Ether 1–5 | November 11–17 | Scripture Study Insights | A Come Follow Me Resource

hello there my name is Tyler Griffin and this is scripture study insights by scripture Central today ether chapters 1-5 as we jump into these particular chapters I want to uh discuss this incredible need that we have to connect with heaven to connect with God and to receive and recognize and act on Revelation so as a lifelong teaching overlay there's there's something I want to I want to discuss here a couple of different approaches you can take to scripture study you can either go into scripture study looking specifically for answers to uh particular questions that you

may have or seeking direction for some decisions you need to make or to help you solve some problems that are very uh unique or specific to that time or place in your life or you can simply open the scriptures and try to immerse in the history in the problems and the setting and the struggles that the people were facing at that time and then try to find application to be generally applied from their story Into Your specific story story so you'll notice whether you bring your problems into the scriptures or whether you find the the

questions and answers and problems and the Solutions in the scriptures and bring them out into your life it doesn't matter the scriptures are deep enough they're inspired enough they're inspiring enough that they will benefit you with whatever approach you want to take with them now some people will have greater uh effect by using one more than the other approach and that's fine it doesn't mean that that's a one-size fits-all for everybody but the point is as we jump in today I'm going to take the approach of doing a little bit of both where we begin

with a scenario or it's this idea if you're teaching in the church or if you're raising children or or teaching family members it can be very helpful to meet people where they are and then help raise them to the next level it's the X+ one principle of of instruction so you find out where they are you come in to to help them get ready to learn by giving a scenario a case study a story a situation that would cause them to per up their ears and and listen more closely and say hey yeah that sounds

like you're talking about something that's relevant to me and then you dive into the scriptures and you help them find principles and doctrines that would then take them to the next level in their own Covenant discipleship so to model that one of um of many many many examples we could give of that uh teaching technique would be this have you ever had a time when you were praying and and you were praying with sincerity you really desperately wanted an answer you wanted to feel connected with heaven and you you wanted to know what God would

have you do and you poured out your heart and you pondered you listened and nothing came and you felt discouraged it felt like your prayer bounced off the ceiling and you said I need help I need answers now more than ever before I'm I'm humble I'm Meek I'm pleading I'm I I have faith but I'm not getting anything and have you ever had that experience and it prolongs and it keep stretching over days and maybe weeks or months and nothing comes and you start to feel like God isn't listening anymore and you start to get

frustrated if you've ever had that situation occur or something similar then this is an incredible set of chapters to help us figure out what are some principles surrounding prayer and how we connect with heaven with God in such a way that there's a two-way Arrow where it feels like we're we're C celing with the Lord we're not just checking the box and saying our prayers and then going about our life on our own because we don't feel like God is talking to us now to set the stage for jumping into the scriptures let's begin with

a a beautiful invitation in fact it's a pleading invitation from president Russell M Nelson when he gave his very first major talk in general conference after having been sustained as the prophet sir and Revelator as a president of the church he says this my dear brothers and sisters I plead with you when a prophet pleads we should pay extra attention I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive Revelation choose to do the spirit ual work required to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and hear the voice of the spirit more frequently

and more clearly so in this in the spirit of seeking and receiving and recognizing more revelation we are going to look for principles in ether chapters 1-5 and by the way there are dozens of other approaches you could bring with you into these chapters and have a beautiful connecting spiritual experience on a personal level let me just say that ether chapters 1 two and three are some of my favorite alltime chapters ever written by anyone at any time in any book they have been incredibly influential in shaping my life uh I can't wait to meet

Moroni on the other side of the veil sometime to thank him for the influence that these chapters and these principles of Revelation that connect us with God what kind of a powerful personal effect they've had on my life and so I want to share some of those principles that have benefited me the most with you in hopes that you too can find great uh great peace and great power in the way we approach our efforts to connect with Heaven through prayer so in chapter one Maroni begins telling us that he's going to tell us about

the ancient inhabitants he says of this North Country so we know he's in the land northward which is where the the main jedite uh geopolitical Center was so he's somewhere up north as he's writing this story and he's AB Bridging the 24 J plates and he describes how he got those and on the plates he sees an account of the creation of Adam he sees all of the the things that have happened from Adam down to that great tower he says and then from the tower down until they were destroyed the great tower he never

uses the word Babel he never says this is the Tower of Babel but we assume tying this into the Old Testament record that the Great Tower mentioned in the Old Testament is the Tower of Babel and so that's the Assumption here now is our testimony based on that no could it be a different Tower I guess it could we're probably not going to be asked that question at the perly gates or on Judgment Day so sometimes we can get too excited about tangential topics that aren't really going to change the way we live our life

one way or or the other so for our purposes here we're going to refer to the great tower as the Tower of Babel and then he gives you a long list of 30 Generations 30 individual names and they're listed in order starting in verse six with ether and ending in verse 32 with orah who was the son of Jared number 29 and 30 in that list so let me visually depict this for a moment what you have is 30 names starting with ether listed in order all the way down to Jared so some of you

are thinking well this is this is boring it's just a list it's a long list of names brothers and sisters this isn't just a list this is you're seeing the Fingerprints of God through the history of time you're seeing the importance of family you're seeing God's plan moving forward Generation by generation you're seeing intergenerational connections from that that Span in this case well over a thousand years of of period so you have the Tower of Babel just for for putting us in the context of the time timeline for the Old Testament you have Adam and

