THE LAW OF CONSEQUENCE

 

 The greatest lesson we can learn from ancient Israel is the law of consequence. I see this in their 40 years of wanderings.

After arriving at Mt Sinai in the third month following their departure from Egypt (Exodus 19:1-2), they remained there for a year where they received the Ten Commandments, made a covenant with Jehovah and built the tabernacle. It took just eleven days following their departure from Mt Sinai to arrive to Kadesh-barnea where they were on the verge of the promised land (Deuteronomy 1:2). It was within their grasp but their failure to have faith in obtaining the land (Numbers 13:26-33) resulted in one serious consequence…..so near, yet so far.

After Moses pleaded with Jehovah to spare the congregation from destruction due to their murmuring against Him, the Lord showed mercy and decreed that all men 20 years of age and older, men of war who wouldn’t take possession of the land due to lack of faith, will never enter the promised land but He would allow the next generation to possess it (Numbers 14:26-35). It makes for heart wrenching reading.

 It cost ancient Israel an additional 38 years of wandering to suffer the consequence of disobedience. They did not arrive at the promised land again until all the men 20 years and over who had come out of Egypt had died in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 2:14). One might ask, surely in 38 years the Israelites would have become repentant enough for Jehovah to show mercy…..but the consequences of sin cannot be removed even when forgiveness is granted……primarily for our subsequent learning and growth. Where a consequence has to be suffered, it is unlikely the sin will be repeated. In Israel’s instance, the mercy was given the Israelites when their destruction was averted and another promise made….the mercy was the second chance.

This is the greatest lesson that can be gleaned from this. The Saviour will never go back on His word. When Moses, after 38 years of wanderings, stood on the east of river Jordan and viewed the promised land of Canaan from Pisgah with longing,  he beseeched the Lord to allow him to enter the promised land despite being told he will never get there because of the incident of ‘the rock of Meribah’ (Numbers 20:2-13). The Lord refused and told him to ‘speak no more to Him of this matter’ (Deuteronomy 3:23-26). Once again, consequences have to be suffered, especially for Israelites who had to become a peculiar people.

This, however, is the greatest lesson….the Lord will not go back on His word and this is why. The God of Israel is a God of integrity who does not bend with the wind, is not wishy washy and is not changeable. If He was, we would not know where we stood from one moment to the next. We can therefore be assured that He will never go back on what He has decreed and this is why it is important for us to know this, so that we know with utmost surety that He will never break His covenant with us  (Leviticus 26:44,45; Deuteronomy 4:31).

This is a God we can trust and depend on for the salvation of our souls. A God who is the same yesterday, today and forever. This is a God who will never forsake us, a God of commitment who endured the cross to the end and given us this assurance:  “Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands….”  (Isaiah 49:15,16)

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: My Judgments are Just by B. Laura Wilson)

THE LAW OF CONSEQUENCE

 

Perhaps the greatest lesson we can learn from ancient Israel is the law of consequence. I see this in the 40 years of their wanderings. After arriving at Mt Sinai in the third month following their departure from Egypt (Exodus 19:1-2), they remained there for almost a year where they received the Ten Commandments, made a covenant with Jehovah and built the tabernacle. It took just eleven days following their departure from Mt Sinai to arrive to Kadesh-barnea where they were on the verge of the promised land (Deuteronomy 1:2). It was within their grasp but their failure to have faith in obtaining the land (Numbers 13:26-33) resulted in one serious consequence…..so near, yet so far. After Moses pleaded with Jehovah to spare the congregation from destruction due to their murmuring against Him, the Lord showed mercy and decreed that all men 20 years of age and older, men of war who wouldn’t take possession of the land due to lack of faith, will never enter the promised land but He would allow the next generation to possess it (Numbers 14:26-35). It makes for heart wrenching reading. It cost ancient Israel 38 years of wandering to suffer the consequence of disobedience. They did not arrive at the promised land again until all the men 20 years and over who had come out of Egypt had died in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 2:14). One might ask, surely in 38 years the Israelites would have become repentant enough for Jehovah to show mercy…..but consequences of sin always have to be suffered, and not just for punishment but for our subsequent growth. Setting the consequence aside, the mercy had already been given when the Israelites’ destruction had been averted and another promise made. 

