3 Nephi 8–11 | September 23–29 | Scripture Study Insights | A Come Follow Me Resource

hello there my name is Tyler Griffin and this is scripture study insights by scripture Central today third Nephi chapters 8 through 11 this particular chapter is uh or set of chapters especially when you get to chapter 11 is sometimes referred to as as a symbolic holy of holies in the in the Book of Mormon because we have been looking forward to his coming to the manifestation of Jesus Christ in the flesh the resurrected Lord coming to these people for 42 25 Pages up to this point and now we finally get the veil to be parted

and the Son of God to descend and begin his his ministry Among the Nephites and lamanites so it's important to note that we're treading on very sacred ground here in these chapters and the lifelong learning overlay that I wanted to kind of use as an approach to these these four chapters is taken from a statement by President russem Nelson when he said this I plead with you now to take charge of your own testimony of Jesus Christ and his gospel work for it nurture it so that it will grow feed it truth don't pollute it

with false philosophies of unbelieving men and women as you make the continual strengthening of your testimony of Jesus Christ your highest priority watch for miracles to happen in your life and the reality is is life your testimony could be diagrammed in a variety of ways they're there are ups and downs along the path of life there are high points of Revelation and low points of of frustration and discouragement maybe even depression at times where you feel like you you're struggling to believe but you'll notice in this particular depiction there's a general upward Trend in our

scripture block today you you will find that the people have really been struggling in their belief in and willingness to follow the lord based on what we covered last week in 3D Nephi 1-7 especially in chapters 6 and 7 leading up to the destruction we're going to see in verse or in chapter 8 and so what the lord always seems to be doing is finding people wherever they are x marks the spot this is where you currently happen to be now we're using them as an example and he gives opportunities and invites them to go

to the next level in their belief in their conversion in their testimony of him and if they respond accordingly then they are given more opportunities and sometimes we stay on a spiritual Plateau for a long time and sometimes were're able to rapidly progress from level to level in our belief in our testimony ultimately leading to our conversion our our consecration of our life to him so in these chapters starting in chapter 8 through 11 today we are going to go on this journey of testimony Discovery with these people by proxy and as we watch them

go through this process hopefully by the time we're finished you and I will conclude our study of these chapters both in an episode form like this but mostly in your own individual efforts to seek Heaven's inspiration and Aid as you personally or as a family go through these chapters on your own that the Lord will take you to an a higher and higher level of your faith in him and your testimony will be strengthened as you take charge of building that testimony and you feed it truth and you don't pollute it because just like this

path is going upward because of agency you and I have the option to also go the other direction and lose our testimony and give up on our faith so as we jump in it starts with giving you the Tim stamp of the 30 and third year being passed away and then in the 30 and fourth year in the first month on the fourth day of the month which gives us a little bit of a fun crossover between the neite calendar system and the old world calendar system which then helps us Orient on our current Gregorian

calendars that we flip over a new year on January 1st the Nephites have this great storm Arise at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ so if you use Matthew Mark and Luke's timing we know that the savior is crucified the day after those Passover Lambs were killed in the temple if you use John's timing in the Bible then the savior is crucified on calvary's hill on the same day that those Lambs are being killed so he's he's crucified on Passover Passover occur occurs on the first full moon after the Spring Equinox Equinox being sometime around March

20th 21st every year so depending on the lunar cycle it would be somewhere late March early April so it kind of gives us a sense of of the nephite uh timing here this is sometime in the the spring right around just after spring equinox on the fourth day of their first month there arose a great storm such in one as had never been known in all the land thus it begins at the crucifixion of the Savior Samuel lonite prophesied that all of these things would happen and you now read in verse 6 through 16 about

all of the terrible destructions the the cataclysmic uh upheavals that take place in the Americas and and if we're not careful we might look at this and think wow this is cruel this is over the toop in reality what is happening in the physical world is simply a physical manifestation an an object lesson if you will for Spiritual consequences they have these people have made significant choices having gone through the Pride cycle multiple times spiraling further and further downward in their testimony to the point where you you look closely at the the things that are

