“And it shall come to pass that my people, which are of the house of Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possessions; and my word also shall be gathered in one. And I will show unto them that fight against my word and against my people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham that I would remember his seed forever.”
Now we have an estimate of the time when a general disclosure of the records of these various nations will occur. It’s set in the time when the people who have survived the great distresses and wars of the last days will leave the New Jerusalem and return to their lands of possessions. That is, post-New Jerusalem, post-destruction of the wicked, and after the time when the Lord has come among them. When they are sent into their respective lands of possessions, then at last the entire record of the Lord’s dealings with each nation will be “gathered in one.”
So this won’t be anytime soon. Well, if soon, it will be after some more dramatic events, which will take our minds off the issue of missing scripture.
What is interesting is the Lord’s emphasis on those who “fight against my word.” He puts this first. The fight, as He puts it, is against both “my word and my people,” but it is the fight against His “word” that He lists first. This is important.
You will recall there were two different reactions to the two parts of Lehi’s message. When it was repentance from their wickedness, the Jews mocked him. But when it was a message of the coming Christ, they wanted to kill him. (1 Ne. 1: 18-19.) This is the war against His “word” in a nutshell. The message of hope and redemption found in Christ is what the enemies of God always seek to suppress.
First, distort, suppress and exclude His word. Then it follows that He has no people, because they cannot find their way back to Him.
Remember this is the great fight. It is relentlessly underway. So soon as His word becomes available, there will be forces, enemies, alliances, even good-intentions used to suppress, discard and alter His words. This is the great work of the adversary. This is the fight that gets waged first.
When the victory is won against His word, then the victory against the people is over. There cannot be any “people” belonging to Him if they do not possess His words in clarity, fullness, and with power.
What significance is there then in changing His words? Discarding His revelations? Suppressing His ordinances? Altering what He has revealed? Designating some of His word as “mysteries” that ought to be feared or avoided? Why would Joseph Smith advise us to search deeper and deeper into the mysteries of God? Why would we be told to avoid them today? What has happened in the fight against the Lord’s word among us?
The purpose of His word is to establish His people. When people have His word, and obtain the light and truth that flows from it, then they are inevitably turned in their hearts to the fathers. Primarily among those fathers is the one mentioned here: Abraham. For in Abraham we see a return to the original order which preceded the flood. He inherited what “came down from the beginning” and restored the original ancient order. (Abraham 1: 2-3.) When the “word” and “people” are again here, they are directly linked to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and are heirs to the covenant and priesthood they held. It is a return. It is a resurrection of an ancient order, where men know God and are His friends and companions while living here in this fallen world.
The results of having the Lord’s “word” is to then create a “people” who in turn are linked to “Abraham.” These things all follow in turn. The fight against it is begun at the “word” to prevent the others who follow. If you can choke people off and get them to refuse His “words” then you can prevent them from ever becoming His “people” and realizing the association which brings their hearts to the fathers.
It is a consistent plan and a predictable fight. How’s it going in our time? What good things have we done to preserve His word? Have we kept intact everything He handed us through Joseph? Do we possess all of the word He intended us to have, study and live? Are we thereby made into new creations, His people? Do we show the fruits of being His people? Do the visions of heaven flow over us, and angels minister to us? Do we possess knowledge of God in the sense used in the Book of Mormon? Are we in possession of all the rights and powers conferred upon Abraham?
It is an interesting interconnection the Lord refers to here. Worth reflection at a minimum. Fasting, prayer and seeking as well, perhaps.
I don’t comment often but just wanted to voice my gratitude for the daily dose of God’s word in this blog. I am grateful for the humanness of the messenger as well and for the occasional cuss word and funny tattoo joke ;). I am grateful for the sacrifice and for the desire to lead others to Christ. As a result, I have hope for greater things and have a greater desire to repent of my sins and take hold upon God’s Word. I am grateful that not all angels have their wings. Just as the Book of Mormon is most directed to those who read it, so is this blog and the books written. They are not intended to make me feel better than other clueless members of the church. Hopefully I will look in the mirror when rebukes are offered and seek to go forward with whatever measure of love God has given me to do same. Thank you Denver.
Denver wrote:
What significance is there then in changing His words? Discarding His revelations? Suppressing His ordinances? Altering what He has revealed? Designating some of His word as “mysteries” that ought to be feared or avoided? Why would Joseph Smith advise us to search deeper and deeper into the mysteries of God? Why would we be told to avoid them today? What has happened in the fight against the Lord’s word among us?
Joseph Smith answered these questions in the following quotes:
“I am not like other men. My mind is continually occupied with the business of the day, and I have to depend entirely upon the living God for every thing I say on such occasions as these.
The great thing for us to know is to comprehend what God did institute before the foundation of the world. Who knows it? It is the constitutional disposition of mankind to set up stakes and set
bounds to the works and ways of the Almighty.” TPJS, p 320
“I say to all those who are disposed to set up stakes for the Almighty, You will come short of the glory of God.
To become a joint heir of the heir-ship of the Son, one must put away all his false traditions.” TPJS, p 321
“I cannot believe in any of the creeds of the different denominations, because they all have some things in them I cannot subscribe to, though all of them have some truth. I want to come up into the presence of God, and learn all things; but the creeds set up stakes, and say, “Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further”; which I cannot subscribe to.” TPJS, p 327
Nephi seems to also sum up the reason for this malady:
2 Nephi 32:7
“And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be.”
Dave
We had an interesting discussion tonight about second anointings, calling and election made sure, law of consecration, united order, etc. Our daughter is interested in this and asked some questions. Her husband knows some of it because his dad and uncle spoke of it. My wife knew of it because I spoke of it. And I knew it why? Because I learned of it on the ‘Net from LDS members and fundamentalists. And had read some in the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Never had I really learned much at Church. It used to be talked about and some of these subjects were the issues that the Lord presented to the early members in Joseph’s dispensation. But hardly a word today.
In addition to ordinances being suppressed (i.e. second anointings), many have been changed. Even though the Lord bemoaned this fact in Isaiah and in Moroni’s first visit and Joseph said that they were not to be altered.
So here we are in this day, teaching and expecting that the Church will help prepare us to meet the Lord and protect us from shifting winds of doctrine, while the sad reality is that we have been losing what Joseph taught for well over 100 years and we don’t know any differently. I often wondered if ancient Israel knew what they had lost when the first tablets were broken and were replaced with a lower set. Now I guess I wonder if we know what we’ve lost or even the fact that we have lost so much.
Thanks, Denver