Book of Mormon Lesson
# 42—3 Nephi 27–28, 4 Nephi
This is My Gospel
Introduction
Sara’s blog post last
week was very helpful for those of us who have a hard time achieving
meaningful, daily scripture study. We are coming to the end of the Book of
Mormon and this week sees the Nephites’ last experience with Christ with them
and the effect it had upon them. Almost, I think, this is similar to the
feeling of, as Sara put it, “But I also have tasted the delicious fruit that
comes when I've put forth the effort to ask so I can receive.” It is truly
difficult to maintain that feeling. But knowing and focusing upon the Lord and
His Gospel helps. It’s like having a app running in background which is allowed
to send you notifications! If that isn’t too crass of an analogy.
Toward the end of the
last session of October 2016 General Conference, Brian Ashton, second counselor
in the General Sunday School Presidency, got up and gave a talk entitled “The
Doctrine of Christ.”[1] His was
perhaps the worst delivery of the whole conference. He read his talk in a
monotone, turning like a robot to each camera—not destined to hold one’s
attention at the end of nearly 10 hours of inspiring messages—but what he had
to say was dynamic, and I am very grateful that we get to read it over and over
again. “The doctrine of Christ . . . is the means—the only means—by which we
can obtain all of the blessings made available to us through Jesus’s Atonement.
It is the doctrine of Christ that allows us to access the spiritual power that
will lift us from our current spiritual state to a state where we can become
perfected like the Savior.” Our lesson today contains the last teachings of
Christ to the Nephite Apostles while he was physically present with them.
Please read through President Ashton’s talk as a companion to your study of
this week’s Book of Mormon chapters.
1. The Savior
commands His Nephite disciples to call the Church after His name. He expounds
His gospel. 3 Nephi 27
The Savior has taught
the Nephite Twelve, and they have been doing what He asked them to do,
preaching and baptizing, and now they are united in “mighty prayer and
fasting.” Is this not the formula, if you will, for how we are to receive
revelation? Elder Christofferson puts this in a modern-day context:
How does the Savior reveal His will and doctrine to prophets, seers, and
revelators? He may act by messenger or in His own person. He may speak by His
own voice or by the voice of the Holy Spirit—a communication of Spirit to
spirit that may be expressed in words or in feelings that convey understanding
beyond words (see 1 Nephi 17:45; D&C 9:8). He may direct Himself to
His servants individually or acting in council (see 3 Nephi 27:1–8).[2]
How does this apply
to us as individual and family disciples?
The Nephites’ question
was to know what to call the name of the new Church. As the Church was given
the name of its Founder, so we too take upon ourselves the name of Christ.
Here’s President Hinckley:
This church does not belong to its President. Its head is the Lord Jesus
Christ, whose name each of us has taken upon ourselves. We are all in this
great endeavor together. We are here to assist our Father in His work and His
glory, “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).
Your obligation is as serious in your sphere of responsibility as is my
obligation in my sphere. No calling in this church is small or of little
consequence. All of us in the pursuit of our duty touch the lives of others. To
each of us in our respective responsibilities the Lord has said: “Wherefore, be
faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak,
lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees” (see
D&C 81:5). “And in doing these things thou wilt do the greatest good unto
thy fellow beings, and wilt promote the glory of him who is your Lord” (D&C
81:4; Ensign, May 1995, 71).
President Packer
explained:
Every prayer we offer is in His name. Every ordinance performed is in
His name. Every baptism, confirmation, blessing, ordination, every sermon,
every testimony is concluded with the invocation of His sacred name. It is in
His name that we heal the sick and perform other miracles of which we do not,
cannot, speak. In the sacrament we take upon ourselves the name of Christ. We
covenant to remember Him and keep His commandments. He is present in all that
we believe” (“The Peaceable Followers of Christ,” Ensign, Apr. 1998, 64).
