Old Testament # 2
“Thou Wast
Chosen before Thou Wast Born”
Abraham 3;
Moses 4:1–4
Introduction
I thought it might be instructive to get some kind of
graphic to guide us through the first books of the Old Testament. Here is a
link to a chart on the lifespans from Adam to Jacob.
With regard to this week’s lesson, try as I might I can’t
get my head around scientific thought experiments—that somehow if you went all
the way to a distant planet and lived there for so many years, so that you
aged, say, 10 years, when you eventually got back to Earth, a lot more time
would have passed than you actually lived through. So the first part of Abraham
4 started to look suspiciously like this thought experiment until I read this
quote by Fred Holmstrom:
“Abraham learned
that bodies in space have different periods of revolution and that they move in
their own time frames of reference (Abr.
3:4). Each planet, or star, operates according to a time base which is set
by its location from a central, governing body. … To further clarify, let
us consider a moon explorer who is faced with an extended stay on the moon’s
surface. After a while, he finds it more convenient to redefine his time base
in terms of the sun’s motion across the moon sky (his new environment).
Following the method he remembers from his experiences on earth (the old
environment), he defines the moon day as beginning when the sun rises at one
place on the horizon and ending when the sun sets on the opposite
horizon. … Long after the moon days, months and years are well established
for the intrepid moon voyager, he compares his moon system to the earthly
calendar. He finds that one full moon day (complete rotation) corresponds to
approximately 29 earth days. … The moon observer agrees that his day passes
much slower than the days that are reckoned on the earth” (Fred Holmstrom,
“Astronomy and the Book of Abraham,” Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, 1982:
The Pearl of Great Price [1982], 110–11).
That I can get comprehend!
1. Abraham learns that in the
premortal life many spirits were foreordained to their mortal missions. Abraham 3:11–12, 22–23, Doctrine and Covenants 138:53–57.
Last Sunday Kara helped us
understand the impact knowing that we are sons and daughters of God can have on
our ability to withstand the trials of life. This week we go somewhat farther
and learn that we may have been among the noble and great ones who were
foreordained to come to this earth. And we were foreordained to come to the
earth at this time (Abraham 3:22–23). Here is Ezra Taft Benson
“God has held you
in reserve to make your appearance in the final days before the second coming
of the Lord. Some individuals will fall away; but the kingdom of God will
remain intact to welcome the return of its head—even Jesus Christ. While our
generation will be comparable in wickedness to the days of Noah, when the Lord
cleansed the earth by flood, there is a major difference this time. It is that
God has saved for the final inning some of His strongest children, who will
help bear off the kingdom triumphantly. … Make no mistake about it—you are
a marked generation. There has never been more expected of the faithful in such
a short period of time than there is of us” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft
Benson [1988], 104–5).
Reading Abraham one hesitates to
include oneself with the “noble and great ones,” but here is some clarification
under the topic of Foreordination on lds.org:
The doctrine of
foreordination applies to all members of the Church, not just to the Savior and
His prophets. Before the creation of the earth, faithful women were given
certain responsibilities and faithful men were foreordained to certain
priesthood duties. As people prove themselves worthy, they will be given
opportunities to fulfill the assignments they then received.
2. Jesus Christ was chosen in
the Council in Heaven to be our Savior; we chose to follow him. Lucifer (Satan)
and the spirits who followed him were cast out of heaven. Abraham 3:24–28; Moses
4:1–4.
So now we are introduced to estates.
All we know right now is that there are two and they involve tests. Here is Elder
Maxwell:
“Premortality is
not a relaxing doctrine. For each of us, there are choices to be made,
incessant and difficult chores to be done, ironies and adversities to be
experienced, time to be well spent, talents and gifts to be well employed. Just
because we were chosen ‘there and then,’ surely does not mean we can be
indifferent ‘here and now.’ … In fact, adequacy in the first estate may
merely have ensured a stern, second estate with more duties and no immunities!
Additional tutoring and suffering appears to be the pattern for the Lord’s most
apt pupils. (See Mosiah 3:19; 1 Peter
4:19.) Our existence, therefore, is a continuum matched by God’s stretching
curriculum. … Agreeing to enter this second estate, therefore, was like
agreeing in advance to anesthetic—the anesthetic of forgetfulness. Doctors do
not deanesthetize a patient, in the midst of what was previously authorized, to
ask him, again, if it should be continued. We agreed to come here and to
undergo certain experiences under certain conditions” (Ensign, Nov.
1985, 17).
Not only do we need to “keep” our
second estate, but we also need to do that which we were foreordained to do. But
surely, if we do the latter, we keep the former! D&C 48:27–28 tells us that
“Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many
things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the
power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men
do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.” So we have the power to know
what our specific task is on this earth during our second estate, and it
involves doing good of our own free will.
President Faust had some insights:
What does it mean
to be the seed of Abraham? Scripturally it has a deeper meaning than being his
literal descendants. The Lord made a covenant with Abraham, the great
patriarch, that all nations would be blessed through him. Any man or
woman can claim the blessings of Abraham. They become his seed and heirs to the
promised blessings by accepting the gospel, being baptized, entering into
temple marriage, being faithful in keeping their covenants, and helping to
carry the gospel to all the nations of the earth. . . . For as Paul said, “And
if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the
promise.” As the seed of Abraham, we have some obligations. We are commanded to
come to Christ by doing “the works of Abraham.” These works include obeying
God, receiving and keeping priesthood and temple ordinances and covenants,
preaching the gospel, building a family unit and teaching our children, and
being faithful to the end.[1]
I end with a quote from the
Institute Manual—President Benson again: ‘The great test of life is
obedience to God’ (Ensign, May 1988, 4). We are not here to test or ‘prove’
God, but to be tested and proved ourselves. We are on trial, not God.”
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