For the detailed questions on 3 Nephi 24-25, see the lesson on the teachings of Malachi in the Old Testament section.
Isaiah’s Poem of Israel’s Triumph
READ 3 Nephi 22:1-3
Who
is the “barren woman” and why should she now rejoice?
The “barren woman” in Christ’s
discourse to the Nephites is the Remnant of Jacob or the Lehites in the latter
days.
The married woman is the latter-day
Gentiles; married because the Gentiles were legitimately given the Fullness of
the Gospel first in the latter days
The woman was “barren” – i.e. she
had no children, which was a source of personal devastation and sadness to her
and also public embarrassment (in the Israelite culture) when compared to the
“married wife” who had children.
But miraculously, the barren woman
inherits so many children that she must expand the size of her house to fit
them all.
The meaning to this parable is that
when the Gentiles or “children of the married wife” are all destroyed and their
cities laid desolate, the Remnant will inhabit them again; they will come out
of obscurity and become a very great people through their new-found
relationship with Christ.
READ 3 Nephi 22:4-6
What
does this analogy to the Remnant as a “wife of youth” who was then refused,
reproached, widowed and forsaken mean?
The husband is the Lord Himself.
The House of Israel are the “Lord’s
people” or “wife” and received the Fullness of the Gospel first; they were the
original covenant holders or “wife of youth” or first wife.
But they did something to shame
themselves and lose their husband and were forsaken by him; they rejected or
were unfaithful to their husband and went “whoring” after other Gods; or
perhaps she was “put away” for being barren and unable to give the husband
“children” or Sons and Daughters of God; regardless, she/they lost the Lord as
He withdrew Himself from them, so to them and the world, they were “widowed” or
had lost their husband (divorced might be a better translation).
He then “married” or gave the
Fullness of the Gospel or chance to create “children” or Sons and Daughters of
God, to the Gentiles.
READ 3 Nephi 22:7-10
What
do the waters of Noah have to do with covenants or oaths from the Lord?
The waters of Noah or great flood
was the “baptism of the earth” and cleansed the earth of all the wickedness
that was upon its face.
Baptism is the great covenant
“entry way” to the Fullness of the Gospel of Christ.
God will not break an oath that He
swears or a covenant that He makes.
If someone receives a covenant from
God but rejects it by not living the terms, they will be forsaken as the Lord
withdraws Himself from them and they will reap the condemnation they have
chosen, but they still have the rights to the covenant, if they will repent and
choose to live the terms – it can all be theirs still, as long as they come
unto Him before their probation is over.
All things were created by Christ
from His materials and must be redeemed per the process laid out in Heaven from
before the foundation of the world – including all creation.
Why
does the husband take back the wife of youth?
His great mercies and everlasting
kindness.
The covenant that He made with
“her”.
It doesn’t say that she or Israel
will deserve it; in fact, they are surprised by the “children” they suddenly
have.
Perhaps it is because the second
“married” wife (latter day Gentiles) reject Him and go whoring after other
Gods; it’s not that the second wife was barren, too, because she had children
(see v1).
READ 3 Nephi 22:11-17
What
is the symbolism of the foundations, walls, windows and gates of Israel’s new
house being made of precious stones?
They are hard and cannot be broken
down; they are a defense.
They are a stable “rock” or
foundation upon which to build a fortress.
They all shine when they are filled
with light; this symbolizes a magnitude of heavenly glory which does not exist
on earth now – what building is made of jewels?
The Lord and the Powers of Heaven will abide in Zion and it will be
“terrible” because of the light and glory of heaven which resides there, which
the world will be able to see with their natural eyes and dares not come close.
What
does it mean that all thy children shall be taught “of the Lord”?
They will all be taught about Him.
Because they all will be taught by
Him.
He will be there and the only way
to know Him with a surety is to meet Him and be ministered to by Him personally
in the flesh and to spend sufficient time with Him – to have a “habitation”
with Him.
Who
will defend Israel in their Zion?
The Lord.
He has forged the weapons to
protect them without the need for them to go to war.
