Episode Transcript
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0:02
Hey everybody, welcome to Talking Scripture,
0:05
a podcast where we illustrate relevance and
0:07
application of the scriptures and come follow
0:09
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0:11
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head over to our website, TalkingScripture .org.
0:23
Welcome to Talking Scripture, I'm Mike. And
0:25
I'm Bryce. And today we're going
0:28
to be in section 45. We get
0:30
one whole week with just section 45.
0:32
Now, this is kind of chapter two
0:34
of section 29. Remember the last time
0:36
we had a whole section? It was
0:38
29. And if you listen to
0:40
that podcast, we reminded everyone, don't get caught
0:43
up in the flies and the maggots and
0:45
miss the whole point of that, which was
0:47
that Jesus is going to prevail. It was
0:49
a time in church history where they were
0:52
very discouraged. New York was not. kind
0:54
to them, they were getting persecuted, and
0:57
the Savior gave this incredible vision to them
0:59
that Jesus is going to prevail. So
1:02
here we are in Kirtland. Once again,
1:05
persecution has raised its ugly face. If
1:08
you look at the section heading, Joseph
1:10
writes that many false reports and foolish
1:12
stories were published and circulated to prevent
1:14
people from investigating the work. So they're
1:16
having to deal with a lot of
1:19
false reports out there that are
1:21
causing people to turn away from
1:24
investigating the church. And so the
1:26
Lord once again gives a wonderfully
1:28
comforting section that you are on,
1:30
Team Jesus. and
1:32
Team Jesus is going to be victorious.
1:34
We're going to talk about the city
1:37
of Enoch, and then we're going to
1:39
remind you of the greatest story that
1:41
Jesus loved to tell, his favorite story
1:43
he told all throughout the scriptures. He's
1:45
now going to tell it to us.
1:48
It is the victory of the Latter
1:50
-day Saints. It is
1:52
the building of Zion and the city
1:54
that will rival the city of Enoch.
1:56
So we'll get there. But
1:58
I want to start off in section 45 that
2:01
begins with just such a tender
2:03
little scene. In verse
2:05
3 he calls himself the Advocate
2:07
with the Father. Sometimes
2:10
we don't ponder exactly what that
2:12
means. I I personally have this
2:14
vision of judgment day Where all
2:17
the evidence against me is somehow
2:19
presented every mistake I've ever made
2:21
as if Somehow Satan were prosecuting
2:24
me or someone was saying how
2:26
could you let this guy into
2:28
the slusher kingdom look at everything
2:31
that he's done and in my
2:33
mind I the process. Someone stands
2:35
up and presents all the reasons
2:37
why I shouldn't be saved. All
2:40
the mistakes I've made and they
2:42
end their case and I just,
2:44
can you imagine me looking at
2:47
my lawyer who is Christ saying,
2:49
how in the world? I
2:51
did every one of those things. I
2:54
did. I did every, I made every
2:57
one of those mistakes. How could I
2:59
possibly even have a hope for salvation?
3:01
I am that imperfect person they described.
3:04
And I can't possibly counter that
3:06
with the good things that I've
3:09
done that will erase the memory
3:11
of the bad things I've done.
3:13
What in the world is my
3:15
advocate going to say? What is
3:18
my defense against all the prosecution?
3:22
Now watch what Jesus does. My
3:25
advocate presenting my defense
3:28
to the Father. And
3:32
he says, Father, this is verse four,
3:34
Father, behold the sufferings and death of
3:36
him who did no sin, in
3:40
whom thou wast well pleased.
3:44
Behold the blood of thy son which was
3:47
shed, and the blood of him who thou
3:49
gave us that thyself may be glorified. In
3:52
other words, Jesus isn't going to counter
3:54
with, well, Bryce did a few good
3:56
things, so maybe he
3:58
might get credit, Jesus
4:00
doesn't counter with me. Jesus
4:03
looks the Father in the eye and in
4:06
verse 5 says, Wherefore, Father,
4:09
spare him, because
4:12
he believes on my
4:14
name. I
4:16
want him to come unto
4:19
me and have everlasting life.
4:23
I'm sorry, but there
4:25
is absolutely no other
4:28
verdict the father could
4:30
make then Okay, you
4:33
got it He's in
4:35
he's into the kingdom
4:37
not because of his
4:40
merits But because of
4:42
the son's merits With
4:45
all my imperfections struggling
4:47
crawling behind I still
4:50
choose to be on
4:52
team Jesus And
4:55
that's enough for him to say, save
4:58
him because he believes on
5:00
me. We will be saved
5:02
because of the goodness of
5:05
the Savior, not
5:07
by our merits. Our
5:09
job is to believe in him and
5:11
to be cleansed by his atoning sacrifice.
5:14
And that's enough for him
5:16
to justify our defense and
5:18
to present the case to
5:20
the Father. I love
5:22
those three verses. They mean the world to
5:24
me. What you're
5:27
talking about reminds me of Lehi
5:29
talking to Jacob. And
5:31
so in 2 Nephi 2, verse
5:34
3, Lehi speaking to Jacob says,
5:51
for thou hast beheld that in the
5:53
fullness of time he cometh to bring
5:56
salvation unto men." And you note that
5:58
Lehi doesn't say, Jacob, I know that
6:00
you are going to be blessed because
6:03
you're so great, but it's because of
6:05
Jesus. I just love
6:07
that idea that my defense is
6:10
not that I've done something to
6:12
merit salvation. It's
6:14
that I believe in Christ and
6:16
Jesus has done something to merit
6:18
salvation. And He's pulling me
6:20
in with Him. Now the
6:22
whole rest of this section is, again, a
6:25
reminder that Team Jesus is going to
6:27
be victorious. So in verses
6:29
6 through 10, He points
6:32
to Himself. Listen to, He
6:34
calls Himself Alpha and Omega, the beginning
6:36
and the end, the light and the
6:38
life of the world. He reminds people
6:40
in verse 8, I came into the
6:43
world, I came into my own, and
6:45
they did not receive me. But those
6:47
who did receive me, those
6:49
who did accept me, I gave
6:51
power to do many miracles and
6:54
to become the sons of God
6:56
and that they can't obtain eternal
6:58
life. And of all the people
7:01
that were ever victorious, he points
7:03
us to a city like the
7:06
one we're going to build. Now,
7:10
I remind you of that story
7:12
that Jesus tells, his favorite story
7:14
involves the building of the greatest
7:16
city on earth. That's how this
7:18
section is going to end. So
7:20
we're going to get there, but
7:22
we're going to start with an
7:24
image of a group of people
7:26
who already built a city, and
7:28
they already were victorious. And that's
7:30
the city of Enoch. So starting
7:32
in verse 11, he points to
7:34
that he is the God of
7:36
Enoch. He separated them,
7:38
and they built a city
7:41
reserved until a day of
7:43
righteousness to come. When
7:46
we can do the same thing, we
7:48
can get into that city. The reality
7:50
is, verse 13, we are strangers and
7:52
pilgrims on this celestial planet. If
7:55
you find yourself like so many
7:57
others saying, this isn't where I
7:59
belong, this isn't home, and I'm
8:01
looking for home, well, you're
8:04
gonna find it. We're going to build
8:06
that city. We are strangers and pilgrims
8:08
on this earth and we shouldn't be
8:10
too comfortable here. Yeah. And yet the
8:12
reverse is also true. I think Bryce,
8:15
there are times when we feel like
8:17
a little taste of what it was
8:19
like before we came here. For me,
8:21
that's Christmas morning. When my kids
8:23
were little and they would open up their
8:25
packages, you could almost taste heaven. We
8:28
get little snippets of what our heavenly home's
8:30
like. And I think the invitation here, to
8:33
this little band of Christians is to
8:36
build this city. In fact, Joseph Smith
8:38
said, we ought to have the building
8:40
up of Zion as our greatest object.
8:44
And Joseph's gonna refer to this where
8:46
he's gonna say, prophets of old have
8:48
looked forward to a day when Zion
8:50
could be built. And so
8:53
I really think that that is a
8:55
underlying message that even though things are
8:57
going to be messy, even though
8:59
there's some things in section 45, like
9:02
you said, this is like, DNC
9:04
29 part two, God's saints are going
9:06
to be doing something totally different.
9:08
And that's this building of Zion. And
9:11
all throughout our lives, as
9:13
we are reminded that we
9:15
are strangers and pilgrims here,
9:18
we do get sense of
9:20
home. We do get those
9:22
little inklings. I love this statement from
9:24
C .S. Lewis where he says, the
9:26
book or the music in which we
9:28
thought the beauty was located will betray
9:30
us if we trust in them. It
9:33
was not in them, it
9:35
only came through them. And
9:38
what came through them was
9:40
longing. These things,
9:42
the beauty, the memory of our
9:45
own past, are good images of
9:47
what we really desire. But
9:50
if they are mistaken for the thing
9:52
itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking
9:54
the hearts of their worshipers. For they
9:57
are not the thing itself. They
9:59
are only the scent of a flower we have
10:01
not found, the echo of
10:03
a tune we have not heard,
10:05
news from a country we have
10:07
never yet visited. Do not mistake
10:10
the things of the world that
10:12
bring happiness and joy as being
10:14
the source of that happiness and
10:16
joy. They are
10:18
simply The vehicle through which
10:20
we were reminded that we
10:22
are from another place. We
10:25
are searching for that home
10:27
and we will find it.