Eve and then you have Enoch and then you have Noah the major dispensation heads and then we have Abraham and then Moses and eventually you'll get Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith so the timeline is the Tower of Babel comes in Noah's dispensation so we're going way back in time before Abraham way before Moses and this is where we get the departure to the new world of this group The jedes in contrast to Lehi and his group that leave the old world with ishmail and zoram they leave in 600 BC in the dispensation of Moses so

there's a huge different in in space of time when these two major migrations occurred coming into the Americas and by the way just as a side note do you know why the Americas themselves were so upset when the jaredites arrived it's because the jaredites just barged right in that's the reason that's a a dumb dad joke uh along the way here so we have the these 30 different people carrying forth to one degree or another this Legacy of the jaredites and then what you get starting in verse 33 of chapter 1 is the telling of

Jared's story and the whole rest of the book of ether is telling each of these 30 people's stories in their perfect reverse order as they were listed here in verse 6 through 32 it's in other words it's a giant chastic structure with the the structure relying on the people that are listed here as each of their stories is told coming out of the kmus and then we end with the story of ether which is the first name in the list so the first is last and the last is first as we as we move forward

so you'll notice that there are three things that happen here in the beginning part of the story three needs for Revelation so one of the principles for you and me as we're striving to have our prayers go further than the the ceiling in our room or in our Chapel wherever we are principle number one don't wait for Revelation to descend upon you or to to hit you Blindside there will be times when that happens but don't expect that that's the main form of Revelation or we're as Elder bedar says we're simply making ourselves objects waiting

to be acted upon there's a a beautiful reminder to us that connects here that the lord gave to the Prophet Joseph Smith in Jackson County Missouri clear back in 1831 he says this section 58 verse 26 and 27 for behold it is not meat or it's not a good idea it's not required that I should command in all things for he that is compelled in all things the same as a slothful and not a wise servant wherefore he receiveth no reward this is an easy principle to understand if you translate it into normal life either

in a home setting or in a work setting do you want the kind of employee who sits on a chair and waits for the supervisor or the manager to tell them what to do when to do it how to do it where to do it why to do it and only then they get up and go do do it and the moment they're finished with that task they come and sit back down and wait for the next job or do you want an employee who you can teach the principle of what you're trying to accomplish

and then that employee is going to be self-motivated and think what could I do to help move the the purpose of this company forward or to accomplish the mission of this organization or of this world or of this family whatever it may be he gives the clarification in verse 27 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 so it's very important to note that if we do sit and wait the Lord is still capable of giving us

Revelation and he probably will but we multiply our opportunities to receive Revelation when we anxiously engage in living the gospel in doing the things that we think the Lord would have us do and as we seek to follow his example as we learn of him and do the things that we have seen him do it's back to president Nelson's invitation I plead with you to increase your spiritual Capa capacity to receive Revelation we're going to have to do the spiritual work so what is that it starts with keeping the Commandments so that we're capable of

of prospering in in that revelatory process but we also seek and work towards getting more of those answers by going to the Lord with specifics one of my favorite things that President Thomas S Monon taught when he was the prophet was when we deal in when we speak in generalities we rarely have a success but when we speak in specifics we rarely experience a failure the idea being that if we go to God in our prayers and say heavenly father I'm thankful for all my blessings and please bless me with what I need that's that's

really General and we're probably going to get more of a general answer but according to president Monson if we can be a little more specific if we can counsel with the Lord in all of our doings to to quote earlier prophets in the Book of Mormon then we're more likely to get those specific answers and specific responses so in this case watch what happens with the very first request in verse 34 Jared says to his brother go cry unto the Lord that he will not confound us that we may not understand our words so at

the Tower of Babel where the languages were confounded Jared is saying go and ask the Lord if he will allow us to still maintain our language our ability to communicate isn't that an amazing principle for Revelation our ability to talk to God and recognize God speaking to us it translates into I want to be heard and understood and I want to understand those around me as well so we have horizontal communication and vertical communication and in this case Jared asks his brother to go vertically to the Lord to preserve these horizontal connections of of language

and the Lord had compassion upon Jared therefore he did not confound the language of Jared and then you get the second one verse 36 he says go cry again unto the Lord that he will turn away his anger from them who are our friends that he confound not their language so it began with our language and now it becomes language of our friends and those in our circle of influence around us so we begin at the core and principle of Revelation begin get get our soul in the right place cleanse the inner vessel before we

start trying to fix other people's problems is a is a beautiful principle of Revelation here that we focus not selfishly on our problems but actually with an eye to becoming a better instrument in the hands of the Lord more fit for the kingdom more used would I be more blessed and holy more savior like thee that's the intent for asking for blessings for us and then we turn outward and ask for those around us to to receive some of those blessings and that leads to question number three in verse 38 he says go and inquire

of the Lord whether he will drive us out of the land and if he will drive us out of the land cry unto him whether we shall go and then notice this this add-on because that's a pretty general question and who knoweth but the Lord will carry us forth into a land which is Choice above all the Earth and if it so be let us be faithful unto the Lord that we may receive it for our inheritance so a place of safety a a ref Refuge it's hard to receive Revelation when you're surrounded by too

