Ep 288.1 | 3 Nephi 8-11, Come Follow Me 2024 (September 23-29)

hey everybody Welcome to talking scripture a podcast where we illustrate relevance and application of the scriptures in come follow me we also dive into the history and cultures of the text thanks for taking the time to share and subscribe to this podcast for show notes head over to our website talk inscript [Music] read about the destruction in the eth chapter and the in the why of the destruction in the ninth chapter and Jesus is going to testify who he is and the Nephites are going to see Jesus so Bryce what would you say are some

of the important points of these chapters well it's always hard this is always a Melancholy chapter of the Book of Mormon because people are destroyed and that's always a tragedy but hopefully we can pull out of their destruction and say Here's a lesson and I think there's a lesson in the instruction that we need to pause and talk about so I'd like to take everyone back to helan to a prophecy that Samuel the lonite made to the Nephites while he stood upon that wall as he stood up there he said verse 12 this is Helman

13:12 and wo into this great City zarahemla I'm going to focus on zarahemla as a type and a shadow of every other City W un to this great City zarahemla for behold it is because of those who are are righteous that it is saved y woe unto this great City for I perceive sayeth the Lord that there are many ye even the more part of the city that will harden their hearts against me but blessed are they who will repent for I will spare them but behold if it were not for the righteous who are

in the city behold I would cause that fire should come down out of heaven and destroy it there's a prediction there but there's also a lesson the righteous in zarahemla are enough to save it from dest destruction now we jump to third Nephi and the beginning of the storm and then here comes the massive destruction this is the first cleansing of the earth and we're going to temporarily make it a terrestrial state so Jesus can be here with us so which means we've got to eliminate the telestial element and now we get to verse 8

third Nei 8 the city of zarahemla took fire so the very prediction back in Samuel the lame it but the righteous are keeping you from being destroyed and now here's the Fulfillment zarahemla did take fire so what happened to the righteous clearly there were righteous in zarahemla and now there's fire and I don't believe the righteous are going to be destroyed we know they're not so let's jump to chapter 10 after the destruction is over and they're sitting in the silence they're sitting in the darkness they are taught why they were spared now look at

verse 12 3D Nephi 10:12 it was the more righteous part of the people who were saved it was they who received the prophets and stoned them not so let's see if we can connect all those dots and make a lesson for the Latter-Day Saints because destruction is once again coming in our day not only a literal physical destruction is coming but we are seeing spiritual destructions all around us so it seems to me that there came a day where a prophet walked into the city of zarahemla and said get out of town and they left

and after they left now the protection that the righteous were bringing is gone and the city is destroyed but here's my point of pondering what do you suppose was the weather when the prophet came in and said get out of town do you think there was any sign of Fire and I'm sure that if anyone overheard the prophet which I'm sure he tried to save the whole city and I'm sure the prophet went in there and said this city is going to burn and there was absolutely no sign of fire would you have left the

city would you leave with no sign of fire now back in section 21 where the Lord is organizing the church and talking about having a prophet San Revelator he said that we need to receive received the prophet's word in all patience and faith and I think that's one of the great lessons is if you want to avoid the destruction then you need to receive the prophet's words when there's no fire Noah told the people to get on the boat and it didn't start to rain for seven days until after they got on would you have

walked onto a boat in the middle of the land with not a cloud in the sky guy would you have left zarahemla with no sign of fire in the doctrine of Covenant if you'll turn briefly to section 101 where the Lord is trying to explain what happened in Jackson County and why the Jackson County saints were were removed from their lands he gives this very interesting statement in verses s and 8 section 1017 and 8 he says they were slow to hearken under the voice of the Lord their God therefore the Lord their God is

slow to hearken unto their prayers to answer them in the day of their trouble in the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel but in the day of their trouble of necessity they feel after me prophets speak in the day of peace when there's no fire to be seen there's no cloud in the sky and and it requires patience and faith because if you wait to leave zarahemla in the day of trouble when the fire has started it's too late if you get on Noah's boat when it's raining it's too late you can't

the door has been shut and sealed you and I must learn to follow a prophet in the day of peace so that when the day of Trouble Comes we qualify for the blessings I think that's one great lesson that's coming out of the destruction there's it's it's a tragedy to hear about the destruction of these cities and these lives but they were warned Prophet after Prophet after Prophet warned them and if zarahemla any indication a prophet came but a prophet came in the day of peace so learn to follow a prophet in the day of

peace with patience and faith get out of Zarah Hamas spiritually when the prophet says get out of zarahemla even though you look around and you don't see any reason for leaving the city it was those who followed the prophet now let me just turn that to our day I I think the Lord is saying here that no matter what's coming we will always be warned there's a beautiful phrase in Doctrine Covenant section 29:8 is something I always read when we talk about the second coming and future destructions the the Lord says that we will be

prepared in all things against the day when wrath and tribulation are poured out upon the wicked we will be prepared in all things that means prophets will have warned us no matter what's coming but I think what the Book of Mormon is trying to teach here is that the prophet's warning will come in a day of peace but I testify with all my soul I know that everyone who listens to the prophet will be be prepared for whatever comes because the righteous when this Destro notice what city wasn't destroyed they're all headed to Bountiful where

the temple is and so they're not going to be destroyed by the fire of zarahemla or the water or the mountain falling upon them because they've been sent to a place that was safe we will be sent to a place that's safe whether that's literally or spiritually or symbolically prophets will always warn us of the coming danger but they will warn us when there is no Fire in the Sky one of the things Bryce that really hit me when you were talking was this idea that they're invited to leave and we're going to do this

