The room is mostly quiet, except for the occasional whisper, and the children. Toddlers talk softly and babies cry or make other noises. A wave of coughs and throat-clearing passes through the congregation, a single hack jumping from one person to the next until it has run its course. The organist silently practices the next hymn by touching the keys, without depressing them. A husband whispers to his wife. A high priest falls asleep. A twenty-something woman is lost in thought about her job.
One middle-aged woman weeps quietly. She’s watching a sacred drama as it is played out around her. Symbolically, God the Father kneels beside an altar. He says a prayer, consecrating the offering covered in linen laying upon the altar. The words do not consecrate the body for burial, but for the sake of all mankind. Upon finishing, he rises, pulls back the covering, and gathers the collected blood from the ritually sacrificed offering, passing it to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then goes about the room, offering the blood of the sacrifice to the whole church, just as it had done with pieces of the flesh moments before. He passes this token of the great sacrifice to each person, if they receive it.
Some accept it, others do not. Of those who accept, most are oblivious to their part in the drama. They partake mechanically, out of habit, and pass the sacred blood on to others, quickly returning to their whisperings, thoughts, and sleeping. Unlike the middle-aged woman, who fully realizes her part in the ritual drama, they see only a quiet opportunity to think, sleep, or practice the rest hymn. The flesh and blood offered them is only bread and water, an interruption.
Category : Ancient, Book of Mormon, Ceremony/Ordinances, Divine Potential, Doctrine & Covenants, Latter-Day, New Testament, Old Testament, Scriptures, Temple
Tags: Book of Mormon, Christ, Divine Potential, endowment, god, heirs, keys, Malachi, orders, ordinances, priestesses, priests, queens, sacrificial offerings, temple
If you haven’t already, I strongly recommend you read Part 1 and Part 2 of this article before reading this.
The title of this series of articles suggests that there might be scriptures that are “most important.” I don’t pretend to be capable of knowing what, of all God’s revealed scripture is the most important. However, Malachi 3 must be of great importance because, like many chapters of Isaiah it is given to us twice, and was given to the ancient Nephites by Christ himself. Malachi 4, in turn, must also be hugely important to us, because we have it many different times in the Latter-Day cannon of scripture. Of all things that Moroni could have told Joseph that night in his bedroom, he repeated Malachi 4, something Joseph already had in his Old Testament, and Moroni knew he would translate those verses from the plates that Moroni was there to announce to Joseph. Yet he gave them again. Why?
The Return of the Prophet Elijah
Elijah rebukes Ahab for turning from worshiping Jehovah to Baal.
We ended the last article with the indication that there were further ordinances that allow us to experience the things of Godliness. Clearly these ordinances are very important, perhaps most important. I personally believe that this is the reason we are given Malachi 4, several different times. Moroni even gives us different wording in the latter-day reciting. There are probably many reasons for this but I think two are very important: first, to help us better understand a scripture we may have become too familiar with, and therefore have stopped trying to extract deeper meaning from; and second, to help us take notice of it and ask the questions that will help us delve beyond the surface meaning.
Lets go to the scriptures. In. 3 Nephi 25 we read:
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord;
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Category : Ceremony/Ordinances, Divine Potential, Latter-Day, Literature, Pop-culture, Scriptures, Temple
Tags: birthright, Christ, Divine Potential, downloading music, god, heirs, kings, narnia, orders, ordinances, priestesses, priests, queens, temple, the world
I’ve been working on a couple different posts for this blog for the past week. The third article in the “Most Important Chapters in Scripture?” series needs special attention due to the power and sacredness of the subject. Because of the time required to give that attention, I haven’t been able to get it completed. The following is a talk I gave several years ago in as a student in a student ward. Its one of the few talks that I ever wrote completely before giving. It is also a great preparation for the third article in the “Most Important Chapters in Scripture” series.
I have chosen to speak on Our Divine Potential. I pray that the Spirit will permit me to deliver this message in accordance with God’s will, and that everyone here will be able to feel of that Spirit and receive the message by the Spirit who is the ultimate teacher. I also hope you understand that this message is taken from the scriptures and the words of our church leaders. It is not my message, and I need to hear and understand it as much as any of you.
