Come Follow Me LDS- Doctrine and Covenants 30-36
Apr 11, 2021
"Gathering and Procession"
How Gathering is the preparation for the Royal Procession or Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The Doctrine and Covenants continues to lay the foundation on the doctrine of "gathering". When we see gathering in the context of the ancient Royal Procession Interpreter with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ as the King coming to the temple then we can better understand this metaphor throughout the scriptures. Also, the gathering is part of Atonement.
Raw Transcript
all right
all right welcome to the quick media
come follow me series we are
studying doctrine and covenants sections
30-36
we are going to have a shorter video on
this one because i need to get this out
i think this is the latest i've ever put
one of these out
uh and i want this out for sunday
listening and
and sunday viewing so uh we are going to
condense this a little bit
keep in mind what we have here is a
follow-up from our previous
study which was on dnc 27-29
that had everything to do with getting
ready for this gathering for the
conference
right this what follows here is mostly
doing the same thing it is a
follow through about gathering remember
that is what
is told to joseph smith from the get-go
right at the beginning
with with uh moroni in his
room right he's he's told about the
temple work he's which is part of the
gathering right he's
he's he's later told about uh the
the gathering of israel and
that's what this dispensation is really
all about it's always been a principle
every dispensation opens up with this
and comes out with
law of consecration and things that are
never held up
in the case of the children of of israel
in the ins at sinai in the wilderness
they didn't even live up to the higher
law
but it was given to them it tried that's
the point it was
the dispensation is opening up this is
the dispensation of the fullness
of times because we have the opportunity
to actually usher in the second coming
and to uh to create
the complete the completion of gathering
bringing in the millennium that probably
wasn't possible before
in any other dispensation not without
travel and technology
um getting to a point where we can get
beyond
be beyond real tribal
and racist uh feelings right where
now even though that's that's something
that is as a surgeon a resurgence right
now
it's it's also something you know as far
as a topic goes
it's also something that we're we're
working through right we're working
through this and the idea of bringing in
other peoples from all over the world
and
different race and ethnicity and culture
and
is all part of the gathering of
israel in the fullness of times so we
need to keep that in mind these are
bedrock foundational principles
that are laid out very early here so
when we see
these right this is right after the the
fall conference
of the church in 1830 when we see
these these short
these 30 to 36 most of them are pretty
short these short little uh
revelations given to in this case in
section 30
david whitmer peter whitmer jr and john
whitmer
this is also to us and it's an
understanding of how the lord is
unveiling
the f the dispensation of the fullness
of times and these
bedrock principles of the gospel and of
the church
and and what needs to happen so that's
how we should read it it is not just a
revelation to them it is a revelation
of of laying down
these the these these doctrines
for us let's take a look here at what's
going on in
in section 30. remember that joseph
smith is
living with the whitmers at this time
right and
and and so he's very close to the
situation david whitmer
we had the example of hiram page uh uh
in the last
episode and hiram page was the
brother-in-law
of david whitmer right he was married to
hiram was married to catherine who is uh
david whitmer's sister and hiram page is
the one that had the seer stone right
where we have that idea of a different
authority a different priesthood just
like with pharaoh
and and uh moses and that battle that
went on there or with peter and and
uh simon magus right it's it's that has
to happen that's a natural
process it's something that's going to
happen and
so that gets laid out here but david was
one that
even though he's one of the three
witnesses david whitmer
kind of falls into this with with his
brother-in-law hiram page and believes
in this and so it's like wait a minute
here david you just saw
moroni you saw him lay out all these
artifacts of
of of the nephi nation and their their
religion
and and here you're already jumping to
something else you can see how that
could happen
right he's in in his mind think about
yourself in his mind he's like wow all
of these revelations are coming through
um the the veil is opened up and that's
a very important principle
to to grab onto at least he's open to
that but at the same time it's like wait
a minute here there's two sides to this
and that's the way revelation works
right so yes yes we want the veil to be
opened but
there's a certain process and a certain
channel
a couple of channels here two channels
especially that that
that is going to come through and you
have to pay attention to that
because otherwise you're going to be
deceived by something else and i think
that's the lesson that we're learning
here so
here at the beginning of this we get
this idea of the higher and the lower
laws the fear of man versus the fear of
god
so here's verse 1 in in section 30.
