A Tale of Two Peoples

In a recent talk in Sacrament meeting, I touched on the concept of how important it is to repent quickly. I used the story of the people of Zeniff as an object lesson to teach the following concepts: Heavenly Father takes us where we are. Repentance is better sooner than later, and our choices directly affect what He does to help us. In other words, while He allows us our agency, He will also exercise His in choosing what to “do” for us.

A quick recap: The people of Zeniff returned to live in the land of Nephi among the Lamanites. They wanted to live in the lands they fled from a generation earlier. In time, Noah becomes the king and leads them from one degree of wickedness to another.

Finally the Lord sends the prophet Abinadi to warn them. He gives the first warning: repent or you will be brought into bondage. They ignored his warning. Two years later he comes again. The warning now is; they will be brought into bondage and destroyed if they don’t repent. (Note that the course correction is more severe.) Here is where the tale of these two people splits.

Converted by Abinadi, Alma preaches to and converts a small group of the people of Noah. They are discovered and flee for their lives into the wilderness. They establish a community and live for years in obscurity and peace. The rest, people later called the people of Limhi, travel a much different path. They are conquered by the Lamanites and after several failed attempts to fight their way to freedom endure years of virtual slavery.

Over a period of time, they too are converted to Christ, (Mosiah 21:33) and want to be baptized but have no one with authority to do it. They send out a team of people to find Zarahemlah. They fail in this but they do find the plates of Ether. Finally, two generations after Zeniff left, Ammon and his group find them and help them escape. A Lamanite army is sent after them to capture them and bring them back. It fails to do so, but in the process finds Alma and his group. The Lamanites enslave them for a short period of time, fulfilling Abinadi’s prophecy.

The good news of this episode is both groups become religious stalwarts among the Nephites. God delivered and guided both of them to where they were, but they both took different paths because of choices they made along the way. The sobering point of the story is how different those paths were and how much more difficult one was than the other.

The same holds true for us. Heavenly Father will work with us to get us back to His presence, but our choices affect the path we need to take to return to Him. I’d rather do it the easy way.

Ye are Laying the Foundation of a Great Work

This is an answer to a question I had as I read 3 Nephi 21:22-29. I marveled as I read the passage about the “great work” which the Father would commence after the building of the New Jerusalem. I wondered, “how can that be, I thought we were gathering the world now?” But the passage is very clear and leaves little room for re-interpretation as “imagery.”

The great work the Father will do, to gather scattered Israel in, commences after New Jerusalem is built. We Gentiles have a role to assist in that work in assisting in the building of the city, but the Nephite’s descendants will be major players in that work.

So, to restate, I wondered, “what are we doing now then?” Then Spirit whispered to me in response, a passage from D&C 64:33. The verse reads, “Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.” There’s more on this in the surrounding scriptures, but the context is clear. Out part of the Father’s great work in gathering in scattered Israel is we’re laying the foundation upon which that work will take place.

My prayers have always been that, “rather than be the mighty tree on the top of the hill, Lord I’m content to be the best bush I can be on the side of it.” Well, the foundation of a building is pretty important. I'm grateful for the opportunity to contribute.

A Personal God... A Personal Savior

When the Savior blessed the children of the people of Bountiful, He also prayed for their parents. This passage underscores what I’ve written about before: with God, everything is personal. The written account speaks of how the people marveled when they heard the Savior pray for them. If you ever wondered what He says when He pleads our case to the Father, this passage in 3 Nephi 17:15-17 gives us a clue as to what it must be.

This fact is also shown when He blessed the children and the people went forth to touch his feet and hands. It was all one on one. How would you like some time like that with the Savior? The beauty of the Gospel is you can.

The personal nature of the Gospel is also manifest in the temple. There are no group ordinances — everything is done for the individual. When I go there, I represent just one person at a time. Implicit in all the church does and the doctrine of Christ is the importance of the individual.

I can’t comprehend how Heavenly Father is mindful of all His children everywhere across the cosmos, but He does. It’s enough for me to know that of all His children everywhere, He still knows me. Along beside Him, the Savior likewise knows us personally. That is comforting. That is one of the greatest truths of the Gospel: we are children of a personal, loving God. And representing our needs to Him is Jesus Christ, the Great Mediator. The Mediator who’s prayer for the people filled them with indescribable joy.

1 Nephi 9-10 - It's all personal

What I find interesting here is how Nephi introduces his desire to see the things his father saw. After Lehi told them about the vision of the tree, he recounted coming events. It’s obvious he saw more than just the tree.

In particular, it’s how Lehi mentions the Savior that’s instructive. He speaks of the coming of a prophet and Messiah. My impression is this was new doctrine for him. As an observant Jew, he knew the Messiah would come, but he didn’t fully understand His role or His reason for coming. This vision opened his mind to that.

It’s an example of Heavenly Father approaching us at our level and raising us from there. It’s also why the doctrines taught by the Church today are the basics: faith, repentance, baptism and the Holy Ghost. Even the epitome of public worship in the church, the temple ceremonies, are rote and repetitive: everyone sees and hears the same things.

The beauty of the Gospel and doctrines is despite all this sameness, when it comes to living it, it’s all intensely personal. That’s the great lesson of the visions here. Lehi saw and experienced something amazing. Nephi wanted to learn for himself. Heavenly Father shows them the same information, but their experiences were different… they learned different things.

It’s the same for us. Through the teaching power of the Holy Ghost, study of the Book of Mormon will be a unique experience for each of us. We get what we’re willing to receive and can comprehend at that time. Even as I go through it again, I’m seeing different things. While there is a lot of repetition, there are many new insights too. When I go to the temple, and I go every week, I learn something new each time. Such is the power of the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

This personal experience, this personal relationship with God, is what He wants for us all. This is the Book of Mormon’s subtext.