A Cursory Exploration of the Higher and Lower Laws- LDS
Feb 07, 2019
-A different way of looking at the scriptures!
-Throughout the scriptures, the authors use a framework of The Higher (Melchizedek) and Lower (Aaronic) Laws to present their stories and lessons.
-We find this framework, consistently throughout each of the standard works and in each dispensation because these two laws are a core part of an eternal gospel.
This is a 'cursory', non-technical overview which can be used as an introduction to help viewers understand one of the approaches used on several other videos found on this channel.
A more extensive video series and podcast is coming soon that will take a deeper dive into The Higher and Lower Laws.
Raw Transcript
so there are several filters that I have
learned to study the Scriptures through
over the years they are consistently
emerging as principles throughout each
of the standard works and they kind of
bring all of the standard works together
under a common theme that makes it very
obvious that the authors of each of the
books of the Scriptures have a clear
understanding of these these paradigms
one of these paradigms or themes that I
focus a lot on is the higher in the
lower law it is very apparent to me that
well as I have gone through the
scriptures and studied them that this
has become a very consistent principle
that the authors are writing about in
other words they all have a knowledge of
it and it makes it obvious that the that
the gospel is being preached
anciently as it is being preached today
in many ways with the restored church in
other words one of the ways we look at
the higher and the lower laws is by
looking at the Melchizedek and the
ironic priesthood so this is something
very unique to the work Christian world
and that is having this higher
priesthood this Melchizedek Priesthood
and a lower priesthood the Aaronic
priesthood and keeping these things
separate and it's very very important
that we do this throughout all of the
scriptures the prophets write about this
it's hard to find sometimes but once you
keep your eyes open for this you will
start seeing this pattern the develops
this emerging pattern of of preparation
with the Aaronic priesthood
and the blessings that come through
eternal life with the Melchizedek
Priesthood so there's these two sides
consistently I want to start with Moses
on Sinai you know I'm not gonna go into
a lot of depth I do want to do a series
on the higher and lower law and go into
this and a lot more depth but I think
that by doing an episode right now on
this as I talk more about things in the
future will be more on the same page
you'll have a clearer understanding of
where I'm coming from and the insights
that that I might be expressing with the
scriptures in some of these episodes so
we start with Moses at Sinai and here's
the picture Moses has taken the children
of Israel out of Egypt he has gone -
gone into the Mount Sinai he goes up the
mountain and he is he sees God he's
having this incredible experience he
sees a vision in this vision he sees the
seven days of creation this is an
important point to understand about the
temple we oftentimes think about the
seven days of creation and are you a
creationist or are you an evolutionist
do you take the Bible literally well yes
and no I think is your answer to that
it's my answer to that Moses has a
vision and it might even be a seven-day
vision and each of those days is
represented by what he sees in this
vision so Genesis opens up in an what we
would call an apocalyptic vision just as
Daniel would have or Christ had when he
was tempted by Satan or Lehigh has Lehi
and Nephi has Abraham has this this is a
vision and so as you see the creation
and folding think of it in those terms
it is not something that's at the
beginning of history we oftentimes open
up Genesis 1 and think well this is the
beginning of history it's not
this is a vision that Moses has that is
revealed to him that is about principles
eternal principles and he takes those
principles and he brings that drama a
replay of the drama of his vision into
the temple so there is a creation drama
and this is common among pretty much
most if not all religions worldwide in
their temples this creation drama and
and then the temple itself the
tabernacle and later the Temple of
Solomon is built after these seven
periods of creation so from the time you
go into the temple to the time you get
to the Holy of Holies we're actually
moving back outward from the Holy of
Holies you have this succession of seven
different periods and seven different
specific locations within the temple so
it's built around this it's a vision one
of the principles in the creation that
is expressed is that of a higher and a
lower law in fact in Genesis 1:1 and I'm
paraphrasing it basically says God
created the earth the the heaven and the
earth
it starts off that way and in many ways
we can look at this as look this is how
the gospel sees things there is heaven
and there is earth there is or
everything is represented by either
heaven or by earth or by something
higher or by something lower so for
example the monk is it expressed hood
would represent heaven the Aaronic