behold i say unto you david
that you have feared man and have not
relied on me
for strength as you watch so that's just
laying it right out right out there
you're putting the things of man above
god now what does fear mean
it doesn't mean afraid right it means
respect
it means adherence it it means
um thinking about consequences
right it's that's that's what you want
to look at with with the fear we see
that in the old testament a lot
fearing god that is not an old-school
protestant feeling of a judgmental god
that means respecting and adhering to
god right that's that's what we want to
focus on there
and then verse two but be but your mind
has been on the things of the earth
right the lower law the the things of
man more than on things of me
your maker and the ministry were unto
you have been called
and you have not given heed unto my
number one
my spirit so hiram page comes up with
these revelations
and instead of taking that directly to
the lord and
trying to reason with the lord first and
then feel the spirit right that's how we
work that
it's human reasoning that has to be
efforted pondering
same thing remember pondering is the
same root give the same
root to that word is to pound it's
measuring
something out and so we reason with the
lord
and then you focus on it and then we
look for
revelation we look for the spirit that's
how that works
um so number one the first channel that
we're looking for
for proper authority and revelation is
the spirit that's number one because
that's your direct relationship
with god of course that's the most
important
right that's more important than even
the church
the church is there to support you
building a relationship with god through
the spirit
number two and to those who are set over
you
right those are the priesthood
authorities that's primarily joseph
smith
here in this case so those two channels
are things that we really need to focus
on
for our own lives and he's again this is
a principle
early on that's being laid out no simon
magus you cannot buy the priesthood
you do not have the priest you are not
set
by the lord in that position
you need to have the spirit and you need
to have
to adhere to those that are the servants
of the lord
right so
very good advice here and very good
bedrock principle for us to learn
about following the lord and looking for
revelation for ourselves
even in verse three here we get
wherefore you are left to inquire for
yourself at my hand
and ponder reason upon the things which
you have
received and then quickly in verse 6 we
get a little bit about okay i have given
unto him power to build up my church
among the lamanites
this is talking about joseph smith
and and it's again very early on this is
the mission
now early on that didn't go so well
we'll get to that in a second here
but that was the effort that they knew
that's what they were supposed to do
that's what's in the book of mormon
that's what the nephites did
over and over again the love that that
the leaders of the church had
at least for the lamanites their
brethren
was was constant and they constantly
wanted to bring them the gospel
and that's what you do when you start
the dispensation and open up these
truths
even if it doesn't work out that's what
you're supposed to do
and finally in verse 11 at the end here
and your whole labor shall be in zion
with all your soul from henceforth yea
you shall
ever open your mouth in my cause not
fearing what man can do for i am with
you
right not adhering to man over god
right we we adhere to god first in
section 31 we get this this is to thomas
b marsh
thomas b marsh is an interesting
character he's very skilled
he rises up in the church very quickly
uh
he's the one where we get the the uh
infamous story about the cream the the
dispute over the cream
with his wife and the pro his pride and
the pride of the family
holds them to it it's the great and
spacious building
and they choose the great and spacious
building over the tree of life
eventually
about eight years later here in 1838
where they
apostatize from the church and in fact
he was the
president of the quorum of the 12
when they apostatized now later on
in the i believe 1850s in winter
quarters
i think that thomas b marsh's wife
passes away
and thomas b marsh heads over there and
uh
and he is re-baptized into the church in
in the 50s
we get a couple of little messages here
again if we're looking for these
underlying principles of what this is
really all about
we get here about the the missionary
work the field is white
ready to be harvested etc
and then we get down here a little bit
later and you shall strengthen them and
prepare them against the time
when they shall be gathered right
gathering is a very strong focus here
and then again in the last verse these
words are not of man
man nor of men i i don't have no idea
what that means
not of man nor of men
but of me even jesus christ
right your redeemer by the will of the
father he's submitting himself
into the fluid hierarchy right it's like
hey listen i submit
you need to submit also that's an
important lesson for us
in section 32 we get the first mention
of parley p pratt and the doctrine and
covenants
this again is about missionary work to
the lamanites
again not super successful at this time
but what do they do
the the these missionaries are called
they end up going to ohio
they find a group of people there in
ohio in the kirtland area
that end up converting and getting
baptized these are individuals such as
edward partridge and frederick g
williams
and sydney rigdon
right and there's over 120 uh converts
to the church here early on
from this mission to the lamanites and
that ends up driving
uh the church the church's move
