Come Follow Me - 3 Nephi 20-26: Children of the Covenant

[Music] hello my friends welcome back to unshaken we've got some amazing material this week uh as always but particularly this week because we get to learn from Jesus and we have been spending the last several weeks with him in his postmortal ministry Among the Nephites but today especially oh I hope that I hope you'll stick with me okay uh we've got thir neph 20 through 26 today and often I've asked my students this question when I when I lead into this particular part of the Book of Mormon I asked them to rank and this is

this can be uh this can be difficult but rank your favorite sermons in the Book of Mormon we have studied some doozies uh for some it's second eepi 9 Jacob's amazing sermon about the Plan of Salvation for some it is King Benjamin's address I can't blame them for that choice it's a masterpiece for some it's a bediz discourse among the priests of Noah which is incredible uh there's so many you you have Elma you have amulet you have Samu the lonite there there you could do an entire semester course just on the sermons in the

Book of Mormon and that would be time incredibly well spent but what's interesting is hardly anybody mentions on their own Christ's Min the discourse in Christ's Ministry Among the Nephites they they will often talk about thir Nephi 17 as a as a favorite chapter but that's when Jesus is doing things not necessarily teaching things it's not a sermon okay it's Miracle after miracle and so that doesn't count I'm talking about today's material chapter 20 through 26 is a long sermon from Jesus and it seldom makes anybody's list sometimes I have to bring it up and

then I'll say Okay include this in the rankings uh and what's interesting is we'll do a couple of rankings one I'll ask where would you rank these various discourses these sermons based on importance now that one you'll get some interesting controversy okay some some interesting conversation of like oh well I think this one's more important well but what about the context of this but once I mention Jesus's discourse it always Rises to the top for good reason if it comes from the Savior it must be the most important sermon in the Book of Mormon now

that and maybe they're including the sermon at the temple for that The Sermon on the Mount yes that one they know and they love but again I'm talking about today's material I want to talk about 3D Nei 20 through 26 where does that rank on this scale now again it's still got to be skyh high because it's coming from the Savior but then I'll say okay keep that list however you want to fill it out yourself but now I want you to do a different one this time rank all these sermons in terms of how

well you know them how well you understand them okay do that now often they put King Benjamin high they spend so much time studying that one uh or the second Nephi 2 uh lehi's discourse on agency is one that they feel like they often understand understand uh and then my favorite part of the whole ex exercise is this take the first list uh where you are kind of putting these sermons on a spectrum in order of importance and then compare it to the second list where you're putting them in order of your understanding and now

compare the places and decide which one has the greatest discrepancy okay the biggest distance between how well you should know it compared to how well you do know it and every single time we do that the one with the greatest Gap is this material from Jesus Christ because it comes from him they know they ought to know it but for whatever reason we don't I well whatever reason I would say that the main reason is it's so Old Testament it is so hebraic he quotes Jesus quotes from Isaiah that makes it hard enough but then

he brings in Micah a little hint of habac brings in two whole chapters of Malachi this is Christ's Old Testament lesson and if you're like most people the Old Testament is so hard as to be no inexplicable okay it's it's something that we just can't seem to wrap our heads around and yet Jesus goes straight there we haven't seen many Isaiah chapters for a long time Nephi hit them hard and often Jacob was assigned Isaiah chapters from Nephi but then we get to Mormon's main abridgment of things and you don't see a whole lot of

Isaiah abinadi squeezes in a chapter uh because the pr the priests of Noah were trying to trap him in in Isaiah's words but it's not until Jesus comes that you see this return to Old Testament prophecy prophecy that he has come to fulfill and in fact that he has called upon us to fulfill as well and so that is what we're going to see today in chapters 20- 26 I pray that its elevation on the scale of important sermons maintains its high place but I hope our understanding begins to catch up to it because it's

worth understanding now in a word if you could do take this entire week's material and condense it down to a single word that word would be gathering Jesus has come to gather Israel lehi's family was a was a cutof branch scattered across the ocean to a new Promised Land but that promise of gathering is something that Jesus it's it's why he came the atonement allows for a spiritual Gathering back to God uh and the restoration of his gospel will allow for a physical Gathering back to the lands of promise this is what he's come to

do and so if you remember what we talked about oh two weeks ago that after the sermon at the temple is done Jesus goes all in on the doctrine of the G Gathering the promise that God is not going to leave people in their scattered State he talks about the other sheep unites he talks about the other other sheep the Lost tribes he quot he begins quoting Isaiah 52 where people are seeing eye to eye they're singing and rejoicing because God is gathering Zion once again and then the people are overwhelmed by it all the

smoke is coming out of their ears so he pauses things in chapter 17 and then does a pre-enactment of the Gathering by having them gather the sick and Afflicted to him and he heals them gather the children to him and he heals them you see him then teaching about the sacrament a time of gathering together as Saints and Gathering to God he talks about church meetings he talks about prayer it's amazing what he does on that first day and then when he leaves what do the people spend all night doing Gathering everyone that wasn't there

for day one so that they can be there for day two I mean hesty once you have the eyes to see it you will see gathering in almost every sermon as well as Every Act of Jesus in third Nei and and we need to have that crystal clear because what we're going to see now in third nei2 is Jesus begin to teach it teach the Gathering as a fulfillment of all these Old Testament prophecies okay uh we should have seen this coming if we knew our Old Testament well chapter 20 by the way is also

where he picks back up where he left off at the end of chapter 16 that great Prophecy from Isaiah 52 okay we're going to get there about halfway through but let's start at the beginning of 3i 20 uh Jesus is among the people and he he asks them to stop praying remember how chapter 19 ended that this beautiful threefold or three rounds of sacred prayer what Gethsemane could have and should have been well chapter 20 begins with Jesus coming and asking the multitude to stop praying but well but don't cease praying in your heart okay

there's some things I need your ears and I need your eyes but your heart still give it to God okay still raised those prayers and among other things he provides the sacrament for them yet again I love the fact that so often in third Nei what is repeated most frequently besides teaching the Gathering is praying and partaking of the sacrament God wants to connect with us he wants us to pray to him he wants to commune with us to commune with him through the communion through the sacrament and so that's what Jesus does over and

over and over this time though it's different because nobody brought bread or wine but Jesus provided it look at this miracle this is chapter 20: 6 and 7 now therefore there had been no bread neither wine brought by the disciples neither by the multitude but he Jesus truly gave unto them bread to eat and also wine to drink I love this miracle because it's it's like multiplying the Loaves and the fishes without any loaves or fishes just kind of we talk about making things from scratch this is making things from scratch and Jesus miraculously provides