happening in verse 6-6 and if you were to Mark each of those events consider them as what I said a a physical manifestation of a spiritual consequence so it's a it's an object lesson in a in a big physical way of what can happen on an individual basis for us today if we choose to not follow the lord if we choose wickedness rather than righteousness so verse 17 says this thus the face of the whole earth became deformed because of the tempests and the thunderings and the Lightnings and the quaking of the earth everything has

broken up everything that these people in their wickedness had been striving to build brothers and sisters when we build up anything or gain anything of the world all of the treasures all of the exceedingly fine workmanship of the hands of men and women today none of that has lasting power none of that will see us through to the eternities it it's all mortal and in a a few hours of Destruction consider all of those Treasures that these people had built up that are now either broken up burned crushed buried sunk into the sea drowned they

they are no more all of that effort came to not versus what the prophets invite us to do which is to lay up for ourselves Treasures in Heaven to to e Echo what the Savior taught in his Sermon on the Mount so it's it's a starting point for these uh people to now turn to God and to turn to him in a in a lasting way so you see that it says in verse 19 lasted for about the space of 3 hours and it was said by some that the time was greater nevertheless all these

great and terrible things were done in about the space of 3 hours so I think it's important to note that what these people have spent a lifetime building up and even Generations in their families it's it's lost in in nearly an instant in the space of three hours all of this destruction takes place and then the howling and the Weeping and the mourning of the people kick in which is in direct fulfillment of the prophet Samuel Samuel the lonite uh his words back in Chapter 13 especially verse 33 he gave them the script 5 years

previously this is what you're going to say and lo behold this is exactly what they say in fulfillment of that now you go to chapter nine and it opens with them hearing a voice after those three hours of Destruction and the voice says wo wo woe unto this people woe unto the inhabitants of the whole earth except they shall repent for the devil laugheth and his angels Rejoice because of the slain of the fair Sons and Daughters of my people and then he gives the reason for all that destruction and it is because of their

iniquity and Abominations that they are fallen so verse one gives you the first because and if you look in chapter 9 look in verse 5 verse 7 8 9 10 11 12 start starting in in verse 7 every single verse up to 12 gives you a reason using words like to hide their wickedness and Abominations from before my face or because of their wickedness and their their sins or that the blood of the prophet and the Saints should not come up to me anymore against them those are the reasons that all of these destructions came

it's a it's a direct cause and effect in this case now we need to be careful not every natural disaster that occurs in the world is a sign of of divine disfavor of God's justice and judgment being poured out upon the Earth as it is in this situation which is a fulfillment of of God's prophecy it's talking to these people now those who were saved look at verse 13 oh all ye that are spared because so he gave the reasons why all the destruction took place in all those verses that we listed back uh up

to verse 12 and now he gives the reason why those who were spared why they weren't destroyed as well he says oh all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they will you not now return unto me and repent of your sins and be converted that I may heal you so he finds them there in their their level of belief their level of testimony and he's now giving an invitation to turn to him and come to a new level of understanding in their testimony of him they've witnessed the destruction they've seen those

prophecies fulfilled they've heard the morning they've participated in those Lamentations so their testimony is slowly trending in the right direction now this voice giving all of this reason for the destruction and then the invitation to them you're more righteous than those who were destroyed but you need to repent and return unto me so that I can heal you so he then gives this incredible promise to them yay verily I say unto you now it's important to note here the pronoun I the person who's speaking to them the Lord Jesus Christ if we were to to

do our cross comparison with what's going on over in the old world in the Bible he has just given his life for us he's just been slain on the cross which means he's now in the spirit world and he's putting this much attention and effort into these people people half a world away on on the other side of the earth he says verily I say unto you if you will come unto me this is right after moments after completing his infinite atoning sacrifice for us suffering infinite amounts of pain and he's now turning his full

attention to these people in the Americas and what does he say come unto me if you will come unto me ye shall have eternal life spoken from one who just gave up his physical mortal life for us and for them he's promising them eternal life if they'll just come unto him behold mine arm of Mercy is extended toward you and whosoever will come him will I receive and blessed are those who come unto me those arms that the moments before had been stretched out by by men on that cruel cross now refers to his arm

