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Jacob 7:5 — LeGrand Baker — ministering angels

5   And he had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken (Jacob 7:5).

It seems to me that there are two major categories of ideas in the scriptures and spoken of by modern prophets which deal with angels. The first is the largest, that is angels who give instruction and protection to prophets. The second is more personal, guardian angels. The third is something which is unique to Nephi when he urges his readers to learn to understand “the tongues of angels.” I wish to write briefly about all three.

1) Several non-Mormon scholars have pointed out that the angels who minister to the prophets are serving as messengers of the Council in Heaven. That both the prophets and the angels are/were members of that Council, so both are in the business of doing the work of the council. That seems to be consistent with what Latter-day Saints believe, so I suppose it doesn’t require any further comment.

One of the best discussions of ministering angels found in the scriptures contains a very important key. It reads,

25   Wherefore, by the ministering of angels, and by every word which Proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing; and thus it was until the coming of Christ.
26   And after that he came men also were saved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the sons of God. And as sure as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you.
…
29   And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men.
30 For behold, they are subject unto him, to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness.
31 And the office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance, and to fulfill and to do the work of the covenants of the Father, which he hath made unto the children of men, to prepare the way among the children of men, by declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him.
32 And by so doing, the Lord God prepareth the way that the residue of men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Ghost may have place in their hearts, according to the power thereof; and after this manner bringeth to pass the Father, the covenants which he hath made unto the children of men (Moroni 7:25-26, 29-32).

The key is this: “showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness.” Kooks, apostates, and self-appointed prophets don’t see angles sent from God.

People who see honest angles are people with “strong faith and a firm mind.” Those kinds of people are also the kind who don’t talk out of turn, so it is not surprising that we hear very few stories about the appearance of angels to non-called-prophets in the church.

President Wilford Woodruff gave a talk in 1896 where he described his own experiences. I had excerpted a few sentences from the talk, then decided you might like to read more than that. So here it is.

One morning, while we were at Winter Quarters, Brother Brigham Young said to me and the brethren that he had had a visitation the night previous from Joseph Smith. I asked him what he said to him. He replied that Joseph had told him to tell the people to labor to obtain the Spirit of God; that they needed that to sustain them and to give them power to go through their work in the earth.

Now I will give you a little of my experience in this line. Joseph Smith visited me a great deal after his death, and taught me many important principles. The last time he visited me was while I was in a storm at sea. I was going on my last mission to preside in England. My companions were Brother Leonard W. Hardy, Brother Milton Holmes, Brother Dan Jones, and another brother, and my wife and two other women. We had been traveling three days and nights in a heavy gale, and were being driven backwards. Finally I asked my companions to come into the cabin with me, and I told them to pray that the Lord would change the wind. I had no fears of being lost; but I did not like the idea of being driven back to New York, as I wanted to go on my journey. We all offered the same prayer, both men and women; and when we got through we stepped on to the deck and in less than a minute it was as though a man had taken a sword and cut that gale through, and you might have thrown a muslin handkerchief out and it would not have moved it. The night following this Joseph and Hyrum visited me, and the Prophet laid before me a great many things. Among other things, he told me to get the Spirit of God; that all of us needed it. He also told me what the Twelve Apostles would be called to go through on the earth before the coming of the Son of Man, and what the reward of their labors would be; but all that was taken from me, for some reason. Nevertheless I know it was most glorious, although much would be required at our hands.

Joseph Smith continued visiting myself and others up to a certain time, and then it stopped. The last time I saw him was in heaven. In the night vision I saw him at the door of the temple in heaven. He came and spoke to me. He said he could not stop to talk with me because he was in a hurry. The next man I met was Father Smith; he could not talk with me because he was in a hurry. I met half a dozen brethren who had held high positions on earth, and none of them could stop to talk with me because they were in a hurry. I was much astonished. By and by I saw the Prophet again, and I got the privilege to ask him a question. “Now,” said I, “I want to know why you are in a hurry. I have been in a hurry all through my life; but I expected my hurry would be over when I got into the kingdom of heaven, if I ever did.” Joseph said: “I will tell you, Brother Woodruff. Every dispensation that has had the Priesthood on the earth and has gone into the celestial kingdom, has had a certain amount of work to do to prepare to go to the earth with the Savior when He goes to reign on the earth. Each dispensation has had ample time to do this work. We have not. We are the last dispensation, and so much work has to be done and we need to be in a hurry in order to accomplish it.” Of course, that was satisfactory to me, but it was new doctrine to me.

Brigham Young also visited me after his death. On one occasion he and Brother Heber C. Kimball came in a splendid chariot, with fine white horses, and accompanied me to a conference that I was going to attend. When I got there I asked Brother Brigham if he would take charge of the conference. “No,” said he, “I have done my work here. I have come to see what you are doing and what you are teaching the people.” And he told me what Joseph Smith had taught him in Winter Quarters, to teach the people to get the Spirit of God. He said, “I want you to teach the people to get the Spirit of God. You cannot build up the Kingdom of God without that.

