Extra Sabbathoughts for Easter

By some oversight, we omitted to sing Easter hymns in our church service this morning. Fortunately the prayers and the sacrament and the talks focused us appropriately. Strange that we do full honor to His birth throughout December but Easter seems to pass often unnoticed. That is probably consistent, however:

"How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is giv'n . . . ."

But really, ought we not to remember as a people as well as in our hearts individually? It just seems to reflect much of what we have lamented in these Sabbathoughts: that we do not yet know Him, and His gospel is the best-kept secret among us.

As the Savior entered Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday, the people---the "children of the kingdom" as Joseph rendered it---cried out in the way and in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David . . . Hosanna in the highest."

We get Hosanna mixed up with Hallelujah. The "children of the kingdom"---appropriately---were crying out, "Hosanna---Save us now!" a fitting plea to the Savior whose act of redemption in a few short days would indeed make available salvation to us all. Save us now!

Hallelujah means Praise to Jehovah. A fitting tribute, but Hosanna is the right word here on this occasion. Recall when we Latter-day Saints render a similar Shout with white handkerchiefs. . . . Save us now! Now we see the purpose and the center of the temple.

The Gospel of John shows that Mary saw two angels, as she stooped down, weeping, to look into the sepulchre, the tomb. They were "in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain."

Might we speculate on the identity of these two angels? It seems entirely correct to think that one was Michael (who is Adam), and the other Gabriel (who is Noah). When we ponder on the role each of these mighty men played in the drama of the story, and when we consider what the Prophet has taught, it fits. . . .

May we ask, Is the Resurrection still taking place, meaning, Are people being resurrected as they are ready, soon after they die?

It seems the Resurrection is on hold for now, that Joseph and the other great prophets of this dispensation are not yet resurrected but that Joseph will be the next to be so. Then the Resurrection will resume in order, on back to the New Testament days. We know from Matthew, and from Paul, and from the Book of Mormon that "many saints did arise and appear unto many and did minister unto them" at the time of the Savior's resurrection, He being the firstfruits, of course. The only ones on record who died after Jesus, but who have been resurrected before His Second Coming, are Peter, James, and Moroni.

A good friend in my seminary-teaching days served his mission in the Philippines. While there he once had the privilege of picking up at the airport Elder Gordon B. Hinckley. It was Good Friday, and as they drove through the streets to the mission home they saw dozens of men nailed to crosses in agony, their way of commemorating the Crucifixion. Elder Hinckley wept openly, was very disturbed by the scene. "Oh how they need the restored truth of the gospel!" he lamented.

In the ninth chapter of Hebrews Paul makes it clear that Jesus suffered and died once for the sins and pains of all mankind.

From Genesis to Revelation there is not to be found in the Bible a clear definition of resurrection, of what it means to be resurrected. As a result there is a fog of confusion on the doctrine in the world.

But the Book of Mormon---in the Book of Alma---contains clear and marvelous teachings on the Resurrection and abundant details on the doctrine.

The Resurrection---of the Lord, and of all mankind--- is a central theme of the Book of Mormon, as the Lord told Enoch it would be. In a vision of the Last Days---"the days of wickedness and vengeance"---the Lord showed Enoch that "righteousness will I send down out of heaven [angels, priesthood keys]; and truth will I send forth out of the earth [the Book of Mormon plates], to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men" (Moses 7:62).

The actual, literal, physical resurrection of all mankind, each person who has had a body, as well as all the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms---the whole created earth---is a reality and a central doctrine of the true gospel. The world does not know this. . . . So, "how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth" (2 Nephi 2:8).

This is the message, the comfort, the doctrine, the reality, the power of the Easter Season and its consoling truths.

"He's won the victory over the grave / And He won't leave us behind."

Would you like to discuss these things further? Would you like a glimpse as to how we know these things? If so, let me know---either by the Comments box below, or by e-mail.

God bless you.

Steve

Sabbathoughts for Easter

Happy Easter, everybody.

Today, as we write, is Good Friday. It is the day we remember that the Lord Jesus was tried (illegally), sentenced, and crucified. We may ask, What is Good about it? Let Jesus Himself answer:

"O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

"Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

"And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" --- to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. ". . . Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.

"And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.

"And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."

And as Lehi in the Book of Mormon taught: "Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth . . . ."

So, what's good about Good Friday is that it is the day the Good News of the gospel became valid and effective and was consummated in His sacrifice and suffering and subsequent resurrection.

Just as the word gospel comes to us from the old Saxon, "Godspel", meaning God's story, or God's news, or Good News, so we can see that Good Friday is really "God's Friday", as He finished the work His Father had given Him to do.

How marvelous it all is!

As the tour guides in Old Jerusalem say when they show tourists the Garden Tomb: "This tomb is different from all other tombs; this one is empty!"

The greatest victory of all time was announced not in these six words, "Manchester United --- Six, Manchester City --- Nil," nor in these eight words, "Brigham Young University --- Sixty, University of Utah --- Zero," but in these eight words: "He is not here: for he is risen."

Because, O my! it was Jesus Christ, / The Savior of mankind;
He's won the victory over the grave / And He won't leave us behind.

That is the chorus of a song my family and I wrote in the mid--1970s at Easter, entitled The Borrowed Tomb. Here's the rest of it:

Saw them take Him down Friday evening, / His face was ghostly white,
And the thunder was rumbling around the cross, / It was such a chilling sight.
Then they laid Him down in that borrowed tomb, / Quickly now, it's the Sabbath Day,
From womb to tomb in just thirty-three years, / Thirty-three years and one day.

And, O my! it was Jesus Christ, / The Savior of mankind;
He's won the victory over the grave / And He won't leave us behind.

