Come Follow Me LDS- Jacob 1 - 4 (Mar 9 - 15)

'Jacob & Repentance'

-  Jacob outlines Doctrine of Christ

-  Calls men to repentance for greed & law of chastity

-  The blessing and inequality of gain and its disruption

-  Polygamy

-  Jacob tees up the Allegory of the Olive Trees

 

Podcast Links:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cwic-media/id1428167000

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3BNjs4EJqo0iK4LURdTPDb  

 

 

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LDS Mormon

 

this episode we talk about Jacob and

repentance here we go alright so in this

episode we are going to cover Jacob 1

through Jacob for this is likely a Day

of Atonement feast of tabernacles stage

the Jacob is on here at the temple and

he has a speech that he's going to give

and he's gonna go through some rituals

apparently here it's not going to be

pleasant for the men of the Nephites

here he is going to call them to

repentance and what he does here before

he moves on to Jacob 5 with the tree the

the allegory of the olive trees he's

going to give us the first half of the

two halves of the message of the Book of

Mormon which is the doctrine of Christ

right and that is again very appropriate

being that we are likely here in a day

of atonement type of a scenario here and

so he's got everybody gathered here at

the temple and he is going to speak with

them give a speech this is 55 years

after the time that Lehi left Jerusalem

and he has a couple things to say here

and he's going to book end chapters one

in four before going into the allegory

of the olive tree with the doctrine of

Christ and then in the center of this

it's going to be about repentance so

here's how he does this first of all a

couple points here that he makes in

verse two he says and he gave me Jacob

this is Nephi a commandment that I

should write upon these plates again

these are the there are two separate

plates that they can write on this is

the small plates these are not the

plates that Mormon abridged these are

the place that Mormons stuck in

afterward these are not the place that

were the manuscript that was lost right

this is what was put in place of the

manuscript that was lost these being the

small plates here so he's being told

here to write upon these plates by Nephi

a few things which I considered it to be

most precious so it's mostly the

spiritual things that I should not touch

save it were lightly concerning the

history of this people which are called

the people of Nephi because those are

gonna that information the historical

record will be in a large place what we

lost right with 116 pages so he says

look I'm only going to talk about the

most important things and he says it

because it's so difficult to engrave in

the plates of course it is it's

very time-consuming very difficult to do

it's likely even a scenario where as the

engravers are putting the letters in the

words in that they are in a position

well those that would be receiving the

records it might not be the best

handwriting in the world so to speak

even if you had a direct understanding

of the language it might even still be

difficult to read this is probably part

of the weakness that Mormon and Moroni

go over as they talk about writing in

the plates but he says that the reason

they do it right they understand that

this is all the only thing that's gonna

last you know writing on papyrus or

whatever they use for paper great

engraving into wood is not going to last

and so they want to make sure that these

are the very most important things that

they're gonna write about it they're

gonna write about Christ and they're

gonna write about what is going to

happen in the future this is what all of

the prophets are obsessed about the

doctrine of Christ and the doctrine of

the Covenant of gathering and of

people's right the Jews and the Gentiles

the Lost Tribes the tribes of Israel and

why do they do it in verse 8 that we

would to God that we could persuade all

men not to rebel against God

to provoke him to anger but that all men

would believe in Christ they're going to

go through the difficulty of Engraving

making something as eternal as they can

make it in the plates in order to

persuade men and women to believe in

Christ that's the purpose of the Book of

Mormon and then he says something

interesting here that I want to talk

about on two different levels further on

in verse 8 he says but that all men

would believe in Christ and view his

death and suffer his cross and bear the

shame of the world wherefore I Jacob

take it upon me to fulfill the

commandment of my brother and Nephi so

that all men would believe in Christ

that's not enough he starts with that

right he goes on and says and view his

death right so understand his sacrifice

and suffer his cross and bear the shame

of the world so I think on two different

levels here we can talk about that

number one no matter what being in this

mortal world we're going to have the

opportunity by force by circumstances to

bear the cross of Christ and to bear the

shame of the world right again those

that are over at the Tree of Life are

going to bear the shame of those in the

great and spacious building but I think

it goes beyond that - it's a matter of

what is bearing the cross bearing the

cross would be again it would be taking

on the shame of the world the adversity

of the world taking on and bearing

others burdens as the Savior did through

mercy through love through charity and

so the second part of that the second

level of that would be following the

example of Christ so when he says come

follow me it's not a matter of just

listening to him and listening to his

