Jeffery R Holland Prophets in the Land Again

Jeffrey R. The netherlands, "Rending the Veil of Unbelief," in The Voice of My Servants: Apostolic Messages on Education, Learning, and Scripture, ed. Scott C. Esplin and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Heart, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake Metropolis: Deseret Volume, 2010), 143–64.

Elderberry Jeffrey R. Hollandwas a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when this commodity was published. Address given at Sperry Symposium on October vii, 1995, published in A Book of Mormon Treasury: Gospel Insights from Full general Authorities and Religious Educators (2003), 47–66.

If ane were to ask a casual reader of the Book of Mormon to name the principal character in that book, the responses would undoubtedly vary. For 1 thing, whatever tape roofing more than a yard years of history—with all the persons such a history would include—is unlikely to take any unmarried, central figure emerge over such an extended menstruation equally the principal graphic symbol. Nonetheless, later acknowledging that limitation, perchance some might list any i of several favorite, or at to the lowest degree memorable, persons. Such names as Mormon, the abridger for whom the volume is named; or Nephi, the book'south early and very recognizable young prophet; or Alma, to whom so many pages are devoted; or Moroni, the fearless captain who flew the title of liberty; or his namesake, who ended the volume and delivered it some fourteen hundred years subsequently to the immature Joseph Smith—these would undoubtedly exist among some of those figures mentioned.

All of these responses would be provocative, but they would too exist decidedly wrong. The master and commanding figure in the Volume of Mormon, from first chapter to concluding, is the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the volume is truly "another testament." From the first page—indeed, from the book'due south title page—to the last declaration in the text, this testament reveals, demonstrates, examines, and underscores the divine mission of Jesus Christ equally recorded in the sacred accounts of ii New World dispensations, accounts written for the benefit of a third impunity, the final and greatest of all dispensations, the dispensation of the fulness of times. This sacred record, written by prophets and preserved by angels, was written for one crucial, cardinal, eternally essential reason: "to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations" (Book of Mormon, title page).

In a remarkable vision recorded early on in the Volume of Mormon, the young prophet Nephi sees the eventual preparation and circulation of the Holy Bible, "a record of the Jews, which contains the covenants of the Lord, which he hath fabricated unto the house of Israel" (1 Nephi 13:23). Simply, alarmingly, he besides sees the corruption and doctrinal decimation of that book as it moves downwardly through the ages and passes through many hands.

It was foretold in this vision that the Bible record would be clear and untarnished in the tiptop of time, that in its outset "it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord," with both Erstwhile and New Testaments going "from the Jews in purity unto the Gentiles" (one Nephi xiii:24–25). Just over fourth dimension, through both innocent error and malicious design, many doctrines and principles, especially those emphasizing covenantal elements of "the gospel of the Lamb," were lost—and sometimes were simply willfully expunged—from "the book of the Lamb of God" (one Nephi 13:26, 28). Unfortunately, these missing elements were both "plain and precious" (1 Nephi thirteen:28)—plain, nosotros presume, in their clarity and power and ability to be understood; precious surely in their profound worth, gospel significance, and eternal importance. Whatsoever the reason for or source of the loss of these truths from the biblical record, that loss has resulted in "pervert[ing] the right ways of the Lord, . . . blind[ing] the eyes and harden[ing] the hearts of the children of men" (1 Nephi xiii:27). In painful understatement, "an exceedingly corking many do stumble" (1 Nephi xiii:29). Honest women and men are less informed of gospel truths and less secure in the conservancy of Christ than they deserve to be considering of the loss of vital truths from the biblical catechism every bit we have it in modernity (come across 1 Nephi 13:21–29).

But in His love and foreknowledge, the great Jehovah, the premortal Christ, promised Nephi, and all who have received Nephi's tape, that

after the Gentiles do stumble exceedingly, because of the virtually plain and precious parts of the gospel of the Lamb which take been kept back . . . I volition be merciful unto the Gentiles in that solar day, insomuch that I will bring forth unto them, in mine own power, much of my gospel, which shall be plain and precious, saith the Lamb.

For, behold, saith the Lamb: I volition manifest myself unto thy seed, that they shall write many things which I shall government minister unto them, which shall be plain and precious. . . .

And in them shall be written my gospel, saith the Lamb, and my rock and my salvation (1 Nephi xiii:34, 36).