That is what I want to say to the brethren and sisters here today. Every man and woman in this Church should labor to get the Spirit. We are surrounded by these evil spirits that are at war against God and against everything looking to the building up of the kingdom of God; and we need this Holy Spirit to enable us to overcome these influences. I have had the Holy Ghost in my travels. Every man has that has gone out into the vineyard and labored faithfully for the cause of God. I have referred to the administration of angels to myself. What did these angels do? One of them taught me some things relating to the signs that should precede the coming of the Son of Man. Others came and saved my life. What then? They turned and left me. But how is it with the Holy Ghost? The Holy Ghost does not leave me if I do my duty. It does not leave any man who does his duty. We have known this all the way through. Joseph Smith told Brother John Taylor on one occasion to labor to get the Spirit of God, and to follow its dictation, and it would become a principle of revelation within him. God has blessed me with that, and everything I have done since I have been in this Church has been done upon that principle. The Spirit of God has told me what to do, and I have had to follow that.” (Willford Woodruff, Deseret Weekly, Salt Lake City, November 7, 1896. vol. 53: 642-643) [The Rest of the talk is full of personal stories about how President Woodruff received and obeyed instructions from the Spirit.]

The phrase “guardian angel” is not found in the scriptures. In fact, the word “guardian” is not found there. It is a phrase, but not an idea, which we seem to have inherited from the Protestants and Catholics. I’m not sure what it means in their theology, but in ours it relates closely to what I just wrote about angels being members of the Council, and the relationship between us and them is often spoken of as covenantal.

The only reference I can find to the Prophet Joseph’s mentioning a guardian angel is this one.

I made some observations afterwards, and related a dream which I had a short time since. I thought I was riding out in my carriage, and my guardian angel was along with me. We went past the Temple… “(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 368).

In his editorial called, “Origin, Object, and Destiny of Women,” published in The Mormon, New York, New York, August 29, 1857. John Taylor (later President of the Church) wrote,

Knowest thou not that; eternities ago, thy spirit, pure and holy, dwelt in thy Heavenly Father’s bosom, and in his presence, … thou sawest worlds upon worlds organized and peopled with thy kindred spirits, took upon them tabernacles, died, were resurrected, and received their exaltation on the redeemed worlds they once dwelt upon. Thou being willing and anxious to imitate them, waiting and desirous to obtain a body, a resurrection and exaltation also, and having obtained permission, thou made a covenant with one of thy kindred spirits to be thy guardian angel while in mortality, … [When the unnamed woman prepared to come to this earth] Thou bade father, mother, and all, farewell, and along with thy guardian angel, thou came on this terraqueous globe.

Harold B. Lee spoke of the the same thing. In his book, Stand Ye In Holy Places, p.142143, he writes “Let us see what Parley P. Pratt said about this matter: {What follows is his quote from Parley P. Pratt. The words in brackets [ ] in the quote are President Lee’s, not mine. – LLB}

“In all ages and dispensations God has revealed many important instructions and warning to men by means of dreams. When the outward organs of thought and perception are released from their activity, the nerves unstrung, the whole of mortal humanity lies hushed in quiet slumbers in order to renew its strength and vigor, it is then that the spiritual organs are at liberty in a certain degree to assume their wanted functions, to recall some faint outline, some confused and halfdefined recollections of that heavenly world, and those endearing scenes of their former estate from which they have descended in order to obtain and mature a tabernacle of flesh. Their kindred spirit, their guardian angels, then hover about them with the fondest affection the most anxious solicitude. Spirit communes with spirit, thought meets thought, soul blends with soul, in all the raptures of mutual pure and eternal love. In this situation the spiritual organs [and if we could see our spirits, we would know that they have eyes to see, ears to hear tongues to speak, and so on] are susceptible of converse with Deity, or of communion with angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. In this situation we frequently hold communion with our departed father, mother, brother, sister, son or daughter, or with the former husband or wife of our bosom whose affections for us, being rooted and grounded in the eternal elements, issuing from under the sanctuary of love’s eternal fountain, can never be lessened or diminished by death, distance of space, or length of years. We may perhaps have had a friend of the other sex whose pulse beat in unison with our own-whose every thought was bright with aspirations, the hope of the bright future in union with our own, whose happiness in time or in eternity would never be fully consummated without that union. Such a one snatched from time in the very bloom of youth lives in the other sphere with the same bright hope-watching our every footstep in our meanderings through the rugged path of life with longing desires for our eternal happiness.” {end of P. P. Pratt quote}

When we begin to understand that beyond sight, as Brigham Young said, the spirit world is right here round about us, and if our spiritual eyes could be open, we could see others visiting with us, directing us. And if we will learn not to be so sophisticated that we rule out that possibility of impressions from those who are beyond sight, then we too may have a dream that may direct us as a revelation.