 

The greatest lesson that can be gleaned from all this is this:  the Saviour will never go back on His word. When Moses, after 38 years of wanderings, stood on the east of river Jordan and viewed the promised land of Canaan from Pisgah with longing,  he beseeched the Lord to allow him to enter the promised land despite being told he will never get there because of the incident of ‘the rock of Meribah’ (Numbers 20:2-13). The Lord refused and told him to ‘speak no more to Him of this matter’ (Deuteronomy 3:23-26). Once again, consequences have to be suffered, but more importantly, the Lord cannot go back on His word.

 

The God of Israel is a God of integrity who does not bend with the wind, is not wishy washy and is not changeable. If He was, we would not know where we stood from one moment to the next. We can therefore be assured that He will never go back on what He has decreed and He will never break His covenant with us, the House of Israel (Leviticus 26:44,45), the covenant which I am certain had roots in pre-existence and not just with Abraham in this life. This is a God we can trust and depend on for the salvation of our souls. This is a God who will never forsake us, a God of commitment who endured the cross to the end and given us this assurance:  “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee [O House of Israel]; 

 

Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands….”  (Isaiah 49:15,16). 

Art by Randy Friemel

 

 

 

 

SINS OF THE FATHERS

Marching across the pages of the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon, with valiance and fortitude, is a group of young men who came from the land of Jershon which joined the land Bountiful, a land given to their Lamanite fathers by the Nephites in 90 B.C. These young men were men of valour and courage, men of truth and soberness, "men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted'' (Alma 53:20), who "exemplified the type of manhood that all of God's sons should emulate and stood as a witness to the Nephite nation that God would deliver them if they were faithful" (Book of Mormon Student Manual, p 257). These young men chose the prophet of God to be their military leader (Alma 56:5) whom they regarded and addressed as 'father' for the duration of their military service. These young men were 'stripling warriors' who fought Nephite battles with such conviction and trust in the power of God's deliverance that not one of the 2,000 of them was lost. More than their military conquests, these young men whom Helaman affectionately called 'little sons' (Alma 56:30, 39) stand today as a testament of good parenting.

When Ammon and his brothers brought King Lamoni, his father and their subjects to the knowledge of the truth, their conversion was so deep that they buried their weapons of war as a token of their repentance, never to be used again for the shedding of blood. This token also extended to their desire to be distinguished from their brethren the Lamanites whereby they sought to take upon themselves a new name. Being more Lamanites by their biological nature and more Nephites by the changed nature of their hearts, they chose the name of Anti-Nephi-Lehies (Alma 23:16,17). This name also suggests the joining together of the descendants of Nephi and Lehi's other posterity, meaning they were now one: "The name of 'Anti' of 'Anti-Nephi-Lehi' may be a reflex of the Egyptian nty 'he of, the one of''. Thus, rather than having the sense 'against', it has the meaning 'the one of Nephi and Lehi'" (Stephen D. Ricks, "Anti-Nephi-Lehi", in Dennis L. Largey, ed., Book of Mormon Reference Companion [2003], p 67).

It is remarkable to note that not one of the Lamanites who were converted through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, 'according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy' ever did fall away from the truth (Alma 23:6). Rather they went on to raise a righteous generation which became a blessing to the Nephite nation. Helaman's 'little sons' were taught at their mothers' knee the power of God's deliverance and they adopted that conviction as their own (Alma 56:47,48), a conviction with which they gave the rest of the Nephi army 'great hopes and much joy' (Alma 56:17). Whereas their mothers taught them about God, the sins of their fathers and their subsequent conversion offered invaluable lessons to these young men and to us also.

Because of their past sins, the fathers of the stripling warriors had to rely on their teenage sons and Nephite's mercy to provide them with protection they could no longer give to their families. Herein lies a great lesson for us. In our unwise efforts to exert our right to choose, we very often act on the theory, 'this is my life and I'll do what I want', not realising that we are not the only ones who bear the brunt of our sins. Imagine with what trepidation the fathers of these young men sent them off to war to fight in their stead. Such was their keen sense of responsibility that they considered breaking the covenant which they had made to never again shed human blood. Had they broken that covenant, however, they would have become vulnerable to Satan's attempt to exploit their memory of any previous guilt and would by this lure them back into his influence.  Through guilt the adversary might have succeeded in making them believe that they will never be better than the sins they have committed and that it is useless to forsake them. Had the Ammonite fathers broken their covenant and succumbed to their previous sins of murder, all would have been lost.  Any spiritual headway they had made up to then would have been in peril, and not just for them but for the generations to come. By adhering to their covenant instead they ensured that "their humble, lifelong commitment to forsaking their sins did more to protect their families than anything they could have done on the battlefield" (Elder Richard G. Scott, Personal Strength Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Ensign Nov 2013). The positive ripple effect of not breaking the covenant they made is felt even today amongst countless people who have studied the Book of Mormon and have been edified by the story of the 2,000 stripling warriors.What an amazing example they are to the youth of this Church, an example that is so badly needed in our world.  Had these boys' fathers broken their covenant and regressed in their spiritual journey, we would not have this example to draw on today.