priesthood represents earth and we see
this in sections 84 and 107 where we get
a clear understanding that the Aaronic
priesthood is a carnal priesthood we see
that sometimes as a negative term and it
is but it's also a true term with the
Aaronic priesthood
it is only carnal and it can only get
you so far
that's an important point throughout the
history of the
gospel and of the teachings of the
prophets in the scriptures we're going
to cover that briefly so heaven and
earth we have the McKissack priesthood
and the Aaronic priesthood so he's up on
Sinai Moses seeing this vision he comes
back down with the fullness of the
gospel and what do we mean by the
fullness we mean all of the ordinances
all of the right the proper laws of the
higher law of the Melchizedek Priesthood
where the Melchizedek Priesthood will be
given to many men of many different
tribes and probably even Gentiles
outside of the Israelites because it is
not a priesthood that is based on
genealogy of your lineage and so it even
says in Exodus that God wants a nation
of priests not just the sons of Aaron as
we end up getting but he wants a nation
of priests and a nation of Royals of
royal priests of kings and queens this
is the royal priest of the mystic
priesthood and as he comes back down
from Sinai of course Aaron is has made
the golden calf that's a separate
podcast and the Israel children of
Israel are dancing around and worshiping
the golden calf and Moses ends up having
to go back up Sinai he takes the tablets
that he has and we know this
specifically in the joke from the Joseph
Smith translation and he breaks them
because the children of Israel are
obviously not ready for the higher law
and in fact they specifically say this
is the children of Israel that they are
not ready to see the face of God they
don't want to see the face of God in
other words they're not going to be
allowed to come up the mountain and as
you recall in that story
they can't even touch the base of it the
animals can't even touch the base of the
mountain or it says that they're going
to die because they are not ready for
because they don't have the glory
covering them we represent that glory by
robes and that glory of the mckissick
priesthood is not going to be covering
them and so they are not ready to ascend
the mountain back up with Moses they
reject it the children of Israel reject
the Melchizedek Priesthood and the
fullness of the gospel and specifically
again they reject the opportunity to see
the face of God I'll think about that
and what that's that's implying that's
implying that they are not ready and
willing to go into the Holy of Holies to
go through the veil into the Holy of
Holies and so what ends up happening is
that only the high priest and the King
later on and maybe a few other
individuals and the prophets are able to
actually go through the veil and go into
the Holy of Holies because they rejected
them on Keswick priesthood
so Moses goes back up he praised the
Lord says that he's going to destroy
Israel the Israelites Moses in a kind of
a messianic experience he says that he
wants to atone for the Israelites he
wants to pay for the sins pretty much
he's saying take me instead take me
don't harm the Israelites please these
people these are my people and so the
Lord says okay I'm not going to harm
them but here's how we're gonna operate
here how is how here's how we're gonna
move forward I'm going to give you a
lower law and that lower law is not
going to include the same ordinances
it's going to limit the priesthood to a
lower level of priesthood which is only
going to be given to a certain lineage
which is the Levites and the priests the
office of priests itself the highest
office there is only going to be given
to the sons of Aaron who is a Levite
Moses is a Levite by the way but he has
the mystic priesthood we know that from
the doctrine covenants given to him from
his father-in-law Jethro so he comes
back down with this lower law and it's
the from there we get the law of Moses
and it is ironic based law and so
they've rejected this they now are going
to have to roam in the wilderness for
forty years until they finally able to
come into the Promised Land at that
point and so then we end up with a
mostly ironic running priesthood in the
temple from that time forth all the way
down to the time of Christ
now the prophets had the macchesney
priesthood more than likely maybe there
were some others the kings certainly had
the McKissack priesthood they are it's a
royal priesthood and and they were able
to go into the Holy of Holies there was
a whole festival that during the the
Feast of Tabernacles that had a temple
drama and the Kings would represent Adam
they would represent the people in the
congregation they would represent
themselves as the king and the queen and
they would represent the king would
represent Jehovah as well in the Holy of
Holies sitting on the God's throne so
reject it so this is kind of a focal
point to understand this higher and
lower laws and why it's such an
important issue and how we see in the
restored gospel that's playing out
throughout all of the scriptures not
just in modern times and far from the
time of Joseph Smith so we can also then
