Golgotha (Matthew 26-27; Mark 14; Luke 23; John 18-19)

The Betrayal and Arrest

READ Matthew 26:47-50

Why did Christ call Judas “friend”?

Because He had just finished suffering the unimaginable guilt and remorse for betraying the Son of God – Judas would need friends.

He knew what Judas was about to experience and He still loved him.

 

READ John 18:4-12

Why did the Jewish guards and priests fall to the ground when Christ answers them “I am He”?

He was so bold in His claim that He was “I am” - which was another way of saying “Jehovah, your God” that they tripped on each other as they startled and stepped backwards.

In proclaiming that He is the “I Am”, He has such power in His speech, despite the fact that He has just suffered the Atonement (or perhaps because of it), that it physically pushes them to the ground.

Why then does Peter lash out at the servant and cut off his ear?

In the moment of great alarm, facing the arrest of His master by the Priest’s, he tries to “steady the ark” by fighting back physically to save Christ.

He does not have the faith to see the “twelve legions of angels” no doubt watching the scene unfold (see Matthew 26:53).

He does not understand what Christ is really doing – the suffering servant vs. the conquering king (see Matthew 26:54); Christ is here to drink the cup His Father has given Him, not to be spared that trial by the sword or any other means.

 

READ John 18:13-14

Can an evil man prophesy a message from God?

Yes, Caiaphas was clearly evil.

But he was inspired by God to make a true prophesy.

Sadly, he used that prophesy as a reason to murder the Son of God, but he was inspired in what he said.

This is another cautionary tale for those who seek the truth – we must listen to the message and go to God for confirmation, regardless of the messenger; this goes for messages from outwardly religious or “good” people, too. 

 

 

The Jewish Trial

Incidentally, the trial was illegal by Jewish or Roman law in several ways, including meeting at night, not being able to find witnesses that could agree, a defendant could not condemn himself, and proclaiming a death sentence (only Romans could do this).

READ John 18:19-23

How did Christ conduct His ministry?

In the open – there was no secret agenda or secret works that only the inner circle disciples were privy to – nothing was “in the dark”; the only exception could have been what transpired on the Mount of Transfiguration, but what the disciples learned there, they learned by seeing through the veil themselves – it wasn’t Christ teaching them esoteric doctrines.

All His works and words testified to who He was – the Christ.

There were many hundreds, even thousands (with the Triumphal Entry) who could testify to Christ’s doctrine and miracles, if witnesses were to be obtained.

What did Annas accuse Jesus of?

Sorcery or devil worship (see Matthew 12:22-30) – a “malefactor” was a user of black magic (see John 18:30; Luke 23:32-39).

He cannot deny that Christ has power (that His miracles weren’t real) and he cannot admit that the power comes from God, so he only has one possible answer for how Christ could do what He did.

 

READ Mark 14:61-65

What question did Christ answer to the High Priests and why?

“Art thou the Christ?”  He answered plainly – “Yes, I am”.

He was the Christ.  If they were going to condemn Him, they did not do it due to hearsay. 

What is the supreme irony in Caiaphas’ question to Christ?

The supreme irony is that when Caiaphas asked Christ “art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed (the Father)?” and He said “I am”, they condemned Him to death even though He bore a true witness.

He was put to death for telling and being the Truth.

 

 

The Roman Trial

READ John 18:33-40 and Luke 23:18-23

What world is His kingdom of?

Heaven or the spiritual realm.

But notice He qualifies His answer by saying “now” (v 36) – meaning that this world WILL also be His kingdom in the future but it is not worthy yet but must be redeemed and changed.

While He is the king or God of Israel, He was not the king of the Jews in that they rejected Him – they chose not to be His followers or “subjects”.

Why was Christ born?

To bear witness of the (God of) Truth.

To lay down His heavenly kingdom to come to this “hell hole” on a search and rescue mission for all who will hear the Truth (i.e. Spirit or light or intelligence) in His message (i.e. voice).

To work out an atonement and then to attain to the resurrection of the dead.

To enable the work and glory of the God of Truth through that rescue mission.

To be our example – the “way” back to heaven or the prototype of the saved being.

What is truth?

Things as they truly were, are and will be.

Christ is the truth.

Because He embodied the Word of God, which is truth – things as they truly were, are and will be, as articulated or pronounced by a God who cannot lie (or He will cease to be God) and who has the power to see all things come to pass according to His will – which is aligned with truth (yes, it’s a circular argument).

Where does the custom come from to release a prisoner?

From the “scapegoat” in the Day of Atonement Festival.

Two similar goats are chosen for the ceremony – one is sacrificed that the other, laden with sins, can be allowed to escape into the wilderness.

What does Bar-Abbas mean?

It literally means “Son of the Father”.

 

READ Deuteronomy 21:22-23

Why did the Jewish leaders want Christ crucified instead of killed in another way?

If Jesus was crucified, it was a “cursed” way to die – not only cursed, but cursed by God.

It was a way to show the Jews that Christ was not of God.

They totally missed the “suffering servant” in the Old Testament prophesies (see Isaiah 53) – and the fact that they were bringing them to life in the way they killed Jesus.

 

 

The Scourging

Some prisoners didn’t survive the scourging and Christ had already suffered the infinite Atonement the night before and had then been subjected to an illegal trial that lasted all night.  The Romans were adept at using a cat-o-nine tails whip, woven with steel or bone, to take the skin off the back of the individual from neck to shin. 

READ Matthew 27:26-31

Many ancient cultures held a ceremonial drama, about the humiliation and sacrificial death of the “substitute” King (the “Corn King” of ancient Celtic religions, for instance) who was killed that the people might live; what elements of that drama do you see playing out in what the Romans soldiers did to Christ?

Stripped Him – public humiliation.

“Clothed” Him in the scarlet or purple robe, symbolic of nobility or kingship – the Roman emperor wore the “purple”.

“Crowned” His head with a crown – in this case of braided thorns of acanthus – again, a symbol of kingship.

“Anointed” Him with spit.

Administered a “blessing” by the “laying on of hands” by beating Him with the whip and striking His head with a stick.

 

 

The Crucifixion

Crucifixion may have been the cruelest and most brutal way to execute a criminal ever systemically used by a government.  It combined prolonged, agonizing torture and public humiliation, and it served as an intimidating deterrent to others.  But Christ had to descend below all things (see D&C 122:8), and crucifixion provided that kind of ignominious death. 

READ Numbers 21:6-9

What did the brass serpent on the pole symbolize?

The saving and healing power of the crucified God (a god raised up on a “world tree” or wooden pole/cross).

It was known from the beginning how Christ would die.

Christ’s crucifixion was at the same time the symbol of cursing and of redemption or healing.  Christ being accursed as we (or the children of Israel) were being healed or redeemed. 

Is the serpent a symbol of evil or good?

Christ is the Serpent.

Satan has tried to supplant Christ as “The Serpent” – starting in the Garden of Eden when he pretended to be the Son of God to deceive Eve.