President David O. McKay also spoke of guardian angels. During a general conference, he addressed himself to the Aaronic Priesthood boys in the congregation and told this story:

Following a series of meetings at the conference held in Glasgow, Scotland, was a most remarkable priesthood meeting. I remember, as if it were yesterday, the intensity of the inspiration of that occasion. Everybody felt the rich outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord. All present were truly of one heart and one mind. Never before had I experienced such an emotion. It was a manifestation for which as a doubting youth I had secretly prayed most earnestly on hillside and in meadow. It was an assurance to me that sincere prayer is answered sometime, somewhere.

During the progress of the meeting, an elder on his own initiative arose and said, “Brethren, there are angels in this room.”

Strange as it may seem, the announcement was not startling; indeed, it seemed wholly proper, though it had not occurred to me there were divine beings present. I only knew that I was overflowing with gratitude for the presence of the Holy Spirit. I was profoundly impressed, however, when President James L. McMurrin, president of the European Mission, arose and confirmed that statement by pointing to one brother sitting just in front of me and saying, “Yes, brethren, there are angels in this room, and one of them is the guardian angel of that young man sitting there,” and he designated one who afterward became a patriarch in the Woodruff Stake of the Church, John Young.

Pointing to another elder, he said, “And one is the guardian angel of that young man there,” and he singled out one whom I had known from childhood, David Eccles. Tears were rolling down the cheeks of both of these missionaries not in sorrow or grief, but as an expression of the overflowing Spirit. Indeed, we were all weeping.

Such was the setting in which James L. McMurrin gave what has since proved to be a prophecy. I had learned by intimate association with him that James McMurrin was pure gold. His faith in the gospel was implicit. No truer man, no man more loyal to what he thought was right ever lived. So when he turned to me and gave what I thought then was more of a caution than a promise, his words made an indelible impression upon me. Paraphrasing the words of the Savior to Peter, Brother McMurrin said: “Let me say to you, Brother David, Satan hath desired you that he may sift you as wheat, but God is mindful of you.” Then he added, “If you will keep the faith, you will yet sit in the leading councils of the Church.”

At that moment there flashed in my mind temptations that had beset my path, and I realized even better than President McMurrin, or any other man, how truly he had spoken when he said, “Satan hath desired thee.” With the resolve then and there to keep the faith, there was born a desire to be of service to my fellowmen; and with it came a realization, a glimpse at least, of what I owed to the elder who first carried the message of the restored gospel to my grandfather and grandmother, who had accepted the message years before in the north of Scotland and in South Wales. (David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1968, p.86)

Jacob 6:8-9 — LeGrand Baker — resurrection

8   Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you?
9   Know ye not that if ye will do these things, that the power of the redemption and the resurrection, which is in Christ, will bring you to stand with shame and awful guilt before the bar of God?

I wish to comment on the words “the power of the redemption and the resurrection, which is in Christ, will bring you to stand with shame and awful guilt before the bar of God?”

The prophets of the Book of Mormon frequently assert that the object of the atonement is to provide a universal salvation to all the sons and daughters of God who are born upon this earth. . This universal salvation will be given freely to all except those who knowingly refuse to receive it (sons of perdition) and even they will be resurrected, though not to a state of glory.

This salvation, as I understand it, consists of two parts, but in the sequence different from that whichJacobmentionshere. Moroniexplained,

13   And because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all men are redeemed, because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless sleep, from which sleep all men shall be awakened by the power of God when the trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed and loosed from this eternal band of death, which death is a temporal death.
14 And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still. (Mormon 9:13-14)

As I read that, the final judgement will take place AFTER the resurrection. At that time each of us will stand before God clothed in an eternal body of either telestial, terrestial, or celestial material, and in that body we will be judged. That presents an interesting question: If the final judgment occurs after our resurrection, so, in fact we are judged according to the nature of the body we present before God, then what/who/when/how determines what kind of body we get when we are resurrected?

I understand the answers to those questions to be: WHAT: our works (read that: whether the way one live his ordinances and covenants is an expression of charity, or of something else.) WHO: ourselves. WHEN: while we live on this earth and in the spirit worlds proceeding and following this life. HOW: that is a gift of the atonement of the Saviour. Section 88 explains. (I will make some notes in the text as I go along.)

