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Alma 43 – LeGrand Baker – Covenant Names

I did not send an email last week because I didn’t have one to send. We have come to the war chapters in Alma and I was not at all sure how I could deal with them. I finally concluded that I couldn’t. The author of these chapters understood war tactics far better than I do, so there is no point in my commenting on what he explained to us. So I have decided to just skip them.

However, there is one part that cannot be passed over lightly.

The thousand year history that is the Book of Mormon is replete with wars, but only this one is described in much detail. There seems to be three reasons for Mormon’s choosing this one.

First, in the overall temple pattern of the Book of Mormon these war chapters map perfectly to the lonely, dreary part of the ancient temple drama.

Second, this war is clearly defined as a “holy war.” The key to understanding that is the series of covenants and new names in the accounts of the “title of liberty” and of the “sons of Helaman.”

Third, the story, as Mormon tells it, is a perfect example of the value of making and keeping covenants—-which is the only way we can navigate through the obstacles of this lonely world

In the scriptures and in the ordinances, whenever there is a new covenant there is also a new name. The new name is a way of identifying both the covenant and the covenant maker. For example, when we are baptized or take the sacrament we also take upon ourselves the name of the Savior, as did the Nephite Christians in this narrative.

A name is an identity. We use name-titles all the time to identify who people are: father, mother, bishop, elder, mayor. president. Each of these is a name-title that identifies us beyond the name one received at birth. That is also true with covenant new names it is with covenant new names.

The overriding message of these war chapters is that those who were true to their covenants and honored the names (that is, true to their covenant identity) are empowered to fulfill their covenants.

The story begins back when the Lamanites who were converted to the gospel “called their names Anti-Nephi-Lehies; and they were called by this name and were no more called Lamanites” (Alma 23:17). They covenanted that they would never again take up arms against their brethren and escaped to the Nephite territory where they were given refuge.

There are many wars in Book of Mormon history as the people struggle to overcome the aloneness of this dark and dreary world. But Mormon chooses to give the most detail about one, which he identifies as a sacred war between good and evil. He introduces it with a whole series of covenants and covenant names (There are always new names associated with new covenants).

Captain Moroni “rent his coat” (after that it is called “garment” so it is the outer of t he two—there are always two). He wrote a chiastic poem on it and he gives it the title of “Liberty,” and he made a covenant. “He bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land (Alma46:12-13)

At this point Mormon interrupts his narrative to insert the information that those who believe in Christ “took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ,” and are called Christians (Alma 46:14-18).

Captain Moroni then identified the land in terms of its geographical boundaries (measuring it and defining it as sacred space) and gave it the same name as the poem—“the land of liberty.” “And he said: Surely God shall not suffer that we, who are despised because we take upon us the name of Christ, shall be trodden down and destroyed, until we bring it upon us by our own transgressions (Alma 46:17-18).”

The people come and join in the covenant that they will keep the Lord’s commandments and he will preserve them in their Liberty (Alma 46:19-22).

Shortly thereafter we are told that the sons of Helaman “entered into a covenant to fight for the liberty of the Nephites,” and “they called themselves Nephites” (Alma 53:16-17).

The boys’ strength was a result of the teachings and examples of their parents who had been the original Anti-Nephi-Lehies. They had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them (Alma 56:47).” And their fathers, who could not participate in the war because of the covenant they had made, brought “many provisions” into the warzone for their sons (Alma 56:27).

The object of the story is to teach that because the fathers, the mothers, and their sons kept their covenants, all the boys were protected—-some were badly hurt, but they all survived.

“The Lord had supported them, yea, and kept them from falling by the sword, insomuch that even one soul has not been slain (Alma 58:39).

As I observed earlier, the lonely dreary world of the Book of Mormon’s ancient Israelite temple drama maps to these war chapters. That being so, these war stories are a metaphor of the way we should live our lives in this world. The message is singular: If we are true to the Savior and to the covenants we have made, then there will be empowered to keep our covenants—-there is no promise that we will not be hurt, but there is an absolute certainty that we will be triumphant in the end.

Alma 42:6, LeGrand Baker, “appointed unto man to die”

6 But behold, it was appointed unto man to die

Death always gets a bad press in human culture. The reasons are quite obvious. What is left over after the spirit is gone may be down right gruesome, or if it isn’t, it soon begins to stink and having it around becomes macabre. So we get it stowed away as soon as it is practicable. But that’s just the point: all we get to see is the left overs.

Like to country preacher said: “We shouldn’t be mournin’ fer good ole Sadie. Its only the shell that’s here in the casket. The nut still lives on.”

We are appointed to die, and however we may think of it, the fact remains: the assurance that we can die is one of the greatest blessings of the Atonement.

A much beloved and frequently repeated scripture is this one about Adam and Eve. It reads,

15 And I, the Lord God, took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it.
16 And I, the Lord God, commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Moses 3:15-17)

Every word in that scripture is important.

And I, the Lord God, commanded the man, saying…But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it.

God had to forbid it. The laws of justice and mercy insist that he do so. God could not have commanded them to eat that fruit, or even tell them that it would be OK, because if he had, then he would have been responsible for their expulsion from the Garden and into this world. If he had been responsible for putting us here, he also would have been equally responsible for getting us back. Had that happened, it would have left us without responsibility, without agency, purpose, or the freedom to be our Selves. We would have come, not to act, but to be acted upon. So his instructions were:

“nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee.”

What was true of Adam and Eve was equally true of ourselves. We did not leave the premortal spirit world because we were forced to come to this earth, but we left because we understood our Heavenly Father’s plan and trusted in the Saviour’s atonement. We came here because we chose to come. And now, having made that decision, we are free to make the decisions about what we will do while we are here. And that is what this experience is all about.

In those same verses, we read the words of the very first covenant that our Father in Heaven made with his earthly children.

“for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

Because, from our this-world perspective, death is sometimes a fearful thing, those words are usually read as a curse rather than as a blessing. But they are not a curse, they are the words of the covenant that evoke one of our greatest blessings.

It is the promise that if God’s children chose to come to this earth, he guarantees that there will be a way to get out again. Being here forever—-living in this world’s tensions between good and evil forever—-would be a perpetual hell. We needed the experience of knowing and choosing, but there also had to be a promise that we wouldn’t have to be here forever. So Adam and Eve left the Garden with the knowledge that they could also leave this world, and that when that time came, the Atonement would make it possible that they take no baggage with them, except the products of their own choices.

The covenant to each of us is: “If you choose to go down into that dark and dreary world, then, after you have learned what you are supposed to learn, you may return home again. We are not compelled to stay there in this world because the Lord has provided a way for us to return to him. The fulfillment of that covenant is in the words: “thou shalt surely die.”

Alma 42:1-4, LeGrand Baker, symbolism of the tree of life.

Alma 42:1-41
And now, my son, I perceive there is somewhat more which doth worry your mind, which ye cannot understand—which is concerning the justice of God in the punishment of the sinner; for ye do try to suppose that it is injustice that the sinner should be consigned to a state of misery.
2 Now behold, my son, I will explain this thing unto thee. For behold, after the Lord God sent our first parents forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground, from whence they were taken—yea, he drew out the man, and he placed at the east end of the garden of Eden, cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the tree of life—
3 Now, we see that the man had become as God, knowing good and evil; and lest he should put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever, the Lord God placed cherubim and the flaming sword, that he should not partake of the fruit—
4 And thus we see, that there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

The ancient Hebrew temple rituals at the time of Solomon’s Temple were a dramatic presentation of the cosmic myth and the plan of redemption. In that presentation, the sense of aloneness and longing for home that we find in the Hymn of the Pearl is shown to be a consequence of the fall of Adam and Eve, when they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. There they had walked and talked with God, and had unrestricted access to the fruit of the tree of life and to the waters of life. Jewish tradition holds that they had been clothed in a garment of light, which Nibley suggests was the Shechinah. (Hugh Nibley, Abraham in Egypt (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981, 2000), 373; Nibley, Abraham in Egypt, in CWHN 14:373. See “Shechinah” in LDS Bible dictionary.) Their loss of all of these things their—their personal relationship with God, the clothing that defined them as sacred space, and the food and drink that kept their bodies forever young—the loss of those things left humankind naked, vulnerable, hungry, and increasingly feeble until only death could release them from their infirmities.

Yearning to return home again was the foundation principle of the ancient Israelite religion and of their temple service. It was an expression of hope that somehow they might regain access to the paradisiacal world, partake of the fruit, and participate in the society of the gods. (Essentially it was the same hope whose fulfillment is described in the last three chapters of the Book of Revelation.) That hope was most vividly expressed on the last day of their eight-day temple festival. For mankind, the wish to return to the presence of God is the wish to return to sacred time in sacred space.

According to ancient tradition, when Adam left the Garden of Eden, he took two things with him. One was the garment of skins that replaced his garment of light, representing his priesthood, and would be his protection from the things of this world. The other was a branch of the tree of life. This branch became his kingly scepter. Adam was thus the world’s first high priest and its first king.

In his book about of the menorah, Yarden suggests that at the time of the Exodus, the symbol of the tree of life was the almond tree. He reports that the “almond is the first tree of spring in the Near East” and “the last to shed its leaves.” It has large white blossoms that were chosen by the Lord to be the pattern for the bowls of the lamps at the end of each arm of the menorah (Exodus 25:33-34). When Aaron’s staff blossomed and bore fruit, it “yielded almonds” (Numbers 17:8).