Search the Scriptures, Things That
Can Be Written
READ 3 Nephi 23:1-5
What
is Christ’s commandment to the Nephites?
To diligently search the writings
of the prophets.
Particularly the words of Isaiah,
who spoke to both the latter day Remnant of Israel and latter day Gentiles.
Isaiah saw a true vision of our
day; everything he saw and described will come to pass.
We are wise if we search his words
and heed his warning.
Why
did Christ quote from Isaiah and Malachi instead of just prophesying or
commanding the Nephites in His own words?
Christ demonstrated the importance
of written scriptures; we have the ability to study them with the Holy Spirit
as our guide for a much longer period of time than just listening to a live
prophet once.
Christ values the words of all His
prophets, dead and living.
Christ expounds the words of all
His prophets into one, both small and great, because no single prophet knows
all things.
Christ is incredibly humble; even
though He was the God who spoke the words to Isaiah and Malachi in the first
place, He quoted them and gave them the credit.
READ 3 Nephi 23:6, 14 and 3 Nephi
26:1-2
What
does it mean to “expound” the scriptures?
Expound = to explain; to lay open
the meaning; to clear of obscurity; to interpret; to examine (1828 Webster’s
Dictionary).
It means to lay out the accurate
and complete meaning of the words written in the scriptures so that the learner
is enlightened and understands the truth.
The scriptures can be understood at
various levels, so to expound the scriptures can mean to take the learner from
one level of understanding to a higher one.
Implied in the need to expound the
scriptures is that there are layers of meaning and that the complete meaning is
not available from a casual reading or even an initial study.
What
pattern of receiving revelation is Christ teaching the Nephites?
First, search the scriptures diligently.
Then, go to God in prayer and ask
Him to expound the scriptures to you so that you will understand all that He
has for you to understand.
Receive these revelations,
expounding the scriptures, from angelic messengers or from the Lord Himself through
the Holy Spirit.
So that you can know and understand
precisely what the prophet who wrote the scripture knew and understood.
Why
do we need to read the scriptures if we have living prophets with us to tell us
all we need to know?
Because the Lord commanded it – so
much for the notion that there is no need to pay attention to “dead prophets”
when we have “living prophets”.
The process of going often to the
Lord over a period of time to have the scriptures expounded to us through the
Holy Spirit and by angels will teach us a depth of knowledge that listening
once to a prophet or even once to the Lord Himself, cannot match (see 3 Nephi
17:2-3); and knowledge is gained by learning and living over time – it is
experiential as well as intellectual and it changes or deepens over time as we
learn more and then encounter the first principles again but now with a level
of context that even they (the first principles) are understood
differently.
Because a single prophet won’t be
able to teach everything because they do not know all things – as they would
not be able to remain in the flesh on the earth (see Moses 1:1-5); but taking
the prophets together can help us to understand a more complete picture of all
(see 3 Nephi 26:6)… so that we can learn enough to be translated ourselves and
not have to remain on earth!
As a word of caution, one must know
that they are listening to actual prophets of God; people who have stood in His
presence and received His testimony of their salvation (see D&C 88:75) - as
the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophesy (Revelation 19:10), and have
an actual message from Him, which He has commanded them to give to their
audience, either through directly quoting what they have heard or accurately
describing what they have seen and experienced.
As Christ is unchangeable, any new
revelations from Him through a true prophet will be aligned with previously
received scripture but may expound upon what has already been given or expand
the learning to new truth; all truth can be circumscribed into one great whole.
Listening
to priestly authorities or gospel scholars opine from their various places of
credential on what they believe is the truth (and which they may have the power
to turn into a church creed or article of faith) can be dangerous if one
mistakes them for true prophets who have a connection to (and message from) heaven.
If they
intimate that they are speaking the word of God, they will subtly replace the
direct words of God found in legitimate scripture with the philosophies of men
masquerading as scripture (or the words of “prophets” who are actually not
prophets); this is what is really meant by taking the name of the Lord in vain
– those who say they speak for the Lord but do not.
