Merriam Webster's online dictionary defines marvelous in these ways:
1. causing wonder; astonishing
2. miraculous; supernatural
3. of the highest kind or quality; notably superior
In multiple revelations (like D&C 4:1+6:1+12:1+14:1) the Lord Jesus Christ declares a marvelous work is about to come forth, referring generally to the Restoration of His Church and more specifically to the translation and publication of the Book of Mormon. When considering the history of the Book of Mormon and the miraculous process in which it was made known to the world, this truly was and still is marvelous. Prepared by ancient prophets beginning over two millenia before Joseph Smith and then abridged and finished by Mormon and Moroni around 400 A.D., I can not fully fathom how much hard work went into preparing the record. This is besides the point that the record was compiled from spiritual accounts of prophets and full of revelations and experiences testifying of Christ. This work of translation by Joseph Smith of this caliber of record -- pure, untainted scripture -- was truly marvelous...of the highest kind or quality; notably superior. You can see how important this work is to the Lord in the first chunk of revelations (about 15 of the first 20) as he guides Joseph and invites others to participate in the work and support the cause. Today those verses have just as powerful an effect on the missionaries and members around the world with a desire to serve the Lord by spreading the Book of Mormon further among all people. The coming of the Book of Mormon along with the full Restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ shows clearly how Daniel's prophecy of a stone cut out of a mountain rolling to fill the whole earth was a good analogy for the Restoration.
There was great purpose in the Lord directing Joseph to put all his efforts in bringing to light this ancient record before doing anything else. First and foremost the Book of Mormon teaches with clarity the doctrine of Christ and corrects false doctrines about the Godhead, the Plan of Salvation, and principles and ordinaces required for salvation. The veracity of the Book of Mormon also had the crucial role of establishing the truthfulness of Joseph's role as a prophet called of God along with the truthfulness of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Soon after the publication of the Book of Mormon, the Lord directed the organization of His Church. This didn't occur in reverse order. All the commandments the Lord gave Joseph before the rise of the Church were essentially tied to the Book of Mormon:
1. Prepare yourself for obtaining the plates (took a few years)
2. Protect the plates (as he did his part the Lord promised to keep them safe)
3. Translate the plates (easier said than done!)
4. Publish the record to the world
Marvelous with its connotations to miracles is definitely appropriate in describing a young, illiterate man being asked to publish a book in the first quarter of the 19th century. That just didn't happen. Simply purchasing the paper to record the translation was a great sacrifice. Martin Harris played an important role here, as the Lord reminds him in D&C 19:26 to not covet thine own property, but impart it freely to the printing of the Book of Mormon, which contains the truth and the word of God... If the Lord had not asked Joseph to do this great work, he probably would not have even dreamed of sending off a manuscript to the printing press. And again, this manuscript literally had the endorsement of God. In the strongest language possible (according to Hebrew tradition as far as oaths go) Christ proclaims And he [Joseph Smith] has translated the book, even that part which I have commanded him, and as your Lord your God liveth it is true. In other words, to the same level of reality that God lives does the Book of Mormon contain truth...and there is nothing more real and unchanging than the reality of a loving Heavenly Father and His perfect Son, Jesus Christ.
To close this marvelous theme, consider D&C 18:44 tying this marvelous work to repentance: And by your hands I will work a marvelous work among the children of men, unto the convincing of many of their sins, that they may come unto repentance, and that they may come unto the kingdom of my Father. This book, more than anything, brought real power into people's lives -- power to change their lives through repentance and faith in Christ. Who cares about the cost of getting the manuscript through the printing press when you start considering the effect of the Book of Mormon on the souls of men? In the same section, vs 10 and 13 the Lord says Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God...And how great is His joy in the soul that repenteth. Now is when the marvelous nature of this work cannot be disputed. Seeing people literally change for good, and being an instrument in the Lord's Hands to do His work of bringing His children back to Him in His kingdom, is accompanied by joy unparalled. All who are worthy and willing are invited to join with the Lord in this great and marvelous work!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The 116 Pages
The foreknowledge of God
Perhaps the most amazing principle elucidated by the lost 116 pages of manuscript translated by Joseph Smith is the the wisdom and foreknowledge of God. The record of Lehi was significant and meaningful; I believe it would be intriguing to read. Surely there was laborious, tedious, and expensive work done by Lehi to create his own narrative of his family's journeys and his spiritual encounters. With the limited space in the gold plates, Mormon must have found them very important to the story of the Nephites and to the message of Christ to include them. Yet, God knew how Satan would try to frustrate his work by trying to thwart the validity of the claimed gold plates and translation by Joseph, so he prepared a back-up record by Nephi in the small plates to preserve the story and message of the Book of Mormon. Lehi's efforts were in a way sacrificed for the greater good. Although, I believe Lehi's words made a huge impact on the righteous, scripture-using Nephites for hundreds of years during their civilization's reign. Still, an incredible amount of work, foresight, and miracles were required to preserve the reality and validity of the Book of Mormon. God truly does know us better than we know ourselves and He may even find it ironic or humorous at times when we commit to do certain things or to not follow other's mistakes because he knows already that we will break those promises. The sum conclusion again points to the necessity of Our Saviour and the Atonement as part of Heavenly Father's plan. From the very beginning even before the Creation, God the Father knew we all would need the ultimate "back-up plan", the perfect way to fix our errors and make our eternal lives a reality and ratified, saved from the grasp of Satan's tricks and plans to nullify our true identity. God's foreknowledge is a reality and something that I can trust, shown clearly with this example of the lost 116 pages of manuscript that Joseph Smith worked so hard to translate. Even when our motives may be good and our efforts sincere, the natural man comes out so easily and the persuasions of Satan sneak into our rationalizing so quickly that it becomes quite easy to blow it. Martin Harris gave in to the promptings of the devil and was able to persuade Joseph to trample upon counsel he received from his Director (D&C 3:15), fearing man more than God (D&C 3:7). The consequences were sure as Satan endeavored to capatilize on any mistake of this young prophet since the Restoration would thwart Satan's work more than anything. The awesome thing is, prayers from hundreds of years before that were full of faith, offered by righteous Nephite prophets over generations, had full sway in those events to ensure that despite Joseph's weakness the plates would come forth in power to testify to their descendents along with all Jews and Gentiles that Christ came unto them and is the Saviour of the world! D&C 3:19 "And for this very purpose are these plates preserved, which contain these records--that the promises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his people...that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers...that they might believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be glorified through faith in His name, and that through their repentance they might be saved. Amen."
