There is much we do not know about the pre-mortal life and the creation of the world - there is a reason for that…
READ TPJS 394:4
“Having a knowledge of God, we
begin to know how to approach Him, and how to ask so as to receive an
answer. When we understand the character
of God, and how to come to Him, he begins to unfold the heavens to us, and to
tell us about it. When we are ready to come
to Him, He is ready to come to us.”
…God has given us these questions to see if we will seek after Him to obtain the knowledge that He waits our initiative to give us.
READ Abraham 3:1-15
What is Abraham seeing and why is the Lord showing Him
these things?
READ Abraham 3:16-19
“If there be two spirits, then one shall be more
intelligent than the other;” what are the implications of this statement?
READ D&C 93:28-29
What does it mean that spirits have no beginning?
What is the implication of existing as “you” before you
were born?
What differences exist between that “you” and you
today?
READ Abraham 3:21
What is implied by the statement “I rule…over all the
intelligences thine eyes have seen from the beginning”?
READ Abraham 3:22-23
How is the word “ruler” defined in these verses?
Does this foreordination guarantee salvation and the
successful completion of the assigned mission?
READ Abraham 3:24-25
What does “we” (not I) will prove “them” imply?
READ Abraham 3:27-28 and Moses
4:1-3
What insight does the account in Moses give us that is
not as obvious in Abraham?
What is at the heart of Satan’s plan?
Why would this plan be attractive to anyone (but
Satan?)
Why did the “morning stars” sing together, and “all the
sons of God shout with joy” when the foundations of the earth were laid? (see Job
38:4-7)
What are the conditions that must exist for agency to
be in play?
How do you destroy agency?
Why is a veil of forgetfulness and inability to see the
spirit world given to us?
READ D&C 93:30
Why is agency such a cornerstone of God’s plan - that
He will honor it despite the terrible things that many of us do with it?
Who was Jehovah?
What was His response to the Father’s question?
Why did Christ accept the role of Redeemer?
READ Moses 4:4
What is Satan’s role here on earth?
To conclude this post, I will
share a story to reflect on – without my questions – but with a challenge to come
up with your own and inquire of the Lord regarding His insights to the
answers. To summarize the story, a
king’s son has come down to earth to find a pearl which he is to return to its
heavenly depository. But here below he
becomes defiled with the things of the world until a letter is sent to him from
Heaven, signed by all the Great and Mighty Ones, which recalls to him his true
heritage and his purpose in coming to earth. Whereupon reading the letter, he casts off his
earthly garments, recovers the pearl, and with it returns to the waiting arms
of his loved ones in the royal courts on high and to the robe of glory that has
been carefully kept for him in the Treasury.
READ: The Hymn of the
Pearl, from the Acts of Thomas (translation by GRS Mead)
I.
When a quite little child, I
was dwelling in the House of my Father’s Kingdom, and in the wealth and the
glories of my Up-bringers I was delighting; from the East, our home, my Parents
forth-sent me with journey-provision. Indeed, from the wealth of our treasure, they
bound up for me a load. Large was it, yet was it so light that all alone I
could bear it.
II.
Gold from the Land of
Beth-Ellaya, silver from Gazak the Great, chalcedonies of India, iris-hued [opals?]
from Kãshan. They girt me with adamant [also] that hath power to cut even iron.
My Glorious Robe they took off me which in their love they had wrought me, and
my Purple Mantle [also] which was woven to match with my stature.
III.
And with me they [then] made a compact; in my heart wrote it, not to forget it: "If thou goest down into Egypt, and thence thou bring’st the one Pearl – "[the Pearl] that lies in the Sea, hard by the loud-breathing Serpent – [then] shalt thou put on thy Robe and thy Mantle that goeth upon it, and with thy Brother, our Second, shalt thou be Heir in our Kingdom."
IV.
I left the East and went down with
two couriers [with me]; for the way was hard and dangerous, for I was young to
tread it. I traversed the borders of Maish~ n, the mart of the Eastern
merchants, and I reached the Land of Babel, and entered the walls of Sarbãg. Down
further I went into Egypt; and from me parted my escorts.
V.
Straightway I went to the
Serpent; near to his lodging I settled, to take away my Pearl while he should
sleep and should slumber. Lone was I there, yea, all lonely; to my
fellow-lodgers a stranger. However, I saw there a noble, from out of the
Dawn-land, my kinsman, a young man fair and well favored, Son of Grandees; he
came and he joined me.
VI.
I made him my chosen
companion, a comrade, for sharing my wares with. He warned me against the
Egyptians, against mixing with the unclean ones. For I had clothed me as they
were, that they might not guess I had come from afar to take off the Pearl, and
so rouse the Serpent against me.
VII.
But from some occasion or
other they learned I was not of their country. With their wiles they made my
acquaintance; yea, they gave me their victuals to eat. I forgot that I was a
King’s son, and became a slave to their king. I forgot all concerning the Pearl
for which my Parents had sent me; and from the weight of their victuals, I sank
down into a deep sleep.