25   And again, verily I say unto you, the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law
26   Wherefore, it shall be sanctified; yea, notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be quickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is quickened, and the righteous shall inherit it.
27   For notwithstanding they die, they also shall rise again, a spiritual body.
28   They who are [PRESENT TENSE] of a celestial spirit shall receive [FUTURE TENSE] the same body which was [PAST TENSE] a natural body; even ye shall receive [FUTURE TENSE] your bodies, and your glory shall be [FUTURE TENSE] that glory by which your bodies are [PRESENT TENSE] quickened.
29   Ye who are quickened [PRESENT TENSE] by a portion of the celestial glory [THAT SOUNDS LIKE IT MEANS PEOPLE NOW, IN THIS WORLD] shall then receive [FUTURE TENSE — AT THE TIME OF THE RESURRECTION] of the same, even a fulness.
30   And they who are quickened by a portion of the terrestrial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.
31 And also they who are quickened by a portion of the telestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.
32   And they who remain shall also be quickened; nevertheless, they shall return again to their own place, to enjoy that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received. (D&C 88:25-32)

I understand that to say that persons who are resurrected, will receive the same body they put down, and the glory of that resurrected body will be the same as the glory which animated them in this life. That is, persons who are “quickened” by a portion of the celestial glory in this life (I think that should be read “charity”) will simply pick up their body, and that body will have the same glory with which it was animated when it was laid down — except one won’t have to worry about the “this world” stuff which one had to have and use to keep the “this world” body alive, but which one’ resurrected body won’t have any need for.

If I read that correctly, then what Jacob is saying is that it doesn’t matter whether one chooses to believe in the Saviour on not. Even if one chooses not to believe, and chooses to live a reprehensible life here, the power of the resurrection will give him the same body which he cultivated while on this earth, and the power of the redemption will bring him back to the presence of God to stand before Christ to be judged. He won’t be judged by any arbitrary standard of judgement, but, I suspect, his judgment will simply be an acknowledgment, by himself and by the Saviour, that one is what one is.

Jacob 5 — LeGrand Baker — Zenos’s allegory

An allegory, like language itself, is very useful when one wishes to convey an idea to someone else. It, like language, is equally useful when one wishes to hide ones meaning, or to hide it from all but an inner circle who will understand. Zenos’ allegory of the tame and wild olive trees succeeds very well in doing the latter. It is apparent that his allegory is not so obscure that it hides his meaning from everyone, otherwise Jacob would not have taken such pains to include it here. But while its meaning may be perfectly transparent if viewed from the perspective of its author, it is only a muddle to anyone who views it from something like an egocentric angle.

Let me illustrate. In Michael White’s fine biography, Isaac Newton : the Last Sorcerer (Reading, Mass. : Addison-Wesley, c1997.) White pays a great deal of attention to Newton’s religious as well as his scientific discoveries. He reports that Newton’s careful analysis of the Bible convinced him that the idea that God was three in one was a deliberate falsehood, and that the Bible taught that Christ and his Father were separate persons. He also reports that Newton’s careful study of the Book of Revelation convinced him that the Catholic Church was the evil monster spoken of in Revelation and that the end of the world would come before 1700 with the final destruction of Catholic power. Newton’s conclusions about God were correct because they were based on correct premisses, but his calculations about the end of the world were not because he saw it from where he stood in time, and underestimated his own place in world history. Newton was the pivot point between the unexplainable world of magic and the explainable world of math, physics, and science. But he did not understand how important he was, or how big the future world was going to be, so he could not judge where he stood in relation to the grand scheme of things.

In his analysis of Revelation, somehow it did not occur to Newton that the world is much, much bigger than the reaches of the Catholic Church or even of Christianity. Newton lived at a time when Europe knew almost nothing about the eastern civilizations, so it is easy to understand that he closed his eyes to the importance of people in other parts of the world. Like anyone else who assumes John’s Revelation is talking about the Catholic Church, if one tries to read the prophecy as a preview of the history of the European world, then, for that reader, the Catholic Church might fit as the evil monster of Revelation. But if one tries to read Revelation as a global, rather than a European preview of the future, then the Catholic Church is just too little to fit the pattern. But Newton, like the rest of us, tried to fit Revelation within the limits of his own experience and thought patterns. Even though he failed to take into account the peoples of other continents, his interpretation seemed to work for him. But, as it turned out, his calculations about the end of the world were different from the ideas intended by John the Revelator.

I tend to think of Zenos’ allegory of the tame and wild olive trees in the same way. It works well, if the tame and wild branches of the tree are the Nephites and the Lamanites. But I wonder why Zenos chose to focus his allegory on that single branch of the house of Joseph. The entire history of Israel is the story of apostasies and restorations. Could he not have been talking about the Ephraimites in northern Europe, or some other group somewhere else?

Or was he talking about the whole of Israel, rather than just one group? Are we looking too small? And who is Israel? Is it just the descendants of Jacob in this world? It is apparent that “Israel” is a covenant name assigned to people in the pre-mortal world, so could all of Israel in the allegory be intended to represent the people of more worlds than this one? Could that tree represent the portion of that “Israel” who came to this earth, as opposed to the people on other worlds? Is the allegory a cosmological story, rather than a localized one?