The legacy of sin is always short or long term consequences. More often than not, weaknesses are born out of those sins and sometimes these weaknesses do not stop with us. For a long time I have been troubled by the fact that I have not been a better parent to my children and also that my parents were not better parents to me.  I have agonized over the issues and hang ups that have followed me from my childhood and weaknesses, incorrect teachings and false thinking that have been passed down to me by my parents.  Likewise, I have worried about all the bad 'stuff' I have passed on to my children.  I read many years ago about 'inter-generational sins' and how easily we can pass them on to generations of our posterity; seemingly innocent weaknesses and false traditions that somehow end up being serious stumbling blocks to someone down the line.  In other words, how we live not only affects us but many others whose lives we impact.

Would it have been better for the stripling warriors that their fathers had never sinned? Of course, but a sinless life is something that escapes all of us in mortality. Even before this world began it was decreed that we would be born to imperfect parents and in turn become imperfect parents ourselves.  What is more, I think we chose which imperfect parents we would be born to according to what weaknesses they could give us so that by overcoming them we could develop the strengths that we needed. Being born into mortality to parents who are less than perfect offers us opportunities to grow from overcoming those imperfections, learning accountability for ourselves and learning how to make wise choices independent of what our parents before us have done. We knew long ago that we would sin in this fallen world and God knew too so provision was made for assistance to be given and that through this assistance we would come to Him: "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them" (Ether 12:27).

In all of this there is good news and hope: "The joyful news for anyone who desires to be rid of consequences of past poor choices is that the Lord sees weaknesses differently than he does rebellion. Whereas the Lord warns that unrepented rebellion will bring punishment, when the Lord speaks of weaknesses, it is always with mercy" (Elder Richard G. Scott, Personal Strength Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Ensign Nov 2013). It is with mercy He looks upon the weaknesses we have inherited from our parents, it is with mercy He looks upon the weaknesses our parents have inherited from their parents, and it is especially with mercy that He looks upon the weaknesses of the penitent, those who always seek to do better, for those who seek to do better understand this important truth:

"In light of the ultimate purpose of the great plan of happiness,

 I believe that the ultimate treasures on earth and in heaven 

are our children and our posterity." 

- Dallin H. Oaks

TO HEAL THE BROKEN HEARTED - PART 2

There is an article in the September 1980 issue of the Newsweek magazine entitled "What Mormons Believe". The author of this article had read several books of Mormon theology but rather than do a book review, it was his aim to report how members of the Church interpret their doctrine.  His findings led him to report that Mormons believe that 'men are born free of sin and earn their way to godhood by the proper exercise of free will, rather than through the grace of Jesus Christ. Thus Jesus' suffering and death in the Mormon view were brotherly acts of compassion, but they do not atone for the sins of others' (Bruce C. Hafen, The Broken Heart, p 2). In other words, what this reporter discovered is the members' lack of understanding of the Atonement and what it can do for them. It would seem that we place more emphasis on our own feeble efforts and largely overlook God's grace when it comes to working out our salvation. Whenever there is disbelief expressed by members of the Church in their ability to 'make it' there is a sure belief that we are meant to gain eternal life on our own merit rather than through the power of God's grace given to us through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