The
Jewish Mishna or scriptural commentaries by scholars and priests became as
revered as the scriptures themselves – diluting the power of God’s word and
replacing them with inspirational stories, platitudes, sentimentality, and
standards of measurable behavior.
Why
does the Lord want us to have a solid grounding in the scriptures?
The scriptures contain the truth
and the more we know what good looks like and ponder and think about these
things, the more like Christ we will become (see John 5:39; Acts 17:11-12) and
the less likely we’ll be deceived by wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Otherwise, without a knowledge of
the truth, we are willingly ignorant of our opportunities, expectations/duties
and what is to come, and will be caught unprepared (see 2 Peter 3:2-10).
We will be tossed to and fro with
every wind of doctrine another person can come up with (see Ephesians 4:14) –
but especially those in religious authority.
There is a breakthrough in
understanding that comes when we search the scriptures diligently and over time
– it cannot be given to another because the truth reveals itself through a
combination of revelation through the Holy Spirit and living the principles one
has learned, deepening the understanding in the process as one grows in light
through obedience.
One cannot put it all together or
comprehend all the scriptures “in one”, both “great and small” unless you have
a deep well of scriptural knowledge to draw from; but if you do, the Lord will
weave it all together for you in ways you’d not comprehended before – i.e.
maybe the first 15 or 20 times you’d read those same scriptures.
How
do you best search the scriptures (see John 5:39)?
Pray and
ask for further light and knowledge to be revealed to you through them (see
John 4:5-15).
Identify
the object of your search; don’t just read the scriptures – what are you
looking for?
Ponder the
scriptures – go up the “elevator of insight” (see 2 Nephi 4:15).
Liken the
scriptures to yourself (see 1 Nephi 19:23).
Feast on
the word by building scripture chains (see 2 Nephi 32:3) – get deep into the
tapestry of the scriptures.
How
do you ponder the scriptures effectively?
Clear your
mind and listen for the Spirit – the Lord will teach you.
Think
deeply – use your mind and create a hypothesis to test.
Ask
questions of the text – ask the Lord for questions you may have not even
considered.
What
kind of questions can you ask of the text to take you up an “elevator of
insight”?
What is
the literal meaning of the verse?
Why is
this happening? What are the root
causes?
What
conceptual or symbolic insights can I gain?
What might
this mean that I’ve never considered (ask the Lord to teach you)?
Why
should we liken the scriptures to ourselves?
What if we miss the intended meaning?
Likening the
scriptures to yourself should not be a substitute for understanding the true
meanings of the scriptures from the Spirit; however, …
Likening
can make the scriptures much more relevant and engaging to you.
And it is
a great way to enable the Lord to give direct revelation to you on things that
are important for you, now.
How
can you liken the scriptures to yourself?
What about
this verse is literally applicable to my life?
What can I
learn from the root causes that underlie why this is happening?
How can I
liken the conceptual or symbolic principles taught in this verse to my life?
What is
the Lord trying to teach me now, using this scripture?
How
can I build a scripture chain that will help me feast on the word?
General
advice: write your insights down; show the Lord that they mean enough to you to
keep them.
First, pick
a verse to begin your scripture chain.
What
insights does this scripture share with me? Insights are not just the literal
meaning or the conceptual idea, but are the “so what” or the kernels of
knowledge that really matter; and insights will build as you develop the
scripture chain, as they should include not just insights about the single
verse, but also insights about how one verse may inform meaning in another;
this may mean that you come back to a verse in the scripture chain that you’ve
already analyzed with new insights from a scripture later in the chain.
What key
words or phrases stand out to you?
What
additional questions come to your mind when you read this verse? What are the answers to these new questions?
Where are
you going to go from here? Footnotes,
Topical Guide or Index, electronic word or phrase search, inspiration from the
spirit via prayer/meditation.
Write your insights into an essay or
lesson or blog post – something to help you crystalize your learning and share
the light you’ve been given with others.
What
happens when we attempt to teach the gospel disconnected from the words God has
caused to be written?