the sacrament for them and yet I remember that it Dawn Dawning on me once that in some ways that's no different than what happens for us every single week Jesus always offers the sacrament to us miraculously if you've ever been one of those moments where the teachers Corum forgot to bring the bread and everybody's scrambling and somebody has to run home and you end up having recently thaw out frozen bread for the sacrament uh microwave style uh it's at least somebody brought it but honestly the sacrament is not about what we bring it's about what

the Lord miraculously provides bread living bread to eat living water to drink every Sacrament is a miraculous experience once we have the eyes to see well after they partake of the sacrament together Jesus gets down to his sermon look at this in chapter 20: 10-13 behold now I finish the Commandment which the father hath commanded me concerning this people who are a remnant of the House of Israel remember every time he mentions Remnant there's sh yashu Remnant shall return Isaiah's son Remnant is always used in context of scattering because there's just going to be a

little Remnant left when everybody's scattered but then a gathering back to that righteous Remnant they're going to play a role in that Gathering so the Lord is here saying I got to get back to to that that topic okay I want to finish the Commandment which the father had given me okay can we get back to my main subject that I left back in chapter 16 ye remember that I spake unto you and said that when the words of Isaiah should be fulfilled embrace yourself okay here comes Isaiah behold they are written ye have them

before you therefore search them so he's trying to get us grounded in the gospel as Isaiah preached it as he prophesied of it this is a reminder of where he left off back back in chapter 16 okay remember those words you got them right in front of you search them and then he continues and verily verily I say unto you that when they shall be fulfilled then is the fulfilling of the Covenant which the father hath made unto his people oh House of Israel and then shall the remnants there's that word again which shall be

scattered abroad upon the face of the Earth be gathered in from the East and from the west and from the south and from the north and they shall be brought to the knowledge of the Lord their God who hath redeemed them almost every time in the Book of Mormon one one of the things I love about the Book of Mormon when it teaches the Gathering of Israel it always brings together the physical and the spiritual that we are going to gather back to the lands of our inheritance there's the geographic the literal but also a

spiritual Gathering back to God in fact the Book of Mormon even clarifies that it's the spiritual that precedes the literal that we have to come to know God and come back to him we have to become a promised people before we get to go back to a promised place okay it's attitude before address okay it's lifestyle before location we have to become Zion before we can go build Zion and so let's gather people to God that's what the Book of Mormons for I hope that we've felt some of that that Gathering that that that tractor

beam that that pull back to the Embrace of a loving God because of our study in scripture this this year that's what it's for and throughout the rest of chapter 20 Jesus is going to emphasize everything he just brought up in those last few verses uh I'm not going to go verse by verse in this one you should okay it's amazing but notice for example the phrase House of Israel appears in verse 10 and 12 and 16 and 21 and 25 and 27 is that enough to remind us of who we are the word covenant

brace yourself shows up in 12 19 22 25 26 27 twice in 29 and twice in 46 this is a promise God intends to keep he has covenanted not just to bring us back to some Earthly inheritance but back to a Heavenly Home the word remnant appears in 10 and 13 and 16 the word scatter in 13 1527 the word gather in 13 18 29 you getting a sense of what chapter 20 of third Nephi is all about and then the best of all is this focus on bringing people back to a knowledge of Jesus

Christ that appears in verse 13 and 22 and 23 and 30 and 31 and 39 honestly to me the greatest contribution of the Book of Mormon to a conversation about the Gathering of Israel is its Christian Focus it's it's bring in the New Testament to understand the old that how will scattered Israel be gathered back it's through their Messiah go figure that's what the Messiah will come to do but that Messiah is Jesus Christ The Book of Mormon that that's one great contribution to Center the Gathering in Jesus the other great contribution it makes is

the role of the Restoration in that Gathering again the you'd be amazed at how much the Old Testament emphasizes the Gathering of Israel because they're the ones going through the scattering okay especially in the days of Isaiah When the Northern kingdoms are being scattered he's the prophet of during the scattering so no wonder he becomes the prophet of the promised Gathering but what the Book of Mormon does in such more clarity and and detail than the Old Testament or even New Testament can is emphasizing the place of Jesus Christ in all of this and like

I said the role of the restoration okay with that in mind notice what he says in verses 15 through 17 you see the Gentiles have to be a part of this okay those European conquistadores and colonizers they're coming they're connecting old world to new they're bringing Bible with them and they will be instrumental in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon as well so what role do the Gentiles play an essential one and yet here's the challenge verse 15 I say unto you that if the Gentiles do not repent we got some some shaping

up to do if we don't repent after the blessing which they shall receive after they have scattered my people that's that's one one of the things that unfortunately the Europeans are going to do among the Israelites both old world and new after they've scattered the people if they don't repent then shall ye who are a remnant of the House of Jacob go forth among them and ye shall be in the midst of them who shall be many and ye shall be among them as a lion among the beasts of the forest as a Young Lion

among the flocks of sheep who if he goeth through both treadeth down and teth in pieces and none can deliver thy hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries and all thine enemies shall be cut off now that sounds brutally violent when you read it at face value it sounds almost church militant you get almost this sense of Gentiles versus Jews when it's supposed to be Gentiles picking up scattered Israel on their and putting them on their shoulders and carrying them home in their bosom remember those beautiful prophecies from Isaiah it's the Gentile kings and

queens which will be the nursing fathers and mothers of scattered Israel but not according to that passage that Jesus just quoted and yes he was quoting something that's essential usually he quotes Isaiah here he's quoting Micah and the the the verses there are Micah 5: 8-9 and yes it seems like some kind of violent uh clash between Gentiles and Jews but remember these are unrepentant Gentiles these are Gentiles that had the Bible but didn't let the Bible go through them enough to change them so instead of coming to Israel with Israel's own gift they come

as a curse to Israel instead of as a blessing they come and they scatter Israel remember I I've mentioned this before when the Assyrians come and Scatter Israel that was meant to be a rod in the hand of God to wake up Israel to repentance but because Assyria didn't repent of their pride and their boastfulness you got the AXS that's boasting against the Huer you get the rod boasting itself against the one who's holding it well no wonder Assyria is going to be destroyed as well well in now fast forward and if the Gentile Nations

that end up scattering Israel for the good of Israel in a way end up being only for the bad of Israel and it's and these Gentiles are causing problem doing more harm than good we could say uh thinking that this is all about them and this is our Manifest Destiny and this is our our nation and on our promised land and we can do anything we want with it we can cast out the indigenous populations we can mow them down and and this is my land not your land oh Gentiles beware of that there is

