustained them with provisions; preserved their health and even the clothes upon their backs (Deuteronomy 8:4). He was there throughout the whole difficult experience refining them to become after 430 years in slavery, ‘a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people’ who could ‘show forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light’ (1 Peter 2:9)

This life is like a wilderness through which we must pass to get home. I have often asked myself why it has to be this hard. The answer is the same for us as it was for the children of Israel: “…and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God” (Exodus 16:12)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Artist Unknown)

 

 

 

TO THE END

 

“Before you joined this Church you stood on neutral ground. When the gospel was preached, good and evil were set before you. You could choose either or neither. There were two opposite masters inviting you to serve them. When you joined this Church you enlisted to serve God. When you did that, you left the neutral ground, and you never can go back on to it. Should you forsake the Master you enlisted to serve, it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his servant.”

-          “Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith” [2007], 324)

“The Lord has made it clear that all who wish to be saved must endure to the end in righteousness (see Ezekiel 18:24,27; Matthew 10:22; Mosiah 4:30; 3 Nephi 15:9, 27:17; D&C 18:22; 53:7; 82:7)

“President Spencer W. Kimball taught: “having received the necessary saving ordinances – baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, temple ordinances and sealings – one must live the covenants made. He must endure in faith. No matter how brilliant was the service rendered by the bishop of stake president or other person, if he falters later in his life and fails to live righteously ‘to the end’ the good works he did all stand in jeopardy.”  (“Miracle of Forgiveness” p 121)

How deep He buried the truth in my soul

Long before this body of clay

Began the journey below!

 

He has watered the seed of my faith

And cleared my garden of weeds of gloom

He is the Gardener

Who tenderly watches my soul’s

everlasting bloom.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Garden Portrait by LDS Art) 

SONGS OF EVERLASTING JOY

 

Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake saying, I will sing unto the Lord; for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation: my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.

Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.

Thy right hand, O Lord is become glorious in power, thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.

And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.

Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.

Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.

-          Exodus 15:1-18

“Regardless of where the Ten Tribes are, it will require a miracle to bring them forth. It will be of greater magnitude than the dividing of the Red Sea in the days of Israel’s Exodus. Mountains, ice and a continent of water will stand between the Ten Tribes and the land of Zion when they first appear, but they will ‘smite the rocks, and the ice shall flow down at their presence’ (D&C 133:26). As they come to the great body of water, dry land will be cast up in the midst of it so that a mighty highway will spread before them (ibid v 27; Isaiah 11:16).” (Cleaon Skousen, “Prophecy and Modern Times” p 56)

And the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their presence.

And there shall they fall down and be crowned with glory, even in Zion, by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the children of Ephraim.

And they shall be filled with songs of everlasting joy.

(D&C 133:31-33

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)

HE WHO RESCUES

 

“So the Hebrews went out of Egypt, while the Egyptians wept, and repented that they had treated them so harshly…..but the Egyptians didn’t weep for long and…’soon repented that the Hebrews were gone; and the king also was mightily concerned that this had been procured by the magic arts of Moses; so they resolved to go after them.”

-           (Josephus, “Jewish Antiquities” 15:1, The New Complete Works of Josephus p 107)

The number of Egyptians that pursued the children of Israel was overwhelming and terrifying:six

hundred chariots, fifty thousand horsemen, and two hundred thousand footmen, all armed (ibid page 107; Exodus 14:7).

The terrifying appearance of the Egyptian army when they found the Hebrews encamping by the Red Sea, triggered their often-repeated accusations against Moses during their travels to the promised land (Exodus 14:12. Josephus claims they attempted to stone him several times.

Moses, however, would not be deterred by the threat of his life and reasoned with people that God would not lead them out of Egypt to abandon them and if He so please He can make plain ground out of the mountains that were behind them and dry land out of the sea that was before them. He therefore prayed to God for their deliverance:

“You are not ignorant, O Lord, that it is beyond human strength and human contrivance to avoid the difficulties we are now under….and we have recourse only to that hope we have in you….therefore manifest your power to us….the sea is yours, the mountains also…..these mountains will open themselves if you command them, and the sea also, if you command it, will become dry land.” (Josephus, “Jewish Antiquities” 16:1, p 109)

Moses closed his supplication to God by saying that they can even escape by ‘flight through the air, if He should determine that they should have that way of salvation’. Can you imagine God not acting upon such a prayer of faith? It is unthinkable. I’ve learnt something from Moses….without faith, prayer becomes just words.

Jehovah responded to Moses’ faith and “caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided…and the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground….and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.” (Exodus 14:21,22,31)

If you are in bondage to the adversary, in any way, know this. He will not let you go easily and when you try to escape he will come after you. But there is one mightier than he. He will ensure your escape and honour your faith. Hope, trust, believe…..He is the deliverer of your soul, may glory be His forever more.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: I Was There by Danny Hahlbohm)

THE GATHERING

 

Israel’s exodus from Egypt was epic. So momentous and powerful was it that it has been remembered as an unparalleled act of God’s power to this day but something much bigger is yet to happen to show the mankind who is in control of this project we call ‘earth’.