of Mercy being extended to these people the symbolism of the timing and this atoning one being the one saying these words it it amplifies the significance of what these people are hearing then he says in verse 15 behold I am Jesus Christ the Son of God I created the heavens and the Earth and all things that in them are I was with the father from the beginning I am in the father and the father in me and in me hath the father glorified his name and then he tells them a little bit about his experience

in the old world I came unto my own or to my own and my own received me not and the scriptures concerning my coming are fulfilled so again the significance of of the savior's message uh in that instance as he enters the the spirit world now speaking to these people uh halfway around the world uh makes it so that if you were to ask them right after he finishes speaking uh how how's your testimony what what do you think what do you believe about Jesus Christ I think most of these people would say wow I

have a firm testimony I I know Jesus is the Christ the son of God that he was slain for the sins of the world I think they would say my testimony is strong and yet we're just beginning on this process of strengthening their testimony now sometimes for some people or for some groups of people you see this progression occur within a matter of a few moments over spread over a few chapters and sometimes it spread over lifetimes the timing is less important than the direction and the focus of Our Lives being on the Savior if

it takes decades as long as we're moving in his Direction and coming unto him and overcoming the world we will find rest that is the promise from our prophets so he goes on to to tell them that the Old Law is now fulfilled verse 19 you 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 your sacrifices and your burnt offerings we done with that now we're going to go to the higher law ye shall offer for a

sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit and who so cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost even as the lamanites because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion so he gives another incredible promise on their progression along this Covenant path that's leading to higher and higher degrees of their testimony which now brings us to chapter 10 it says that after he had finished saying these things there was silence in this in the land for

the space of many hours and then the voice came again and verse three tells you that all the people did hear this is one of those unique moments in scripture uh brother Dwayne huff at the Logan Institute years ago pointed this out to me I thought this was a beautiful Insight that he's speaking in verse four to people who have passed who have been destroyed in those destructions he's speaking to people in the spirit world and people that are living are hearing it as well verse four oh ye people of these great cities which have

fallen who are descendants of Jacob yay who are of the House of Israel how often have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and have nourished you everything in verse four is past tense how many times did I pick you up how many times did I protect you how many times did I forgive you so he's referring to all the things in the past that he's done for them and then he goes on in verse 5 to shift to the present again how of would I have gathered you as a

hen gathereth her chickens under her wings so this is present and forward future tense looking oh ye people of the House of Israel who have fallen you people who who are no longer living oh ye people of the House of Israel ye that dwell at Jerusalem as ye that have fallen yay how of would I have gathered you as a gather through chickens and ye would not and now he speaks to the living in verse 6 oh ye House of Israel whom I have spared how of will I now we're futur looking how of will

I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart so he's finding them where they are and remember what what they've already experienced all the destruction and then the the voice in the darkness in chapter 9 they they've been introduced to him he told them who he was and why he's done this destruction and now he's telling them I'm ready for you to go to the next level but you have to repent verse 7 but if not in other words I'm

not going to make you repent I'm not going to make you love me it's a free will choice coming on the heels of his Free Will offering he freely sacrificed his whole life for them and now he's asking them if they will freely sacrifice theirs for him not in a physical way but in a broken heart and a contrite spirit sort of a way he says but if you don't choose to do that oh House of Israel the places of your dwelling shall become desolate until the time of the fulfilling of the Covenant to your

fathers and then after he finishes with that invitation that message of Hope for the future he gives them three days of darkness to think about it so there's there's some pondering time to see what are you going to do how are you going to choose to respond and then that sets up the stage for the incredible event in chapter 11 many people have assumed that chapter 11 then happens immediately after those three days that's possible we do not know for absolute certainty when chapter 11 occurs in relation to the destructive events surrounding the death of

