This post is composed mostly of other posts on this blog and was written as a sacrament meeting talk to follow the ward primary program and given on September 11, 2022.
Although it was written thousands of years ago, the lessons
of the Old Testament are as relevant for you and I today as they were for the
people who lived upon its pages. Through these ancient writings we are
privileged to observe the lives of the faithful in a very different time, a
very different place, and a very different culture. Yet, in their experiences
we can identify eternal principles that can guide us as we strive to be
faithful in our time, in this place, and surrounded by the society that exists
today.
For example, one of the first stories every primary child
learns is about Noah and the ark. In Noah’s time, the sons of men were not
honoring the covenants the Lord had given them, particularly the marriage
covenant, and the “thoughts of [their] heart[s] [were] only evil continually”
(Genesis 5:2, 5). Noah was righteous and “found grace in the eyes of the Lord”
(Genesis 5:8). The Lord gave the people 120 years to repent and sent Noah to
preach to them.
The people did not repent despite a lifetime of opportunity.
What follows in the scriptures is a great chiasm describing the building of the
ark, a promised covenant, gathering food and animals, a forty-day flood,
waiting 150 days for the waters to subside (symbolic of the completion of a
priestly blessing), then the abatement of the flood, the commandment to leave
the ark, finding food in the new land, receiving a covenant with a token, and
the end of the ark.
We often associate Noah’s experience with baptism. The earth
was immersed in water and the Lord made a covenant with all of mankind in the
process. Perhaps this is also why the story resonates so well with our
children. It is fun to recount the many animals that gathered on the ark, but
the spirit also testifies in its retelling of the baptism ordinance we all need
to return to our eternal home.
The lesson that the author of Genesis most wanted us to
learn, embedded in the very center of the chiasm, is this sentence: “And God
remembered Noah, and every living thing” (Genesis 8:1).
Even when the Lord shut Noah and his family in the ark
(Genesis 7:16), he did not leave them in the dark. The scriptures speak of a
window, though some rabbis believe that the window was really a precious stone
that shone in the ark. This insight reminds me that even when I feel like I am
helpless and in the deepest of waters, the Lord will always send his light to
comfort me. He will remember you and I and he is the in “the details of the
details of the details of our lives” (Elder Chi Hong Wong, April 2021).
My favorite Old Testament biography is the account of
Abraham. At the tender age of 75, Abraham found himself on an altar about to be
sacrificed to an idol god. At the last moment, an angel appeared, untied him
from the altar and helped him escape.
In perhaps the greatest understatement in scripture, Abraham
reflected that he “saw that it was needful… to obtain another place of
residence.” Abraham’s insight about preventing future abuse was also a resolve
to spend more time seeking for the things of God. He had been faithful—that’s
how he ended up on an altar in the first place—yet he reflected that he desired
“greater happiness and peace and rest” that he knew he could receive by seeking
“the blessings of the fathers.” These blessings included knowledge, a greater
capacity to obey the commandments, being the father of many nations, and being a
holder of the priesthood (Abraham 1:1-2).
With renewed resolve, and over many years of diligent
preparation, Abraham’s search ultimately led him to the temple and the
covenants that each of us can make in the House of the Lord. Along the way he
made smaller covenants and his faith was tested and expanded. He moved his
family several times, risked his life in Egypt, endured famines, knew
prosperity, resisted the evils of Sodom and Gomorrah, rescued his nephew from a
foreign army, paid tithing, experienced the disappointment of infertility, and
dealt with many emotional and relationship challenges. Through it all, Abraham
“believed in the Lord; and the Lord counted it unto him for righteousness” (JST
Genesis 15:12).
It is important to note that Abraham’s covenant was not made
in isolation. Genesis 17 clearly shows that Abraham’s wife, Sarah, also
covenanted with the Lord. She also endured these many tribulations and was
blessed, through her covenant, that she would be the mother of nations and
kings. Her temple experience also included the very personal promise that,
though she had been barren 100 years, she would yet have her desire to give
birth to a son. It was her covenant, together with Abraham’s, that secured
covenant blessings for her posterity who were born into that covenant.