much noise too much commotion too much chaos too much misunderstanding it's it's a little harder to have those open channels of communication and so it's this beautiful principle of is there a a place a choice place a place of safety of of Refuge for us where we can go to live our life and raise our families and build uh our our culture and the Lord it says in verse 40 it came to pass that the Lord did hear the brother of Jared and had compassion upon him and said unto him now you're getting some very

specific Revelation here go to gather thy flocks both male and female of every kind there's this longterm plan being put in place we're not just going on a camping trip this is a per permanent change God is going to make with these people and he tells them to gather their families and verse 42 when thou Hast done this Thou shalt go at the head of them down into the valley which is northward and there will I meet thee and I will go before thee into a land which is Choice above all the lands of the

Earth this is this is more than Revelation this is a covenant connection this is a relationship that is being built bu a connection with the Lord and he gives them step one and it's a gathering set of instructions gather people gather flocks gather food and Provisions gather everything you're going to need and then begin the journey and take the first leg of the journey up to the valley northward and I'll meet you there and go before your face so God didn't tell them here you are at Point a and I'm going to now give you

every step point B C D and on and on and on God didn't do that he said here you are at Point a and I will give you point B gather all these people and things and go northward and I'll meet you there and I'll continue to guide you which leaves all of this Future travel all of these future events in the realm of the unknown so we're building our faith in Christ to take those first steps of a journey so now watch the contrast that I started with you can bring questions and situations and

concerns into the scriptures and find principles and look for for ways to approach them or you can read the scriptures and see what they teach and then pull principles out so let's let's give some examples of what that might look like here you could say hm you've got a people who are in a in an environment or in a setting or in a state of of being where chaos is is reigning where things seem to be getting worse and they want more peace in their life so there's seeking for direction from the Lord and the

Lord gives them inspiration of how to get out of that and move towards a Promised Land well all of a sudden this starts to feel and sound an awful lot like the Plan of Salvation it starts to sound like more than just a story of a group of people clear back in in the ancient world thousands of years ago on the other side of of the planet who are on a physical journey and it starts to sound like wow this is this is our story and the the tower the the Tower of Babel part could

be symbolized or could be a symbol of rather this Earth and mortality and the struggles of mortality and our efforts to come un Christ and follow his path his Covenant path as he leads us to the ultimate promise land which is exaltation and eternal life as a joint air with Christ in heaven and it and that's a big picture application that can come out of the story or off of the page and then there are a whole bunch of little microcosm pictures that could come off when you Embark to serve a mission whether you're an

18 or 19y old young man or young woman or whether you're an older couple embarking on that mission all of a sudden ether chapter 1 becomes very applicable very relevant as you say wow I'm embarking on this Mission and God gives instruction of what to do in Phase One how to prepare for that mission and go to the MTC but we really don't know all of the adventures that wait but we move forward in faith faith in Christ that he will guide us it could be applicable to marriage going into an engagement and we're all

excited and it's a thrill and we have no idea what's going to come down the road but we move forward because we trust We Trust in Christ and we trust in those around us to move forward together on the Covenant path so these stories can come to life off of the page and they can be motivating uh factors for us to give us more hope to not be governed by fear and to not be governed by what we don't know in the future but rather make our decisions based on what we do know and the

lord gave them instructions and I love this phrase there will I meet thee and there might be a mission field it might be marriage it might be Parenthood it might be a career it might be an educational opportunity it might be day one in a calling a new calling that you've received in the church it can be all these things but all of a sudden when we take these kinds of approaches the scriptures are never boring they're never black words on a white page that that are meaningless they become a handbook for Revelation they become

a handbook for hearing the voice of God we've had general authorities tell us if you want to talk to God you pray and if you want God to talk to you read your scriptures and I would add listen to The Living prophets it's this beautiful principle that we don't try to make up some new way to connect with Heaven it's it's pretty simple pray specifically and then go into scriptures as we Ponder and and record our thoughts specifically looking for those answers we're far more likely to receive them than if we just generically sit back

on on the lawn chair on the side of the path and wait for the Lord to come and get us up and tell us what to do and when to do it and how to do it so verse 43 he gives another promise there will I bless thee in thy seed and raise up unto me of thy seed and of the seed of thy brother and they who shall go with thee a great nation I'm going to raise up a great nation because of your foot Steps of Faith I'm going to bless millions in the

process it's it's a it's a beautiful reminder to us to not think just of ourselves and our own situation but to pause and step back and take a broader view of Life think Celestial if you will and think of the effect that your decisions of Faith to move forward today will affect Generations yet unborn so now you come to chapter two and we watch watch for principles of Revelation and you could watch for other things if there's something else going on in your life that you need help with right now plug that into these chapters

and look for those things that's the power of the Book of Mormon it will it will give you uh potential answers to those specific things whatever they may be so in our context of looking for Revelation look at verse four it came to pass that when they had come down into the valley of nimrod the Lord came down and talked with the brother of Jared and he was in a cloud and the brother of Jared saw him not so you're going to see the brother of Jared grow in his connection with the Lord through the