This promised record, now known to the earth as the Volume of Mormon, along with "other books" that have at present come forth past the revelatory ability of the Lamb,

shall make known the evidently and precious things which accept been taken away from [the Bible]; and shall brand known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the globe; and that all men must come up unto him, or they cannot exist saved.

And they must come co-ordinate to the words which shall exist established by the oral fissure of the Lamb; and the words of the Lamb shall be made known in the records of thy seed, too as in [the Bible]; wherefore they both shall exist established in ane; for there is one God and one Shepherd over all the earth (1 Nephi 13:39–41; emphasis added).

Surely the most plain and precious of all truths lost from the Bible, particularly the Old Attestation, are the clear, unequivocal, and extensive declarations regarding the coming of Christ and the eternal, essential covenantal elements of His gospel that have been taught commencement with Adam and continuing in each dispensation of time. Thus, the highest and most revered purpose of the Volume of Mormon is to restore to Abraham's seed that crucial message declaring Christ's divinity, disarming all who read its pages "with a sincere heart, with real intent" that Jesus is the Christ (Moroni 10:four).

The fact that iv-fifths of this record comes out of a period earlier Christ'southward nascency, the fact that it is a record of an otherwise unknown people, the fact that inspiring insights and deep doctrines regarding Jesus are revealed here and found nowhere else in the biblical canon—or all of Christendom, for that matter—and the fact that the Book of Mormon reaffirms the truthfulness and divinity of that Bible insofar as the latter has been translated correctly are just a few of the reasons that the book should rightly be considered the near remarkable and important religious text produced since the New Testament gospels were compiled almost two millennia agone. Indeed, in light of the manifestly and precious portions that have been lost from the New Testament too as the Old Testament, information technology could be said that in restoring aboriginal biblical truths and adding scores of new ones about the Only Begotten Son of the Living God of us all, the Book of Mormon links with the Holy Bible to course the most remarkable and important religious text ever given to the world in whatsoever age of time.

The Book of Mormon has many purposes, and information technology contains many true and stimulating principles, only one purpose transcends all others in both kind and degree. That purpose is "the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ" (Volume of Mormon, title page).

A very special contribution the Book of Mormon makes in this matter is to our knowledge of the premortal Christ. Christ as Jehovah, Christ as the God of Lehi and Nephi and the brother of Jared earlier His birth as well every bit the Redeemer of Mormon and Moroni after it, is one of the prominent messages of this record.

In modern times many students of religion have keen difficulty in linking Old Testament theology and divinity with that which is presented in the New Testament. The Volume of Mormon does then very much to bridge that gap, not just in terms of bodily history, beginning six hundred years earlier Christ and catastrophe 4 hundred years afterward, simply as well in the continuity of doctrine and consistent image of divinity that is taught through that menstruation. We talk near the two sticks of Judah and Joseph meeting, as prophesied by Ezekiel, equally one of the great latter-day contributions of the Book of Mormon (see Ezekiel 37:fifteen–28); notwithstanding, I think it is nearly as of import to note, in bringing "sticks" together, what the Book of Mormon does to unite the Quondam Attestation with the New Attestation in a way that is not recognized or sometimes fifty-fifty seen equally a possibility in other religious traditions.

Early Witnesses of Christ

Nephi, Jacob, and Isaiah—all living and prophesying before Christ—are positioned where they are at the kickoff of the volume to serve as the three ancient witnesses of the Book of Mormon or, more specifically, iii special Book of Mormon witnesses of Christ, which surely they are. But that office of witness is shared by many, many others in the Book of Mormon, well-nigh of them prior to Christ's nascency and ministry in mortality.

Amulek says to his boyfriend citizens of Ammonihah (nigh 74 B.C.), "My brethren, I think that it is impossible that ye should be ignorant of the things which have been spoken concerning the coming of Christ, who is taught past us to be the Son of God; yea, I know that these things were taught unto y'all bountifully before your dissension from among united states of america" (Alma 34:2; emphasis added).

The coming of Christ and the particulars of His mission and message were taught bountifully throughout the unabridged grade of the Book of Mormon. It should not be surprising that the book every bit we now take it begins with a vision of "One descending out of the midst of sky, and [Lehi] beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon-twenty-four hour period" (ane Nephi 1:nine). This vision of the premortal Christ, accompanied in spirit by "twelve others," brought along a book in which Lehi was bidden to read. The book spoke of "many great and marvelous things," including the plain declaration "of the coming of a Messiah, and likewise the redemption of the earth" (1 Nephi one:fourteen, 19).