when we do Doctrine and Covenants but you see this pattern where the Lord's pushing the Saints West he keeps pushing them he pushes them and then I think it's section 38 right where he gets to tell him you're going to be in Ohio but it's going to be for 5 years and then there's that reference where he says says you you talk about wars in foreign lands but there's war coming right here and so we've seen Even in our dispensation a physical moving which is interesting because if you really think about what he was doing

he moved the Saints out west in time for the Civil War out of the way so right when the United States was going to destroy each other in a war he had moved his people out of the way and then he started moving everyone you know back into wherever they came from and so it's fascinating to know that the Lord knows where we should be and he does he pushes us physically to where we're going to be safe yeah one of the things that hits me in these chapters in the ninth chapter it's this repeated

concept over and over again where God says I've got to destroy these cities I Must Destroy them from before my face that the blood of the prophets and the Saints should not come up unto me anymore against them and he says it again and again it's repeated throughout the nth chapter and that's a very Hebrew type expression that is mostly edited out of the Old Testament in the English translation we only get four references to it that's it today we only have four in the King James in the English that have survived but it's repeated

so much but it's in the English only four times to me 39 is the most old test is Chapters because it portrays God as kind of a vengeful God he's destroying cities I think that's one of the interesting distinctions between the Book of Mormon and the Old Testament that we have is in the Book of Mormon typically it's the wicked destroying the wicked but if you read for example the Book of Joshua we have Yahweh or Jehovah commanding the Israelites to go and just wreck these people and it's a very troubling text but here we

get some of that flavor but then he always says okay this is why I'm doing it I Must Destroy them from before my face that the blood of the prophets doesn't come up and it just is just repeated over over and over again and then if you look in verse 14 come unto me we're in 359 and you shall have eternal life mine arm of Mercy is extended towards you so to me the Book of Mormon is a book with layers and this is codee this stuff before my face this is all Temple text so

to be before the face of Yahweh is literally to be in his presence and so Jesus is going to come to these people and they're not prepared to be before his face because they're killing his Representatives and so they're not going to be worthy when he comes so Bryce I really do believe this the people that see Jesus in 3i 11 I don't think they're just seeing him because they happen to be there I don't think it's just by chance right right they have qualified themselves to be before the face of God and this is

what prophets do this is what Moses does and this is what he wants to do to the Israelites continually through the narrative in Exodus where he wants to bring them before the face of God and like I said this is totally edited out of our King James but but it is in the doctrine covenants and let me read from the doctrine covenants ready I am reading from section 84 verse let's start in verse 19 where it says this greater priesthood adth the gospel and Hoth the keys of the Mysteries of the Kingdom verse 20 in

the ordinances thereof the power of godliness is Manifest it's talking about God wants to bless us verse 22 for without this no man can see the face of God even the father and live and then verse 23 now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God there it is that's exactly what Mike is talking about that's the end point that Moses invited them to be Sanctified so that they could behold the face of God unfortunately verse 24

they hardened their hearts could not endure his presence therefore the Lord in his wrath for his anger was kindled against them swore that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness which rest is the fullness of his glory and that's what you're seeing in third Nephi chapter 9 8 and9 is I am removing them out of my presence out of my face I have to do that it's a tough reading but but it's there which draws to us to the positive side the positive side of this is these people are going to

behold the face of God and it's going to be an invitation for the rest of us to have this experience and the Lord has really said um in the doctrine of covenants hey this is how this this is how it works and these people have qualified themselves for this experience and just like latterday Saints we sit in a position right where they were before the destruction came here we are coming up into the destruction and if we are faithful the promise is that we will be preserve that God will be with us he'll tell us

exactly what we need to do to be protected and safe so that we see the face of God just like they did this is our time and that we need to say wait a minute what is it that they did to behold the face of God so that I know what I need to do to behold the face of God one of the one of the images of this experience is exactly what 3i 9:14 is saying where he says my arm of Mercy is extended towards you that is symbolic of the Embrace of God he's

inviting us into an Embrace to be covered literally by his blood by the blood of Christ but by his robes and to be brought into his family to become the sons of God that is a ritualistic expression which means we are in the family of the exalted and so this is all drenched in Temple symbolism rich with ritual patterns and and teaching us about God and the temple and these sacred experiences and so I'm glad that when Joseph translated it he left that in there I am too it's good stuff so and these are tough

chapters these are and at the end of chapter nine not only is this kind of a destruction but it's also a change this represents the end of the law of Moses we are the law of Moses is dying and the law of Jesus is being bornn and so we're Shifting the Temple's going to shift the ordinances are going to shift the Sabbath day is going to shift they used to worship on Saturday they will now worship on Sunday everything's shifting and so we as latterday Saints sometimes we don't appreciate what shifted and so at the

very end of chapter nine I want to talk about one of those major shifts and how it impacts our lives today in verse 19 the Savior says okay we're done we're done with the laws of the the sacrifice of the law of Moses so he says ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood yeah your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away for I will accept none of them I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings no more I won't do that anymore the law of Moses

is over but the law of sacrifice isn't over it's just how you how you live the law and so he says let's change it verse 20 instead of animal Sacrifice from here on out you will offer unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit and who so cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit I'll baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost and so we no longer bring animals to the temple to be sacrificed we instead offer a broken heart but sometimes we don't talk a lot about that or

take a moment to think about what is the offering of a broken heart now we've talked about the law of Moses in the past and there's some great resources out there that will help you find meaning in the law of Moses but the idea is they were to take an animal to the temple kill it and offer it on the Altar and we are being asked to do that in two ways first of all Jesus was the animal they were reminded that Jesus was killed on the altar so that we can be saved but they