10:30
Jesus is going to come and
10:32
we are going to be with
10:34
Him. Yeah. Okay, so I'm
10:37
going to shift a little bit. and talk
10:39
about verse seven and eight. So
10:41
in verse seven, the Lord says, I
10:43
say to you that I am Alpha and Omega,
10:45
the beginning and the end, the
10:47
light and the life of the
10:49
world. A light that shineth in darkness
10:52
and the darkness comprehendeth it not.
10:54
I came unto mine own and my
10:56
own received me not, but unto as
10:58
many as received me gave I power
11:01
to do many miracles. and
11:03
to become the sons of God and
11:05
even unto them that believed on my
11:07
name gave I power to obtain eternal
11:10
life. Verse 7 is
11:12
packaging a lot of stuff that
11:14
John's doing in the New Testament.
11:17
Alpha and Omega are the first and
11:19
last characters of the Greek alphabet. What
11:22
Jesus is saying is he's the author and finisher
11:24
of our faith. He's the
11:27
beginning and the end. And
11:29
those two symbols can be his
11:31
name. The Alpha, it's
11:33
the beginning and it points upward
11:35
and Omega is almost like a
11:37
broken circle and there's a lot
11:40
of scholars out there that have
11:42
talked about that symbol being super
11:44
duper old. Is it from Egypt?
11:46
Is it from Mesopotamia? We
11:48
don't know. And we'll put some of this
11:50
in the show notes, and I give you
11:53
some links. You can read Arthur Marquille, you
11:55
can read Tom Cryer. They do some really
11:57
good stuff with this that I try to
11:59
show you this idea that that omega could
12:01
represent a gate. It's the gate
12:03
by which we come back to our heavenly home.
12:05
It's also what's called the Hathor wig, which
12:08
was the symbol for rebirth in Egypt. And
12:10
so Jesus is the beginning, but he's also
12:13
the rebirth in the gate. And
12:15
this is a visual image, but it's also an
12:17
image that has to do with their language. And
12:20
so I wanna talk a little bit
12:22
about the packaging of John chapter one
12:24
and verse eight. And what
12:26
you have in verse eight is a couple
12:29
of verses in John one, verse 11 and
12:31
12. And I'm just going
12:33
to read those. We
12:45
are all sons and daughters
12:48
of God. In
12:52
the Book of Mormon, we know that
12:55
when we make covenants, we make Jesus
12:57
our Father. He becomes our Father by
12:59
covenant. That's Mosiah 5. And in section
13:01
45, what I see
13:03
in verse 8 is some words
13:06
that John's using. And John's interesting
13:08
because he uses this word, the
13:11
word for receive. There's a couple of different words.
13:13
One of them is daekomai, but he's not
13:16
using that one. He's using lambano, which means
13:18
to grasp by the hand. And
13:20
so I believe that verse eight
13:22
or John one, 11 and 12
13:24
is temple liturgy, but more specific
13:26
it's temple literature. So these were
13:28
words that would be used in
13:30
the temple, but this is also
13:33
a ritual that we receive him,
13:35
we grasp him and we receive
13:37
him. And then he gives you
13:39
power and that word can mean
13:41
power or authority or right. to
13:44
do many miracles. Now, typically when
13:46
John uses that word, that is
13:48
a word that can mean sign
13:50
or token. And
13:53
then to become, gignomize
13:55
usually the word that's used, to become
13:57
the sons of God, even unto those
13:59
that believe on his name. And the
14:01
word he's using for believe has to
14:03
do with trust. And
14:05
the symbol for that word, pistis, is
14:08
the handshake. That's the Roman and the
14:10
Greek symbol for that word is to
14:12
take someone by the hand. And so
14:14
on their coins, they would actually have
14:17
a handshake as the symbol for trust
14:19
or faith. And that was the symbol
14:21
that was used. And notice verse eight,
14:24
they become the sons of God to
14:26
me is related to Psalm 110. Psalm
14:29
110 is the most quoted Old
14:31
Testament scripture in the entire New
14:33
Testament. So Psalm
14:35
110 and Psalm two were
14:38
used ritually in the temple.
14:41
And in those Psalms, the king and
14:43
the queen would be sat down and
14:45
they would be proclaimed sons and daughters
14:48
as it were of God. So I'm
14:50
gonna read Psalm 2 verse 6 and
14:52
7. Now
15:05
I believe that this was used in
15:08
a liturgical setting in the temple to
15:10
all the sons and daughters of God,
15:12
that that's what we're reading in Mosiah
15:14
5, that King Benjamin is having his
15:16
son in his coronation ritual at the
15:18
New Year, and that all the sons
15:20
and daughters of Israel are there gathered
15:22
at the temple. We know they are.
15:24
They tell us in the Book of
15:26
Mormon their tents are facing the temple.
15:28
This is all that Feast of Tabernacle
15:30
stuff going on that we've talked about
15:33
in other podcasts, and they
15:35
are declared His son
15:37
now if you go to verse 8
15:39
and this is all before any of
15:41
the Kirtland Temple stuff This is way
15:43
before Navu Joseph Smith is very young
15:46
and here it is right here in
15:48
this setting of building this city because
15:50
who's gonna build the city endowed Saints
15:52
that have received or believed verse 8
15:55
on My name and that's more than
15:57
just believing in Jesus to me that
15:59
is receiving the name and Then notice
16:01
what it gives you verse 8 the
16:04
power of eternal lives.
16:07
So to me, Bryce, verse 8, it's
16:09
like God saying, no, we have some
16:11
really cool stuff going on, but in
16:13
Nauvoo, it gets explained. So...
16:15
That's all coming out of John in the New
16:17
Testament. Jesus is now pointing to the New Testament.
16:20
Ironically, He's about to tell Joseph, it's now
16:22
time to translate the New Testament. He's pointing
16:25
them in the right direction. So after quoting
16:27
a whole lot of John, now
16:29
in verse 16, He
16:31
kind of gives us an entire
16:33
trailer version of what's coming as
16:36
Joseph translates the New Testament. There
16:38
are only two canonized sections
16:41
of the JST. Everything
16:43
else is either in the appendix or in
16:45
the footnotes. And not really
16:47
part of the canon, but there are two
16:49
parts of the Joseph Smith translation that get
16:52
canonized. One part from the Old Testament, one
16:54
part from the New Testament. Moses
16:56
is the JST of Genesis 1 through
16:58
6, where we get to hear Adam
17:00
and Enoch and that whole story that
17:02
got pulled out of the Bible. When
17:05
Joseph Smith gets to Matthew 24,
17:08
He makes numerous changes that are
17:10
so significant and so pertinent to
17:13
our day that that chapter gets
17:15
canonized. It's now known as Joseph
17:17
Smith Matthew in the Pearl of
17:20
Great Price. It is the
17:22
JST of Matthew 24. Now that's very
17:24
important to remember. Here's the
17:26
setting. How many times
17:29
have people asked Jesus about the second
17:31
coming and he hasn't answered? In
17:34
Acts chapter 1, they ask, is this
17:36
the end? Is this where Zion
17:38
is going to be victorious? And
17:40
he basically says, that is not in your power
17:42
to understand. I'm not going to answer that question.
17:45
Joseph Smith asked numerous times, tell
17:48
me about the Second Coming. And
17:50
he was not given a whole
17:52
lot of information. But there is
17:54
one time in recorded scripture where
17:56
Jesus is asked about the Second
17:59
Coming and he answers with great
18:01
detail. It was when
18:03
he took his disciples out to the
18:05
Mount of Olives the week he is
18:07
going to die. Just days
18:09
before his crucifixion, he takes the disciples
18:12
out. After teaching in the temple, after
18:14
talking to them about the destruction of
18:16
the temple, he takes his disciples out
18:19
to the Mount of Olives. And
18:21
there he talks about the destruction
18:24
of the Jews and the destruction
18:26
at the Second Coming. And that
18:28
is so significant to our day,
18:31
Joseph's mischanges to that section have
18:33
now become canonized and are now
18:35
known as Joseph Smith Matthew. The
18:40
disciples asked Jesus two questions. So if
18:42
you'll turn to Joseph Smith Matthew to
18:44
kind of get the setting for what
18:47
he's going to give in section 45,
18:50
you can see that the disciples
18:52
asked two questions that Jesus is
18:54
going to answer. Verse 4
18:56
has the two questions. He
18:59
comes out to the Mount of Olives and
19:01
as he sat upon the Mount of Olives,
19:03
the disciples came unto him privately saying, question
19:05
number one, tell us when these
19:07
things shall be which thou hast said
19:10
concerning the destruction of the temple and
19:12
the Jews. Now,
19:14
he's going to give us a little bit
19:16
of that in section 45. He's going to
19:18
tell us what he told the Jews about
19:20
the destruction of the temple. So
19:23
they come out and say, hey, when
19:25
is Jerusalem going to be destroyed? When
19:27
is the temple going to be destroyed?
19:29
So that's the first question he's going
19:32
to answer and then he says and
19:34
What is the sign of thy coming
19:36
and of the end of the world
19:38
or the destruction of the wicked Which
19:40
is the end of the world so
19:42
two questions when will Jerusalem be destroyed
19:44
and? When will the whole world be
19:46
destroyed at thy coming? Now
19:49
in Joseph Smith Matthew he answers
19:52
the first question in verses 5
19:54
through the semi colon of verse
19:56
21 The semicolon
19:58
of verse 21 is where he shifts.
20:02
Starting at that semicolon throughout the
20:04
rest of the chapter, he now
20:06
answers the second question. What
20:09
are the signs of Thy coming? And
20:12
while we're here, let's
20:14
just do a little Joseph Smith Matthew.
