The Only Begotten and our identity

The identity of Moses

In the Pearl of Great Price we find a significant scene about the importance of an identity, the Only Begotten. The book of Moses recounts his struggle to find and maintain an identity lost since his birth and adoption by a daughter of Pharaoh.
The first thing the Lord does when speaking to Moses is to present Himself.

«Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name; for I am without beginning of days or end of years; and is not this endless?»

Moses asks evident, and is not this endless? « . The Lord does not expect Moses to answer him. It is a rhetorical question and in it we see their private conversations. It shows us the way the Lord expresses himself in his family environment. Just like the expression «For, behold, the mystery of godliness, how great is it! « ( D & C 19:10 ) The closeness to their thoughts and meditations through their language brings us closer to their mysteries. It suggests to the mind that growth is eternal and questions too.

The second thing the Lord does is fix the kinship and therefore the identity of Moses. «And, behold, thou art my son …» ( 4 ) and repeat this three times. To confirm his words he showed him  «… and beheld the world upon which he was created; and Moses beheld the world and the ends thereof, and all the children of men  »  ( 8 )
But there is something extraordinary about this family conversation. The Father fixes a kinship close to Moses, «and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten; and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior … « ( 6). I could almost have said «you look like my son». Does this expression sound familiar? When do we use it? With a close family The Lord establishes the identity of Moses by double has a brother and both a Father.
It is the family relationship that is the first source of identity for any person.
The Lord is providing Moses and each one of us with the redeemer as a close relative. The Savior confirms our belonging to the Father and his family through himself.

The besieged identity

If until that moment Moses was an exile from Egypt and an orphan in Israel, now he finds his deepest identity. After this experience he discovers that he is the son of God and brother of the Only Begotten Son.
As on so many occasions, then, the adversary’s attempt at its destruction is manifested. In the same order that he received his identity, Satan tries to destroy it.
First it tempts you by saying.

Moses, son of man, worship me. ( 12 )

Satan demands adoration, which at that moment, consists in accepting the proposed terms. These are to renounce being a child of God to be a child of a man whom Moses does not know. In our case it is the same, to renounce our heavenly family and accept our origin from a remote man or anthropoid we do not know. Substituting in verse 12 Moses for our given name, we will be in the same place.

The siege of our identity in Christ takes place in a hostile environment, which discourages us from associating ourselves with the Redeemer, to take it as the origin of the meaning of our life. In return we have for worship, a world that shudders in its own glory. In our case we can see the glory of the world, growing. If the present saints ask like Moses  , where is your glory? we would have an obvious answer. The tree of life can almost be touched, and advances of all kinds awaken wonder and adoration.

But if, like Moses, we recapitulate and if, like Lehi, we recognize, despite appearances, the dark and dreary desert, we will realize that we see everything  «But I can look upon thee in the natural man. Is it not so, surely?»  ( Moses 1:14 ) and that an ancient prince and now pastor observes » where is thy glory, for it is darkness unto me?  « ( 15 )

The defense

Emulating his Heavenly Father, Moses uses his language. He asks questions, but does not wait for Satan’s response. The clarity and forcefulness of his response to the urgent request, does not correspond to that man «I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue» ( Exodus 4:10 )

«Moses looked upon Satan and said: Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory, that I should worship thee? «( 13 )

The order in his statement is perfect and the final question is devastating. However, he affirms his identity when he declares «for God said unto me: Thou art after the similitude of mine Only Begotten.»  ( 16 ) That early declaration of the Father, which seemed to have been said in passing, penetrated deeply into his soul. Moses already links his identity with the Only Begotten, and he will ultimately be his salvation.

At the end of his argument, he tries to throw Satan twice in the ( 16 ) «Get thee hence, Satan»and in ( 18 ) «Depart hence, Satan.»   But he does not get it. Your questions and reasons are not going to expel someone as the adversary. Remember that by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down; ( 4: 3 ) not by his persuasion.
But this incomplete attempt will annoy the adversary.

The impostor

«And now, when Moses had said these words, Satan cried with a loud voice, and ranted upon the earth, and commanded, saying: I am the Only Begotten, worship me.»  ( Moses 1:19 )

We have to stop and listen, because here we find an open wound.
El Salvador had not been born yet, so Unigénito is an early title of his future condition. Jehovah being the chosen one to be in the future, Satan does not seem to accept it. But he can not change reality, he is defeated and banished. Unlike the ignorant, he remembers his origin and knows the glory of the paternal house. He still has the ring mark on his finger and the memory of his emblems, glory and distinction in the heavens.