There are many kinds of trees and other plants that have been used to represent the tree of life—the olive tree, date palm, and grape vines. Wheat might also represent the tree of life. The bread that is made from wheat is one of the most important symbols of the fruit of the tree of life. The Savior used it when he spoke of his body as the bread of life.

In the New Testament, the Savior also spoke of himself as a grape vine, and that it was symbolic of the tree of life (John 15:1-9). It appears that when the Savior described himself as a vine, he was citing an ancient prophecy that we do not now have in our scriptures. Apparently, from that same ancient source both Nephi and Alma used the same simile, suggesting there may have been a prophecy on the brass plates with which the people were familiar (Alma 16:17).

Nephi wrote of the “true vine” and the “true olive tree” as though they were the same representation of the tree of life (1 Nephi 15:15-16, 21-22).

Of the variety of trees that represented the tree of life, the one that is most frequently associated with it is the olive tree. Its fruit is edible; its oil was one of the most precious commodities in the ancient Near East. The oil was used for many things, most notably for cooking, for light, for healing the body, and for ceremonial anointing. Its fruit represented the fruit of the tree of life, while its oil represented the waters of life. In an excellent paper, Stephen Ricks cited a number of ancient sources to show that the olive tree was most commonly associated with the tree of life.Stephen Ricks cited a number of ancient sources to show that the olive tree was most commonly associated with the tree of life. { 1 }

In an incomplete Serbian version of the Secrets of Enoch, the tree of life is described as being “in that place where God rests.” Enoch saw the Garden and wrote:

Every tree sweet-flowering, every fruit ripe, all manner of food perpetually bubbling with all pleasant smells, and four rivers flowing by with quiet course, and every [thing that] growth is good, bearing fruit for food, and the tree of life is at that place, at which God rests when he goes up into Paradise, and that tree is ineffable for the goodness of its sweet scent, and another olive tree alongside was always discharging the oil of its fruit. { 2 }

The phrase, “another olive tree alongside,” suggests that the tree of life was an olive tree. In the Revelation of John, he says “the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2). It is likely that Joseph Smith had that scripture in mind when he sent a copy of the revolution that is now section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants to W. W. Phelps. Joseph wrote,

I send you the “olive leaf” which we have plucked from the tree of Paradise, the Lord’s message of peace to us.

According to ancient tradition, when Adam left the Garden of Eden, he took two things with him. One was the garment of skins that represented his priesthood and would be his protection. The other was a branch of the tree of life. This branch became his kingly scepter. { 3 } Adam was thus the world’s first high priest and its first king.{ 4 }

Tradition also holds that the branch of the tree of life that Adam took from the garden was passed down through the generations until it became Moses’s “rod of God” (Exodus 4:20,17:9). Moses gave it to his brother Aaron, { 5 } for whom it blossomed as an evidence of his priesthood authority. Thereafter, it was kept in the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle.

As one would expect, in other ancient cultures, where the king had no legitimate claim to priesthood supported kingship, the kings adopted the forms and titles of legitimacy. Thus the tradition of a tree of life as a source of power and goodness is found in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Palestine, Greece, { 6 } and in ancient America. { 7 }

Almond represented the tree of life.

In his book about of the menorah, Yarden suggests that at the time of the Exodus, the symbol of the tree of life was the almond tree. He reports that in the Near East, the “almond is the first tree of spring in the Near East” and “the last to shed its leaves.” { 8 } It has large white blossoms that were chosen by the Lord to be the pattern for the bowls of the lamps at the end of each arm of the menorah (Exodus 25:33-34). When Aaron’s staff blossomed and bore fruit, it “yielded almonds” (Numbers 17:8).{ 9 }

There are many kinds of trees and other plants that have been used to represent the tree of life—the olive tree, date palm, { 10 } and grape vines. { 11 } Wheat might also represent the tree of life. The bread that is made from wheat is one of the most important symbols of the fruit of the tree of life.

Grape vine represented the tree of life.

In the New Testament, the Savior spoke of himself as a grape vine, and that it was symbolic of the tree of life (John 15:1-9). It appears that when the Savior described himself as a vine, he was citing an ancient prophecy that we do not now have in our scriptures. Apparently, from that same ancient source both Nephi and Alma used the same simile, suggesting there may have been a prophecy on the brass plates with which the people were familiar (Alma 16:17).

Olive tree represented the tree of life.

Nephi wrote of the “true vine” and the “true olive tree” as though they were the same representation of the tree of life (1 Nephi 15:15-16, 21-22).

Of the variety of trees that represented the tree of life, the one that is most frequently associated with it is the olive tree. Its fruit is edible; its oil was one of the most precious commodities in the ancient near East. The oil was used for many things, most notably for cooking, for light, for healing the body, and for ceremonial anointing. Its fruit represented the fruit of the tree of life, while its oil represented the waters of life. In an excellent paper, Stephen Ricks cited a number of ancient sources to show that the olive tree was most commonly associated with the tree of life. { 12 }

In an incomplete Serbian version of the Secrets of Enoch, the tree of life is described as being “in that place where God rests.” Enoch saw the Garden and wrote:

Every tree sweet-flowering, every fruit ripe, all manner of food perpetually bubbling with all pleasant smells, and four rivers flowing by with quiet course, and every [thing that] growth is good, bearing fruit for food, and the tree of life is at that place, at which God rests when he goes up into Paradise, and that tree is ineffable for the goodness of its sweet scent, and another olive tree alongside was always discharging the oil of its fruit. { 13 }

The phrase, “another olive tree alongside,” suggests that the tree of life was an olive tree. In the Revelation of John, he says “the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2). It is likely that Joseph Smith had that scripture in mind when he sent a copy of the revolution that is now section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants to W. W. Phelps. Joseph wrote,

I send you the “olive leaf” which we have plucked from the tree of Paradise, the Lord’s message of peace to us. { 14 }

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
ENDNOTES

1} Stephen D. Ricks, “Olive Culture in the Second Temple Era and Early Rabbinic Period,” in Stephen D. Ricks and John W. Welch, eds., The Allegory of the Olive Tree: The Olive, the Bible, and Jacob 5 (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book and FARMS, 464-65.

2} The Secrets of Enoch, MSS B, 8:1-3, in R.H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1913), 2:434.

3} Geo Widengren, “King and Covenant,” in Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. II, No. I, 1957.

4} Geo Widengren, The King and the Tree of Life in Ancient Near Eastern Religion (Uppsala Universitets Arsskrift, 1951), 10-59.

5} Geo Widengren, The King and the Tree of Life in Ancient Near Eastern Religion, Uppsala Universitets Arsskrift, 1951. 38-41.

6} Rachel Hachlili, The Menorah, the Ancient Seven-armed Candelabrum, Origin, Form and Significance (Leiden, Brill, 2001), 36-39. C. Wilfred Griggs, “The Book of Mormon as an Ancient Book,” in Noel B. Reynolds, ed., Book of Mormon Authorship (Provo, Utah, Religious Studies Center, BYU, 1982), 75-102. Also his “The Tree of Life in Ancient Cultures,” in Ensign, June 198, 26-31.

7} See, M. Wells Jakeman, Stela 5, Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico; a Major Archaeological Discovery of the New World (University Archaeological Society, Special Publication No. 2, Provo, 1958); V. Garth Norman, “Izapa Sculpture,” Part 2, Brigham Young University, New World Archaeological Foundation Papers, No. 30 (1976):165–235. Irene Briggs, “The Tree of Life in Ancient America: Its Representations and Significance,” Bulletin, University Archaeological Society, No. 4 (March 1953):1–18.

8} Leon Yarden, The Tree of Light, A Study of the Menorah, The Seven-branched Lampstand, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1971, 40.

9} Geo Widengren, The King and the Tree of Life in Ancient Near Eastern Religion, Uppsala Universitets Arsskrift, 1951, 38-41.

10} For discussions of the widespread use of the symbol of the tree of life see C. Wilfred Griggs, “The Tree of Life in Ancient Cultures,” in Ensign, June, 1988, 26-31; and Griggs’s, “The Book of Mormon as an Ancient Book,” in Noel B. Reynolds, ed., Book of Mormon Authorship (Provo, Utah, Religious Studies Center, BYU, 1982), 75-101.

11} Ad de Vries, Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery (London, North-Holland, 1974), 474.

Stephen D. Ricks, “Olive Culture in the Second Temple Era and Early Rabbinic Period,” in Stephen D. Ricks and John W. Welch, eds., The Allegory of the Olive Tree: The Olive, the Bible, and Jacob 5 (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book and FARMS, 1994), 464-66.

12} Stephen D. Ricks, “Olive Culture in the Second Temple Era and Early Rabbinic Period,” in Stephen D. Ricks and John W. Welch, eds., The Allegory of the Olive Tree: The Olive, the Bible, and Jacob 5 (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book and FARMS, 464-65.

13} The Secrets of Enoch, MSS B, 8:1-3, in R.H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1913), 2:434.

14} Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976), 18.

Alma 41:7-15 – LeGrand Baker – “Eternal Punishment”

7 they are their own judges, whether to do good or do evil.
8 Now, the decrees of God are unalterable; therefore, the way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved.
10 …Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.
11 …they have gone contrary to the nature of God; therefore, they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness.
15 For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored; therefore, the word restoration more fully condemneth the sinner, and justifieth him not at all.