the headquarters basically from new york
over to kirland at that time
all because of the missionary work that
they were out
trying to do so they're following what
they're supposed to do
the result isn't exactly what they're
expecting
but they're blessed with these converts
and with success in a different way
in 33 a quick little uh uh
revelation given to ezra thayer and
northrop sweet northrop sweet
ends up eight months later he's at
kirtland he
decides that he is supposed to be the
prophet
and he ends up apostatizing he starts
his own church which fizzles out so
another example of
a threat to the authority that's a
natural thing that's going to happen
think about any company there's going to
be rivalries and unfortunately
in in something as precious as the
church that's going to happen also
right men and women are going to be men
and women
and there are rivalries and disputations
and there's pride
and it gets into the church but but
again the the principle that we're
learning here
just like with pharaoh and moses and the
serpents and the staffs right
is there is a specific authority that we
need to look to
remember that that example of moses and
pharaoh goes all the way back to the
book of abraham it's the same thing
where the book of abraham talks about
pharaoh
even though he's a righteous man at that
time not the same from the pharaoh of
moses but
at that time that he's writing about
pharaoh's a righteous man but he does
not have the authority
he does not have at least the
melchizedek priesthood the proper
authority to be able to
follow the ordinances and and execute
the ordinances
the way they're supposed to be done it's
an important
theme throughout the scriptures when we
look for that
it's showing that abraham is
the one called of god now in verse one
here we get
the word is quick as in cwic
right quick media or the word is quick
here
q-u-i-c-k it's the same thing in this
example
remember quick means alive or
intelligent so the word is alive
intelligent and powerful as it says
sharper than a two-edged sword we'll get
that a lot throughout the scriptures the
example of a sword
being the the word of god
also field is white here being called as
a missionary
and then also verse six i will gather
mine elect from the four
quarters of the earth this is early on
in the church
this is what it's about and then we get
this about the higher and the lower laws
in verse 10 yea
open your mouths and they shall be
filled
saying repent repent and prepare ye the
way of the lord right this is our royal
procession
this is what the gathering is all about
it's
our work that we're doing here
for the royal procession i'll show you
what i mean repent repent and prepare
you the way of the lord whose words are
those
who's the icon of those phrases it's
john the baptist it's the aaronic
priesthood it's the lower law
what way are they going to to make
straight
right what way are they preparing it
says right after that and make his path
straight what path are they making
straight
it's the path it's the way of the king
that is going to come through to the
temple in the royal procession
so prepare ye the way of the lord
that's the royal procession in my mind
and make his path straight
why because here comes the king to be
coronated
or re-coronated as they often did
anciently
and he's going to come through that
royal procession to the temple to be
crowned to sit on the throne of god
right that's what we're seeing in
at the beginning of easter week of holy
week that's palm sunday
john the baptist is there to prepare the
way that's what he's doing jesus in the
triumphal entry
it's a royal procession he's coming in
to go to the temple
that procession from the east coming
into the city and then ending up
eventually at the temple
is about his procession his coming in to
the to the city of jerusalem
and being crowned as god
on the throne of god in the temple
that's what's supposed to happen
that's not what happens with jesus right
he ends up being crowned by the romans
he's given his robe his red robe of of
royalty
he's given his staff it's like a scepter
of royalty and judgment and he's given
his
thorny crown right so so
it's man is what that's trying to say
man
ends up mocking him and crowning him
it's like
it's quite like the great and spacious
building instead of
what's supposed to be happening with the
tree of life in the holy of holies
which is where the throne of god is
that's that's what's supposed to be
right that's the way it's supposed to be
but that whole idea there is built off
of the idea of a royal procession
that's important to understand when
we're talking about the gathering
today what are we doing the gathering is
all part of preparing the way
of the lord to make his paths straight
why
because the second coming of the lord
the second coming of jesus christ is the
royal procession
that's what that is how is he going to
come dressed he's going to be coming
dressed in red
yes it represents the blood of the of
the sacrifice and all that but it's it's
it's he's the king he's coming in
not necessarily he'll be coming from the
east right we're told that same thing
he comes from the east but
he may not be coming through on a donkey
right as as christ did as solomon did
or in a the same type of royal
procession but that's
the way i would look at that we are
preparing the way
we are making his pass rate for the
royal procession
for the second coming of the king
and we get confirmation of this idea
here right in the very next verse it
says yeah repent and be
baptized every one of you for a
remission of your sins okay repent
and be baptized right
be baptized even by water why are why
is that being specified here because