The Fiery Flying Serpents (poisonous tree adders) symbolize Satan but they have no power to kill if one will look up with faith to the True Serpent who is hanging on the wooden pole (or tree/cross).

Although Satan seemed to win through Christ’s death, it was that sacrificial death of one not worthy of death (see Romans 6:23), that ultimately defeated Satan and enables Christ to free all those who will believe in Him – it is “deeper magic” indeed (see Aslan’s quote asking how he could resurrect after his sacrifice from CS Lewis’ The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe).

 

READ Matthew 27:32-33

Why did the Romans compel Simon to carry the cross?

By this point, He could not carry the heavy cross beam (75 to 125 lbs) up the hill to the crucifixion point.

Christ’s ordeal the night before in the Garden of Gethsemane drained Him of His strength and spiritual power – His grace or the glory that He possessed on earth and the scourging further weakened His mortal (or half-mortal) body.

This shows how Christ was bounded by the physical constraints of a mortal body, albeit it took suffering an infinite atonement and a Roman scourging, to tax it to this point.

 

READ John 19:17-22

Why would Pilate not change the “accusation” posted above Christ on the cross?

It was correct – He was a legal descendant of King David through His mother, Mary.

Ultimately it was true because He is the God of Israel and the King of Kings.

There was enough wondering in Pilate’s mind (“art thou a king then?”) that perhaps it was true (or at least that Jesus was some kind of king) that he would not remove the sign.

Pilate hated the Jewish leaders and this was a fun way to wind them up.

 

READ Luke 23:34-39 and Matthew 27:39-44

What does Christ teach us in this prayer to the Father?

Intercession on behalf of those who have sinned against you is critical to partaking in the atonement.

He had just suffered through the future realization that those that had killed their God would feel, and His heart was drawn out in mercy for the incomprehensible regret they were going to experience (which He felt, took on the guilt for, was punished for, and overcame with love and forgiveness).

What last temptation was Satan serving up to Christ through the Jewish leaders, Roman soldiers and fellow prisoner?

Prove that you are REALLY the Son of God.

Prove that God REALLY loves you, as He seems to have abandoned you.

Put pride in front of your mission – coming down from the cross would have made quite a statement of His powers.

Show the same mercy to yourself as you have to others.

Show the same mercy to the thieves that you’ve shown to others.

Show us another sign (as if all of the healings, raising Lazarus, and the word of God He’s been preaching for 3 years is not enough – He had already shown them all the signs anyone needed for conversion).

It was just like His temptations in the desert at the beginning of His ministry (see Matthew 4:1-11).

Why did Christ not come down from the Cross?

It would have nullified His sacrifice, making the atonement void.

It would be like being shot on the last day of the war – He was so close to completing His mission.

Instead of proving that He was the Son of God, it would have proved that He was NOT the Redeemer, because He had failed to complete the tasks required of that role.

 

READ Isaiah 50:5-9

What does it mean that Christ set His “face like a flint”?

Flint is a very hard stone.

Christ showed total resolve to complete His mission in the face of terrible public humiliation = the religious leaders basically saying triumphantly, “See, we KNEW you were not the Christ because you can’t save yourself but instead, you are in our power and we are killing you”.

 

READ Matthew 27:45-46

Three hours into the torture of the cross, Christ cried out in a loud voice, to be heard over the large crowd…what was Christ saying?

He is NOT saying that the Father has abandoned Him.

He is quoting Psalm 22 to them – or at least, all He is able to manage after the torture that He had endured for the last 15 hours.

He is actually answering their taunts by reminding them of the Messianic Psalm that they all knew and said they believed, that was happening right before their eyes; and in fact, that they were actors in the drama themselves (and not the good guys) but that the Messiah was the one that was persecuted and pierced.

He was testifying to who He was – the I AM – one last time.

 

READ Psalm 22:1-21

Did the Father “forsake” the Son at the end?

No, the Father never forsook the Son (John 8:29; John 16:32).

But it did seem to the world as if He had forsaken Him because Christ had to finish the bitter cup (see Matthew 27:39-44).

Christ was a “worm” to the Church leaders – they judged righteousness by how many blessings one seemed to have – in this case, to be delivered by the Father from the cross.

 

READ Psalm 22:22-31

Given the bitter cup that Christ had to drink, why does He lead the shout of praise for the Father in the Great Congregation at the Heavenly Temple?

Everything Christ did, He did for the love of His Father and His Father’s children.

And He did it because His Father first loved Him – and continued to love Him, for condescending below all things in an effort to rescue His children.

Christ’s defining characteristic is His love for the Father and His submission to His will – they are one.

 

READ Luke 23:46 and John 19:30

Why did Christ shout “It is finished” in a loud voice?

It was the Roman cry of triumph or declaration of victory.

It signified that the battle was won and the surrender of the enemy completely secured.

The Roman centurion would have recognized the victor’s shout.

When He knew His suffering or path was completed, what did He do?

Quietly said to His Father, “Into thy Hands I commend my spirit”.

When it was finally time to die, He allowed the effects of the ordeal (all that a God could suffer – infinite and eternal punishment) to have full sway on His body, “break” His heart, and He died.

He was in control the whole time – albeit “poured out like water” (see Psalm 22:14).

He controlled when His spirit would transcend and leave His body in death.

 

READ Matthew 27:51 and 54

How did the Roman centurion react as he witnessed this event firsthand?

He recognized Christ was the Son of God.

He had likely seen and administered many crucifixions and he had never seen anything like this man – he had power to die when he chose, and did so in majesty.

What happened at Christ’s death?

An earthquake – the “God of nature” suffered (1 Nephi 19:12 and 3 Nephi 8:5-25).

The Veil of the Temple (into the Holy of Holies) was torn from top to bottom, opening the Holy of Holies into full view for those in the Temple.

What does the Veil of the Temple being rent mean?

In the ceremony, blood from the sacrifice was taken inside the Holy of Holies by the High Priest to sprinkle on the Ark of the Covenant, representing the presence of God.

As the religious leaders were in apostasy, there was no one to perform this ordinance as the REAL sacrifice was being conducted by Christ, so God Himself opened the veil to witness the sacrifice of the blood of the Lamb – the sacrifice had been officially accepted by the Father.

It was a sign to the Jewish leaders that God Himself had witnessed Christ’s sacrifice and death and their part in it.

As the religious leaders had rent their clothes at Christ’s testimony that He was the Son of God, God Himself rent “His clothes” as a testimony against them at the death of His Son.

 

READ John 19:31-37

Why did the religious leaders want to break the legs of the crucified?

Regardless of not recognizing the Christ, they were devoted to their religion and needed to make sure that anyone crucified was dead and removed so that their land was not defiled for the Sabbath (see Deuteronomy 21:22-23).

They knew that the Pascal Lamb was not to have any broken bones, if it was to be an acceptable sacrifice (see Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12), and they wanted to break Christ’s legs to ensure that, in death, He did not qualify.  They needed His legs to be broken.

Why did Roman soldiers break the bones of those hanging on a cross?