take a step back to Genesis again and we
can see a higher in a lower law what do
we see we see we see a tree of knowledge
of good and evil and a tree of life or
really a tree of eternal
life would probably be more specific one
is a lower law one is a higher law
they're both good they're both good
they're both necessary just as the
Aaronic priesthood and the Melchizedek
priesthoods are necessary and we first
you see Adam and Eve partake of the they
have a fall from a higher law or a
middle ground somewhere probably a
higher law into a lower law as they
partake of the fruit of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil and so they
fall into a lower state and then from
there their job is to try and now move
back from that fall into full blessings
of the Melchizedek Priesthood and get
themselves back to the Tree of Life
which the Lord has now placed cherubim
and a flaming sword in front of to guard
it so the Lord saying look you cannot
come back to the Tree of Life on your
own the tree of the cherubim represent
justice that's something that is
standing in their way because they're
not perfect Adam and Eve are not perfect
and of course Adam and Eve is all of us
and because they're not perfect they
have to pass through justice with a
sword of justice guardians in front of
the Tree of Life which is a
representation of Christ it's a
representation of the mother it's a
representation of eternal life and it's
a representation of the holy of holies
or the celestial room and so there's
Guardians now right there are guardians
that are placed in front of that because
of justice and we needs help in order to
get past those guardians we need
somebody to intervene for us and that's
where the Savior comes in all right
moving down we see this again in the
Book of Abraham we're right from the
get-go Abraham
starts off by saying that he is a
righteous man he's a good man but he
wants greater righteousness I'm
paraphrasing here he wants a higher
level of righteousness he wants all of
the blessings of the patriarchs and that
means that he wants to be a high priest
he wants to get the Melchizedek
Priesthood and be a high priest and so
he goes from a lower position to a
higher position
this is rien the creation story that's
in the Book of Abraham also the same
thing as their Abraham if you read
through the Book of Abraham he has a
vision this is all about a vision all
the crazy stuff about Kolob and and the
other planets and all these other things
this is not something he's describing as
a scientific he is describing a vision
and that the creation is a part of that
these are symbols these are symbols that
have representations and so as he has
caught up in the spirit and he has this
this vision he sees the vision of the
creation I would imagine that Christ saw
the creation of the vision of the
creation and that John the Revelator saw
the creation as a vision and that Nephi
had a vision and Lehi part of their
vision was probably something of the
creation that would be a typical
apocalyptic vision that a prophet would
have and so Abraham then in his vision
of the creation of course has God
created the heaven and the earth and by
the way going through that whole
creation process there is the joining
first the splitting apart of everything
right everything is broken apart so you
have light coming in against darkness
and you have the sky and heavens and you
have earth down below you have the
waters being split and Lane
coming in and then you have the seeds
categorized and and and set apart the
different foliage and then the animals
are categorized and you know apart from
each other and then you have a
separation with human life and then that
human life atom is separated also and
it's Adam and Eve right from the rib and
then the whole idea from then on out for
the ancient Israelites for their annual
festival was the covenant of peace and
the covenant of peace meant holding all
of these things back together binding
them all back together just like you
would with marriage well as Adam and Eve
were basically split apart from each
other the job is for them to work their
way back to be one flesh again and
that's the way everything is supposed to
be to be one heart one mind right to be
brought every all of everything to be
brought back together and that is the
process of creation as everything's
pulled apart at least into two separate
things at least just like the ironic
crease of the Melchizedek Priesthood and
then try to bring those things together
later on the New Testament we see this
event happen immediately with the
baptism of Jesus and I've gone over this
previously but just to re-emphasize
there is no better example in the
scriptures of bringing together the
Aaronic and the Melchizedek Priesthood
then at Jesus's baptism that is what the
authors are portraying here with you
know in in Matthew 3:11 I believe here
yes Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you
with water unto repentance so this is
John the Baptist saying I have the
ironic priesthood i baptize you with
water but he that cometh after me is
mightier than I whose shoes I am not
worthy to bear he shall baptize you with