– – – – – – – – – – – –

It is my carefully considered opinion that in our Father in Heaven’s entire existence he has never punished anybody for anything. Now before you take that out of context let me explain. Our Heavenly Father is a tender, loving parent who will do, and who has done, everything possible for the salvation of his children. He is a God of absolute mercy. Now, we have our entire existence in linear time to determine whether we will accept all or only part of his merciful love. He is also a God of absolute justice, guaranteeing to each one of us all of the blessings we are WILLING to accept. He cannot force us to be happy as he is happy, just as he cannot force us to learn to be free from sin. So he blesses us, loves us and teaches us through the Holy Ghost how to listen and love him in return. If we are slow to listen, then he warns and even threatens us. But he does not punish us, he only tries to let us understand the consequences of our own bullheadedness.

I think that is what Alma is trying to explain that to his own wayward son, and that is also what the Lord explained to the Prophet Joseph and his friends.

5 Wherefore, I revoke not the judgments which I shall pass, but woes shall go forth, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, yea, to those who are found on my left hand.
6 Nevertheless, it is not written that there shall be no end to this torment, but it is written endless torment.
7 Again, it is written eternal damnation; wherefore it is more express than other scriptures, that it might work upon the hearts of the children of men, altogether for my name’s glory.
8 Wherefore, I will explain unto you this mystery, for it is meet unto you to know even as mine apostles.
9 I speak unto you that are chosen in this thing, even as one, that you may enter into my rest.
10 For, behold, the mystery of godliness, how great is it! For, behold, I am endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand is endless punishment, for Endless is my name. Wherefore—
11 Eternal punishment is God’s punishment.
12 Endless punishment is God’s punishment.
13 Wherefore, I command you to repent, and keep the commandments which you have received by the hand of my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., in my name;

After I sent the above to our friends, I received the following from a very dear friend:

February 3, 2012
From Chauncey C. Riddle

Legrand: Just read your message of 11/27/11 about punishment. I completely agree with you that Father only blesses. Every so-called cursing is actually a blessing intended to help the recipient. God is love and his love extends to all. It is conditional, depending on the capacity of the recipient to receive. I find the pervasive comments about the importances of unconditional love to be very tiring because they reveal so little thought.

Best to you, CCRiddle

Alma 41:3, LeGrand Baker, Judged by works

3Alma 41:3
3 And it is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good.

As we discussed last week, the sequence of events surrounding the resurrection are these: At the time of our resurrection we are judged according to the quality of our spirit and therefore receive a resurrected body that is perfectly compatible with the truth, light, love, and joy that our spirit has assimilated and that it radiates. That being so, the criteria upon which we are judged at the resurrection is whether we keep our covenants, including our relationships with ourselves, with God, and with other people.

Alma taught the sequence of events to his son when he said:

[1] there is a space between death and the resurrection of the body, and a state of the soul in happiness or in misery

[2] until the time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth, and be reunited, both soul and body,

[3] and be brought to stand before God,

[4] and be judged according to their works (Alma 40:21-2).

Alma repeated the same sequence again:

[1] and the atonement bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead;

[2] and the resurrection of the dead bringeth back men into the presence of God;

[3] and thus they are restored into his presence,

[4] to be judged according to their works, according to the law and justice (Alma 42:23).

One of the importance facts of these two sequences is that in # 4, the first reads, “according to their works”; and the second elaborates: “according to their works, according to the law and justice,” emphasizing the legal significance of the meaning of “works.”

After the resurrection we will all stand before the Savior and he will judge us “of your our works, whether they [the works] be good or whether they be evil”(3 Nephi 27:14-15, Mormon 3:20). Thereafter, the Savior “shall deliver up the kingdom, and present it unto the Father, spotless” (D&C 76:107-108).

That sequence asks interesting questions: If, by the resurrection, our eternal state of happiness is already established, then by what “works” will we be judged after that? And why?

The answer to the “why” question is self evident. In the Kingdom of God, everything must be done with legal and correct precision (zedek) because “mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion (D&C132:8).” Therefore it follows that the final judgment must be based on criteria that is exact, unquestionable, and legally sound.

Now we are left with only one question: What is the definition of “works”? The dictionaries don’t help much. The word, whether in Greek or Hebrew, or English, only means the things we do.

In the scriptures “works” is often tied very closely to “faith,”—- pistis. Pistis is a complex word that denotes all the facets of making and keeping covenants. Peter uses pistis to represent the entire early Christian temple experience (2 Peter 1:1-4). When the meaning of “works” is established by its relationship with pistis, then “works” also has a temple/covenant connotation. But it means what we do rather than only what we say.

An example is the famous passage in 2 Nephi:

10 But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—-having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works [ordinances] of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith [pistis, covenant]; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise—-(2 Nephi 1:10).

We learn from Samuel the Lamanite that everyone will be redeemed [which he defines as being brought into the presence of Christ] because of the resurrection to be “ judged of their works.” However, only some will be able to remain there. Others are “cast out of his presence,” and must go somewhere else.

To the Book of Mormon prophets, there are only two degrees of glory. Either one is in the celestial kingdom in the presence of God or one is not in the presence of God.

32 And it came to pass that I said unto them that it was a representation of things both temporal and spiritual; for the day should come that they must be judged of their works, yea, even the works which were done by the temporal body in their days of probation [That is why priesthood ordinances must be performed for the dead by people who still live in this world] (1 Nephi 15:32).

That these “works” are the ordinances is made clear in D&C 128:7-8, where the Prophet Joseph used the words “works” and “ordinances” interchangeably.

You will discover in this quotation [Revelation 20:12] that the books were opened; and another book was opened, which was the book of life; but the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works; consequently, the books spoken of must be the books which contained the record of their works, …. Now, the nature of this ordinance consists in the power of the priesthood, by the revelation of Jesus Christ, wherein it is granted that whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. …. for out of the books shall your dead be judged, according to their own works, whether they themselves have attended to the ordinances in their own propria persona, or by the means of their own agents, according to the ordinance which God has prepared for their salvation from before the foundation of the world, according to the records which they have kept concerning their dead (D&C 128:7-8).

Alma describes “works” in much the same way by uniting “works” with “righteousness.” That poses another interesting question: What constitutes a “righteous” ordinance? “Righteousness” is zedek, a Hebrew word that identifies the correctness of priesthood and temple ordinances. Zedek means something is done in the right place and at the right time, while doing the right things in the right way, and using the right words, dressed the right way, doing it all with the right authority. Alma says all that when he uses the phrase “works of righteousness.”

16 I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?
17 Or do ye imagine to yourselves that ye can lie unto the Lord in that day, and say—Lord, our works have been righteous works upon the face of the earth—and that he will save you? (Alma 5:16-17)

D&C 132 tells us that it requires more than just doing the ordinance correctly for them to be acceptable by the Lord. The revelation explains:

7 And verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this law are these: All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed [the Savior], both as well for time and for all eternity, and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed [the Prophet Joseph or one designated by him], whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power…. are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead (D&C 132:7).

So it is apparent that the last step in making the ordinances valid, is when they are sealed (ratified) by the Holy Spirit of promise. For most of us, we enter into those covenants during this life, and they remain in tact when we are dead, until we have throughly proved ourselves, then they are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. As ordinance work for the dead is possible, so must ratification of our ordinances after death also be possible. That ultimate sealing may also be the final criterion on which we are “judged by our works.”

Alma 41:2, LeGrand Baker, “Restored to their proper order”

2 I say unto thee, my son, that the plan of restoration is requisite with the justice of God; for it is requisite that all things should be restored to their proper order. Behold, it is requisite and just, according to the power and resurrection of Christ, that the soul of man should be restored to its body, and that every part of the body should be restored to itself.

“Restored to their proper order”

“Order” is a multifaceted word. In this context it apparently means reuniting one’s body and spirit, but even that asks more questions than it answers. Verses 3-8 tell us that “order” also has to do with how the quality of one’s soul determines the quality of one’s resurrected body.

Today I have tried to explore that question, primarily by examining D&C 88, but also reading what some of the brethren have said about that. I think you will especially enjoy President Wilford Woodruff’s description of the clothing worn by resurrected persons.

In Alma 41, “soul” is clearly a reference to the premortal spirit that occupies the physical body. However, in D&C 88 the Lord uses that word differently, and clarifies the difference:

(Doctrine and Covenants 88:15-16)
5 And the spirit and the body are the soul of man.
16 And the resurrection from the dead is the redemption of the soul.

In the Book of Mormon redemption means to be brought into the presence of God. As Samuel the Lamanite explained:

17 But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord.
18 Yea, and it bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repenteth the same is not hewn down and cast into the fire; but whosoever repenteth not is hewn down and cast into the fire; and there cometh upon them again a spiritual death, yea, a second death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness (Helaman 14:17-18).

Alma and Mormon taught the same principle.

23 But God ceaseth not to be God, and mercy claimeth the penitent, and mercy cometh because of the atonement; and the atonement bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead; and the resurrection of the dead bringeth back men into the presence of God; and thus they are restored into his presence, to be judged according to their works, according to the law and justice (Alma 42:23).

6 And he bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead, whereby man must be raised to stand before his judgment-seat (Mormon 7:6).

