INHERITANCE

 

“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”  (3 Nephi 12:5)

“As things are now constituted, the meek do not inherit the earth; even He who said of himself, “I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matt 11:29) had in fact no place of his own to lay his head. This world’s goods were of little moment to him, and he had neither gold nor silver nor houses nor lands, nor kingdoms……The meek – those who are the God-fearing and the righteous – seldom hold title to much of that which appertains to this present world.

“But there will be a day when the Lord shall come to make up his jewels; there will be a day when Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the faithful of ancient Israel shall dwell again in old Canaan; and there will be also an eventual celestial day when ‘the poor and the meek of the earth shall inherit it.” (D&C 88:17)

There are some of us, if not many of us who do not own a house and therefore not an inch of this earth is ours. As much as some of us try to cling to our earthly abode and our possessions, we are all, regardless of our possessions, just passing through. We are like the people of Enoch’s city who felt like strangers and pilgrims on this earth (D&C 45:11-13). Jacob described the early Nephites as ‘a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem and born in tribulation and wilderness (Jacob 7:26), and Paul described the faithful ancients who ‘died in faith, not having received the promises…and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth’ (Hebrews 11:13).

This is not our true home but there will come a day when all that will change. In the Millenial reign for one, there will be no poor among us and we will all own something of this earth. But that is just the beginning, when the Millenium ends, this earth will be sanctified and celestialized and ‘crowned with glory, even with the presence of God the Father….that bodies who are of the celestial kingdom may possess it forever….(D&C 88:18-20). I want to own a parcel of that earth.

I have not owned a home for the past 30 years. Some years ago when I was drowning in self-pity trying to figure out where I could live next, I remembered the Saviour and His lustre-lack earthly life. It gave me so much comfort to know that I was not less because I had no home of my own. I wrote the following poem in gratitude of His loving care of me for He has provided for me better than I could ever have done on my own. Until I kneel at His feet on the celestialized earth, I will wander….

 

You send me wherever You want me to go;

Over plains, seas and roughest roads.

I am dismayed I have

To wander in search of my bed;

Then I remember foxes had holes

And the birds of the air had nests

But You had nowhere to lay down Your head.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art by Joseph Brickey)

BLESSEDNESS

 

 

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people….and His fame went throughout all Syria…..and there followed Him great multitudes of people…..and they brought unto him all sick people…and he healed them all….and seeing the multitude He went up into a mountain, and his disciples came unto him” (Matthew 4:23-25).

“It was a day of miracles. Those vexed with unclean spirits were healed; multitudes thronged near seeking merely to touch Him; faith was in every heart; He responded to their pleas…..It was in such a setting of miracles and healings and worship – that Jesus spoke the Sermon on the Mount both in Galilee and in the land Bountiful” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 2, p 120-1)

Unto such he preached the glories of the kingdom while rejection yet awaited Him and the unjust death idled on the Hill of Calvary waiting silently. How full His heart must have been with gratitude and compassion for those who sought Him and wanted to hear the words of salvation. How grateful He must have been for the believers who were spiritually attuned, who received the Beatitudes as they fell from His lips.

President Harold B. Lee taught that the Beatitudes embody the “constitution for a perfect life” (Decisions for Successful Living [1973], 57,60). Bruce R. McConkie stated that “beatitude is a state of utmost bliss, and the Beatitudes are our Lord’s declarations for the blessedness and eventual eternal glory of those who obey the various principles recited in them” (The Mortal Messiah Book 2, p 118).

The word ‘Beatitude’ comes from the Latin ‘beautus’, meaning to be fortunate, to be happy, to be blessed. Imagine if it was spelt with an extra ‘t’ and it read BeATTITUDE…..imagine if we always fostered such an attitude of being fortunate and happy and blessed for having been taught the path to eternal life….Imagine honouring our beloved Saviour by living in such an attitude of gratitude for the path to eternal life He has given us.

What Beatitude is the most important? This one: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost (3 Nephi 12:6): “As starving men crave a crust of bread, as choking men thirst for water, so do the righteous yearn for the Holy Ghost….. the greatest of all the gifts of God, as pertaining to this life; and those who enjoy that gift here and now, will inherit eternal life hereafter, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God in eternity” (Bruce R McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 2, p 122).

 I pledged my life into Thy hands

When by Thy words you taught me how;

You fed me truths I needed to know

And feed me still even now.

 

As I promised to obey,

You promised we’d never part;

I remember, I remember

And carry it all

In the shadow of my heart.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Compassion and Grace by Greg Collins)

WHO COME UNTO ME

 

In my last post I wrote about unity with Christ through baptism. The Saviour sought to impress this upon the people of ancient Americas and upon us today who have the privilege of holding the Book of Mormon in our hands. I am once again grateful for the clarification of scriptures that this book offers us. The account of the Sermon on the Mount in the Book of Mormon testifies of this.

In the Book of Mormon, the Saviour began His sermon making it clear that the teachings that were to follow only applied to those who are willing to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost for remission of their sins (3 Nephi 12:1,2). In other words, the Sermon on the Mount was ever only directed to the members of His Church, those who are willing to accept Christ and keep his commandments. (See also Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to the Book of Mormon, p 263-4)

This significant point is reiterated through the Beatitudes. The very first one promises that the poor in spirit will be blessed but with a significant addition in the Book of Mormon that does not exist in the New Testament. That addition reads: who come unto me. The following Beatitudes all begin with the word ‘and’ connecting them to the previous Beatitude and all the way to this first one which is the reference to the introductory verses to the Sermon which deal with baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost (3 Nephi 12:1,2)….in other words, who come unto me.