the Holy Ghost and with fire
that is the Melchizedek Priesthood
and one thing we fall short on I think
in talking about the time of Jesus is
understanding that this is a restoration
of the gospel a full restoration
including the fullness of the priesthood
and the McKissick priesthood and all of
the authors in the New Testament talk
about this preach about this testify of
this restoration of the McKissack
priesthood of the higher law and as
Christ representing the new Melchizedek
especially the book of Hebrews when you
get there so here's this representation
again of a lower law and a higher law
and making sure that they are separate I
mean here all the time in the Old
Testament and in the Book of Mormon
there has been a prophecy of a
forerunner of an Elias which is John the
Baptist well John the Baptist is a
representation of who would come right
before Christ but he's also a
representation of a principle which is
the principle of all things carnal all
things temporal all things that man does
to try and reach up to heaven so in
sections 84 and 107 we read about
certain attributes of the ironic
priesthood of the lower law such as
prayer right we pray up to God so using
the altar of incense in Solomon's Temple
would be an ironic priesthood function
right the incense being a a
representation of the prayers going up
to heaven obedience and commandments the
this is all a part of preparing
ourselves to receive Christ to receive
the the spirit in the higher law the
eternal life into our lives we see this
in the sacrament where we still keep
that
separate importantly because it's a
lower law and a higher law one is carnal
and temporal and one is higher and
eternal and spiritual and so we have the
renewal not only of a baptism of water
and then a baptism of the Spirit
representing the Aaronic and the
Melchizedek priesthoods the temporal and
the spiritual but we also have the
sacrament as a renewal which does the
same thing it's a renewal of the baptism
by water the temporal baptism and the
baptism of the Spirit which is the
spiritual baptism so we have two
separate emblems that we participate
with in in the sacrament and by the way
you'll see that one of the big
differences in the two sacrament prayers
is that the commandments are mentioned
in the blessing on the bread because
that is an ironic priesthood function
obedience Commandments repentance and
another big one we're not going to go
over now is speech speech is a huge deal
with the Aaronic priesthood and then
also in the New Testament we see a
specific the specific message of the
higher in the lower laws from Christ all
over the place here's an example real
quick Matthew 23 13 but woe unto you
scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites for
ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against
men the kingdom of heaven is the
fullness of the gospel represented by a
king the Kingdom of Heaven is the
Melchizedek Kingdom the king is the
Melchizedek priest the king that's what
Melchizedek means king of righteousness
or Prince of Peace even we could say for
you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven
against men for you neither go in
yourselves neither suffer ye them that
are entering to go in why because
they're holding them back at a lower law
at an erotic level and this is Christ's
message you are at a lower level at a
carnal at 8
temper level and you need to move beyond
this back where I wanted you to be
originally with Moses where you are
participating everyone is participating
in a higher law higher ordinances a
higher temple ceremony etc and then we
can go down and see throughout well
throughout the the tests the Gospels we
can also see this conflict that arises
between Moses and Jesus and it seems
that constantly the Jews are trying to
bring up Moses because what they have
done is they have elevated Moses to the
pinnacle right instead of Christ Christ
has been removed at some point and
started back in the seventh century
maybe earlier 7th century BC and they
have removed Christ from the pinnacle
and replaced him with Moses and Moses is
everything and so that becomes the
conflict if you listen to Jesus's words
and later the Apostles words as they're
trying to battle against this concept of
having Moses at the top if you remember
in the book of Mormon even it even
though Nephi is writing first Nephi in
kind of a an exodus thematic format he
is using the Moses with laman and lemuel
to teach them about the gospel because
laman and lemuel represent the lower law
they have agreed with the Jews in
Jerusalem a different party there
apparently that has dismissed Christ and
that has elevated Moses and so Nephi
appeals to laman and lemuel through
Moses because Moses did testify of
Christ and
Nephi wants to teach about Christ and
about the redemption in the atonement
and laman and lemuel just really don't
want to have anything to do with it they
have fallen to a lower law and a lower
ideology that is at an erotic level at a
carnal or temporal level and because
Christ is the representative of the
Melchizedek Priesthood and everything
about the higher law the spiritual law
the Melchizedek law is about Christ and
therefore when you dismiss Christ you
