Imagine if
our eternal destiny looked like this:
“….if the
flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who
fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil….and our
spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a
devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the
father of lies, in misery, like unto himself….” (2 N 9:9). Besides calling him
the devil, Nephi’s brother Jacob, also called him ‘an awful monster’ and ‘death
and hell’, meaning ‘the death of the body and also the death of the spirit’
(v10).
Cast your
mind back to the pre-existence. We knew this ‘monster’ as Lucifer, the son of
the morning, who was in authority in the presence of God and who sought the
throne of the Only Begotten Son, whom the Father loved (D&C 76:25,26;
88:115). So great was Lucifer in the beginning that the very heavens wept over
him when he rebelled and became the monster of death and hell (D&C 76:26). Imagine
losing a son and brother with such great potential….and now he is compared to a
thief (John 10:10) who seeks to steal, kill and destroy, for……
He is the collector of ruined lives,
The Master of ravaged souls.
He is the Son of the Morning,
His pride yielded irreversible cost
In the beginning we sorely wept
When his soul was forever lost.
According to Jacob,
eternal misery could never be our outcome because of the goodness of our God
who prepared a way ‘for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster’ (2 N
9:10). Because of the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel,
‘body and spirit shall be restored to itself again and all men become
incorruptible and immortal’ (2 N 9:12,13). The heavens no doubt echoed as we
sang and shouted for joy (Job 38:7) that one was chosen with such integrity of
character, the dependability, the steadfastness, the selflessness, the
perfection, the power, and all the divine attributes that would enable him to rescue
us from hell. Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, became our hope of escape from
the clutches of the one who would make us miserable forever.
If not for You,
Where would I be?
I would belong to the enemy.
If not for You,
Where would I be?
I would be lost in obscurity.
If not for You,
Where would I be?
Death would claim me for eternity.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Jesus the Symbol of Hope by Ivan Guaderrama)
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