It stretches my imagination to ask the questions, and I certainly cannot pretend to know the answers. Except I suspect we will get it wrong if we insist on interpreting Zenos’s picture from the place in space and time where we are standing, rather than first seek to discover the place where he was standing.

Dan Belnap once told me one of the best ways to understand this chapter is to look at it as the relationship between the lord of the vineyard and the servant. First he tells the servant what to do, then asks him what should be done, then gives him authority over other servants.

Jacob 4:12-13 — LeGrand Baker — Truth and Freedom

When Pilate asked the Saviour, “What is truth?” he either did not wait for an answer, or, observing the expression on Jesus’ face, chose not to pursue the question. Asking that question to Jesus could evoke only one correct answer: “I Am.” If that answer had been given, it would have been both the name/title of Jesus as Jehovah, and also the most complete possible answer to Pilate’s question, for the Saviour is the very personification of Truth. Perhaps Jesus did not reply because his answer would have been too big for Pilate to recognize, never mind, to comprehend.

Jacob addressed the same question when he wrote:

12   And now, beloved, marvel not that I tell you these things; for why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection and the world to come?
13   Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. But behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for God also spake them unto prophets of old. (Jacob 4:12-13 )

Within Jacob’s words, bracketed between “attain to a perfect knowledge” and “these things are manifested unto us plainly” is a definition of “truth.” The definition he gives is that the Spirit speaks “of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be.” Twenty-five hundred years later, in a revelation to the Prophet Joseph, the Lord reiterated that same concept by saying, “truth is knowledge of things as they are, as they were, and as they are to come.” (D&C 93:21-28)

As far as I can tell, what both Jacob and the Lord are saying is “truth” is the knowledge of the constancy of reality – as it was, is, will be. One can have a knowledge of things which are not real – like the non-science of alchemy, the principles of a perverse philosophy, or the details of an historical event as it did not happen – without that knowledge being anything like truth.

The Lord uses the word “truth” differently from the way the dictionary defines it, so if one is to understand what the Lord says, one must understand the difference. The dictionary I just picked up defines “true” as “being in accordance with the actual state or condition, conforming to reality.” It defines “truth” as “true or actual state of matter.” Thus “true” and “truth” are virtually synonymous. But the Lord uses “truth” quite differently from that. And if Jacob is using the word in the same way the Lord used it, then that adds enormous depth to the concept Jacob is trying to convey.

The Lord does not define “truth” as reality, but as the “knowledge” of reality. That distinction is important in the statement, “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.” ( D&C 93: 30)

If one reads that statement the way the dictionary uses “truth” it says, “All things in the actual tate of matter are independent….” But if one reads it as the Lord has just defined the word, it says “All knowledge of reality, as things were, are, will be, is independent…” In which case it is not the state of matter which is independent, but the knowledge of the state of matter.

The revelation continues, “…is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it…” The dictionary’s “actual state of matter” might reside in a place, but knowledge of reality can not reside anywhere except within the cognizance of an intelligent, living being. So the “sphere in which God has placed it” must be a living sphere, either an intelligence, a person, or a “sphere” (multi-dimensional circle) of persons.

The revelation continues: “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.” I presume that means that since knowledge of reality is immutable, the knowledge itself carries with it an unalterable consequence. I can think of one overriding example. If one were to kneel before the resurrected Saviour and experienced the reality of both his person and his love, that experience would become an integral part of one’s own person. The “truth” of the Saviour — the knowledge of him — is independent of the person in whom the knowledge resides, and acts upon the very existence of that person who experiences the truth.

D&C 88 says “truth shines,” and elsewhere in section 93 we learn that “intelligence is the light of truth.” Then 88 tells us that the Light of Christ is the source of our life, and of our ability to think. So it all seems to come together in an equation which looks like this: Intelligence + the knowledge of reality = light = life = greater intelligence + greater knowledge of reality = more light = more life + greater knowledge of eternal reality = freedom + charity = eternal life. If that didn’t make sense, let me try to say it differently. The Saviour’s promise, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,” is one of the most profound promises in the scriptures. If “truth” simply means the actual state of matter, the Saviour’s statement is itself a profound truth. But if “truth” means a knowledge of reality — eternal reality — then the Saviour’s statement is the key to eternal life. Knowing knowledge is not a redundancy. Knowing reality is one thing, but knowing that what you know is true, is something altogether different. It is power. It is also peace, therefore, it is the indispensable key to freedom. Therefore, “you shall know the truth and the truth [one’s knowledge of “things as they are (in this life), as they were (at the Council in Heaven), and as they are to come ( in the eternities to come) .”] shall make you free.”