a last shall be first and first shall be last kind of reciprocity that will need to take place and the Gentiles you were supposed to be changed by the Jewish book that you inherited you were supposed to repent of your sins and see Israel as your benefactors and therefore as the beneficiaries of the book that you have been keeping for them or have we been keeping it from them this these are the shades of second Epi 29 there I mean there's just there's a lot Runing through my head right now it it's just amazing to

bring all this Old Testament History New Testament with the Apostle Paul and Gentiles coming in and and Jew Jew Gentile problems throughout the letters of Paul and the the book of Acts there's some challenges here we see all these kinds of problems in American history uh and not just United States history but the history of the Western Hemisphere this is world history that Jesus is walking us through with the help of people prophets like Isaiah and Micah but notice what he says next because if we dig into the symbolism here instead of being oh well

the Gentiles just caused problems to the house of Israel so the house of problems the house of Israel is going to cause problems back to the into to the Gentiles there'll be like a lion roaring among them young lion devouring the prey so oh look out you Gentiles the Jews are going to come back and get you the house of Israel is going to turn the table and you'll be the one on the ground now again before we jump into that kind of militaristic and violent interpretation look for the symbolic level in all of this

and for this we need to keep reading what Jesus teaches and then go back to what is quoting from The Book of Micah okay you with me on this verses 18 and 19 first he says I will gather my people together as a man gathereth his sheaves into the floor now he's trying to be as clear as he can despite using metaphors I'm gathering my people we we clear on that back in chapter 10 he kept talking about Gathering like here's his simile like a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings but ye would not

here it's a different simile I'm going to gather my my people as a man gathereth his sheets into the floor so instead of Barnyard we're now looking at Farmer's field instead of the clucking hen trying to save her chicks we're now looking at a farmer harvesting his grain okay speaking of bread of life right he's Gathering his sheep in some ways this is the parable of the of the wheat and tears and we're trying to gather out the wheat so we can store it in the garden ER so it can be preserved okay in a

in a similar way this is the allegory of the Olive Tree that Jacob quotes from Zenus that you have all these olive trees and how do I get good fruit from them how am I going to gather out the good well here we're Gathering sheaves into the floor and it makes me wonder what kind of floor are we talking about well hold on to that thought and then keep reading Jesus says for I will make my people with whom the father hath covenanted so My People Israel yay I will make thy Horn Iron I will

make thy Hooves brass and thou shalt beat in pieces many people and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth behold I am he who doeth it now again that sounds brutal it sounds violent it sounds militaristic you're going to beat people into pieces you with your iron horns and your brass hooves now be careful here before you go to that interpretation it comes back to this idea of the context what is he saying about Gathering sheaves and what floor are we putting them on now

I mentioned this is not Jesus speaking this is Jesus quoting and he's quoting Micah again for this one it's Micah 4:12 and 13 listen to it and see if it rings a bell based on what we just read from 3520 Micah says He Shall Gather them as the sheaves into the floor sound familiar then this phrase that's that that Jesus didn't quote arise and thresh oh Daughter of Zion and then back to what Jesus did quote for I will make thine Horn Iron and I will make thy Hooves brass and thou shalt beat in pieces

many people and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth sound familiar now I've often heard it said that when Jesus quotes old the Old Testament or in fact when any new testament Prophet quotes the Old Testament pay attention not only to what they say but anything they might skip because perhaps they're skipping it banking on the fact or on banking on the hope that we'll fill in the blank do we know our Old Testament well enough that when he skips something we're like why didn't

you say that oh I'm glad you asked I wanted you to say that I wanted you to just be jolted like wait wait this is the part oh that's the part I need to provide that's the role I need to play okay now let's bring all this together okay this is one of my favorite parts of third kni to really wrestle with yeah when I see when when when I watch my students the eyes open and they start to starts to Dawn on them why Jesus is quoting Micah here it's so cool okay and it

goes back to this idea of the floor forget the hen Gathering chickens I'm now farmer Gathering my sheaves into the floor now if you're a city slicker like me then this is completely over our heads and it's lost on us but this analogy is so profound because here's what happens in an ancient farmers's field okay they're growing their grain right now we're at the wheat the parable of the wheat and the tears because unfortunately among the wheat there is going to be there's going to be some tears that are growing so I'm going to need

to gather out the the good grain then all that's left out there are the bad tears and I can burn the field and prepare it for next year's planting okay but I'm gathering out the the the wheat and bringing it to a floor namely a threshing floor because guess what we have done one round of refinement but we're not done yet all we have now are sheaves these big stocks of wheat okay kind of have these stems you have the husk you have the colel you have all this stuff but you've gathered them in you

put them on the threshing floor and what do you do at a threshing floor you guessed it you thresh you thresh the wheat and what does that do typically what threshing is for is to try to separate we've already separated wheat from tears that was out in the field but on the threshing floor we're trying to separate kernel from chaff the kernel is that part that we're going to ground down to grind down into flour and actually be able to bake some bread with the chaff is the husk the chaff is the the the stock

the chaff is everything else that you don't want to eat if you have one of those in your loaf of bread okay somebody didn't didn't thresh well enough or didn't winnow well enough now those two come together and again for all you non-farmers out there let's walk let's walk through this we've gathered out the wheat the the we've gathered in sheaves we lay it out across the threshing floor a threshing floor is usually a it's often on on a Hilltop they they prefer having high elevation here I'll tell you why in a second it's usually

a a large Stone floor uh maybe there's very little top soil and it's been able to be scraped off or it's or blown away and you have kind of packed either packed Earth or best case scenario some some kind of top layer of stone okay we need something hard and here's why I'm going to spread out my my my gathered sheaves all over it and then I'm going to trample it down in fact I might need need some help from my animals sometimes they would even hook like a sledge or sled of some sort behind

beasts of Burden picture oxen mules so forth and then the driver will stand on this Sledge and then run all over the harvested wheat what you're trying to do is kind of pound it down so that it starts to separate it's you're going to have to beat the wheat pretty hard to separate seate the colel from the chaff you with me are we starting to see what he means by beat in pieces many people I'm not destroying them this isn't a military metaphor it's a farming one and I'm looking at you as if you're a

piece of wheat thankfully you're not a tear okay I gathered you out brought you to the threshing floor but now it's time for what other Maxwell called Redemptive turbulence you kind of have to get roughed up a little bit stirred up unto repentance because I've only passed my first round of refinement now it's time for my second round no more wheat from tears now it's kernel from chaff and it takes some of that beading for it to take place okay by the way would it help if the oxen that's pulling the Sledge or the ox

that is trampling down the wheat would it help if his Hooves were brass I mean we talk about shoing a horse so that it can Gallop faster it can it can handle rough pavement uh it it's not wearing down its natural feet okay and imagine if it were built if if those shoes were made of brass bronze this is a stronger material so I'm trying to strengthen those very beasts of Burden that are doing so much work to help refine things to help separate things now if that's the threshing okay then the ne the second