were also supposed to be taking the animal inside them animal sacrifice was never about the animal it was about the animal inside us and they were being asked to take the animal inside us the natural man and to offer the natural man on the Altar and to kill it so the Savior says I still want that I just don't want you to use animals to do it so we need to be a little bit more overt in our understanding of what God is asking he is asking for me to break my heart now we break

our hearts like we break a horse Mike have you ever broken a horse you know I can barely ride a horse I'm so uncinated Bryce I it if steuart Curtis is listening to this that man changed my life because I grew up next to a horse table and I watched them break horses I watched the difference between a tame horse and a not so tame horse and I want everyone to picture a a wild horse now why would we why would we break a wild horse some people think that it's it's selfish it's cruelty to

the horse but I saw firsthand that horses live better and happier lives under the care of a loving master I think Peta might argue with you but go on Bryce I know there are cruel Masters I know there are I know there are cruel Masters but I watched my friend lovingly take care of these horses and I realized that he could take better care of them than they could take of themselves I watched him sh two horses and I realized that a horse's hoof is like my imagine a really big fingernail that grows and cracks

and splits and becomes painful and I watched him lovingly shoe these horses not for his sake but for the H's sake because they they are happier when their hooves are trimmed I watched him feed them and not just not just what they could get but what they needed and I came to the conclusion that a horse will live much better under the care of a loving master and all of a sudden I realized that's what a broken heart means what is it that we're breaking when we break a horse we don't break its will we

don't break its spirit I watched a lot of Spirited horses that were very tame and they they did they had a will and they had a spirit so what is it that we break when we break a horse I came to realize that what we break is this idea in the hores head that it's better off on its own that's what needs to be broken I once had a student in Arizona who was raised on a a ranch and she told a fascinating story that she lived up in the mountains of Arizona and one day

they had a broken horse in the Corral with a horse they wanted to break so a wild horse and a broken horse together and then there was a massive storm and both horses got out of the crowd and got wrapped up in barbed wire and can you guess what the Wild Horse did the Wild Horse pushed and pulled and struggled because what's in his head what's the Wild Horse thinking I have to get out of this I'm on my own but in pushing and pulling it cut itself so badly that horse ended up having to

be put down it could not be saved can you guess what the broken horse did as soon as it was wrapped up in w barbed wire it stood there it waited as if it knew in its head I cannot do this alone and it waited for someone to help and what heavenly father is asking us ever since we no longer take the animal in us to the temple and burn it on the altar he's asking that we break our hearts and that we break the silly idea in our heads that we're better off on our

own that I can do it on my own because we're not we will live happier lives under the care of a loving heavenly father and so the very first thing we do at the sacrament table every single Sunday as we watch a young man who represents Jesus pick up a piece of bread which represents Jesus and break it and now all of a sudden that bread represents my heart and I am supposed to break my heart and I'm supposed to break the silly idea in my head that I I am smarter than God and that

my way is better than his and that I know what's best for me instead of yielding to his Commandments as that bread is broken because Jesus was broken I commit to break myself my break my natural man I break my heart and I say Lord I can't do it on my own I need your help I need it every single day of my life and that's a broken heart and that is the offering that we are supposed to take that kind of reminds me of Truman G Madson where he said in the scriptural usage a

broken heart is malleable meltable a movable heart and a contrite spirit is an honest acknowledging spirit that says I am in fact dependent there is not self-deprecation here only honesty just like you said I need help and when that is acknowledged help comes I love that quote I think that that is why God is totally okay with putting us in really tough circumstances as I've studied Joseph Smith's life how many times does the Lord give him something to do that Joseph has no capability of performing on his own and so in a way it's God

saying that he trusts us to have this like the symbiotic relationship with him where we do what we can but we cry out to him and by offering our heart I really think Bryce this is another a Nuance of pistus or faith this idea this connection of reciprocity where you're doing something and God's doing something and it's this dance and it's symbolically ritually it's taking someone by the hand and he it's like Jesus reaching out to Peter and he says take my hand and Jesus pulls Peter out of the chaos of the water into an

embrace it's like Nephi building a boat where the Lord says build a boat and Nephi has never in his life built a boat there's no way he could have built a boat but I know how to build tools yeah and so Nephi's part of the dance is okay I'll start by making some tools but even that I don't know where to go where do I go to get the metal for tools cuz I don't have any metal and so there's that dance between I'll do all that I can but Lord I need you I need

your help and I love that we sing I need thee every hour oh I need thee and it's that recognition that I can't build this boat unless you help me Lord I can't raise these children unless you help me I can't get my ward back to the Celestial Kingdom unless you help me I can't teach these students that are sitting in front of me unless you help me yeah lord I can't even get myself back there unless you help me it's that breaking of the heart that brings as the Lord promised at the very end

of nine if you have a broken heart then you get the spirit I will baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost it's the breaking of our hearts that qualifies us for the help he wants to send now that you know you can't do it on your own I'm going to send help yeah I want to talk a little bit more about verse 19 in the ancient world when you went to the temple it would have smelled like a barbecue before Jesus dies there was always something cooking at the temple and the reason why

is because while the priest had to eat and you had to offer the offering and they're not just killing the animal they're cooking it they're eating it and the hides are valuable and the hides are given to the priests and so it's this massive production and before Jesus comes to them a year before it actually says about a year P but Mormon's going to construct the text so it almost looks like it was just 3 days but if you do a careful reading look in verse 5 of chapter 8 that it's the 30 and fourth