From these opening passages onward, the Book of Mormon speaks continually of Christ earlier His mortal birth, during His sojourn among both the Jews and the Nephites, and in His postmortal rule and reign in the eternities that follow. Even though His contemporaries in Jerusalem rejected that message given by Lehi, that peachy prophet however connected his prophecies of "a Messiah, or, in other words, a Savior of the world" (1 Nephi ten:4). Included in Lehi'southward very specific knowledge of the coming of Christ to mortality were such revelatory details equally a vision that the Messiah would be slain and "should rise from the dead, and should brand himself manifest, by the Holy Ghost, unto the Gentiles" (1 Nephi ten:11).

Whether information technology was this kind of revelation or something even more definitive (a personal advent of Christ?) nosotros practise not know, but Lehi evidently had some very special manifestations regarding the Son of God. Shortly before his death, he testified to his sons, "Behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love" (2 Nephi one:fifteen; emphasis added).

Equally early as Nephi'due south writings we learn the name which the Messiah shall carry, just that same Nephi is quick to acknowledge that other ancient prophets knew the proper name besides. "For according to the words of the prophets," he writes, "the Messiah cometh in vi hundred years from the time that my father left Jerusalem; and according to the words of the prophets, and also the give-and-take of the angel of God, his name shall be Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (2 Nephi 25:19).

Nephi's blood brother Jacob follows that acknowledgment with a powerful testimony of the breadth of revelation and widespread knowledge of Christ that had been given to those aboriginal prophets. He writes:

For this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his celebrity many hundred years before his coming; and non only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, merely too all the holy prophets which were earlier us.

Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and besides we worship the Father in his name. And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him. . . .

Wherefore, nosotros search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our organized religion becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the proper noun of Jesus and the very trees obey u.s., or the mountains, or the waves of the ocean (Jacob 4:4–half-dozen).

In that bold and persuasive spirit he pleads with his brethren: "Behold, volition ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the souvenir of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the bully plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you?" (Jacob 6:viii).

But before long enough ane came doing exactly those things: Sherem, the showtime of the anti-Christs in the Book of Mormon. Sherem came declaring "that at that place should be no Christ" and in every mode attempted to "overthrow the doctrine of Christ" (Jacob vii:2). Knowing that Jacob "had faith in Christ who should come," Sherem sardonically made detail try to confront and claiming him on the practice of what Sherem called "preaching that which ye call the gospel, or the doctrine of Christ" (Jacob 7:iii, 6). His argument was based on the feeble and tediously predictable reasoning of all anti-Christs—that "no human being knoweth of such things; for he cannot tell of things to come" (Jacob 7:7).

Of Sherem, Jacob asks: "Believest thou the scriptures? And he said, Yea.

"And I said unto him: Then ye do not understand them; for they truly testify of Christ. Behold, I say unto you that none of the prophets take written, nor prophesied, save they have spoken concerning this Christ" (Jacob 7:x–11).

The Blood brother of Jared

One of the greatest of those prophets in the Volume of Mormon—indeed, a very potent case could exist made for calling him the greatest of the prophets in the Book of Mormon—goes unnamed in the tape that documents Christ'southward remarkable life. That prophet is identified to the mod reader only equally "the blood brother of Jared." Yet even in such near anonymity, the revelation that unfolded earlier this homo's optics was so extraordinary that his life and legacy to united states have become synonymous with bold, complete, perfect organized religion.

In the dispersion required of them at the time of the Belfry of Babel, the people of Jared arrived at "the great sea which divideth the lands" (Ether 2:thirteen), where they pitched their tents, awaiting further revelation regarding the crossing of a mighty ocean. For four years they awaited divine direction, simply apparently they waited also casually—without supplication and exertion. And then this rather remarkable moment presented itself:

"And it came to laissez passer at the stop of four years that the Lord came over again unto the brother of Jared, and stood in a deject and talked with him. And for the space of 3 hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared, and chastened him considering he remembered not to phone call upon the proper name of the Lord" (Ether 2:14).

It is difficult to imagine what a iii-hour rebuke from the Lord might be similar, merely the blood brother of Jared endured it. With immediate repentance and immediate prayer, this prophet over again sought guidance for the journey they had been assigned and for those who were to pursue it. God accustomed his repentance and lovingly gave further direction for this crucial mission.

