Old Testament # 1 “This Is My Work and My Glory” Moses 1

Old Testament # 1

“This Is My Work and My Glory”

Moses 1

Introduction

And so we rewind and go back to the beginning of a few books of scripture. The Pearl of Great Price could easily command its own study year, but it is incorporated in other courses. This year we start off our study of the Old Testament in Moses 1. If you want to go a bit more in depth, I recommend the Pearl of Great Price Student manual from Institute. You can find that here

https://www.lds.org/manual/the-pearl-of-great-price-student-manual?lang=eng

I wonder what it was like for Joseph, having been commanded to retranslate the Bible, to work on Genesis and have all this new information about Moses unfolded to him. I obviously don’t know the chronology but just going by the book of Moses, one can imagine that what we call Genesis was revealed to Him while he had that experience of meeting God. He was prepared to receive and write the first five books of the Old Testament, just as Joseph was prepared to receive the revelations in the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price; and Lehi and Nephi were prepared to receive their revelations.

1. God teaches that Moses is a son of God. Moses 1:1–11

How can we relate to Moses’s vision. Here is a comment by Elder Uchtdorf”

“The more we learn about the universe, the more we understand—at least in a small part—what Moses knew. The universe is so large, mysterious, and glorious that it is incomprehensible to the human mind. “Worlds without number have I created,” God said to Moses. . . . But even though man is nothing, it fills me with wonder and awe to think that “the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.”[1]

Although we may never have a similar experience on this side of the veil, remember it is a gift of the Spirit to believe on the words of those who have (see D&C 46:14).

In 1968, President Spencer W. Kimball said:

The ultimate and greatest of all knowledge, then, is to know God and his program for our exaltation. We may know him by sight, by sound, by feeling. While relatively few ever do really know him, everyone may know him, not only prophets—ancient and modern—but, as he said: "every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am"  D&C 93:1.

If men qualify, they have this unalterable promise from their Redeemer.

Among the numerous people who have had manifestations is Moses, who saw and knew the Lord: ". . . the glory of God was upon Moses; therefore Moses could endure his presence” (Spencer W. Kimball, “Wisdom and Great Treasures of Knowledge, Even Hidden Treasures,” Ensign, November 1968, 130.)

2. Satan confronts Moses; Moses casts him out.  Moses 1:12–23.

Inevitably, but gratefully after Moses had recovered from that experience, Satan appears to him, trying to subvert what he has recently learned. I had the privilege of attending a class from Glade Hunsaker on Milton’s Paradise Lost. I know it is hard going and very long, but to me it gives a bitingly accurate portrayal of Satan, and one can sense his utter frustration, bitterness, and futility in these verses.

3. God appears again and teaches of his work and glory. Moses 1:24–39

As of last General Conference, there have been no less than 333 references to Moses 1:39. What does that tell us about the importance of this scripture. So many poignant stories in Church today about friends who have gone astray and how that makes us feel. Imagine how their parents feel—imagine if it is your life’s work to bring them back to Heavenly Father—expand that to everyone who has ever lived, who is now living, and who will live. Now think of this in terms of us personally. How much we matter. Elder Cook terms this verse a “rebuttal to any feelings of unimportance that Moses may have felt.”[2] Sis. Bingham taught us:

“Sometimes we are afraid to trust because we don’t understand God’s absolute love and desire to help us. But when we study Heavenly Father’s plan and Jesus Christ’s mission, we understand that Their only objective is our eternal happiness and progress. They delight to help us when we ask, seek, and knock. When we exercise faith and humbly open ourselves to Their answers, we become free from the constraints of our misunderstandings and assumptions, and we can be shown the way forward.[3]

Working through this chapter for this blogpost has helped me understand a little better Moses’s experience in the mountain. Even though it made him realize he/we are nothing compared with God, nevertheless such is His condescension that we are everything to Him.

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[1] https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/you-matter-to-him?lang=eng.

[2] https://www.lds.org/ensign/2017/11/saturday-afternoon-session/the-eternal-everyday?lang=eng.

[3] https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/10/that-your-joy-might-be-full?lang=eng.

Doctrine & Covenants Lesson # 46

Doctrine & Covenants Lesson # 46

“Zion—The Pure in Heart”

Introduction

This lesson is the last in the year and will be discussed, appropriately, on 31st December. Thereafter we will start the cycle over again with the Old Testament. Coming from a secular background, my vision of Zion was tied more to Jewish extremism than Enoch’s City of God; to schism rather than “one heart and one mind.”; to violent action rather than peace. Of course that has now changed. I think I have said before that I have been attending an adult religion class at BYU, taught by Br. Ron Bartholomew. His last class for this semester centered on the Articles of Faith and the fact that the emphasis is on “we believe”—and that surely epitomizes Zion, a commonality of belief, of purpose, brought about by revelation from the Spirit and a faith in Christ and His Atonement.