that's the aaronic priesthood that's the
lower law that's the preparing the way
being baptized by water and then cometh
the baptism of fire and the holy ghost
so right after we get this whole thing
about preparing the way
make his path straight for the kingdom
of
heaven is at hand the king is coming in
in the royal procession immediately
after that we get the
repentance and be baptized by water
right that's
that's the lower law just like the
repentance and making his paths straight
and then we get the idea of the gift of
the holy ghost
after that that's the kingdom that's the
opening of the heavens that's the gifts
of the spirit
that's the gift of the holy ghost that's
the melchizedek priesthood
in 16 quickly we get this and the book
of mormon and the holy scriptures are
given to me for your instruction
this is right after talking about the
higher and the lower laws this is after
building his
church this is after uh rapenchi
this is all about at the beginning here
the word of god
the book of mormon is what is supposed
to be giving us the instruction and
that's why we need to
focus on it it does have the fullness of
the gospel
and we may not completely understand
that
unless we really delve into it we really
delve into it we can see
more about the gathering we can see more
about the higher and the lower laws
we can see more about what the fullness
of the gospel represents
and finishing off here about this royal
procession about the second coming
wherefore be faithful praying always
having your lamps trimmed
and burning and oil with you that you
may be ready at the coming of the
bridegroom
it's the second coming right for behold
verily verily i say unto you that i come
quickly even so amen it's the royal
procession
and what is the follow-up to this in 34
the one given to orson pratt we get it
confirmed even more here
verse 6 to lift up your voice as the
sound of a trump this is giving the word
both long and loud and cry repentance
unto a crooked and perverse generation
the lower law john the baptist aaronic
priesthood
preparing the way for the lord
for his second coming
right that's that's what that is
and then in verse nine but before that
day shall come the sun shall be darkened
and the moon be turned into blood
and the stars shall refuse their shining
two things on this one this is about a
cosmic clock
things are already in force right now
and things that are already in motion
cause is already there an effect is
coming
right it but it's also temporal imagery
just
keep keep that in mind a little bit
that's that's that's also temple imagery
at the very end here and verily verily i
say to you i
come quickly i am your lord and your
redeemer even so amen
that's why does he say that what does
quickly mean tomorrow next week
what did the early saints think what did
what did the very early saints think of
of
christ's time they thought he was coming
right away many of them
right it's the principle right it's the
procession
35 goes over uh sidney rigdon as the
being the main scribe for the joseph
smith translation the joseph
smith translation we'll focus on that
another time but it is
fascinating what you find in there and
it's not just what we have
in our lds scriptures with the footnotes
in the bible
that's a very small amount of what
actually is out there
that is now available by the way you can
you can find
the complete joseph smith translation
you can get it at amazon
for a long time that was that was a part
of the
the reorganized church of jesus christ
of latter-day saints or what is now the
community of christ
all right further into the higher and
the lower laws here to show you what i'm
talking about we get this in in section
35 verse 4
thou art blessed for thou this is
talking to cindy rigman
for thou shalt do great things behold
thou was sent forth
even as john
to prepare the way before me
and before elijah which should come
and thou knewished it not this to me is
is the difference and remember that
john's called elias
which is the greek form of elijah but
it's different to joseph smith
it's a different title than elijah and
that's probably what we're talking about
here
is our are our titles and and
representation so you have elias and
then elijah
the lower law and the higher law
represented there
and then we get it again here and this
is why we need to understand so much
what what the baptismal
ordinances the baptismal ordinance
represents
why it can't be sprinkling right why
it's so
crucial to keep the ordinances with the
way they are because
it is the doctrine of christ being
lowered down into the water
is christ lowering himself below all and
we do the same thing
we become like him that's why we take on
his name
he lowered himself below everyone in
gethsemane and on the cross
we are supposed to do the same thing
that is how we are reborn
in a sense we are we are put into the
waters the watery grave
which means both a carnal death
and a spiritual death and the spiritual
death
can be looked at as i'm i'm i'm being
brought down because i'm carrying the
burdens of others
right it's not spiritual death in the
sense of of
being separated from god but it's it's
it's a watery grave of of
lowering yourself right that's what
christ did he died in a sense
spiritually right he died in a sense
spiritually on gethsemane in gethsemane
and then he died on the cross no it
wasn't his
choice because of his own sins but he
took on the sins of
others and was separated from the father
right remember
father leaves him that's a spiritual
death
so here in verse 5 thou didst baptized
by water under repentance
right this is the early converts here
that were given the baptized baptism of
water
but they received not the holy ghost