For such an oceanic crossing, these families and their flocks needed seaworthy crafts similar to the barges they had synthetic for earlier h2o travel—modest, light, dish-shaped vessels identical in blueprint higher up and beneath so that they were capable of staying adrift even when facing overwhelming waves or, worse however, when they might exist overturned by them. These "exceedingly tight" crafts (Ether ii:17) were manifestly boats of unprecedented pattern and undiminished capability, made under the direction of Him who ruled the seas and the winds that rend them, to the end that the vessels might travel with the "lightness of a fowl upon the h2o" (Ether 2:16).

These were miraculously designed and meticulously constructed ships. But they had 1 major, seemingly insoluble limitation. In such a tight, seaworthy design, at that place was no means of allowing light for the seafarers who would travel in them. The blood brother of Jared "cried again unto the Lord maxim: O Lord, behold I have washed even every bit thou hast commanded me; and I accept prepared the vessels for my people, and behold there is no light in them. Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cantankerous this peachy water in darkness?" (Ether 2:22).

And then comes an extraordinary and unexpected response from the Creator of heaven and world and all things that in them are, He who boldly declared to Abraham, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:fourteen): "And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will ye that I should practise that ye may accept light in your vessels?" (Ether ii:23; emphasis added).

And then, every bit if such a disarming enquiry from omnipotent deity is not enough, the Lord proceeds to enunciate the very problems that the brother of Jared already knows only too well.

For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with y'all, for ye shall not go by the light of fire.

For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mount waves shall dash upon you. . . . Therefore what will ye that I should gear up for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed upward in the depths of the body of water? (Ether 2:23–25; emphasis added).

Clearly the brother of Jared was beingness tested. The Lord had done His part—miraculously, greatly, ingeniously. Unique, resolutely seaworthy ships for crossing the sea had been provided. The brilliant engineering had been washed. The hard part of this structure project was over. At present He wanted to know what the brother of Jared would do about incidentals.

Later what has undoubtedly been a great deal of soul-searching and caput-scratching, the brother of Jared comes before the Lord—perhaps red-faced but not empty-handed. In a clearly apologetic tone, he says:

Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant considering of his weakness before thee; for nosotros know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy earlier thee; considering of the fall our natures take become evil continually; still, O Lord, yard hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive co-ordinate to our desires.

Behold, O Lord, thou hast smitten united states of america considering of our iniquity, and hast driven united states forth, and for these many years we have been in the wilderness; nevertheless, thou hast been merciful unto us. O Lord, expect upon me in pity, and plow abroad thine anger from this thy people, and suffer not that they shall go forth beyond this raging deep in darkness; merely behold these things which I accept molten out of the rock (Ether 3:2–iii).

Things—the brother of Jared hardly knows what to call them. Rocks probably doesn't sound whatever more inspiring. Hither, standing next to the Lord'southward magnificent handiwork, these ne plus ultra, impeccably designed, and marvelously unique seagoing barges, the brother of Jared offers for his contribution: rocks. Every bit he optics the sleek ships the Lord has provided, it is a moment of 18-carat humility.

He hurries on:

And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and tin do whatever k wilt for the benefit of human; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may smoothen along in darkness; and they shall smoothen along unto usa in the vessels which we accept prepared, that nosotros may take light while nosotros shall cross the ocean.

Behold, O Lord, k canst do this. We know that thou art able to show forth great power, which looks small unto the agreement of men (Ether three:4–5).

For all of his self-abasement, the faith of the brother of Jared is apparent. In fact, nosotros might better say transparent in light of the purpose for which these stones will exist used. Surely God, too as the reader, feels something very striking in the childlike innocence and fervor of this homo'south faith. "Behold, O Lord, thou canst practice this." Perhaps there is no more powerful single line of organized religion spoken past human being in scripture. It is almost equally if he is encouraging God, emboldening Him, reassuring Him. Non "Behold, O Lord, I am sure that thousand canst do this." Non "Behold, O Lord, m hast done many greater things than this." Even so uncertain the prophet is virtually his own power, he has no doubt about God's power. There is nothing here but a single, clear, bold, and assertive proclamation with no hint or chemical element of vacillation. It is encouragement to Him who needs no encouragement but who surely must have been touched by information technology. "Behold, O Lord, m canst practice this."

The Rending of the Veil

What happened next ranks amid the greatest moments in recorded history, surely amongst the greatest moments in recorded religion. It forever established the brother of Jared among the greatest of God's prophets. As the Lord reaches forth to affect the stones 1 by one with His finger—a response, it would seem, coming in undeniable response to the commanding organized religion of the brother of Jared—"the veil was taken from off the optics of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fright" (Ether iii:vi).