Sunday morning in that Garden, / When Mary came to see,
The stone of the tomb was rolled away / And a voice spoke tenderly;
But Mary thought it was the gardener / So she didn't raise her eyes to see,

But, O my! it was Jesus Christ! / The Savior of mankind;
He's won the victory over the grave / And He won't leave us behind.

Thomas came along with doubt in his heart, / The Apostles said, We've seen the Lord!
Thomas said, Until I've felt His wounds, / I can't believe a single word.

But, O my! it was Jesus Christ! / The Savior of mankind;
He's won the victory over the grave / And He won't leave us behind.

Now this is what we witness to everyone, / That the Lord is risen today;
And the wonder of the Resurrection is / That we'll all rise in the same way,

Because, O my! it was Jesus Christ! / The Savior of mankind!
He's won the victory over the grave / And He won't leave us behind!

Truly, what died at that first Easter was Death itself, swallowed up in the Atonement and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Do we know what these words mean? Do we understand the wonder of it all?

As Peter said (and he should know; he was there), "But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear."

These things we know of a surety based on the knowledge received through the Prophet Joseph and the Restoration. Truly, a new Prophet has come to the world to bear new, solemn witness to what is being eroded and lost to the world of mankind.

Happy Easter, everyone, you defenders of the faith!

Steve

Sabbathought: "Jesus wept" --- Why did He weep?

"Jesus wept." . . . The shortest single verse in all scripture. . . . John 11:35. . . . Jesus wept.

Jesus wept. . . . God wept. . . . Does God weep often? Over what does God weep?

Does He weep over the death of a departed loved one? Is that a cause of mourning with Him? He who had previously said, "Let the dead bury the dead," when a disciple asked leave to follow Jesus later, when it was more convenient, for now he had to bury his father who had recently died. . . . Let the spiritually dead bury their dead, is His meaning here. Let the spiritually alert and alive seek to build up the kingdom of God without a moment's delay.

Death is not the end. It is a release, a passage to a better state. The Jews, the Nephites, we in modern Israel should know this well.

Does God have feelings of sentimental concern for those who pass away? The Jews certainly did---any natural man in his natural state would have such feelings, such sentiments. It is only human; it is only natural. And weeping and mourning has its appropriate time and place and has the sanction of the Lord Himself (see D&C 42:45). (We'll come back to the Jews "mourning" over Lazarus in a moment.)

But He who said, "My ways are not your ways," is He likely to have sentimental regrets over the passing of family-member Lazarus, especially when He knew He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead in the next sixty seconds?

Do we have other instances of God weeping? . . . We do. Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem and her inhabitants the Jews because they would not repent and let Him gather them and protect them and save them.

Jesus, as Jehovah, in the days of Enoch, wept with Enoch over the wickedness of the people who would not repent and who would therefore be destroyed in the Flood (see Moses 7:23--67).

Jesus, God Himself, as the Book of Mormon so clearly teaches (see 1 Nephi 19:10; Mosiah 7:27; 13:28, 34; 15:1, 5--9; 17:8), wept with the faithful Nephites as they wept with gratitude for His healing ministry among them (3 Nephi 17). His bowels were filled with compassion towards them on this occasion and He wept openly, and His joy was full.

But notice this, in the middle of this sublimest moment of joy and healing, of peace and praise, in the whole record, as He blessed their little children, we find this:

"And it came to pass that he commanded that their little children should be brought. . . .

"And . . . when they had all been brought, and . . . the multitude . . . had knelt upon the ground, Jesus groaned within himself, and said: Father, I am troubled because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Israel."

Now bear this in mind as we go back to the Bible record.

In Mark 5 we find this, "And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly." . . . Professional mourners, you see.

"And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

"And they laughed him to scorn. [Footnote: they ridiculed him.] But when he had put them all out, . . . he took the damsel by the hand, and" raised her from the dead. Is the big picture becoming clear?

Back to Lazarus in John 11:--

The key verses are 31--38. Study them closely for yourself and see if Jesus wept out of His great love and compassion for Lazarus. Where do we get the idea that this was the reason for His tears? From the disbelieving Jews. The professional mourners. See verse 36. And many among us---so steeped in the false doctrine of His unconditional love and infinite mercy for all men on all occasions at all times---are left with no other reason and conclusion. . . . And it is a false conclusion. A false conclusion based on the false idea we borrowed from the world of false ideas, of God's unconditional love.

Jesus wept, but not for the reasons our shallow surface reasoning produces. As among the Nephites in 3 Nephi 17, we find that He "groaned in the spirit, and was troubled" (John 11:33). And in 11:38, "again groaning in himself."

Elder McConkie points out that "these phrases as given in the revised version say that he 'was moved with indignation in the spirit' and 'being moved with indignation in himself.' Apparently Jesus was expressing sorrowful indignation, in the first instance because of the shallow and ritualistic weeping of the Jews and in the second case at the baseless criticism poured upon him for failure to come and heal Lazarus prior to his death" (DNTC 1:532--3).

There is more to say on this, and we shall visit it another time. But let Nephi have the last word as he closes out his record, in tears:

"Behold, this [the preceding dozen verses in 2 Nephi] is the doctrine of Christ, . . .

"And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be.

[And then, over the page to p. 116, . . . this:]

"But I, Nephi, have written what I have written, and I esteem it as of great worth, and especially unto my people [who are of the house of Israel]. For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry [and preserve this record for them to read, so they will come unto Christ, repent, learn of Him, and be saved]."

Jesus wept. Nephi wept. Both for the very same reason. Do you see it?

Please---your comments. Feedback. Thoughts. Space is short here for me. More later. Have a glorious Sabbath.

Steve