ANOTHER LOOK AT HEAVENLY FATHER’S ETERNAL PLAN 3

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Revised and republished Sunday, March 15, 2020

Hopefully, I was able to express myself clearly in the second part of this extended Thought and it is understood that I believe that the preparation for the eternal state of Heavenly Father’s children, being the major activity of His work and Glory, is not confined to this mortal sphere, but extends infinitely into the past and, likewise, infinitely into the future.

I hope I have made it clear that I also believe this applies to each of His children individually as well as the collective work He is doing for the whole of His posterity.

If it hasn’t already occurred to you, let me bring up a counter point about which these previous ideas should have caused you to wonder.

Alma, one of the prophets whose writings became a major part of the Book of Mormon as it came forth in the 1800’s brought his sons together to give them a final blessing just prior to His departing mortality. It is interesting that his blessing to his son Corianton, who had made some choices contrary to the word of the Lord, (ironically he had much more to say to his wayward son than to Helaman and Shiblon who had been obedient – sounds like fodder for another Thought sometime in the future) made the following statement which we should spend some time considering, since it could be a valid objection to the first two parts of my thoughts about Another Look at Heavenly Father’s Plan.

If you have forgotten why I feel the limiting of our preparation to our time spent in mortality to be an illogical principle, you might want to do a quick review of last week’s Thought before continuing.

In chapters 12, 34 and 42 of Alma, in The Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ in this blessing to Corianton, Alma teaches that this life is the time given for man to prepare to meet God.

Although all three referenced chapters use the term ‘this life’ I believe a careful examination of Alma chapter 12 verse 24 opens up to us the understanding that this expression can be used in reference to the entirety of our eternal existence and not just the minute mortal period.

And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; (it is important to note that the ‘this life’ principle follows after the reference to our mortal death) never the less there is a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; (his theme is on what happens to us after we die and before the resurrection – therefore, this space he is talking about seems to be referring to what we call the spirit world where we go after mortality) a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead.

I think the easy answer for this treatise would be simply to say that the term, ‘this life as a preparatory time’ includes for each of us, all of our lengthy pre-mortal estate, whatever short period of our eternal existence we spend in mortality and the everlasting period we will spend in our post-mortal existence.

OUR LENGTHY PREMORTAL ESTATE:

Let me begin with the pre-mortal estate of the Son of God who John spoke of as an introduction to his gospel.

In the beginning was the Word, and th¬¬e Word was with God, and the Word Was God… And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (New Testament(John 1: 1, 14)

In a revelation received on May 6, 1833, Joseph Smith, the prophet of the restoration also received this witness of John, while working on his inspired translation, of the Savior’s progression during His pre-mortal estate.

And John saw and bore record of the fulness of my glory, and the fulness of John’s record is hereafter to be revealed.

And he bore record, saying: I saw his glory, that he was in the beginning, before the world was; Therefore, in the beginning the Word was, for he was the Word, even the messenger of salvation—The light and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men. The worlds were made by him; men were made by him; all things were made by him, and through him, and of him.

And I, John, bear record that I beheld his glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us. (Doctrine and Covenants 93: 6 -11)

If, as we believe, this Son of God, whom John refers to as the Word, was the Great Jehovah who created this world and directed the children of Adam during the years recorded in the Old Testament, then it is easy for us to understand that Jesus the Christ, The Savior of mankind had progressed sufficiently during his pre-mortal estate to have achieved the office of God, a principle which John the Beloved clearly understood and taught in his gospel.

I understand we could quickly say that in this as in so many areas of His life (such as having gone through mortality without succumbing to sin) the Savior was an exception. It doesn't take long in studying the scriptures to find that all of Heavenly Father’s children were going through a probationary period during their pre-mortal estate.

This aforementioned Alma taught we should try to part the veil and briefly remember what our personal pre-mortal probationary period was like. He uses the example of those who were foreordained to become priests and teachers in the pre-mortal estate, but it only takes a brief pondering to realize that what applied to one surely applied to all.

And this is the manner after which they were ordained—being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, were called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such. (Alma 13:3)

I add a second witness to this principle which teaches of our having had a rather lengthy and important pre-mortal preparatory period.

I (The Lord) dwell in the midst of them all; I now, therefore, have come down unto thee to declare unto thee the works which my hands have made, wherein my wisdom excelleth them all, for I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, in all wisdom and prudence, over all the intelligences thine eyes have seen from the beginning; I came down in the beginning in the midst of all the intelligences thou hast seen.

Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was, and among all these were many of the noble and great ones; and God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me; Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born. And there stood one among them that was like unto God… (Pearl of Great Price – Abraham 3: 21-24)

Since I did not intend while writing these Thoughts on the Eternal Plan of Heavenly Father to explore an in depth review of the various phases of our eternal probationary journey, I will end this Thought with my testimony concerning our pre-mortal estate. I believe that during that phase of our existence the children of our Heavenly Parents had full exercise of the Law of Agency and that as a result of their individual choices they advanced to endless variations of progression. That although there were some who demonstrated their faithfulness sufficient to be pre ordained to be prophets and leaders during the mortal phase of their existence, the Great Jehovah, even Jesus the Christ was unique in achieving Godhood during the pre-mortal phase of our probationary life span.

I hope you will join me again in the coming week when I will continue this Thought on Another Look at Heavenly Father’s Eternal Plan.

(To be continued)


THOUGHTS FOR A SABBATH DAY – WILLIAM L. RILEY

EDITED BY – KATHLEEN W. RILEY

❣️THINK + PLAN + PREPARE + DO + HUGS + PEACE + JOY + LOVE + INTEGRITY + FAITH + HOPE + CHARITY❣️ = 💞THE GOOD LIFE💞