That clear memory whose «flames are unquenchable, and whose smoke ascendeth up forever and ever»  ( Mosiah 3:27 ) surrounds and mortifies him. That suffering that dwells in his kingdom, which has  «the end, the width, the height, the depth» ( D & C 76:48 ) is  alien to time , but not to misery and is outside the field of redemption . That’s why it rages. A sound not human, but close to the beasts. There is no consistency in their pain because it is not articulated in the human world.
Trying to supplant the identity of the Only Begotten, it will further lacerate his soul. Increase, your frustration unnecessarily. Like those Jaredites «slept upon their swords» ( Ether 15:20 ) the adversary does not detach himself from his grudge.

It is a permanent burning without a time of relief.

But you can do something. Yes it can destroy the identity of Moses. And for that it tries to supplant the one of the Only Begotten. He has no other way of doing it … » I am the Only Begotten, worship me»

The Only Begotten, our root

The spiritual conjugation that Moses receives from the Father, makes Christ the root of his new identity. Being that not all men know their name, nevertheless we can identify their root in all of them. Just as the words cloudy, cloudy, cloudy, cloud, has a common root or lexeme that does not change, in this case nub . In the same way the Heavenly Father shows us the Only Begotten as root in the identity of all men. From the light of Christ all the beliefs that bring us closer to divinity are combined.

That is why he introduces himself and tells us «I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world;» ( D & C 93:23 ) suggests this, therefore, that each reflection or spark has its origin in it. Respect and consideration of the beliefs of men and their languages ​​is required of the saints. For, the Lord speaks in all of them and His light shines for all. And it is also our duty to proclaim the one who is the root of all faith as the Only Begotten of the Father.

Satan’s attempt to supplant the Only Begotten Son as redeemer before Moses, seeks to change the root of his identity. If the Redeemer is not your brother, who is your Father? By defining Moses as the son of man , that Father changes for a remote man, makes us lose our origin. If that son of man accepts someone without glory as a savior, he is similar to a person without words who tries to describe the world. From the incoherence in his words, he will pass to the babbling and from there to the bellow.

Christ and his identity

In the temptations of Jesus in the desert we find a similar situation. Both Matthew and Luke narrate the temptation to turn the stones into bread and to fall down the pinnacle of the temple in the same way. «If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.» ( Mto 4: 3 ). Perhaps we think that the temptation was to calm the hunger (maybe in part yes) but to fall down the pinnacle of the temple, does not respond to any need to eat.

In reality, Satan questioned his identity as the Only Begotten. The temptation was to show it to the tempter out of pride and to himself for doubt.

If Moses at the time, follows the speech of Satan and polemicizes in his proposal, he is lost. The road is narrow and any variation takes you away from the bar. If Jesus had turned a stone into bread, then he would have entered into Satan’s speech. Not to eat, because his fast was voluntary and voluntarily ended with him. But in confirming his identity with the adversary and not with his Father.
The twelve-year-old who taught the doctors of the law in the temple knew that he was the Only Begotten, but to assume that he was also the Christ, with its consequences, required time, fasting and prayer. Grace on grace until beginning your ministry as the Messiah.

In this sense, perhaps we are sometimes tempting and say «If you are there do such or such» adopting the adversary’s ways, looking for signs, but not the identity of the Only Begotten. However, the Lord answered Satan not with proof but by reciting the scriptures. «It is written also: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God» answer corresponding to Deut. 6:16 .
In our case we also obtain our identity in dark deserts , in prayer and invoking their tender mercies.

Job and his integrity

Rejecting the Only Begotten being revealed revealed to Lucifer a loss of identity, beginning with his name, «And he became Satan …» ( Moses 4: 4 ) and as we see in this scene, an inability to name and articulate his pain . Overcome by this one he is unable to speak it since he  «cried with a loud voice, with weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth»  ( 22 )
In contrast, Job, in his pain, retains his integrity by   declaring «I know that my redeemer liveth » ( Job 19:25 ) and assuming it as the root of his identity » [he] sinned not, nor charged God foolishly « ( 1:22 ) and retains its coherence by affirming «My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit. «  ( 27: 4 ) Thus, harassed by false friends who accuse him of iniquity, Job assumes his condition without falling into the temptation that is proposed to him.  » Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. « ( 2: 9 )

To retain therefore the integrity, is to link our monema, or what we are, to the root of Christ. Being appendages of the light that shines, our whole body will be full of light, «and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.» ( D & C 88:67 )