Christ let me show you what I mean in chapter 10: 18 He says and it came to pass in the ending of the 30 and4th year behold I this would be Mormon the ab Bridger talking to us behold I will show unto you that the people of Nephi who were spared and also those who had been called lamanites who had been spared did have great favor shown unto them did you catch the timing there in the ending of the 30 and fourth year I will show unto you that they had these these great favors shown

unto them well we know that the destruction took place on the fourth day of the first month of that new year so if the incredible manifestations are going to occur in the ending of that year that would be on from our Calendar's perspective you know 10 11 11 and a half months later so almost a year later but then it gets confounded a little bit he says uh they would see these great blessings poured out upon their heads in so much that soon after the Ascension of Christ into heaven he did truly manifest himself unto

them now you have to say hm is that immediately after his uh arrival in the spirit world and then his resurrection initially that he soon after that showed himself because if that's the case then it's a matter of a few days or a week uh at the most after the destruct destructions occurred or is it referring to the Ascension into heaven that was 40 days after his resurrection right before the Pentecost over in the old world at the end of the day we don't know and rather than getting caught up in the calendar questions let's

stay focused on the fact that these people whatever amount of time he gave them kind of like the three days to ponder this after the darkness in chapter 10 whatever amount of time it was it was exactly what they needed whether it was 40 days whether it was 3 months or whether it was 11 and a half months but it's going to going to be somewhere in that in that time range that then Jesus Christ manifests himself and we watch these people rapidly grow in their testimony of Jesus Christ and their testimony by the way

is pretty secure at this point but it's not nearly as good as it's going to be when he finishes the events of chapter 11 so Mormon uh after bridging chapter 10 he he took a bit of an editorial pause and he says therefore for this time I make an end of my sayings so he took some sort of a little pause after chapter 10 and now we go into one of the most significant chapters of scripture anywhere chapter 11 now it came to pass that there were a great multitude gathered together of the people of

Nephi round about the temple which was in the land Bountiful and what are they doing they're marveling about the change and verse two they're also conversing about this Jesus Christ of whom the sign had been given concerning his death so if it was a few days after that wouldn't surprise us if it's 40 days later that's a little more surprising if it's towards the ending of the the year that's even more surprising that now we're a year into it almost and they're still bringing more people to the temple in Bountiful they're still talking about the

changes that have taken place and they're still conversing about Jesus Christ their focus is still on him so knowing that they're at the temple knowing that their focus is on Christ becomes a beautiful lens through which we can read the rest of these verses in this chapter this becomes if you will a a temple text we see similarities to us going to the temple today and if our focus is on the great changes that the Lord is causing to take place Among Us and if our focus is on him then we too can increase in

our testimony of him and our conversion to him verse three it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another they heard a voice as if it came out of Heaven the implication is they're not sure where the voice is coming from it's this new experience and as they're listening to the voice so you get you get this group of people on the Earth Here Comes this voice as if it came from heaven and notice the response of the people as they hear that voice and don't understand it it says they cast

their eyes round about for they understood not the voice which they heard how often do you and I do the exact same thing we cast our eyes roundabout when we get a revelation a flash of inspiration from heaven and we look earthward we we look horizontally to try to find answers because we're confused we're trying to find somebody who doesn't look confused and the reality in this situation is everybody is equally as confused nobody knows what that voice said it seems and so the second time the voice comes in verse 4 and they understood it

not and now the third time comes and it says they did open their ears to hear it and their eyes were towards the sound thereof and they did look steadfastly towards heaven from whence the sound came that is a powerful concept for us in a teaching setting to consider what you and I might be able to do to apply the principles here to stop relying so much on the wisdom and the the voices of the world and to spend more time turning to God looking heavenward what does it mean for us to open our ears

to hear it what does it mean to turn our eyes towards heaven and intently seek to understand what it is that God is saying to us he's the one who's speaking so let's turn to him as he's talking to us that that's the polite thing to do in any conversation well in this case that's the only reasonable way to find out what's really being said and when they did that the third time they did understand behold my beloved Son and whom I am well pleased in whom I have glorified my name hear ye him there

is so much in encapsulated in in verse 7 the voice of of God the Father bearing testimony of his only begotten son can I suggest to you that that is the most powerful testimony of Jesus Christ in the entire Book of Mormon when God the father says this is him this is the Christ this is my son hear ye him nobody can bear a more powerful witness than God the Father the father of us all telling us this is the one I want you to focus on hear him so I love the fact that now