year of the first month on the fourth day but then if you go to 10:18 that it was the ending of the 30 and fourth year so at the New Year's celebration about a year later Jesus is going to come so a year before he's coming he says hey we're done no more shedding of blood and the reason why I'm bringing this up is because and it this is not in the text but I think this is happening I think what happens is the Lord's administrators have heard the voice the author Mormon tells us if

you look in verse one of chapter 9 it says it was heard among all the inhabitants so however that works they heard it so they've got to totally repackage The Temple at Bountiful it's got to be reconstructed and it's got to be rededicated and when you rededicate a temple you do it at the new year and You Usher in your officers and it's it's a big deal anciently and everybody comes to this and that's partly why they're there and so in chapter 11 it says they get there and it says that they had they were

marveling and wondering one with another and showing one to another the the great and marvelous change which had taken place now clearly there are some changes in the land but I think a big part of this is if your whole life you were used to this certain way of doing things at the temple and then God said hey we're doing it this way they probably had all kinds of questions like what does this mean and what are we doing and I think this was a big part of their culture now back to the sacrifices they

ate the animal they cooked it and they ate it and so in chapter nine and it doesn't say it in here but it says this stuff kind of stuff going on in Exodus in The Exodus narrative in chapter 24 the the culmination of meeting God it actually ended in a feast and so it says that Yahweh or Jehovah and Moses and Aaron and and naab and Abu and the 70 elders of Israel they they got together and they had this massive feast and this Feast is talked about in The Book of Revelation and it's it's

talked about in section 27 of the doctrine of covenants and this is what it means to have table communion and in the ancient world they would have this Temple drama and they would portray the creation and the battle with chaos and the death of Jehovah and his resurrection and it culminated in a feast and anciently the King because he was rich he would feed everybody he would provide the food now Joseph doesn't know any of this he's never been exposed to any of these studies of how they did Temple Worship in Samaria or in Israel

or in Egypt and they're all doing this all the cultures are doing this but if you do a careful reading of the third Nephi narrative it says that on the final Feast Jesus provided the food and Mormon makes a point to tell you this because Mormon knows this stuff it's the Ancient Temple drama it's like to a te the book of Mormon's putting this all in there now some say that maybe we've removed that right we go and get endowed there's no Feast but if you take your children and get an endowment what do you

always do afterward yeah and and think about church every week we are practicing the Feast at church and the Lord says come now we're not eating a goat or a bulll but ritually we're practicing the temple in church we're getting used to these ideas and so there's going to be a big shift but the principles and the doctrines behind the ritual are the same and so Jesus is going to try to lay this out and I sometimes think we don't realize what a big change this would have been for them because we're on the other

side of it we've had 2,000 years of Christian history but if you and I lived at this time we would probably have lots of questions and we would have maybe some concerns and Everything's changed and so Jesus is going to come and he's going to rededicate the temple and we're going to put Nephi in charge we're going to do all the things that they would do anciently at the New Year ceremony to initiate a new order and anciently everyone's talking about this there is is no order without law and there is no law and there

is no order without God and the origin of all of this is the temple so all this is happening in these chapters yep and that leads us to chapter 11 where the Savior comes and this is a literal and a symbolic moment so they've come out of the darkness they've come out they listened to the prophets they heeded the warnings they came out of zarahemla they went where they were told they've made covenants they've broken their hearts and now this is is the reward this is the Embrace this is being with Jesus and so beforehand

they hear a voice but they don't hear a voice and I think this is very symbolic here verse two while they were conversing about this Jesus Christ of whom the S had been given concerning his death it came to pass that while they were conversing they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven and they CED their eyes round about for they understood not the voice which they heard now tell me that's not symbolic of all of us sometimes that he's crying out to us he's trying to speak to us and we're not

hearing we're not understanding how many times does the Lord reach out to us now the problem is it's not a harsh voice neither was it a loud voice nevertheless and not withstanding it being a small voice it did Pierce them that did hear it to the very center in that no part of them or their frame it it it didn't cause them to Quake so notice what they do verse four they hear it again and they don't understand it verse 5 they hear the voice again and they did open their ears now how do you

open your ear your ears are already opened but I think the symbolism is you have to focus you you have to choose to hear God he can talk to you but until you open your ears and choose to hear him you're going to miss the message and so they choose to hear him and now they recognize the voice it's the voice of the father behold my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased in whom I have glorified my name hear ye him verse 8 they see a man descending down now we're with Christ This

Is The Pinnacle this is the moment and his first words are behold I am Jesus Christ whom the prophets testified shall come into the world and I love what he says first I am the light and the light life of the world I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the father hath given me in other words the atonement is complete I did what I was asked to do and your salvation is now possible I drank the cup is what he said so the multitude falls down I think we all would and then the

Lord says the following verse 14 arise and come forth that you may thrust your hands into my side that you may feel the prince of the nails in my hands and in my feet that you may know that I am the god of Israel the god of the whole earth and have been slain for the sins of the world now notice those verbs in verse 15 it came to pass that the multitude went forth and thrust their hands into his side and did fill the nail marks of the prince of the nails in his hands

and in his feet and this they did do going forth now we're going to come back to this phrase but I'd like to do the other verbs first so they come forth one by one till they all all gone now notice the verbs at the end of verse 15 this is the symbolic invitation that Jesus is making to every one of us today not a 100 years from now not 50 years from now not whenever the second coming occurs here's the invitation see with your eyes come and see see the restoration see his Prophet see

him feel know of assurity and then go be re look at the verbs at the end of verse 15 see feel know and bear record now I love to turn those around because Jesus sees us and Jesus feels our pain and Jesus knows what's going on in our life and then I love in verse 17 that he prays unto the father for the children he Bears record of us of our hearts our attitude and therefore we now need to see him you've got to see Jesus you've got to feel him and know so that you

can bear record you bear record to your children you bear record to your classes you bear record to the world I have seen I have felt I know and those verbs I think are the very essence of what he invites us to do and Jesus sees feels and knows and he Bears record he Bears record to the father of all we do in his name now going back to the previous phrase what I love is one verse of the Book of Mormon reveals such an insight into the character of Christ that middle phrase in verse