step or the next step is winnowing there's a thing called a winnowing fork and what you end up doing picture like a a big rake and with a winnowing fork you'll take this pile of Wheat and chaff that's all mixed in together okay it's been it's been threshed so now it's kind of beaten to a pull almost but then you take the wiing fork and you throw it up in the air in hopes that the wind will be blowing and the wind will blow away the chaff the chaff doesn't weigh much the kernel is where

the weightier things are that's the part I want to hold on to there's some density there and these other things that can be blown about by every wind of Doctrine these other things that are just swept up by the power of the prince of the air then that gets blown away right no Foundation no connection to Solid Ground they're not founded built upon on the Rock they are blown away like the great and spacious building and what falls back down to earth what falls back down to the threshing floor the kernels that you will then

grind down into precious flour okay that's why in a best case scenario the threshing floor is on a Hilltop because up higher elevations the wind blows more strongly and so that way when you throw up these things with your winwing fork the wind actually blows it away as it's designed to it's actually interesting because what what do you do if there's no wind and every time I throw things up with my wi Fork it all just files falls back into the same pile that it started well people have figured that one out too and so

they would hold these giant fans in their hands and they would try to create some artificial wind to blow the chaff away when John the Baptist says that the axe is laid at the root of the tree it's like destruction is imminent judgment is nigh the the Axeman all all he has to do is pick it up and start to swing if the tree is Barren and not bringing forth fruit he then shifts the metaphor and says his fan is in his hand same thing what we're talking about here he's bringing us back to this

metaphor that if you have the fan in the hand I'm ready to blow I don't have to wait on the Wind I'm ready to separate wheat from chaff I'm ready to do this secondary round of refinement if you'll just let it happen so come win it I will blow it away you with me so far okay I hope I pray this is making sense because what's amazing to me about all of this is now let's take the metaphor and find out what that symbol is really pointing toward what kind of fan excuse me what kind

of floor are we wrestling with for the for this one Old Testament has an incredible story about King David he makes a mistake and he he counts he has a census because he wants to know how many how many people can he count on for his army sadly he's trying to measure his biceps to see if it's worth trusting in the arm of Flesh that's never a good thing okay and David should know better he didn't have much Flesh on his arm when when he beat Goliath right well God says to him well that was

a no no my son uh and so you're going to have to face the consequences but I'll let you pick your poison I'll let you pick your punishment do you want three days of of plague do you want three year uh three months of War would you rather have three years of famine take your pick and uh none of the above is that an option no it wasn't so David decides well I'd rather fall into God's hand than an enemies perhaps God will be merciful so let's go with the three days of pestilence and plague

well that's exactly what he got what he gets and the destroying Angel is going through the camps of Israel until at a certain point in fact at a certain place the plague is stayed the punishment is stopped Mercy prevails and where was that place it happened to be a threshing floor ah a place of judgment a place of refinement fitting and this threshing floor owned by a man named ornan a jebusite became a sacred place for David because that's the place where punishment end that's a place where Mercy begins to push back against Justice in

fact King David was so enamored with this location he bought it ornan originally was like hey you're the king you want my threshing for you going to just have it and King David is like oh no no no this is going to be a gift from God and I don't want it to be just a gift from you I want to make a sacrifice this is going to be a place of sacrifice as well as safety okay a place of giving giving to God not just receiving from his hand this is a place I intend

to build a temple to our God now as you know the Old Testament David was not permitted to build the temple but his son Solomon was and guess where Solomon built the temple of Solomon you right you you got it right there on the threshing floor a strong Foundation built upon the rock on a high place the mountain of the Lord now are you starting to see what Jesus is getting at this is a temple text in fact the the fact that it's in in Micah chapter 4 is so cool because Micah 4 is almost

identical in many verses to Isaiah chapter 2 and Isaiah 2 is famous for this all nations flowing up to the mountain of the Lord Micah makes the exact same prophecy okay so this whole chapter is Temple focused and so what better location than for for a temple than the threshing floor the temple is a place where we get additional rounds of refinement even to get in the doors of that Holy place I had to separate wheat from tears in my life but now that I'm in God's holy house he continues to work on me to

separate wheat excuse me to separate colonel from chaff again there's some some righteous redemption or some Redemptive turbulence going on there there's some difficulties and challenges and trials which the Lord believes that we can handle we become closer and closer to the kind of bread of life he's trying to make us into okay by the way the wind in the winnowing there's another great detail here wind in Hebrew is the same word as breath it's like God blowing air it's the wind blowing but it's the same word as spirit and so to think of the

temple as a place where the spirit blows where God breathes into us or to say that in another way where he inspires us okay Inspire means to breathe into it's the blowing wind his fan is in his hand the temple is a place of judgment but it's a place where Mercy intercedes in place of Justice it's a place where punishments come to an end it's a place where Heaven and Earth meet on that high Holy Hill come up to the mountain of the Lord come out of the fields of the world and come up because

also where are we going to take this grain when it's all purified we're going to put it into the Garner and that's another beautiful metaphor for the temple as well honestly Jesus quoting Micah here is absolutely ingenious and to understand the role that he wants us to play in all of this of being out in the fields to gather the good grain to do our work at the threshing floor to continue these refinements of us and of others to keep God's wind blowing to think of missionary work out in the field Temple work here on

the threshing floor it all comes together in This Magnificent metaphor for Micah and Jesus is quoting it in such a perfect place when you think about again those iron horn EXC those brass hooves to help with all of the work the iron horns will help as well next time you go to the threshing floor aka the temple when you go and look at the baptistry that location that is closest to bedrock okay built upon that threshing floor here is this baptismal font on the backs of 12 oxen beasts of burden and what's the burden that

they bear the responsibility to bring the blessings of salvation and exaltation to all of God's children to go out and gather the sheaves in to gather the chicks into the wing to gather scattered Israel back into the Covenant that God made with their ancestors that's our responsibility that's the burden we bear and what do all of those oxen have they all have horns as they're ready to break the Huddle and go out in all directions in the book of Deuteronomy particularly the tribe of Ephraim is described as an ox with sharp horns that are used

to herd the rest of the family home uh Cattlemen herdsmen in our day could use a cattle prod well what if it's a lead Ox trying to get the rest of the herd into a certain direction their own horns are the cattle prod and imagine if those horns were never dled by time instead they were iron and so to think of us as those beasts of burden to think of us as God's chosen servants with sharpened horns and strengthened Hooves to go out and gather all of Israel home man it makes me want to want