The Church has placed a lot of emphasis on the Atonement in recent years and the leaders have taught this important doctrine extensively. Even though we might never fully understand it in this life, it is hoped that most of the Church membership by now at least believe what the Atonement professes it can do because if we don't, this life stands as an insurmountable mountain to climb: "Our understanding of the Atonement is hardly a shield against sorrow; rather, it is a rich source of strength to deal productively with the disappointments and heartbreaks that form the deliberate fabric of mortal life. The gospel was given us to heal our pain, not to prevent it. Having noted these reasons for caution, however, I sense that an increasing number of deeply committed Church members are weighed down beyond the breaking point with discouragement about their personal lives. When we habitually understate the meaning of the Atonement, we take more serious risks than simply leaving one another without comforting reassurances - for some may simply drop out of the race, worn out and beaten down with the harsh and untrue belief that they are just not celestial material (Bruce C. Hafen, The Broken Heart, p 5)." Anyone who drops out of the race because they believe that they can't make it does not understand how the Atonement works and how to make it active in their lives. It is practically a sin to say 'I can't make it' for when we do so we negate the Saviour's suffering on our behalf.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ was not only designed for our spiritual purification but to also endow us with power to overcome, to fix, to change and to endure. This is grace. Grace is power. It is not a magic wand that will on judgment day miraculously compensate for everything we fell short of in our mortal lives. It is, however, a consistent source of aid available to us, during our life's journey, to overcome the world and fashion of ourselves what we are meant to become. It is the combined force of our action and the Saviour's power that grants us salvation, not our merit alone or the Saviour's infallible mercy alone. The Saviour was blessed with power to 'tread the winepress alone' and to atone for every sin and mortal distress known to man. This is important for us to know because those who accept the saving ordinances of the gospel have access to this power, with which the Saviour could overcome the suffering of all mankind, to overcome our own. We have the right to this access by virtue of becoming His sons and His daughters. When we are born into this world, we inherit physical attributes of our mortal father. When we are born spiritually in the waters of baptism and proceed to live the gospel, we inherit attributes of our spiritual Father who is Jesus Christ. This means that through the grace available to us we can think as He does, act as He does, endure as He does. This is what Alma meant when he said: "And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the Church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received His image in your countenances? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?" (Alma 5:14,19). When we become as He is, we become powerful, powerful enough to overcome, powerful enough to endure, powerful enough to succeed.

How did the Saviour become so powerful during the moment of His greatest suffering? The scriptures record that as He suffered, He prayed. But not just any prayer. When ordinary prayer was not enough and his agony intensified, He prayed 'more earnestly' (Luke 22:44) suggesting this was not a prayer of words but a prayer of faith. If He believed that His supplication to the Father would go unnoticed He would have ceased praying but the scriptures record that as His agony increased, so did His prayer. As He prayed earnestly through faith, the power increased to endure the agony which extracted drops of blood from every pore. It was because of this power that He was able to say 'thy will be done'. He didn't want to suffer. He pleaded with the Father, if there was another way, to take the bitter cup from Him so that He did not have to drink it but the commitment had been made long ago and the price had to be paid. And so He did what was the hardest of all things for Him to do. That's power. Subjecting Himself to the agony of Gethsemane and overcoming the sting of death was the Saviour's crowning glory.

We can access the power of the Atonement through the prayer of faith in Jesus Christ. When Alma prayed for deliverance from prison cords which held him and Amulek bound, he didn't pray just an ordinary prayer but he prayed that the cords be loosed 'according to our faith which is in Christ' (Alma 14:26). When he blessed Zeezrom with the intent to heal him, he prayed for him to be healed 'according to his faith which is in Christ' (Alma 15:10). If we are to access Christ's power, we must do so by affirming our faith in Him with the words of our prayer, during our prayer and not just at its' conclusion. Speaking the name of Jesus Christ carries with it immense power and affirms to the Father that we have faith in His Son and His Atonement. The Saviour Himself has said 'whatsoever things ye shall ask the Father in my name shall be given unto you' (3 Nephi 27:28) and 'whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it' (Enos 1:15).

We possess the greatest tool known to man for the perfection of our souls. In our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour we have been granted access to immense power to conquer all things including suffering that comes from consequences of this mortal probation, even the decisions we make pertaining to our spiritual and temporal lives. So much depended on the Saviour's acceptance of the task given Him, not only did His eternal destiny hang in balance but ours also. Imagine being responsible for billions of people. Imagine allowing destruction of all these people in your care. Satan had already led away a third of the Father's children. Imagine if the Saviour backed down in His hour of agony and allowed the rest us to fall into Satan's hands. It could never be because all would have been wasted including this earth which He has created for the perfection of our mortal experience. As we stood in line in the Garden of Gethsemane with the burden of our mortality upon us we understood the price that was paid for our eternal souls. With bated breath we hoped against all hope that Christ would not shrink back from exquisite agony and leave us unransomed and lost. It was in that precise moment of His submission to the Father's will that we understood just how much we are worth. The price was paid, the slate would be wiped clean, the tears of our sorrows wiped away, perfection will be within reach and then life eternal in the realms of our heavenly home. The plan conceived before the world was, at once became the plan achieved. This is grace. This is the path to exaltation, this is the reality that dispels all doubt in human breast telling us we cannot do it.