15 this they did do going forth one by one until they all Jesus is a one by one until they all all kind of God we always film Jesus walking down the steps and people just Reach Out And Touch his hands that is not what happened it was a one by one and I think this is a foreshadowing of what's coming whether it's symbolic or literal every one of you will have a one by one meeting with Jesus I get my moment with him I get to be with him and embrace him and this is

the culmination of everything I did in my life to get there and everything he did in his life to get me there and it's a oneon-one and I will get to feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and I will know and I I always think of what Bruce AR makoni said when he said in the coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and then he said but I shall not know any better then than I know now now that he is God's Almighty

son I think about that a lot I want to know no more in my one-on-one moment with Jesus when I finally have that oneon-one and I feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet I want to know no more no better than than I know today that he is Christ he is a one by one until they all and if you want to see that pattern you go to chapter 17 what does he do with the children one by one until they all you want to see it again you go to chapter

28 with the disciples he takes them all one by one until they all makes me think of the temple in the temple if you have that experience where you take a name and you take a one yep and you're like okay I'm taking this person through and how many times you hear their name yeah he doesn't save the whole group he doesn't pull the whole group through he pulls them through one by one and you have that brief moment with him in an Embrace and then he pulls you into his presence you know I every

time I feel the Holy Ghost testify of who he is it's kind of a sacred one-on-one and I like to think that maybe it's a an angel from the other side that just kind of comes and says Mike I know you've heard I know you felt but here it is again and I you can never never tell me that enough I could never feel the Holy Ghost enough this is great scripture and I love that they come one by one notice what they say in verse 17 hosana is a fancy way of saying God save

us and anciently they would sing Psalm number 60 in the temple to kind of foreshadow this experience Psalm 60 reads oh God you've cast us off you've scattered us you've been displeased turn thyself to us again you've made the Earth to tremble you've broken it heal the breaches thereof for it shaketh thou has showed thy people hard things thou has made us to drink the wine of astonishment thou has given a banner to them that fear thee that it may be displayed because of the truth that thy beloved may be delivered save with thy right

hand and hear me Psalm 61- 5 in other words take your right hand and save us the right hand of power and so verse 177 is right in line with Psalm 60 they cry out save us they fall down at his feet and they worship him and he's manifest as The King The King Of Heaven and Earth the god of nature as first Nei 1912 says he has suffered but he is Victorious now anciently when they did this when the New Year came and they rededicated the temple they would do essentially five things they would

cite their Divine calling they would issue new law laws they would ordain officers erect monuments and enter into a new legal order this is what they did in the temple anciently and four of these five things anciently are right here in third Nephi we're going to have a new order we're going to ordain an officer Nephi is going to be the head Apostle we're going to issue new laws Jesus is going to explain hey this law of Moses which I'm so grateful of the Book of Mormon and its Simplicity there's 613 laws of Moses that

are canonized in the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon doesn't read that way personally I don't think all 613 are necessarily inspired it's kind of a complex mess it's a lot of stuff but Jesus basically says the gospel is going to be pretty simple and he's even going to Define it do they erect a new monument no but they rededicate this Temple and Jesus is going to tell them of their Divine calling and they're going to enter into a new order and so Bryce sometimes this can be complicated for people and they read this

and they say why would Jesus be giving Nephi the priesthood power why would he do this in verse 21 I give unto you power that you should baptize because clearly Nephi has baptized he has raised the dead so why do you think verse 21's there I think the Lord does the same thing in our day he says look baptism isn't just for coming into the church that's one reason we get baptized but baptism is a do over baptism is a renewal baptism is a let's take the Covenant again and so every time there's a change

the Lord says okay let's sign the New Deal we've added a few Provisions to the contract we've changed a few things could we all resign the deal and make sure we're all on board now in our day the signing of the deal is the sacrament but we do the same thing the Lord constantly says let's renew that same Covenant and want to make sure you're still on board you've grown you're older now you're more mature now do you still agree to the terms are we still on the same page and so we resign the deal

every single time we take the sacrament well anciently even in the early days of the church they would baptize as a sign of a renewal uh Brigham Young kind of felt like when they got to Salt Lake that they had kind of fallen into apostasy so he called for the entire church to be re-baptized as a sign of renewal and recommitment and so Jesus is doing the same thing with the changes that have occurred in the temple with Nephi with the law of Moses being ended he says I want all of you to be re-baptized

so this isn't a here Nephi you didn't have the priesthood before so here it is oh and no one's been baptized so let's go baptize them that's not the situation at all Nephi who holds the priesthood who has the Keys of the Kingdom has just been appointed as the key holder has the new prophet and as a are we all on board can we all go back and be baptized ized and there's some great quotes we'll put in the show notes from some of the Brethren particularly Joseph feeling Smith saying all this stuff that of

