The Savior Taught About Future Events

In verse 4 of Joseph Smith’s translation of Matthew, Christ’s disciples ask Him questions having to do with His Second Coming.  In verses 5-55, Christ talks about some of the events that are signs that His coming is nigh and some of the blessings that will come to those who remain faithful to Him throughout the adversity and craziness of it all.

Some of the things that Christ warned would happen are that false prophets would come (verses 5-6, 9, 22); Christ's people will be hated and persecuted for their beliefs (verse 7); people will become very rude and nasty to each other and betray one another (verse 8); and iniquity will be the "popular" thing to do (verses 10 and 30).  There will be wars and talk of more wars (verses 23 and 28); famines, pestilences, and earthquakes will abound (verse 29).

Some of the blessings that Christ promised to the righteous are eternal life (verses 11 and 30), understanding of what they read in the scriptures (verse 12), and that their afflictions will seem like a short period of time (verse 20).  The true gospel of Jesus Christ will be preached all over the world (verse 31).

Christ also told of other signs to come before He returns to the earth.  He said that after all of the “…tribulation of [these] days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken” (verse 33).  He won’t come until all of the things He told us of happen.  He said that, “…whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived” (verse 37).  We need to be prepared and keep ourselves that way for Him to come back because we don't know when that's going to be (verses 48 and 53).  We need to do all that is necessary to keep ourselves in line with what He would have us do so that we may live with Him again.  If we don’t prepare before He comes back, it’ll be too late when He’s here.

There are a lot of people who are worried about Christ’s Second Coming.  According to 1 Nephi 22:16-22 and Doctrine and Covenants 97: 22, 25, those who are worried about the Second Coming can take comfort in knowing that as long as they are righteous and are keeping the commandments, the Lord will protect them.

Temporal Marriage and the Resurrection

According to Matthew 22:23 and Acts 23:6-8, the Sadducees believed that there will be no resurrection.  To me, this indicates that when the Sadducees questioned Christ about marriage after the resurrection, they were very sincere.  They said, when talking to Christ, that when a man dies, the custom is for his brother to marry his wife.  There was a woman whose husband died, so she married his brother.  The brother eventually died, so she married another brother.  She ended up married to all seven brothers at one point or another because they kept dying before she did.  The Sadducees ask Christ who she would be married to after the resurrection.  I believe that she will be married to the first one, assuming that she married him in the House of the Lord: the temple.

In Matthew 22:30, Christ says to the Sadducees in response to their questions about marriage after the resurrection, "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven."  It seems to me like Christ says that there will be no marriages performed after the resurrection.  I think this verse actually means that there will be no temporal marriages after the resurrection.  There will be marriages, but they will last for eternity, not just until death.

Elder James E. Talmage comments that, "In the resurrection there will be no marrying nor giving in marriage; for all questions of marital status must be settled before that time, under the authority of the Holy Priesthood, which holds the power to seal in marriage for both time and eternity."  This reaffirms to me that marriage really can last for eternity.  When most people get married, the one performing the marriage ordinance says, "Til death do you part."  Their marriage will last until death.  Those who are married in the temple with the proper authority will have a marriage that lasts beyond the grave, as long as they remain worthy of that blessing.

Doctrine and Covenants 132:15-16 reads, "Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me nor by my word, and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world.  Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory."  This helps me understand Matthew 22:30 better because it explains what Christ means by those who marry outside the temple being, "...as the angels of God in heaven."  Their marriages will not last for eternity, and they will be helping those who were married in the temple.  That's kind of a sad thought to me.  When I fall in love, why wouldn't I want to be with him forever?

Earthly and Heavenly Blessings

This week in New Testament, I studied Matthew 19 and 20.  One of the parables that Jesus told was about a rich young man.  He asked Christ what he could do to obtain eternal life, and Christ basically told him to keep the commandments.  He told Christ if there was anything else that he could do, since he had been doing that his whole life.  Christ then told him that there was one more thing: sell everything he has and give it to the poor.  The young man walked away from Christ, choosing to give up all that He could offer, and for what?  I’ve always kind of wondered why someone would choose worldly wealth over Christ.