Kings and Queens
I hope everyone here has seen the new movie The Chronicles of Narnia. If you haven’t, I highly recommend it, and here’s why: This movie (and the book it is based on) is a great Christian allegory of our divine potential. Throughout the movie various characters keep telling the three children–who are the protagonists of the story–that they were meant to be Kings and Queens, leaders in the fight against evil. Every time someone tells them this, they say essentially “no, you must be mistaken, there is nothing special about us, we’re from some place in England, we’re not important or great.” They can’t see their potential. They don’t know that they really were meant to become Kings and Queens.
I love this theme of Kings and Queens because it is the same one Heavenly Father uses to teach and remind us of our potential. Psalms 82:6 reads: “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” And D&C 76:56, 58, 62 says: “They are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his fullness and his glory…. Wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God…. These shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever.”
Too often I think we take the same attitude as the children in the Chronicles of Narnia. We say “who am I to shine, to lead out, to be righteous and deserve blessings?” “What makes me so special that I should discover the mysteries of God, or perform great acts of service, or become pure and spotless before God?” We doubt ourselves, we doubt our God. This is what Satan wants us to do. If he can get us to forget who we are, and what our purpose is, then we will never achieve it. We can’t work toward what we don’t know. The Prophet John Taylor said it this way:
“Have you forgotten who you are, and what your object is? Have you forgotten that you profess to be Saints of the Most High God, clothed upon with the holy priesthood? Have you forgotten that you are aiming to become kings and priests to the Lord, and queens and priestesses to him? Have you forgotten that you are associated with the Saints of God in Zion, where the oracles of truth are revealed, and the truths of God are made manifest, and clearly developed; where you and your posterity after you can learn the ways of life and salvation; where you are placed in a position that you can obtain blessings from the great Elohim, that will rest upon you and your posterity worlds without end?” (The Gospel Kingdom, p.229-230)
In the last general conference, Elder Oaks gave a talk titled “Sacrament Meeting & the Sacrament.” In this powerful talk he specifically addresses various behaviors related to the sacrament and church. He also speaks of the importance of the sacrament in making the Atonement a part of our lives. This is the most important part of his message. However, he repeatedly hinted at the power and sacredness of the sacrament and sacrament meeting:
- “The ordinance of the sacrament makes the sacrament meeting the most sacred and important meeting in the Church.”
- “Its like going to the temple.”
- “This is a very sacred act.”
- “All who officiate in this sacred ordinance stand on sacred ground.”
- “For sacred ordinances… we often use ceremonial clothing, and a white shirt could be seen as… an anticipation of the white shirt you will soon wear into the temple….”
- “I sense that some in the rising generation and even some adults have not yet come to understand the significance of this meeting and the importance of individual reverence and worship in it.”
Rendering of Solomon's Temple
As suggested by several of these quotes, I believe that our church on Sunday is meant to point us to the temple. The Lord intended it to be a weekly reminder of the covenants we make in the temple, as well as encouragement to return often to learn the “weightier” things of the gospel. I hope that I can help those mentioned in the last quote (probably all of us) to better “understand the significance” of church and the sacrament.
I believe the Lord has setup church as a temple in the pattern of the temple in Jerusalem: An Aaronic Priesthood, lesser law, or Levitical temple that points us to the higher ordinances of the Higher Law.
Category : Ancient, Book of Mormon, Ceremony/Ordinances, Latter-Day, Old Testament, Sacrificial, Scriptures
Tags: Add new tag, Book of Mormon, Christ in America, Malachi, ordinances, sacrificial offerings
A lot has happened in mine and my wife’s life since I wrote Part 1 of this article. I believe some of it has helped me have a deeper appreciation for the truths contained in these chapters. I hope I can convey them well here, and show their importance.
First we need to go back and look a little more deeply into 3 Nephi 24 which is the same as Malachi 3. 3 Nephi 7 states “Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them.” While we previously discussed the idea that both ancient Israel, and us, “are gone away from” certain ordinances that the Lord calls His own, we didn’t address what these were.
What “ordinances” are we “gone away from?”
The Doctrine & Covenants is often a great place to find clarification on other scripture. Especially the Old & New Testaments, since they weren’t written for us, like the Book of Mormon was. D&C 84 was designated as “a revelation on priesthood” by the Prophet Joseph.