course Nephi held the priesthood but this is just being acknowledged again publicly and anciently this was not a big deal this is just kind of how it worked out today I think maybe a modern equivalent in the church would be the sustaining of officers we all publicly acknowledge be before God and each other that we acknowledge president Nelson as the president of the church as the duly authorized administrator the the representative of God which is why we call the first conference when we sustain a prophet for the very first time a solemn assembly and we

handle it a little bit differently there's been a change at the top and we are all put under Covenant to sustain the new Prophet it's the same idea yeah so he says a few times this is how you're going to baptize I'm not going to read those but he does emphasize this that there shall be no disputations there seems to be something with their culture around them causing them some contention about baptism and it's not going to end here later in the Book of Mormon there is these letters between Mormon and Moroni clearly there's something

going on culturally that they're struggling with I find this fascinating because at the same time in Christianity in the old world they're struggling with some of the same kinds of questions regarding baptism that we'll look at later in future podcasts but just know that Jesus is laying down the Simplicity of the of the ordinance and says don't have disputations but then notice what he says in verse 27 he says I say unto you that the father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are one and I am in the father and the father and me

and the father and I are one this is really the first time the father Son and Holy Ghost are mentioned in the same verse um that there was a heavenly father to God Yahweh or Jehovah did not figure in the main religious thought of a lot of these people in the old world or in the new until the presence of Jesus on Earth required shedding some light on these relation ships from this point on it's going to change The Presence of Jehovah Messiah on Earth with a father who announced his son from the heavens forcibly

returned God the Father the most high God lelion as he's referred to in the Hebrew to the Forefront of the religious consciousness of these people and required that their theology clarify his place therefore from this point on the Book of Mormon is going to identify the relationships of these three the simple Association of the Messiah as the one God is replaced by a godhead with an important fatherson relationship and distinction this same shift occurred for the apostles in the old world and for the same reason the presence of the Messiah on Earth with a simultaneous

presence of a deity up in the heavens proclaiming who he is required some kind of a conceptual repackaging or restructuring and so later on throughout the Book of Mormon they're going to draw out these distinctions we even read it later in this chapter where we read about the father and the Son and the Holy Ghost being one and I'm totally understanding of our fellow Christians who sometimes don't see things the way we do because scripture can be tricky and it's not always the same and in the Book of Mormon pretty much Jesus has called the

father and the son if you read mosiah 15 and some of the other things and that's kind of how he's portrayed he's he is the father of certain things he's not the father of our Spirits right but he is the father of certain things like our Salvation like our rebirth like Earth he created this Earth so he is the father of certain things but heavenly father is the father of our Spirits let's be very clear yeah and so yeah you find those terms used kind of interchangeably with regard to Jesus sometimes it's even right there

in 36 right later in the chapter it says thus the father will bear record of me and the Holy Ghost will bear record of him of the father unto him of the father and me and the father and I and the Holy Ghost are one so Jesus is really drawing out these distinctions and I'm totally okay with people that maybe disagree with us I understand it can be tricky but to to me just to clarify yes we have a heavenly father he's the father of Jesus but Jesus is the god of the Old Testament and

frankly the Holy Ghost really isn't expressly demarcated in the Old Testament it's kind of tricky and there are some different terms there but Jesus is defining and he's defining terms and so in the future chapters he's going to talk more about his identity his father the role of the Holy Ghost and you're going to hear this phrase a lot it kind of comes up at the end of chapter 11 where he says hey this is my Doctrine and let me explain what my Doctrine is and let me point out that every time he does that

he's pointing out the Oneness of the three of them he always says we are one we are one which means we are one in mind one in thought one in purpose one in desire the father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are one I find it very significant it should not be surprising that the very first real teaching he gives is that there be no contention he comes down he teaches them to baptize and then he says the father and I are one and he rebukes the contention that is among them and so I

just think we all need to understand that Jesus cannot be is not the source of contention he says in verse 29 he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me but is of the devil who is the father of contention and so if we live in a contentious Society if we live in a contentious home that is not of God that is not of Jesus Jesus does not contend and he doesn't stir up the hearts of men to contend with anger one with another so practical rubber hits the road advice Bryce what do

you say to somebody who's like we're swimming in this world of contention and notice he's about to do that cuz the next three chapters will teach just because they do it to you doesn't mean you have to do it to them they may be contentious to us but we cannot return contention for contention we cannot deal with contentious people by being contentious so we're back to don't be a second Striker we're back to don't being a second Striker if you live in a contentious environment we have to find a way to overcome the contenti we

have to find a way to overcome Division and I just think that's significant that the very first thing he comes down now we're going to get a whole bunch of chapters on teachings but after all the ordinances after he establishes Nephi and he gets the baptism going and he's really starting to teach he chooses that topic to begin with that seems to send a message to all of us in our homes in social media we cannot be contentious because contention is not of the father they are one I want to talk a little bit about

