A BIRTH AND A DEATH

 

 

I cannot celebrate the Saviour’s birth without being reminded of His death. Every time I see the baby in the manger these words echo in my mind: “To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world….” (John 18:37). You cannot have birth without death and you cannot have death without birth.

When I think of both, my consolation comes from remembering that the jubilation of Christ’s birth was outdone by the jubilation upon His return in triumph beyond the veil. Imagine the tears of sorrow at the cross and compare them to tears of celebration and gratitude that greeted the Saviour as He entered the spirit world:

“And there were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality…they were filled with joy and gladness and were rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance was at hand….while this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful…..

“And the saints rejoiced in their redemption, and bowed the knee and acknowledged the Son of God as their Redeemer, and Deliverer from death and the chains of hell. Their countenances shone and the radiance from the presence of the Lord rested upon them, and they sang praises unto His holy name….” (D&C 138:12-18; 23-24)

And what of us who had not yet been born into mortality? We who awaited the return of Him who knew our earthly lives before we did? I imagine the gratitude would have been overwhelming. I imagine we fell down before Him in adoration and praise, knowing our salvation was secure and that the Atonement was fixed and in place to enable us to endure our tribulations and resist the evil forces that would seek to destroy us.

I imagine that the very heavens echoed the shouts of our praise. I imagine we wept tears of exquisite joy as we saw our God take His place upon His throne and I imagine all eternity shook as we cried with one voice: “Glory and honour, and power, and might, be ascribed to our God…..let the sun, moon and morning stars sing together and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever!” (D&C 84:102; 128:23)

 

Did you miss Your throne divine

When You crossed the threshold of the stable?

 And did You clutch my worth inside You

That made Your mortal task divinely able?

 

I heard the angels in the field

Sing praises to Your name;

And I sorrowed knowing, like holy water,

Your love would spill on sacrificial altar.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Jesus Ascends by Chris Brazelton)

TEMPLE MANIFESTATIONS

 

“Elder John Mickelson Lang, a temple worker in the St. George Temple, received the following manifestation in the sacred structure in 1928:

One day while baptismal rites were being performed, I distinctly heard a voice at the east end of the font, very close to the ceiling, calling the names of the dead to witness their own baptism, allowing a moment for each spirit to present itself. After hearing many names called, I noticed a difference in the pronunciation of some of them. It seemed that the spirit who was calling must have a different list to ours. I was so impressed at the time that I placed my arm about the shoulders of Brother W.T. Morris, clerk, who was passing, and called his attention to the sound of the voice, but it was not discernible to him.

The occurrence had taken place in March of 1928, and it continued to prey upon my mind for some months, until one day in October I had gone to an upper room of the Temple, as was my custom, to offer secret prayer, asking for the assistance of God in my work, and to thank Him for showing me that there was a recording angel in His house, to keep a perfect record of that which transpired. I had finished my prayer and was about to leave the room when the question flashed through my mind, “But where and how does He get these names? Some of them were not pronounced the same as ours.”

God knew my thoughts; I never asked of Him to know. The explanation came to me in these words: “Every spirit that comes to earth has a guardian angel, whose duty it is to keep a record of the individual’s parentage, the conditions under which it was born, its inheritance, environment, thoughts and desires, and when the individual’s life is completed, the guardian angel’s mission ends. It returns, makes its report and hands in the record it has kept. This record is placed upon the other book, spoken of as The Book of Life.”

All this gave me to understand that in this other book is preserved the names and perfect dates of every spirit that ever came to earth. It is also made plain therein, how all things will be proven by two or three witnesses; for instance, in case a child is left on a doorstep, the guardian angel of the child, that of the father and of the mother constitute three witnesses to the child’s parentage. There are two witnesses to all things which transpire between any two persons. Also, God can give into the Temples a perfect record of the Lamanites, for instance, or any other people who have no earth record.

God is perfect. His record is perfect. We will be judged from the books.

I bear record that this testimony is true for I received it from an angel in the house of the Lord.”  (“Temple Manifestations – The St. George Temple, p 75-76)

 

Your life has come and gone

But your footprints remain

And your blood courses through my veins.

Because of God’s eternal grace

We will once again embrace.

I weep not that we are now apart,

For I carry you with me,

I carry you in my heart.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Mother to Mother by Katie Garner)

A BIRTH AND A DEATH

Did you miss Your throne divine

When You crossed the threshold of the stable?

 And did You clutch my worth inside You

That made Your mortal task divinely able?

 

I heard the angels in the field

Sing praises to Your name;

And I sorrowed knowing, like holy water,

Your love would spill on sacrificial altar.

 

I cannot look at the Saviour’s birth without being reminded of His death. Every time I see the baby in the manger these words echo in my mind: “To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world….” (John 18:37). You cannot have birth without death and you cannot have death without birth.

When I think of both, my consolation comes from remembering that the jubilation of Christ’s birth was outdone by the jubilation upon His return in triumph beyond the veil. Imagine the tears of sorrow at the cross and compare them to tears of celebration and gratitude that greeted the Saviour as He entered the spirit world: “And there were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality…they were filled with joy and gladness and were rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance was at hand….while this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful…..And the saints rejoiced in their redemption, and bowed the knee and acknowledged the Son of God as their Redeemer, and Deliverer from death and the chains of hell. Their countenances shone and the radiance from the presence of the Lord rested upon them, and they sang praises unto His holy name….” (D&C 138:12-18; 23-24)

And what of us who had not yet been born in mortality? We who awaited the return of Him who knew our earthly lives before we did? I imagine the gratitude would have been overwhelming. I imagine we fell down before Him in adoration and praise, knowing our salvation was secure and that the Atonement was fixed and in place to enable us to endure our tribulations and resist the evil forces that would seek to destroy us. I imagine that the very heavens echoed the shouts of our praise. I imagine we wept tears of exquisite joy as we saw our God take His place upon His throne and I imagine all eternity shook as we cried with one voice: “Glory and honour, and power, and might, be ascribed to our God…..let the sun, moon and morning stars sing together and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever!” (D&C 84:102; 128:23)

-      -  Cathryne Allen, (Art: Born This Day by Liz Lemon Swindle)