The Lord, seeing the brother of Jared fall to the globe, commands him to rise and asks, "Why hast thou fallen?" (Ether 3:vii).

The reply: "I saw the finger of the Lord, and I feared lest he should smite me; for I knew non that the Lord had flesh and blood" (Ether three:viii).

And so this marvelous declaration from the Lord: "Considering of thy religion thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood; and never has man come up before me with such exceeding organized religion as thou hast; for were it not so ye could not have seen my finger. Sawest one thousand more than this?" (Ether three:9).

The brother of Jared answers, "Nay; Lord, show thyself unto me" (Ether iii:10). The Lord removed the veil completely from the eyes of the brother of Jared and came into total view of this resolutely true-blue man.

Then this most remarkable revelation of the premortal Jehovah:

Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people," He said. "Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.

And never have I showed myself unto man whom I accept created, for never has human believed in me as thou hast. Seest grand that ye are created later mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in the kickoff after my own image.

Behold, this trunk, which ye now behold, is the torso of my spirit; and homo have I created subsequently the torso of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh (Ether 3:xiv–16).

Earlier examining the doctrinal truths taught in this divine encounter, information technology will be useful to note 2 seemingly problematic problems hither, issues that would seem to have reasonable and acceptable resolutions.

The first issue is suggested in ii questions the Lord asks the brother of Jared during the vision every bit it unfolds: "Why hast thou fallen?" and "Sawest thou more than than this?" Information technology is a basic premise of Latter-day Saint theology that God "knoweth all things, and at that place is not anything save he knows it" (2 Nephi 9:20). The scriptures, both aboriginal and modern, are replete with this assertion of omniscience. Nevertheless, God has oftentimes asked questions of men, usually as a mode to test their organized religion, mensurate their honesty, or allow their knowledge greater evolution. For example, he chosen unto Adam in the Garden of Eden, "Where art thou?" and later asked Eve, "What is this that m hast done?" (Genesis 3:ix, xiii), withal an omniscient parent clearly knew the answer to both questions, for He could run into where Adam was and He had watched what Eve had done. It is obvious that the questions are for the children's sake, giving Adam and Eve the responsibleness of replying honestly. Later, in trying Abraham'southward faith, God repeatedly called out regarding Abraham's whereabouts, to which the faithful patriarch would answer: "Here am I" (Genesis 22:11). The purpose in this scriptural moment was not to provide God with data He already knew only to reaffirm Abraham's fixed organized religion and unwavering position in the almost difficult of all parental tests. These kinds of rhetorical questions are frequently used past God, especially in assessing faith, honesty, and the full measure of agency, allowing the "students" the freedom and opportunity to express themselves as revealingly as they wish, fifty-fifty though God knows the answer to His own and all other questions.

The 2nd issue that requires preliminary comment stems from the Lord's assertion, "Never has man come before me with such exceeding faith equally thou hast; for were information technology not so ye could not have seen my finger" (Ether 3:9). And afterward, "Never have I showed myself unto man whom I take created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast" (Ether 3:15). The potential for defoliation here comes with the realization that many—indeed, nosotros would assume all—of the major prophets living prior to the brother of Jared had seen God. How then does one business relationship for the Lord'south declaration? Adam's contiguous conversations with God in the Garden of Eden tin can be exempted because of the paradisiacal, prefallen state of that setting and relationship. Furthermore, other prophets' visions of God, such as those of Moses and Isaiah in the Bible, or Nephi and Jacob in the Book of Mormon, came after this "never earlier" experience of the brother of Jared. Only earlier the era of the Tower of Babel, the Lord did announced unto Adam and "the remainder of his posterity who were righteous" in the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman three years before Adam's death (run across D&C 107:53–55). And we are left with Enoch, who said very explicitly, "I saw the Lord; and he stood before my face up, and he talked with me, fifty-fifty as a man talketh one with another, face to face up" (Moses 7:4). We presume at that place would have been other prophets living in the flow between Adam'south leaving the Garden of Eden and the building of the Tower of Babel who also saw God in a like manner, including Noah, who "constitute grace in the eyes of the Lord" and "walked with God" (Genesis half-dozen:8–9), the same scriptural phrase used to describe Enoch'southward relationship with the Lord (come across Genesis 5:24).

This issue has been much discussed by Latter-day Saint writers, and there are several possible explanations, any 1—or all—of which may cast some light upon the larger truth of this passage. Nevertheless, without boosted scriptural revelation or commentary on the matter, any theorize is only that—conjecture—and every bit such is inadequate and incomplete.