It sped up the death from days to minutes; victims of crucifixion would use their legs to push themselves up on the cross to enable them to inhale – otherwise the pain was too great.  Breaking the lower bones of the legs prevented this, leading to death from suffocation in just a few minutes.

Why did the soldiers not break Christ’s legs but what did they do instead?

He was already dead – so there was no need, from their utilitarian perspective. 

The Roman guards could tell He was dead because His arms were upstretched (nailed to the cross), His head was bowed, His knees bent as if kneeling – the position the body settled into after death by crucifixion – which looked to all who saw it as if He were in the act of worship of His Father; which was true – He suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning (see 3 Nephi 11:11).  His final mortal act was an act of devotion and His lifeless body testified of that fact. 

As a sure sign He was dead, the soldier speared Him in the side, under the fifth rib, up into His heart.  His lifeless body did not react to the spear but blood and water ran out of the wound – His heart was “broken”.

That blow was a death blow – if He was not already dead, He would have died after the spear thrust.  Which is why He carries this wound in His body; there are accounts of some people surviving crucifixion (being cut down early) but no one could have survived that death blow; so when Christ stands before a mortal in the flesh and they feel the wound in His side as they embrace Him, they are being given a visceral testimony that before them stands a living man who once was dead.

Golgotha (Matthew 26-27; Mark 14; Luke 23; John 18-19) QUESTIONS

The Betrayal and Arrest

READ Matthew 26:47-50

Why did Christ call Judas “friend”?

 

READ John 18:4-12

Why did the Jewish guards and priests fall to the ground when Christ answers them “I am He”?

Why then does Peter lash out at the servant and cut off his ear?

 

READ John 18:13-14

Can an evil man prophesy a message from God?

 

 

The Jewish Trial

Incidentally, the trial was illegal by Jewish or Roman law in several ways, including meeting at night, not being able to find witnesses that could agree, a defendant could not condemn himself, and proclaiming a death sentence (only Romans could do this).

READ John 18:19-23

How did Christ conduct His ministry?

What did Annas accuse Jesus of?

 

READ Mark 14:61-65

What question did Christ answer to the High Priests and why?

What is the supreme irony in Caiaphas’ question to Christ?

 

 

The Roman Trial

READ John 18:33-40 and Luke 23:18-23

What world is His kingdom of?

Why was Christ born?

What is truth?

Where does the custom come from to release a prisoner?

What does Bar-Abbas mean?

 

READ Deuteronomy 21:22-23

Why did the Jewish leaders want Christ crucified instead of killed in another way?

 

 

The Scourging

Some prisoners didn’t survive the scourging and Christ had already suffered the infinite Atonement the night before and had then been subjected to an illegal trial that lasted all night.  The Romans were adept at using a cat-o-nine tails whip, woven with steel or bone, to take the skin off the back of the individual from neck to shin. 

READ Matthew 27:26-31

Many ancient cultures held a ceremonial drama, about the humiliation and sacrificial death of the “substitute” King (the “Corn King” of ancient Celtic religions, for instance) who was killed that the people might live; what elements of that drama do you see playing out in what the Romans soldiers did to Christ?

 

 

The Crucifixion

Crucifixion may have been the cruelest and most brutal way to execute a criminal ever systemically used by a government.  It combined prolonged, agonizing torture and public humiliation, and it served as an intimidating deterrent to others.  But Christ had to descend below all things (see D&C 122:8), and crucifixion provided that kind of ignominious death. 

READ Numbers 21:6-9

What did the brass serpent on the pole symbolize?

Is the serpent a symbol of evil or good?

 

READ Matthew 27:32-33

Why did the Romans compel Simon to carry the cross?

 

READ John 19:17-22

Why would Pilate not change the “accusation” posted above Christ on the cross?

 

READ Luke 23:34-39 and Matthew 27:39-44

What does Christ teach us in this prayer to the Father?

What last temptation was Satan serving up to Christ through the Jewish leaders, Roman soldiers and fellow prisoner?

Why did Christ not come down from the Cross?

 

READ Isaiah 50:5-9

What does it mean that Christ set His “face like a flint”?

 

READ Matthew 27:45-46

Three hours into the torture of the cross, Christ cried out in a loud voice, to be heard over the large crowd…what was Christ saying?

 

READ Psalm 22:1-21

Did the Father “forsake” the Son at the end?

 

READ Psalm 22:22-31

Given the bitter cup that Christ had to drink, why does He lead the shout of praise for the Father in the Great Congregation at the Heavenly Temple?

 

READ Luke 23:46 and John 19:30

Why did Christ shout “It is finished” in a loud voice?

When He knew His suffering or path was completed, what did He do?

 

READ Matthew 27:51 and 54

How did the Roman centurion react as he witnessed this event firsthand?

What happened at Christ’s death?

What does the Veil of the Temple being rent mean?

 

READ John 19:31-37

Why did the religious leaders want to break the legs of the crucified?

Why did Roman soldiers break the bones of those hanging on a cross?

Why did the soldiers not break Christ’s legs but what did they do instead?

Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26; Mark 14; Luke 22)

An Infinite Atonement

READ Mark 14:32-36 and D&C 19:10-12, 15-20

What do these verses teach us about Christ and the Atonement?

He was amazed by the intense torture of the atonement – even He was awestruck and astonished by it – after all of the ions of preparation He’d been through.

He thought He would die from it (“unto death”).

His initial response was to pray to His Father.

Although He knew that His whole life was in preparation for this moment, He asked that the Cup be taken from Him – that He be saved from this terrible ordeal.

Why would Christ ask this of the Father?

The trial of the Atonement was so great that He seems to be starting to fear (no doubt with the Adversary there to fuel the doubts) – His faith was finally truly tested, as fear and perfect faith cannot co-exist.

Perhaps He was afraid that He might fail all those depending upon Him.

What punishment did Christ suffer in the Garden?

Eternal and endless punishment = God’s punishment or all the suffering a God can endure.

Which caused even God to tremble because of pain, bleed at every pore, suffer body and spirit, and wish there was another way.

 

READ Alma 34:10-14

What sacrifice was required to reconcile God and man?

The sacrifice of a God – man could never do this – God had to come back down to earth to rescue man from his hopeless condition = the Condescension of God.

If you had sinned less, would Christ have had to have suffered less?

No, the arithmetic of the atonement is infinite.

It is not a finite, cumulative number – regardless of the large size.

In an infinite and eternal sacrifice or in other word’s a “God’s sacrifice”, Christ suffered all that a God can suffer.

In the ancient religions of human sacrifice (like that practiced by Abraham’s father), what was the purpose of the sacrifice?

Humans suffered and died to reconcile God to humanity – to supplicate God.

What was the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice?

A God suffered and died to reconcile humanity to Himself and His Father.

“We’re not trying to reach God and touch his heart with OUR sacrifices, rather God is trying to reach us and touch our hearts with HIS infinite sacrifice.  The sacrificial Lamb of God who died on Calvary WAS God” (Stephen Robinson).