to resign for a mission makes me want to go do a temple session as soon as we're done studying it makes me want to gather Israel on both sides of the veil which is exactly what our Prophet president Nelson Has been pleading with us to do for decades he's made it more clear since his prophetic Ministry began but nobody quoted the abrahamic Covenant more than he throughout his time as an apostle nobody talked more about turning hearts of fathers and children and focusing on the temple and and family history work and all of that Gathering

that has been the mission of Russell M Nelson from the beginning the only Prophet I can think of who talked about Gathering more than he was Joseph Smith okay this is an incredible time period we get to live in and again what's the phrase that he skipped from Micah hoping that we would feel wait wait wait you you skipped something ah yes arise and thresh oh Daughter of Zion that's the part we're so that's the blink we're supposed to fill in that's the role we're supposed to fulfill so get up dust yourself off Shake yourself

from the from the dust of the earth put on your beautiful garments now I'm quoting Isaiah and go thresh listen to this verse from drine covenants 35:13 wherefore I call upon the weak things of the world those who are unlearned and despised to thresh the Nations by the power of my spirit that's what missionary works all about beat the bushes thresh the Nations I know you don't have enough strength on your AR but it's my breath my holy wind my inspiration the spirit will help you you who are serving in temples and family history centers

you are out threshing the Nations you are you beating the bushes as far as old records are concerned you are finding your Kindred dead and to think of all of us despite the fact that we are unlearned and despised the fact that despite our own weakness God will make us strong enough to thresh the Nations by the power of His spirit I love it it's one of my favorite missionary verbs of all time thresh so Daughters of Zion sons of Israel arise and thresh that's the work we have before us it's exhilarating now right there

notice what Jesus is going to do next verse 22 of 3520 behold this people will I establish in this land okay we're going to we're going to have two promised lands land here okay don't freak out Lehi that I that I cut you cut off the branch and Scattered you across the sea I got promised lands everywhere because I got promised people everywhere okay so this people this land unto the fulfilling of the Covenant which I made with your father Jacob and it shall be a New Jerusalem we'll have an old one in the old

world a new one in the new world these Jerusalem on opposite sides of the planet to which All Nations can flow he says the pro the powers of Heaven shall be in the midst of this people yay even I will be in the midst of you that is the promise of Zion with the Lord himself reigning among us this is the 10th Article of Faith which unfortunately seems to be the the Forgotten one what do we believe based on the 10th Article of Faith in the literal Gathering of Israel in the restoration of the 10

tribes we believe in in a literal coming of Jesus Christ and a literal establishment a New Jerusalem on the American continent that Christ will reign personally upon the Earth this is Zion this is parad deyal Glory this is New Jerusalem Gathering and we get to be a part of it this amazing now to accomplish this we need to keep two things in mind okay one of them is who Jesus is and the other is who we are this is a matter of identity Divine identity on both parts so notice this verse 23 Jesus says behold

I am he of whom Moses spake saying a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me Jesus will be a MOS a Moses in terms of being a messiah he will be a deliverer one who comes down from his lofty courts as Prince of Egypt and realize this he's made of the same stuff as mere slaves he will empathize with those slaves he will defend them he will free them from bondage and bring them back to a land of promise Jesus as the Moses of scattered Israel is

such a beautiful metaphor and if that's who he is who are we verse 25 behold ye are the children of the prophets ye are of the House of Israel ye are of the Covenant which the father hath made with your fathers saying unto Abraham and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed did you catch this who Jesus is and who who we are he's the Moses who are we we're the children of the of the prophets we're the children of the Covenant we're the people God has chosen as the Fulfillment

of the abrahamic Covenant this is amazing what did Moses say that you are meant to be a peculiar people a kingdom of priests a holy nation you're supposed to be chosen because you're choosing God and what's he choosing you to do go choose everybody else we've talked about this before as far as a contrary is concerned in thee and in thy seed is very exclusivist shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed that's radically inclusive IST so this is exclusion in pursuit of inclusion exclusivity that has to find fulfillment in inclusivity bring everyone back

into the Covenant God is not playing favorites he is no respector of persons but he does have an organized Kingdom whereby he chooses people to go out and choose everyone else and that's not just what we do that's who we are I think that was Elder bednar's second talk as an apostle long long ago saying that why why do we serve missions because we are missionaries by Birthright why do we do that because we are that we are the posate we we're the posterity of Abraham Isaac and Jacob we are the house of Israel meant

to go as as oxen with our sharpened horns go gather the rest of the family home that's our job that's the burden we bear on our backs okay so arise and thresh oh Daughter of Zion roll up your sleeves and get at it let's go gather Israel on both sides of the veil to me there's something so beautifully profound about sensing this Divine identity president Nelson Has focused on that as well we live in a day of identity politics and trying to be authentic to our our truest identity but we all have so many identities

to choose from are we going to boil down our entire existence to a political identity or to a an economic Identity or a social identity or a sexual identity all of those are important president Nelson has said but the key identities the ones that matter most are the fact that we are children of God that we are children of the Covenant God made with all of his children and that we are true Disciples of Jesus Christ if we understand that those roles those identities I call it the family business I joke with my brothers like

in our family we're all teachers and even my brothers and sisters with their various professions at heart they're all teachers too and to understand that our family business based on our truest deepest identities is to make sure everyone comes home to a loving father in Heaven Heavenly parents that promised not to leave us in our scattered state but that we they would do everything in their power to bring us home well now it's our turn to do everything in our power to help God keep his promise yeah are you with me are we with him

that's what Jesus is getting at in all of this and then he says this in verse 30 and 32 okay near the end of this chapter it shall come to pass that the time cometh and this time is going to be really important we're going to talk about timing for for a bit here it the time cometh when the fullness of my gospel shall be preached unto them and they shall believe in me that I am Jesus Christ the son of God and shall pray unto the father in my name then shall their Watchmen lift

up their voice and with the voice together shall they sing for they shall see eye to eye and then he goes on quoting Isaiah 52 8-10 the same exact Passage he quoted at the end of chapter 16 before his Interruption and illustration before his pre-enactment of what the Gathering of Israel would look like and feel like when we take it personally it's come full circle now he was going down this path just trying to teach that passage from Isaiah this is how we get there this is how God brings forth Zion and establishes it on

the earth we go out and we thresh okay and then he goes on This Magnificent tangent and teaches all these beautiful things now he's come right back to where he started Isaiah 52 it's so beautiful by the way he keeps quoting other passages from Isaiah 52 here it's really cool uh about putting on beautiful garments okay arising as as as Jerusalem he talks about not only beautiful garments but beautiful feet upon the mountains we there are so many amazing onliners from Isaiah 52 uh and Jesus starts to bring them all together in This Magnificent pass