you would ask the question how is their testimony doing I think it just went to the next level they heard the voice of God bearing witness that it's that it's his son so they've found a new level for their testimony then they look up and they see a man descending Out of Heaven clothed in a white robe and everybody is very very reverent very quiet nobody wants to say anything because they think that it's an angel that has come down among them it's okay for us to struggle with that revelatory process and to to maybe

not understand fully what God was trying to communicate to us when he speaks to us even when we understand his voice even when we know know what is being said and we still maybe don't connect all the dots to the end God's okay with that being a process rather than rebuking us for missing the message and so these people as they're standing there looking at who they think is an angel and then they watch this Angel stretch forth his hand and he speaks unto the people as he stretches forth his hand those who are standing

closest to him because keep in mind he descended in the midst of them probably not away from them Upon A a Stairway of the temple or upon a hill but it says in verse 8 that he descended in the midst of them or in the middle of them those who are closest can probably see the marks in his hands and he then says behold I am Jesus Christ whom the prophets testified shall come in into the world can I suggest to you that in my opinion that is the second most powerful testimony in the entire

Book of Mormon the first being God the Father bearing witness of the Son and the second being the very Son of God himself bearing witness of his true identity I am Jesus Christ and then notice his qualifier there in verse 10 is whom the prophet testified shall come into the world he's once again validating and turning to His prophets many of you have probably noticed that as we've gone through the Book of Mormon this year I've I've emphasized the role of prophets and it's not because I'm having to dig deep and trying to find ways

to talk about this it just keeps coming up again and again and again if you want a fun exercise do a word search in all of the scriptures on Prophet or prophesy or prophecy or prophets and just look at all of the instances in scriptures and see how the Lord refers to his chosen servants and then don't stop there pause and perhaps ask yourself the question on your own journey of discipleship along the Covenant path as you take charge of your own testimony to ask the question to what degree have I been tuning my ear

to God's will through the words of his living prophets he he loves his prophets and we live in a world that doesn't love prophets so the question is where do we fall on the scale from the way the world sees prophets to how Jesus Christ refers to His prophets and then he gives further verse 11 behold I am the light and the life of the world and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the father hath given me and have glorified the father in taking upon me the sins of the world in the

which I have suffered the will of the father in all things from the beginning now at this point we've taken Leaps and Bounds in our test testimony with this group of people standing there and you can picture what would your reaction be what would you do now that you realize wow this is him the being that has been prophesied for all these all these hundreds of years leading up to this event and and now I'm here with him at the temple on this beautiful morning what would you do well this group of people didn't rush

forward they didn't go and and embrace him they recognized oh we are standing on very sacred ground and verse 12 says it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words the whole multitude that would be 100% of them fell to the Earth for they remembered that it had been prophesied there's another prophecy again among them that Christ should show himself unto them after his Ascension into heaven so this seems to be a falling to the Earth in verse 12 as a reaction they're they're reacting to this realization wow we're in the presence of

Jesus Christ who was prophesied would come and their their response is to fall to the Earth it's a sign of reverence and respect in they're they're in a state of awe it seems and now on the ground you hear him say arise and come forth unto me that you may thrust your hands into my side and also that you may fill the prince of the nails in my hands and in my feet that you may know that I am the god of Israel and the god of the whole earth and have been slain for the

sins of the world now hold on a moment I thought they already knew who he was I thought they already understood that this is Jesus Christ who was slain for the sins of the world they experienced the destruction they heard his voice back in chapters 89 and 10 they've gone through the experience coming to the temple and hearing the voice of the father bear witness this is my beloved Son they've seen him descend and they've heard him introduce himself so why would he say I want you to come and thrust your hands into my side

and fill the prince the nails in my hands and my feet that ye may know that I am the god of Israel and the god of the whole earth brothers and sisters I think this discussion of our of our testimonies and the strength of our conversion to him is rooted in degrees of knowing these people know that he is the Christ but he wants them to know at a different level he doesn't want them to say okay I've arrived I don't need to progress anymore spiritually in my in my knowledge of God and in my

