That's Just the Tip of the Finger
Ether 3:7-10
And the Lord saw that the brother of Jared had fallen to the earth; and the Lord said unto him: Arise, why hast thou fallen?
And he saith unto the Lord: I saw the finger of the Lord, and I feared lest he should smite me; for I knew not that the Lord had flesh and blood.
And the Lord said unto him: Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood; and never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so ye could not have seen my finger. Sawest thou more than this?
And he answered: Nay; Lord, show thyself unto me.
I have plans to better organize my thoughts on the brother of Jared as a series. That should come soon, but for now they're kind of fragmented.
When I read this today I couldn't help but wonder at the immediate transformation in the brother of Jared's attitude. Upon first seeing the finger of the Lord, he was too terrified to stand. What was he afraid of? God's punishment for his lack of knowledge about the nature of the divine. Interestingly, it was not the Lord as he then was that the brother of Jared saw, but it was the Lord as he would become after his glorification. Does that sound like something for which God would "smite" a person? Does God give us the spirit of fear at all?
Fortunately, the Lord corrected the brother of Jared's way of thinking. He taught him that he would not even have seen so much as a finger had it not been for his faith. In other words, the vision was a reward for faith, not a precursor of punishment for lack of knowledge. As we read later, this vision imparted knowledge and made the brother of Jared's faith (in that thing) dormant, for "he had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing doubting.(same chapter, verse 19)"
This same principle applies to our own interactions with holiness and it changes everything about them. Instead of being overwhelmed by divine knowledge or afraid that our own unworthy offerings will not be accepted, we can have the greatest confidence that our Father in Heaven will lovingly nurture us and lead us from truth to truth, from vision to vision, from glory to glory. We should embrace every hint from heaven that we are in favor with God. We should treasure every particle of truth we can distill. These are the things that lead us to the greater knowledge and mark the path to the greatest gift: eternal life.
Look at the immediate transformation that this principle caused in the brother of Jared. When he approached the Lord he was looking out for wrath. When this principle entered his heart - when the Lord taught him the true order of divine communication - the brother of Jared no longer feared a finger. Instead, he sought to behold the whole.
I should point out that this was not a vain or proud ambition. The brother of Jared was never one to seek after privileges for which he had no reason to hope. Instead, the Lord opened his mind to the possibility by inquiring as to the extent of the brother of Jared's vision. By asking "sawest thou more than this," the Lord was not admitting ignorance of the brother of Jared's experience, he was prompting a mortal mind to aspire to celestial knowledge. Had the Lord not asked the question, the brother of Jared may well have left the mountain with his glowing stones and never seen more than the tip of a finger.
Here we have the symbolism, for the fingertip represented not only the smallest part of the Lord's being, but also any minute truth compared to what God is willing to make known. By teaching him to cease from fear, the Lord enabled the brother of Jared to receive one of the greatest visions ever given - a vision promised in our day to all who have faith as did he and to none else.
And the Lord saw that the brother of Jared had fallen to the earth; and the Lord said unto him: Arise, why hast thou fallen?
And he saith unto the Lord: I saw the finger of the Lord, and I feared lest he should smite me; for I knew not that the Lord had flesh and blood.
And the Lord said unto him: Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood; and never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so ye could not have seen my finger. Sawest thou more than this?
And he answered: Nay; Lord, show thyself unto me.
I have plans to better organize my thoughts on the brother of Jared as a series. That should come soon, but for now they're kind of fragmented.
When I read this today I couldn't help but wonder at the immediate transformation in the brother of Jared's attitude. Upon first seeing the finger of the Lord, he was too terrified to stand. What was he afraid of? God's punishment for his lack of knowledge about the nature of the divine. Interestingly, it was not the Lord as he then was that the brother of Jared saw, but it was the Lord as he would become after his glorification. Does that sound like something for which God would "smite" a person? Does God give us the spirit of fear at all?
