The language of the Savior
Section 76 is an account of the vision of the kingdoms of glory shown to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. The description of that vision is preceded by the words of the Savior.
That introduction covers the first ten verses. The first four are in the third person and the next six in the first. Despite this difference, which is intentional, I attribute all these verses to the direct words of the Savior to Joseph Smith.
The same thing happens in section 1 , start in the third person and go to first in verse 5 . I also base myself to say this on the use of the verbs and the action they describe. There is a total consonance between the start ( 1-4)) in the third person, where the verb ser and the following ones stand out ( 5-10 ) where knowledge stands out .
Great is his wisdom, wonderful are his ways, and the magnitude of his works no one can know. (two)
In the first words, he is again the great Jehovah. He is who he is. We can not overlook the power of the language used. It transmits the reality of an extraordinary being, who describes himself without modesty and at the same time without ostentation. He is inimitable, powerful, he is God.
Finish that start in third person (until 4) where he describes who he is, with a start in first person in 5 . This detail produces in the reader the impression of seeing his face turn toward us in the foreground. That intensifies the moment of later reading, because now his gaze focuses on us.
«For thus says the Lord: I, the Lord, am merciful and kind to those who fear me, and I delight in honoring those who serve me in righteousness and in truth until the end.» ( 5 )
As one who has authority
Really, dear reader, I can not explain the effect that this causes me. Have you heard someone talk like that? Nobody in this world talks like that. Because nobody has the necessary entity to acquire that language, their words testify of the source. That is why studying their words and their language is part of worship. And I have found a form of worship in its syntax, not only in the semantics or meaning of its words.
Speaking of the kingdoms, «and any man who hath seenany or the least of these hath seen God moving in his majesty and power.» ( 47 ). If we meditate on their language and words, regardless of their meaning, even in a single verse of the scriptural realm , we can see the Savior working in His majesty and power . He makes possible the resurrection of the dead language, vivifies it in a way that I do not understand. Just as the Father can lift Abraham’s children from the stones, he transforms the words of human languages into light and truth.
I want to talk like that but I can not. That is why I understand Moroni when he says «when we write we behold our weakness» ( Ether 12:25 )
And here I am at 20:36 of the 14/01 of this year 2019 trapped by the beauty of his voice, unable to continue. Just contemplate the ripples of his verb to rise in verse 5.
The greatest gift
As in Capernaum , verses 1-10, suppose the greatest miracle of section 76. Although there in that house, the main miracle was the forgiveness of the sins of that paralytic who descended. The memory is fixed on how he got up, took his sickbed and went home.
In the vision of the kingdoms, we must bear in mind that all those kingdoms described exist because «[he is] merciful and gracious to those who [serve] him» and we know of them thanks to his disposition … «the wonders of eternity shall they know… »
The greatest gift that the paralytic took was forgiveness, and the greatest knowledge that we carry from section 76 is«The good pleasure of [his] will concerning all things pertaining to [his] kingdom.»
The vision of the kingdoms of glory, the trigger
Joseph and Sidney are working on the translation of the Bible and come to John 5:29, but they are revealed in another way
| John 5:29 | By revelation |
| And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. | And shall come forth; they who have done good, in the resurrection of the just; and they who have done evil, in the resurrection of the unjust. |
Although the teaching that there will be two resurrections at different times is in the Bible, verse 29 of John does not suggest it. It details the quality of the resurrections. What amazes José and Sidney was that by revelation, it is manifested that they will be in different times and in different groups.
Like the first vision or vision of the spiritual world ( 138 ) by Joseph Fielding Smith, it begins in the same way. Reading and meditating on the scriptures.
«And while we meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about.» ( 19 )
It is in meditation on the scriptures that the Lord touches our understanding. But for that we need, like Nephi, «[… to believe that the Lord can let us know, while we are sitting and reflecting on this …]» ( 1 Nephi 11: 1 )
Our vision
And our vision? We have the promise in this section «And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to heaven» ( 9 ) Section 76 gives us a key to the knowledge of God, «For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will « ( 10 )
When we read this section we are presented with two options. Being on the side of those who meditate these things looking for more light and knowledge; to which the first verses invite us. Or on the other hand look for what has already been revealed in the language of the Prophet Joseph. The two options are good, but there is one better than the other.
Perhaps the result of being both amazed by the understanding of a verse in John 5:29, is not to be emphasized at first. But it was then that «the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened.»
I am certain that personal growth and doctrine are not contained only in the scriptures. But the scriptures are keys of knowledge. But that knowledge is private and reserves its domain to the sacred urn, which is the soul of each person.
And the important thing, I will not tire of saying it, is not in the answers but in the willingness to receive them. For, on the other hand, it makes us aware of «[his] will concerning all things pertaining to [his] kingdom.» ( 7 )
The sons of perdition
Before salvation, the plan began with the destruction of 1/3 of the population. The beginning I can not be more ill. The initial jubilation must have turned into mourning and general commotion «for the heavens wept over him» ( 26 ).
