THE GREATNESS OF GOD:

 

 

When the heavens opened and Enoch was clothed upon with glory, he was admitted into God’s presence where he was shown ‘the world for the space of many generations’ (Moses 7:3,4)

After he beheld God’s immense power of creation, he beheld something he didn’t count on.  He saw God weeping over his disobedient children and in amazement he asked: “How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?” (v 29) In that instant Enoch saw not only God but the Father (v 33).

If you know what it feels like to be a parent, multiply that by infinity and you will begin to understand who God the Father is: the depth of His love, the depth of His sorrow, the depth of His mercy, the depth of His forgiveness, the depth of His desires to elevate and exalt His children, the very depth of who He is. Enoch did not only understand this but felt it as the Father told him of all ‘the doings of the children of men and their wickedness’ (v 41). So deep was Enoch’s understanding and his empathy that ‘his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook’ (v 41).

If we could but get a glimpse of the Father’s heart we would trust, trust, trust……we would trust His very plan for each of us, explicitly. We would trust His Beloved Son and His power of redemption and we would follow Him to the ends of the earth. If we could just see Him as Enoch saw Him…..and we can.

There is a promise that the Saviour made which makes this possible: “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” (John 14:23). If you think this cannot be a literal appearing, think again.

On 2 April, 1843, Joseph was given some clarification regarding certain scriptures and among them was the scripture from the Gospel of John which confirms that the Father and the Son may appear personally to men: “John 14:23 – The appearing of the Father and the Son, in that verse, is a personal appearance, and the idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man’s heart is an old sectarian notion, and is false.” (D&C 130:3)

Jesus was born so that He could reveal to us the Father and Jesus atoned so that we could come back to the Father. The Father and the Son are one in greatness, power, glory and majesty (D&C 50:43; 93:3; 3 N 11:27; John 14:9-11). They are also one in their role of Father (Ether 4:7; Alma 11:38-9; Mosiah 15:4; 16:5). By knowing and loving one, we know and love the other.

Through The One who willingly laid down His life so that we might live, we can, like the prodigal, return into the loving arms of the Father of all creation. May we honour the greatness of Him who holds us in the palm of His hand through the life that we live that we might be the source of His joy forever.

 

I pleaded with you,

In the beginning,

To bring me home again to Thee.

I promised to heed every call,

To avoid every danger,

To abhor every sin.

 

I have laboured, Father,

to bring joy to Thee

and to be worthy

Of Your love for me.

 

When my time comes,

I will come home to Thee

and I will wait

 at heaven’s door knocking

Until I hear the angels sing. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Return of the Prodigal by Pompeo Batoni)

THE CROWNING BLESSING

 

If ever there was a book for our time, it is the Doctrine and Covenants: a warning to the world and a concise compilation of prophecies, revelations and direct instructions and commandments to Christ’s Church. When I read this book I hear the voice of God.

Every time I study the Doctrine and Covenants, my testimony of Joseph as a prophet grows. No mortal man could come up with anything to rival or match any revelation contained therein that fell from the lips of our exalted, glorified and beloved Saviour.

Consider if anyone bar Christ himself could possibly make the promise He made at the very start of Section 93. The promise to the faithful members of His Church is beyond our wildest imagination:

“It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am.”  (v1)

It is the same promise He gave to His Church in the meridian of time:

“If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”  (John 14:23)

Could there be a greater promise than to see His face??? Elder Bruce R. McConkie called this “the crowning blessing of mortality”:

“We have the power – and it is our privilege – so to live, that becoming pure in heart, we shall see the face of God while we yet dwell as mortals in a world of sin and sorrow. This is the crowning blessing of mortality. It is offered by that God who is no respecter of persons to ALL the faithful in his kingdom. (In CR, Oct 1977, p 52, or Ensign Nov 1977, p 34)

President Spencer W. Kimball confirmed this privilege is available to all the members of the Church:

“I have learnt that where there is hungering after righteousness, forsaking of sins and obedience to the commandments of God, the Lord pours out more and more light until there is finally power to pierce the heavenly veil and to know more than man knows. A person of such righteousness has the priceless promise that one day he shall see the Lord’s face and know that he is.”  (“Give the Lord Your Loyalty”, Ensign March 1980, p 4)

“Sanctify yourselves that your mind become single to God, and the day will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you….”  (D&C 88:68)

“Verily I say unto you that it is your privilege, and a promise I give unto you that inasmuch as you …..humble yourselves before me….the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am….” (67:10)

I sometimes wonder if it is our lack of worthiness or our lack of belief in the promise that keeps Him away…..

I lift and I float in this vast

Universal space,

Seeking and hoping to see Your face.

Angels are near me,

They beckon and call

Ensuring I find a soft place to fall.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Bridegroom by LDS Art)

 

FEARLESS

 

In my last post where I wrote about the privilege we can have to see the face of Christ, I mentioned a scripture that supported that doctrine which reads like this: “….inasmuch as you strip yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me….the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am….” (D&C 67:10)

I understood jealousies and lack of humility to be the stumbling block because they allude to attributes of righteousness but I wondered why the Lord included ‘fears’ in the list of the prerequisites. After a few days of pondering I understood why. Fear is inverted faith. Fear and faith cannot co-exist. You either have one or the other. You cannot hold onto fears produced by mortality and say you have faith in God and His providence.