There are three necessary conditions prerequisite to freedom. They are:

1. One must not be for sale. If there is a price for which one will sell oneself (money, fame, power, or anything else this world might offer), then when that price is met, one sells one’s freedom and becomes a slave. But one may also not be free if he seeks to obtain that price, and sells himself in anticipation of receiving it.

2. One must not be intimidateable. If one fears, he is not free, but is restrained to act within the limits of his perceived safety.

3. One must have sufficient accurate knowledge to make correct decisions. Otherwise he may be free to guess, based on what he knows or thinks he knows, but he is not free to choose, based on “truth” as God defines truth. The kind of freedom I am discussing is the power to be oneself. It is the freedom Joseph exercised while he was in prison. (That works whether one refers to the biblical Joseph or to Parley P. Pratt’s description of the Prophet Joseph in Liberty Jail.) It is the freedom Abinadi exercised throughout his trial and execution.

The first two conditions prerequisite to freedom are entirely personal – as weak or as powerful as one’s own integrity. But however strong they may be, they are entirely inadequate, by themselves, to make one free in this life — but certainly not in the next. One can be (after the fashion of Anne Rand’s Fountainhead) unintimadateable and not for sell, but if one’s sense of truth is flawed, then such integrity can turn into heartless, meaningless, useless pride — self gratification and self-aggrandizement. Thus to be free, a person of integrity must know the truth – must have a knowledge that his knowledge of things past, present, and future consists perfectly with reality.

If what I have put together here is correct, then knowing truth, being free, and being an heir to eternal life are, or may become, equivalents.

The Saviour promised,

13   Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
14    He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
15   All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
16   A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. (John 16:7-16)

Jacob, I believe, is teaching the same thing: “…for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. ”

It is a fact that God reigns in the heavens and that Christ, his Son, is our Saviour, but that fact is not a truth (as the Lord defined the word “truth”) to any individual until that individual has a knowledge of its reality. Jacob and the other prophets testify that such truth is available only to those to whom the Spirit reveals it. But, like all other truth, when the knowledge of the Saviour becomes as sure as one’s knowledge of the light of the sun, then that truth becomes independent within the person in whom God has placed it, then the truth within the person, and the person also, shines.

Jacob understands this, so he does not stop with the admonition that one should come to the truth of Christ, but urges one to continue, that by knowing Christ one may come also to the truth of oneself. Jacob wrote, “…beloved, marvel not that I tell you these things; for why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection and the world to come?” He does not say of “the resurrection” meaning the resurrection of the Saviour, rather he says of “a resurrection” which, I take it, means one’s own resurrection. In which case he is saying, “…why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a [one’s own ] resurrection and the world to come?”

Thus Jacob’s admonition is to come to the truth (knowledge of past, present and future reality) of oneself by coming to the truth (knowledge of past, present and future reality) of Christ. Let me show how I think Jacob’s statement should be understood.

12   And now, beloved, marvel not that I tell you these things; for why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge [ ‘truth is knowledge of things as they are, as they were, and as they are to come.’ ] of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection [ this time the knowledge he recommends is a truth of oneself — a knowledge of oneself as one will be in the resurrection ] and the world to come?
13   Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit speaketh the truth [ reaching the whole scope of the eternities, for “truth is knowledge of things as they are, as they were, and as they are to come.” ] and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things [ the “knowledge of things as they are, as they were, and as they are to come.” ] are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. [ That we may know the eternal truth of oneself.] But behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for God also spake them unto prophets of old. (Jacob 4:12-13 )

Jacob 4:8-11 — LeGrand Baker — ancient temple code

It is amazing to me, how frequently the scriptures can speak with a new power and say things they have never said to me before. I don’t know how many times I have read today’s verses, but it is many. As a boy I memorized verse 10, and have since enjoyed both it and the context of its message. But today I read it differently from the way I have ever read it before. Dan and I have talked about part of it, but, even so, I have never seen it in its entirety as I did this morning.

v. 8 “Behold, great and marvelous are the works

[“Works” often refer to the ordinances one performs, or if not, to the way one fulfills the covenants he has made. So, in a temple context, “works” is very much a temple word. ]

of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him

[ Jacob probably used sode for the word which is translated “mysteries.” SOD means the secret workings of a council – in this and similar contexts in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, the secrets of the Council in Heaven. Dan has taught me that when I see that word, “mysteries,” we are in the middle of a discussion of the decisions of that Council. So when I saw it here, I thought, Wow! What is Jacob trying to say to me?]

and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways

[“Way,” as used by Isaiah and in the Psalms, is a code word which means the sequence of the ordinances and covenants (which is the same as the sequence of the New Year’s festival), or else, like “works” it means the path one walks (same code words) as one lives according to the ordinances and covenants he has made.]