As a final note, I have learned from the lost 116 pages that even though we sometimes feel like all is lost, there is a good chance that as we maintain faith (and repent if necessary) that all and more will be restored to us again. In D&C 5 the Lord makes the message clear to Joseph that He is in control and only as Joseph obeys His counsel can the promises of protection, translation, and receiving further witnesses be fulfilled. Still, the truth stands: God keeps His promises and they are powerful promises. The key is to be obedient and trust Him. We shouldn't be seeking for physical witnesses (seeing the pages of manuscript like Martin and his wife, or hoping to see the gold plates like Martin Harris later) as much as spiritual witnesses that are more sure and lasting in our hearts.
Perhaps the most amazing principle elucidated by the lost 116 pages of manuscript translated by Joseph Smith is the the wisdom and foreknowledge of God. The record of Lehi was significant and meaningful; I believe it would be intriguing to read. Surely there was laborious, tedious, and expensive work done by Lehi to create his own narrative of his family's journeys and his spiritual encounters. With the limited space in the gold plates, Mormon must have found them very important to the story of the Nephites and to the message of Christ to include them. Yet, God knew how Satan would try to frustrate his work by trying to thwart the validity of the claimed gold plates and translation by Joseph, so he prepared a back-up record by Nephi in the small plates to preserve the story and message of the Book of Mormon. Lehi's efforts were in a way sacrificed for the greater good. Although, I believe Lehi's words made a huge impact on the righteous, scripture-using Nephites for hundreds of years during their civilization's reign. Still, an incredible amount of work, foresight, and miracles were required to preserve the reality and validity of the Book of Mormon. God truly does know us better than we know ourselves and He may even find it ironic or humorous at times when we commit to do certain things or to not follow other's mistakes because he knows already that we will break those promises. The sum conclusion again points to the necessity of Our Saviour and the Atonement as part of Heavenly Father's plan. From the very beginning even before the Creation, God the Father knew we all would need the ultimate "back-up plan", the perfect way to fix our errors and make our eternal lives a reality and ratified, saved from the grasp of Satan's tricks and plans to nullify our true identity. God's foreknowledge is a reality and something that I can trust, shown clearly with this example of the lost 116 pages of manuscript that Joseph Smith worked so hard to translate. Even when our motives may be good and our efforts sincere, the natural man comes out so easily and the persuasions of Satan sneak into our rationalizing so quickly that it becomes quite easy to blow it. Martin Harris gave in to the promptings of the devil and was able to persuade Joseph to trample upon counsel he received from his Director (D&C 3:15), fearing man more than God (D&C 3:7). The consequences were sure as Satan endeavored to capatilize on any mistake of this young prophet since the Restoration would thwart Satan's work more than anything. The awesome thing is, prayers from hundreds of years before that were full of faith, offered by righteous Nephite prophets over generations, had full sway in those events to ensure that despite Joseph's weakness the plates would come forth in power to testify to their descendents along with all Jews and Gentiles that Christ came unto them and is the Saviour of the world! D&C 3:19 "And for this very purpose are these plates preserved, which contain these records--that the promises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his people...that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers...that they might believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be glorified through faith in His name, and that through their repentance they might be saved. Amen."
As a final note, I have learned from the lost 116 pages that even though we sometimes feel like all is lost, there is a good chance that as we maintain faith (and repent if necessary) that all and more will be restored to us again. In D&C 5 the Lord makes the message clear to Joseph that He is in control and only as Joseph obeys His counsel can the promises of protection, translation, and receiving further witnesses be fulfilled. Still, the truth stands: God keeps His promises and they are powerful promises. The key is to be obedient and trust Him. We shouldn't be seeking for physical witnesses (seeing the pages of manuscript like Martin and his wife, or hoping to see the gold plates like Martin Harris later) as much as spiritual witnesses that are more sure and lasting in our hearts.
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