Is it possible to sin so badly that Christ cannot save you?

No – He descended below ALL things (see D&C 122:8 and D&C 88:6).

He chooses not to forgive those who sin against the Holy Ghost (those who have had their salvation’s assured by the Father but then deny Him with full knowledge), but His atonement covers even them.

 

 

Convicted of Sin Before the Father

READ 2 Corinthians 5:21

What does it mean that Christ was made “sin for us”?

He became guilty of the sins we commit (like Abigail before David).

There was a real transference of guilt and innocence in the Atonement from us to Him.

Christ was not only punished for our sins but was also declared “guilty” of committing them. 

If He had only assumed the punishment for our sins but not the sins themselves, we would merely be “guilty but forgiven” instead of being proclaimed “innocent.”  This is what it means to be “perfect in Christ.”

 

READ Luke 22:43-44 and Mormon 9:3-5

What is it like to be in the presence of God as a sinner?

You would rather be anywhere else – you cannot abide the glory.

And your guilt and shame are overpowering in the face of a just, holy and glorious God.

But God is not punishing the sinner, He is just existing – it is the sinner who breaks himself against the “rock” of God or runs away cowering from His presence.

Who was the angel who came to Christ and what was happening?

Christ's sufferings required the Father to be present in order to reconcile man to the Father. It was the presence of the Father that made the suffering possible. Therefore, we know the identity of the unnamed angel in Luke (see Luke 22: 43). Christ could not have suffered the guilt of all mankind in the presence of a just and holy God, unless during this moment of torment His suffering was before that very Being.  He performed this great burden before His Father, who would never leave Him; even in His hour of temptation, despite the fact that all His followers would abandon Him (see John 16:32). When He suffered the guilt of all mankind, it was necessary for His Father to draw near to Him (see Luke 22:42-43).

This was required because it is impossible for Christ to know how to redeem mankind from the guilt and shame of sin unless He experienced the pains of uncleanliness before God the Father, as mankind will do if they are unclean in the Day of Judgment (see Mormon 9:4-5). Unlike all of us, however, Christ knows how to overcome this shame because He has done so.  He can succor or relieve or teach mankind how to overcome every form of guilt, affliction, and weakness (see Alma 7:11-12), because He did it.

What does Gethsemane mean?

Geth = press.

Semane = oil.

It was an olive garden with a press.  Many of these gardens also had grape vines.  In Gethsemane, Jesus becomes the olives or grapes that go into the press and His blood flows as He suffers through the pressure of the infinite atonement – taking upon Himself the guilt and punishment for our sins and then seeking to be reconciled to a perfect God.  From the symbol of the crushed grape, its blood spilled and then allowed to ferment, comes a symbol of the great work of the Lord. The grape juice changes through fermentation from something which affects the senses. As the Psalmist puts it, wine gladdens the heart (see Psalms 104:15). His blood was spilled and then transformed or grew into a new power intended to gladden the heart of all those who will receive it.

“God uses no magic wand to simply wave bad things into nonexistence.  The sins that he remits, he remits by making them his own and suffering them.  The pain and heartaches that he relieves, he relieves by suffering them himself.  These things can be shared and absorbed, but they cannot be simply wished or waved away.  They must be suffered.” (S. Robinson).

Waves of Suffering

READ Mark 14:37-40 and Matthew 26:44-45

What do we learn from these verses regarding the specifics of the Atonement?

That despite the fact that the Atonement was infinite and eternal (i.e. “God’s sacrifice”), it seemed to come in waves – Christ comes to visit His disciples several times during the ordeal and then goes back to experience additional waves or rounds of suffering.

What kinds of suffering might have been included in the waves?

Physical suffering – sickness, injury, torture, death.

Emotional suffering – loneliness, disappointment, depression, despair (see Alma 7:11-12).

Spiritual suffering from sinning – guilt, uncleanness, extreme regret.

Spiritual suffering from being a victim of sin – anger, bitterness, judgment, resentment, and the struggle withhold peace from the perpetrator rather than forgive and love the one who has hurt or sinned against you.

 

 

Meaning of Atonement

What does “atonement” mean?

To reconcile.

To take two things that have become separate, estranged and incompatible and make them one again.

Implied that they were “one” at one point in the past.

The Semitic origin of the word Atonement (kafar) means to cover in a close embrace.  Anciently, it was the custom for one fleeing for his life in the desert to seek protection in the tent of a great sheik.  The Master would place the hem of his robe protectively over the kneeling man’s shoulder, then they embrace, and the Master makes a place for him – they are at-one.  This imagery is found in the Book of Mormon – 2 Nephi 1:15 and 2 Nephi 4:33 (Read), Alma 5:33 and Alma 34:16.  It is the sacred embrace (the “hpet”) where the Son is received, at last, in the arms of His Father, becoming “one person” or “at one” where before they were two.

What does “redemption” mean?

To “buy back” or reacquire something that was owned previously.

There is a slave market connotation to this word.

We are not our own, but are bought with a heavy price.

 

Be Even As I AM

The Lord has descended below all things.  He can tutor us and help us lay down any burden we may be bearing.  We are all required to come to peace with our sins and with the offenses we have suffered – to lay them down.  To be fully redeemed, we must leave this life having peace through a clear conscience before God and all mankind (like Joseph Smith on the way to Carthage, see D&C 135:4).  This can only be obtained by forgiving others their trespasses against us and those we love.

 

READ Matthew 6:14-15

How do we begin to accept the Atonement?

By imitating part of the atoning work of the Son and forgiving those who have sinned against us.

 

READ Matthew 5:44-45

Is forgiving others enough?

No, you must actually love them.

You must intercede on their behalf to God – “Father forgive them…”.

Gaining true charity requires forgiveness of, and intercession on behalf of, those who have sinned against us – even if they do not repent.  He wants us to learn to become like Him – to atone or cover the sins of others.

To be saved, we must become precisely as He is and nothing else (see LoF 7:9).

 

Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26; Mark 14; Luke 22) QUESTIONS

An Infinite Atonement

READ Mark 14:32-36 and D&C 19:10-12, 15-20

What do these verses teach us about Christ and the Atonement?

Why would Christ ask this of the Father?

What punishment did Christ suffer in the Garden?

 

READ Alma 34:10-14

What sacrifice was required to reconcile God and man?

If you had sinned less, would Christ have had to have suffered less?

In the ancient religions of human sacrifice (like that practiced by Abraham’s father), what was the purpose of the sacrifice?

What was the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice?

Is it possible to sin so badly that Christ cannot save you?

 

 

Convicted of Sin Before the Father

READ 2 Corinthians 5:21

What does it mean that Christ was made “sin for us”?

 

READ Luke 22:43-44 and Mormon 9:3-5

What is it like to be in the presence of God as a sinner?

Who was the angel who came to Christ and what was happening?

What does Gethsemane mean?

Waves of Suffering

READ Mark 14:37-40 and Matthew 26:44-45

What do we learn from these verses regarding the specifics of the Atonement?

What kinds of suffering might have been included in the waves?