this has everything to do with john then
elijah
or john the baptist and then christ the
preparing of the way
and then the procession it's all the
same thing
verse 6 again confirms again but now i
give unto thee a commandment
that thou shalt baptize by water
and they shall receive the holy ghost by
the laying on of the hands even as the
apostles of old that's what this
is so it's all about has everything to
do with the gathering still
and finishing off this section verse 27
again fear not
little flock the kingdom is yours until
i come
behold i come quickly even so amen
and then in 36 all i'm going to go over
is the last verse here again
verse 8 i am jesus christ the son of god
wherefore gird up your loins and i will
suddenly come
to my temple so there's a little more
specificity there
again where does jesus go in the trifle
entry
right it's it's that's that is the royal
procession where does jesus go jesus the
resurrected jesus christ go in the
americas
at bountiful he's at the temple
that's the procession
so if we keep this idea of this theme of
the gathering and the higher and the
lower laws
and understand it through the metaphor
of the royal procession
we're going to get a lot more out of
understanding how
the dispensation begins
in every dispensation and how the
ordinances that we
that we have in the church are so
important right we're told
the the priesthood is manifest i'm
paraphrasing here's manifest through the
ordinances of the church
that is the core doctrine of the gospel
so we should understand
all of the ordinances from baptism by
water
to baptism by the holy ghost to
everything that we do in the temple
we need to understand what that is
that's important
keep in mind as we go forward this idea
of the royal procession the higher the
lower law
and how gathering
why why president nelson is so focused
on
the gathering and how we're going to
parse through these
issues of uh especially in the west
right now of race
right and and how that's done because
there's def definitely several ways to
do it
just like the the example of
hiram page with the seer stone right
uh or northrop sweet wanting to start
his own church and be the prophet
there are naturally going to be
ideologies
political avenues
and ways of taking advantage of what's
happening right now
and so that's going to be important to
see how
we gather keep that in mind
is this making us one is this
at one minute that's really important
in fact that's one last thing i need to
get to that i skipped i'm going to go
ahead and do this
this is a very very important thing and
in section 35 verse 2
remember we're talking about the
gathering i am jesus christ the son of
god a title
who was crucified for the sins of the
world even as many as will believe on my
name so
those that believe on my name keep that
in mind as i finish off this
this verse that they may become the sons
of
god that means sons and daughters
even one in me
right so the way we become one
is not by everything's okay and
everything's tolerable
tolerable it's no it's we are it's those
that believe on his name
and become the sons of god then there
are even one in me
as i am one in the father
as the father is one in me
that we may be one seems like it just
keeps repeating
over and over again but what it's saying
here this is probably the hebrew
brought from the hebrew echad which
which a better way of looking at that i
think is union
this is the intercessory prayer the
whole concept of the intercessory prayer
in john 17.
and it and it's the the it's the lds
doctrine
of the godhead versus a broader
christian doctrine of the trinity
right that's that's that's it right
there
in the the intercessory prayer in john
17 how are the disciples going to be one
with jesus just as jesus is one with the
father
that's what one means and that's what
the early
christian and and and you know fathers
for example
believed in right we can go to irenaeus
we can go to origin we can go to the
early fathers that's what they believed
in fact
all the way up to uh um augustine
uh in in the fourth century his mother
believed in two
separate beings that jesus christ and
and god the father were separate beings
this is a very important he's laying
this out right here this is laying out
the god head
right here it's showing us what it means
to be one now
if we take in the overall arching theme
here that we're talking about this kind
of
bedrock principle of gathering that
needs to happen
then we see what the gathering is for
it's about being
one that's what our word at one minute
is right atonement at one minute
it's not just the sacrifice that's what
president nelson tries to
has tried to say on a couple of
occasions
that's the the the primary event
of at one minute of atonement but the
whole
overall idea of really its
reconciliation
is the word that nephi uses and
[Music]
that that's more along the lines of what
we're talking about and it's reconciling
with each other
that's the gathering and it's wreck and
becoming one
and it's and it's reconciling with god
and becoming one with christ and with
the father
that's the gathering so as we look at
these issues of race
that are out there we need to ask
ourselves is this
helping us to be sons of god sons and
daughters of god is this helping us to
be
to be one is this
a zion effort is this does this
a par is this a part of the doctrine of
christ
that's important thing to look at or
does it separate us do it does it do the
exact
opposite and i'm going to be talking a
little bit more about that as we
as we go along here over the next
several weeks have a great day we'll
talk to you next time
Come Follow Me LDS
Doctrine and Covenants 30-36
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