1.              Zion—meanings thereof

Zion has several meanings. The manual lists the following

1. D&C 97:21. (The pure in heart.)
2. D&C 82:14. (The Church and its stakes.)
3. Moses 7:19. (The city of Enoch.)
4. 2 Samuel 5:6–7; 1 Kings 8:1. (The ancient city of Jerusalem.)
5. D&C 45:66–67; 57:1–2; Articles of Faith 1:10. (The New Jerusalem, which will be built in Missouri.)
6. Hebrews 12:22–23. (The dwelling place of those who are exalted.)

Notice how many have come to us through modern revelation. Even in this last conference, Elder Ballard tell us:

By 1869, more than 70,000 Saints had made a similar trek. Despite their many differences in language, culture, and nationality, they shared a testimony of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and a desire to build Zion—a place of peace, happiness, and beauty in preparation for the Second Coming of the Savior. . . . Converts gather to their local congregations, where the Saints worship our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ. With more than 30,000 congregations established around the world, all are gathered to their own Zion. As the scriptures note, “For this is Zion—the pure in heart.”[1]

2. Zion has existed in previous dispensations

Elder Maxwell wrote a book imagining the City of Enoch; he often referred to Zion in his talks, here is one quote that is pithy in its relevance to us today.

However, what we now are as a people is clearly not enough, for “Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness” D&C 82:14. As in the time of Alma, the bad conduct of a few members slows the work (see Alma 39:11) .Indeed, Zion will not be fully redeemed until after we have been first chastened (see D&C 100:13). Let us, therefore, not be too long-suffering with our own shortcomings. And when we are given thorns in the flesh, let us not demand to see the rose garden (see 2 Cor. 12:7) (Neal A. Maxwell, “The Net Gathers of Every Kind,” Ensign, Nov 1980, 14).

I found this quote from President Uchtdorf very thought-provoking:

Like two sides of a coin, the temporal and spiritual are inseparable.

The Giver of all life has proclaimed, “All things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal.” This means to me that “spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived.” Unfortunately, there are those who overlook the temporal because they consider it less important. They treasure the spiritual while minimizing the temporal. While it is important to have our thoughts inclined toward heaven, we miss the essence of our religion if our hands are not also inclined toward our fellowman. For example, Enoch built a Zion society through the spiritual process of creating a people of one heart and one mind and the temporal work of ensuring that there were “no poor among them.”[2]

So, perhaps being of “one heart and one mind,” also has to do with blending the temporal and spiritual and, to borrow another metaphor from Elder Uchtdorf via Elder Bednar I believe—lift where we stand.

2.     The Saints of our dispensation have been commanded to establish Zion.

3.      

So exactly how are we to establish Zion? Although this was in the General Women’s Meeting, this instruction from Sister Carol F. McConkie applies to all of us:

So we bear one another’s burdens; we strengthen one another. We retain a remission of sins when we give spiritual and temporal relief to the poor, the hungry, the naked, and the sick. We keep ourselves unspotted from the world when we keep the Sabbath day and worthily receive the sacrament on the Lord’s holy day. We bless our families and make our homes holy places. We bridle our passions so that we may be filled with pure and lasting love. We reach out to others in kindness, with compassion, and stand as witnesses of God. We become a Zion people, of one heart and one mind, a pure people who dwell together in unity and righteousness.“ For Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness.”[3]

Another aspect of this commandment is to build temples. Elder Cook gave a talk entitled “See Yourself in the Temple.” Here is an excerpt:

President Monson has stated: “Until you have entered the house of the Lord and have received all the blessings which await you there, you have not obtained everything the Church has to offer. The all-important and crowning blessings of membership in the Church are those blessings which we receive in the temples of God.” . . . The temple is . . . a place of refuge, thanksgiving, instruction, and understanding, “that [we] may be perfected … in all things pertaining to the kingdom of God on the earth.” Throughout my life it has been a place of tranquility and peace in a world that is literally in commotion. It is wonderful to leave the cares of the world behind in that sacred setting.

4. The scriptures include glorious promises about the future of Zion.

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “The building up of Zion is a cause that has interested the people of God in every age; it is a theme upon which prophets, priests and kings have dwelt with peculiar delight; they have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live; and fired with heavenly and joyful anticipations they have sung and written and prophesied of this our day; … we are the favored people that God has [chosen] to bring about the Latter-day glory” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 231).

Hopefully we will have time to look at D&C 97:18–25 in detail, for there are great promises attached to building Zion, and since its aim is one heart and one mind, it all starts with one—you and me. An apt ending to our year of studying the Doctrine and Covenants together.

Additional resources for this lesson

• “Newel K. Whitney and the United Firm”: This article describes the purpose of the United Firm, which came to be known as the United Order.
• “Teachings of Joseph Smith: Preparing for Zion”: This two-minute video introduces the concept of Zion.

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[1] https://www.lds.org/ensign/2017/11/sunday-afternoon-session/the-trek-continues?lang=eng.

[2] https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/providing-in-the-lords-way?lang=eng.

[3] https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/the-beauty-of-holiness?lang=eng.