dismiss everything of the higher law and
then you find later in the Book of
Mormon this is the theme throughout the
Book of Mormon because this is the
environment that Lehi and Nephi came out
of in Jerusalem an environment where
Jesus not Jesus but the Messiah had been
dismissed and that's why we call it
another testament of Christ and that's
why he Phi is we teach of Christ we
preach of Christ it's all about Christ
because they know what happens when that
is removed it's what they came out of
that is what the environment that they
had when they were in Jerusalem and then
you have these anti Christ's of core
whore and knee whore these are
Antichrist and the authors and Mormon
are specifically emphasizing these
experiences because they want to
emphasize that this is about Christ and
that that their family Lehi and Nephi
came out of an environment where Christ
had been dismissed and that they are
going to emphasize Christ another
example of this in the Book of Mormon
very specific about the ironic law and
the law of Moses and the higher law is
with a Ben a die a Bennett I against
King Noah and the his priests
and the whole crux of this argument is
about Christ it is not about what many
in Mormon scholarship circles have
concluded is more of a a self-righteous
nationalism as they interpret section or
Isaiah 52 that is not what this is about
this is about Christ and a bin and I is
saying you have misunderstood the law of
Moses that's where you want to stay you
you have reasons for wanting to remain
with only the law of Moses just as the
people in Jerusalem had but I am here to
preach about Christ and about the higher
law and in fact everything about the law
of Moses the ironic law points towards
something else something higher and you
need to accept that higher law and you
need to accept what goes with that which
is the atonement and the sacrifice in
Christ and mercy and they want nothing
to do with it and in fact the reason the
specific reason that Obinna died is put
to death is not because he's making them
mad because he's telling them that
they're being bad boys it is not because
he's telling them that they are not the
righteous branch of the of the
Israelites it's if you really look at
this you'll see that the whole reason
that a Ben and I was killed was because
he was preaching about Christ and he was
preaching that Christ were that Jehovah
would come down in the flesh and that he
would take upon him the sins of the
world and redeem mankind and that's why
they kill him and that's why his
explanation Obinna dies explanation of
Christ being both the Son and the father
is so important here
he specifically says here that he is the
son because he takes on flesh he falls
he condescends to a lower or Roenick
temporal place but he is the father
because he overcomes it all and we
become his children by following him and
by repenting and accepting him and being
baptized and that again is talking about
the two different laws with him being
the son and the father in a sense and
this is an important thing for all of us
because this is the gospel the gospel is
about progression the gospel is about
taking two separate things our bodies
and the laws that we live within here in
mortality and then using our spirit our
will and overcoming all of these things
and bringing them together and of course
in a what we would call a Mormon
resurrection and what I mean by that is
actually having a physical resurrection
with a glorified body
we are literally bringing together the
temporal or carnal with the spiritual
and the spiritual raises the carnal and
glorifies it and purifies it and so and
that's what the gospel is all about it's
it's getting ourselves into a position
where we are living a higher law because
we've progressed through the lower law
and we are also reaching down and
helping others and pulling them up and
helping them to progress so it is
crucial I believe to understand the
scriptures in this way and to see them
in this type of a format as you go
through the scriptures you will find
this over and over again from the
authors of these books they know what
they're saying they understand there is
a lower and a higher law and they are
writing about it constantly and I will
do a series on this that goes
specifically into the scriptures
and gives several examples throughout
all of the Scriptures of how this higher
and lower law works and then how we
apply this so look for this in the
scriptures you'll see preparation you'll
see repentance and then you'll see
Christ and the blessings that come in
after that you'll see a lower law and a
higher law but you're gonna see that
they work together consistently and that
they have to be brought together that
they're never we never leave behind a
lower law the law of moses is fulfilled
but we never leave behind the carnal we
have to bring it with us and purify it
and make it better so that's the higher
in the lower law I hope that helps you
to understand where I come from at times
in future episodes because I use that
quite a bit as we go through and try and
glean specific insights throughout the
scriptures thanks for your time
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