Come Unto Christ
READ Jacob 1:4-6
Why did Jacob and Nephi receive so many revelations?
READ Jacob 1:17-18
What is the difference between being anointed by a man with authority to a priesthood or calling, and obtaining an “errand from the Lord”?
READ Jacob 1:7-8, 19
What is Jacob’s desire for his people?
What does it mean to come unto Christ and what happened to the Children of Israel in the Wilderness?
How did Jacob “labor diligently” to persuade his people to come unto Christ and why?
READ Jacob 4:4-6
Why does Jacob want the Remnant (and us) to know that they (Jacob, Nephi and Lehi) knew of Christ and had a hope of His glory?
What does it mean to “obtain a hope” (in Christ)?
What does it imply to be able to command in the name of Jesus and the physical world obeys?
READ Jacob 4:7
What is the relationship between our weakness and God’s grace and condescensions?
READ Jacob 4:8-10
Why are the mysteries “unsearchable” when He has commanded us to “search deeper and deeper into the mysteries of Godliness”? (See also TPJS 409:2; 1 Nephi 2:16; 1 Nephi 10:19; Mosiah 1:3: Mosiah 2:9; Alma 12:9-10; Alma 26:22; D&C 6:7; D&C 8:11; D&C 11:7)
Do we have more to learn or should we ask the Lord to stop revealing His ways to us?
Gandalf used a staff and Harry Potter a wand, what is the vehicle through which God exercises His power?
How might one counsel the Lord?
How does one take counsel from God’s hand?
READ Jacob 4:11-14
How are we reconciled or brought back into friendship from a state of enmity with God?
Why attain to a perfect knowledge of Christ and His atonement?
Jacob has been preaching to us that we must come unto Christ and receive the Second Comforter ourselves, like he has done, and that he and Nephi have taught this to us in plainness – so what does it mean to “seek for things we cannot understand” and “look beyond the mark”?
READ TPJS 391:2
“Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. And I want you to know that God, in the last days, while certain individuals are proclaiming his name, is not trifling with you or me.”
What is the difference between “obtaining a resurrection according to the power of the resurrection which is in Christ” and going from “grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead”?
Sins of Wealth and Pride
What might stop us from coming unto Christ? Jacob’s people had some of the same problems that may be stopping us.
READ Jacob 2:4-10
What does it mean to “labor in sin”?
Why has Jacob been commanded by God to call the men to repentance in front of their wives and children when it will only cause more hurt to those listening?
What are the effects of hearing the word of God and why?
READ Jacob 2:11-13, 16-17
What does Jacob point to as the problem of riches? How do we avoid that problem?
How does listening to the Lord’s commands keep us from pride?
How does pride destroy our souls?
What does it mean to think of our brothers and sisters like ourselves (verse 17)?
What does it mean to be familiar with all?
READ Jacob 2:18-19
We’ve already discovered that obtaining a “hope in Christ” means gaining a promise or assurance from God of your exaltation (see also 2 Nephi 31:17–20; Moroni 7:3, 41); what is the implication about the relationship between riches and the Kingdom of God?
Why would you seek for riches after you have obtained a promise from God Himself of your exaltation?
What are the chances you will obtain the wealth you are seeking at that time?
How much of those riches do you get to keep?
So why would you seek for riches if you didn’t get to keep any of it?
READ Jacob 2:20-21
What kind of things has God given you that you might be proud of?
Why does Jacob say that pride is an “abomination” as opposed to a “sin”?
The Grosser Crime: The Immorality of Polygamy
READ Jacob 2:22-28, 31-33, 35
What are the people of Jacob doing?
What is the Lord calling an “abomination”?
What does the Lord equate polygamy with?
What is the Lord’s true principle of marriage?
Why was Jacob’s indictment of polygamy included in the Book of Mormon by Moroni and the Lord?
If polygamy is an abomination, what was Joseph Smith doing practicing it – and then lying about practicing it?
The Pure in Heart
READ Jacob 3:1-2
What does it mean to be pure in heart?
What does it mean to “lift up our heads” to “receive the pleasing word of God” and to “feast upon his love”?
What does it mean to have “firm mind”?
