1/20/2019 - Section 133:18-51

January 20, 2019

Section 133:18-51

Second Coming Our Part, Lost Ten Tribes, Wait on the Lord, Draw Near Unto Me, Preach the Gospel to all the World,

V 19 give us our assignment in preparing for the second coming: “Wherefore, prepare ye for the coming of the Bridegroom; go ye out to meet him.” To me that means that I’m not to sit and patiently wait, but I should be dressed and ready in every way and be anxiously awaiting His arrival. At some point, I wrote in my scriptures “continue to build spiritual supplies”. I’m glad I wrote that; it’s a reminder that I need often.

P 340 of the study guide takes me to a very interesting preface of the book Continents Adrift in which the scientist/author states: Formerly, most scientists regarded the eart as rigid and the continents as fixed, but now the surface of the earth is seen as slowly deformable, and the continents as ‘rafts’ floating on a  ‘sea’ of denser rock. The continents have repeatedly collided and joined repeatedly broken and separated in different patterns, and, very likely they have grown larger in the process.    This scientific revolution, as others before it, was long in the making, but it was not until the late 1960’s  that it began to succeed. At a meeting of the world’s geophysicists in August of 1971, it was made clear that the notion of continental drift, which had been heresy only a few years before, had become the orthodoxy of the great majority.” Interesting that the D&C contains this fact from long before the scientists figured it out.

V’s 26-34 speak of the returning of the lost 10 tribes. Selfishly, would like this to occur within my lifetime. V 30 says “And they shall bring forth their rich treasure unto the children of Ephraim, my servants.” How glorious it will be if those rich treasures are the same kind of treasures—the gold plates--that the Lord protected and then brought forth. When I think of how amazing it will be to read THOSE scriptures, I then remember hearing long ago the question: Why would the Lord send us more scriptures, if we are not reading and studying and following the scriptures we now have? If we thoroughly know OUR scriptures, how much more will we be able to gain from THEIR scriptures.

As these final days are spoken about, v 37 says “And this gospel shall be preached unto every nation and kindred, ad tongue, and people.” And here Bob and I are, in the Philippines, among many missionaries and people who know only Tagalog. And not so many years ago, we were among the missionaries and people of Japan. These days may seem like ordinary days, but they are days that have been prophesized!

v  45 speaks of the “great things thou hast prepared for him that waiteth for thee”. To wait is an action word. I think of it as “I will wait on the Lord”…as a handmaiden…as Mary said “Be it unto me according to thy word.” If I can wait patiently on the Lord, doing everything he asks of me as well as I can, then it seems that only growth and happiness will come from that.

11/16/2021- D&C 133:36-74

In V 36-38 the Lord explains that “I have sent forth mine angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel, who hath appeared unto some and hath committed it unto man… .And this gospel shall be preached unto every nation, kindred, and tongue, and people. And the servants of God shall go forth…”  He is speaking about the angel Moroni who tutored Joseph Smith and delivered the Golden Plates to him, for they do contain the fullness of the gospel. Then there were other angels who came to Joseph and taught him, and gave him, and others, keys and priesthood power. All of this had to happen prior to Christ’s Second Coming.

In v 37 & 38 the Lord tells us what our calling should be: “And this gospel shall be preached unto every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people. And the servants of God shall go forth saying with a loud voice: Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgement is come.” We do that by sharing our love and understanding of the Gospel with others, and we can also do it through genealogy—by giving those who have died, a choice of pulling the gospel into their hearts and minds and their way of living.

In v’s 41-51 He is speaking of His Second Coming. Malachi tells us that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will be a “dreadful day” for the wicked, but it will be a blessed day for the righteous (Malachi 4:5) For He will “meet [those] who rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, who remembereth [Him] in [His] ways (D&C 133:44) And those who have faithfully “waited for [Him] will experience great things that have not been heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath any eye seen” (D&C 133:45). These great things include the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, celestial glory, and exaltation. 

At that day the righteous will praise the Lord for “all that he has bestowed upon them according to his goodness, and according to his loving kindness, forever and ever” (v 52) . They will remember that “in all their afflictions He was afflicted” and that “in his love, and in his pity, he redeemed them, and bore them, and carried them” through the trials of mortality (v 53) and also Alma 7:11–13).

Jeffrey Holland said that “waiting on the Lord” means being vigilant in watching and preparing for His coming.

Elder Holland continued with: “We should watch for the signs and read the meaning of the seasons, we should live as faithfully as we possibly can, and we should share the gospel with everyone so that blessings and protections will be available to all. But we cannot and must not be paralyzed just because [the Second Coming] and the events surrounding it are out there ahead of us somewhere. We cannot stop living life. Indeed, we should live life more fully than we have ever lived it before. After all, this is the dispensation of the fulness of times. …God expects you to have enough faith and determination and enough trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you not simply to face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic); He expects you to embrace and shape the future—to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities. God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can’t if you don’t pray, and He can’t if you don’t dream. In short, He can’t if you don’t believe”

Then in v 58-60 Christ tells us about some of the purposes of the gospel. “To prepare the weak for those things which are coming on the earth, and for the Lord’s errand in the day when the weak shall confound the wise… .And by the weak things of the earth the Lord shall thrash the nations by the power of his Spirit. And for this cause these commandments were given; they were commanded to be kept from the world in the day that they were given, but now are to go forth unto all flesh.”

And then in v’s 61-62 He tells us again about what we should be working toward here on earth: “And unto him that repenteth and sanctifieth himself before the Lord shall be given eternal life. And upon them that hearken not to the voice of the Lord shall be fulfilled that which was written by the prophet Moses, that they should be cut off from among the people.”

As He finishes this section, he could not have made clearer, what lies ahead of us, and how we should approach those times and how we should get through those times. And through all of this, if we simply turn to the Lord and work to commune with Him and follow His ways, we will have done well in this, our earthly schooling.