 

 

Meaning of Atonement

What does “atonement” mean?

What does “redemption” mean?

 

Be Even As I AM

The Lord has descended below all things.  He can tutor us and help us lay down any burden we may be bearing.  We are all required to come to peace with our sins and with the offenses we have suffered – to lay them down.  To be fully redeemed, we must leave this life having peace through a clear conscience before God and all mankind (like Joseph Smith on the way to Carthage, see D&C 135:4).  This can only be obtained by forgiving others their trespasses against us and those we love.

 

READ Matthew 6:14-15

How do we begin to accept the Atonement?

 

READ Matthew 5:44-45

Is forgiving others enough?

The Last Discourse (John 14-17)

With the departure of Judas to betray the Lord to the Church leaders, Christ gives the remaining eleven Apostles one last master discourse.

I AM the Way

READ John 14:1-6

Why does Christ say there are “many mansions”?

Either He is referring to the fact that in the Celestial Kingdom, not all joint-heirs are equal or at least at the same place of glory.

Or a better translation of “many mansions” would have been “In the journey through my Father’s realms are many stages with temporary abodes. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare an abode for your upward journey.”

It is possible that both interpretations are correct.

We’ve already discussed where Christ is going (to the Father in the Celestial Kingdom); how does one get there?

Only through Christ – He is the Way – and He will show you the way to go home (see 2 Nephi 32:6).

One cannot enter the presence of the Father unless you’ve been ministered to by the Son – being made by Him a Son yourself, “having part of” Him (think about the symbolism in both the sacrament and Washing of the Feet rite).

He is the gatekeeper to give us entrance, if we know Him and He knows us.

He is the sanctifier to make us clean, in His own blood.

He is the testator before the Father of our cleanliness and ability to stand in His presence (see D&C 88:75 and D&C 76:51).

What is the Way?

Christ is both the example of successfully following the Way and the enabler of the Way for us, when we attempt to walk it.

The Way is to do the works of Christ; He made it home and is the prototype of the saved being – He is our example and has “blazed the trail” back to Heaven (see LoF 7:9, 16).

No one comes to the Throne of the Father without Christ but if we follow Him, we will come to the Father’s Throne and will be like Him forever.

 

READ John 14:7-11

What did Christ mean when He said, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father”?

When Christ subjected Himself entirely to the will of the Father, He was in every deed, thought and action “the Father”—though flesh and blood living among us.

They were “one.”  If you beheld Christ, you would see the precise image of His Father.

The words of the Son are the words of the Father – they come directly from the Father as they share the same mind (the Holy Spirit).

The Father is IN the Son and the Son is IN the Father.

And henceforth, or from here on out, Christ IS the Father in Heaven to all who come unto Him and through Him are saved.

How is Christ in the Father and the Father is in Him and how can we become one with Them?

Christ subjected Himself to the Holy Spirit, or “mind of the Father” which swallowed His will into the will of the Father. He models what He asked us to do. He prayed we would allow the Spirit to make us “one” with them, so we become “perfect” as They are perfect.

Divine persons exist in a unity that includes loving, interconnecting with, and intimate knowledge of another who is also in Them; the love (energy belonging to a person – in a similar way in which the Holy Spirit is part of God and also emanates from Him/Them to fill the immensity of space) abounding in the divine relationship is given freely to another self, so that the other is “in” one’s self and one’s self is “in” the other.

Divine persons are divine and possess Godhood as one, because they are one in loving unity; the corollary to this insight is that the divine persons can leave behind their divinity by becoming alienated (from each other – the Gods) and individually take upon themselves the human condition of estrangement and become the Word made flesh (this is true until they attain to the resurrection themselves, after which their glorious spirits and bodies can’t be separated again).

The key to why the Father would allow the Son to be “in Him” (and it being more than just a “top down” relationship where the Father is “in Christ” but Christ is not “in the Father”), is that Christ is inherently or intrinsically valuable as a “Thou” entity.

But the truly amazing thing is that because we are also non-created, eternal intelligence or beings of light that have always existed, and are one with God, we are also intrinsically valuable and the Gods want us to be one “in Them” as much as they want us to invite them to be one in us.  Remember, we are also Gods (see Psalms 82:6; John 10:34).

If we have His (Christ’s Spirit) then we have the Father’s Spirit; or according to the Lectures on Faith, we have the Holy Spirit to be with us. This Holy Spirit is “a personage of Spirit” which dwells within us. Or, in other words, when we receive the “mind of the Father and the Son” by listening to the Holy Spirit, we become sanctified by Their presence within us. We become “one” with them and our spirits become holy, like they are.

 

READ John 14:12-14

What does it mean that the works Christ does will also be done by His followers – including greater works?

Those who trust in Christ will accomplish the same works He did during His mortal life; healing the sick, casting out devils, raising the dead, teaching saving doctrine, keeping all of the commandments, etc.

They will also accomplish the “greater works” He was about to do; the atonement, His sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection.

Christ did nothing that He had not seen His Father already do in a prior eternity – the path to godhood is the same for all who would take it (see TPJS 390-393).

As the Father helped Christ, so Christ will help you to complete the path to godhood.

 

 

The First Comforter

READ John 14:15-17, 24-26

What will you do if you truly love Christ?

You will keep His commandments.

You will stand ready, watching for every communication Christ will send to you – like a sentinel on guard.

It will be your deepest desire and you will devote all your energy to keeping His commandments; not out of fear or for a reward, but out of love for Him.

If you don’t keep Christ’s commandments, what is implied?

You don’t truly love Christ.

Or you love other things more.

What is implied by the use of the word “comforter”?

On earth we will be in great need of comfort from God.

This need will be particularly true at the time we are visited.

What is this “comforter” that the Father will give?

One who will abide with us FOREVER.

The Spirit of Truth – the revealer of the truth of all things.

Dwells with us.

Shall be in us.

It is the Holy Spirit or mind of God.

Is the record of heaven.

 

READ John 15:26-27 and John 16:5-16

What is the role of this First Comforter?

Testifies of Christ.

It will lead us on the upward path and guides us to all truth; the light is given to shine upon the pathway, to expose wrongdoing and let you decide matters correctly.

Speak the words of God directly from His mouth – it is the means to communicate Christ’s words and pour knowledge into you.

Show us things to come.

Glorifies Christ.

Will sanctify us or make our spirits holy.

What is implied by the fact that the Lord still had many things to teach the Apostles?

Becoming like God requires the acquiring or learning of much knowledge (understatement…).

It will not or cannot all be given or comprehended in this life (see TPJS 390-393) but it will require a long time – from eternity to eternity – to learn all that is needed and apply that knowledge wisely – until we attain to the resurrection of the dead (which is not to be confused with being resurrected by Christ after this earth life).

For example, if the Lord had shown Moses all of His creations, Moses would not have been able to continue in the flesh – he would have gained too much light for a telestial body to contain and he would have been translated (see Moses 1:5).

The Holy Spirit is required for people to be able to comprehend these things – we must be changed (body and spirit) or filled with more light – sanctified – to understand them.