Third Nephi 27:13–22
tells us exactly what the Lord’s Gospel is. There are 9 bullet points. See if you
can find them all. Then maybe check President Ashton’s talk to see what he says
about them. Then the big question in verse 27 posed to the 12 Nephite
disciples, but applicable to all of us, male and female: “What manner of men
ought ye to be?”
2. The Savior grants
the desires of His twelve disciples. Three of the disciples choose to remain on
the earth until His Second Coming. 3 Nephi 28.
Now I know you have
all wondered where the Three Nephites are. And is John the Beloved with them?
Have we unknowingly interacted with them? It is only human to speculate. But I
can only think of the sorrow of seeing evil spread, of watching people who once
had the truth, reject it. Over eons of time. Which is why I keep referring to
President Nelson’s talk on joy. His counsel applies to all of us, whatever the
duration of our sojourn on earth:
If we look to the world and
follow its formulas for happiness, we will never know joy. . . . When we choose
Heavenly Father to be our God and when we can feel the Savior’s Atonement
working in our lives, we will be filled with joy. . . . Every day that you and I
choose to live celestial laws, every day that we keep our covenants and help
others to do the same, joy will be ours.[3]
I’m pretty certain we
won’t have time to delve into what it means to be a translated being, so here
are the characteristics and their scriptures (from the Teachers Manual)
· Except for the sorrow they feel for the sins of the world, they do not experience pain or sorrow (3 Nephi 28:9, 38).
· They help people become converted to the Lord (3 Nephi 28:9, 18, 23, 29–30).
· They cannot be killed or harmed in any way (3 Nephi 28:19–22).
· Satan cannot tempt them or have any power over them (3 Nephi 28:39).
· They remain in a translated state until the Judgment Day, when they will be resurrected and received into the kingdom of God (3 Nephi 28:40).
3. After many years
of peace, the majority of the people dwindle in unbelief and reject the gospel.
4 Nephi
Fourth Nephi is so short that we often forget it spans 300 years, nearly
200 of which were of harmony and unity. The Institute Manual gives us this
quote from Elder Holland:
His majestic teachings and ennobling spirit
led to the happiest of all times, a time in which “there were no contentions
and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another.
And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and
poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly
gift” [4 Nephi 1:2–3]. That blessed circumstance was, I suppose, achieved
on only one other occasion of which we know—the city of Enoch, where “they were
of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor
among them” [Moses 7:18]” (Ensign,
May 1996, 30).
Paramount is the lack
of contention. I cited Pres. Kimball a few weeks ago urging us to have a
“constant mildness of temper.”[4] (I blew
that soon after!) President Gordon B. Hinckley said: “If the world is to
be improved, the process of love must make a change in [our] hearts. … It can
do so when we look beyond self to give our love to God and others, and do so
with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind” (“And the
Greatest of These Is Love,” Ensign,
Mar. 1984, 5). And when the people of the Lord at that time, since there were
no “ites,” practiced this, “there could not be a happier people among all the
people who had been created by the hand of God” (4 Nephi 1:16).
Sadly, the last 100
years or so covered by this book are a rapid decline. Verses 20–46 catalog the
fall from grace. Here’s the progression: It’s a terrible thing to end on, but a
necessary warning for ourselves personally, our families, and our communities.
·
Division and the creation of
classes (4 Nephi
1:20, 26, 35)
·
Pride and greed because of
riches (4 Nephi
1:23–25, 41, 43; see also 3 Nephi
27:32)
·
Churches that professed to
know Christ but denied most of His gospel (4 Nephi
1:26–29, 34)
·
Churches built up to help
people get gain (4 Nephi
1:26–29, 41)
·
Hard-heartedness (4 Nephi
1:31)
·
Persecution of Christ’s
followers (4 Nephi
1:29–34)
·
Parents teaching children
not to believe in Christ (4 Nephi
1:38)
·
Parents teaching children to
hate (4 Nephi
1:39)
·
Secret combinations (4 Nephi
1:42, 46)
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