One possibility is that this is simply a comment made in the context of one dispensation and every bit such applies only to the Jaredites and Jaredite prophets—that Jehovah has never before revealed Himself to ane of their seers and revelators. Obviously this theory has astringent limitations when measured against such phrases as "never before" and "never has man" and combined with the realization that Jared and his brother are the fathers of this dispensation, the first to whom God could have revealed Himself in their era.

Another suggestion is that the lowercase reference to "human" is the key to this passage, suggesting that the Lord has never revealed Himself to the unsanctified, to the nonbeliever, to temporal, earthy, natural human being. The implication here is that only those who have put off the natural man, only those who are untainted by the world—in short, the sanctified (such every bit Adam, Enoch, and at present the blood brother of Jared)—are entitled to this privilege.

Some have believed that the Lord here means He has never before revealed Himself to this degree or to this extent. This theory would advise that divine appearances to earlier prophets had not been with this same "fulness," that never earlier had the veil been lifted to give such a complete revelation of Christ'southward nature and being.

A further possibility is that this is the get-go time Jehovah has appeared and identified Himself as Jesus Christ, the Son of God, thus the interpretation of the passage existence "never accept I showed myself [equally Jesus Christ] unto man whom I take created" (Ether three:15). This possibility is reinforced past 1 way of reading Moroni's later editorial comment: "Having this perfect knowledge of God, he could not be kept from inside the veil; therefore he saw Jesus" (Ether three:20; emphasis added).

Notwithstanding some other estimation of this passage is that the faith of the brother of Jared was so great he saw not simply the spirit finger and body of the premortal Jesus (which presumably many other prophets had too seen) only besides had some distinctly more revealing aspect of Christ's body of mankind, claret, and bone. Exactly what insight into the flesh-and-claret nature of Christ's future body the brother of Jared might have had is not clear, merely Jehovah does say to him, "Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall accept upon me flesh and claret" (Ether iii:nine), and Moroni does say that Christ revealed Himself in this instance "in the likeness of the same torso even as he showed himself unto the Nephites" (Ether 3:17). Some have taken that to mean literally "the same body" the Nephites would see—a body of mankind and claret. A safer position would be that it was at least the exact spiritual likeness of that future body. Jehovah says, "Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit . . .and even every bit I appear unto thee to exist in the spirit volition I appear unto my people in the mankind" (Ether 3:16), and Moroni says, "Jesus showed himself unto this man in the spirit" (Ether iii:17).

A final—and in terms of the organized religion of the brother of Jared (which is the consequence at manus) surely the most persuasive—explanation for me is that Christ is proverb to the brother of Jared, "Never take I showed myself unto human being in this manner, without my volition, driven solely by the faith of the beholder." As a rule, prophets are invited into the presence of the Lord, are bidden to enter His presence by Him and only with His sanction. The brother of Jared, on the other hand, stands lone then (and we assume now) in having thrust himself through the veil, not equally an unwelcome guest just perhaps technically an uninvited one. Says Jehovah, "Never has man come up before me with such exceeding religion equally thou hast; for were it not and so ye could not take seen my finger. . . . Never has man believed in me as grand hast" (Ether 3:9, 15; emphasis added). Obviously the Lord Himself is linking unprecedented religion with this unprecedented vision. If the vision is not unique, and so information technology has to be the organized religion— and how the vision is obtained—that is so remarkable. The only way this religion could exist so remarkable would be in its ability to have this prophet, uninvited, where others had just been able to become by invitation.

Indeed it would announced that this is Moroni's own understanding of the circumstance, for he afterward writes, "Because of the noesis [which has come as a event of religion] of this man he could non exist kept from beholding within the veil. . . .

"Wherefore, having this perfect knowledge of God, he could not be kept from inside the veil; therefore he saw Jesus" (Ether 3:nineteen–xx; emphasis added).

This may be one of those very provocative examples (except that it is existent life and not hypothetical) about God's power. Schoolboy philosophers sometimes inquire, "Can God brand a stone then heavy that He cannot lift it?" or "Can God hide an item and then skillfully that He cannot discover it?" Far more movingly and importantly we may ask here, "Could God have stopped the brother of Jared from seeing through the veil?" At first chroma ane is inclined to say, "Surely God could cake such an feel if He wished to." But call back over again. Or, more than precisely, read once again. "This man . . . could not be kept from beholding within the veil; . . . he could not be kept from inside the veil" (Ether 3:19–xx; emphasis added).