Section 88 explains that the quality of one’s resurrected body determines which of the three degrees of glory one will inherit:

17 And the redemption of the soul is through him that quickeneth all things, in whose bosom it is decreed that the poor and the meek of the earth shall inherit it [the earth].
18 Therefore, it [the earth] must needs be sanctified from all unrighteousness, that it may be prepared for the celestial glory;
19 For after it hath filled the measure of its creation, it shall be crowned with glory, even with the presence of God the Father;
20 That bodies [resurrected persons whose bodies are celestial] who are of the celestial kingdom may possess it forever and ever; for, for this intent was it [the earth] made and created, and for this intent are they [persons with celestial bodies] sanctified.
21 And they who are not sanctified through the law which I have given unto you, even the law of Christ, must inherit another kingdom, even that of a terrestrial kingdom, or that of a telestial kingdom.
22 For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory [again a reference to the bodies ability to endure celestial power].
23 And he who cannot abide the law of a terrestrial kingdom cannot abide a terrestrial glory.
24 And he who cannot abide the law of a telestial kingdom cannot abide a telestial glory; therefore he is not meet for a kingdom of glory. Therefore he must abide a kingdom which is not a kingdom of glory.
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 [that may be the criteria for the judgement of all things including ourselves]—
26 Wherefore, it [the earth] 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 [resurrected] body.
28 They who are [present tense] of a celestial spirit shall receive [future tense] the same body which was [past tense from the future which bring us back to the present] 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 [present tense] quickened by a portion the celestial glory shall then [future tense] receive of the same, even a fulness.

[“Portion” is the key word. We cannot be celestial persons until after the resurrection. However, we can be persons “quickened by a portion the celestial glory” while we are still in this world. Indeed, this says we must be or we cannot merit a celestial body in the resurrection.]

30 And they who are [present tense] quickened by a portion of the terrestrial glory shall then [future tense] 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.
33 For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.

There is a very interesting juxtaposition in D&C 76:64-65— “These are they who shall have part in the first resurrection. These are they who shall come forth in the resurrection of the just.” (See also D&C 76:50)

The phrase “first resurrection”is found in several places in the scriptures (Revelation 20:5-7; Mosiah 15:20-26; Mosiah 18:9; Alma 40:15-18; D&C 45:54, 63:17-18, 76:64), but phrase “second resurrection” is not found there at all. However, we do find “resurrection of endless damnation” (Mosiah 16:11), “resurrection of damnation” (3 Nephi 26:5), “resurrection of the unjust” and “last resurrection” (D&C 76:1, 85) .

Brigham Young explained:

You read about a first resurrection. If there is a first, there is a second. And if a second, may there not be a third, and a fourth, and so on? Yes; and happy are they who have a part in the first resurrection. Yes, more blessed are they than any others. But blessed also are they that will have part in the second resurrection, for they will be brought forth to enjoy a kingdom that is more glorious than the sectarian world ever dreamed of (Journal of Discourses, 7: 288).

As a relatively young man, Wilford Woodruff saw a vision of the resurrection. On at least three different occasions he described that vision, each time pointing out different details. Those three descriptions follow:

I saw the resurrection of the dead. In the first resurrection those that came forth from their graves seemed to be all dressed alike, but in the second resurrection they were as diverse in their dress as this congregation is before me to-day, and if I had been an artist I could have painted the whole scene as it was impressed upon my mind, more indelibly fixed than anything I had ever seen with the natural eye (Journal of Discourses, 22:330).

In another place Wilford Woodruff told the same story in different details.

Then he showed me the resurrection of the dead—what is termed the first and second resurrection. In the first resurrection I saw no graves nor anyone raised from the grave. I saw legions of celestial beings, men and women who had received the Gospel all clothed in white robes. In the form they were presented to me, they had already been raised from the grave. After this he showed me what is termed the second resurrection. Vast fields of graves were before me, and the Spirit of God rested upon the earth like a shower of gentle rain, and when that fell upon the graves they were opened, and an immense host of human beings came forth. They were just as diversified in their dress as we are here, or as they were laid down (Brian H. Stuy, ed., Collected Discourses, 5 vols. [Burbank, Calif., and Woodland Hills, Ut.: B.H.S. Publishing, 1987-1992], 5: .) [I got this quote and the following one from Gospel Link where no page number is given.]

In General Conference, on October 8th, 1881, President Woodruff added:

The room was filled with light. A messenger came to me. We had a long conversation. He laid before me as if in a panorama, the signs of the last days, and told me what was coming to pass. I saw the sun turned to darkness, the moon to blood, the stars fall from heaven. I saw the resurrection day. I saw armies of men in the first resurrection, clothed with the robes of the Holy Priesthood. I saw the second resurrection (Stuy, ed., Collected Discourses, vol. 1. no page number given.)

In his discussion of Mosiah 15: 21, Hugh Nibley summed it all up very nicely. He said:

Verse 21: “And there cometh a resurrection, even a first resurrection; yea, even a resurrection of those that have been, and who are, and who shall be, even until the resurrection of Christ.” Why does it make such a fuss about the first resurrection? We are going to be resurrected anyway. First, second-a little waiting around won’t do any harm, will it? What is the difference? Well, as it tells us here, the first resurrection isn’t a time-it’s a condition. You are resurrected in a different condition from what you are in the second resurrection—the condition of dwelling with God. The time isn’t the important thing if you can dwell with him. The second resurrections take place on another level too. There are others later. So to come forth in the first resurrection will be a great privilege-the condition of dwelling with God (Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon–Semester 1: Transcripts of Lectures Presented to an Honors Book of Mormon Class at Brigham Young University, 1988–1990 [Provo: FARMS/ 89.)

Alma 40:6-7, LeGrand Baker, the spirit world

Alma 40:6-7
6 Now there must needs be a space betwixt the time of death and the time of the resurrection.
7 And now I would inquire what becometh of the souls of men from this time of death to the time appointed for the resurrection?

Latter-day prophets have given us some very explicit answers to Alma’s question.

The attachment contains just a few statements about interpersonal relations and the organization of the Church in the spirit world. They are quotes from Eliza R. Snow, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff, Heber J. Grant, and David O. Mckay

STATEMENTS ABOUT THE POST-EARTH-LIFE SPIRIT WORLD

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ELIZA R. SNOW

Andrew Jensen, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1: 695

After the martyrdom of her husband [Joseph Smith], June 27, 1844, Sister Eliza [Eliza R. Snow] was prostrated with grief, and besought the Lord with all the fervency of her soul to permit her to follow the Prophet at once, and not leave her In so dark and wicked a world. And so set was her mind on the matter, that she did not and could not cease that prayer of her heart until the Prophet came to her and told her that she must not continue to supplicate the Lord In that way, tor her petition was not in accordance with his design concerning her, Joseph told her that his work upon earth was completed as far as the mortal tabernacle was concerned, but her’s was not; the Lord desired her, and so did her husband, to live many years, and assist in carrying on the great Latter-day work which Joseph had been chosen to establish. That she must be of good courage and help to cheer, and lighten the burdens of others. And that she must turn her thoughts away from her own loneliness, and seek to console her people In their bereavement and sorrow.

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BRIGHAM YOUNG

(Journal of Discourses, 3: 370)

Go to the time when the Gospel came to the earth in the days of Joseph, take the wicked that have opposed this people and persecuted them to the death, and they are sent to hell. Where are they? They are in the spirit world, and are just as busy as they possibly can be to do every thing they can against the Prophet and the Apostles, against Jesus and his kingdom. They are just as wicked and malicious in their actions against the cause of truth, as they were while on the earth in their fleshly tabernacles.

– – – – – – – – – – – –

President Brigham Young,

(Journal of Discourses, 15: 139.)

I am going to stop my talking by saying that, in the millennium, when the kingdom of God is established on the earth in power, glory and perfection, and the reign of wickedness that has so long prevailed is subdued, the Saints of God will have the privilege of building their temples, and of entering into them, becoming, as it were, pillars in the temples of God, and they will officiate for their dead. Then we will see our friends come up, and perhaps some that we have been acquainted with here. If we ask who will stand at the head of the resurrection in this last dispensation, the answer is—Joseph Smith, Junior, the Prophet of God. He is the man who will be resurrected and receive the keys of the resurrection, and he will seal this authority upon others, and they will hunt up their friends and shall have been officiated for, and bring them up. And we will have revelations to know our forefathers clear back to Father Adam and Mother Eve, and we will enter into the temples of God and officiate for them. Then man will be sealed to man until the chain is made perfect back to Adam, so that there will be a perfect chain of priesthood from Adam to the winding-up scene.

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A Discourse, by President Brigham Young,

(Journal of Discourses, 3: 371.)

But is Joseph glorified? No, he is preaching to the spirits in prison. He will get his resurrection the first of any one in this kingdom, for he was the first that God made choice of to bring forth the work of the last days.

His office is not taken from him, he has only gone to labor in another department of the operations of the Almighty. He is still an Apostle, still a Prophet and is doing the work of an Apostle and Prophet; he has gone one step beyond us and gained a vistory that you and I have not gained, still he has not yet gone into the celestial kingdom, or if he has it has been by a direct command of the Almighty, and that too to return again so soon as the purpose has been accomplished.

No man can enter the celestial kingdom and be crowned with a celestial glory, until he gets his resurrected body; but Joseph and the faithful who have died have gained a victory over the power of the devil, which you and I have not yet gained. So long as we live in these tabernacles, so long we will be subject to the temptations and power of the devil; but when we lay them down, if we have been faithful, we have gained the victory so far; but even then we are not so far advanced at once as to be beyond the neighborhood of evil spirits.

– – – – – – – – – – – –

Preston Nibley, Brigham Young: The Man and His Work, 4th ed.[Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1960], 533.)

All day Friday, he was in considerable pain, “but endured it cheerfully, and occasionally made humorous remarks when he saw those about him inclined to be troubled.” On Saturday afternoon “inflammation of the bowels” set in. He slept fitfully during the night and frequently moaned in his sleep. When asked if he suffered great pain, he replied, “No, I don’t know that I do.”

