Where there is no vision...
Here's one of the most remarkable promises in the scriptures:
Doctrine and Covenants 93:1 "Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that 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."
There is nothing in the context of this scripture (as far as I can tell) that restricts the fulfilment of this covenant to the period after mortality. For many people, I imagine that the day of judgment will be the day spoken of here, but the Lord does not say that it cannot or is not likely to happen in our present condition. In fact, He says the opposite. The scriptures are full of examples of people who received this blessing and are we not instructed to be like them? Is this not the second comforter?
The brother of Jared was one of those so blessed - possibly the first. The Lord says to him, "never have I showed myself unto man whom I have created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast. (Ether 3:15)"
I say "possibly" because we know of many other men before the Brother of Jared's time who were well acquainted with the Lord. It is important, however, that the Brother of Jared saw the Lord because of the nature of his faith.
On the other hand, Adam walked with God prior to the fall. He knew the Lord, rather than believed in him. Enoch walked with God in Heaven, but not necessarily on Earth. I don't know the histories of any of the other ancient patriarchs, but I'm sure the Lord was telling the Brother of Jared the truth. Perhaps his situation required a kind of faith not had by any man previously.
Whatever the case, what happened to the brother of Jared was the fulfilment of the promise from the initial quotation. We can see each of the requirements met in the account in Ether.
These requirements are:
1. Forsake sins and come unto Christ
2. Call on the name of the Lord
3. Obey the voice of the Lord
4. Keep the commandments of the Lord
I included forsaking sin and coming to Christ as one step because it is impossible to separate the two. This requirement was probably met long before the record begins, as evidenced by the brother of Jared's "highly favored" status with the Lord. This is symbolized by the fact that he led his people away from the wicked multitudes surrounding the tower of Babel. The people of God disassociated themselves from wickedness. A specific instance of this condition being met occurs when the brother of Jared is chastised by the Lord for forgetting to pray. He repents.
Condition number two is the brother of Jared's hallmark characteristic. He is always calling on the name of the Lord. In fact, that is how he obtained his claim on the promised land. The Lord said he would lead the people there, "because this long time ye have cried unto me. (Ether 1:43)"
The only dint in the brother of Jared's prayer record came during his wanderings in the wilderness. I personally find it hard to believe that he ceased praying entirely for that time. One does not generally pray as effectually as did he and then entirely give up the habit while leading people through an unknown land on the Lord's errand. I think it more likely that he went through the motions, but his prayers were without quality. An insincere prayer, we are told, is accounted the same as no prayer.
Keeping the commandments (I know I skipped one) is likewise evident in the record. The brother of Jared not only undertook an arduous journey at the Lord's behest, he also built barges and came up with an idea for lighting them. No one would accuse him of not keeping the commandments.
I would argue that the third requirement was not met in its fullness until the moment before the vision took place. After seeing the finger of the Lord and requesting a greater revelation, the Lord asked the brother of Jared an interesting question: "Believest thou the words which I shall speak? (Ether 3:11)" The brother of Jared was required to accept the words of the Lord even before he heard them. He had no reservations about anything the Lord might say, and he would have risked everything on the belief that the words he had heard were the truth. As he said in the next verse, "Thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie."
Having met the conditions above, the Brother of Jared saw the face of the Lord and knew that he was. Moroni tells us in verse 18 that the vision was given for this very purpose. The Lord ministered to the brother of Jared "that this man might know that he was God."
A vision followed that, as discussed in my previous post, is available to all who will follow in the footsteps of the brother of Jared.
Ether 4:7 "And in that day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are."
In my mind, this is the same promise as the one from the Doctrine and Covenants that I quoted in the beginning. The brother of Jared is the unifying link. When we exercise faith as did he, we will see the vision he saw. The way to do that is laid out in the verse from section 93. We turn from sin to Jesus Christ, we pray consistently with all of our souls, we keep the commandments in every way possible, and we trust the voice of the Lord, developing a heart that hearkens even to those words that are not yet revealed. In other words, we so yearn for additional revelation that disobedience to such is out of the question. We believe that God will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God. As a result, we receive of the fullness of the Father, including the vision of the brother of Jared.
Doctrine and Covenants 93:1 "Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that 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."
There is nothing in the context of this scripture (as far as I can tell) that restricts the fulfilment of this covenant to the period after mortality. For many people, I imagine that the day of judgment will be the day spoken of here, but the Lord does not say that it cannot or is not likely to happen in our present condition. In fact, He says the opposite. The scriptures are full of examples of people who received this blessing and are we not instructed to be like them? Is this not the second comforter?
The brother of Jared was one of those so blessed - possibly the first. The Lord says to him, "never have I showed myself unto man whom I have created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast. (Ether 3:15)"
I say "possibly" because we know of many other men before the Brother of Jared's time who were well acquainted with the Lord. It is important, however, that the Brother of Jared saw the Lord because of the nature of his faith.
On the other hand, Adam walked with God prior to the fall. He knew the Lord, rather than believed in him. Enoch walked with God in Heaven, but not necessarily on Earth. I don't know the histories of any of the other ancient patriarchs, but I'm sure the Lord was telling the Brother of Jared the truth. Perhaps his situation required a kind of faith not had by any man previously.
Whatever the case, what happened to the brother of Jared was the fulfilment of the promise from the initial quotation. We can see each of the requirements met in the account in Ether.