This led me to ask what fears the early saints had that would impede their faith. This is actually easy to understand when you consider the hardships, sacrifices and persecutions that confronted them. Nevertheless, the fears they had regarding their condition would have negated the faith they should have had in the Saviour as their support, their caregiver and deliverer from difficulties they were called upon to bear. This is not a judgmental observation but an attempt to highlight the power of faith.

And this is to highlight the power of fear. The revelation of Section 67 was concerning a special conference of the Elders in regards to the printing of 65 revelations received by Joseph up to that time. In verse 3 of this Section, the Lord tells these Elders that they believed that they should receive the blessing which was offered to them but that they didn’t receive it because of the ‘fears in their hearts’.

It is not clear what blessing these fears were responsible for but considering that William W. Phelps was one of the Elders involved in the conference and the printing of the ‘Book of Commandments’, this offers some clarity regarding the fears. Not only did he question the language of the revelations, because he was a ‘learned man’ and an educator, he also attempted to write one himself and failed miserably (Doctrine & Covenants Student Manual p 142).

William W. Phelps was Joseph’s close associate who left the Church for a time with Oliver Cowdery. He became fiercely anti and wrote an incriminating affidavit which landed Joseph and Sidney Rigdon in jail and wreaked deadly havoc on the Church community. He later repented and admitted he had been under immense pressure and persecution from the opposing forces to the Church. Phelps stands as a good example of the fears that would have plagued the early saints.

Very often we miss out on the greatest blessings because we don’t focus on what we want but instead we focus on what we don’t want to happen to us. This creates a very powerful tool that brings that unwanted thing upon us, the tool called FEAR. This tool often directs the paths we take in life and dictates how productive we are. It cripples our self-confidence, it prevents happiness by projecting outcomes that might never happen, and at times it manifests that which we don’t want. In Job’s words: “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me” (Job 3:25)

The worst of all, it destroys our faith in God who heralds: “Fear thou not, for I am with thee….” (Isaiah 41:10)

I kept my fears so close to my heart,

They hid so well not wanting to depart.

They pulled the strings

And bade me where to go;

They owned my soul

More than I wanted to know.

You took possession of the inner me

And replaced those fears with tranquility.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Jesus Tranquil Grace by Ivan Guaderrama)

EXEMPLARY FAITH

 

Whenever I read the story of the brother of Jared, I ask myself: what kind of faith does it take for the veil to become so thin that the Lord was compelled to fully show himself to this man?

Undoubtedly, this faith began the moment the solution to the problem of light entered into this man’s mind. The solution he came up with may not have been so unusual since some rabbis and scholars claim that Noah’s ark had the same illumination and the brother of Jared might have been familiar with that fact (New Era Dec 2020).

Certainly, the carving out of the stones would have contributed greatly to his faith in this solution for why would you go to such trouble if you were not a hundred percent sure that it would work?

Bringing the stones before the Lord and acknowledging his personal conviction in the Lord’s power to do all things would have added another decibel to his faith (Ether 3:4). Being specific about the finger would have taken that faith up another notch.

What amazes me further is this. Once his faith rendered the veil, everything beyond it was fair game. He was shown not only the Lord but ‘greater things that never have been manifest before’ (v 18,19,20; 4:4). These greater things are contained in the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon (Ether 4:4,5).

Much can be written about the brother of Jared’s experience but my intent here is to show that we need to take note of the principle of faith that unfolded the whole story. There are two things I find are of great interest.

Firstly, Moroni indicates that the brother of Jared was told ‘in times before’ that if he believed in the Lord, He could show him ‘all things’ (Ether 3:26). We can conclude from this that the brother of Jared had a long-standing relationship with Christ, he had a desire to know the mysteries of the kingdom and he worked on developing his faith to come to the point where ‘the Lord could not withhold anything from him’ (Ether 3:26).

We should take note of this, especially in relation to the promise that the saints of this dispensation have been given as contained in D&C 76:5-10.

The second point of interest involves us. I have friends, who like me, are eager to read the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon. I have always thought the ‘yet unrevealed scriptures’ will one day just appear and we will get to read them, probably in the Millenium. There is a catch however.

This is what Moroni was told by the Lord himself referring to the ‘greater things’, when he was commanded to seal up the portion of the plates:

“They shall not go forth unto the Gentiles until the day that they shall repent of their iniquity, and become clean before the Lord. And in that day that they shall EXERCISE FAITH IN ME….EVEN AS THE BROTHER OF JARED DID…..” (Ether 4:7)

The Saviour went further to say that we will need to be sanctified in Him before He will unfold to us all His revelations (v 7). This is a sobering thought that tells us we will not get to read these scriptures without any effort on our part…a serious effort, one that leads to the principle of repentance and the manifesting faith like we have never known before…..the manifesting faith of the brother of Jared.  Are we up to it????

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Brother of Jared by Emily Pugmire)