 

 

The Second Comforter

READ John 14:18-22

How will Christ Himself comfort us?

He will come to you Himself in the flesh.

He will manifest Himself unto you – He will show us who He is – the God of Israel and worker of the Atonement – that He lives again (see 3 Nephi 11:14-17).

He and the Father will abide or stay with you (see John 14:23).

READ D&C 130:3

So, is this an actual visitation in the mortal flesh?

Yes.

The idea that the Father and the Son “dwell in a man’s heart” only is false.

Part of receiving the Second Comforter is the “comfort” that comes with the sure knowledge that He lives and is the God of the whole earth (see 3 Nephi 11:10-17).

READ TPJS 171:2 and TPJS 172:5

What is the purpose of the Second Comforter?

To KNOW that Jesus is the Christ – to KNOW CHRIST (which is eternal life).

To be taught by Christ things that cannot be taught by anyone else but we need to know if we are to enter the presence of the Father to be sealed up to eternal life.

To give a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.

To open the visions of heaven.

It is not calling and election – that happens first and is a precondition of receiving the Second Comforter.

READ TPJS 170:6

Who has the privilege of knowing the Lord in this way?

Even the least Saint.

As fast as they are able to bear them.

 

 

A Habitation with God

READ John 14:23

How can you know someone if you only meet them once?

You can know with a surety that they live or exist (see 3 Nephi 11:14-15).

But you cannot truly “know” them; you must spend time with someone, interact with them, and see them in many different situations to really know them.

But it’s pretty clear that you cannot know someone at all if you’ve never even met them once – you can know about them but not know them.

What is a “habitation” with God?

It is to have the Lord and the Father abide with you constantly.

In addition to the Holy Spirit, you can have the Lord as your constant companion.

It is different from the Second Comforter, which is an event – a manifestation or visitation from the Lord; a habitation is way beyond a single or occasional visit.

Those with a habitation with God see and speak with the Lord every time they pray (see Acts 2:25).

This is what it means to be one with God or to be “in God” and have God be “in you”; Christ and the Father have this kind of relationship – they are always together or connected (perhaps not in person but remember that the Holy Spirit or Light which fills the immensity of space comes from God and fills all things – God and Christ are one with each other in this respect; and we have the same opportunity.

How do we gain a habitation with God in this life?

We love Him and keep His words.

We claim the inheritance of the Saints or servants of God – and God is calling us to awake and arise to experience the blessings He has made available to us (see 1 Corinthians 2:9).

 

READ John 14:27-31

What is Christ’s peace and how is it different from the world’s peace?

Christ’s peace is the sure knowledge of your standing before the Lord – specifically the acceptance of your sacrifice and His promise to you of eternal life (see LoF 6).

The world’s peace is a lack of war; while this is a very good thing, it is temporary and will be completely irrelevant after you are dead.

 

 

The True Vine

READ John 15:1-8

What does it mean that Christ is the true vine and His Father is the husbandman?

Christ is the “vine” or the head of the Father’s family.

The Father is the “gardener” or the one who planted the vine.

We are the branches; we are alive if we are directly connected to the vine – if we are part of the vine itself; we are dead and withered if we are severed from the vine.

What does the husbandman do to the vine?

He plants it (organizes it – puts it in a place to fulfill the measure of its creation – this is not the same as creating it out of nothing).

He nourishes it so that it grows up strong (with light and truth).

He prunes it so that it will bear as much fruit as it can – to attain to the full measure of its creation.

Through trial, suffering and affliction of mortal probation he enables it to attain perfection.

He will remove all branches that do not produce fruit.

What is the relationship between the vine and the branch?

They are part of the same plant, the branch is just an extension of the vine.

The vine, or root and trunk, is where life lies – the branch without the vine will die, but it is possible for a branch to die without the vine dying.

The branch is where the fruit grows.

The vine enables the branch to grow the fruit.

How are the disciples “clean” through the “word” which Christ has spoken unto them?

It’s not the commandments – they aren’t clean through the commandments because they are not able to keep all of them perfectly, all of the time – not at this stage of their eternal progression, at least.

The “word” that makes them “clean” is a) Christ as the word and b) His testimony to them that their sins are cleansed through His grace – He decrees them clean before the Father (see D&C 88:75); which means they ARE clean, as He is a god of truth and cannot lie – and His atonement enables this sanctification that He can bestow upon all He decides to grant it to.

How might a branch not abide in the vine?

It could get diseased and wither away – only killing itself, not the vine (but requiring it be cut off and separated from the vine).

This happens if the Lord’s words do not abide in the person (v 7).

What happens when a branch abides in the vine and how is this done?

If you stay connected to Christ, and His words live in you, you will ask according to His will, and you will be given the ability to accomplish His will.

It will please and vindicate the Father if you produce abundant fruit, and that will prove you follow Christ.

Just like the Father has loved Christ, Christ has in turn likewise loved you. Therefore, remain connected with Christ and His love will be with you.

If you practice His teachings, you will always remain connected with Him; just as He has kept His Father’s teachings and has remained connected with Him.

What is the “fruit of the branches”?

His work and glory is to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life.

The fruit symbolizes our (the branch’s) eternal life.

The branch must bear fruit that adds glory to the Father = the fruit is ultimately the immortality and eternal lives of those we enable by inheriting eternal lives ourselves through the grace of the Vine (Christ).

 

 

Greater Love Hath No Man Than This

READ John 15:9-17

What is implied about the love the Father has for Christ?

It is just like Christ’s love for us; just like the Father has loved Christ, he in turn, likewise has loved us.

Christ first loved us and showed that love by suffering that He might redeem us.

If the Father loved Christ in the same way Christ loved us, then the Father also showed His love by suffering that He might redeem Jesus (see TPJS 390).

What happens if we remain connected to Christ?

We will have His love with us.

We will be “alive in Christ”.

How can we remain connected to Christ?

Practice His teachings.

Keep His commandments.

Which presupposes that we love Him (see John 14:15).

That is how Christ has remained connected to the Father – even throughout His mortal life.

What is implied about how we are connected to God and to each other?

We are connected by love (see D&C 88:125, 133; D&C 78:11; D&C 82:11).

Love may be an element or energy, like light or virtue, that gives nourishment and binds us together.

In the context of this discussion of the true vine, what did Christ mean when He said “that my joy might remain in you”?

If we remain connected to Christ and filled with His love by following His teachings and overcoming all obstacles, we will “bear fruit” or gain eternal life.

And Christ will rejoice at our triumph.

We will be animated by His Spirit (joy) forever.

Why is loving one another a commandment?

Like all of God’s commandments, this one is not arbitrary.

If we are not filled with unconditional love such that we love one another, we are not, by definition, like Christ – in fact, we’re very much NOT like Christ.

And we must be PRECISELY like Christ to be saved (see LoF 7:9).

So, being filled with love such that we love one another is an eternal law – which is why it is a commandment; in fact, it’s the first and second greatest commandments – the foundation upon which all of the other commandments are built (see Matthew 22:36-40).