testimony of Jesus Christ he as we hear uh re-echoed by President Nelson's invitation he is inviting them to take charge of their own testimony of Jesus Christ and his gospel to work for it to nurture it so that it will grow and to feed at truth and he happens to be doing that in person with them he's taking them from where they are and saying you can come to know that I am the Christ even more than you already do now that lesson is applicable to every one of us it doesn't matter where we are

on that path of testimony or that path of conversion to where we would say oh there's nothing else I can I can possibly experience that would strengthen my connection with Christ or my resolve to follow him or my testimony of him and so the people it says in verse 15 which by the way uh incidentally happens to be my favorite alltime verse of any Scripture pass of of anything that's ever been written anywhere verse 15 is my favorite because it's so infinite and yet so personal in connecting these people and by extension connecting you and

me and ultimately connecting me with the Savior verse 15 it came to pass that the multitude went forth all of them and thrust their hands into his side and did fill the prints of the nails in his hand hands and in his feet this is often portrayed in film as Jesus walking through a crowd and people reaching through as he passes by which doesn't really represent what's going on here the the new Book of Mormon videos does a better job of showing the one by one nature of this experience where it says this they did

do going forth one by one until they had all gone forth so so you start with the multitude coming then you get the one by one nature of the personal experience with Christ and it says until they had all gone forth so there seems to be this sense of everybody gets that opportunity one by one it's not a crowd having that experience as a crowd it's a multitude having that experience one by one with Jesus Christ that's what I love about this his infinite atonement has room and space and Grace for me that he's not

just the Savior which he is but he's more importantly for us he is our personal Savior and Redeemer and it says until they had all gone forth and did see with their eyes did feel with their hands and did know of assurity and did Bear record that it was he of whom it was written by the prophets I love that verse that that incredible uh intimate nature of Christ's relationship with us now that he has performed his infinite atonement and when they had all gone forth and witnessed for themselves they did cry out with one

Accord saying hosana which is a plea for salvation please save us now blessed be the name of the most high God and they did fall down at the feet of Jesus and did worship him you'll notice that they did fall down at the feet of Jesus in verse 17 and did worship him well this is the second time this group of people finds themselves on the ground because back in verse 12 they fell down as well can I suggest you that one possible way to look at this might be that in verse 12 it was

a reaction it it was almost involuntary they they fall to the ground in reverence and in awe and respect but the falling down in verse 17 is less reactionary and more of a of a conscience a conscientious decision an action if you will not a reaction that there's a worship that is now going on why because these people know the Lord Jesus Christ at a different level you might even say that before they knew that Jesus was the Christ but now they have come to know Jesus the Christ they've had that personal experience thrusting their

hands into his side filling the wounds of the nails and his hands and his feet and in his wrists and they've tasted of his his personal love for them his his mercy and so when they fall to the ground this time after shouting hosana oh save us now it's a beautiful reminder that when you come to know God more fully the more you want to be with him the more you want to be like him the more you love him the more you trust him the more you will worship Him freely not because the ground

was shaking and caused you to fall to your knees but because your soul was shaking and your heart was poured out in love for him in gratitude for what he's done because you've come to taste of his love and his Mercy I love this this section of scripture as fuel for us to move forward in the fire of our faith to more fully follow this pattern of continually seeking to come to know him more not just know about him but to come to know him and recognize his voice and his grace in our life more

so here's an important point now these people have pled with him after their one by one experience with with him collectively they all shouted Hosanna please save us now we want salvation so what does he do he says Nephi come forth so Nephi arose and went forth and bowed himself before the Lord and did kiss his feet they asked the the group asked for salvation so the Lord starts with a prophet among them being called and he says in verse 21 I give unto you power that ye shall baptize this people when I am again

ascended into heaven and again the Lord called others and said unto them likewise and he gave unto them power to baptize and he said unto them on this wise shall you baptize so he first gives the authority the rights to perform this ordinance in a manner that it will be valid in heaven and then he shows them how to perform the ordinance he gives them the the handbook if you will for how to perform those baptisms in verse 23 you get the descriptions of them standing in the water and in my name shall you baptize