the story unfolding here he's getting some pretty specific answers back in chapter 1 and now the Lord's speaking to him from a cloud he doesn't see but he's speaking to him he's pretty close to the Lord and verse 5 tells us that the Lord did go before them brothers and sisters that principle applies to you and me just as much as it did to the brother of Jared and to that group of people traveling in the wilderness on their Covenant path for their time the Lord did go before them in other words this question mark

that I put here down the road in our future it is true we there's a lot we don't know but if we're honest there's a lot we do know and what we do know is that the Lord will go before us when you see your future with the Lord Jesus Christ being in that future then all of those question marks are a thrill we can't wait to discover what he has on that path for us it might be hard it might some of those things might be painful but overall that that we will be able

to find joy in that Journey when we have our faith rooted in Christ when our eye is on him when he is our goal when it's not just a path but it's a savior a personal savior he is the way he is our path and so it it's it's beautiful to watch that unfold as you study chapter 2 if you picture all of the things that happen in Chapter 2 as them trusting in and following Jesus Christ not just traversing mile after mile after mile of of dirt paths and watery uh lakes and seas that

they have to cross in order to get to the ocean at the end of the day look at verse six it came to pass that they did travel in the wilderness and did build barges in which they did cross many Waters being directed continually by the hand of the Lord so whether it's a mission whether it's a marriage whether it's a family situation A calling it doesn't matter if we put our trust in Christ we will move forward being continually directed by the hand of the Lord today just as much as they were back then

because God changes not the thing that changes is circumstances it's people it's us it's our faithfulness our diligence that changes it's not God's faithfulness it's not his steadiness it's not his willingness to give us Revelation or his capacity to save us and to guide us along that that Journey notice verse seven and the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness but he would that they should come forth even unto the land of promise which was Choice above all other lands which the Lord God had preserved for a righteous

people there's a principle there sometimes we get Revelation sometimes we progress along the Covenant path to a certain point and we think ah I've arrived I'm I'm married or I'm on the mission or I just got baptized I I'm I'm there and the principle here is God always has more to offer us to help shape us to help us grow to help us become who we were born to become to fulfill those Divine identities that that he gave us and so when they're sitting at that oceanfront property after all of this journey and all of

these hardships the Temptation is to say okay I I'm tired I I don't want to go anymore there are a million different way ways you could apply this principle some would say okay I've already served in the church for X number of years I'm good it's my turn to just relax here on the seashore with oceanfront property and and beautiful views of a setting sun or we could say father I don't want to do my will I want to do thy will regardless of how many callings I've had regardless of how many children we have

regardless of how many missions I've served regardless of what my career has been I want to do thy will so guide me teach me take me where where you want me to go to become who you want me to become and so what happens here is uh verse 13 Moroni says now I proceed with my record because what he did from verse 8 through 12 is he gave you a little uh description of the choice land the promised land that he was going to take them to and the role of the new world in a

in a gospel context and how it is a choice land and now he jumps back into the narrative in verse 13 now I proceed with my record for behold it came to pass that the Lord did bring Jared and his Brethren forth even to that great sea which divideth the lands and as they came to the Sea they pitched their tents and they called the name of the place moring anomer which Joseph Smith told us is the name of the brother of Jared Mahan Mor anomer and they dwelt in tents and dwell in tents upon

the seashore for the space of four years and after four years the Lord did talk with the brother of Jared and chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord there's a beautiful principle here God is patient he values and trusts our agency and our use of agency and he waited for the brother of Jared and after four years nothing was happening he wasn't asking where would you have us go next what do we do now he's relaxing on that that beachfront property and so the Lord chastens him and he

gives him instructions verse 16 go to work isn't that interesting when you receive Revelation it's usually not Revelation that says Don't Do Anything Revelation usually comes to activate our agency to get us to do something to get us to act in some way to to become something that we're not yet rarely does the Lord now it it does happen and it's maybe happened to you where on a certain occasion the right answer for you was relax slow down stop you're trying to do too much take a breath for a minute and then we'll go from

there so maybe that's the the Revelation for some but most of the time the Revelation comes like this go to work and and do something different in this in this case it's build barges and so they've built many barges before to cross the other bodies of water but now you're going to build Oceano barges so these have to be better and and perhaps bigger I don't know and so they build them exceedingly tight these they they were tight like unto a dish and we don't know exactly how all of that construction took place and quite

frankly if we needed to know the Lord would have given us more instructions here all we know is they're so tight like under a dish that we've created three problems once again the number three comes in you can find these three problems in verse 19 there's no light there's no way for us to steer and there's no way for us to breathe because there's no air it's so tight so what do we do we can't get all of these people in these barges with our provisions and cross this this great ocean with those three problems

what do we do notice he's specifically asking God I love this once again this has blessed my life so many times instead of being in a moment of pain or frustration or decision and going to God and saying very generically please bless me which by the way there there's nothing wrong with doing that that's a good thing to do even if if the prayer is General I don't want it to sound like like that's a bad thing that's a good thing what we're talking about here is good better and best to to use president Oak's

analogy of is there a better way and maybe even is there a best way to draw down the power of Heaven into our life and in this case he's giving those very specific problems and placing them before the Lord and notice how he words it behold oh Lord in them there is no light wither shall we steer and also we perish for in them we cannot breathe save it is the air which is in them therefore We Shall Perish so he places the problems before the Lord and then the Lord said unto the brother of