Commandments and what he says but it's

actually following in his footsteps

right in doing what

he did and that is the great

understanding of the fullness of the

gospel of Jesus Christ is that it's not

just what we do and what we don't do

it's not just the lower law and the

commandments and it's not a vague

understanding of grace where the higher

law comes in and says hey as long as you

believe you're good to go no problems

here look good for you

lucky you right it's what's in

between that the matters and that's

that's our agency and what we do with it

and are we following him in the sense of

becoming more like him and following his

example and if we're going to do that

that means that we need to bear the

cross yeah that's the way I see it right

is is that we're bearing his cross also

and following his example in his

sacrifice where he suffered for others

bore their burdens and loved them and

gave his life for them for us so we're

in a situation in mortality here where

we are going to bear the cross no matter

what because we love people and

we're we if you're going to love people

you're going to sacrifice for people

you're going to offer charity but we

also have here bearing his cross in

other words following his example and

trying to be more like him then we're

told here in verse 9 that Nephi is

growing old he anoints a man that's all

we're told here so it looks like it's

not his son he anoints a man to be king

and a ruler over his people maybe he

didn't have any sons it says here in

verse 10 the people having loved Nephi

exceedingly he having been a great

protector for them having wielded the

sword of Laban if any of you have read

Don Bradley's book the 116 The Lost 116

pages I think that's what's called he

talks about how the early Saints those

close to Joseph Smith believed that the

sword of Laban was actually the sword of

Joshua that he used to come in and

conquer

the Canaanites and that originally that

sword because Joshua was in III might

actually goes all the way back to Joseph

of Egypt and that it was held as part of

kind of like one of their objects in

what they might consider their Ark of

the Covenant so that's pretty

interesting and kind of help symbolize

kind of this Joseph fight clan here of

Ephraimites and mint Manassehites that

are the Lea Heights and the zoramites

and the Ishmaelites so the people having

loved Nephi wanted to retain his name so

just like you might have with like

Caesar you would have the next King be

named also Nephi right but he would be

second Nephi has nothing to do with the

book of second Nephi but the king would

be the second Nephi and then the third

Nephi etc and then Nephi passes away and

Jacob goes over well who are we here

what do we have here this is kind of the

torches at least the spiritual torch has

been moved on to him not the not the

secular torch so to speak but the

spiritual torches moved on to him and he

says well what do we have here well Lehi

had set up seven tribes and you can go

back to the blessings that he gave back

at the beginning of second Nephi before

he dies and see these seven tribes that

he lines up they don't have 12 like the

Israelites did but it's the exact same

idea and there are other ancient

examples actually of a people being

split into seven tribes it's a that

would be a standard number to do just

like twelve would and he says here in

verse 13 now the people which were not

Lamanites were Nephites nevertheless

they were called Nephites Jacob bites

joseph fights zoramites so those are the

four under the Nephites and then the

Lamanites Lamia lights and Ishmael light

so the sons of Ishmael went with laman

and lemuel and as you recall even though

we usually are dealing with Lamanites

and Nephites those terms throughout the

rest of the book of Mormon every once in

a while we go into some specific tribe

like the Ishmaelites like with King

Lamoni or the Zoramites

where they're praying right and they

won't let the poor in but for the most

part they are divided into these two

groups and their political groups they

end up being more political groups than

just genealogical groups families or

tribes even because you have movement

back and forth between the two sides and

there's the side that support the

Nephites and the side that support the

Lamanites and then we get down to

Jacob's heart of his speech right that

has to do with repentance the condition

that his people are in the Nephites

especially the men and how this works

with the doctrine of Christ and it says

here in verse 15 he says and now it came

to pass that the people of Nephi under

the reign of the second king began to

grow hard in their hearts right again

it's a contrast against opening up and

softening your heart for the things of

Christ for mercy and charity and indulge

themselves somewhat in wicked practices

such as like unto David of old desiring

many wives and concubines and also

Solomon his son this is a little bit

confusing I actually haven't parsed this

out completely we're going to get to

this again here in the next chapter too

but if you read section 132 which does

cover the new and everlasting covenant

and then it also covers polygamous

relationships it says that David and

Solomon were actually or at least David

was given these additional wives that

that was from the Lord here we're

leaning toward a place where it sounds

like hey this was a wicked practice but

we'll get to this in just a minute here

I'm gonna cover it I know it's the

elephant in the room so I do want to at

least touch on it here and then the

second thing here in verse 16 yay and

they also began to search much gold and

silver and began to be lifted up