passage he stops just shy just shy of coding Isaiah 53 which is the suffering servant which is the key atonement passage for Jesus and I am amazed at his humility of focusing inste on what we will do and our beautiful feet and stops just short of quoting the chapter about his beautiful pierced feet and hands that's humility in an infinite degree stopping at 52 and not continuing to quote 53 what he does next though is interesting okay I want you to see this at the very end of this chapter verse 46 Jesus says then shall

this Covenant which the father have hath covenanted with his people be fulfilled and then shall Jerusalem be inhabited again with my people and it shall be the land of their inheritance okay that there it is then this and then this and then Isaiah's words can be fulfilled and everybody breaks forth into song okay now the then the then the then what when is the then at that time or the time cometh what's that time I'm Blown Away by what Jesus does here because all of this talk in chapter 20 is to set the stage this

is the Gathering of Israel this is what it's all about arising thresh get it to the threshing floor gather to the Garners let's get this job done okay then Isaiah will finally be able to say that's what I was talking about the whole time well when when is the then and the main message of 3521 is to answer that question I can do this briefly in fact most of most of the rest of this week's material I'm going to just fly over from 30,000 feet okay let you savor it I I really wanted a Savor

of chapter 20 together but I want you to see what chapter 21's all about because it's really really key in chapter 21 Jesus is going to give them the sign when the then has finally begun okay at that time the father's going to do his work or the time cometh that all these dominoes are going to start to fall and it's like okay I'm chomping at the bit when's When's the go okay it's almost like in a choir when you have to come back in after there's been a pause in the singing and you have

to know the right note it's like okay at this measure the piano or the accompaniment or the orchestra plays this and boom that's when we hit the next note okay that's when the choir comes joining back in and chapter 21 of third Nephi is the Lord trying to shape up the the the the choir to get us ready to sing Zion As we sing as we see ey to I and establish Zion together well when's the when do we go when do we start now for this one you got to go slow okay I'm going

to go fast but you got to go slow start in verse 1 and 2 of 3521 and Jesus says verily I say unto you I give unto you a sign that ye may know the time when these things shall be about to take place okay what things well that I Shall Gather in from their long dispersion my people oh House of Israel and shall establish again among them my Zion behold this is the thing which I will give unto you for a sign now ready drum roll please okay what's the sign now here's where it

gets really confusing and I know Jesus is the perfect teacher so he must have a reason for not being as crystal clear as he could be okay because right there in the middle of verse two is this long Dash he says okay and here's the sign here's what I'm going to give you as this first note that you're you need to hit with me Dash and then jump ahead to verse seven and that's when you see the end the end of that Dash okay in verse 7 in the middle there's a dash and it says

it whatever I just talked about in the last five verses it shall be assigned unto them that they may know that the work of the father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the Covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the House of Israel you got it so verse one and two I'm going to give you a sign I know you're wondering about when this is all going to take place and when the Gathering really gets going well I'll give you a sign so you know and then five verses of kind

of confusing text ends with and there was the sign and you're like I think I missed the sign in the midst of all that it's like so verse two let me give you the sign verse seven I just gave you the sign the sign must be somewhere in between now feel free to pause the the lesson right right here and read those verses yourself and see if you can figure it out it's it's not as easy as it might seem you know it's somewhere in that passage and in fact Jesus mentions it like four different

times and yet it's still hard to figure it out because every time he mentions it Jesus will go on a little tangent to teach some other really cool truths along the way and then he'll get back to it and then say something else about it and then talk about and then say it again it's a little bit tough so I'm going to get rid of all of the tangents and just give you the sign are you ready verse two when these things which I declare unto you you dot dot dot shall be made known unto

the Gentiles or verse three when these things shall be made known or verse five when these Works shall come forth from the Gentiles unto your seed or verse seven when these things come to pass that thy seed shall begin to know these things now that's why it's a little bit confusing because he doesn't he doesn't make it Crystal Clear he just keeps talking about these things he uses that phrase these things like four different times along with these Works which is the same thing so what on Earth are these things that he's talking about these

things that somehow are going to be the sign that the the Gathering is underway well you're holding them in your hands they're right here in front of you these things it's the Book of Mormon when these things which I'm declaring that Nephi is writing down that Mormon's going to a bridge when these things come forth oh it's go time when these things are made known to the Gentiles and then from the Gentiles back to the house of Israel oh it's go time when these works that we are working so hard on come and appear and

are brought forth as a voice speaking from the dust what's the voice saying it's go time please gather scattered Israel back home to put it as clearly as I can the main message of 3521 on the heels of this incredible Old Testament lesson from 33520 is that when the Book of Mormon comes forth that is the sign that God is giving us that he is beginning his work in Earnest I mean God has always been at work and from the re the Reformation the Renaissance and the Reformation from Old Testament establishing that Covenant and New

Testament expanding it all of human history has been God at work with his children but to begin that work in Earnest to begin a oh a crescendo in Christ to give us the green light that we are all supposed to come rushing in to assist him the book of Mormon will be that sign and we have it so it's go time okay no wonder Joseph Smith talked about the Gathering so much because he had the book that was the signal and the sign in fact the Book of Mormon is the It's The Sign of the

Gathering it's the source of so much of the doctrine of the Gathering it's the target to which we are gathering people so that they can come to know Christ and Christ can bring them back to their lands of inheritance The Book of Mormon is the tool this is the Enix Vision The Book of Mormon is among the tools that God will use to sweep to flood the Earth and then to sweep them in to a gathered state to help them make covenants with Christ promises with the father it again my friends it's go time if

you have the Book of Mormon that is evidence that God is going full speed ahead it's amazing look at verse N9 for in that day the day that the book comes forth for my sake shall the father work a work which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them there shall be among them those who will not believe it although a man shall declare it unto them I love that last line it's going to be too good to be true I mean I'll declare it I'll say it we'll have witnesses bearing testimony of

it I we'll have whole come follow me courses on it there'll be YouTube channels and and podcasts left and right we're going to be talking about the Book of Mormon all all the time and yet it's going to seem too good to be true for so many they're going to just look in disbelief it's so amazing it's hard to believe and yet believe it because this is God keeping his word by giving us his words in scripture I love this book I love what it tells me to do I love what it helps me to

become I love who it points me to toward and that's vertical towards Christ and horizontal toward my neighbor as I'm trying to gather them back to him and I'm using this book to do it in fact I love the phrase that he used there where he said it will be a marvelous work and it will be done by the father for my sake that's amazing for my sake Jesus spent his whole mortal Ministry doing things for the father's sake and in some ways God's restoration is a chance for him to return the favor it's as