Jared behold Thou shalt make a hole in the top and also in the bottom and then he describes how to use those Contraptions the the hole in the top and the bottom so you can see that we get stepbystep instructions given by God to question number three but he didn't say a word about question number one and two and I love the fact that the brother of Jared didn't sit there on the top of that mountain and say well that's fine you've you've given a solution to one of our three problems but I'm not going

to waste my time on working on problem number three until I'm certain what I'm supposed to do about problem number one and two as well because it won't do us any good to only have one of the three problems solved he didn't do that I love the brother of Jared's example to me and and to us today this principle of act quickly on the Revelation that you do receive when you receive it and don't don't demand more I've tried this in a variety of settings where a similar thing where I've taken more than one thing

to the Lord and Impressions have come on what to do about one of the things and I've I've asked further okay but what about these other things and from my own experience the Lord just repeats what he already gave the answer to the one thing that he already answered and I I could be wrong but I could picture the brother of Jared If he if he had asked asked okay thank you for that instruction but what about the staring in the light problem I can picture the Lord saying to him make a hole in the

top and also in the bottom and repeating what he had already given because there's something about acting on the revelation we have step by step until he gives us the next phase of answers so the brother of Jared goes down and I love verse 21 the way it words it it came to pass that the brother of Jar did so I underlined and highlighted the words did so because I want my life to reflect that why not just because the brother of Jared did that but because that's a Christlike thing to do Jesus Christ modeled

that better than anybody when Heavenly Father gave him a direction he did so he acted on it and I want to be more like Jesus Christ and if I want to build a greater connection with heaven then I don't want to be the kind of uh person who back to the employee analogy who sits on the chair and when the manager comes to give a direction or instruction of what to do that I sit there and say uh yeah I'm I'm not in the mood or get somebody else to do that I really don't like

doing those kinds of jobs I want to be the kind of person that President Thomas as Monson described when he said I want the Lord to know that if he needs an errand run Tom Tommy Monson is going to run that errand for him I want to be like that because that's like Christ so he did so according as the Lord had commanded he didn't just go and do something else and think well God said to do it this way but now that I'm working on I think this would actually be a better design no

he did so even according as the Lord had commanded so he's following the directions that are given he trusts in those directions and then he goes back in verse 22 he Cried unto the Lord saying oh Lord behold I have done even as thou Hast commanded me and I have prepared the vessels for my people and behold there is no light in them he comes back to number one again behold oh Lord wil thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness so he doesn't mention the steering at this point but he repeats

problem number one and then the Lord said unto the brother of Jared what will ye that I should do that ye may have Light In Your Vessel he puts it back on the brother of Jared what will ye that I should do brothers and sisters he did something beautiful here he left the agency of the brother of Jared in complete and full power at this point you tell tell me what you want me to do about your light problem ask think and and seek knock he he's letting the brother of Jared own this question so

here he gave the brother of Jared step-by-step instructions and in the No Light question he's allowing the brother of Jared to give God the step-by-step instructions it's a beautiful pattern and then notice what the Lord says next for behold you cannot have Windows for they will be dashed in pieces neither shall you take fire with you for you shall not go by the light of fire so he gives some things that won't work don't don't bring those two ideas to me because I'm going to take those off of the table as options but think through

this what could you do and then he gives a description of how to fix number two the steering problem because you're not going to have a sail and you're not have a Rudder so so how are you going to get there for behold ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea for the mountain waves shall Dash upon you nevertheless I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth

in other words don't worry I'm going to take care of the steering problem I am going to cause the winds and the waves to take you where I want you to go you don't have to do anything about that now if you look very carefully at this list agency don't worry about it step-by-step instructions there are other ways that God can answer prayers but those are the three biggest General categories I can think of that will come in response to questions you and I take to Heaven he'll either give you inspiration telling you what to

do or he'll tell you not to worry about it or he'll give silence at times which is a beautiful sign that he's asking us to think it through and to come up with a solution to present to him to have him help us with that now how easy would it be if every time we ever prayed God said don't worry about it I'll take care of that for you I'm going to do that for you life would lose a lot of its uh pleasure its Joy its excitement if we become robotic and every time we

need something we pray and God just fixes it for us and we never struggle and we never have failures we never have setbacks we never have pain pain or sorrow or death I would suggest that if that's what happened we wouldn't find much joy we wouldn't find much light because there would be no contrast no struggle for us to work through and if every question we ever asked was answered instantaneously and directly with step-by-step instructions we would probably start to feel a little bit like robots who are just being downloaded with the instructions of do

this in this order in this way and it would lose some of that that feeling of of agency that we fought so desperately to maintain under the direction of of Jesus Christ in the premortal war in heaven in other words brothers and sisters God us uses all three of these types of answers with us and sometimes we get angry and frustrated with him or with ourselves or with our loved ones when he gives us the answer of silence or when he gives us the answer along the lines of what do you want to do about