tize him and then he gives them the words in verse 25 and then in verse 26 tells them that they need to immerse them in the water this symbolic death burial and Resurrection shortly after he himself laid down his life was buried in the Tomb and then rose again as as we come into this newness of life if you've ever held a brand newborn baby you see that sweet uh Touch Of Heaven in that face as you hold a little baby it's amazing that baby's giving you nothing it's not paying you it's not rewarding you

in any way it's just often sleeping and yet as you hold it you feel that you're holding more than just a little bundle of of human cells put together into a body you feel like you're brushing up against a Heavenly Veil you feel like you're holding a piece of heaven there's something enriching and enlivening in that experience well that's exactly what Jesus Christ is inviting all of these people to do is to start a new life to be born again born in him accepting him as the father of their spiritual rebirth to start aesh to

have that Heavenly outpouring given to each one of us as we then move forward on that Covenant path we want salvation these people pled hosana and he says if you want to be saved let me get you a prophet get some keys and some Authority for this ordinance and then teach you how to do this ordinance then notice what he does after after all of this baptism uh introduction it says and after this manner shall you baptize in my name for behold verily 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 in me and the father and I are one I would just invite you and encourage you to cross reference that with John 17 verse 21 where Jesus Christ in his intercessory prayer prayed to the father that all of us might become one as they are one that we all might become one in them that word one is beautiful everything about his life is about helping us to come to that Oneness that Unity that's what the at one meant is all about and then he

says according as I have commanded you thus shall ye baptize don't make up something different do as I have commanded you and there shall be no disputations among you as there have hitherto been neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my Doctrine as there have hitherto been brothers and sisters can I in invite you to consider in your circle of influence to not surround yourself by people who want to contend over Doctrine or who want to debate over Doctrine in a matter of trying to prove who's right and who's wrong he

makes it very clear in verse 29 verily verily I say unto you he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me but is of the devil who is the father of contention and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger one with another so one of his first major teachings to these people is stop fighting over my Doctrine stop contending stop bickering it's Unity it's Oneness come together focus on the most important things which are focusing on the godhead and on connecting with them in a covenant way which is baptism

and then he goes on to say in verse 31 behold verily I say unto you I will declare unto you my my Doctrine this is significant because you get a little section here in verse 32 down through verse 39 so if you look at verse 32 it says and this is my Doctrine and then look at verse 39 verily verily I say unto you that this is my Doctrine he just gave you bookends he just bracketed for us his definition it would be it would be as if a general conference speaker was giving a quote

where they say quote then they read the quote and then they say closed quote that's what Jesus just did for us is he said this is my Doctrine in 32 so now you read what is his Doctrine and you know that he's giving you the core the central part of what his Doctrine is number one I bear record of the father and the father beareth record of me and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the father and me and I bear record that the father commandeth all men everywhere to repent and believe in me so

he starts with the godhead the truth of deity then he goes to our need to repent and who so believeth in me there's that faith in Christ that Assurance in him and is baptized the same shall be saved and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God and who so believeth not in me and is not baptized shall be damned their progression will be stopped verily I say unto you that this is my Doctrine and I bear record of it from the father and who so believeth in me believeth in the father also

and unto him will the father bear record of me for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost he keeps bringing the members of the godhead into his discussion here and thus will the father bear record of me and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the father and me for the father and I and the Holy Ghost are one are we getting it we spend so much time talking about how they're separate and Jesus spends so much time talking about how they're unified how they're one how everything in their

purpose is one now it's important to note theologically speaking that this can be a little bit confusing for people wondering so so are we trinitarian after all and yet if you look closely at the intercessory prayer and at other passages of scripture where he's talking about his relationship with the father and the father being in him and him being in the father and him being in us and us being in him you then notice in scripture how he uses the word one in other relationships he tells us all that we need to be one and