How can you recognize God’s love in someone?

When they are willing to sacrifice all things for another, even their own lives; that level of love is completely selfless.

How are we to love each other as Christ loved us?

We must love unconditionally – love everyone that we meet and without regard for receiving any love in return – extend love before proof that it will be returned.

We must be willing to lay down our lives in sacrifice to save our “friends” – and as Christ did that for everyone (making it possible for them to become His friends if they abide by His will), we must do the same.

Ultimately, we must follow His example and work out an atonement for all those who are depending upon us to save them in some far future eternity – to actually sacrifice our lives to save our friends.

What is implied by the phrase “greater love hath no man that this”?

That there are different degrees or magnitudes of love.

That selfless, unconditional love that involves the sacrifice of one’s will and life, demonstrate the highest form of love.

As God has a fullness of love, this magnitude of love is what God has.

If God’s friends do everything they are told to do, what is the difference between a “friend” and a “servant”?

While both friend and servant do God’s will…

A servant does not share his Lord’s life.

A friend shares in everything – nothing is held back.

The Lord wants to share everything He has received from His Father – all the light and knowledge required to save us and give us eternal life.

In addition to learning what is decided in heaven and then doing it on earth, the “friend” has the opportunity to influence what happens in heaven (see Genesis 18:22-33; James 5:16).

How can Christ have chosen a select few without violating their agency, as they did not choose Him?

He loved them first, then they loved Him.

He chose them first, then they chose to follow Him.

He ordained or sealed them up to eternal life, but they must walk the path to get there.

They always had their agency, as Judas Iscariot so sadly demonstrated.

What ordination is Christ referencing here?

Not the ordination to the Apostleship – that had taken place years ago.

This is an ordination to progress and become “fruitful branches”; it is to be sealed up to eternal life – they have received their calling and election and it has been made sure by Christ’s promise – they can now ask the Father for blessings and He will grant them, for they will ask whatever Christ directs them to ask for through His Spirit that now animates them.

 

READ John 15:18-25

If Christ and those who follow Him are so filled with light and love, why does the world hate them?

The world hates them BECAUSE they are so filled with light.

The light is blinding to those who live in darkness and the darkness causes them not to be able to comprehend or value the light when they come across it.

It is like the teenagers watching TV in a dark room when the parent comes in and turns on the light – they say “turn the light off, we can’t see!”  Their eyes have become adjusted to the dark and the light is now blinding – prohibiting their ability to see, instead of enabling it.  It is a divine paradox…

The world is infested with devils who love the darkness that those souls have within them – they were cursed to have a constant, tormenting hunger that can only be temporarily satisfied by feeding on the evil acts of men – they try to influence people through placing thoughts in their heads via proximity.

The light within Christ and His followers is blinding to demons and many of them flee from it (see Acts 5:15-16); those who are in the demons’ grasp are influenced to hate those that are filled with light – the demons want to continue to feed off of the person, so rather than being cast out or off of the person, they try to illicit a fight or flight response, as they (the demon, and to the degree that the mortal host is consensual with the possession or influence of the demon the mortal too) will either seek to destroy or escape from the person filled with light.

If Christ’s example made the Jews accountable – and angry, because they could no longer sin without guilt, why did Christ come to teach them?

Christ still loves them – He is not into “gotcha” situations, but He will give us what we say we want and what we deserve.

They were religious – they pretended to love and worship God, so God sent His Son to teach them the truth.

But their religion was to set themselves up as a light – it lacked faith and they rejected Christ and the Father who sent Him.

 

 

Casting Out God’s Messengers

READ John 16:1-4

What does it mean that “they shall put you out of the synagogues”?

They will be excommunicated from the Church.

What does it mean that those that kill them will think they are doing God’s work?

They will believe so strongly that Christ’s disciples are wrong – that they are dangerous, faith-destroying heretical apostates, that they will think that it must be God’s will to kill them to “protect the faith”.

So why did these very religious people fight so vehemently against Christ and later His Apostles?

Because their hearts were not open to the Spirit of Truth that testifies of the Father and the Son, and their points of true doctrine, so that they didn’t recognize Him when He came to them…despite their excessive, standard-keeping obedience to the Law.

This is a sad case where the focus on “keeping the commandments” took over their hearts and kept the individuals from doing the one thing that the “law of carnal commandments” was intended to do, which was to lead them back to Christ – to fill them with enough light gained via adherence to true principles to enable them to recognize Him and His greater words when He came to minister to them, even if He did not come in a way they were expecting (see D&C 84:19-27 and Galatians 3:24-25).

These people will never awake and arise; they cannot do or will never choose to do what Christ and the Father have done.

 

 

Ascending to God

READ John 16:17-21

What does it mean that Christ will depart briefly, then when He has ascended to the Father, He will be by the Apostles’ side?

Once ascended to heaven, He had the ability to guide each person by His voice in a much more intimate and specific way than He could have when He was a mortal upon the earth – if they would open their ears to hear Him.

Through the Holy Spirit or the light of Christ which emanates from God to fill the immensity of space and is within and through all things, Christ knows and controls every aspect of this creation (see D&C 88:6-13).

Until He attained to the resurrection, Christ was careful not to refer to Himself as perfect; when He had ascended to the Father, He had become even more powerful than He had been before (see Matthew 5:48; 3 Nephi 12:48; TPJS 390-393).

Christ would still have the ability to descend again to the earth, at any time, to minister, either seen or unseen, to whomever He wishes.

How is a woman’s giving birth to a baby a good metaphor for Christ’s resurrection or for our birth of the spirit?

Before the glorious resurrection, Christ had to suffer through the terrible pains of the atonement and crucifixion which enabled it.

Prior to our receiving the birth of the spirit or baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, we must experience godly sorrow – seeing our true standing before the Lord and the great chasm between where we are and the Kingdom of God.

In both cases, the joy of the blessing (the resurrection and the mighty change from being born again) will never leave us, while the pain required to enable those blessings is finite in time.

Eternal law requires opposition in all things – so for blessings to be received, they must be earned; also, when change happens, there is always a great struggle to adjust to it.

 

READ John 16:22-27 (including JST footnote) and D&C 88:75

What joy comes to mankind from Christ that no one can take from them?

It is the joy that comes from hope.

Hope is the knowledge or promise from God’s own mouth of their being sealed up to eternal life (see 2 Nephi 31:20).

What power must one possess to be able to ask God and be guaranteed that it will be given?

The Holy Priesthood After the Order of the Son of God (see D&C 107:3 and D&C 84:19-25, 33-42).

Why will Christ not “pray unto the Father” for them after that day?

After Christ has testified of them before the Father (see D&C 88:75 and Mosiah 5:15), God will communicate with them directly, face to face, because He will love them as He loves Christ – and they will be able to abide His presence because they will be like Him, purified even as He is pure – and they will be one, as Christ is in the Father and the Father is in Christ, so will the Father also be in us.