These requirements are:
1. Forsake sins and come unto Christ
2. Call on the name of the Lord
3. Obey the voice of the Lord
4. Keep the commandments of the Lord
I included forsaking sin and coming to Christ as one step because it is impossible to separate the two. This requirement was probably met long before the record begins, as evidenced by the brother of Jared's "highly favored" status with the Lord. This is symbolized by the fact that he led his people away from the wicked multitudes surrounding the tower of Babel. The people of God disassociated themselves from wickedness. A specific instance of this condition being met occurs when the brother of Jared is chastised by the Lord for forgetting to pray. He repents.
Condition number two is the brother of Jared's hallmark characteristic. He is always calling on the name of the Lord. In fact, that is how he obtained his claim on the promised land. The Lord said he would lead the people there, "because this long time ye have cried unto me. (Ether 1:43)"
The only dint in the brother of Jared's prayer record came during his wanderings in the wilderness. I personally find it hard to believe that he ceased praying entirely for that time. One does not generally pray as effectually as did he and then entirely give up the habit while leading people through an unknown land on the Lord's errand. I think it more likely that he went through the motions, but his prayers were without quality. An insincere prayer, we are told, is accounted the same as no prayer.
Keeping the commandments (I know I skipped one) is likewise evident in the record. The brother of Jared not only undertook an arduous journey at the Lord's behest, he also built barges and came up with an idea for lighting them. No one would accuse him of not keeping the commandments.
I would argue that the third requirement was not met in its fullness until the moment before the vision took place. After seeing the finger of the Lord and requesting a greater revelation, the Lord asked the brother of Jared an interesting question: "Believest thou the words which I shall speak? (Ether 3:11)" The brother of Jared was required to accept the words of the Lord even before he heard them. He had no reservations about anything the Lord might say, and he would have risked everything on the belief that the words he had heard were the truth. As he said in the next verse, "Thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie."
Having met the conditions above, the Brother of Jared saw the face of the Lord and knew that he was. Moroni tells us in verse 18 that the vision was given for this very purpose. The Lord ministered to the brother of Jared "that this man might know that he was God."
A vision followed that, as discussed in my previous post, is available to all who will follow in the footsteps of the brother of Jared.
Ether 4:7 "And in that day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are."
In my mind, this is the same promise as the one from the Doctrine and Covenants that I quoted in the beginning. The brother of Jared is the unifying link. When we exercise faith as did he, we will see the vision he saw. The way to do that is laid out in the verse from section 93. We turn from sin to Jesus Christ, we pray consistently with all of our souls, we keep the commandments in every way possible, and we trust the voice of the Lord, developing a heart that hearkens even to those words that are not yet revealed. In other words, we so yearn for additional revelation that disobedience to such is out of the question. We believe that God will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God. As a result, we receive of the fullness of the Father, including the vision of the brother of Jared.
Comments
The talk sort of follows a different thread of thought than those in your post but echoes the call to endure to the end that we might achieve all the promised blessing the Lord has in store for us and glorify our Father in Heaven.
Keep writing and I'll keep reading.
Sorry that you guys couldn't come to Tennessee this time around. I would have liked to have seen you. It's been too long.
Talk about a surprise! It's so good to hear from you. Thanks for your comment, too. I have a sister-in-law named "Mandi," so it took me a while to relize who you were. I'm sorry we couldn't come to Tennessee as well.
As you can see, I don't have a wide readership. At least, not a wide commenting readership. Nice to see some activity on the blog other than my own.
Good comment, too. I love the quote from President Monson. You know, I really believe that the development of real, vibrant faith is one of the things the church (and world) needs most.
I'm not just talking about saying we believe things and paying tithing, I'm talking about faith that shows in everything we do - faith that drives us to change our lives.
Think about how much of our lives are spent talking and worrying about and attending to the day-to-day concerns of mortality. How much effort do we put into being spiritual and righteous compared to how much we put into being funny or "informed" or talented? How much of our daily conversation is focused on how the Lord feels about our concerns? If it doesn't show up on the outside, do we really have it on the inside? Isn't that why the freedom we enjoy in this country is so important? What happened to "Consider the lillies?"
Of course, I'm just as guilty here as the next guy; three kids, two jobs, and school are hard to ignore, but I'm working on it.
I don't think every conversation has to be a testimony meeting, but Joseph Smith said that when faith is exercised, it is by word and no other way (Lectures on Faith). I know those lectures don't have scriptural weight, but it's food for thought, anyway.
My mom used to play a song for the pre-school kids called "The Think-Feel-Do Polka." It's about how thoughts, and I would add words, lead to actions. If we control our thoughts and speech, we control our lives. If our thoughts and words are full of faith, hope, and charity, then our hearts will be as well. It will show in our every action.
I really should quit preaching and start practicing, but I got going on this, and now I'm finding it hard to stop.
I think saying things like this on the internet is useful because it helps us think about it, which helps us talk about it, which helps us feel it, which helps us do it. Plus it can also make us accountable to those who read our words, especially if those who write and those who read actually know each other outside of cyberspace.
If we're sincere, the online presence is not so much a mask as a confession.
Most importantly, I love the concept of the post: we can experience the same revelation (THE Revelation) that prophets and apostles have and do--in mortality. I believe it. Sadly, I'm not sure many others do. But it's for us, too; the promise applies to ordinary people:
"The Brother of Jared may not have had great belief in himself, but his belief in God was unprecedented. In that there is hope for us all. His faith was without doubt or limit. . . . Once and for all it was declared [through his vision] that ordinary people with ordinary challenges could rend the veil of unbelief and enter the realms of eternity." –Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant, 29
Until next time...
Ty