somewhat in pride so what happened here

somebody found gold and silver now if

you've got one family or two families

that go out and they find this what does

that do to everybody else right it's a

gold rush everybody's going to go out

there mine

they're there they're looking to get

rich and that's gonna unsettle things

quite a bit because only a few people

are going to find those precious metals

now what it will do is it can help

strengthen the economy and build up

their civilization more but something's

gonna happen here with this that always

does with wealth but we've got these two

things going on here men out in the Gold

Rush and men out looking for additional

wives and concubines and he goes over

here where his authority is to talk

about these things he says in 18 for i

Jacob and my brother Joseph had been

consecrated priests and teachers of his

people by the hand of Nephi so he's not

the king but he's at the temple here

that's his palace so to speak it's he's

acting as the mouthpiece for the Lord

and as he says that he has been

consecrated to do this in verse 19 he's

also told that he must magnify his

office and taking upon them him and

Jacob or him and Joseph the

responsibility answering the sins of the

people upon our own heads if we did not

teach them the Word of God with all

diligence wherefore by laboring with our

might their blood might not come upon

our garments otherwise their blood would

come upon our garments and we would not

be found spotless at the last day that

is a day of atonement imagery right

that's what that is that's the

high priest at the temple taking on in a

sense the sins of the people

and doing his best to call them to

repentance so that he's not responsible

for this he's got to purify the people

but he's got to purify himself too and

then purify the temple etc and then he

has a tough time here in doing what he

has to do he's going to call out the men

in the congregation and what's happened

with them and he doesn't want to do this

in front of everybody but this is the

place to do it you have to have

everybody together here and he's going

to try and set things straight and call

people to repentance and so he says here

in verse 7 chapter

- and also agree with me that I must use

so much boldness of speech concerning

you before your wives and your children

many of whose feelings are exceedingly

tender and chaste and delicate before

God which thing is pleasing unto God so

he's calling him out but he says as much

as I don't want to do this I hate doing

this in verse 10 but notwithstanding the

greatness of the task I must do

according to the strict commands of God

and tell you concerning your wickedness

and abominations in the presence of the

pure in heart and the broken heart and

under the glance of the piercing eye of

the Almighty God so in other words the

Lord knows everything with his piercing

eye and so we have to put it out there

in the open he knows that I can't just

cover this up and he says here this is

what this is what happens right he says

in verse 12 many of you have begun to

search for gold and silver and for all

manner of precious ores in the which

this land which is a land of promise

unto you and to your seed death abound

most plentifully in other words this

land is for a spiritual inheritance and

you're out searching for gold and silver

now we would think maybe in our modern

minds well that's not such a big deal

the problem is is the contention that it

is going to bring into the group and

this is inevitable in any group it says

here in 13 and the hand of Providence

have smiled upon you most pleasingly so

they've lived the commandments they've

been blessed they found these precious

ores and now what's going to happen this

is kind of that conflict right that's

that cycle of pride that how do you keep

that balance because if you're following

the commandments of the Lord and it

you're going to be blessed and it might

not be riches but you're going to

receive blessings and the question is is

how do you stay humble when you receive

those blessings that seems to me to be a

big part of spiritual maturity right I

go out there and I follow these with

these

principles I learned to trust in them I

have faith in them and I receive

blessings of different types because of

this now how do I stay in my original

state of faith and humility as these

blessings come upon me because that's

the natural or the spiritual law and he

continues and because some of you have

obtained more abundantly than that of

your brethren that's inevitable we deal

with that today right some people care

more about that than others but because

you have obtained more abundantly than

that of your brethren ye are lifted up

in the pride of your heart's pride and

we're stiff necks and high heads because

of the costliness of your apparel now we

see this whole thing about the

costliness of apparel over and over

again in throughout the Book of Mormon

with this pride cycle it goes right

along with it and the reason is is that

that's so that's pointed out so much is

because in that type of a society you

know they're not going around driving

their better cars or not going around

driving or building their big mass of

mansions necessarily the way you're

going to show that primarily is going to

be through your apparel you know

consumerism isn't quite the same thing

among the Nephites that it is here

especially in the West so that is the

image right of prosperity and division

of classes is what you wear and here's

the bad part and you because of this you

persecute and persecute your brethren

because you suppose that ye are better

than they so the riches that some have