20:16
I know our purpose in this podcast
20:19
is section 45, but while we're on
20:21
the subject, Jesus is answering
20:23
the question, what is life in the latter
20:25
days going to be? Now as
20:27
we go through this I'm gonna make an
20:30
assumption I might be totally wrong on my
20:32
assumption, but if I were to ask you
20:34
After you watch a movie that you love
20:36
what did you love about the movie? I'm
20:38
gonna make the assumption that the first thing
20:40
out of your mouth will be what you
20:43
loved the most and The second thing will
20:45
be what you loved second most When
20:48
I ask you, did you like that
20:50
meal? Well, what did you love? Isn't
20:52
the first thing that you tell me
20:54
the thing you love the most? So
20:56
when Jesus says I have some concerns
20:58
about the latter days Wouldn't the first
21:00
thing out of his mouth be his
21:02
biggest concern? I'm gonna
21:04
make the assumption that Jesus is
21:07
gonna list his concerns about the
21:09
latter days in the order of
21:11
concern If
21:13
that's the case, then you
21:15
read Joseph Smith Matthew 21
21:17
and 22. After he
21:19
shifts from the destruction of the Jews
21:22
and goes to the destruction of the
21:24
latter days, what
21:26
is the Savior's biggest concern
21:28
about the day in which
21:30
we live? Joseph
21:32
Smith Matthew 21 and 22.
21:35
He talks about, don't be
21:37
deceived. by the imitation.
21:39
Don't be fooled by the
21:41
false Christs, the false prophets,
21:44
the false churches, the
21:46
false plans of salvation. Don't
21:48
be deceived by an imitation. We see
21:51
that everywhere in the scriptures. Don't
21:54
be fooled by the building instead of the
21:56
tree of life that Lehi saw. Don't
21:59
be fooled by the whore of
22:01
the earth instead of the beautiful
22:03
woman that is the church in
22:05
Revelation. So the Savior's number one
22:07
concern is don't be fooled by
22:09
an imitation. Now
22:12
hold on to that. Let me just
22:14
throw some of the others in. We'll
22:16
come back to that idea. Starting in
22:18
23 through 29 he talks about wars
22:20
and rumors of wars and men taking
22:23
swords against each other. So the Savior's
22:25
next concern is war and rumor of
22:27
war, which we'll get to when we
22:29
go back to section 45. And He's
22:32
going to talk a lot about where
22:34
we will find safety when the wars
22:36
come. Verse 29,
22:38
He mentions the third concern, natural
22:41
disasters, famines, pestilence,
22:43
earthquakes in diverse places, which
22:46
He will also mention in
22:48
section 45. And then
22:50
verse 30, He mentions the
22:52
fact that wickedness will abound. Iniquity
22:55
shall abound, and the love of men
22:57
shall wax cold. So the Savior's top
23:00
four concerns about our day seem to
23:02
be, don't be deceived
23:04
by an imitation, which the very elect will
23:06
be deceived, some of them, wars
23:09
and rumors of wars, natural
23:11
disasters like earthquakes and famines
23:13
and pestilence, and
23:15
then an abundance of wickedness.
23:18
Yeah. They applied in
23:20
Jesus' day, and they apply
23:22
in our day. And
23:24
I would also add that these
23:26
things historically happened between Jesus' discussion
23:28
with his apostles and the destruction
23:30
of the temple. And
23:32
without getting too bogged down with the details,
23:35
there were individuals that rose up in Judaism
23:37
that said, I am the Christ. I am
23:39
the anointed one. I am the one who
23:42
is going to liberate us. And there was
23:44
even a revolt where many of the Sicari
23:46
killed the Romans Got them
23:48
off the Temple Mount and they actually
23:50
even minted their own coinage and said
23:52
hey, we are Israel and We are
23:55
back Jerusalem is back. We are our
23:57
own independent nation and the emperor in
23:59
Rome sent Titus and a bunch of
24:01
guys and we'll link this in the
24:03
show notes if you want to get
24:06
into which unit went where and what
24:08
were the siege machines like like you
24:10
can look at these descriptions because many
24:12
historians wrote stories about this and The
24:15
Jews got wrecked because they followed false
24:17
Christs. They followed false teachers. Were
24:20
there famines and earthquakes? Yeah, the
24:22
New Testament authors talk about these things that are
24:24
happening in Paul's day. What do we
24:26
do with the love of men waxing cold? Well,
24:29
there's a lot of ways to interpret verse 30,
24:31
but it seems like the message
24:34
in these verses are perpetually relevant.
24:37
They apply it in Jesus' day and
24:39
they apply in our day. There probably
24:41
were Christians that lived in 70 AD
24:44
that saw the temple being attacked and
24:46
thought, Jesus is coming. He
24:48
said he was going to come. He said the temple was going to
24:50
be destroyed. And some of those ideas
24:52
were swirling around in early Christianity and they looked
24:54
at this and they said, well, what are we
24:56
going to do? And so if you're sitting here
24:58
now going, well, when is Jesus coming? You're
25:01
not alone. For 2
25:04
,000 years, Christians have wondered this
25:06
very question and I certainly don't
25:08
know. But I think one of
25:10
the messages that Jesus is trying
25:12
to communicate is the disciples want
25:14
to know when and I don't
25:16
even know if that's the main
25:18
thing. He deliberately doesn't tell us
25:20
when because that's not the point.
25:22
If we knew when, we would
25:24
procrastinate our preparation. It's
25:26
like, imagine I'm a college professor and
25:29
you have to take my class to
25:31
graduate and the grade in my class
25:33
is based on a major research paper
25:35
that you write. And I give
25:37
you all the details and I tell you everything
25:39
about that you need to know and all the
25:41
times I'm going to be in my office to
25:43
help you and every resource that will help you.
25:45
The only thing I don't give you is a
25:47
due date. I'm not
25:49
going to tell you when it's due. One
25:52
day I'm going to show up and call for
25:54
them. And if you don't have it ready to
25:56
turn in, you will fail my class. You
25:59
have to have it ready. Now
26:01
imagine two students. One student
26:03
says, oh, he'll never call for the paper till
26:05
the end of the semester. I've
26:07
got plenty of time to write it
26:09
and procrastinates. Yet
26:11
every day he goes to class, what is he hoping?
26:14
Please don't let it be today. Please don't let it
26:16
to be today. The other
26:18
student runs out and starts writing
26:20
the paper, talks to the professor,
26:23
gathers the resources, gets help, and
26:26
diligently writes the paper. Now, after that paper
26:28
is written, tell me how that student goes
26:30
to class every day. Please
26:32
let today be the day. I'm
26:35
ready. I'm ready to hand
26:37
in this paper. If it's not today, then I'm
26:39
going to make a few revisions because I'd like
26:41
to change a couple things because I want to
26:43
make my paper better. But if today's the day,
26:45
I'm ready. Here's my paper. So
26:48
the setting here is I'm not
26:50
going to tell you when I'm
26:52
coming because I want you to
26:54
always be ready. So
26:57
in the rest of Joseph Smith
26:59
Matthew, Jesus gives us the antidote.
27:01
The antidote to, how do
27:03
you not be fooled by an imitation? How
27:05
do you deal with war and rumors of war? How do
27:07
you deal with natural disasters? How do
27:10
you deal with rising wickedness? Here are
27:12
the antidote. So, antidote number one is
27:14
verse 37. I'm still in Joseph Smith
27:16
Matthew, verse 37. If you want to
27:19
make sure you're not deceived by the
27:21
imitation, treasure up
27:23
my word. Treasure
27:25
up my word and everything's going to be
27:27
okay. But
27:30
then his focus is in verse
27:32
48. The
27:34
best way to get ready for
27:36
the Savior's coming is to always
27:39
be ready. What we do when
27:41
we are ready for His coming
27:43
are the antidotes to being deceived
27:45
and the wars and the wickedness.
27:48
If you are ready for the
27:50
Savior, you won't be deceived by
27:52
the imitation and you'll be safe
27:55
in the wars. and
27:57
you won't be pulled into the wickedness
27:59
of the people around you. By the
28:01
way, Bryce, in Christian history, the Christians
28:03
were warned by prophets to flee to
28:05
a place called Pella, and
28:07
historically that happened. They fled to Pella,
28:10
Jerusalem was destroyed. Now, I'm
28:12
not saying all Christians were saved, but
28:15
in the historical setting of the
28:17
19th century, how many times have
28:19
we read where the Lord said,
28:22
Joseph, You don't even
28:24
know what's coming. Go west. He's gonna
28:26
say it again in section 45 again.
28:28
Go west. Go west. And then if
28:30
you do go east get them and
28:32
then come west and he keeps saying
28:34
this and he'll often throw in Oh,
28:36
you hear about wars in foreign countries.
28:38
You don't even know what's coming and
28:41
I think about Lehi and We have
28:43
this puppet king named Zedekiah and Lehi
28:45
stands up and says guys the temple
28:47
is gonna be destroyed And
28:49
there's so many Jews, the Deuteronomists, that are
28:51
saying, no, the temple's not going to be
28:54
destroyed because we have the promise of David,
28:56
the temple will never be destroyed. We remember
28:58
Hezekiah, when Sennacherib came with his
29:00
guys, Reb Shchek and all these Assyrians, and
29:02
they were destroyed, God will defend the holy
29:04
city. And Lehi is like, not this time.
29:07
Only if you are righteous. And they got
29:09
out. And there were other groups, like the
29:11
Rekebites, that they got out. There are others
29:13
that were warned, the faithful need
29:15
not worry. because he's gonna pull
29:17
him out. And they need to always be ready.