But what Lucifer and his followers did was to rebel not to disagree. In any kingdom rebellion is severely punished. It is the bankruptcy of the constitutional order.
In reality behind that rebellion there was no new order, but the precipitation of a whole lineage to the darkness of the outer void. Lucifer was cunning and blind. The heavens fought, not only for a plan, but for survival.
In the next article we will include his kingdom to study it. But there is a detail that I do not want to miss in terms of the condition of the children of perdition.
« They are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it had been better for them never to have been born;» ( 32 )
Those early sons of perdition in the heavens, did not get to obtain a physical body. But if they obtained the same condition of sons of perdition that the condemned of the second state. The second chose to be born and participate in the plan. Was it like that with the first ones? Why were they born then? Did they choose to be born in the lineage of Elohim as the seconds in Adam’s?
We choose it
Verse 32 can also apply to the third party who was expelled. The first ones would have been more interested if they had not been born, but they chose to be born . In the theology of restoration everything suggests (at least to me) that the principle of free will is innate in the intelligences to which its inclusion in the lineage of Elohim was proposed. The Father, respected and increased that gift by including it in the plan.
From the dark ocean of intelligence, we all hear the voice of our parents and decided to go to be sons of the Holiness Man and his family. The principle of responsibility grew with us as well as freedom.
The children of Abraham …
«That by keeping the commandments they might be washedand cleansed from all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power;» ( 52 )
The line of the priesthood and the blessings of Abraham are no longer received by lineage or blood. It is not genetic, it is by agreement and ordinance. But these two elements shape with the same accuracy as blood the lineage of the elect in the celestial kingdom. These «genes» of the gospel, embedded in the helix of the ordinances and covenants, make up the structures of the spirits. Those who will be vivified in the new bodies. That they are able to endure the gloryto which they will be called.
If we look with the eyes of our time, necessary to understand the scriptures of the present. We see a process:
We do not have the means to understand how a portion of glory is received, as described in the second term of equality ( D & C 76:70) . What we do know is that there is a previous change in the spirits that choose to be vivified. This change in the spiritual body, invisible on our side, is produced by an inner change, conversion. An approach to its mathematical expression could be the one I propose in the first term of equality.
… the dust of the stars
In section 76 we read that the offspring of Abraham is like the dust of the stars. The prophet testifies before the kingdoms were shown to him.
«…he is the Only Begotten of the Father—That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.» ( 24 )
Only a small percentage of the stellar dust comes to be added to form stars and worlds. As a result of gravity, they accumulate along with gases. They eventually become a protostar. Once the gravitational force from its outer layers is large enough, conversion occurs. Light is born from darkness.
The conversion of a dark particle of dust into light follows the same path as the conversion of a soul into an exalted being. It is heard from Ramus, Illinois «All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure …» ( D & C 131: 7 ) That is why the exact path of atoms is similar to the exact plan of salvation. The offspring of Abraham, as well as the stardust, must be subject to the laws of dust, the stars and their inhabitants if they want to shine in the heavenly world.
Few are the chosen ones
Only a small percentage will be able to act in the gaps, to spread the light of the house of Israel «to fillthe immensity of space,» ( D & C 88:12 )
That is why Benjamin’s admonition · «Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth» ( Mosiah 2:25 ) is a good beginning to understand the dusty darkness of our reasoning against » The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed « ( D & C 88:13 )
Not to abide by these laws condemns the stardust to the darkness of the wrong orbits. As well as those who disappeared from Lehi’s view «wandering in strange roads.» In Lehi’s vision, there was only one path to the tree of life. Decisions in the outer vacuum are life or death. Only Christ provides an atmosphere of salvation.
With infinite science
When we sang «with infinite science the plan was prepared» ( 104 ) it would be good to believe what we say. When the Savior affirms «Ye must be born again» ( John 3: 7 ) it suggests something more than a change of beliefs or habits. Those words contain a deeper meaning, less metaphorical than we think. Often, we attribute metaphors to their claims. When he said «My kingdom is not of this world» ( John 18: 6 ) it did not refer to a spiritual kingdom or a community of believers. He spohttps://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/music/library/hymns/o-god-the-eternal-father?lang=engke of a physical kingdom whose rooms were, some paved with «a sapphire stone» ( Ex 24:10).) and others, instead with «a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber.» ( DyC 110: 2 )
That is why when we meditate (silently and without haste, day after day) in verse 52 it is not strange to find a procedure of conversion, of transmutation. Of spiritual genetic engineering of infinite science (Σ) An intelligent sum of processes and laws under the function of authority and its ordinances. That function, ƒ (a + o) that certifies that the conversion meets all the quality requirements of that perfect plan of salvation. That function ƒ (a + o) is the seal of the house.
That formula of conversion ( 52 ) to achieve the promised result in D & C 76:70 , is as accurate and physical as that of the synthesis of oxygen in the stars.
The restoration circumscribed in its time, gives us a greater power of resolution to distinguish its mysteries.
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