gained creates pride and they believe it

there they're better than those that

don't have the riches and so he says

look think of your brethren like unto

yourselves right the golden rule instead

of just going out and looking for the

gold follow the golden rule and free

your substance that they may be rich

like unto you what do we call that

right and there's a lot of arguments

today in fact right now in the US it's

becoming a bigger issue about certain

politics and about there's a lot

of talk about flattening the class

hierarchy so to speak right you have

socialism on one end and maybe

libertarianism all the way on the other

end of the spectrum and here Jacob is

saying spiritually you know hey does

Allah Draghi's forcing them to do

anything but he's saying free would be

free with your substance that they may

be rich like unto you so he's talking

about charity what we would call charity

and the reality is it is really

charity that he's speaking about the

actual principle because we follow this

a little bit further and it says before

you seek for riches seek ye for the

kingdom of God so again your values

hierarchy if you ever have riches and

your ambition for riches is greater

than seeking for the kingdom of God then

that values hierarchy is going to need

an adjustment and Jacobs just pointing

it out because that's what's happened

imagine being in a hewn Italy brings

this up about this chapter he talks

about how you can you can imagine this

group in a you know somewhat of a frenzy

of finding this these precious metals

and being kind of in a mining area very

male oriented you know what I mean what

were you there out there finding the

metals and almost kind of like a

frontier town in a mining town at once

and how that environment could really

create problems so he's trying to

straighten it out here with everyone

then he says in nineteen and after you

have obtained a hope in Christ remember

faith hope and then charity ye shall

obtain riches so first build your

testimony build your character and have

a hope in what in the kingdom of God

riah hope in other words in what your

inheritance is and the state of being

that you are working toward do that

first make sure you're solidified with

that first and then if you seek them

this is like the only qualifier if you

seek them riches you will seek them for

the intent to do good to clothing naked

and to feed the hungry and to liberate

the captive and administer relief to the

sick and the afflicted so again he

follows the same formula these

prophets these authors they all have the

same source they know it's faith than

hope than charity and that that's the

sequence that you follow it is an

attribute or progression that we all

need to go through and you can't you

can't turn him around you can't flip him

around and so he warns them again about

pride and then he gets down here to the

other sin so it's greed and pride

because of that greed and success with

that greed and then it's whoredoms that

he covers here and in verse 23 he says

but the Word of God burdens me because

of your grosser crime so these are even

worse for behold thus saith the Lord

this people begin to wax in iniquity

they understand not the scriptures and

what don't they understand about him

because they must be referring to him in

in this with a way that Jacob is

outlining this he says for they seek to

excuse themselves in committing

whoredoms because of the things which

were written concerning David and

Solomon his son so again David and

Solomon had many wives and concubines

right and that's what he says here which

thing was abominable before me saith the

Lord again I'm not an expert on this in

chat in section 132 it says almost the

opposite thing here so maybe some of you

know how to explain this a little bit

more maybe you've read a little bit more

research on this or what's happening

here

well let's go down a little bit further

because there is a nuance to this that's

kind of important it says in 25

wherefore thus saith the Lord I have led

this people forth out of the land of

Jerusalem by the power of mine arm that

I might raise and up unto me a righteous

branch from the fruit of the loins of

Joseph and then 26 wherefore I the Lord

God will not suffer that this people

shall do like unto them of old so it

sounds like to me that in the Jerusalem

of Lehi that they were practicing

polygamy and that they had met some of

the men had numerous wives and

concubines and that that's he's leading

them out of that right because he goes

right to that that he's leading these

his people Jacob’s people the Nephites

out of Jerusalem right as he's talking

about these those that are practicing

what David and Solomon did so it could

be David and Solomon we're girlies David

was given the directive to have numerous

wives which is oftentimes part of a new

dispensation only usually during a new

dispensation and that some of that was

carried on at least during the time of

Lehi but I would recommend that looking

at that if it's something you want to

even look at I would look at this in

contrast it with section 132 then he

says here in verse 27 wherefore my

brethren hear me and hearken to the word

of the Lord for there shall not any man

among you have save it be one wife and

concubines he shall have none so there

may be times short periods of time

typically where this is maybe even

promoted and but for the most part it is

not who knows why I don't know the

answers to those questions have some

ideas but I don't know the answers to

those questions but in this period of

time certainly they're saying no no this

is

horrible and you're destroying your

wives you're destroying your children