In Matthew 19:16-30, it seems to me like the young man had a comfort zone that he didn’t want to leave.  He was willing to follow the Savior as long as it was comfortable for him.  It seems like this happens a lot today.  People want to follow the Savior, but for whatever reason aren’t willing to do everything He has asked.  How many people give a couple of dollars to the homeless person on the street corner?  How many people will offer a place to sleep to someone in need, even if they’re a friend?  Not very many people come to my mind, and why?  Because it’s not comfortable, it’s not convenient, it’s not easy, yet this is what the Savior asked of us.  What’s more important to you: comfort or the Lord?

It seems to me that the young man was also prideful.  He seemed to want to continue to be considered (by men) better than others.  The Savior said in Matthew 19:23, “…that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.”  I think that it is because of the pride that seems to accompany riches.  Rich people tend to think they’re better than everyone else because of all that they have.  With this attitude, humility is impossible.  I think that what the Savior was really asking the young man to do was to be humble.

The Savior promises everlasting life, treasures in heaven, and “…an hundredfold…” (Matthew 19:29) of whatever sacrifice you made or gave up. I personally would rather be humble, keep the commandments, follow Christ, and end up with 100 times what I had before I started serving Him.

When he heard Christ say that it’s hard for a rich man to obtain eternal life, Peter wondered what it means to basically give up everything to do so.  The Savior told him that he (and anyone else who sacrifices for the kingdom of God) will receive 100 times as many blessings as what they sacrificed.

The Savior’s response to Peter gives me some hope.  Sometimes I feel forsaken by the people who should love me most, and it hurts.  There’s not much I wouldn’t do for them, but I have to think about the “grand scheme of things,” so to speak.  Is what they’re putting me through and some of what they want me to do worth it?  It’s hard to keep an eternal perspective when others close to me want me to certain things and potentially risk that relationship, but Christ’s response to Peter gives me hope that no matter how good or bad it works out with them, it will all be worth it in the end.

In Matthew 20:1-16, Christ tells the parable about a man who goes to the market to hire some laborers.  He went to the market early in the morning, offered some laborers a penny a day to work in his vineyard, they worked about 12 hours, and received a penny.  The man goes to the market in the third hour, offered some laborers “…whatsoever is right…” (Matthew 20:4), they worked nine hours, and received a penny at the end of the day.  Those the man hired in the  hour worked about six hours, in the ninth hour worked about three hours, and those he hired in the 11^th hour worked about one hour, and they were all paid a penny.

From this parable, I was reminded that we know what is expected of us, and we know what the potential reward is.  It is the same for everyone.  We can either take the Lord’s offer of eternal life in return for keeping the commandments, or not.  It’s our choice.  It doesn’t matter when we start serving the Lord.  Our spiritual progress is up to us.  We can grow as fast or slow as we want, and I don’t think that when we accept the gospel has much, if anything, to do with it.

I think that this parable can provide some comfort to converts to the Church I know that it’s not going to be held against me that I was baptized a little later.  It’s not something I could help or do anything about, so it’s nice to know that it won’t affect my eternal salvation or that of my future children.

Some people feel like it’s unfair for each of the laborers to b paid equally, and if they asked for my opinion on it, I would tell them that at least they’re getting paid.  I would also try to help them look at the situation from another standpoint.  God is a just God, why would He disadvantage any of His children and not be willing to make up the difference?

Christ's Early Disciples

I was able to learn about some of the early disciples of Christ this week.  The assignment seemed to focus mostly on John the Baptist.  I thought it was interesting that in John 1:29 and 1:36 he kept calling Christ ‘the Lamb of God.’  When I thought about it, I thought about how lambs are considered pure and innocent animals and how the Israelites sacrificed their first born and purest to be cleansed from their sins.  The more I thought about it, the more fitting I thought it was that Christ was referred to as ‘the Lamb of God.’  He was pure, innocent, and the first born of the Father, and lambs were sacrificed in the similitude of the sacrifice that Christ performed for us.

I enjoyed reading about how many of Christ’s disciples recognized Him as the Lamb of God rather quickly.  John, James, Philip, and Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saw Christ walking by and followed Him because they realized who He really was (and still is).  Andrew went and told Peter, who then told Nathaniel, that the Messiah had come, and they followed Him also.  When Christ found Philip, he told everyone he could find.  It reminds me of the missionary work that we should be accomplishing. 