This Is Life Eternal

READ John 17:1-3

What is implied by Christ’s prayer?

That Christ needed to pray and ask the Father to be filled with His light.

That Christ did not have a fullness of that light all of the time, as a mortal – that it wasn’t inherently within Him as a fullness at this point (see D&C 93:12-17).

How did Christ gain the power to heal all weaknesses and redeem all creation?

The Father taught Him how to overcome the weaknesses of the flesh until He was called to be a Son of God (see TPJS 390-393; D&C 93:12-14).

It was not like He had a fullness of it within Him inherently from the beginning – He had to gain that ability; going from a small capacity to a great one – from eternity to eternity.

Having said that, Christ had ascended to the level of a God before the foundation of this world – after His death, He returned to the Father to be with the Father, as He was before He was born; the difference was that He when He returned, He had attained to the resurrection of the dead Himself, as His Father had previously done.

What is life eternal?

To know God the Father and Jesus Christ (see 1 John 5:12).

And to truly know someone, you must be able to fully comprehend them.

To comprehend someone, you must have the mental capability (enlightenment or quickening) to fully understand them; this really only comes when you have experienced what they have been through.

 

READ Ether 3:19-20

What is knowledge?

It is beyond faith.

It comes from practical experience.

It cannot be denied without lying.

 

READ 1 John 4:7-8

What are the first steps to knowing God?

Loving one another with the pure love of Christ.

That you might be born of God and enter in by the Gate.

 

READ Mosiah 4:11-16 and Mosiah 5:12-13

After you have been born of God and received His name, what must you do next to know God?

Serve Him by…

Feeding His sheep – relieve the suffering of the beggar.

Keeping His commandments – obedience is the way to grow in light.

Always remembering Him.

 

READ 2 Nephi 32:6-7 and 3 Nephi 11:14-17

When we have been tried and found true, how does Christ introduce Himself to us?

By coming to us personally to minister to us – to give us knowledge that must be taught and received but cannot be shared between mortals (see 2 Nephi 32:6).

By witnessing for ourselves through our own senses, the tokens He bears that prove that He has done the work God sent Him to do.

 

READ D&C 132:21-24

When must this happen?

In this world – in the flesh (see D&C 76:74).

Knowing God is literal and must be accomplished in the flesh (see Genesis 32:30; Exodus 24:9-10; Deuteronomy 5:4; 1 John 1; John 14:23; Matthew 5:8; 2 Nephi 9:41).

There is a reason that a perfect, resurrected Christ continues to bare physical tokens in His body which a mortal can feel.

 

READ TPJS 394:4

When will this happen to us?

When we are ready – when we qualify – when we have submitted our whole souls and walked in His way such that He comes to us.

The smallness of the number of mortals who have accomplished this is down to our lack of understanding of what is required and/or our desire to do them, not to an unwillingness on His part to save us (Hosea 5:6, 9, 15) or the specialness of a few “chosen ones.”

If eternal life is to know God and knowing God means to meet Him in the flesh, what is implied if you have not yet had an audience with Christ?

If you have not yet had an audience with Christ, you have not yet qualified for eternal life.

Either you are not living all of the commandments you have received.

Or you have not yet received all of the commandments you need to enable you to abide in His presence.

Or your faith is being negatively affected by believing things about Him and your standing before Him that are wrong.

Or He is proving you and you must be patient and wait on Him.

 

READ John 17:4-14

What does it mean that the Father gave certain souls to Christ that were formerly His (the Father’s)?

The Father “gave” Christ certain souls to be His “seed” or Sons and Daughters, if they would come unto Him (Jesus) and receive Him in the mortal world and then not betray Him.

The implication is that these souls were the Father’s seed or Sons and Daughters in a prior eternity, that they had chosen Him when He (Ahman, the Father) was in the role of Christ; and if they were His seed then, Christ likely was, too – this might make Christ’s statement that He did what He saw the Father do even more literal, particularly if Jesus Christ were a mortal disciple of Ahman Christ (the Father) during that mortal ministry – although that is not required, as Jesus could have seen Ahman’s atonement in vision at any time (and most likely did see it again when a mortal on this earth, as the veil would have been drawn over His mind when He was born of Mary).

And the implication of all of this on the doctrine of Christ being both the Father and the Son, or of the Adoption of any of us as Sons and Daughters of God, is interesting – to be redeemed from a mortal probation we are completely dependent upon the one (the Christ or anointed one) who has been prepared to condescend and offer the sacrifice required to atone for all those who have entered into that mortality in that eternity and are therefore spiritually dead, or everything that we have gained in all prior eternities will be lost – and to be saved, each soul must covenant in mortality with that Christ, becoming His Son or Daughter; even as they may have done in prior eternities with others who had been sent as the Christ; thus they have many Fathers in Heaven and will continue to “collect” or have more as they condescend to additional mortalities in future eternities, until they themselves have attained to the resurrection of the dead by enacting the role of Christ themselves, becoming precisely as He is now (see LoF 7:9, 15-16) and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings with a resurrected body from which their spirit can never again, worlds without end, be separated from…(see also TPJS 390-393).

 

 

In the World but Not of the World

READ John 17:15-16

What does it mean to be “not of” the world vs. being “of” the world?

Physically, we are all “of” this world as our bodies are constructed of element that is unrefined or telestial in nature – they are “avatars” made from the “dust” or unified field or particles of this lower frequency/energy/light dimension.

Spiritually, none of us on this earth are “of” this world – we are all infinite beings having a finite, mortal experience.

But most of us (spiritual beings) are spiritually dead – living without God in this world (not connected to Him) – cast out of His presence and unable to reenter it without being incinerated physically and experiencing a consciousness of guilt that is like a flame of unquenchable fire, spiritually (see Mormon 9:3-5).

To be “spiritually alive” (or in God’s presence and spiritually connected to Him) is to be a stranger and foreigner in this telestial world.

Why does the Lord pray that the Father does not take the disciples out of the world but protects them from the evil in it?

We are down here in this world to do a job – either to be proven or to execute a rescue mission – but either way we have the opportunity to acquire more light through our obedience and sacrifice in a world where we can suffer and die, and actually lose light gained previously (the stakes are high).

 

 

Be One

READ John 17:17-26

How are we sanctified?

Through receiving (believing, accepting into one’s mind, being changed by, and acting on) the truth = God’s word = Eternal Law = pure intelligence = glory/light, when it is offered us by the Son or the Father or in other words, receiving a fullness of the Holy Spirit.

How are the Father and Son one?

The Son received glory given Him from the Father.

Glory = intelligence, light and truth.

The Son became precisely like the Father by doing the things He saw the Father had done in a prior eternity (see LoF 7:9, 15-16; D&C 93:12-14; John 5:19).

What enables us to become one with God or with each other?

Receiving the light or glory given us by Christ – His Spirit, which is the mind of God (see LoF 5:2).

The light will lead all who follow it to become perfect like the Father and Christ are; perfect in one.

If we receive the light, we may ascend to live with Christ, following the journey that was established before the foundation of this creation.