DEEP DOCTRINES 1

When I finished writing my Thought last week about the blessings which come to those who are giving a blessing as well as the person receiving a blessing, I felt I would be moving on from the blessings Lehi bestowed upon his posterity shortly before his death found in the first few chapters of Second Nephi. However, during the week I was unable to get out of my mind the idea of passing over what can be called the ‘deep doctrines’ contained in his blessings.

If I were preparing a lesson or a talk on these chapters about the ‘deep doctrines’ contained therein I undoubtedly would have rearranged the points of this Thought in a different order, but out of reverence for the words of Lehi, I will present his teachings and my commentary on them in the order they appear in the Book of Mormon.

2 Nephi 1: 13-23

O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe…

And I desire that ye should remember to observe the statutes and the judgments of the Lord; behold, this hath been the anxiety of my soul from the beginning.

My heart hath been weighed down with sorrow from time to time, for I have feared, lest for the hardness of your hearts the Lord your God should come out in the fulness of his wrath upon you, that ye be cut off and destroyed forever; Or, that a cursing should come upon you for the space of many generations; and ye are visited by sword, and by famine, and are hated, and are led according to the will and captivity of the devil…

Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust.

Whether we have fallen into an occasional power nap, vegged out for a while, have narcolepsy or are in a permanent state of deep hibernation, my suspicion is that all of us have fallen victim to this often unspoken tool of Satan which causes us to absent ourselves from observing the statues and judgements of the Lord.

The siren chants which lull us into this hellish sleep have an abundance of choruses. One might be called ‘old fashioned’, another ‘it isn’t my thing’, or ‘when I am older’ just to name a few. But all the lyrics have the same purpose in mind which would be to shackle us in slumber so that we neglect the purposes of our mortality.

The Lord has provided us with an abundance of alarm clock settings, which include such sounds as the voices of prophets, the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, the pleadings of concerned parents, one of my favorites, the published words of peace, just to name a few.

Whatever sweet heaven sent sound awakens us we would all be wise to hearken to Lehi’s alarm and awake from our slumber, shake of the chains, come out of obscurity and arise from the dust.

2 Nephi 2:5

And men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil. And the law is given unto men. And by the law no flesh is justified; or, by the law men are cut off. Yea, by the temporal law they were cut off; and also, by the spiritual law they perish from that which is good, and become miserable forever.

I have been aware during my gospel immersed privileged life of all too frequent times when I have had to suspend judgement on some principle or doctrine because my mortal mind was not sufficiently capable of applying it to all times, to all people and to all circumstances. I sometimes jokingly say I am placing these doctrines on a shelf and when I get to heaven I will bring them down and get further understanding from Exalted minds.

Obviously, this verse had components which I have had to put on that shelf.

Men are instructed sufficiently to know good from evil: My problem is that the variance of the laws among men is like no two snowflakes being
alike.

The law cannot justify but can cause us to perish: We immediately are left to wonder, if we cannot be justified by the law, then how are we justified?

Is the purpose of the law to prove to us that our perishing is valid: This seems like a failsafe plan which condemns us all.

Awake to the sound of a prophets voice!

2 Nephi 2:3, 6, 7, 8

Wherefore, I know that thou art redeemed, because of the righteousness of thy Redeemer; for thou hast beheld that in the fulness of time he cometh to bring salvation unto men.

Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth.

Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.

Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.

We quickly learn the dangers of taking scriptures out of context. Lehi was not trying to point out the injustice of a doctrine which tries to make
all men accountable equally under the law or trying to make us all feel condemned because of our mortal frailties, but he was using this as a teaching tool which Nephi definitely learned since he later proclaimed; For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. (2 Nephi 25:23)

It should become apparent to us all that if we rely on our abilities to be obedient to the laws of men and even the laws of God, to be the factors in determining our eternal existence we will all be cut off because of our being imperfect mortal beings.

It is little wonder that when Joseph Smith wrote the fundamental articles of belief of the restored gospel, that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was the very first doctrine noted.

(To be continued)


THOUGHTS FOR A SABBATH DAY – WILLIAM L. RILEY

EDITED BY – KATHLEEN W. RILEY