No, this may be an absolutely unprecedented instance of a prophet's will and religion and purity and so closely approaching that of heaven'south that the man moves from understanding God to existence really like Him, with His same thrust of volition and faith, at least in this 1 case. What a remarkable doctrinal argument about the power of a mortal human's faith! And not an ethereal, unreachable, select category of a homo, either. This is 1 who in one case forgot to call upon the Lord, ane whose best ideas focused on rocks, and 1 who doesn't even have a traditional name in the book that has immortalized his remarkable feat of faith. Given such a man with such religion, it should not be surprising that the Lord would show this prophet much, show him visions that would be relevant to the mission of all the Book of Mormon prophets and to the events of the latter-day dispensation in which the volume would exist received.

After the prophet stepped through the veil to behold the Savior of the globe, he was non limited in seeing the residual of what the eternal earth revealed. Indeed, the Lord showed him "all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and likewise all that would be; and he withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth" (Ether 3:25). The staying ability for such an feel was in one case again the faith of the brother of Jared, for "the Lord could not withhold annihilation from him, for he knew that the Lord could show him all things" (Ether three:26).

A Remarkable Vision

This vision of "all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be, . . . even unto the ends of the earth" (Ether 3:25) was similar to that given to Moses and others of the prophets (encounter Moses 1:27–29). In this case, however, it was written down in great item and then sealed up. Moroni, who had access to this recorded vision, wrote on his plates "the very things which the blood brother of Jared saw" (Ether 4:4). Then he, too, sealed them up and hid them again in the earth before his expiry and the final destruction of the Nephite civilisation. Of this vision given to the brother of Jared, Moroni wrote, "There never were greater things fabricated manifest than those which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared" (Ether 4:4).

Those sealed plates constitute the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon which Joseph Smith did not interpret. Furthermore, they will remain sealed, literally besides as figuratively, until "they shall exercise religion in me, saith the Lord, even as the blood brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, so will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, fifty-fifty to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Male parent of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are" (Ether 4:7).

The full measure of this unprecedented and unexcelled vision—"there never were greater things made manifest"—is notwithstanding to be fabricated known to the children of men. Merely consider what was made known in one man'due south feel in receiving information technology, consider that the time was approximately two thousand years before Christ'southward nascence, and consider what is not soon contained in the Old Attestation catechism of that menses regarding Jehovah and His true characteristics. These twenty-five items are all drawn from Ether 3 and iv:

ane. Jehovah, the God of the pre-Christian era, was the premortal Jesus Christ, identified here past that proper noun (see Ether 3:14).

2. Christ is both a Father and a Son in His divine human relationship with the children of men (see Ether 3:fourteen).

three. Christ was "prepared from the foundation of the globe to redeem [his] people" (Ether 3:xiv), cognition which had been shared before with Enoch and afterward would be shared with John the Revelator (see Moses 7:47; Revelation 13:8).

4. Christ had a spirit body, which looked like and was in the premortal form of His physical body, "like unto mankind and blood," including fingers, voice, confront, and all other physical features (Ether 3:6).

five. Christ assisted in the creation of man, fashioning the human family unit "later on the body of my spirit" (Ether 3:xvi).

half dozen. With a spirit trunk and the divinity of His calling, the premortal Christ spoke audibly, in words and linguistic communication understood by mortals (see Ether three:16).

7. Christ is a God, acting for and with His Father, who is also a God (run across Ether 3:14; 4:7).

8. Christ reveals some truths to some that are to be kept from others until an appointed time—His "own due time" (Ether 3:24).

9. Christ uses a variety of tools and techniques in revelation, including the interpreting power of "ii stones": the Urim and Thummim (see Ether 3:23–24; D&C 17:1).

ten. Christ's afterwards apologetic, redeeming role is conspicuously stated even before information technology has been realized in His mortal life. Furthermore, in a nearly blessed way for the blood brother of Jared, it is immediately efficacious. "I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people," Christ says. "In me shall all flesh have life, and that eternally, fifty-fifty they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters" (Ether 3:xiv).

Then the blood brother of Jared has his redemption pronounced, equally though the Atonement had already been carried out. "Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the autumn," Christ promises him, "therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I bear witness myself unto you" (Ether 3:13).