29:19
So in verse 48, back to Joseph and Matthew,
29:22
be ye ready. There's the antidote. Always
29:25
be ready as if he's coming today.
29:27
And then he gives this little parable
29:29
and talks about a guy who's hired
29:32
to take care of some property. So
29:34
imagine, I live in Utah. So
29:36
imagine some rich person from some
29:39
wonderful part of the country that
29:41
doesn't have snow loves skiing. So
29:43
they come out to Utah and they buy a house
29:45
and say, look, when I want to ski, I'm going
29:48
to come out and stay at my house and I'm
29:50
going to go skiing. And they hire me to take
29:52
care of their house. So let
29:54
me propose two options. Bryce number one
29:56
says to myself, oh, they're not coming
29:58
in April. No one comes to Utah
30:01
to go skiing in April. I don't
30:03
have to have the house ready now.
30:05
So I just let the house kind
30:07
of fall apart. I'll get it ready
30:09
when the snow hits. I'm gonna have
30:11
some parties there. I'll use the property
30:14
for my own purposes. And
30:16
boom, they show up to go
30:18
hiking up in the mountains and
30:20
they find that I have left
30:23
everything. fall apart. Now
30:25
tell me how they feel about me
30:27
and what they're gonna do with me.
30:30
Now, price number two, I say
30:32
to myself, yeah, they probably
30:34
aren't coming, but I'm gonna assume that
30:36
they are. I'm gonna always have groceries
30:38
in the fridge. I'm gonna make sure
30:40
the lawn is cut. I'm gonna make
30:42
sure the house, I'm always going to
30:44
be ready for them. And boom, they
30:46
show up in April to go hiking
30:48
in the mountains and they find that
30:50
everything is ready for them. Now
30:53
tell me what they think about
30:55
me as a person Now that's
30:57
the parable that the Savior gives
31:00
and the whole setting here is
31:02
This is what I want to
31:04
find you doing when I do
31:06
come This is how to be
31:09
prepared for the second coming whenever
31:11
it happens is by doing these
31:13
things now What would the next
31:16
part if Joseph Smith Matthew ends
31:18
at verse 55? Where
31:21
does this thing continue? Where do
31:23
we find the list of things
31:25
he wants to find me doing
31:27
when he shows up? Remember
31:29
how this is the JST of Matthew 24?
31:32
So that list is Matthew
31:34
25. You have
31:36
to remember that. The setting of
31:39
the parables in Matthew 25 is,
31:42
this is what I want
31:44
to find you doing when
31:46
I come, meaning, These are
31:48
the things that if you're
31:50
always doing them you will
31:52
survive just fine in the
31:54
latter days So in Matthew
31:56
25 what you're gonna find
31:58
are three very important parables
32:00
We've got the parable of
32:02
the ten virgins the parable
32:04
of the talents and the
32:06
parable of the sheep and
32:08
the goats Now this is
32:10
where section 45 isn't golden
32:12
nugget because in section 45
32:15
He interprets the parable of
32:17
the ten virgins. He tells
32:19
us what it represents. So
32:22
jump back to section 45 verse
32:24
56. for
32:34
they that are wise have received
32:37
the truth and have taken the
32:39
Holy Spirit for their guide. The
32:41
oil in the vessel that the
32:44
wise virgins could not share with
32:46
the foolish virgins was the Holy
32:49
Ghost being their guide. And
32:52
notice what it says next, and
32:54
they have not been deceived. So
32:57
one of the most important things
32:59
the Savior is shouting out to
33:01
us, if you want to prevail
33:03
in the latter days, if you
33:05
want to make sure you and
33:07
your children are not deceived by
33:09
the imitations all around us, or
33:12
consumed by the wars, or the
33:14
natural calamities, or the wickedness of
33:16
men, the antidote is, like
33:18
he said back in Joseph Smith Matthew,
33:20
treasure the word. and
33:22
get the Spirit into your life.
33:24
Let the Holy Ghost be your
33:26
guide. Do you see
33:28
why Russell Nelson is constantly saying, if you
33:31
don't know how to get personal revelation, you
33:33
will not succeed in the latter days? Same
33:36
message. The ten
33:39
virgins took the Holy Ghost for their
33:41
guide and they were not deceived. Now
33:44
just to throw it in, back in Matthew 25,
33:46
so the parable of the ten virgins and the
33:49
next one is the parable of the talents. And
33:52
I would suggest there are two messages that come
33:54
out of the peril of the talents. Number
33:56
one, build his kingdom. Take
33:59
what he you and build his kingdom. And
34:01
if you're the one that got five
34:03
talents, build his kingdom. If you're the one
34:06
that got two talents, build his kingdom
34:08
to the best you can and you'll get
34:10
the same reward as the person who
34:12
got five. He says to both
34:14
of them, well done, thou good
34:16
and faithful servant. Some
34:18
people have five talents, some people have
34:20
two. Do what you can
34:22
with your talents and build his kingdom and you'll
34:25
have a reward in his kingdom. The
34:27
third person was so worried
34:29
about returning empty -handed that
34:31
he just held on to
34:33
the talent. In
34:35
other words, he would rather
34:37
not try than fail. And
34:41
we see so many people and
34:43
organizations, I would rather
34:46
not try than fail. And
34:48
the Savior rebukes that as if He's
34:50
saying, I would
34:52
rather my people fail
34:55
than not try. How
34:58
about missions or family history
35:00
work or asking someone out
35:02
on a date or trying
35:05
something new? How
35:07
many people have not done
35:09
something righteous because they were
35:11
afraid to fail? And
35:13
Jesus rebukes that. He rebuked the man
35:16
who only got the one talent and
35:18
said, that's not going to cut it
35:20
in the latter days. If you want
35:22
to succeed in the latter days, we
35:25
have to be the kind of people
35:27
that would rather fail trying than not
35:29
try. It's back to that idea of
35:31
being who acts. Verse 25 of Matthew
35:33
25 where he says, I was afraid.
35:36
And then in verse 24, he makes
35:38
an assumption about the Lord where he's
35:40
like, well, I know that you're a
35:42
hard master. And so in essence, sometimes
35:46
do our misconceptions of God or
35:48
our own lack of confidence cause
35:50
us to hesitate or to be
35:53
afraid. And sometimes for me, that
35:55
brings its own natural consequence. I
35:58
think about Joseph Smith. He's
36:00
in his 20s and the Lord tells him, go
36:02
west, build a temple, build a city. And I
36:04
could just see him at night talking to Emma
36:07
going, the Lord wants me to build a city,
36:09
to build Zion, to build a temple. And she's
36:11
like, what are you gonna do? And he's like,
36:13
I don't know, we're gonna do it. We're gonna
36:15
pray to get a guy who knows how to
36:17
build a temple. But frankly, Emma, I really don't
36:20
know, but I trust God. And I think if
36:22
you're not uncomfortable living the gospel, if the Lord's
36:24
not stretching you, ask Him.
36:26
Say, what would you have me do? And it
36:28
seems like every time I ask that question, Bryce,
36:30
the Lord always gives me something that is a
36:32
little bit stretching. And it actually
36:35
is, sometimes it's good because it lets you know
36:37
that you're alive. But I look at verse 24
36:39
and 25 and I think how many times have
36:41
I done that? And then he says in verse
36:43
26 that he's slothful and I'm like, oh man,
36:46
I got to do better. And it applies to
36:48
so many other things, doesn't it? It does. And
36:50
then the last one is the sheep and the
36:52
goats. In as much as you've done it unto
36:54
the least of these, my brethren, you've done it
36:57
unto me. Take care of each other. I
36:59
want to find you taking care of each other.
37:02
I love what C .S. Lewis said
37:04
about the atomic bomb. It applies so
37:06
well to the second coming. He
37:09
lived in a day where the atomic
37:11
bomb was just coming into its own.
37:14
And he says the following about living
37:16
in an atomic age. He
37:18
says, in one way we think a great deal
37:20
too much of the atomic bomb. How
37:23
are we to live in an atomic age, one
37:25
might ask. I am tempted to reply, why
37:27
just as you would have lived in the century
37:30
when the plague visited London almost every year.
37:32
Or as you would have lived in a Viking
37:35
age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut
37:37
your throat any night. Or indeed,
37:39
as you are already living in an age
37:41
of cancer, an age of syphilis, or an
37:43
age of paralysis, or an age of air
37:45
raids, and an age of railway accidents, and
37:47
an age of motor accidents. In other words,
37:49
do not let us begin by exaggerating the
37:51
novelty of our situation. Believe
37:54
me, you and all whom you love were
37:56
already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb
37:58
was invented, and quite a high
38:00
percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant
38:02
ways. It is perfectly ridiculous
38:04
to go about whimpering and drawing long
38:07
faces because the scientists have added one
38:09
more chance of painful and premature death
38:11
to a world which already bristled with
38:13
such chances and in which death itself
38:15
was not a chance at all but
38:17
a certainty. Now this is my
38:19
point. If we are all
38:21
going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let
38:25
that bomb when it
38:27
comes find us doing
38:29
sensible and human things.
38:32
Praying. Working, teaching, reading,
38:35
listening to music, bathing the children,
38:37
playing tennis, chatting with
38:39
our friends over a game
38:41
of darts, not huddled together
38:43
like frightened sheep and thinking
38:45
about bombs. They
38:47
may break our body. A microbe can
38:49
do that, but they need not dominate
38:51
our minds. When
38:53
Jesus comes, let him find
38:56
us building his kingdom, not
38:58
afraid to try. taking
39:00
care of each other and using
39:03
the Holy Ghost as our guide.