The Silence if you look at chapter 10 so before Jesus comes to the Nephites we read in verse two for so great was the astonishment of the people that they did cease lamenting and Howling for the loss of their Kindred which had been slain therefore there was silence in all the land for the space of many hours I want to just bring your minds to se section 88 of the doctrine covenants and in section 88 of the doctrine covenants we read about the second coming of Jesus and so the Book of Mormon is a type

third Nephi 10 and 11 would be parallel to the second coming of Jesus and so in the 88th section of the doctrine Covenant the Lord says this immediately this is verse 93 immediately there shall appear a great sign in heaven and all people shall see it together skip down to verse 95 there shall be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour and immediately after shall the curtain of Heaven be unfolded as a scroll is unfolded after it is rolled up and the face of the Lord shall be unveiled and then it goes

on the saints that are upon the Earth who are alive shall be quickened and caught up to meet him now our dear Christian friends not of our exact Faith call this the Rapture and that comes out of second Thessalonians but and so if somebody asks you do you believe in the Rapture what they're asking you is do you believe that the saints that are upon the earth when Jesus comes again will be caught up and quickened and caught up to meet him and we would say well well certainly verse 97 they who have slept in

their grave shall come forth for their grave shall be opened and they shall be caught up to meet him in the midst of the pillar of Heaven sometimes we get caught up into questions about well what does half an hour mean what does it mean to be silent for half an hour and I think maybe what we're talking about is the silence that comes before before the king walks in think of when the president of the church walks into a room and you're in the room we stand and we're silent and we do it out

of respect for the office and the individual particularly for God habac 2:20 but the Lord is in his holy Temple let all the Earth keep silence before him and literally it has that phrase It's translated out but literally it says before the face of him it uses panim before the face why well if you're before the face of God you're about to see him he's in his holy Temple as habac 2:20 says and so the idea of Silence has not only the connotation of awe and reverence but also a worshipful meaning as one scholar noted

the proper attitude of the highest Heavenly beings in the face of the divine presence is a silent worship of God and they're uttering the prescribed formula of blessing and so anciently there was this notion that in the temple many portions of it of the the festal drama were silent there was a letter that was written by a Jew in the 2 Century before Jesus and his name was artius and he talks about this where he says that there was a lot of Silence associated with the temple specifically when the high priest who represented God walked

before them and it was to the point where the only thing that really they heard were the bells attached to his robe and he says that it gave out a particular sound of a musical tone because of the Silence of the worshippers in the Liturgy and I find that fascinating those bells that would kind of jingle as the high priest walked was a way to draw their mind to they coming into the presence of God they're in Sacred Space and so if you read that in chapter 10 vers one this idea of Silence I really

like that and then it leads to this very puzzling verse for years I remember reading this going what do chickens have to do with this look at verse 5 Jesus says how often would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chicken under her wings yay ye people of the House of Israel who have fallen yay oh ye people of the House of Israel ye that dwell at Jerusalem as ye that have fallen yay how often would I have gathered you as a hand gather her chickens and you would not and then he goes

on and he talks about wings and chickens this is also reminiscent of the Psalms in the Psalms they would use many of these as part of the temple liturgy and so in the 91st Psalm this is what we read he that dwells in the secret place or the holy of holies of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty I will say of the Lord he is my refuge and my Fortress my God in whom I trust surely he will deliver thee From The Snare of the Fowler and from the noisome pestilence

he shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings Thou shalt trust and then it goes on but essentially the image that we have is the image of being brought under the shadow of his wings under his feathers and you have to think about the cherubim with their wings with their feathers this would represent a covering and coming into that covering you're coming into the holy of holies you're coming into the presence of God from the perspective of the author of Psalm 91 this is from LR Baker he says on the seventh day of

the festival drama the king would sit on the throne of God in the temple the throne was overshadowed by the great golden wings of the cherubim thus to be invited to come under the savior's Wings was the same thing as being invited to sit on his throne as his son and Heir as spoken of in Psalm 2 this was the invitation the Savior referred to as he spoke in the darkness and that is the invitation he would issue again when he came to his Temple and I would extend this to all of us this is

his invitation to us that we be invited into his presence and then L Gran Baker goes on where he says is that Mormon is carefully constructing his narrative so it's almost like you miss that a year passes Mormon writes in such a way that we just kind of see three days of darkness and then Jesus comes but it was a year but the point that L Grand Baker is making is that Mormon is using this to point our minds to the Temple and so he says Mormon again picked up the pattern of the temple drama

during the 3 days when the King was in the confines of death the drama turned its focus from the King King to the Psalms that told of the savior's Life Death atonement and Resurrection so what does Mormon do Mormon maintained that exact sequence of thought by quoting the Prophecies of Zenus zenic and Jacob with reference to the coming of Christ that's 3i 102 through 17 their testimonies provided a kind of conjunction that allowed Mormon's narrative to move from the events that began on the 4th day of the 34th year to the ending of the 30

and4th year so that's 3 Nephi 8 5 35 10 and 18 without any break in the continuity of his thought even though a year passes he could now pick up the sequence of the festival in the same place where he had left it and I agree with l Grant Baker there's a very deliberate pattern and he's showing us Sacred Space he's showing us the sequence of events and it's a specific pattern there's a new Temple there's a New Jerusalem there's a new king and so that's all there and it would it would have been very

clear to these ancients that Liv there also there are these prerequisites to see the Savior and I really do believe that these people these 200 people there in third Nephi 11 have met that criteria and it's really designated in section 93 of the doctrine of covenants forsake your sins call in his name obey his voice and keep his Commandments it's also in ether 127 about this idea of having faith in God or being pure in heart in Matthew 5'8 section 84 talks about in verse 20-22 receive leaving the ordinances qualifies us to be finished to

be complete and to be qualified to seeing the Savior at the very end after he gives power to baptize and after he talks about his Doctrine and becoming a little child he says this verse 40 of chapter 11 who so shall declare more or less than this and establish it for my Doctrine the same cometh of evil and is not built upon my rock but he buildeth Upon A Sandy foundation and the Gates of Hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them this is reminiscent of Matthew 16

but it reads differently in Matthew 16 Jesus speaks with his disciples and he asks them who he is and we all know the verse right where they say you know some people say you're John the Baptist some say you're Elias or Jeremiah or one of the prophets that's Matthew 16:14 and then Jesus's question but who do you say that I am and Peter says Thou Art the Christ the son of the Living God and then Peter says blessed art thou Simon bar Jonah for Flesh and Blood have not reveal it unto thee but my Father