For Abraham, fulfilling the terms of his covenant required
more than thirty years of additional tests and trials. He fought an uphill
battle to save the wicked city of Sodom, experienced the loss of members of his
family, and was compelled to exile his second wife and oldest son. Then
Abraham, who had nearly been sacrificed to idols by his own father, who wanted
posterity most of all and had worked for decades to have that blessing, was
asked to do the unthinkable. He was asked to sacrifice Isaac, his son of
miraculous birth, the symbol of his covenant posterity and the son Abraham
called his “beloved.”
The Lord has said that, if we are to receive blessings and
glory like Abraham, we must also “be chastened and tried, even as Abraham”
(D&C 101:4-5). President John Taylor taught these words that he heard from
the Prophet Joseph Smith:
You will have all kinds of trials to pass through. And it
is quite as necessary for you to be tried as it was for Abraham and other men
of God, and God will feel after you, and He will take hold of you and wrench
your very heart strings, and if you cannot stand it you will not be fit for an
inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom of God… If God had known any other way
whereby he could have touched Abraham’s feelings more acutely and more keenly
he would have done so (Journal of Discourses, 24:197; 24:264).
In giving his will to the Lord, and being refined by Him, Abraham
found the blessings of happiness, peace, posterity, and priesthood that he
desired. He undoubtedly learned about how to deal with family problems, how to
follow spiritual promptings, and the importance of love, humility, sacrifice
and obedience. He learned that there is not anything that is too hard for the
Lord (Genesis 18:14) and that the Lord will keep His promises. I don’t often
enjoy the trials in my life, but I hope that I can have the faith of Abraham to
seek the blessings I desire, keep the covenants I have made, and learn to be a
little better along the way.
Another temple experience, not unlike Abraham’s, begins in
the ancient city of Babel, a predecessor to Babylon in modern-day Iraq. A play
on the Hebrew balal, which means “to mix or confound,” ancient tradition
states that Babel was known as “the gate of God.” Here at the symbolic
gates of heaven, Nimrod, the power-hungry grandson of Ham and great-grandson of
Noah, sought to build a tower to reach the heavens.
By virtue of its goal, Nimrod’s tower was likely some
version of a temple. Aware of the floods that had previously destroyed the
wicked, the Tower of Babel was built high and thick and from bricks and mortar
so as to be watertight. Its construction was a mockery of God, to whom Nimrod
preached it was cowardice to submit, and many traditions hold that it was
Nimrod’s satanic desire to use the tower to break into heaven, dethrone God,
avenge mankind of the flood that destroyed it, and place himself as the new
ruler of the heavens and of earth.
It was in this wicked society that a man named Jared and his
brother pleaded with the Lord for unity, or at-one-ment, for their family and a
small band of believers. The Lord answered each prayer with compassion and,
when the Brother of Jared had cried “this long time,” the Lord ultimately
promised to go before the Brother of Jared’s face, deliver him and his friends
from the evil around them, lead them to a promised land, and make Jared and his
brother the heads of a great nation (Ether 1:33-43).
Of course, the story of the Jaredites is recorded in the
Book of Mormon, but this story very much reflects the Old Testament time period
in which it occurred. Intertwined with the Lord’s promises for temporal and
political blessings for the Jaredites are the core elements of what we now call
the Abrahamic Covenant: knowledge, priesthood, posterity, and a promised land.
In other words, because the Jaredites had faithfully rejected the false
doctrines of the world and its heretical temple, the Lord covenanted to reveal
the doctrines of the gospel and bring them back into his presence through
authorized temple ordinances.
Preparation to receive the promised blessings lasted for
many years. The Jaredites were tested and refined as they wandered in the
wilderness, built barges on several occasions to cross many waters, endured
trials and chastisement, collected animals and seeds, and lived four years in
tents on the seashore. As the Jaredites’ obedience and sacrifice increased, so
did their privileges with the Lord.
“And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them, and
did talk with them as he stood in a cloud, and gave directions whither they
should travel… being directed continually by the hand of the Lord” (Ether
2:5-6).
“And it came to pass… that the Lord came again unto the
brother of Jared, and stood in a cloud and talked with him. And for the space
of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared” (Ether 2:14).