I was watching tv one day, just flipping through channels, and I came across some random show that was talking about different faiths.  The host went around a college campus, asking students if they share their faith with their friends.  Most of them answered that they didn’t because they were worried about offending one or all of their friends.  The host asked them if they were offered a thousand dollars for every person they shared their faith with, would they be so hesitant?  Everyone said that they would take that deal in a hear beat.  The host’s point was to help people see where their heart is, with the Lord or somewhere else.  It made me wonder where my heart is.  Where are my priorities?

The disciples who chose to follow Christ had chosen to give their heart to Him, and are perfect examples of how we should be.  When they saw or heard about Christ, they dropped everything to go to Him.  How many of us would do the same?  They also told as many people as they could find about Christ, which is I think what we should be trying to do, also.

Most, if not all, of my friends and family know that I’m a member of the Church.  They know that they can ask me questions, and they know that I will never force them to join the Church or choose between our friendship and being baptized.  Every now and then, I’ll mention the Church.  My friend told me over facebook one night that she wanted to read something, but she wasn’t sure what to read.  I semi-jokingly suggested that she could read the Book of Mormon.  She laughed and declined the offer.  Another time, I was in a CES choir a few years ago, and I somehow convinced my mom to watch it so she could see and hear me sing.  I also asked my mom if she wanted to go to General Conference with me.  She knows how much I love it, but she declined that offer.

I’m rarely successful, but I hope that one day the little things I do and say will lead somewhere.  I know how happy the gospel has made me, and I want my friends and family to have these blessings too.  I guess they’re just not ready yet.  I think that as long as I’m patient and continue to not make others feel forced into it, they might want to know more someday.  It might be next week, but it might also be 50 years from now.  I just need to keep loving and being patient with them.

John 1:1-14 and 17:1-5, the Premortal and Mortal Christ

For my New Testament post this week, I decided to look up John 1:1-14 and 17:1-5.  I thought it was interesting that they both refer to Christ as being ‘Light.’  I thought about why He would be referred to that way, and it made me think about what light is.  It gets rid of darkness, and if you’re inside a room or building, it helps you see where everything is.  It helps you understand where things are, which is kind of what Christ does.  He helps us understand different things we are going through and He gives us guidance, as do headlights on a car.

In these verses, I learned that Christ was called ‘the Word of God’ because of Heavenly Father’s promise to send Him as our Savior.  Christ, in the premortal existence, lived with God in the beginning, had the same glory that God had (and still does have), and created everything under God’s direction.  He was called ‘the Light’ because, like I said earlier, He gives understanding and direction.  He was selected in the premortal existence to be sent to Earth to glorify God.

In His mortal life, the Savior was raised among the Jews, who didn’t recognize Him as who He really was: the Messiah.  Throughout His entire life, Christ was honest, graceful, and very deliberate in all He did.  God gave Christ power over everything.  He was also given the power to grant eternal life to those worthy of it.  With this power, He successfully glorified the Lord here on the earth.

Through this assignment, I learned a little bit about some of the different names/titles for the Savior from the Bible Dictionary and the New Testament institute manual.  ‘Christ’ and ‘Messiah’ are the Greek and Hebrew versions of each other and have identical meaning: ‘the anointed.’  ‘Jehovah’ refers to the premortal Jesus Christ, is the proper name of the God of Israel, and denotes “the Unchangeable One” and “the Eternal I AM.”  In its original form, it literally meant “Help of Jehovah,” “Savior-Deliverer,” or “Jehovah is Salvation.”  I find it especially interesting that the name ‘Jehovah’ was not spoken in ancient Jewish practice for fear of incurring divine wrath.

The name ‘Immanuel’ or ‘Emmanuel’  means “God is with us” and was given as a sign of God’s deliverance. In reference to Christ, it’s expressive of His divine origin and Godship.

Christ is also referred to as ‘The Word,’ which I’ve always thought was interesting.  He is called this because God delegated the responsibility and power of creation to Jesus Christ.  Christ then became the one through whom God’s word was put into effect.  I’ve never thought of it that way before, but it makes sense to me.