it what do you want me to do to help you solve that problem you decide use your agency and we get frustrated and we say Lord I'll do whatever you want me to do just tell me what to do we experienced this a lot with our young single adults and our young adults in the college age especially when working with students a lot of them will be very frustrated saying I'm praying to see what God wants me to major in and I'm not getting an answer and I don't know what to do and these are

important decisions I've I've got to sign up for classes I've got to know which direction to take my life and I can't I can't get an answer God's not talking to me or who should I marry he's not telling me when in reality those silent answers are opportunities for us to stretch opportunities for us to reach to use president Nelson's words opportunities to do the spiritual work required to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and hear the voice of the spirit more frequently and more clearly it's this opportunity for us to engage our own

agency and make those decisions and then take them to the Lord and say would this be okay now you watch what the brother of Jared does with this agency portion of the story he he goes in chapter 3 in verse one to an exceedingly high mountain Mount shalum and he molens out of rocks 16 small stones they were white and clear even as transparent glass and he carried them up in his hands even under the top of the mount and cried again unto the Lord and then he gives this prayer in verse one or 2-5

and what he asks God to do is he first he apologizes about how how poorly done these 16 Stones clearly must appear in the eyes of God the creator of the heavens and the Earth the father of all creation from the beginning and he's made 16 smooth transparent stones and he probably knows all the flaws and he's feeling very inadequate as he takes his best thinking his best effort his best work and lays it down in front of the Lord and he asks God to touch those stones with his finger so that they can shine

forth in the darkness what a beautiful principle that has blessed my life over and over and over again with schooling decisions with decisions around the mission with marriage decisions with parenting decisions that need to be made career choices in callings every single day of my life going into a classroom or going into a church calling setting or coming to scripture Central and standing in front of a camera like this with a set of scriptures and trying to to add value trying to add light to people's life trying to help them find direction trying to help

them find oxygen to breathe in their life and at the end of the day the very best efforts I can bring to any of these settings in my life is pretty much the same as 16 smooth transparent Stone sitting on on a an altar of sorts an offering that I'm making but they're just smooth transparent stones and they're not going to shine but it's a beautiful thing when you lay those stones out before the Lord and ask him to touch those stones that they can shine forth when I went and served my mission in ciba

Brazil it it those stones were pretty weak pretty lame but I know that through the grace and gift and power of God he touched my lame efforts my my my feeble attempts to do that missionary work he provided the Miracles he did the work and I came to realize very quickly this isn't me doing this this is me assisting the Lord in doing what needed to be done and that same pattern has happened happened every day of my career in teaching every day in my life as a husband as a father and in the various

Church callings I've had and as a teacher of students in in a gospel setting at work the Lord is willing to touch our best effort so that it can shine as long as we ask him to do that and the brother of Jared sees the Finger of God and saw that it was as the finger of a man and it it caught him off guard and he stepped back in fear and now you can get into this next phase of Revelation where no longer are we just asking questions to solve our Earthly problems now the

brother of Jared shifts gears in trying to build different kinds of connections with the Lord Jesus Christ and there's this this communication that goes on in these next few verses between the Lord and between the brother of Jared where the brother of Jared comes to know Jesus Christ not just ask him questions and and solve problems that the brother of Jared's working on but a much higher order connection so he ends up expressing his belief and his faith in in Christ and he sees the Lord reveal to him bottom of verse 133 says therefore I

show myself unto you and then verse 14 behold I am he who is prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people behold I am Jesus Christ I am the father and the son now some would read that and say oh that sounds trinitarian no this isn't trinitarian this is Jesus Christ describing his various uh roles his various attributes I am father and son so he's the son of God just like you and I are Sons and Daughters of God in the spirit but he becomes the father of all of us through our

spiritual rebirth if we're born again he's the father of that rebirth he's the father of creation of Heaven and Earth all things that in them are he will ultimately be the father of our Resurrected body he's the one who generates new life and that eternally if we are exalted he is the father of that eternal life he's the granter of it he's The Giver of it is it any wonder that Isaiah called him the Everlasting father the prince of peace now some would say wait you're taking something away from heavenly father when you try to

give the label father to Jesus Christ the reality is I have 10 children I happen to be their Spirit brother in heaven we all share the same Heavenly parents so so we're siblings but brothers and sisters my children don't refer to me as their brother they refer to me in the role that is the most significant for their progression in the Plan of Salvation and that is they refer to me as Dad or as their father even though I'm also a son I'm also a father for them but they focus on that role that is

most important which is what the scriptures do in our role with Jesus Christ he is our our eldest spiritual brother in the realm of the premortal world as children of heavenly parents but he becomes the father of our spiritual rebirth and that is the role in which he saves us he doesn't save us as our brother he saves us as we become his sons and his daughters his children children of Christ when we become part of his Covenant family and take his name upon us the family name of Christ look at the end of verse