you're destroying your families and

that's lights the grocery crime and then

he says here in 28 for I the Lord God

delight in the chastity of women and

whoredoms are an abomination before me

thus saith the Lord of hosts so why the

chastity of women are they is he talking

about that right the men here are the

ones that seem to be having the real

problem but again if you have that type

of a relationship and it's not condoned

a polyamorous relationship then the

women are involved with that as well and

it's oftentimes mentioned in the

scriptures that the Lord delights in the

chastity of women the reason is

they're the gatekeepers they're

the mothers they're the ones gonna give

birth to the family and if you disrupt

that right you disrupt the family then

you're going to disrupt everything about

teaching about bonds of love about

tribes about covenant the whole plan of

salvation is based off of that family

unit at least at its core not that

everybody has the ideal situation and

maybe things don't work out that way

until the next life but there is an

ideal or something that we try to strive

toward even though many of us may fall

short of that or are not in that type of

a situation where there is a traditional

family available for us but that doesn't

mean we keep don't keep striving toward

it and then he says in 31 for behold I

the LORD have seen the sorrow and heard

the morning of the daughters of my

people in the land of Jerusalem and in

all the lands of my people because of

the wickedness and abominations of their

husbands so again that looks like

Jerusalem was fully engaged in this

practice and again just confirming here

in 32 and I will not suffer saith the

Lord of hosts

that the cries of the fair daughters of

this people which I have let out of the

land of Jerusalem shall come up unto me

against the men of my people saith the

Lord of Hosts so you've been separated

away from this the righteous are always

brought out right it's the wicked that

remain the righteous are always brought

out of the cities and he's like look I

mean here we go again I've pulled you

away from these practices set you apart

as a people and now you're

turning right back to Jerusalem again

and then he says here comparing them to

the Lamanites remember Jacob went over

the seven tribes and that's really an

interesting point I think from the at

least from the I don't know if we know

this from the Lamanites side but from

the Nephites side there are always seven

tribes those other three tribes our

of the Lamanites are always part of

their people right there's always when

they are righteous that feeling of

family with the Lamanites and wanting to

preach the gospel to them and break them

back to have covenant with them but he

says here behold you have done greater

iniquities than the Lamanites so of

course just that they're puffed up in

pride against those that are of lower

class and lower wealth perhaps in them

among the Nephites they're puffed up in

pride against the Lamanites and yet

they're doing a greater iniquity you

have broken the hearts of your tender

wives and lost the confidence of your

children not much worse than that

because of your bad examples before them

and the sobbings of their hearts ascend

up to God against you and because of the

strictness of the Word of God which

cometh down against you many hearts died

pierced with deep wounds so again this

is pervasive among the Nephites right

now and it's destroying the

families among the Nephites and then he

says in verse 5 behold the Lamanites

your brethren whom he hate because of

their filthiness and the cursing which

has come upon their skins

in these instances let me challenge you

here when you hear about a blackened

skin or a darkness or a curse or

anything else replace those words with

countenance and I think you're gonna get

closer to the truth of what is being

told that doesn't mean there isn't a

physical manifestation there are

different races and different skin

colors and everything else but these are

Jacob is speaking spiritually here and

so just keep that in mind I just a

suggestion all right think about

countenance right and the cursing which

hath come upon their countenance are

more righteous than you so the Lamanites

are more righteous than the men here for

they have not forgotten the commandment

of the Lord which was given unto our

Father that's Lehi so Lehi when they

were with them said one wife that they

should have save it were one wife and

concubines they should have none and

there should not be whoredoms committed

among them so the Lamanites may not be

following everything but they're

following one of the most important

things maybe the most important thing he

says behold their husbands love their

wives and their wives love their

husbands and their husbands and their

wives love their children this gives us

an idea again about family how the Lord

is no respecter of persons and even

though the layman eyes don't have maybe

the fullness of the gospel anymore maybe

they don't have the priesthood maybe

they don't have the temple ordinances

but they love their spouses and they

love their children and this to the Lord

and to Jacob is a very very important

thing I mean family is everything right

so I tell my kids families everything

and then he comes back here again in

verse 8 oh my brother and I fear that

unless he shall repent of your sins that

their skins the Lamanites their

countenance will be whiter than yours

when he shall be brought before them

before the throne of God then he says

down in 11 something I really like it

has to do with how we talk about

sobriety or being aware as compared to