Finally, the Jaredites were ready to construct the barges
that would carry them across the ocean; and the Brother of Jared was prepared
for the greater light and knowledge the Lord promised to give him. The Brother
of Jared’s prayers led him to the top of a particularly high mountain, where he
appealed for the Lord’s approval and redemption in the same way that a high
priest entering an ancient temple symbolically was redeemed from the Fall in
order to enter the presence of God. Once admitted, like Moses on Mount Sinai,
the Brother of Jared asked the Lord to touch the stones with his finger that
they may have light. I wonder where he got that idea.
The Lord grants the Brother of Jared’s request and then, the
scripture records, “there never were greater things made manifest than those
which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared” (Ether 4:4). Having
received this instruction, “he could not be kept from beholding within the
veil… and he had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing doubting” (Ether 3:19).
As the Lord inquired of the Brother of Jared, so he inquires
of us: “What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?”
Are we willing to reject the false philosophies of the world, the secularism
and selfishness and tribalism, to pursue unity and at-one-ment for our families
and our small band of believers here in Mariposa?
If so, the Lord has promised that “inasmuch as you strip
yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye
are not sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and
know that I am—not with the carnal neither natural mind, but with the
spiritual” (D&C 67:10).
Elder Bruce R. McConkie once taught that “a prophet is one
who has the testimony of Jesus, who knows by the revelations of the Holy Ghost
to his soul that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. In addition to this divine
knowledge, many [Old Testament prophets] lived in special situations or did
particular things that singled them out as types and patterns and shadows of
that which was to be in the life of him who is our Lord” (The Promised Messiah,
p. 448).
Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son. Moses was sent from
the presence of the Lord to deliver his people. We also see a shadow of the
Savior in the life and mission of the prophet Joseph.
Joseph was the favored son of his father. He was rejected by
his brothers, the Israelites, and sold into the hands of the Gentiles for the
average price of a slave his age. Judah, whose descendants would become the
Jews, was the one who proposed the sale. In their very attempt to destroy
Joseph, his brothers actually set up the conditions that would bring about
their eventual temporal salvation.
Joseph began his mission to prepare salvation for Israel at
age thirty and was eventually raised to an exalted position in Egypt where
everyone bowed the knee to him. In the end, Joseph, by virtue of being
sold—provided bread for Israel, forgave his brothers, and delivered them from
death while returning their money to their sacks.
Likewise, Jesus Christ was and is the only begotten Son of
God in the flesh. He was also rejected by the Israelites and sold into the
hands of the Gentile-Romans for the average price of a slave his age. Judas, the
Greek spelling of Judah, was the one who sold him.
Jesus began his ministry when he was thirty years old. He
was raised by the Romans and crucified, whereby he completed the atoning
sacrifice and became the Deliverer and Redeemer of all mankind.
Jesus taught: “I am the living bread which came down from
heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that
I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John
6:51). We are saved by his grace, after all we can do; yet he offers this
forgiveness and salvation without money and without price.
Certainly there are many other examples we can learn from in
the Old Testament. I wish that I could have the wisdom of Eve, Esther’s
courage, Job’s willingness to consecrate, Elijah’s confidence in the Lord, Isaac’s
patience, and Joshua’s loyalty. I want to reject sinful thoughts, philosophies
and actions like Noah, Abraham, the Brother of Jared and Joseph.
I want to have Joseph’s faith that the Lord will keep his
promises even when it doesn’t seem possible. Like Abraham, I recognize that,
though I have been pretty faithful, and have spent some time on metaphorical
altars, I need to seek more diligently to keep my covenants and obtain the
promises that I have been given. I hope that my life reflects, in some small
way, the example of the Savior and that his image can be seen in my
countenance.
The Old Testament challenges each of us to endure trials and
wickedness to follow the Lord. It also shows us how keeping our covenants and
following the prophet can help us with these challenges.
The prophet in our day, President Russell M. Nelson, has
asked us to study every day in the scriptures. He has provided the Come,
Follow Me curriculum and promised that it has “the potential to unleash the
power of families” and, through our diligence, will decrease the influence of
the adversary in our lives. He has warned that, “in the coming days it will not
be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting
and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”
If you have not yet begun studying the Old Testament with Come, Follow Me in your family, go home today and open it up. Start fresh with the new week and seek for the blessings and strength that is there for you. If you’re not sure if you have enough faith, start to act as if you do—especially studying in the scriptures and praying each day—and I promise there will be a power that will come into your life that will be undeniable. You can know, or know again, that God remembers you and has provided light for you in the darkness.
