Sabbathought : The most important question in history

Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught that this is the most important question in history, and that a failure to answer it is an answer in and of itself.

It is the Savior Himself who posed the question: "What think ye of Christ?" (Matthew 22:42).

Our answer to this question and our enthusiasm for the subject will not only ultimately determine our happiness and well being, but our safety and salvation as well. As Elder Maxwell indicated, this is the question of the ages; there can be no neutrals on this issue.

It is an appropriate question to ponder on this Independence Day of the United States.

At the time of the bicentennial celebration of this day back in 1976, then-President of the Church Spencer W. Kimball wrote a trenchant article in the Ensign magazine entitled, "The False Gods We Worship" (June 1976). Anyone who recalls that article may well agree that while we are declared independent of the oppression of foreign powers, we should declare ourselves utterly dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ. Being a sovereign people, looking to no earthly sovereign as a matter of loyalty and subjection, American Latter-day Saints sometimes have difficulty organizing their priorities in this respect.

For instance, it is not uncommon to hear American Latter-day Saints question the propriety of a people (Nephites) who "bow down at [Jesus'] feet, and did worship him . . . [and] did kiss his feet, insomuch that they did bathe his feet with their tears" (3 Nephi 17:10). When we fully understand that Jesus is our God, far more than our "best friend" or "older brother," we shall have no difficulty with such reverence and awe.

The prophet Moroni wrote some 1600 years ago on this continent: "And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity."

Does anyone doubt that this nation is fast approaching that point? Moroni continues:

"Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity . . . if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written" (Ether 2:9, 12).

On the whole, said President Kimball thirty-four years ago, we are an idolatrous people. O, the great need to declare ourselves dependent on Jesus Christ and act accordingly!

So here is the key question: "What think ye of Christ?"

An easy measure by which to answer it is perhaps the extent to which we see Him in our study of the Old Testament. Do we see that the Old Testament is not history, but HisStory? The Apostle Paul gave us a key:

"But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament;" --- does this describe you and me? --- Paul gives the remedy, the solution: "which vail is done away in Christ" (2 Corinthians 3:14).

Truly, unless one sees Jesus everywhere in the Old Testament, there is no understanding of the Old Testament at all. It is HisStory, and we should search it diligently until we find Him and come to know Him.

Happy Fourth of July!

Steve