which is in heaven you've received this by Revelation Verse 18 Thou Art Peter and Upon This Rock I will build my church and the Gates of Hell shall not Prevail against it and there's lots of ink spilled on what that means but go to verse 19 I give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever Thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever Thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loose in heaven if you take a good look look at Verse 18 and 19 he's giving Peter the healing

power but in verse 18 it reads different than the end of thir Nephi 11 in thir Nephi 11 there's this warning that the Gates of Hell will stand open to receive such that go off the path in verse 18 of Matthew 16 he says that the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against it now what is it is it the rock is it the church like I said there's a lot of ink spilled here but the point that I want to draw out is this idea that Jesus is actually proclaiming war on the forces of

Hades or the forces of of Hell in the New Testament context from my reading of the New Testament and some of this Enoch literature and some of this apocryphal extra biblical literature that's outside the Bible Jesus is essentially claiming his right to take possession of the earth against the forces of Darkness they're going to be called the Watchers in some of this literature he's declaring war against the forces of darkness and a good example that I like to just nerd out a little bit on the lord of the Rings there's this scene in Return of

the King where Aragorn and the guys from Min tith and the writers of Rohan they all basically come to the gates of Mordor and they shout let us in right and then the enemies the forces of Darkness come out and there's this exchange and basically the good guys Aragorn and his and his compatriots Gandalf and all these guys they fight at the gates of Mordor and defeat the forces of Darkness on their end and I think tolken is pack in Christianity in his books and I think what he's trying to say is those Gates of

Mordor cannot stop the light the light's going to go in and reclaim that space and I really see that that's what Jesus is doing he's saying I am going to bust down the Gates of Hell the gates of Hades I'm going to go and with my power with my atonement I'm going to go into the regions of death and hell and reclaim the prisoners this is reminiscent of the passage in Isaiah 61 where Jesus is going to free the prisoners and there's just so much good stuff in Isaiah 61 but I love it where it

says in verse one the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach the Good Tidings to the meek and he sent me to bind up the Brokenhearted and to Proclaim Liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound I think a big part of verse one is God's power Jesus's power to go in and to Proclaim Liberty to the captiv that are bound and what greater binding is there than death and so he's going to bust down the gates of hell and

go in and reclaim them and there's this marvelous apocryphal book called The Book of Nicodemus or the AXS of pilate and it's probably 3rd Century or maybe a fourth Century text it doesn't make the cut the early church fathers are like yeah this probably isn't old enough to be considered canonical but there's some cool stuff in here that as I read it I was thinking man this is the idea of the Gates of Hell there's this conversation that Satan has with hell itself and Jesus is about to die and so it says Satan The Prince

and chief of death said to Hell make thyself ready to receive Jesus he's kind of bragging that he he can defeat him and then later on it says but Satan the prince of Tartarus that's the Greek version of Hades he basically says I've sharpened a spear to thrust him through G and vinegar have I mingled to give him drink I've prepared a cross to crucify him and nails to pierce him and his death is not at hand and so he's kind of bragging and he's kind of saying I hold the keys of death and hell

he says who is this Jesus which by his own word without prayer has drawn dead men from me and as Satan the prince of Hell spoke suddenly there came a voice of thunder and a cry remove o princes your Gates and lift ye up ye Everlasting doors and the king of of Glory shall come in and then over and over again there's this mention of the gates of hell are being busted down and it even quotes Isaiah where it says Isaiah says all the saints said to hell open ye gates open the Lord strong and

mighty the Lord Mighty in battle he's the king of glory and the Lord looked down from heaven that he might hear the groanings of them that are in fets and deliver the children of them that have been slain and now oh thou most foul and stinking hell open thy gate that the king of glory may come in break the bonds that could not be loosed the forces of Darkness say who are you who are you over and over again who are you that thinks that you can set the prisoners free and Jesus cries and says

I am Jesus let me in and he does he breaks down the gates of hell and that's my testimony I know this isn't a canonized text the apocryphal book of Nicodemus but as I read it it really describes the notion of the gates of hell they're not going to Prevail they're not going to stay shut they're going to be broken and I really see that in section 138 the doctrine of covenants where the righteous go into this place and they preach the gospel of Good Tidings they preach to Proclaim Liberty to the captives to comfort

those that mourn to give them Beauty for Ashes the oil of joy for mourning and the Garment of Praise for the spirit of heaviness and so in closing I really like to think about Jesus as the embodiment of the victory over death and I've never seen a resurrected person but when I read about the resurrection when I read about Jesus when I read through Nephi 8 through 11 I feel the Holy Ghost and so that's my testimony is I haven't seen these things physically but spiritually I felt the presence of God the the Holiness associated

with scripture and it has helped me to try to be a better person a better father and it's really helped me to have hope and I really like the idea that in the darkest times when you read theri 10 in the darkest times there is the voice and they hear it thank you for joining us on this I love this chapter where Jesus comes into their lives and they get to feel they get to see and know and feel and so we bear record like we've been invited I have felt God I know him and

it is our prayer Mike and I it is our greatest desire that somehow in this podcast in these words you might be able to know and feel so that you can bear record and with that we'll see you thanks Bryce talking scripture is not an official production of the Church of Jesus Christ of latterday saints the opinions expressed in this podcast are Mike and Bryce's opinions only we refer you to official Church sources and the church sight to clarify any doctrinal questions