And no man knoweth of his ways [same code word] save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God.”

In the next three verses, Jacob walks us through the sequence of the New Year’s festival. He begins with references to the work of the Council, especially the creation of the earth and the creation of man.

9   For behold, by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure?
10   Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand.

[One usually takes counsel from another’s mouth, but this time he admonishes his hearers to take counsel from the Lord’s HAND.]

For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works.

[I leave it to you to figure out that sequence.]

Jacob then brings his hearer’s mind to the whole purpose of the ceremonies
– that is to explain one’s own personal relationship with the Saviour — but especially the Saviour’s power to cleanse and to restore one to God’s presence.

11   Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled [this requires a cleansing ] unto him [the Father] through the atonement of Christ, his Only Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a resurrection, according to the power of the resurrection which is in Christ, and be presented [to the Father] as the first-fruits of Christ

[ the idea of “first-fruits” is about birthright blessings, the same which occur at the conclusion of the New Year’s festival. ]

unto God [the Father]
having faith, and obtained a good hope of glory in him
[see discussions of faith (pistis), hope, and charity in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord ] before he manifesteth himself in the flesh.

[This is the same conclusion as one finds in Moroni 7.]

So Jacob has just walked us through the entire sequence of the Feast of Tabernacles temple drama, concluding with the same admonition with which the sequence itself concludes.

Jacob 4:5 — LeGrand Baker — Edited Law of Moses

Jacob 4:5
5   Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name. And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him; and for this cause it is sanctified unto us for righteousness (Jacob 4:5).

We do not know what Jacob meant when he wrote that the law of Moses pointed their souls to Christ, because we cannot know what he meant by “the law of Moses.” What we can be sure of is that what we have in our Bible is not the same as he had. All one has to do is compare our Book of Moses with the first chapters of Genesis to see that someone has severely edited the Bible version. That editing, say scholars, occurred after the Babylonian captivity. At about the same time Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Kings and Chronicles were apparently also written. A severe apostasy was taking place during those years. It was the same kind of apostasy which occurred in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries after of the Christian era, and had many of the same consequences. During the Jewish apostasy, the religion became monotheistic, they abandoned their belief in Elohim, Jehovah, and a heavenly Council, and turned their belief to a god whom they could not understand, whom they called Jehovah. Just as the Christians abandoned their belief in a Father, Son, Holy Ghost, and Council and turned their belief to a god whom they called Jesus but whom they could neither define nor understand. In consequence of the Jewish apostasy, even what is left of the five books of Moses bears such strong evidence of their editors’ work that many scholars actually believe that the books of Moses were first composed after the Babylonian captivity.

At the time of this apostasy, the Jews were part of the Persian Empire. They had no king of their own, and the sacred temple rites which focused on the covenant between God, king, and people, were no longer politically or religiously expedient. During this apostasy the Jews also lost the most sacred of their temple and coronation ceremonies. They rearranged the order of the Psalms (the text of their temple ceremony) so one could no longer discover the story line by reading the Psalms from beginning to end.

Our Book of Leviticus is an Aaronic Priesthood instruction manual about which sacrifices should be performed on which days, but it says almost nothing about what the people or the king were doing during the festivals, and it gives no indications about the temple ceremonies in which the Psalms were sung.

To begin to understand how truly the ordinances of the law of Moses testified of the Saviour, all one has to do is read the 22nd Psalm, which is so vivid in its language that one can almost sense the Saviour’s agony as he hung on the cross, then suddenly shifts scenes to the great meeting in the spirit world where the dead waited to receive the Saviour. It tells how he spoke to them, bearing testimony of his Father, and of his own mission. (If you don’t know that psalm, please stop and read it. It is one of the most moving poems in sacred literature.) If that psalm was sung with any understanding by the ancient Jews, then it is sufficient evidence that the ancient Jews understood the Saviour’s atonement and his power to save the living as well as the dead. Apparently the ceremonies, as well as the theology was stripped of its understanding of the true Messiah.

But Lehi left Jerusalem before this apostasy, so the law of Moses to which Jacob referred did testify of Christ, in ways which we no longer have record of.

For an example of the editorial policy and activities of the Old Testament editors, compare Genesis 6:1-13 with Moses 8:17-30.

Jacob 4:4 — LeGrand Baker — ‘hope of his glory’

Jacob 4:4
4    For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us (Jacob 4:4).

The phrase, “hope of his glory” is used only four times in the scriptures. Two are in this verse. Later, in verse 11, Jacob will write,

11   Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled unto him through the atonement of Christ, his Only Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a resurrection, according to the power of the resurrection which is in Christ, and be presented as the first-fruits of Christ unto God, having faith, and obtained a good hope of glory in him before he manifesteth himself in the flesh.