Following the Beatitudes come two other confirmations that the Sermon is for baptized members. The first is the admonition to be the salt of the earth (3 Nephi 12:13). In the Mosaic sacrificial ritual, salt was a reminder that we should remember and preserve our covenants with God (Old Testament Institute Manual, p 165)

The second is to be a light to the world (Matthew 5:14). As members of the House of Israel and of the household of faith under the Abrahamic covenant, we are to take the gospel to the world and to bring the light of Christ’s gospel to the world of darkness.

It can be argued that the blessings promised throughout the Beatitudes are biased since they are only for baptized members of Christ’s church but I believe the suggestion is that these blessings are   more readily assured for those who are willing to accept Christ and that invitation is extended to all.  They are promises and assurance of what Christ can do for us.

The thought that only those who come unto Him are more blessed might seem like elitism but in my opinion, He has the right to bless those who believe in Him and accept Him and He has the right to ask anything of us, most especially to believe and accept. He has suffered for the just and the unjust, for the grateful and the ungrateful. He is the only way to salvation, the way that was decreed in the realms of heaven long ago. Let us be that light on a hill that we might bring others under the umbrella of His blessings. That is our responsibility, that is our privilege.

If I had the might to plant Thee in each heart

Of all that breathes,

In pursuit of such a quest I would walk the earth

With apparent ease.

As I can do so little this desire to meet,

I lay my loyal love at Thy holy feet.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Send Forth Labourers by Greg Collins)

BLESSED ARE THE MEEK

 

“The Sermon on the Mount, including the Beatitudes, was delivered to true believers; to the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb (it was their ordination sermon), to the saints of the Most High God; to members of the Church of Jesus Christ; to people who had been baptize and who were in process of seeking the riches of eternity. To them – after holding out the blessed and sanctified wonders of gospel obedience, as these are stated in the Beatitudes – Jesus now says: “Ye are the salt of the earth….Ye are the light of the world.” That is to say: ‘Ye are the choicest and best people on earth; and ye must now be an example to all men, that others seeing your good works, shall come unto me and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 2, p. 127)

 

Out of all the Beatitudes, I am most taken by this one: Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Even though the Saviour proclaimed himself to be “meek and lowly of heart” (Matt 11:29), He did not inherit the earth whilst here because as things are now constituted, the meek shall not inherit the earth until that fateful day when all things shall be done away with and the earth will receive its celestial glory. 

 

So many of us are clinging to earthly possessions and aspire to acquire more. The Saviour had neither gold nor silver nor houses nor lands nor kingdoms when He was here. The riches of this world were but a fleeting moment in time for Him and He had no interest in them. So lowly was the Saviour that he directed Peter when the tax collector came to catch a fish in whose mouth was lodged a coin, to pay a levied tax for both of them (Matthew 17:24-27). So much power yet ‘foxes had holes, and birds of the air had nests; but the Son of man had nowhere to lay His head’ (Luke 9:58). The self-restraint in using His power only for the good of others is beyond commendation. Such is the God we worship and follow, such is the God we love…..are we ready to let go off the world and be the salt of the earth and the light of the world???

 

 

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Artist Unknown)

WHOM DO YE SAY THAT I AM?

The Sermon on the Mount offers us an interesting lesson besides the obvious one by which Jesus declared He was the Bread of Life. The Gospel of Matthew records that 5,000 men plus women and children (Matthew 14:21) had followed Christ to the mount to hear His words. When the evening drew nigh and the time of departure had come (JST Mark 6:36) all three gospels record that the Twelve came to Jesus and told Him to send the crowds away to go and buy victuals and feed themselves (Luke 9:12). However, John's version differs slightly. John recorded that Jesus said to Philip, one of the Twelve, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do." (John 6:5,6). It's almost as if He was saying: Ask me to feed this people out of nothing; Ask me to perform a miracle; Ask me to show you that I am the Christ. Could it be that the miracle of feeding 5,000+ was as much for the benefit of his disciples' conviction of His divinity as it was for His declaration of being the Bread of Life? If Philip's conviction was iron clad his answer would have been: "You are the Christ, You can feed these people because you can do all things". Philip answered instead that even two hundred pennyworth of bread was not enough to feed them so the problem remained unsolved, until the Saviour offered a solution.

Luke records immediately after the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus asked the Twelve the crucial question: "Whom say the people that I am?" (Luke 9:18)  They came back with various answers according to people's opinions. Then Jesus asked a more personal and direct question: "But whom say YE that I am?" And Peter straightway answered: "The Christ of God", Christ being the title of Greek translation of "The Anointed One". Thus Peter's answer was: "Thou art the Anointed One of God" (Luke 9:20).

A long time ago I heard this poignant saying: "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence?" This question of course highlights the importance of us living Christian lives. But anybody can perform acts  of Christian values out of the goodness of their hearts. Of us as members of the elect House of Israel we should ask this question: "If you were arrested for being a Christian, is there enough evidence that you know Christ?" Our lives should reflect our deep knowledge and conviction of His character and attributes which has been manifest through our faith in Him and all He can do. Have we enough proof in our personal lives that He forgives sins; that He heals our hearts; that He performs miracles; that He provides and watches over us; that He is a lamp unto our feet; that the power of His Atonement has wrought a change in our hearts; that we are encircled about in the arms of His love? If we were tested as Philip was, we should be able to answer: "You are God, you can do all things".

When the Saviour comes again, He might ask each one of us "Who do you say that I am?" and we will not be able to rely on other people's knowledge of Him. Our own conviction will need to be such that we will be able to say:

Thou art the Christ and there is none else.....

Thou art the Redeemer and there is none else...

Thou art the Saviour and there is none else.....

Thou art the Lord and there is none else....

Thou art the Anointed One and there is none else.....

Thou art  God and there is none else.....

(Isaiah 45)