This statement underscores the eternal nature of the Atonement, its furnishings reaching out to all those who lived before the Savior's birth besides every bit all those living subsequently information technology. All who in Onetime Testament times were baptized in Christ'south name had the same claim upon eternal life that the brother of Jared had, fifty-fifty though Christ had not yet even been built-in. In matters of the Amende, every bit in all other eternal promises, "time but is measured unto men" (Alma 40:8).

xi. Christ had past cognition of "all the inhabitants of the globe which had been" and foreknowledge of "all that would exist," showing all of these to the brother of Jared (Ether 3:25).

Moroni, in recording the experience of the blood brother of Jared, adds these insights and revelations which come from the same encounter:

12. Future Saints will demand to be sanctified in Christ to receive all of His revelations (see Ether 4:6).

13. Those who reject the vision of the brother of Jared will be shown "no greater things" by Christ (Ether 4:8).

14. At Christ's command "the heavens are opened and are shut," "the earth shall milk shake," and "the inhabitants thereof shall pass abroad, withal equally by burn" (Ether 4:ix).

fifteen. Believers in the vision of the brother of Jared volition be given manifestations of Christ'south spirit. Because of such spiritual feel, belief shall turn to knowledge and they "shall know that these things are true" (Ether 4:xi).

16. "Whatsoever thing persuadeth men to practice expert" is of Christ. Good comes of none except Christ (Ether 4:12).

17. Those who do not believe Christ'southward words would not believe Him personally (run across Ether four:12).

eighteen. Those who practise not believe Christ would not believe God the Begetter, who sent Him (meet Ether 4:12).

19. Christ is the light and the life and the truth of the world (see Ether 4:12).

20. Christ will reveal "greater things" (Ether 4:13), "great and marvelous things" (Ether 4:15), and knowledge hidden "from the foundation of the earth" (Ether 4:xiv) to those who rend the veil of unbelief and come unto Him.

21. Believers are to call upon the Father in the name of Christ "with a broken heart and a contrite spirit" if they are to "know that the Father hath remembered the covenant which he fabricated" unto the house of Israel (Ether 4:15).

22. Christ's revelations to John the Revelator will be "unfolded in the optics of all the people" in the last days, even equally they are about to be fulfilled (Ether 4:16).

23. Christ commands all the ends of the earth to come unto Him, believe in His gospel, and exist baptized in His name (come across Ether 4:18).\

24. Signs shall follow those who believe in Christ's proper name (see Ether 4:xviii).

25. Those true-blue to Christ's proper name at the last day shall be "lifted upward to dwell in the kingdom prepared for [them] from the foundation of the earth" (Ether 4:19).

Indeed, an appeal like that of the blood brother of Jared is given by the Father to both Gentile and Israelite, to whom this tape is sent. Request the latter-day reader to pierce the limits of shallow faith, Christ cries:

"Come unto me, O ye Gentiles, and I volition prove unto yous the greater things, the cognition which is hid up because of unbelief.

Come unto me, O ye house of Israel, and it shall be made manifest unto you how groovy things the Male parent hath laid up for y'all, from the foundation of the globe; and it hath not come up unto yous, because of unbelief.

Behold, when ye shall rend that veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of wickedness, and hardness of centre, and blindness of listen, then shall the great and marvelous things which have been hid upward from the foundation of the world from yous—yea, when ye shall call upon the Begetter in my proper noun, with a broken eye and a contrite spirit, and then shall ye know that the Father hath remembered the covenant which he fabricated unto your fathers, O house of State of israel (Ether four:13–fifteen; accent added).

The Book of Mormon is predicated on the willingness of men and women to "rend that veil of unbelief" in society to behold the revelations—and the Revelation—of God (Ether four:15). It would seem that the humbling experience of the blood brother of Jared in his failure to pray and his consternation over the 16 stones were included in this account to evidence merely how mortal and just how normal he was—so very much like the men and women we know and at least in some ways then much like ourselves. His conventionalities in himself and his view of himself may have been limited—much similar our view of ourselves. Only his belief in God was unprecedented. It was without doubtfulness or limit: "I know, O Lord, that one thousand hast all power, and can practise any one thousand wilt for the do good of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger" (Ether 3:4).

And from that control given to the Lord, for it does seem to exist something of a control, the brother of Jared and the reader of the Volume of Mormon would never exist the same again. Ordinary individuals with ordinary challenges could rend the veil of unbelief and enter the realms of eternity. And Christ, who was prepared from the foundation of the globe to redeem His people, would be standing at the border of that veil to usher the laic through.

© Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

thomasfread1961.blogspot.com

Source: https://rsc.byu.edu/voice-my-servants/rending-veil-unbelief

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