During Sunday and Monday he seemed to revive somewhat, “being frequently administered to by some of his brethren,” but on Monday evening he sank into a comatose condition, from which it was difficult to arouse him. At 4 o’clock Tuesday morning, “he sank down in bed apparently lifeless.” Artificial respiration was immediately resorted to, and “hot poultices were placed over the heart to stimulate action.” “For nine consecutive hours artificial respiration was continued. At that time he seemed greatly revived and spoke to those around him, saying he felt better and wished to rest.”

On Wednesday, Aug. 29th, it was apparent to anxious watchers at his bedside that the end was near. His last words, as he gazed fixedly upwards were, “Joseph, Joseph, Joseph,” as though he communed with his beloved Prophet. At one minute past four o’clock in the afternoon, his breathing ceased; his great heart was stilled. The mortal life of one of God’s noblest sons had come to an end.

– – – – – – – – – –

HEBER C. KIMBALL

(Journal of Discourses, 4:137

Remarks at the funeral of President Pedediah P. Grant by President Heber C. Kimball

The ideas that brother Brigham has just advanced are congenial with my feelings, perfectly so.

During brother Grant’s brief sick-ness I would not believe, for one moment, that he was going te die, though my feelings would at times incline me to doubt as to his recovery; but I would not give way to them. And now it is only the body that is dead, for his spirit will never die ! It has overcome death and hell, and laid aside its earthly tenement that that may return to its native element, awaiting the morn of the resurrection, when the spirit will receive it in an immortal state, and then have gained the victory over death, hell and the grave.

In regard to the lifeless body that now lies before us, let me tell you that mourning and making a great parade over it, is similar to what it would be for me to lament about a house which the occupants had forsaken. I left a house in Nauvoo, but do you suppose that I fret about it? I do not. And what is the use of gathering the bands together and the troops, and performing lengthy and pompous ceremonies over a tenement the spirit has left? I would not give a picayune for all your parade.

I will not stoop to the principle of death. I could weep, but I will not. There is a spirit in me that rises above that feeling, and it is because Jedediah is not dead.

I went to see him one day last week, and he reached out his hand aud shook hands with me; he could not speak, but he shook hands warmly with me. I felt for him, and wanted to raise him tip, and to have him stay and help whip the devils and bring to pass righteousness. Why? Because he was valiant, and I loved him. He was a great help to us, and you would be, if you were as valiant as he was, which you can be through faithfulness and obedience.

I laid my hands upon him and blessed him, and asked God to strengthen his lungs that he might be easier, and in two or three minutes he raised him-self up and talked for about an hour as busily as he could, telling me what he had seen and what he understood, until I was afraid he would weary himself, when I arose and left him.

He said to me, brother Heber, I have been into the spirit world two nights in succession, and, of all the dreads that ever came across me, the worst was to have to again return to my body, though I had to do it. But 0, says he, the order and government that were there! When in the spirit world, I saw the order of righteous men and women; beheld them organized in their several grades, and there appeared to be no obstruction to my vision; I could see every man and woman in their grade and order. I looked to see whether there was any disorder there, but there was none; neither could I see any death nor any darkness, disorder or confusion. He said that the people he there saw were organized in family capacities; and when he looked at them he saw grade after grade, and all were organized and in perfect harmony. We would on this earth, but I never saw any to compare with those that were there. I saw flowers of numerous kinds, and some with from fifty to a hundred different colored flowers growing upon one stalk.” We have many kinds of flowers on the earth, and I suppose those very articles came from heaven, or they would not be here.

After mentioning the things that he bad seen, he spoke of how much he disliked to return and resume his body, after having seen the beauty and glory of the spirit world, where the righteous spirits are gathered together.

Some may marvel at my speaking about these things, for many profess to believe that we have no spiritual existence. But do you not believe that my spirit was organized before it came to my body here? And do you not think there can be houses and gardens, fruit trees, and every other good thing there? The spirits of those things were made, as well as our spirits, and it follows that they can exist upon the same principle.

After speaking of the gardens and the beauty of every thing there, brother Grant said that he felt extremely sorrowful at having to leave so beautiful a place and come back to earth, for he looked upon his body with loathing, but was obliged to enter it again.

He said that after he came back he 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 and will not believe me.

I never had a view of the righteous assembling in the spirit-world, but I have had a view of the hosts of hell, and have seen them as plainly as I see you today. The righteous spirits gather together to prepare and qualify themselves for a future day, and evil spirits have no power over them, though they are constantly striving for the mastery. I have seen evil sprits attempt to overcome those holding the Priesthood. and I know how they act.

I feel well, and I do not feel to condescend to a spirit of mourning. If I do weep, I will weep for my own sins and not for Jedediah. If he could speak he would say, ” Weep not for me, but weep for your own sins.”

Before brother Grant was taken sick, he said that he had unsheathed his sword, and that it never should be sheathed again until the enemies of righteousness were subdued; and he fought the devil up to the last, and used to proclaim that he should not prevail on this earth. I can say that he left us with his sword unsheathed, and be will help Joseph and Hyrum and Willard.

Previous to the late Reformation, I saw brother Willard in a dream. I dreamed that we had a very large kiln filled with articles of ware of various kinds and sizes. Many of them had previously fallen down, being thin, not having strength to remain upright, we had put the good ones into the kiln and put in the fire, and had got them considerably warmed; but, somehow or other, they got cold again, and we thought we would go down to a certain stream and get some dry wood, and burn the earthenware for use. As we were going towards the stream, brother Willard came along and said, “Brethren, I am gathering up better fuel than that — some that will make a bigger fire.” So he is, and Jedediah has gone to help, and the day will come that many of us will go too; and as the Lord Almighty lives, and as my soul lives, we have unsheathed the sword, and we never will sheath it until the enemies of our God are overcome. Jedediah has overcome all his enemies.

Brother Brigham says that he will have hundreds and thousands of boys right here that will help us with a power greatly increased beyond that of their fathers, and I know that it will be so. When boys go back on the Plains to encounter storms and rescue the suffering, as did David P. Kimball, Stephen Taylor, Joseph A. Young, Ephraim Hanks, and many others, it makes me feel well. David took the consecrated oil and went forth, like a man of God. and anointed the sick and afflicted, and commanded them to arise ; and those boys acted valiantly, having been trained up amid the Saints.

Brother Ephraim Hanks has put a feather in his cap, through his noble conduct in aiding our belated immigration, he has unsheathed his Sword upon the side of doing good, and I exhort him not to sheath it again.

I feel encouraged; brother Jedediah has gone to be with Joseph.

Let us be faithful, and listen to the words of brother Brigham and brother Jedediah and those placed to lead us, and what joy I will have. Would I be willing to lay down my body? Yes, if that would sooner accomplish so great an object, and bring this whole people into a position where they could see and understand for themselves.

These are my feelings, brethren and sisters, and may God bless you. To those who delight in uprightness I am all blessings, from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet; but I am heavy on the tracks of sinners, because I know that if they do persist in their course, and if the Quorums do not purify themselves quickly, you will see something that will make you lament; some are nourishing a cankerworm that they will not easily get rid of.

Why do you not all listen to brother Brigham and Jedediah and Heber and many others? They have had the spirit of reformation all the time.

Then wake up ye Saints of Latter Days, and cleanse your platters inside and out, and God Almighty will rescue us from our enemies. He will slay them; He will hurl kings from their thrones and unrighteous rulers from their places of authority, and they will drop faster than you saw the stars drop from heaven, at the time that the Saints were driven out of Jackson county Missouri.

I am talking of what I know, and not of what I merely believe; and may the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, rest upon you, my brethren and sisters, and upon our families and every good person. Brother Brigham is my brother, and brother Jedediah is my brother; I loved him, I love those men, God knows I do, better than I ever loved a woman; and I would not give a dime for a man that does not love them better than they love women. A man is a miserable being, if he lets a woman stand between him and his file leaders; he is a fool, and I have no regard for him; he is not fit for the Priesthood.

I want to stir you up to faith, obedience, integrity, and everything that is good. I am preaching to you; not to Jedediah. What remains here of him goes back to mother earth, and let us strive to honor our tabernacles as did brother Grant his.

My body has got to return to dust and I will honor it, then I will take it again. I am as sure of that, as I am that I am standing here before you.

God bless you forever. Amen.

– – – – – – – – – – – –

WILFRED WOODRUFF

(Journal of Discourses, 22: 333-34.)

Now, I will refer to a thing that took place with me in Tennessee. I was in Tennessee in the year 1835, and, while at the house of Abraham O. Smoot, I received a letter from brothers Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, requesting me to stay there, and stating that I would lose no blessing by doing so. Of course, I was satisfied. I went into a little room and sat down upon a small sofa. I was all by myself and the room was dark; and while I rejoiced in this letter and the promise made to me, I became wrapped in vision. I was like Paul; I did not know whether I was in the body or out of the body. A personage appeared to me and showed me the great scenes that should take place in the last days. One scene after another passed before me. I saw the sun darkened; I saw the moon become as blood; I saw the stars fall from heaven; I saw seven golden lamps set in the heavens, representing the various dispensations of God to man-a sign that would appear before the coming of Christ. I saw the resurrection of the dead. In the first resurrection those that came forth from their graves seemed to be all dressed alike, but in the second resurrection they were as diverse in their dress as this congregation is before me today, and if I had been an artist I could have painted the whole scene as it was impressed upon my mind, more indelibly fixed than anything I had ever seen with the natural eye. —JD 22:331-333, October 8, 1881.