"For ye are bought with a price..........I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands"

(1 Cor 6:20, Isa 49:16)

THE EASINESS OF THE WAY

 "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."   (Matthew 11:28-30)

"In Biblical times, the yoke was a device of great assistance to those who tilled the field. It allowed the strength of a second animal to be linked and coupled with the strength of a single animal, sharing and reducing the heavy labour of the plow or wagon. A burden that was overwhelming or perhaps impossible for one could be equitably and comfortably borne by two bound together with a common yoke....

Why face life's burdens alone, Christ asks, or why face them with temporal support that will quickly falter. To the heavy laden it is Christ's yoke, it is the power and peace of standing side by side with a God that will provide the support, balance, and strength to meet our challenges and endure our tasks here in the hardpan field of mortality." (President Howard W. Hunter, Conference Report, October 1990)

The yoke in mortality that each one of us must bear is the responsibility to become perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect. This responsibility is our journey to godhood and eternal life, a journey that we cannot travel alone for a yoke requires two to pull the burden attached to it. We cannot choose whether to bear a yoke, that choice was made before this world was, but we can choose which yoke we will bear. We can either choose to bear the yoke of Christ or the yoke of the Adversary. Christ has offered us His yoke and has promised that His yoke is easy. This yoke entails covenants and obedience and sacrifice. We might well ask ourselves, how can such a yoke be easy? The yoke of 'perfection' is easy because Christ is yoked by our side, gently leading us in the direction we should go to avoid the pitfalls and heartaches and shouldering the weight we cannot bear. His strength compensates for our lack and empowers us to overcome and become. With Him comes power and enlarged capacity. In short, he makes the way easy with the endowment of His grace.

A life of sin with scorching consequences which is the yoke of the Adversary is a far heavier and harder yoke to bear in mortality than Christ's yoke of commandments, covenants and sacrifice. When you are yoked with the adversary, you are left to bear the burdens of sin such as shame, addiction and moral degradation alone. The Adversary is not interested in being yoked with someone to bear burdens and consequences of sin. He is only interested in placing the yoke of oppression that leads to spiritual destruction on those who are willing to take it.  Satan's is a 'yoke of iron' that 'brings us down into captivity' (1 Nephi 13:5). Christ's yoke, on the other hand, offers freedom from sin and its devastating consequences. His compassion and mercy make it possible for us to cast off the yoke of sin and bondage and be free as is illustrated by the sinful woman who dared to enter the house of Simon, the Pharisee and who wept as she bathed the Saviour's feet. This woman would have found no forgiveness from Simon, a representative of the austere 'law' she was subject to but in his house she found the Saviour who was willing to take the burden of her sins upon Himself, to pay the price of justice in the winepress that He had to tread alone (Isaiah 63:3).

Simon, who was repulsed by the sinful woman, who omitted to observe the custom of the day to treat a distinguished guest with 'marked attention; to receive him with a kiss of welcome, to provide water for washing the dust from his feet, and oil for anointing the hair of the head and the beard' (Jesus The Christ, p. 261) stood in poor contrast to a sinful woman who acknowledged Christ's saving grace, who 'stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment' (Luke 7:38). This woman 'represents all of us with our burdens, making our way to the one true source of rest and relief. Knowing that ridicule might well follow her entrance into the eating chamber, knowing that her reputation would accompany her, and knowing that she would not be welcome by some within, still she entered. She was heavy-laden with the recognition of her sins and the downward spiral of her life' (Ted L. Gibbons, NT Lesson 10: Take My Yoke Upon You and Learn of Me, March 2011).

To those of us who are weighed down with heavy burdens of remorse and sin, mortal hardship and pain, sorrow and discouragement and who are often overwhelmed with the requirements for exaltation, the Saviour offers relief and peace, comfort and help. He alone has the capacity to carry all our burdens and all our sorrows and all our imperfections. He who has hung on the cross has taken upon Himself the hardships of mortality for each one who would come to Him and believe. He alone can wipe the slate clean and wash our garments though they be as scarlet to once again be white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). If we come to Him, He will set us free and He will encircle the faithful in the arms of His love (D&C 6:20).

For "he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom............" (Isaiah 40:11).