Subsequent Prophets to Moses both in the Near East and the Americas spoke often of the Exodus to keep this momentous deliverance of Israel fresh in people’s minds. They used the event as remembrance of Jehovah’s power and His mercy toward the covenant people. I am reminded of Nephi bringing Moses to his brothers’ remembrance when faced with the challenge of recovering the brass plates from Laban (1 Nephi 4:2,3).

Besides the Exodus, another sensational and dramatic example of Jehovah’s deliverance is found in the book of Daniel. I was reading the other day of Daniel’s prayer for forgiveness on behalf of the exiles in Babylon and I was enthralled with the beauty of his words through which he acknowledged Jehovah’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt (Daniel 9:15).

And herein is the beauty of it all. Daniel prayed because he knew that God would deliver the exiles from Babylon too and he knew it because of Isaiah’s prophecy (2 Chr 36:22-23; Isaiah 44:28; 45:1).

It is suggested by historians that when Cyrus conquered Babylon, he found Daniel there in his governmental capacity,  and that Daniel  pointed out to him the prophecy of Isaiah that was given 140 years before the fall of Jerusalem, that the Lord would raise up a mighty king who would free the Jewish captives in Babylon and allow them to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the holy city. Isaiah even named Cyrus by name.....180 years before he even appeared in Babylon.

Astonishing isn't it? It certainly was to Cyrus because he sent out the proclamation amongst the Jews in Babylon that ‘the Lord God of heaven….had charged [him] to build Him a house in Jerusalem’ (Ezra 1:2) and asked who among all of God’s people wanted to return home. He actually offered freedom to anyone who wanted it. Proof that God always accomplishes His purposes in miraculous ways because nothing is beyond His power. It was no parting of the Red Sea but think about it…a Persian king liberating the Jews….just for some perspective - ancient Persia is modern day Iran.

In our day, the Lord will perform another miracle of restoring those that are lost. As early as 1831 the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that the translated Apostle John was fulfilling a mission among the Ten Tribes preparing them for their journey to Zion (“Essentials in Church History, p 126).

This will be an event of enormous proportions, greater than the dividing of the Red Sea. So much so that ‘the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their presence…’ (D&C 133:31-33). 'The boundaries of the everlasting hills' being North America (Orson Pratt, in “Journal of Discourses”, 18:167-68; see also Genesis 49:26).

So great will this event be that ‘it will no longer be said “The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt but, the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands whither he had driven them…” (Jeremiah 16:14,15) because “this is the blessing of the everlasting God upon the tribes of Israel …”  who proclaims:

“I am he who led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; and my arm is stretched out in the last days, to save my people Israel.” (D&C 133: 34; 136:22)

We 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: Joyful by Graphic Arts Design)

THE FOCUS

 

“Prophets, priests and kings…..have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live; and fired with heavenly and joyful anticipations they have sung, and written and prophesied of this our day; but they died without the sight; we are the favoured people that God has made choice of to bring about the latter-day glory; it is left for us to see, participate in and help to roll forward the latter-day glory, ‘the dispensation of the fulness of times’.”

-          Joseph Smith, “Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith” p 231)

I have been thinking about this for a couple of days. It took me back to when I joined the Church at 18 years of age and I remembered how excited I was as a new member. I was care-free and idealistic. The Gospel was simple: obey the commandments and you will reap the blessings. That was 50 years ago and of course over the years, the hardships of life have taught me that focus is not as simple as that.

We are living in that ‘exciting’ day that Joseph Smith spoke of but this exciting day is not looking so exciting if the focus is on the world. We are surrounded by wars, crime, financial hardship, mental health crisis and more. Sometimes we might think that it is difficult to view our day with all its perils as an exciting time to be alive.

The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times holds within it a big responsibility, a responsibility to build a Millenial society. Like the prophets, priests and kings who looked forward to our day, we might have to look forward to the Millenial Day.

We know it will be a time of peace when the Saviour will reign as the King of Kings so there will be no wars; when all things shall be revealed (D&C 101:23-35); when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord so there will be no persecution of the believers (2 Nephi 30:8-17); when there will be no sickness or death (Isaiah 65:20; D&C 63:51); when Satan will be bound and will tempt no man (D&C 101:28); when ‘whatsoever any man shall ask, it shall be given  him’ (D&C 101:27).

To live in that kind of society means we have to BE that kind of society. We are to survive the turmoil of today by letting God prevail in our lives so that we can enjoy the fulness of tomorrow. If we focus on that ‘tomorrow’, we will see in our mind’s eye peace in turmoil, clarity in confusion, satisfaction in discontent and power in endurance….until the day that we will be able to rest from all our labours and the fulness will be complete…..when He comes to make us free.

 

How can I explain my peace

because of Thee?

Whenever my mind idles,

My thoughts fly to Thee

And I am free;

Whenever my mind empties,

It fills with thoughts of Thee

And I am free;

Whenever my mind wanders,

It finds a path to Thee

And I am free;

Whenever my heart aches

It runs to Thee

And I am free.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Dove of Peace by Doc Christensen)

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)