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(Wilford Woodruff, The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, edited by G. Homer Durham [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969], 64.)

And I will here say that every elder of Israel who lays down his life, whether he dies in his bed, or is put to death by the enemies of truth, when he goes into the spirit world his works follow him, and he rests in peace. The priesthood is not taken from him, and he has thousands more to preach to there than he ever had here in the flesh. But it depends upon the living here to erect temples, that the ordinances for the dead may be attended to, for by and by you will meet your progenitors in the spirit world who never heard the sound of the gospel. You who are here in Zion have power to be baptized for and to redeem your dead.—JD 17:250, October 9, 1874.

– – – – – – – – – – – –

Wilford Woodruff, (Journal of Discourses, 22: 334.)

Here is a kingdom of Priests raised up by the power of God to take hold and build up the kingdom of God. The same Priesthood exists on the other side of the vail. Every man who is faithful in his quorum here will join his quorum there. When a man dies and his body is laid in the tomb, he does not lose his position. The Prophet Joseph Smith held the keys of this dispensation on this side of the vail, and he will hold them throughout the countless ages of eternity. He went into the spirit world to unlock the prison doors and to preach the Gospel to the millions of spirits who are in darkness, and every Apostle, every Seventy, every Elder, etc., who has died in the faith as soon as he passes to the other side of the vail, enters into the work of the ministry, and there is a thousand times more to preach there than there is here.

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Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 21: 317.)

I reflect a good deal with regard to our position, as was described to us to-day by Brother Pratt. It has been my faith and belief from the time that I was made acquainted with the Gospel that no greater prophet than Joseph Smith ever lived on the face of the earth save Jesus Christ. He was raised up to stand at the head of this great dispensation—the greatest of all dispensations God has ever given to man. He remarked on several occasions when conversing with his brethren: “brethren you do not know me, you do not know who I am.” As I remarked at our priesthood meeting on Friday evening, I have heard him in my early days while conversing with the brethren, say, (at the same time smiting himself upon the breast) “I would to God that I could unbosom my feelings in the house of my friends.” Joseph Smith was ordained before he came here, the same as Jeremiah was. Said the Lord unto him, “Before you were begotten I knew you” etc.

So do I believe with regard to this people, so do I believe with regard to the apostles, the high priests, seventies and the elders of Israel bearing the holy priesthood, I believe they were ordained before they came here; and I believe the God of Israel has raised them up, and has watched over them from their youth, and has carried them through all the scenes of life both seen and unseen, and has prepared them as instruments in his hands to take this kingdom and bear it off. If this be so, what manner of men ought we to be? If anything under the heavens should humble men before the Lord and before one another, it should be the fact that we have been called of God.

I believe the eyes of the heavenly hosts are over this people; I believe they are watching the elders of Israel, the prophets and apostles and men who are called to bear off this kingdom. I believe they watch over us all with great interest.

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Discourse Delivered by President Wilford Woodruff, at the Weber Stake Conference, Ogden, Monday, October 19, 1896. (Brian H. Stuy, ed., Collected Discourses, 5 vols. [Burbank, Calif., and Woodland Hills, Ut.: B.H.S. Publishing, 1987-1992], 5: .)

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 that 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.

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(Wilford Woodruff, The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, edited by G. Homer Durham [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969], 291.)

I believe the eyes of the heavenly hosts are over this people; I believe they are watching the elders of Israel, the prophets and apostles and men who are called to bear off this kingdom. I believe they watch over us all with great interest…. I have had many interviews with Brother Joseph until the last fifteen or twenty years of my life; I have not seen him for that length of time. But during my travels in the southern country last winter I had many interviews with President Young, and with Heber C. Kimball, and George A. Smith, and Jedediah M. Grant, and many others who are dead. They attended our conference, they attended our meetings. And on one occasion, I saw Brother Brigham and Brother Heber ride in a carriage ahead of the carriage in which I rode when I was on my way to attend conference; and they were dressed in the most priestly robes. When we arrived at our destination I asked President Young if he would preach to us. He said, “No, I have finished my testimony in the flesh. I shall not talk to this people any more.” “But, said he, “I have come to see you; I have come to watch over you, and to see what the people are doing.” Then, said he, “I want you to teach the people-and I want you to follow this counsel yourself-that they must labor and so live as to obtain the Holy Spirit, for without this you cannot build up the kingdom; without the spirit of God you are in danger of walking in the dark, and in danger of failing to accomplish your calling as apostles and as elders in the church and kingdom of God.” And, said he, “Brother Joseph taught me this principle.”

And I will here say, I have heard him refer to that while he was living. But what I was going to say is this: the thought came to me that Brother Joseph had left the work of watching over this Church and kingdom to others, and that he had gone ahead, and that he had left this work to men who have lived and labored with us since he left us. This idea manifested itself to me, that such men advance in the spirit world. And I believe myself that these men who have died and gone into the spirit world had this mission left with them; that is, a certain portion of them, to watch over the Latter-day Saints.—JD 21:317-318, October 10, 1880.

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HEBER J. GRANT

President Heber J. Grant, Conference Report, April 1941, First Day—Morning Meeting

“‘I want to be all alone. Go ahead and follow the crowd.’ I first asked him if I allowed the animal I was riding to walk if I would reach the road on the other side of the gulley before the horsemen and the wagons, and he said, ‘Yes.’

“As I was riding along to meet them on the other side I seemed to see, and I seemed to hear, what to me is one of the most real things in all my life, I seemed to see a Council in Heaven. I seemed to hear the words that were spoken. I listened to the discussion with a great deal of interest. The First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles had not been able to agree on two men to fill the vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve. There had been a vacancy of one for two years, and a vacancy of two for one year, and the Conference had adjourned without the vacancies being filled. In this Council the Savior was present, my father was there, and the Prophet Joseph Smith was there. They discussed the question that a mistake had been made in not filling those two vacancies and that in all probability it would be another six months before the Quorum would be completed, and they discussed as to whom they wanted to occupy those positions, and decided that the way to remedy the mistake that had been made in notfilling these vacancies was to send a revelation. It was given to me that the Prophet Joseph Smith and my father mentioned me and requested that I be called to that position. I sat there and wept for joy. It was given to me that I had done nothing to entitle me to that exalted position, except that I had lived a clean, sweet life. It was given to me that because of my father having practically sacrificed his life in what was known as the great Reformation, so to speak, of the people in early days, having been practically a martyr, that the Prophet Joseph and my father desired me to have that position, and it was because of their faithful labors that I was called, and not because of anything I had done of myself or any great thing that I had accomplished. It was also given to me that that was all these men, the Prophet and my father, could do for me; from that day it depended upon me and upon me alone as to whether I made a success of my life or a failure.

RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE GOOD

There is a law, irrevocably decreed in Heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated, and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

“It was given to me, as I say, that it now depended upon me.

“No man could have been more unhappy than I was from October 1882, until February, 1883, but from that day I have never been bothered, night or day, with the idea that I was not worthy to stand as an Apostle, and I have not been worried since the last words uttered by Joseph F. Smith to me: “The Lord bless you, my boy, the Lord bless you; you have got a great responsibility. Always remember this is the Lord’s work and not man’s. The Lord is greater than any man. He knows whom He wants to lead His Church, and never makes any mistake. The Lord bless you.’

“I have been happy during the twenty-two years that it has fallen my lot to stand at the head of this Church. I have felt the inspiration of the Living God directing me in my labors. From the day that I chose a comparative stranger to be one of the Apostles, instead of my lifelong and dearest living friend, I have known as I know that I live, that I am entitled to the light and the inspiration and the guidance of God in directing His work here upon this earth; and I know, as I know that I live, that it is God’s work, and that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God, the Redeemer of the world and that He came to this earth with a divine mission to die upon the cross as the Redeemer of mankind, atoning for the sins of the world.

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The Editor’s Page, Improvement Era, 1940, Vol. Xliii. June, 1940. No. 6.

The EDITOR’S PAGE

In the Hour of Parting

By PRESIDENT HEBER J. GRANT

I REGRET ofttimes, in the times of distress and trouble that come to those whom we admire and love, that we are not able to lift from their shoulders the sorrow into which they are plunged, when they are called upon to part with those they cherish.

But we realize that our Father in heaven can bind up broken hearts and that He can dispel sorrow and that He can point forward with joy and satisfaction to those blessings that are to come through obedience to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, for we do understand and we do have conviction that it is the will of our Father in heaven that we shall live on and that we have not finished our existence when these bodies of mortality are laid away in the grave.

It is a very great blessing that in the providences of the Lord and in the revelations that have been given by our Father in heaven, we have the assurance that the spirit and the body, in due time, will be reunited, notwithstanding the unbelief that there is in the world today—and there certainly is great skepticism and unbelief in relation to this matter. But notwithstanding this, we have assurance through the revelations that have been given by the Lord our God, that that is the purpose of God, that the body and the spirit shall be eternally united and that there will come a time, through the blessing and mercy of God, when we will no more have sorrow but when we shall have conquered all of these things that are of a trying and distressing character, and shall stand up in the presence of the living God, filled with joy and peace and satisfaction.

I was thoroughly convinced in my own mind and in my own heart, when my first wife left me by death, that it was the will of the Lord that she should be called away. I bowed in humility at her death. The Lord saw fit upon that occasion to give to one of my little children a testimony that the death of her mother was the will of the Lord.