The difference between God’s
commandments and the ideas of men is obscured. The spirit cannot override our
neglect of the scriptures and force truth out of our mouths (D&C 11:21-22;
Mosiah 1:3-5).
The less we ground our teachings in a careful
and correct reading of the scriptures, the more our teaching will consist of
stock phrases, trite platitudes, sentimental stories, clichés, and folk
traditions, i.e. the philosophies of men.
Worse yet, we will develop
guidelines, standards of dress, speech and behavior, and invented commandments
that spring from those traditions, rather than from God’s word.
At best, those things simply
distract us, waste our time, and turn the beautiful simple gospel of Christ
into a soul crushing exercise in behavior control.
At their worst, they actually cause
us to break true commandments. Just as we come to know God through his true
commandments, we gain a false and distorted view of him when those commandments
are added to or diminished. Since eternal life means to know God, a false
understanding of Him will thwart our salvation (i.e. damn us) unless or until
we abandon them for truth (see John 17:3).
The most damaging false traditions
are those which come to be seen as fundamental, indispensable, essential
features of a religion, causing people to disobey God while thinking they are
righteous.
Malachi’s Relevance to the Remnant
READ 3 Nephi 24:1-3, 16-18
How
would you summarize these verses from Malachi?
In the last days, the Father will
send Christ suddenly and unexpectedly to the earth.
Only those who are prepared by
having been purified will be able to abide His glory.
Christ will chasten or purge or refine
or purify or quicken all those who worship Him, whose hearts are drawn out
toward Him, and who demonstrate that love by keeping His commandments and
serving Him.
These will have their names written
in His book, so He will remember them when He comes again, in glory.
They will be His Sons and Daughters
and be precious to Him.
READ 3 Nephi 25:1-3, 5-6
How
would you summarize these verses from Malachi?
For those who are unprepared,
Christ’s coming in glory will utterly waste those who are on earth.
It will leave them and their
posterity completely annihilated physically and damned spiritually, including
their dead ancestors; their genealogical line will stop and be broken up
because they and their posterity will be destroyed from the earth.
Unless
they receive Elijah when he comes to seal them to the fathers in heaven as sons
into an adopted family relationship prior to Second Coming to create the
family or House of God on earth, when those fathers in heaven come back to
earth in their glory with Christ, all those without the seal and relationship
and promise of exaltation will be destroyed (see JSH 1:37; D&C 2:1-3; JST
Genesis 9:21-23) because they physically cannot abide the glory/heat/fire of
the day.
For those who are prepared, Christ
will save them from the persecution and cruelty they’ve faced at the hands of
the world, will heal them of their wounds, and will provide a refuge of safety
for them – a Zion.
They will be able to survive His
coming in glory because they will have been sealed up to eternal life by the
hand of Elijah before the great and terrible day by being made “sons” to the
“fathers” in heaven and becoming partakers in the promises that they (the
fathers) first received during their mortal lives; they will then have Christ’s
glory and light within them such that they can abide His presence when He comes
in glory, because they were cleansed by Him and abode in His presence
previously.
Why
would Christ quote Malachi to the Nephites?
They are relevant to the latter day
Remnant and those few Gentiles who repent and come unto Him; they must know to
look for Elijah to be saved from the burning that is coming!
It is the testimony of yet another
prophet who has seen these things in vision.
They must prepare for the coming of
Elijah to them personally.
In
Christ’s prophesy to the Nephites, He told them they would “tread down the
Gentiles like a lion among the beasts of the forest and the flocks of sheep”
(see 3 Nephi 21:12), Malachi gives more detail about how this will occur; so how
will the Remnant tread down the wicked?
They shall be ashes under the soles
of their feet.
The Remnant won’t turn violent or
destructive like the Gentiles were to them, but will wait in Zion until Christ
comes in glory and then will walk over the land where the Gentiles had been
burned to ash or utterly wasted because they could not abide the heavenly glory
like the Remnant had been “refined” to do.
Things That Cannot Be Written
READ 3 Nephi 26:3-5
What
did Christ “expound” unto the people?
The history of the world, from the
beginning of time to the resurrection.