being drunken with something

he says in verse 11 o my brethren

hearken unto my words arouse the

faculties of your souls

shake your cells that you may awake from

the slumber of death right it's like

what's distracting you what's pulling

you away from reality is the reality is

truth and if you're not following that

and you're drunk with something you're

not aware then you're distracted in some

sense right you're not focused on you're

on the proper values hierarchy and so

he's gone in and he's kind of again that

that calling repentance for those two

things it is ambition and pride of

riches right misplaced and it is the

destruction of their own families that

they're causing so he's calling them to

repentance so again in in the first

chapter he starts off with a doctrine of

Christ that that's what this is all

about he goes through in this kind of

ceremonial way in front of the temple

talking to them about repentance for

their sinful ways and now getting to

chapter 4 he's gonna wrap things back up

by going back to the doctrine of Christ

and again he opens up this chapter here

talking about how difficult the

engraving is but they've got to do it

because they know that everything else

will vanish and it's kind of like what

do we do with our kids and those around

us how do we engrave something that is

going to be more permanent with them as

we're teaching them and is it you know

are we doing enough that we're writing

on paper or wood or actually engraving

something on plates now of course you

can overplay that with especially your

kids but it's a good thought right is

how are we engraving on the plates of

their hearts and their minds and in

their spirits those around us

something of permanent and eternal value

he says the reason we do this in verse

four is the intent we have for writing

these sayings that they may know that we

knew of Christ so it's their testimonies

and we had a hope in his glory many

hundred years before his coming and not

only we ourselves had a hope of his

glory but also all the holy prophets

which were before us and again we get

this over and over again all the

prophets all of the prophets have

preached of Christ

can you imagine president Nelson not

talking about Christ that's his job

right that's what he does so all

of the prophets have prophesied about

this coming of the Savior he says that

of the prophets they believed in Christ

and worship the father in his name so

two beings right again these are Old

Testament times so they would have had

an understanding of Jehovah as the son

and the eventual Redeemer of the world

and they would have had a knowledge of

the father as a separate being and for

this intent we keep the law of Moses so

again very important here we get so much

of this in the New Testament with Paul

but they he's saying why they have a law

of Moses they follow the law of Moses

but they do it because they have a

looking forward to Christ that's what

it's for

that's what a lower law is that's what a

preparatory priesthood and a preparatory

law is it's to look forward to a higher

law and to the fullness of the gospel

it's not that you don't have the

fullness or see the fullness you

understand it you may not practice all

of it but you look you have to have that

looking forward with the law of Moses

yet pointing our souls to him being the

law of Moses and for this cause it is

sanctified unto us

righteousness even as it was accounted

unto Abraham this is something you don't

get in the Old Testament anywhere about

the law of Moses right about why this is

it's specifically about Christ

specifically and this goes back even

before Moses it goes back all the way to

Abraham and there's the saying that we

get often times in the New Testament

that we also get in the Book of Mormon

talking about the faith of Abraham and

the way to understand that is that it

was faith in Jesus Christ it was faith

in Jehovah the Redeemer right it's all

about the higher law it's about the

Melchizedek priesthood it's about the new

and everlasting covenant

that's what Jacob is talking about here

they have an understanding of this and

they in the Book of Mormon are

clarifying what we do not have in the

Old Testament and that Abraham was to be

obedient under the commands of God in

offering up his son Isaac which is and

he makes it very clear here a similitude

of God and His only begotten Son so

that's how they interpreted the

sacrifice so to speak of Isaac in

messianic terms with Jehovah being the

son of God and then he gives them Elka's

Adak reference here Melchizedek

Priesthood reference in verse 6 as he's

just talked about Abraham he says

wherefore we search the prophets for

Christ and we have many revelations and

the spirit of prophecy and having all

these witnesses we obtain a hope because

of Christ and our faith be cometh

unshaken in so much that we can truly

that we truly can command in the name of

Jesus that is priesthood

and the very trees obey us or the

mountains or the waves of the sea those

are references to powers of the

Melchizedek Priesthood nevertheless even

they have this higher priesthood he says

nevertheless the Lord God show us our

weakness right

we are always submitting we are always

reverent to someone that we may know

that it is by His grace and his great

condescension z' under the children of

men that we have power to do these

things so again it's not your own merit

it's just like you can't have the lower

law by itself right you have to have the

power of God to enable you and just as

Nephi last week had gone over revelation

and how important that was and not

closing the Canon in a Bible a Bible we

have a Bible Jacob then says here in