14 in me shall all mankind have life and that eternally even they Who Shall Believe on my name and they shall notice the word become my sons and my daughters it's a process of becoming that Covenant relationship ship we enter into creates a different connection with Jesus Christ than just our eldest brother in a spiritual sense from the premortal realm he becomes the Everlasting father for us and only then does our relationship with Dad our Earthly father and our relationship with our heavenly father that first father relationship we had with Heavenly parents only then do

those two relationships have the capacity to become Eternal and not temporary or fleeting or a passing relationship only to be experienced for a short tick in eternity brothers and sisters it's only when we pick up that third father that the first two relationships become most eternally significant and Lasting think Celestial ver vers 15 he tells the brother of Jared never have I showed myself unto man whom I've have created for never has man believed in me as thou Hast and yet we know that the brother of Jared comes in Noah's dispensation and Adam and Eve

walked and talked with God Enoch walked and talked with God Noah is a dispensation head knows God so some are confused by verse 15 there are a variety of ways to understand what Jesus Christ is communicating to the brother Jared it's possible possible that never has he showed his body of his Spirit as it's described in verse 16 and 17 as he'll appear in the flesh thousands of years down the road when he has his mortal Ministry it's perhaps possible that he's never shown himself in that form to any but any of the previous prophets

it's also possible that he's never introduced himself the way he did to the brother of Jared I am Jesus Christ because he's often referred to as Yahweh or Jehovah in the Old Testament and perhaps this is the first time that he's introduced himself with his title there there are a variety of ways to look at this so again we don't focus on so much on what we don't know we focus on what we do know and move and and do what we can to apply that in a way that will help us move forward with

faith and now watch as the revelatory process goes into an even higher gear for the brother of Jared because once again the Lord never says okay there's we're going to just let you keep living life but there's nothing else for you to learn there's nothing else for you to to have revealed there's always more and the Lord is wanting to to reveal the secrets of the universe we've heard from prophets so after revealing himself to the brother of Jared he shows him incredible things from the beginning of time to the end end of time he

takes the brother of Jared up into a a more Celestial realm a Heavenly realm where God is not bound by clocks and calendars like we are time is is not the same for him and so he reveals all of these things and tells him to write them down and then he gives to the brother Jared two stones verse 23 these two stones will I give unto thee and you shall seal them up also with the things which he shall write so whether he used two of the brother of Jared's 16 stones and and designated them

as urum and Thum or whether he gave different smooth transparent Stones created by Him we don't know the reality is he provides a means whereby all of these incredible things that he's experiencing and all these Revelations will one day be brought to light there will be a lot of light there will be a lot of Direction and steering there will be a lot of fresh oxygen of the Gospel given to us because of these incredible two stones to bring the Book of Mormon to light in the latter days and so he he told uh the

brother of Jared in verse 27 to write that whole panoptic Vision a view of all things pan is everything an optic is a view of so from all time write that down in verse 27 and seal them up and then you get Moroni in chapter 4 who picks up that theme and describes how he has taken the vision of the brother of Jared and he has now written it down to include in the collection of plates that he's going to leave in the hill kamora for the the Prophet Joseph in the latter days but they're

going to be sealed up he describes this this in verse 5 wherefore the Lord hath commanded me to write them this is Moroni speaking not the brother of Jared here so the Lord commanded me Moroni to write these things that were given to me by the brother of Jared as given to him by the Lord and He commanded me Moroni that I should seal them up and he also hath commanded that I should seal up the interpretation thereof wherefore I have sealed up the interpreters according to the Commandments of the Lord so the sealed portion

of the plate we don't have to wonder what is on them we we don't know everything that's on them but we at least know it's moroni's writing of the prophecies and the panoptic vision of the brother of Jared which is a view of all things from the beginning to the end of time and we get the promise for the Lord said unto me they shall not go forth unto the Gentiles until the day that they shall repent of their iniquity and become clean before the Lord so when are they going to be translated when are

we looking for this next phase of scripture to be brought forth can't wait for that day when a prophet announces we've received the plates they've been the seal has been broken we've been given the the means to interpret them and translate them by the gift and power of God and they are now available for distribution what a glorious day that will be so when will that day happen it says it will be the day when we exercise faith in him even as the brother of Jared did that they may become Sanctified in me that 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 all these different titles and we don't have to put those titles in competition with each other they are complimentary he is is Jesus Christ he is the Son of God he is the father of the heavens and the Earth he's the father of our spiritual rebirth he is the father of our Resurrection

someday he will be the father of our eternal life and that's not in competition with Heavenly father's title or with your Earthly father's role as a dad and then he goes on to say at my command the heavens are opened and are shut and at my word the Earth shall shake and at my command the inhabitants thereof shall pass away even so as by fire brothers and sisters that is a beautiful reminder to us of the future that just like the the jedes didn't know all the things that were going to happen neither do we

but we put our faith in and our trust in and our focus on Jesus Christ who is in charge of the future he will guide the future as he has the the past we don't have to be filled with anxiety and fear about what's going to happen as long as we put Faith in Jesus Christ he is The Giver of all good things and all good gifts and he changes not so then he gives his invitation verse 13 come unto me oh you Gentiles and I will show unto you the greater things the knowledge which

is HIIT up because of unbelief if we want more revelation we need to believe more we need to strive to seek and expect more Revelation and more miracles and that's an element of exercising Faith to not go into prayer thinking yeah I'm going to go through the motions here of saying these words but I don't think I'm really going to hear anything it's probably going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy you probably won't but if we go into prayer saying I trust that God my heavenly father wants to talk to me and he's going to speak