Here the word “glory” has the same connotation which we use when we speak of the glory of the celestial world. “Hope” as it is used in this kind of context in the scriptures, does not mean wishing, or wanting, or even anticipating. The Hope which is in the context of faith, hope, and charity, means accepting a promise (covenant) as though it were already fulfilled.

Mormon is the other writer who uses the phrase. In his letter to Moroni he writes,

25   My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever (Moroni 9:25).

For Mormon, the concept of “hope” and “rest” seem to have a similar meaning.

If Jacob is using his words carefully, as I presume he is, then what I believe he is saying is that hundreds of years before the Saviour came to the earth, Jacob and other prophets anticipated with full trust the promised blessings of eternal glory. That is his testimony. His message is that that hope is available to everyone else as well.

Jacob 3:11 — LeGrand Baker — ‘slumber of death’

Jacob 3:11
11   O my brethren, hearken unto my words; arouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may awake from the slumber of death; and loose yourselves from the pains of hell that ye may not become angels to the devil, to be cast into that lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death.

“…shake yourselves that ye may awake from the slumber of death;”

Like his brother Nephi, when Jacob taught his people, he depended heavily upon the sacred rites and scriptures of his ancient forefathers who had lived at Jerusalem. Here, it is most likely that he is reminding them of one of the Psalms which they would have sung, both as a hymn and also as a part of their ancient temple ceremonies. The Old Testament scripture that contains this idea is the 13th Psalm. The speaker of the Psalm in the temple drama, probably the king, prays that God will “lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.” It seems apparent that the death he fears is not one which would be brought about by an assassin’s knife, but rather a death which he can experience while his body still lives, but while his soul is dark and his “eyes” cannot see. This seems to be the same idea which Jacob is expressing, and a is a continuation of the idea of darkness which he expressed earlier. The entire psalm reads:

1   How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
2   How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
3   Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyeslest I sleep the sleep of death;
4    Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
5   But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
6   I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me. (Psalms 13:1-6)

Jacob 3:8 — LeGrand Baker — ‘holy, without spot’

Jacob 3:8
8   O my brethren, I fear that unless ye shall repent of your sins that their skins will be whiter than yours, when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God.

Ancient Israelite temples were both the same and different from ours. As I read the following:

38   For, for this cause I commanded Moses that he should build a tabernacle, that they should bear it with them in the wilderness, and to build a house in the land of promise, that those ordinances might be revealed which had been hid from before the world was (D&C 124:38).

I see the very strong suggestion that the temple ceremonies which were revealed in the Nauvoo temple were also performed in Moses’ tabernacle and Solomon’s temple. There were smaller rooms and a staircase mentioned as being a part of Solomon’s temple, but no mention is made of how they were used. There also seems to me to be enough evidence in the pre-3 Nephi portion of the Book of Mormon to suggest they had the same temple rites as we have. Yet their temples had some dramatic features which ours do not. Some of those features had to do with burnt offerings and sacrifices which have since been discontinued. One, perhaps the most striking, of the features was the huge golden throne sitting against the back wall of the Holy of Holies. This was the throne of God on earth, and represented his throne in the temple of heaven.

The dramatic conclusion of the New Year Festival (their 22 day covenant renewal ceremonies) occurred in the Holy of Holies when the newly anointed king, adopted as a son of God, sat upon his Father’s throne, and presided in God’s stead over earthly Israel. Some scholars have suggested that the king’s adoption and enthronement was symbolic of the adoption and enthronement of each of the persons who watched the ceremony.

While that is probably true, it is certainly true that the adoption and enthronement of the king represented the prediction of a similar event which would take place after death when each individual returned to God to be presented to him as he sat upon his heavenly throne.

Jacob’s statement can probably best be understood in connection with the drama of that ancient royal temple ceremony.

That accounts for context of Jacob’s statement, but it does not account for his remarkable comment about their skin color “when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God.”

It seems to me that the skin color in Jacob’s statement is also symbolic.

When Heber C. Kimball spoke at the funeral of President Jedediah M. Grant (Journal of Discourses 4: 135-138.) he said that President Grant had been in the spirit world several times before his final death, and that when he returned to his body President Grant “could look upon his family and see the spirit that was in them, and the darkness that was in them; and that he conversed with them about the Gospel’, and what they should do, and they replied, ‘Well, brother Grant, perhaps it is so, and perhaps it is not,’ and said that was the state of this people, to a great extent, for many are full of darkness….” When I first read that, it reminded me of Moroni 10:33 which reads, “…then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.” If I understand those statements correctly, it is better to be a person of light, than a person of light who is partly darkness – “spot” may be Moroni’s description of that darkness. While I readily admit that Jacob says he is talking about skin color, it still seems to me that his observations may not be about skin color at all, but about personal darkness. He may be saying essentially the same as President Grant and Moroni said.