39:05
That's such a simple remedy from
39:07
the Savior Himself. This
39:09
is how to navigate the latter days.
39:12
Live the gospel, be happy, take cookies
39:14
to a neighbor. I really
39:16
like that. Those three parables are different ways
39:18
for Jesus to emphasize how can we approach
39:20
this. And that really is what the word
39:22
parable means. It literally means to throw side
39:24
by side. So we're putting these two things
39:27
next to each other. the condition we're living
39:29
in today, and then we throw this story
39:31
next to it and say, well, how is
39:33
our life like this? And so
39:35
hopefully, as Bryce has talked about
39:38
these things, you can see yourself in every
39:40
one of those situations. Yep. Let's
39:43
go back to section 45. Verse 16 is
39:45
where he hints at what's coming. This is
39:47
what I'm going to give you when you
39:49
translate the New Testament. So
39:52
verse 16, I will show it plainly
39:54
as I showed it unto my disciples,
39:56
as I stood before them in the
39:58
flesh. So here's the trailer of what's
40:01
coming when Joseph produces Joseph Smith Matthew.
40:03
And he talks about a whole lot
40:05
of things. And then in verse 60,
40:08
he kind of bookends it by saying,
40:10
And now behold, I say unto you,
40:12
it shall not be given unto you
40:15
to know any further concerning this chapter
40:17
until the New Testament be translated, and
40:20
in it all things things shall be
40:22
made known. Wherefore, I give unto you
40:24
that you may now translate it. So
40:26
do you see the trailer there? I
40:28
gave you a little piece of what
40:31
I'm going to give you when you
40:33
translate the New Testament. And what I
40:35
love about that is section 45 is
40:37
a key in unlocking the parables of
40:39
Matthew 25. But back
40:41
to our present concern. The idea
40:44
here is Jesus is going to
40:46
prevail. So what he gives us
40:49
in 45 are This is
40:51
what's going to happen to the wicked, and this
40:53
is what's going to happen to the righteous. So,
40:56
verse 16, he says, you want to
40:59
know about the signs of my coming.
41:01
Verse 17, the day of redemption, the
41:03
redemption of scattered Israel. But
41:05
he starts with the Jews. Just like he did
41:07
in Joseph Smith Matthew, starting in verse 19, I
41:10
say unto you that desolation shall
41:13
come upon this generation. He's speaking
41:15
to his disciples in Jerusalem at
41:17
the Mount of Olives. Desolation
41:20
shall come upon this generation.
41:24
This people shall be destroyed and scattered
41:26
among the nations. This temple
41:28
which ye now see shall be
41:30
thrown down, that there shall
41:33
not be left one stone upon the
41:35
other." That was the statement from Christ
41:37
that causes his disciples, when they go
41:39
out to the Mount of Olives, to
41:41
say, when will that happen? And
41:43
notice he doesn't really answer the question when
41:46
it will happen. He simply answers the question,
41:48
what do you need to do to be
41:50
prepared for it? By the
41:52
way, in section 45, it
41:55
says in verse 20 that this temple
41:57
which he now sees shall be thrown
41:59
down. So what Joseph is seeing is
42:01
seeing a window into this discussion that
42:04
Jesus is having with his meridian disciples.
42:06
And he's telling them, the
42:09
meridian disciples, that this generation
42:11
is going to have this
42:13
destruction. Now historically that all
42:16
happened. The temple was
42:18
destroyed. And in Joseph Smith Matthew, and
42:20
it's also in the New Testament, it's
42:22
referred to as the abomination of desolation
42:25
spoken of by Daniel the prophet concerning
42:27
the destruction of Jerusalem. That is referring
42:29
to the attack in 165 BC by
42:32
this fellow by the name of Antiochus
42:34
Epiphanes. He was a man who was
42:36
upset. The best way I can describe
42:39
him is the bully that you knew
42:41
in middle school whose dad was mean
42:43
to him. And then when the bully
42:46
came to school, he had to have
42:48
somebody to punch. And so
42:50
Antiochus lost a battle and he came
42:52
into Jerusalem and he was so frustrated
42:55
that he basically stripped the Jews of
42:57
their religion. If you were circumcising your
42:59
young men, he would hurt the child
43:01
or he would hurt the mom. He
43:03
would do some horrible things. He actually
43:05
stripped the temple, took a pig and
43:07
offered it as a sacrifice. On
43:10
their holy ground and the Jews were fired
43:12
up and this initiated a revolt and this
43:14
is where we get the story of Hanukkah
43:16
And there's all these really cool stories that
43:18
we'll talk more about when we get to
43:20
the Old Testament But what Jesus is doing
43:22
is when he uses that phrase The
43:25
abomination of desolation, that's a code word.
43:27
Just by using that phrase, it evokes
43:29
an emotional response in the people that
43:32
he's speaking to. And what Jesus is
43:34
trying to tell his disciples is, as
43:36
bad as that was, we're gonna see
43:39
this. And so, when you
43:41
read about this, the desolation in verse 20
43:43
and not one stone will be left upon
43:45
it. If you look in verse 21, In
43:48
section 45, it shall come to
43:50
pass that this generation of Jews
43:53
shall not pass away until every
43:55
desolation of which I've told you
43:57
concerning them must come to pass.
43:59
The Jews got wrecked. That's what
44:01
he's referring to. I think a
44:03
big reason why the temple was
44:05
destroyed, if not the reason, is
44:07
because of false messiahs. That the
44:10
Jews so bad wanted to have
44:12
a messiah that would liberate them
44:14
from Rome. and they finally did
44:16
and they succeeded for a little
44:18
bit of time and that just
44:20
got them devastated and initiated the
44:22
diaspora, the scattering of the Jews.
44:25
And so Joseph Smith, way after this,
44:27
this is, you know, 1800 years later, is
44:29
standing as a prophet and God, by
44:32
giving the Book of Mormon to him,
44:34
is now telling Joseph and the apostles
44:36
and his successors, the
44:38
Jews are going to come home. And
44:40
today, Israel is a state, it's a
44:42
nation, and the Jews are being gathered
44:45
physically, but they're not
44:47
yet gathered spiritually. And that
44:49
macro story of the Jewish people is
44:51
a thread that's woven through the Doctrine
44:53
and Covenants. That's an important thread to
44:56
understand as a backdrop to all of
44:58
this. Because the Lord loves these
45:00
people. And there's one more piece, that
45:02
last statement, the Lord loves these people. Turn to
45:04
verse 51. Then
45:07
shall the Jews look upon me
45:09
now remember the Jews as a
45:11
people are still waiting for the
45:13
Messiah to come and When the
45:15
Messiah comes when the lordly lion
45:18
shows up that they've been expecting
45:20
Verse 51 then shall the Jews
45:22
look upon me and say What
45:24
are these wounds in thine hands
45:26
and in thine feet then shall
45:29
they know that I am the
45:31
Lord? For I will
45:33
say unto them these wounds are the
45:35
wounds with which I was wounded in
45:37
the house of my friends. I
45:40
am he who was lifted
45:43
up, and then three very
45:45
painful words. I am Jesus
45:48
that was crucified. I
45:50
am the Son of God. Then
45:53
shall they weep because of
45:55
their iniquities. and
45:58
they shall lament because they persecuted
46:00
their king. But what's implied in
46:02
this is that Jesus will welcome
46:04
them home. He
46:06
is appearing unto them not to destroy
46:09
them, but in fulfillment
46:11
of the prophecy. He
46:13
loves them. He
46:15
has not forgotten his people.
46:18
And even though as a
46:20
group they rejected him, he
46:23
will come back and welcome
46:26
them home. He will be
46:28
victorious. And that's
46:30
how the story ends. It's
46:33
not just that they were
46:35
destroyed and scattered. It's
46:37
that they will be
46:39
gathered and welcomed home.
46:42
And they will acknowledge Jesus as the
46:44
Messiah. It's such a big message of
46:47
the Old Testament that a remnant shall
46:49
return. that they will be
46:51
able to be back, the land will be
46:53
fertile, they'll have a temple, and they'll have
46:55
a king. And they look
46:57
forward to that, as do I. And
46:59
so section 45 is a really good
47:02
frame that you can use to look
47:04
through, to read the Old Testament. There
47:06
are many frames to read the Old
47:08
Testament through, and the Doctrine and Covenants
47:10
is an excellent frame to help unpack
47:12
this. When we do Old
47:14
Testament, we'll spend more time on
47:17
Zechariah 12 and 13, but in
47:19
a 30 -second little mini statement.
47:22
Zechariah at the end is
47:24
this massive story of how
47:26
they're going to have the
47:28
land fertile again, and God's
47:30
gonna redeem them, and it's
47:32
a huge cosmic battle. And
47:35
pieces of it, you can see where it's kind
47:37
of stitched together. I don't think it's a perfect
47:39
text. And so I think the
47:41
Lord in section 45 is giving us what's important,
47:44
is that the Lord's gonna come back. So
47:47
early saints in Kirtland that are struggling
47:49
because of the publication of all these
47:51
false reports and people are turning away
47:53
from the church. Again, the message is
47:55
he is going to be victorious. So
47:57
we saw it with the Jews. Now
48:00
let's see it again with the Gentiles in
48:02
the latter days. So starting in verse 25
48:04
of section 45, we transition from Jews to
48:07
Gentiles to the times of the Gentiles. Now
48:09
he's going to list all of the negative
48:11
things that the latter days are going to
48:13
bring. Notice in verse 26,
48:15
it's wars and rumors of wars. It's
48:18
men's hearts shall fail them. 27.