if we're not one we're not his he tells husbands and wives that they need to become one again he's not emphasizing what makes them different he's emphasizing their capacity to become one the Gospel of Jesus Christ the the doctrine of Christ is focused on Oneness on coming together not in parsing out and bifurcating people into different neatly packaged silos he continues with his Doctrine in verse 37 and again I say unto you ye must repent and be baptized in my name or you can no wise receive these things he's repeating the godhead concepts of Oneness

and he's repeating Faith repentance baptism so that you can get the gift of the Holy Ghost verse 38 if we didn't catch it in verse 32 and if we missed it in verse 37 here's verse 38 again I say unto you you could maybe circle the word again again I say to you you must repent and be baptized in my name name that wasn't a conditional it it's if you think it's a good idea you can go ahead and do that he says You must repent and be baptized in my name and become as a

little child or you can in no wise inherit the kingdom of God there's no other way you asked you said hosana you asked for the Salvation I'm telling you how to do it I've provided the means with the the proper priesthood Authority through the prophets and I've taught them how to perform this ordinance to connect you with me and then I will walk with you on the journey through the rest of of time as I continually help you come to know me better and come closer and closer to me and then he finishes with verily

verily truly truly the the word verily in the Greek so when you read verily verily in the New Testament it comes from the Greek word amen amen the savior is the only one that I know of who opens his thoughts opens his sentences with an amen everybody else puts the Amen on the end the Lord puts it on the beginning so you could read this amen amen or truly truly verily verily of a truth I say unto you that this is my Doctrine and who so buth upon this builth upon my rock and the Gates

of Hell shall not Prevail against them so have you ever gotten caught up in a a topic uh movement within the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has become almost a gospel unto itself a Doctrine unto itself and it's become so important and every time you read your scriptures that's what you're thinking about instead of these things well that's a caution be careful his Doctrine is very very focused on connecting us with the godhead through faith in Christ repentance baptism gift of the Holy Ghost that's his Doctrine and he goes on to say 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 builth Upon A Sandy foundation and the Gates of Hell stand open to receive such when the floods come come and the winds beat upon them therefore because of this go forth unto the people unto this people and declare The Words which I have spoken unto the ends of the Earth I love these chapters for what they teach me not just about these Nephites and lamanites 2,000 years ago and their incredible

Temple experience with the Savior but it shows me there's a path that I can follow to today to come to know Jesus Christ more and that path involves faith in him repentance baptism gift of the Holy Ghost which is symbolically outlined every time I go to the Temple of our God when we perform a temple endowment he's inviting all to come into that experience the multitude so that they can one by one go through that Veil experience in the temple and enter into the presence of of God the father and his son Jesus Christ in

a symbolic sense in the celestial room and that takes Faith to come into the temple repentance symbolized beautifully by the altars in the temple that are symbolic of sacrifice where something had to die and be offered up to the Lord that that natural man the sacrifice for us of a broken heart and a contrite spirit followed by that baptism the beautiful uh Laver in the Tabernacle in the Ancient Temple where the baptismal fonts today resting on the backs of 12 oxen the house of Israel this message to the four corners of the world for everybody

to come followed by getting the gift of the Holy Ghost the the light of the spirit that is offered in the temple as we then come to the veil of the temple that is symbolic of the flesh of Christ based on the book of Hebrews and we get to then converse with the Lord with God the Father symbolized on the other side of that Veil through the Flesh of Christ allowing us to enter into his presence third Nephi 11 is basically that experience in in person for these people then becomes this symbolic Journey for us

on our covenant path to experience these same things hopefully every time we go we take it to a higher and higher level of faith in him willingness to repent with that broken heart and contrite spirit and willingness to make and keep those those covenants that are made in the temple and that we make at baptism and at the sacrament table each week bringing us closer and closer so that every passing week leaves us more than ever before able to say I know that Jesus Christ lives that he is the Christ the son of God the

creator of all things from the beginning and that he is our personal Savior and Redeemer and more importantly that he is your personal Savior and Redeemer and the arms of his Mercy are outstretched towards you and towards me inviting all of us to take the next step in our progression on that Covenant path with the help of his beloved prophets and and chosen leaders on the Earth today I leave that with you in the sacred name of Jesus the Christ amen know that you're loved [Music] [Music]