VIII.
All this that now was
befalling, my Parents perceived and were anxious. It was then proclaimed in our
Kingdom, that all should speed to our Gate – Kings and Chieftains of Parthia, and
of the East all the Princes. And this is the counsel they came to: I should not
be left down in Egypt. And for me they wrote out a letter; and to it each Noble
his name set:
IX.
"From Us – King of Kings,
thy Father, and thy Mother, Queen of the Dawn-land, and from Our Second, thy
Brother – to thee, Son, down in Egypt, our greeting! Up an arise from thy
sleep, give ear to the words of our letter! Remember that thou art a King’s
son; see whom thou hast served in thy slavedom. Bethink thyself of the Pearl for
which thou didst journey to Egypt.
X.
Remember thy Glorious Robe, thy
Splendid Mantle remember, to put on and wear as adornment, when thy Name may be
read in the Book of the Heroes, and with Our Successor, thy Brother, thou
mayest be Heir in Our Kingdom." My letter
was [surely] a letter the King had sealed up with His right hand, against the
Children of Babel, the wicked, the tyrannical Daimons of Sarbãg.
XI.
It flew in the form of the
Eagle, of all the winged tribes the king-bird; it flew and alighted beside me,
and turned into speech altogether. At its voice and the sound of its winging, I
waked and arose from my deep sleep. Unto me I took it and kissed it; I loosed
its seal and I read it. E’en as it stood in my heart writ, the words of my letter
were written.
XII.
I remembered that I was a
King’s son, and my rank did long for its nature. I bethought me again of the
Pearl, for which I was sent down to Egypt. And I began [then] to charm him, the
terrible loud-breathing Serpent. I lulled him to sleep and to slumber, chanting
o’er him the Name of my Father, the Name of our Second, [my brother], and
[Name] of my Mother, the East-Queen.
XIII.
And [thereon] I snatched up
the Pearl and turned to the House of my Father. Their filthy and unclean
garments I stripped off and left in their country. To the way that I came I
betook me, to the Light of our Home, to the Dawn-land. On the road I found
[there] before me, my letter that had aroused me – as with its voice it had
roused me, so now with its light it did lead me –
XIV.
On fabric of silk, in letter
of red [?], with shining appearance before me [?], encouraging me with its
guidance, with its love it was drawing me onward. I went forth; through Sarbãg
I passed; I left B~ bel-land on my left hand; and I reached unto Maishan the
Great, the meeting-place of the merchants, that lieth hard by the sea-shore.
XV.
My Glorious Robe that I’d
stripped off, and my Mantle with which it was covered, down from the heights of
Hyrcania, thither my Parents did send me, by the hands of their
Treasure-dispensers who trustworthy were with it trusted. Without my recalling
its fashion, – in the House of my Father, my childhood, had left it,-- At once,
as soon as I saw it, the Glory looked like my own self.
XVI.
I saw it in all of me and saw
me all in [all of] it, – that we were twain in distinction, and yet again one
in one likeness. I saw, too, the Treasurers also, who unto me had down-brought
it, were twain [and yet] of one likeness; for one Sign of the King was upon
them – who through them restored me the Glory, the Pledge of my Kingship [?].
XVII.
The Glorious Robe
all-bespangled with sparkling splendor of colors: with gold and also with beryls,
chalcedonies, iris-hued [Opals?], with sards of varying colors. To match its
grandeur [?], moreover, it had been completed: with adamantine jewels all of
its seams were off-fastened. [Moreover] the King of Kings’ image was depicted
entirely all o’er it; and as with sapphires above was it wrought in a motley of
color.
XVIII.
I saw that moreover all o’er
it the motions of gnosis abounding; I saw it further was making ready as though
for to speak. I heard the sound of its music which it whispered as it descended
[?]: "Behold him the active in deeds! For whom I was reared with my
Father; I too have felt in myself how that with his works waxed my
stature."
XIX.
And [now] with its Kingly
motions was it pouring itself out towards me, and made haste in the hands of
its Givers, that I might [take and] receive it. And me, too, my love urged
forward to run for to meet it, to take it. And I stretched myself forth to
receive it; with its beauty of color I decked me, and my Mantle of sparkling
colors I wrapped entirely all o’er me.
XX.
I clothed me therewith, and
ascended to the Gate of Greeting and Homage. I bowed my head and did homage to
the glory of Him who had sent it, whose commands I [now] had accomplished, and
who had, too, done what He’d promised. [And there] at the Gate of His
House-sons I mingled myself with His Princes; for He had received me with
gladness, and I was with Him in His Kingdom;
XXI.
To whom the whole of His
Servants with sweet-sounding voices sing praises. He had promised that with him
to the Court of the King of Kings I should speed and taking with me my Pearl should
with him be seen by our King.
What questions would you
ask about this story? What insights have
you gained from reflecting deeply and inquiring of the Lord?
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