About one hour before my wife died, I called my children into her room and told them that their mother was dying and for them to bid her goodbye. One of the little girls, about twelve years of age, said to me: “Papa, I do not want my Mamma to die. I have been with you in the hospital in San Francisco for six months; time and time again when Mamma was in distress you have administered to her and she has been relieved of her pain and quietly gone to sleep. I want you to lay hands upon my Mamma and heal her.”

I told my little girl that we all had to die sometime and that I felt assured in my heart that her mother’s time had arrived; and she and the rest of the children left the room.

I then knelt down by the bed of my wife (who by this time had lost consciousness) and I told the Lord I acknowledged His hand in life, in death, in joy, in sorrow, in prosperity or adversity; I thanked Him for the knowledge I had that my wife belonged to me for all eternity, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ had been restored, that I knew that by the power and authority of the Priesthood here on the earth that I could and would have my wife forever if I were only faithful as she had been; but I told the Lord that I lacked the strength to have my wife die and to have it affect the faith of my little children in the ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and I supplicated the Lord with all the strength that I possessed, that He would give to that little girl of mine a knowledge that it was His mind and His will that her Mamma should die.

Within an hour my wife passed away, and I called the children back into the room. My little boy about five and a half or six years of age was weeping bitterly, and the little girl twelve years of age took him in her arms and said: “Do not weep, do not cry, Heber; since we went out of this room the voice of the Lord from heaven has said to me, ‘In the death of your Mamma the will of the Lord shall be done.’”

Tell me, my friends, that I do not know that God hears and answers prayers! Tell me that I do not know that in the hour of adversity the Latter-day Saints are comforted and blessed and consoled as no other people are!

I have been blessed with only two sons. One of them died at five years of age and the other at seven. My last son died of a hip disease. I had built great hopes that he would live to spread the Gospel at home and abroad and be an honor to me. About an hour before he died I had a dream that his mother, who was dead, came for him, and that she brought with her a messenger, and she told this messenger to take the boy while I was asleep; and in the dream I thought I awoke and I seized my son and fought for him and finally succeeded in getting him away from the messenger who had come to take him, and in so doing I dreamed that I stumbled and fell upon him.

I dreamed that I fell upon his sore hip, and the terrible cries and anguish

I dreamed that I fell upon his sore hip, and the terrible cries and anguish of the child drove me nearly wild. I could not stand it, and I jumped up and ran out of the house so as not to hear his distress. I dreamed that after running out of the house I met Brother Joseph E. Taylor and told him of these things.

He said: ‘Well, Heber, do you know what I would do if my wife came for one of her children—I would not struggle for that child; I would not oppose her taking that child away. If a mother who had been faithful had passed beyond the veil, she would know of the suffering and the anguish her child may have to suffer. She should know whether that child might go through life as a cripple and whether it would be better or wiser for that child to be relieved from the torture of life. And when you stop to think, Brother Grant, that the mother of that boy went down into the shadow of death to give him life, she is the one who ought to have the right to take him or leave him.’

I said, ‘I believe you are right, Brother Taylor, and if she comes again, she shall have the boy without any protest on my part.’

After coming to that conclusion, I was waked by my brother, B. F. Grant, who was staying that night with us. He came into the room and told me that the child was dying. I went in the front room and sat down. There was a vacant chair between me and my wife who is now living, and I felt the presence of that boy’s deceased mother sitting in that chair. I did not tell anybody what I felt, but I turned to my wife and said, ‘Do you feel anything strange?’

“‘Yes, I feel assured that Heber’s mother is sitting between us, waiting to take him away.’

Now, I am naturally, I believe, a sympathetic man. I was raised as an only child with all the affection that a mother could lavish upon a boy. I believe that I am naturally affectionate and sympathetic and that I shed tears for my friends—tears of joy for their success and tears of sorrow for their misfortunes. But I sat by the deathbed of my little boy and saw him die, without shedding a tear. My living wife, my brother, and I upon that occasion experienced a sweet, peaceful, and heavenly influence in my home, as great as I have ever experienced in my life. And no person can tell me that every other Latter-day Saint that has a knowledge of the gospel in his heart and soul, can really mourn for his loved ones; only in the loss of their society here in this life.

“I never think of my wives and my dear mother, my two boys, my daughter, my departed friends, and my beloved associates as being in the graveyard. I think only of the joy they have in meeting with father and mother and loved ones who have been true and faithful to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. My mind reaches out to the wonderful joy and satisfaction and happiness that they are having, and it robs the grave of its sting.”

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DAVID O. McKAY

Improvement Era, Feb. 1965, vol 68, p. 107

At the dedication of the Oakland Temple, President McKay said:

“I welcome, also, an unseen, but I believe a real, audience, among whom are former Presidents and Apostles of the Church, headed by the Prophet Joseph, to whom was revealed the essential ordinance of baptism for those who have died without having heard the gospel, President Young, President Taylor, President Woodruff, President Snow, President Joseph F. Smith, President Grant, and President George Albert Smith. With those distinguished leaders, we welcome our departed loved ones whom we cannot see, but whose presence we keenly feel.”

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Alma 38:12, Adam McBride, “bridle all your passions”

Alma 38:12
12 Use boldness, but not overbearance; and also see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love; see that ye refrain from idleness.

In the past, I had heard this scripture used in three contexts:

1) How to talk to people as a missionary (Use boldness, but not overbearance)

2) Thou shalt not commit adultery (see that ye bridle all your passions)

3) Don’t be lazy (see that ye refrain from idleness)

By no means do I intend to discredit any of these applications, for they are all valid and valuable. Rather, let us say that the middle portion of this verse has come to mean much more to me than it did before.

What can be understood by ‘passions’ here? As I mentioned, this verse is often used as a scriptural catchphrase to remind us not to commit adultery or seek out pornography in any form. Going a little further, I think that, because of the word ‘all,’ we can also include any other passion that we might have. By passion I mean something that excites us, that drives us, that occupies our thoughts, and shapes our dreams. For example, a great enthusiasm for music, games, sports, academics, movies, etc –as wonderful as they may or may not be– if left to take root in our souls and grow as they will, can leave little room for the more important and divine things. For, if we let ourselves be given too much to any one of these things, it becomes difficult to feel the loving and guiding influence of the Spirit.

I give the example of music: I love music in various forms. I love to listen to it. I love to pretend to create and play it. I love how a song can draw you in with its rhythm and beat, then move your soul with a catchy melody and clever lyrics. Key changes, properly planned dissonance and resolution, I love it. I noticed, however, that it began to consume my thoughts to the point where I was having a hard time focusing in Sacrament meeting because I had had Queen stuck in my head since Tuesday. I thought that I ought to get rid of music entirely from my life, with the exception of the hymns. Lovely as they are, it killed me. Then I read the word ‘bridle’ and thought of the word ‘control.’ I had been able to use music for good in the past. For example, I had been able to establish relationships with some people who were in great need of a friend; this was I able to do because of a musical connection. As I have learned to control the role that music plays in my life, I feel empowered. For, as we learn to control ourselves and exercise our agency (over both thought and action) in positive ways, we render ourselves more capable to enjoy the Father’s Spirit and be filled with his Love. Pray to be filled with it (Moroni 7:48).

Bridle your passions, and make room in your heart and soul for that love that He promises.

Alma 38:12 – LeGrand Baker – “that you may be filled with love”

We are still in Alma 38 where uses one short clause to describe a remarkable concept.

12 …see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love.

In that verse, the word “that” is a very powerful conjunction. Other ways of saying it (“so that,” “in order that”) are weaker because the word is modified. Simply using “that” creates an unqualified relationship between the cause and the effect. (To see the power of the conjunction, try reading the sacrament prayers without the word “that.” You will find that without the conjunction the prayers become only disconnected ideas.)

Alma said to his son: “see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love.”

It is difficult for people in our culture to put those words into their proper perspective because in our vernacular language “passions” are often equated with lewdness, lasciviousness, and sexuality and seem to be the driving power behind much of the music, entertainment, and advertisements that bombard our lives.

A sidenote to Alma’s charge to “bridle all your passions” Paul’s explanation:

15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled (Titus 1:15).

True love is a passion: the way both our bodies and our minds express love through tenderness, affection, and the desire to make another happy and secure.

The best commentary I know on Alma’s meaning is the words of Peter (1 Peter 1:1-19). They begin with an almost poetic description of the intent of the early Christian’s temple drama, followed by step by step instructions about how to make one’s calling and election sure, then conclude with Peter’s testimony about his experience on the Mount of Transfiguration.

As we read closely, verses 1-7 their focus sharpens on the specifics of the path one must follow to ascend to those heights. He presents us with very succinct instructions about how to bridle our passions, “that ye may be filled with love.” He begins,

1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith [pistis] with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:1).

Pistis is a powerful Greek word that incorporates the ideas of both making and keeping covenants. Here it is something one receives “through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ .” Righteousness describes the correctness of authority and procedure in priesthood ordinances and covenants. (See the chapter “Meaning of ‘Faith’– pistis” and “Meaning of ‘Righteousness’–zedek and Zadok”in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord).

Is short, Peter has used pistis and righteousness to represent the entire early Christian temple services. Then he gives a beautifully insightful description of what that temple experience meant.

2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:2-4).

In Peter’s summation, the blessings of the temple are just two promises: “that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” There, “having” calls attention to a condition in the past “Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” has already happened and creates the situation of the present: “that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.”