verse 8 behold great and marvelous are

the works of the Lord

how unsearchable are the depths of the

mysteries of him and it is impossible

that man should find out all his ways

and no man knoweth of his ways save it

be revealed unto him wherefore brethren

despise not to the revelations of God so

seek not to counsel the Lord but to take

counsel from his hand and then closing

off here again this is all about the

doctrine of Christ he says in verse 11

where for beloved brethren be reconciled

or brought back together

that's up to you he's done his job being

God but for you to be reconciled now for

him it's up to you and your agency be

reconciled unto him through the

atonement of Christ that's what allows

you to do it the path has been cleared

his only begotten Son and he may obtain

a resurrection according to the power of

the Resurrection which is in Christ and

again as he's gone over the doctrine of

Christ here he goes back to the Jews

that at that time were a very stiff neck

at people and he says but behold the

Jews were a stiff neck at people and

they despised the word words of

plainness remember plainness has always

coupled there with the doctrine of

Christ

and killed the prophets we know why and

sought for things that they could not

understand

wherefore because of their blindness

which blindness came by looking beyond

the mark sin basically means missing the

mark right it's a deviant it's a

deviance from hitting the target the

true target so if I've got an arrow for

example and I'm looking beyond what the

target is I'm going past it it's there

but I'm not paying attention to it I'm

looking past it I want to quibble over

little pieces of doctrine and become

ever more sophisticated in my approach

in my rhetoric and if we do that then it

says that in Jacob says that he's going

to take that plainness away so that that

target eventually is removed we don't

see it anymore and many things are

delivered to those individuals that they

can't understand because that's what

they want they want to avoid the mark

the target and then he says here

interestingly and because they desired

it God hath done it that they may

stumble again that is how Christ becomes

a stumbling block for people right and

it sounds odd but it's portrayed that

way several times in the scriptures

because if you avoid the doctrine of

Christ if you water it down if you

remove it then the doctrine of Christ

becomes a stumbling block for you in

your own procession to the temple

it holds you back and he goes on about

the stumbling block and about the stone

which is rejected we hear about this in

the New Testament also so this is again

a common source going back to previous

writings that they have in the brass

plates it says and now I Jacob am led on

by the spirit on to enter prophesying

for I perceive by the workings of the

Spirit which is in me that by the

stumbling of the Jews they will reject

the stone upon which they might build in

half safe foundation so that they are

going to reject Christ

and so when he comes to them and

manifests himself in body in Palestine

that he will be rejected so as he's

talked about the stone being rejected by

the Jews he's now going to lead us into

this segue for next week on the allegory

of the olive trees which again brings

together the doctrine of Christ the

acceptance of the doctrine of Christ

along with the covenant people along

with the house of Israel and so here's

how he does this he's talking about

talked about the stone being

rejected and then he says and now my

beloved how is it possible that these

after having rejected the sure

foundation or the stone can ever build

upon it that it may become the head of

their corner so if those people have

rejected it the Jews have rejected it

how is this going to work in an 18

behold my beloved brethren I will unfold

this mystery unto you if I do not by any

means get shaken from my firmness in the

spirit and stumble because of my over

anxiety for you and that's the end of

the chapter and then we open up and get

into zenus and the allegory of the olive

trees with the Jews and the whole house

of Israel and the Gentiles being pulled

together that'll be very exciting to go

over next week and so here again we have

a ritual stage right a festival stage

for Jacob

during what appears to be the Feast of

Tabernacles and the Day of Atonement and

he's here at the temple going over all

of this again laying down the law on the

doctrine of Christ first opening up with

that how important that is and then

calling for repentance from a

civilization that seems based on Jacob's

words that is beginning to unravel

especially with the families and this

distinction between classes that opens

up with blessings and of course the

whole idea of pride which is pervasive

with both of these sins and then ends up

here going through

again the doctrine of Christ as he is

about to open up the idea of going

through time with all of these different

peoples and with covenant it's always

interesting to me that as these prophets

talk about sin or calling for repentance

it's always a matter of putting

your faith in the atonement but also

putting Christ at the top of your values

to accepting him to having faith in that

sacrifice and to becoming more like him

all parts of the fullness of the gospel

and the fullness of the doctrine of

Christ and as we speak here as I read

through these words here about the Jews

rejecting Christ I can't help but liken

that unto myself and think how is it

that I reject Christ in my life and how

do I make how do how am i creating

stumbling blocks in my way of

progression because of that I'll talk to

you next time