if the dispensation of the meridian of times was the son doing things for the father's sake and the dispensation of the fullness of times is the father doing things for the son's sake bringing forth a book so that people could come to understand the atonement in a way they could fully rely upon it making Christ's atonement of full effect that's what the restoration is meant to accomplish it's mind-blowing and then verse 10 behold the life of my servant shall be in my hand therefore they shall not hurt him although he shall be marred because of

them yet I will heal him for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil now when it speaks of my servant in the context of a great and marvelous work of restoration I can't help but think of Joseph Smith and especially as one who studies anti-mormonism academically oh Joseph Smith his reputation at least has been marred it's well Maron I said it would be this way Joseph sorry to break it to you you're I know you're only a 17-year-old and you still care a lot about what people

think about you you're going to have to get over that because your name will be had for good and evil among all nations and boy has that one been fulfilled Joseph's reputation even among members of the church has been marred by people that are trying to dig up dirt from a decontextualized past and turn Joseph Smith into something he was not I'm so grateful for this promise that though he may be marred God himself will heal him that's a beautiful promise for those of us that still hold true to our testimonies of the prophit of

the restoration well like I said the father's work has begun it's go time it's restoration Full Speed Ahead it is the work of Christ in Grand cresendo and so notice this verse 24 and then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in 25 and then shall the power of Heaven come down among them 26 and then shall shall the work of the father commence verse 28 yay and then shall the work commence you catch up and then and then and then and then it's building momentum even the way Jesus is describing things

you can't help but just rush forward this this chapter 21 has so many then and that comes on the heel of the heels of chapter 20 that has like a dozen then in that chapter as well if you were to just look for all the then and then read them quick succession though each then is a domino falling each then is like and then and then and then and then and we're building momentum the whole way through it's and and what I love about it it's like oh and then the father's going to start his

work you're like wait wait I thought you said when the I thought you said the father's been working the whole time well he has been but he's really going to get started when the Book of Mormon comes forth oh and then once it does and then people start to understand and believe and come to know Christ and then go out and gather Israel and rise from the dust and be men and shine forth and and thresh the do you know oh ye Daughters of Zion boom boom boom then the father's work's really going to begin

you're like what wait I thought it already began okay it just keeps getting better and bigger and stronger and faster and and more great and marvelous than it's ever been can you sense from president Nelson no wonder he he wants to break a century barrier no wonder he wants to live to be over a hundred he wants to see all the dominoes fall no wonder he talks about an ongoing restoration that we get to be a part of I love what Elder Maxwell once said all the easy things have already been done from here on

out it's nothing but high adventure did you catch that I love that that that Zeal that that desire I love the urgency that I sensed from Elder Maxwell in that statement the urgency I sense every time president Nelson stands to to speak if you think the father has done great and marvelous things to this point and he has oh You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet the restoration will go on okay well one more then and this is in chapter 22 verse one and then shall that which is written come to pass and then Jesus quotes all

of Isaiah chapter 54 whole thing all these things leading up to the Fulfillment of Isaiah 52 and then and then and then and then and then and then oh Isaiah 54 whoa that'll blow you away too again what did Jesus just do he skipped Isaiah 53 a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief bearing our trials with his stripes we are healed one of the greatest atonement prophecies anywhere in scripture and he who who fulfilled it in recent memory doesn't even mention it astounding humility on Jesus's part let's get back to your part I already

did mine I'll keep doing mine but what's your part and what's the father's part fulfilling his promises well here's Isaiah 54 for you I'm not going to go through Isaiah 54 with you together uh I did that when we stud I did I did a lot of it four years ago if you want to watch that video I did it what two years ago uh in our Old Testament year uh Isaiah 54 is an absolute Masterpiece uh a couple phrases worth savoring sing O baren thou that it's not bear he's comparing scattered Israel to a

woman who cannot have children my wife and I feared that when we first got married and it seemed to be coming true and we couldn't have children of Our Own And yet when the miracle finally came for us oh sing O Baron oh we sang We praised we thanked and we still do and that's what the Gathering of Israel is going to feel like people that have felt cut off and forgotten and forsaken people who felt like Barren mothers will have more children than they know what to do with they become the one the old

woman who lived in the shoe and had so many children she didn't know what to do okay that's Isaiah 54 that great passage about enlarging the place of your tent and lengthening the cords and strengthening the stakes why because we need more room look at all these gathered Israelites around us look at all of God's children trying to come home to him we're going to need a bigger Tabernacle we're going to need a bigger Conference Center we're going to need Stakes all across the Earth that are strong enough to Bear the weight of the tent

of Zion okay this is the same place where the Lord keeps saying it may have felt like I abandoned you for a moment but with Everlasting kindness will I gather thee with great mercies again you may have felt forsaken for a time it was actually you turning away from me not me turning away from you but now that you've heeded my call to come oh I can wrap you up in the arms of safety I can scoop you up in my bosom I can lay you on my shoulders and bring you back to God personally

Isaiah 54 is such a beautiful chapter full of magnificent promises that Christ has come to fulfill and that you and I must go forth to help fulfill as well one of my favorites by the way I will share this one this is verse 13 and all thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the Peace of thy children especially for you parents whose hearts are heavy because of children who are choosing things that will not bring them peace hold to that promise the scattering of Israel may feel really personal within your

own family please trust the promised Gathering the day will come where your children will be taught of the Lord I wonder if that means about the Lord or by the Lord the day will come where he is more personally involved in bringing those children back to you and to him that's what the Gathering is all about great shall be their peace and our peace as a result well the rest of this week's material Jesus continues to teach scripture and in chapter 23 and 24 and 25 it's interesting because Jesus keeps confirming scripture that was written

to confirm Jesus there there's this reciprocal relationship between God and His prophets right whether by the my own no voice my own voice or the voice of my servants it is the same so I always back up the prophets because the back the prophets are always backing up me so Jesus is going to confirm these prophets these scriptures the first one he's going to do is Isaiah who he just quoted an entire chapter of so chapter 23 ver one yay a commandment I give you that you search these things diligently for Great Are the words

of Isaiah that's High Praise coming from the highest one of all what adjective does Jesus use when he thinks about Isaiah great what verb does he use when he talks about Isaiah search and what adverb does he use when he talks about searching Isaiah's great words diligently okay hold on to all those parts of speech and spend some serious time in Isaiah if you do you'll come to know Christ as The Gatherer of God's children he goes on and he confirms another book of scripture one we've read more recently namely the writings of Samuel the

lonite in an interesting moment Jesus asks Nephi bring me your records can you imagine how much pressure youd feel if Jesus said hey can I see your scriptures and you're like H here they are and he starts thumbing through your personal set and you're like man you don't Mark very much this doesn't look very used are you sure this is yours uh or maybe he says well you mark a lot but why didn't you you didn't like that that's one of my favorite things I ever said it could be awkward if Jesus were to look