48:20
The love of men shall wax
48:22
cold and iniquity shall abound. All
48:25
of these are the things he's going to
48:27
mention in Joseph Smith Matthew, the things you
48:29
and I deal with every day. News
48:32
reports about wickedness increasing
48:34
and war and men's
48:36
hearts failing them. But
48:39
that's not all bad news look
48:41
at verse 28 a light shall
48:43
break forth The light is the
48:45
gospel of Jesus Christ. It is
48:47
the fullness of the gospel a
48:50
light shall break forth among them
48:52
that sit in darkness and It'll
48:54
be the fullness now the reality
48:56
29 is a lot of people
48:58
are gonna reject it and the
49:00
reason they'll reject it is because
49:02
they perceive not the light They
49:04
turn their hearts from him because of
49:06
the precepts of men. I think 29
49:09
is also an invitation for us to
49:11
articulate the message better. We can always
49:13
do better. They don't perceive it. So
49:15
in verse 29, how can I
49:17
be better? And what's interesting, if you
49:19
read Nephi in the Book of Mormon,
49:22
Nephi's version of the Tree of Life talks
49:25
about the Gentiles are blinded to the Book
49:27
of Mormon, and yet it's the Book of
49:29
Mormon that would take the blinders off, right?
49:31
Doesn't the rod lead us through the darkness?
49:33
So they're blinded to the very thing that
49:36
will lead them out of the darkness. So
49:38
what's the solution? The
49:40
Lord needs servants who will
49:43
temporarily be the rod of
49:45
iron to help the world
49:47
take the blinders off. And
49:49
then the Book of Mormon can lead
49:52
them out of the darkness. We are
49:54
the interim that helps them see the
49:56
light. It's our relationship.
49:58
It's what Ammon did to
50:00
Lomoni by winning his heart
50:02
through service and kindness. And
50:05
Lomoni says, who art thou? And
50:08
then they have that discussion. That's what
50:10
the Lord is calling for is missionaries
50:12
to help the world see the light.
50:15
Unfortunately, there will be a lot that reject.
50:18
Therefore, verse 30, an
50:20
overflowing scourge and a desolating sickness
50:22
shall cover the land. Notice
50:25
the next word, and this is what we need
50:27
to shout from the rooftops. We
50:29
usually put a period there and we don't hear
50:32
the next word. An
50:34
overflowing scourge for a desolating
50:36
sickness shall cover the land.
50:39
But... My disciples shall stand
50:41
in holy places and shall
50:44
not be moved. Now I
50:46
read that most of my
50:48
life as they won't move
50:50
themselves. They will stay firm
50:52
and there's certainly a reference
50:55
to that. But now I
50:57
read it this way. When
51:00
you stand in holy places, you
51:02
won't be moved out of your
51:04
place by the enemy. Your
51:08
family will be secure and
51:10
won't be moved Unfortunately among
51:12
the wicked men shall lift
51:15
up their voices and curse
51:17
God and die 33 earthquakes
51:19
just like we saw in
51:21
Joseph Smith Matthew 33 men
51:24
will harden their hearts against
51:26
me. They'll take up the
51:28
sword one against another and
51:31
they will kill each other
51:33
But now we get to
51:35
verse 35 be not
51:38
troubled. Be
51:41
not troubled. Now the whole rest of the
51:43
chapter is going to answer the question why
51:45
we shouldn't be troubled. It's not going to
51:47
be a quick answer. You got to hold
51:49
off for the whole rest of the section,
51:52
but this is why those who live in
51:54
the latter days, among the earthquakes, among
51:56
the wars, among the deception,
51:58
among the wickedness, this is
52:01
why we shouldn't be troubled.
52:05
And so let's start. First of all,
52:07
verse 36, it's because
52:09
the light shall break forth. The
52:11
light shall begin to break forth.
52:13
I love that King James, Matthew
52:16
24, says that he shall come
52:18
like lightning. And
52:20
Joseph Smith changes that in Joseph
52:23
Smith, Matthew 2, it shall be
52:25
the sun of the morning. Instead
52:27
of lightning that, boom, suddenly is
52:29
there, it's like a sunrise.
52:32
When the sun finally shows its face,
52:35
how long has the light been around?
52:38
The restoration is the early
52:40
part of the sunrise before
52:42
the sun actually shows his
52:44
face. So again, a
52:47
reference that the light shall begin
52:49
to break forth. Verse
52:52
39 he that feareth me shall
52:54
be looking forth for the great
52:56
day of the Lord to come
52:59
40 they will see signs and
53:01
wonders Even though verse 41 there
53:03
will be blood and fire and
53:06
vapor and smoke even though the
53:08
Sun shall be darkened Even though
53:11
the moon will turn to blood
53:13
and the reason is the remnant
53:15
shall be gathered on to this
53:18
place The
53:20
remnant shall be gathered
53:22
unto this place. God
53:24
is going to have
53:26
us in a safe
53:28
place. Now we're
53:31
going to end section 45
53:33
by talking about that physical
53:35
place. But there
53:37
is also a spiritual place today, even
53:39
though we haven't built the New Jerusalem
53:42
yet. There is a spiritual place we
53:44
can gather to. Do you remember that
53:46
verse in section 29? If you gather
53:49
to this place, you will be prepared
53:51
in all things against the day when
53:53
wrath and tribulation are poured out upon
53:56
the wicked. We don't need to worry
53:58
because we will be in the place
54:00
he needs us to be. He's
54:03
going to use the example of the Civil War. Jumping
54:06
to 62, great
54:08
things await you. You
54:11
hear of wars in foreign lands, but
54:13
I say unto you they are nigh,
54:15
even at your doors, and not many
54:17
years hence, like thirty years hence, ye
54:20
shall hear of wars in your own
54:22
land, wherefore the Lord hath said, Gather
54:25
ye out from the eastern
54:28
lands. Assemble yourselves
54:30
together, ye elders of
54:32
the church, go ye forth into
54:35
the western countries. Just
54:37
like the Lord had the church
54:39
in a safe place when civil
54:41
war broke out in the United
54:44
States and brother was killing brother.
54:47
The Lord will have us in
54:49
a safe place when the wars
54:51
of the latter days break out.
54:53
When again people are killing each
54:55
other. We will be in a
54:57
safe place. Now
54:59
right now that's a spiritual safe
55:01
place. But we will
55:04
talk momentarily about the physical safe place where
55:06
we're going to go to. Back
55:09
to verse forty four. They
55:11
shall look for me and behold, I
55:14
will come. And
55:16
they shall see me in the clouds
55:18
of heaven, clothed with power and great
55:20
glory. Now, I love what he does
55:22
next in third Nephi in the meridian
55:24
of time. But I love the third
55:26
Nephi version. They sat in darkness for
55:29
three days. Now I have 10 children.
55:32
and I know what children would do in
55:34
darkness, and I know how
55:36
terrifying it would be for my family
55:38
to sit in darkness for three days,
55:41
having known the destruction all around
55:43
us, and the Lord did something
55:45
in that darkness that I think
55:47
was the greatest gift He could
55:49
have given them that everything was
55:51
okay. I know
55:53
technically it didn't happen in the
55:55
darkness because it had to happen
55:57
afterwards, but shortly after the darkness
56:00
was over. He rose the dead.
56:03
I can't tell you what
56:05
would be more comforting in
56:08
the middle of a darkness
56:10
for my family than to
56:12
have my father suddenly knock
56:15
at the door and be
56:17
back to have the little
56:19
girl that my wife and
56:21
I never met. Suddenly
56:25
walk into our family. Nothing
56:29
outside our home would matter
56:31
anymore. And
56:33
Jesus says, do you understand what's coming? In
56:37
the middle of the fire and the vapors
56:39
and the smoke and the wars and
56:41
the earthquakes, verse 45,
56:43
all the saints that have slept
56:46
shall come forth to meet me
56:48
in the cloud. And nothing else
56:50
really matters. And nothing else matters.
56:53
Grandma would be back. The
56:55
people we loved would suddenly be
56:57
back. I
57:00
love verse 46. Tell me what kind
57:02
of God this is. If you have
57:04
slept in peace, blessed are you. For
57:07
as you now behold me and
57:09
know that I am, even so
57:11
ye come unto me and your
57:13
soul shall live. And
57:16
your redemption shall be perfected.
57:19
And the saints shall come forth from the
57:21
four quarters of the earth. He
57:23
draws attention to a resurrection in
57:25
the middle of the chaos. We're
57:28
gonna see our loved ones again. And
57:31
the topography to me is telling
57:33
this story. So
57:35
if you stand where the old temple was
57:37
and you look east, you're looking at the
57:40
Mount of Olives. Or if you walk across
57:42
the Kidron Valley and you go up to
57:44
the Mount of Olives and then you look
57:46
west, you're looking at Jerusalem. Right
57:49
in that valley, There's thousands
57:51
upon thousands upon so many
57:53
dead people. They're stacked on
57:56
top of each other. It's
57:58
just this massive cemetery in
58:00
the Kidron Valley, which that
58:03
word means bitterness or darkness.