“Lust” means wanting something to the exclusion of wanting other thins. It, like anger, can become addictive because it produces an adrenalin high. It may be the appetite to possess something or someone. It may be the need of attention, praise, wealth, or power. For example such needs may cause a wealthy man to run for political office or a poor woman to try to use gossip to control the neighborhood. These are different in extent of the power, but not in the quality of the soul.

Then Peter teaches us how to overcome lust and enthrone charity as our dominant personalty characteristic, just as Alma teaches that we must “bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love.”

Peter’s 8 steps to doing that are these:

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith [pistis] virtue.”(2 Peter 1:5)

To many Mormons, “virtue” has come to mean chastity, but it means much more than that. It is the sum of manly perfection: of integrity (no gap between what one says and what one does); of rectitude (doing the right things for the right reasons); of physical, emotional, and intellectual excellence. It is the qualities of manliness that is personified in George Washington.

and to virtue knowledge; (2 Peter 1:5)

Inspired scriptures all teach the same thing because the ideas come from the same source. I think is not a stretch to say that Peter, the first President of the ancient Church of Christ, should mean by “knowledge” the same thing that the Lord taught Joseph Smith.

24 And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come (D&C 93:24).

That is, truth is knowledge of reality in sacred time, and is the only knowledge that has eternal value.

6 And to knowledge temperance; (2 Peter 1:6)

Temperance is moderation that is a product of self control. It is not doing anything in excess, but moving through life with an even keel, acting according to one’s own will, not being acted upon by excess of any kind.

and to temperance patience (2 Peter 1:6).

Patience is most beautifully described in Psalm 25. Patience with whom? With ourselves, with God, with other people, and with difficult circumstances.

and to patience godliness [reverence](2 Peter 1:6).

The Bible footnote and Strong (# 2150) both say the Greek word means “reverence.” We cannot hurt anyone or anything that we revere. It is recognizing and acknowledging the worth of another. It precludes the possibility of anger, contempt, and prejudice.

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness (2 Peter 1:7).

In this verse, the King James Version uses the phrase “brotherly kindness,” but elsewhere in the New Testament that same Greek word is always translated as “brotherly love” which has a somewhat stronger connotation. Strong: Greek 5360 [first edition, 1890] reads: “philadelphia; fraternal affection: brotherly love (kindness), love of the brethren.” [Emphasis is in the original).

Righteous masculine virtues include extended and focused brotherly love. The Prophet Joseph emphasized this when he said, “Friendship is the grand fundamental principle of Mormonism, to revolution civilize the world.—pour forth love.” {1}

True love and eternal friendships originate and continue in sacred space and sacred time.

and to brotherly kindness charity.(2 Peter 1:7)

While “brotherly love” is a focused love, charity is a universal love. It is as broad as “reverence” and also as focused as philadelphia. It is the maturation and culmination of both. The law of consecration is what one does when charity is what one is. In the New Testament that combination of God’s love and his loving kindness is called “grace.” The Hebrew word hesed is the equivalent and is often translated as “mercy” or “lovingkindness..”

The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament shows the power of that friendship/relationship:

We may venture the conjecture that even in cases where the context does not suggest such mutuality it is nevertheless implicit, because we are dealing with the closest of human bonds. {2}

An explanation and clarification of the phrase, “dealing with the closest of human bonds,” is found in a new edition of Strong’s Concordance:

hesed, unfailing love, loyal love, devotion. kindness, often based on a prior relationship, especially a covenant relationship. {3}

Another definition says: “Hesed has in view right conduct in free kindness within a given relation. … [as in] Psalm 50:5, where Yahweh calls for a gathering of His hesedim [translated ‘saints’] who have made a covenant in sacrifice. It seems that the term hesed has a special place at the conclusion of a covenant.”{4}

The hesed relationship described in Psalm 25 evokes the terms of the premortal covenant between Jehovah and his children in this world. Elsewhere that same hesed relationship also exists as an eternal, fraternal bond among men. Consideration of the this-world continuation of those fraternal relationships brings us brings us back to Peter’s assurance that “brotherly kindness” (philadelphia) and charity are prerequisite to making one’s calling and election sure. Peter continues:

8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:8-11).

And that bring us back to Alma’s instruction to his son Shiblon.

12  See that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love (Alma 38:12).

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – ENDNOTES

{1} Joseph Smith, The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph, compiled and edited by Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook [Provo: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1980], 234.

{2}G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren, eds., trans. Davod E. Green, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, 15 vols. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1986), article about hesed, 5:45-48). The Greek equivalent is Philadelphia, fraternal love, as explained in fn 905, p. 680.

{3} John R. Kohlenberger III and James A. Swanson, The Strongest Strong’s, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), Hebrew dictionary # 2617.

{4} Gerhard Friedrich, ed. (Translator and editor

Geoffrey w. Bromiley), Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Miciugan,Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1981), 9:386-7.

Alma 38:9, LeGrand Baker, The Word of Truth and Righteousness

Alma 38:9
9 And now, my son, I have told you this that ye may learn wisdom, that ye may learn of me that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness.

Last week we discussed the Savior’s name-titles, “the life and the light of the world.” Those phrases describe his power to bring all things—-including ourselves—-into existence and to sustain all things until the resurrection and beyond. The next two phrased Alma uses, “the word of truth and [the word of] righteousness” describe the Savior’s power to rase the quality of our existence to a state of happiness here and to eternal joy hereafter.

I would now like to discuss the meaning of those two name-titles.

“Truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come” (D&C 93:24). That is, truth is knowledge of eternal reality. Truth never changes, therefore its reality never changes. It was the same in the Council in Heaven as it is in the present, and as it will be in the eternities beyond. The key to knowing reality is (in its beginnings and in its conclusion) having a correct understanding of the truth about God. (See Who shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, paperback edition, 193-5)

“Righteousness” is translated from the Hebrew zedek and Zadok. It means to perform priesthood and temple ordinances and covenants with absolute correctness—- that is with the right authority, in the right place, holding arms and hands the right way, dressed the right way, and in the name of Christ. (See Who shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, paperback edition, 198- 200)

When Alma says Christ is “the word of truth and righteousness,” he is describing the Savior’s power, not only to give us life, but also to teach us how to come to him (redeem), and to teach us the knowledge we must have/live in order to remain in his presence (salvation).

In many scriptures, “the word” is code for priesthood power, especially the Savior’s own priesthood power. That is easy to understand because whenever we exercise the priesthood we do it by speaking words. Describing his own foreordination, Jeremiah wrote,

9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant (Jeremiah 1:9-10)

Similarly, Isaiah wrote said to the faithful men of Israel:

16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people (Isaiah 51:16).

The “word” also describes God’s priesthood power. Thus we read:

32 And by the word of my power, have I created them, which is mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth.
33 And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten (Moses 1:32-33).. (see also Jacob 4:8-9, D&C 29:29-32,

In the following, the “word of truth” is code for the gospel as it was preached in the premortal world. Thus Paul explains.

11 In whom [the Father] also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him [the Father] who worketh all things after the counsel of his [the Father’s] own will:
12 That we should be to the praise of his [the Father’s] glory, who first trusted in Christ.
13 In whom [Christ] ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom [Christ] also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which [sealing] is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his [the Father’s] glory (Ephesians 1:11-14).

In John, the name-title “Word” also represents the Savior’s power to teach in the very beginning of our beginnings:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1-14).

The JST version reads with more clarity:

1 In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was of God (JST John 1:1-14).

The Lord confirmed that in D&C 93:

6 And John saw and bore record of the fulness of my glory, and the fulness of John’s record is hereafter to be revealed.
7 And he bore record, saying: I saw his glory, that he was in the beginning, before the world was;
8 Therefore, in the beginning the Word was, for he was the Word, even the messenger of salvation—
9 The light and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men (D&C 93:6-9).

Priesthood is more than the power to do. It is also the power to be. “The word of truth” is also code for the fulness of the sealing powers of the gospel. The priesthood ordinances are necessary for righteousness (zedek), but it is mutual love that is the actual power that seals us to our family and friends. The Savior emphasizes that in John 17, in his great intercessory prayer, where truth, word, and love become synonymous.

17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.(John 17:17-21)

When we read that in connection with D&C 88 and 93, it becomes apparent that light, truth, and love are all the same thing. We talk about each of their characteristics differently and therefore give them different names. But they all fill the immensity of space at the same time and all manifest the same sense of peace wrapped in the power of hased. If the Lord’s definition of truth is to know something—or someone—as an eternal reality, and if charity is loving others as they really are, then truth and charity are essentially the same thing. To love and comprehend another’s eternal worth—to know as one is known and see as one is seen—is to embrace that friend in sacred time and sacred space.

Truth is inseparably connected with righteousness, for without truth there can be no righteousness. The psalmist testifies:

10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12 Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps (Psalms 85:2-13).

The Prophet Joseph expanded that sense of oneness by describing “righteousness and truth” in terms of sacral kingship. He wrote from Liberty jail:

46 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever (D&C 121:46).

The apostle John put all of these ideas together in a magnificent description of the Savior and of our eternal relationship (“fellowship”) with him and his Father. John wrote:

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin (1 John 1:1-7).

From these scriptures we might conclude that “the word of truth” is priesthood power exercised through the power that is derived from knowing reality in sacred time. And that “the word of …righteousness” is the enabling priesthood power that is derived from the correctness (zedek) of the eternal ordinances and covenants of godliness. And that the name-titles which Alma gives to Christ —-“ Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness.”—-are powerful testimonies of who and what the Savior is.