at our records okay it was awkward for Nephi because as Jesus is looking through it he says wait a minute my servant Samuel the lonite didn't he prophesy about the resurrection not just mine but that others would rise once the first fruits Rose from the grave and Nephi is like oh yeah yeah he he he he did prophesy that and it was fulfilled it's like duh I know the question is why didn't anybody write it down oh oh sorry face palm and Nephi makes sure it's in the record Mormon made sure it stayed in the

record also okay so Jesus confirms the words of Isaiah that confirmed him he confirms the words of Samu the lonite that confirmed part of his Mi Mission and Ministry and then for the next two chapters in 24 and 25 he confirms the words of Malachi that were given to confirm the role of the Messiah and the messenger that was meant to prepare his face I won't go through those ones either but you can study them from four years ago or from our Old Testament year Malachi 3 we sometimes just assume oh yeah that's the one

about robbing God it's just about tithing and offerings oh it's more than that way more than that that's an important part but the real context of Malachi chapter 3 is that God will send a messenger before his face a messenger of the Covenant that Christ will come suddenly to his Temple the threshing floor and we need to be purified to the point that we can offer him an offering in righteousness the doctrine of covenants by the way makes clear what that offering will be gathered Israel everyone present and accounted for okay we've done the work

to bring everyone home and then chapter four of Malachi again I love that it's like Jesus is like you know what Lehi left a little early he needed to go that's the time of the scattering but he left before Malachi could write and man you guys need some Malachi so here's chapter three here's chapter 4 and what's chapter four about the whole purpose of the earth is to create a forest of family trees there's Gathering Israel there's bringing everyone back to the root himself of God it's about turning hearts of children to fathers and hearts

of fathers to children it's about Elijah coming to prepare the way with his sealing power how's that for restoration work it's all right there and Jesus quotes it and not only does he quote it he explains it if chapter 22 two was Isaiah 23 was commending Isaiah bringing in some Samuel the lonite 24 was ma Malachi 25 was Malachi what's 26 about look at verse one it came to pass that when Jesus had told these things he expounded them all unto the multitude he did expound all things unto them both great and small that's good

that's a good example to follow don't just quote scripture don't just read scripture to people expound it explain it help them see the beauty of it help them make sense of it Jesus made sure there was understanding not just study okay we could do the same in some ways he's giving them the same experience he gave the disciples on the road to Emmas when he teaches them all kinds of Old Testament scripture in as much as it bore witness of him you see that in verse nine when they had received this and what was this

oh he just explained some salvation history some well all he just covered everything from creation to final judgment he he covers not just salvation history but also salvation theology namely The Plan of Salvation complete with Justice and mercy and Holiness he Mormon explains hey he taught so much I can only include the 100th part so take what we have in this magnificent sermon multiply it by a hundred and that's what Jesus is teaching and then he says in verse 9 when they shall have received this all the all that I've been teaching you which is

expedient that they should have first so yep sorry I know that you're going to complain that Mormon is only giving you 1% okay that's okay when you've got the 1% that Mormon vouch safes with you please know that you've got to have this first to try your faith that's an interesting phrase Jesus teaches them so teaches them so much more than he teaches us but what we do have this little morsel this smaller lesser portion is meant to try our faith and see if we're satisfied with it or if we actually want more he says

to try their faith and if it shall so be that they shall believe these things then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them talk about salivating over the free sample if this is how good the 100th part is you better believe I want the rest where can I buy this thing where can I unseal the sealed portion oh well you might need to read the unsealed portion first search it diligently great are these words and then you will have proven to God that you have faith in the smaller portion he'll be ready to

give you the greater portion in fact he gives them a bit of that greater portion right then as he wraps up chapter 26 in verse 14 Jesus Jesus has been coming and going for a while he's been with him for three days he keeps coming back often after that usually to partake of the sacrament again to commune with us but then verse 14 it came to pass that he did teach and Minister unto the children of the multitude of whom hath been spoken and he did loose their tongues and they did speak unto their fathers

great and marvelous things even greater than he had revealed unto the people he loose their tongues that they could utter I mention Christ's great humility in skipping over Isaiah 53 well here's another example of his astonishing humility that he let little children show him up as a teacher of the multitude oh for him it was all about empowering people it was all about letting Apostles and disciples do even greater miracles than he did it was all about allowing Paul to do all the theologizing when Jesus could have blown us all away with his incredible wisdom

instead oh I'll just tell some stories I'll teach some Basics I'll personify truth I'll let somebody else theologize I'll open the mouths of these little children and they will blow you away with the truths of the Kingdom that they've come to know I hope that in our study together that happens for all of you as a teacher I I love opening my mouth and and uttering but I think the great gift that a teacher can do is to empower his or her students so that they're finding truth so that they're exploring detail T and and

coming to an understanding that is direct between them and God without any middle man or middle woman in between in fact as I now give you my list of onliners from these seven chapters for this week oh I hope that that provides some amazing Food For Thought for you to utter even greater things than anything I've said over the last hour or so here's your list not cease to pray in their heart he truly gave unto them bread to eat the fulfilling of the Covenant gathered in brought to the knowledge of the Lord Gathering his

sheaves into the floor I am he who doeth it a New Jerusalem I will be in the midst of you ye are the children of the prophets ye are the children of the Covenant in mine own due time put on thy beautiful garments o Jerusalem my people shall know my name the work of the father hath already commenced a great and a marvelous work the life of my servant shall be in my hand my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil gathered home sing O baren lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy Stakes with

Everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee great shall be the Peace of thy children no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper the heritage of the Servants of the Lord great are the words of Isaiah search the prophets was it not so how be it that ye have not written this thing expounded all the scriptures in one the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his Temple the messenger of the Covenant whom ye Delight in who may abide the day of his coming offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness return unto

me and I will return unto you prove me now here with with healing in his wings turn the heart of the fathers to the children the mercy and the justice and the Holiness which is in Christ to try their faith he loosed their tongues that they could utter I guess that's all that's left for us is that to pray for a loosened tongue so we can utter utter truth and testimony to our children to our friends to our neighbors to our family members to anyone who feels scattered in any way oh arise daughters and sons

of Zion arise and thresh president Nelson and his predecessors have filled many a threshing floor with a house of God to which we are called to gather so may we gather more frequently and more faithfully and may we and may we gather with less loneliness in other words may We Gather other people to come gather to God alongside us [Music] thanks so much for listening to unshaken a proud member of the faith matters podcast Network you can learn more about faith matters and check out our other shows at Faith matters.org