58:05
So that's Psalm 23. When
58:07
Jesus leaves Jerusalem and he walks across
58:09
the valley, though, I walk through the
58:12
valley of the shadow of death. That's
58:14
the Kidron. He goes into the Mount
58:16
of Olives to bleed from every pore
58:18
and start the atonement. Look
58:20
what it says in verse 48 the Lord's gonna
58:22
set his foot upon this mount and it shall
58:24
cleave in twain now We usually read that as
58:26
a war story. This is coming out of the
58:28
stuff in the Old Testament, that the Savior is
58:30
going to come down, the Mount's going to cleave
58:33
in twain, and we usually read it as, you
58:35
know, verse 50, the calamity is going to cover
58:37
the mocker, and they're going to be consumed and
58:39
hewn down and cast into the fire, and then
58:41
the Jews are going to be saved. And I
58:43
like this as a story of great conflict where
58:46
they're redeemed, and the Messiah has come, and He
58:48
shows them who He is. This is the King
58:50
who they didn't even know it was Him, and
58:52
He's here. and he shows them who he is.
58:54
But I also see this as exactly like the
58:56
whole time you were talking, Bryce, I was like,
58:58
this is even more important than the war story.
59:01
And it's, we're gonna see our
59:03
loved ones again. And
59:06
look at the Mount of Olives. That's the
59:08
symbol for the victory over sin. And then
59:10
if you stand on the Mount of Olives
59:13
and you look west, that
59:15
Mount is the symbol of victory over
59:17
death. and it's holy and
59:19
it's sacred. And look in verse 45, the
59:21
saints that have slept shall come forth and
59:24
meet me in the cloud. Well, that is
59:26
in your face if you stand in either
59:28
one of those mountains because the valley is
59:30
literally riddled with the dead that hope for
59:32
a resurrection. Middle of verse 46, if
59:35
you come unto him, your souls shall
59:37
live. So I just wanted
59:39
to paint a little picture of what
59:41
Bryce is saying using the sacred dirt
59:44
between these two hills where Jesus on
59:46
one conquered sin, And then
59:48
the other, he conquered death. Now, I know
59:50
he did both, but when we read about
59:53
Gethsemane, we're usually focusing on he bled from
59:55
every pore. He conquered these things. And so
59:57
I think it's beautiful poetry. Joseph Smith has
1:00:00
never set foot in these lands, but as
1:00:02
I read 40 through 48, I'm thinking, oh
1:00:04
my gosh, this is the Holy Land right
1:00:06
there in front of us. It's beautiful. It's
1:00:09
beautiful symbolism. And again, align your life with
1:00:11
the Savior and we will be victorious, even
1:00:13
though there are temporary moments where it looks
1:00:15
like evil is winning. Here's what's
1:00:18
going to happen to those who fight
1:00:20
against God. Verse 49. Could
1:00:26
I shout that from the rooftops? Because there
1:00:28
are a whole lot of people laughing at
1:00:30
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day
1:00:32
Saints. but they
1:00:35
that have laughed shall see
1:00:37
their folly, and
1:00:39
calamity shall cover the mocker,
1:00:42
and the scorn shall be consumed."
1:00:44
I love the reference in verse
1:00:46
54, then shall
1:00:48
the heathen nations be redeemed that
1:00:51
knew no law. They
1:00:53
shall be redeemed and be part of the
1:00:55
first resurrection. I
1:00:58
think that tells us what a
1:01:00
kind and forgiving and understanding Messiah
1:01:02
we have. You cannot be
1:01:04
held accountable for a law you didn't know
1:01:06
you were breaking. It has
1:01:08
to include agency. Verse
1:01:11
55, Satan will be bound. Why?
1:01:14
Not because he's physically taken and
1:01:16
kicked out. It's because he shall
1:01:18
have no place in the hearts
1:01:20
of the children of men, which
1:01:22
suggests I can bind Satan today.
1:01:25
When I make no place for him
1:01:27
in my thoughts and in my heart,
1:01:30
he has no power over me, and
1:01:32
he is bound. Do
1:01:34
you see what the Savior is doing
1:01:36
here? The victory of Christ. Jesus
1:01:39
is victorious. And
1:01:41
during the millennium, boy, I look forward
1:01:43
to verse 58. The earth
1:01:46
shall be given to them for an inheritance, and
1:01:48
they shall multiply and wax strong,
1:01:50
and their children shall grow up
1:01:52
without sin unto salvation, and the
1:01:54
Lord shall be in their midst,
1:01:57
and the glory shall be upon them,
1:02:00
and he will be their king and
1:02:02
their lawgiver. The victory
1:02:04
of Christ. Hang on,
1:02:06
Joseph and the early saints. Hang on,
1:02:08
Latter -day Saints, in 2021. Jesus
1:02:11
is going to be victorious. Sometimes
1:02:14
balancing that with the statement about
1:02:16
the heathen nations can be hard.
1:02:20
In 1871, Brigham Young gave a talk
1:02:22
and Wilfrid Woodruff wrote this in his
1:02:24
journal and it really resonates with me
1:02:27
when it comes to the complexity of
1:02:29
family relationships and not everybody being in
1:02:31
the same place. This is
1:02:33
what he said. Wilfrid Woodruff writes, President Young
1:02:36
spoke for about 45 minutes and it was
1:02:38
one of the most powerful and instructive discourses
1:02:40
I've ever heard in my life. Well, that
1:02:42
should get your ears perked up like, okay,
1:02:45
well, what did he say? And
1:02:47
then Wilfrid writes, There was
1:02:49
a large number of Gentiles, including
1:02:51
members of Congress and the Chief
1:02:54
Justice of the Territory, seven
1:02:56
priests of other churches, and many other
1:02:59
dignitaries. And if you've read a little
1:03:01
bit about Brigham Young's history, when
1:03:03
Congress started sending magistrates and
1:03:06
officials from Washington to kind
1:03:08
of run things in Utah,
1:03:12
Brigham was not very pleased with this. I
1:03:14
mean, I'm putting it lightly. And
1:03:16
so, What Wilfrid's doing is he's painting
1:03:18
you a picture of the president of
1:03:20
the church giving a talk and he's
1:03:22
amongst people that certainly don't believe what
1:03:24
he believes. And I think it's safe
1:03:26
to say that some of these guys
1:03:28
are not his friends. And so
1:03:31
Wilfrid Woodruff says, this is a really good talk.
1:03:33
And so this is what he sums it up
1:03:35
in his journal, he writes this. Brigham
1:03:37
spoke in great power. Among
1:03:40
his remarks, he said that the Lord
1:03:42
does not require us to force men
1:03:44
to embrace the gospel of Christ. If
1:03:47
he did, he would require us
1:03:49
to do what he will not do himself,
1:03:52
for he gives all men their
1:03:54
agency and sets life and death
1:03:56
before them and lets them choose
1:03:58
for themselves. And
1:04:00
I really like that. because amidst
1:04:03
all these things that we're talking about
1:04:05
with taking the Spirit and the importance
1:04:07
of following the Savior, verse
1:04:09
54 sits right in this revelation,
1:04:12
that the heathen nations shall be redeemed. And
1:04:16
I see this as the God in
1:04:18
heaven. I'm back to this image of
1:04:20
his hands are open and he's gonna
1:04:22
lay the paths before you and he's
1:04:24
gonna let you choose. And
1:04:27
so I see, and Brigham's talked about this,
1:04:29
Brigham has given discourses where he says, in
1:04:31
the millennium, there'll be people that are not
1:04:34
of our faith, and the
1:04:36
Lord will allow them to choose. And I
1:04:38
think one way we can apply this in
1:04:40
our lives is we all have family members
1:04:42
that are in different paths. They're all in
1:04:44
different places. And if there's one thing I
1:04:46
can say, it's this, we need
1:04:49
to meet people where they are. Jesus was
1:04:51
always doing that. He was meeting them where
1:04:53
they were, and he had a lot to
1:04:55
give. But if they're not ready for
1:04:57
it, he couldn't give it to them. And
1:05:00
so - But he did give them what
1:05:02
they were ready for. Yeah, yeah. So in
1:05:04
all things, wherever you are,
1:05:06
we're all in different places, I think
1:05:08
what I'm trying to emphasize here is
1:05:10
this idea of patience. Otherwise,
1:05:13
we wouldn't have verse 54. I really like
1:05:15
that in the midst of all this stuff,
1:05:18
the Lord gave us verse 54, which by
1:05:20
the way, If you're in
1:05:22
1831 and you're a Christian, nobody's talking
1:05:24
like this. There's nobody saying, oh, by the
1:05:27
way, the heathen nations are going to
1:05:29
be redeemed. That had to be like a
1:05:31
bomb went off. And Joseph,
1:05:33
once again, is showing us who God
1:05:35
is. Now, how do we
1:05:37
get there? This is kind of
1:05:39
millennial stuff. and we're not in the
1:05:42
millennium. So how do we get there?
1:05:44
And that's the end of section 45.
1:05:47
We are going to build the greatest
1:05:49
city that earth has ever known. We
1:05:51
are going to build another city of
1:05:54
Enoch. So the
1:05:56
Lord, after 62 through 64, sending
1:05:58
them out west, which a great
1:06:00
symbol of, I'm going to save
1:06:03
you from the Civil War by
1:06:05
putting you in Utah, I'm gonna
1:06:07
save you from the challenges of
1:06:10
the second coming by putting you
1:06:12
in Zion so verse 65 is
1:06:14
a reference again to the city
1:06:17
of Enoch one heart one mind
1:06:19
No poor among you, so he's
1:06:21
referring to this Zion state and
1:06:24
now verse 66 It shall be
1:06:26
called the new Jerusalem. We are
1:06:28
going to build the greatest city
1:06:31
in Now let me pause
1:06:33
and give you a vision of that city.