to me and how is he going to do that uh second ephi 31 is a beautiful example of that process he says in in second eepi 31:3 for the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding for he speaketh unto men and we would say and women according to their language unto their understanding connected with Doctrine and Covenant Section 8 verse 2 and 3 behold I will tell you in your mind and in your heart it will be your language it will be your feelings it will be your understanding he's not going to use some foreign

language or some vocabulary that you don't know he'll use your thoughts and your feelings and he will communicate with you he will speak peace he will give direction sometimes he'll give step-by-step instruction sometimes he'll encourage you not to worry about something to relax to let him take that that one for you and sometimes he'll give you silence this idea of use your agency keep thinking keep exploring keep discovering that's the joy in the journey on the Covenant path as we let God decide what order and combination of these different answers to use when he's talking

to us which now brings us to verse 14 he spoke to the Gentiles in 13 and now come unto me oh ye House of Israel so these are the Covenant members of Israel and it shall be made manifest unto you how great things the father hath laid up for you from the foundation of the world and it hath not come unto you because of unbelief so there's this constant invitation for us to just believe more and then finally at the end Verse 18 therefore repent all ye ends of the Earth and come unto me and

believe in my gospel and be baptized in my name for he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned and the signs that shall follow them that believe and signs shall follow them that believe in my name what a beautiful and yet simple promise do you want revelation open the scriptures and start reading them do you want God to talk to you ask him specific questions in prayer and then open your scriptures with those questions on the front of your mind and with a pen or pencil or

a a digital uh notepad of some sort in front of you to record those thoughts and Impressions God will speak to you in in various ways in various combinations of of these answer types he will guide you through this process and then chapter five ends this week's set of chapters with a personal message from Moroni directly to the latter translator the Prophet Joseph in fact I've in my own scriptures I've labeled this chapter dear Joseph and at the very end love Moroni and I love this chapter because Moroni is giving very specific instructions to Joseph

and you might say well this doesn't apply to me well be careful because you can find application of true principles on any page God can speak to you God can answer your questions and your specific struggles and and issues that you're facing from any page in the scripture he's God he he's capable of doing that even in a chapter like this one that is so specifically targeted from Moroni to Joseph Smith telling him that there are things that are sealed up in verse one therefore touch them not in order that you may translate for that

thing is forbidden you accept by and by shall be wisdom in God in other words this doesn't apply to any of us none of us have the plates with a sealed portion and we're tempted to break that seal and to look and to try to translate those this doesn't apply or does it do we have certain things that God has given us that aren't sealed up Revelations and then there are future Revelations that will come forth at a later day and he's saying don't unlock those don't worry about those don't go there yet just wait

that day will come focus on what is unsealed in your life focus on those answers that I've already given you and don't be paralyzed by what you don't know and don't be paralyzed by what you haven't been yet given glory in and act on the things that you have been given could be one way we we could apply this and then he talks about the three witnesses that God is going to provide for Joseph what a what a relief this was to him when he got to this part and realized that he could involve other

people in seeing the plates and inviting Martin Harris Oliver cryy and David Whitmer to be those three witnesses as described in verse four but then you'll notice Maroni gives his own three Witnesses Joseph you're going to be able to call Martin David and Oliver but I'm going to invoke my own three Witnesses Joseph's three Witnesses testif IED that the the plates were shown to them they heard the voice of God they saw the angel they had that spiritual manifestation that this record is true it's of God and all three of them stayed faithful to that

to the end of their life but Moroni gives his own three Witnesses notice who he picked and the testimony of three and this work in the which shall be shown forth the power of God and also his word of which the father and the son and the holy ghost bear record and all this shall stand as a testimony against the world at the last day I love that because Moran said I'm going to use the godhead as my three witnesses that this book that I'm writing is true that this book will bring you to God

that in this book you will find Revelation you will find answers so once again I'm going to end where I began if you are on your knees and you're praying and you're seeking for help you're seeking for guidance you're seeking for answers and and Revelation and connection and you feel like those prayers are bouncing off the ceiling and not going very far and you're feeling paralyzed not knowing what to do can I just invite you to try again to offer those prayers one more time and then to sit down with a deep humility and faith

in your heart to seek and expect that God is going to talk to you as you then open your scriptures and it doesn't matter where you open them open them and read them with a prayerful heart and read the words of living prophets instead of listening to the things of the world constantly in our in our digital devices try replacing some of that with listening to General Conference listening to addresses from our church leaders on occasion and increase those occasions and don't be shocked when all of a sudden your thoughts and your feelings start to

become a little more clearly defined as you recognize Revelation coming to you from the words of scripture and the words of his chosen servants his living prophets and leaders of the church today in closing I love the Lord I not perfect or any of this we're trying to teach correct principles and I like you I'm still trying to figure out how to do it even better and how to create more powerful connections with heaven and become a servant that can be more fit for the kingdom more used would I be more blessed and holy more

savior like the as an instrument in his hands I want to be sharper and I know that the Lord will continue to guide me and you and all of us individually and collectively as we move forward in Greater faith in him into the unknown of the future by focusing on what we do know about the future and it is that Jesus Christ is there to meet us and will go before us to prepare the way for us to accomplish his purposes and his purposes involve your Eternal happiness I love him with all my heart and

I leave this with you in the sacred name of Jesus Christ amen know that you're loved [Music] [Music]