Fortunately, the Lord corrected the brother of Jared's way of thinking. He taught him that he would not even have seen so much as a finger had it not been for his faith. In other words, the vision was a reward for faith, not a precursor of punishment for lack of knowledge. As we read later, this vision imparted knowledge and made the brother of Jared's faith (in that thing) dormant, for "he had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing doubting.(same chapter, verse 19)"
This same principle applies to our own interactions with holiness and it changes everything about them. Instead of being overwhelmed by divine knowledge or afraid that our own unworthy offerings will not be accepted, we can have the greatest confidence that our Father in Heaven will lovingly nurture us and lead us from truth to truth, from vision to vision, from glory to glory. We should embrace every hint from heaven that we are in favor with God. We should treasure every particle of truth we can distill. These are the things that lead us to the greater knowledge and mark the path to the greatest gift: eternal life.
Look at the immediate transformation that this principle caused in the brother of Jared. When he approached the Lord he was looking out for wrath. When this principle entered his heart - when the Lord taught him the true order of divine communication - the brother of Jared no longer feared a finger. Instead, he sought to behold the whole.
I should point out that this was not a vain or proud ambition. The brother of Jared was never one to seek after privileges for which he had no reason to hope. Instead, the Lord opened his mind to the possibility by inquiring as to the extent of the brother of Jared's vision. By asking "sawest thou more than this," the Lord was not admitting ignorance of the brother of Jared's experience, he was prompting a mortal mind to aspire to celestial knowledge. Had the Lord not asked the question, the brother of Jared may well have left the mountain with his glowing stones and never seen more than the tip of a finger.
Here we have the symbolism, for the fingertip represented not only the smallest part of the Lord's being, but also any minute truth compared to what God is willing to make known. By teaching him to cease from fear, the Lord enabled the brother of Jared to receive one of the greatest visions ever given - a vision promised in our day to all who have faith as did he and to none else.
Comments
My other comment has to do with your point that the Brother of Jared did not see the Lord as He was, but as He would become, but I think I need to go to the scriptures first and then maybe talk to you about it in person or individually via email.
Anyway, thanks for the thought-provoking message. Love ya! :)
Good point, Jake. This "awful, fearful looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of god," is a characteristic of the wicked, so if we feel this way, it should be a clue that we have something to repent of.
Also, without discrediting any other ideas, let me explain my reasoning for my choice of words here: "Interestingly, it was not the Lord as he then was that the brother of Jared saw, but it was the Lord as he would become after his glorification."
I actually thought about this statement very carefully. When the brother of Jared sees the Lord's finger, he is told, "Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood" (emphasis added). Hence my statement.
Later, when the Lord shows himself fully to the brother of Jared, he says "Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body 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 3:16, emphasis added).
Whether the Lord actually put forth a finger of flesh and blood before switching to a spirit body, I don't know. It may well have been just the perception of the brother of Jared since he did not know the nature of the Lord's being. In either case, the Lord both justified and clarified the brother of Jared's interpretation of his vision. What the brother of Jared saw, as legitimized by the words of Christ, was the physical aspect of deity. Maybe he saw it with his eyes, and maybe with his mind. I used the words "the brother of Jared saw" instead of "the Lord showed the brother of Jared," in acknowledgement of the fact that we don't always perceive divine communication in the way that it is intended, especially when under the influence of emotions like surprise and fear.
Either way, it didn't take long for the brother of Jared to understand things as they had been, were, and as they were to come.
Believe it or not, I actually thought all this through before publishing the original post because I realized what I had written and wasn't comfortable in my own mind with the idea at first.
I would love any insight you could give on this point, privately or otherwise.
I chose to post the above clarification instead of saving it exclusively for the private arena because I figured if Jake (whose spirituality and insight I admire and secretly covet) was concerned about this, I figured that it may have seemed questionable to some others as well. As noted in another post, I make no claim of being right about everything. I hope that this kind of discussion will ensue to lead us all to greater understanding.
I just wanted to note that no disrespect to Jake's intention of private discussion was intended.