The same things that Mahonri saw
and are recorded in the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon (see Ether
3:25-27); which were then revealed to the Nephites after Christ had expounded
these things to them Himself (see Ether 4:1-2).
The same things were given to Nephi
and to Ether but Mormon and Moroni were forbidden to share them with us (see 1
Nephi 14:28; Ether 13:1-13).
So if you ever read a book which
purports to contain the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon and it does not
contain a detailed history of the world (way more clear and spiritually insightful
than what we currently have – such that it had to be hidden and held back for
thousands of years from mankind) which spans from the beginning of time to the
resurrection, what you are reading is a fraud and is of no value.
Why
did He tell them all these things?
Because they needed to know it; so
they could testify of “how” the Lord has done such great things for Israel.
Because it is their right to know
these things, having been ministered to by Christ – He will make known ALL His
revelations to His Sons and Daughters (see Ether 4:7).
This level of knowledge of how the
spiritual realm and physical world have interacted to produce the history of
this earth will be important for those to know who are to do His work at the
end of the latter days and into the Millennium.
READ 3 Nephi 26:6-12, 18
Why
does the Book of Mormon only contain the lesser part of what Christ taught the
people?
As a trial of faith to those who
read it: the latter day Gentiles and the Remnant.
A “lesser part” is designed to give
the reader enough to experiment upon without giving them so much that they do
terrible harm (a three-part “wo”) to themselves or others.
The “lesser part” is enough to
enable one to enter in by the Gate (repent with Godly sorrow and experience the
birth of the Spirit/baptism by fire) and find Christ (see 2 Nephi 32:4-7), after
which He will teach you the “greater things” you need to know to be saved.
Is
the rest of what was taught important or just “fun stuff”?
Anything Christ chooses to teach is
vitally important.
But the nature of the information
is such that a person who received it is prohibited to share it with other people.
If we do not receive the mysteries
of God (from God), we will “hear but hear not” (see Matthew 13:11-15).
We are commanded to “open our ears
that ye may hear” (see Mosiah 2:9; D&C 6:7; D&C 11:7) so that we might
receive the mysteries (see D&C 76:5-10).
How
do we obtain this knowledge?
They will be “manifest” to those
who pass the trial of faith with regards to the lesser part (see Alma 12:9-11).
Some of the mysteries are hidden in
plain sight in the scriptures, for those with eyes to see (see Mosiah 1:5).
The rest will be taught to us by
Christ.
How
do we pass the trial of our faith with regards to this lesser part?
We must not take lightly what we
have received – the Book of Mormon and the covenants it contains (see D&C
84:49-59).
We must believe the book and the
Fullness of the Gospel that is taught in it, repent of our sins and unbelief, be
baptized with water and fire, follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and
come unto Christ in the flesh ourselves (see 2 Nephi 32:1-7; D&C 132:21-25).
As
a Church we say “of course we do not take lightly the Book of Mormon!”; does
the Lord agree?
No, otherwise the condemnation
would have been lifted (see D&C 84:54-57; Ezra Taft Benson, The
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p51, 64; Noel Reynolds, “The Coming Forth of
the Book of Mormon in the Twentieth Century” in BYU Studies 38, no 2, pp 7-47).
And we would know it was lifted because
we would have already received the greater part of what was taught – which is
contained on the Large Plates of Nephi and also on the sealed portion of the
Golden Plates which include Moroni’s summary of Mahonri’s vision of all things
– and we have received nothing.
We have failed the trial or test as
a Gentile people, as the Lord prophesied we would (see 3 Nephi 16:10); only a
few Gentiles will repent and be numbered with the Israelite Remnant (see 3
Nephi 16:13).
Why
would the Lord tell the Nephites “unspeakable things, which are not lawful to
be written”?
Some things must be learned
(otherwise why would Christ teach them) but cannot be taught by men; they must
be learned directly from God.
Some information contains so much
power that writing it down or speaking it to those who are uninitiated or
unprepared to receive it would do them and others serious damage, both in this
world and the next (see Helaman 10:5-10).