1:06:36
This vision comes from John
1:06:38
Taylor. John Taylor
1:06:40
wrote the following. We
1:06:42
believe that God is going to
1:06:45
revolutionize the earth. to purge it
1:06:47
from iniquity of every kind and
1:06:50
introduce righteousness of every kind until
1:06:52
the great millennium is fully introduced.
1:06:54
We believe moreover that God having
1:06:57
commenced his work will continue to
1:06:59
reveal and make manifest his will
1:07:01
to his priesthood to his church
1:07:04
and kingdom on the earth and
1:07:06
that among this people There will
1:07:09
be an embodiment of virtue, of
1:07:11
truth, of holiness, of
1:07:13
integrity, of fidelity, of
1:07:16
wisdom, and of the knowledge of God. We
1:07:19
believe that we shall
1:07:21
rear splendid edifices, magnificent
1:07:23
temples, and beautiful cities
1:07:26
that shall become the pride,
1:07:28
praise, and glory of the
1:07:30
whole earth. We believe that
1:07:32
this people will excel in
1:07:34
literature, in science, in the
1:07:36
arts, and in manufacturers. In
1:07:39
fact, if there's anything great, noble,
1:07:42
dignified, exalted, anything pure or
1:07:44
holy or virtuous or lovely,
1:07:47
anything that is calculated to exalt
1:07:49
or noble the human mind to
1:07:51
dignify and elevate the people, it
1:07:53
will be found among the people
1:07:55
of the saints of the Most
1:07:57
High God. This
1:07:59
is only a faint outline of some
1:08:02
of the views in relation to these
1:08:04
things. And hence, we talk of returning
1:08:06
to Jackson County to build the most
1:08:09
magnificent temple that ever was formed on
1:08:11
the earth. And the
1:08:13
most splendid city that was
1:08:15
ever erected. Ye cities, if
1:08:17
you please. And the
1:08:20
people from the president down. will
1:08:22
all be under the guidance and
1:08:24
direction of the Lord in all
1:08:26
the pursuits of human life until
1:08:28
eventually they will be enabled to
1:08:31
erect cities that will be fit
1:08:33
to be caught up that when
1:08:35
Zion descends from above, Zion will
1:08:37
also ascend from beneath and be
1:08:39
prepared to associate with those from
1:08:42
above. the people
1:08:44
will be so perfected and so
1:08:46
purified and knowled, exalted and dignified
1:08:49
in their feelings and so truly
1:08:51
humble and most worthy, virtuous and
1:08:53
intelligent that they will be fit
1:08:56
when caught up to associate with
1:08:58
the Zion that shall come down
1:09:00
from God out of heaven. If
1:09:04
we could keep our eyes upon
1:09:06
this, a little while and
1:09:08
then look back to where we
1:09:10
came from, examine our present position,
1:09:12
and see the depravity, ignorance, and
1:09:14
corruption that exists where we have
1:09:16
come from, and that
1:09:18
yet exists among us, it is
1:09:20
evident that some great revolution, some
1:09:23
mighty change has got to
1:09:25
transpire to revolutionize our minds,
1:09:27
our feelings, our judgment, our
1:09:30
pursuits and actions, and in fact
1:09:32
to control and influence us throughout.
1:09:35
before anything of this kind can take
1:09:37
place. No wonder that Joseph Smith should
1:09:40
say that he felt himself shut up
1:09:42
in a nutshell. There was
1:09:44
no power of expansion. It was difficult
1:09:46
for him to reveal and communicate the
1:09:48
things of God because there was no
1:09:51
place to receive them. What
1:09:53
he had to communicate was so
1:09:55
much more comprehensive, enlightened,
1:09:57
and dignified than that which
1:09:59
the people generally knew and
1:10:01
comprehended. it was difficult
1:10:03
for him to speak. Yet this
1:10:05
being a fact and these being
1:10:08
part of the things we expect
1:10:10
to accomplish, there must be a
1:10:12
beginning somewhere. And if we
1:10:14
do squirm once in a while, well it
1:10:16
is not strange because it is so difficult
1:10:19
for the people to comprehend the things which
1:10:21
are for their benefit. We
1:10:23
have been brought up so ignorantly.
1:10:25
and our ideas and views so
1:10:28
contracted it is scarcely possible to
1:10:30
receive the things of God as
1:10:32
they exist in His bosom. It
1:10:35
is easy for us to talk about heaven
1:10:37
and about going to Jackson County and about
1:10:39
building up the kingdom of God. It
1:10:42
is easy to sing about it
1:10:44
and pray about it, but it is
1:10:46
another thing to do it. It's
1:10:49
got to start sometime. Why not
1:10:51
with us? Why not today?
1:10:55
Why not become the saints that
1:10:57
can build this Zion? I really
1:10:59
love that quote. And
1:11:02
I really do believe that if we
1:11:04
sit on our hands and think, okay,
1:11:06
Jesus is going to come and fix
1:11:08
everything, I don't think that
1:11:11
is what John Taylor is saying. I
1:11:13
think his invitation is, no, we've got
1:11:15
to start. And so if we've got
1:11:17
to start and we've got to do
1:11:19
it, we should have the attitude the
1:11:21
Lord has where we meet people where
1:11:23
they are. We do what we can
1:11:26
and we trust the Lord. Hugh
1:11:28
Nibley said, the belief that Zion is
1:11:31
possible on the earth, that men possess
1:11:33
the capacity to receive it right here
1:11:35
and are therefore under obligation to waste
1:11:37
no time in moving in the direction
1:11:39
of Zion. The instant you realize this,
1:11:42
that Zion's a possibility, you
1:11:44
have no choice but to identify with the
1:11:46
program. and help bring it about as quickly
1:11:48
as you can. That's Hugh Nibley
1:11:51
saying the same thing John Taylor is
1:11:53
saying. He's read this quote and I
1:11:55
think this is the invitation. How
1:11:57
do we get ready? We
1:11:59
roll up our sleeves. And we
1:12:02
just keep the covenants. All the tools
1:12:04
are in our disposal. Everything we need
1:12:06
to build Zion has been given to
1:12:08
us right now. We
1:12:10
just need to keep the covenant. We
1:12:13
will get more instructions as we need
1:12:15
it and as we're ready for it.
1:12:17
But right now, we have the information
1:12:19
we need right now. Let's build temples,
1:12:22
let's preach the gospel, let's live our
1:12:24
covenants and become the kind of people
1:12:26
that can build the greatest city, a
1:12:29
city worthy of its king, a
1:12:31
city that rivals the city of
1:12:33
Enoch. Now listen to the description
1:12:36
of this city and you'll understand
1:12:38
why we're going to be so
1:12:40
safe in the latter days, when
1:12:42
the second coming approaches. Going
1:12:44
back to 66, it shall be called a
1:12:47
new Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city
1:12:49
of refuge, a place of safety for the
1:12:51
saints of the Most High God, and the
1:12:53
glory of the Lord shall be there, and
1:12:56
the terror of the Lord shall also be
1:12:58
there, depending on which side you're on, in
1:13:01
so much that the wicked will not
1:13:03
come unto it, and it
1:13:05
shall be called Zion. And it
1:13:07
shall come to pass among the
1:13:09
wicked that every man that will
1:13:12
not take his sword against his
1:13:14
neighbor must needs flee unto Zion
1:13:16
for safety So we're going to
1:13:18
be safe in Zion when the
1:13:20
wars break out There will be
1:13:23
gathered into it out of every
1:13:25
nation under heaven and it shall
1:13:27
be ready. I'm gonna read this
1:13:29
slowly so you can hear it
1:13:31
It shall be the only people
1:13:34
that shall not be at war
1:13:36
one with another. Think
1:13:39
of the civil war and where
1:13:41
the saints were and understand that
1:13:43
the same thing's going to happen
1:13:45
in the end of this world.
1:13:48
And we can also think about
1:13:50
how we communicate. People are
1:13:52
going to say things about us. We
1:13:54
need not be at war.
1:13:56
Let's find a way to
1:13:58
communicate our faith in Christ
1:14:00
without becoming warlike. Without picking
1:14:03
up the sword. Yeah. the
1:14:05
only people that shall not be at war
1:14:07
with one another. Now they're going to want
1:14:09
to attack us because they will hate Zion,
1:14:12
but it won't work for 71. It
1:14:14
shall come to pass that the righteous
1:14:17
shall be gathered out from among all
1:14:19
nations and shall come to Zion, singing
1:14:22
with songs of everlasting joy.
1:14:25
Jesus will be
1:14:27
victorious. Choose
1:14:30
today to join the fight.
1:14:33
Lay down your weapons of war, lay down
1:14:35
the weapons of your rebellion, and
1:14:38
let's build the city. I
1:14:40
think it starts by building me. I'm
1:14:42
going to build me into a Zion
1:14:44
person. And then I'm
1:14:46
going to build my family into a Zion
1:14:49
family. And maybe I
1:14:51
can contribute to building my ward into a
1:14:53
Zion ward. That's where it
1:14:55
starts. It doesn't start when Jesus comes.
1:14:58
It starts when we finally rise
1:15:00
up and put on our beautiful
1:15:02
garments and become the people. He
1:15:04
has been telling so many people
1:15:07
throughout the ages that we would
1:15:09
be. We are
1:15:11
the hope of Israel. And
1:15:14
we need to remember that Jesus is going to
1:15:16
be victorious. Let's choose
1:15:19
to be on his team. And
1:15:23
with that, we come to the end of
1:15:25
section 45. What a wonderful section.
1:15:27
We'll see you next time, where we pick
1:15:29
it up in section 46 and continue.
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