Come Follow Me LDS- Jacob 5- -7 (Mar 16 - 22)

'The Allegory of the Olive Trees'

-  Who was Zenos?

-  There has to be a starting point, it is the House of Israel

-  The Allegory is the story of 'covenant' between the peoples of God

-  Sherem is an advocate of The Nehor Principle

-  He is religious, but denies the Doctrine of Christ

 

Podcast Links:

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this episode we're going to talk about

the allegory of the olive trees and

Sharom here we go

all right before we dive into Jacob five

here I want to give a little bit of a

background not much but a little bit of

a background on the allegory itself from

zenus first of all who is Enos he's

referred to often in the Book of Mormon

it is pretty obvious that his writings

are in the brass plates that Nephi

went back and got from Laban and he is a

noted prophet that speaks about Christ

often we know that also that he was

slain because of what he was preaching

and then we're told that in the Book of

Mormon as well well though now we don't

know a whole lot about him even his time

period etc but he is one of the great

prophets to the Nephites and they refer

to him when teaching about Christ and

when teaching about covenant with the

house of Israel and that's what the

allegory of the olive tree is really all

about it's interesting that in these

seven chapters again here from Jacob

that we have he starts off preaching

about Christ he goes through the

repentance at the Feast of Tabernacles

likely talking to the men about the law

of chastity and to everyone about pride

and greed and then comes back to Christ

again and then he starts going into the

allegory here he's setting this up where

it's look this is this is about Jesus

Christ and covenant Jesus Christ and the

Gentiles Jesus Christ and the house of

Israel so we get a little composite of

what the entire Book of Mormon it's all

about here in the Book of Jacob one

thing to note here about olive trees is

that for many Jews anciently the olive

tree was considered The Tree of Life and

as you go through the allegory here from

zenus you can kind of see similar

references that you have to let's call

it tree of life language that you would

get in fact you get the same thing from

Lehi and Nephi when they have their

visions of the Tree of Life

that doesn't necessarily mean that's

exactly what it was but that might

be what we're looking at that's

certainly an option and that's one way

to look at the allegory that this all of

this is in a sense kind of the Tree of

Life as well we can even incorporate

that as we've discussed previously in my

belief is that the Tree of Life is the

doctrine of Christ and in many ways as

we've said this this interweaving

between people's right the Jews the

Gentiles the Lost Tribes of Israel all

tribes in totality or they or the 12

tribes of Israel as they weave through

time and work with each other there

is covenant and that is really a big

part of the doctrine of Christ because

it's one people that help another and

then later in another period it's that

other people that end up helping the

first people that's where we get the

first or last in the last or first in

fact that exact phrase is used here in

the allegory that's what that is all

about that is all about the doctrine of

Christ Christ says the same thing he

says I am the first in the last right

because he says I am Alpha and Omega or

in Hebrew a left and tuff right so it's

all brought together here it's all the

same thing Christ the doctrine of Christ

the servant of the vineyard that we're

about to see here is Christ and this

moving together of these different

peoples all in part of the plan of

salvation and the plan of God is all

part I'll wrap together here as part of

the doctrine of Christ now I'm not going

to go a lot into how to cultivate all of

trees and it's such right I don't know a

whole lot about that I have read a bad

Truman Matson and a few other authors on

this but I'd rather focus on the

theology of this in looking at covenant

and the peoples and the doctrine of

Christ and looking at through this

through the interpreters and the

different quick principles that we

typically cover so I but I do want to

mention

a couple of things that I think are

important to go over before we get

into this one is how this has completely

tied together with gifts M&E and here

you have an olive tree vineyard so to

speak right vineyard and grove would

have been a similar word that would have

been used I think is Kara me in Arabic

and in Arabic but it's very

it's the same word that they use

and so here Jesus is gonna go to mount

the Mount of Olives right mount of

olives and he's going to go to

Gethsemane and Gethsemane means the

Olive Press right it's going to be where

Christ goes and he is under massive

amounts of pressure and bearing the

burden of the world so to speak

and this is where is you know he

believes it's important that Luke notes

this that that he bleeds from every pore

it's like he's being pressed right and

the blood then is kind of like the olive

oil in that case in a sense now we use

water or wine right for the sacrament

but it's a very similar idea of

what's happening there

so get or of Gethsemane it's get means a

press and Shemen means oil so it is the

oil press and interestingly enough the

olive oil is what is used in the temple

right it's mixed with the myrrh and it's

the anointing it's what you use for

anointing and in this night here in

Gethsemane the last you know the eve of

his crucifixion here he is he becomes in

a sense the anointed one you know you

know in some ways you can think of him

as being anointed with his own blood

here he is going to be the anointed one

because of what happens in Gethsemane

and olive oil is what we use for healing

even today in the church so these things

are definitely tied together

and the Book of Mormon prophets in fact

referred to dizziness as get allegory

often and talk about the olive trees and

being grafted in and about the Gentiles

etc so they they're pulling from Zenos’s

allegory and you can see how perhaps a

prophet like him like Isaiah as well

that is speaking so specifically about

the doctrine of Christ and about the

Gentiles here and the house of

Israel how the Olives the idea of the

olives and the olive press and the olive

oil would have been something that

pulled and United kind of everything

together so that's a good place to start

before we delve into Jacob 5 here now in

Jacob 4 as he's talking about the

doctrine of Christ he actually

introduces the allegory there first and

so the way he does that is he says that

the Jews have been lost right they're

going to be lost and they're going to

reject the stone remember right the

foundation of their lives the foundation

of the plan of salvation and so but what

hope is there then going to be for them

remember Jacob is here only who knows

how many years at this point after they

have left Jerusalem and they found out

about Babylon taking Jerusalem and

conquering it and taking many of the

Jews captive and so then they learn from

prophecy that they're also going to

reject the Savior when he comes to them

in another five six hundred years here

so there's concern there's worry there's

family there in Jerusalem still and

friends and it's and this idea of how

does that people ever get saved then and

that's where what triggers Jacob going

over scene is his allegory and so he

asks here in verse 17 and now my beloved

how is it possible that these after

having rejected the sure foundation can

ever build upon it that it may become

the head of their corner right so that's

that's what triggers it any so he's

going to say then in 18 behold my

beloved brethren I will unfold this

mystery

to you and then he goes into Jacob

chapter 5 so here we are Jacob chapter 5

let's talk about this this is 77 verses

of masterful writing it really is it's

really something and it's a it's a

beautiful allegory that goes over what

we've talked about especially starting

last year in the New Testament about

covenant and weaving all these people

together it is at the core of the

doctrine of Christ because the peoples

in here have to act like Christ and

you're going to see that as you get this

different grafting in from these

branches how that's going to work and

how that's going to save the vineyard

because without that without that

grafting in without that covenant

between peoples the whole thing is going

to be burned right so let's start

here with verse 1 behold my brethren do

ye not remember to have read the words

of the prophet zenus which he spake unto

the house of Israel saying hearken o ye

house of Israel and hear the words of me

a prophet of the Lord for behold thus

saith the LORD I will liken thee that's

the house of Israel a house of Israel

like unto a tame olive tree so they are

the tame branches the tame olive tree

which a man took and nourished in his

vineyard and it grew and waxed old and

began to decay this is well let's back

up to the beginning of verse 3 here

where he talks about I will liken me

this is important again we've covered

this several times but the likening here

is we can liken things to us and we're

gonna do that in this chapter where we

have principles that we can grab and

liken and implement into our own lives

but likening here when talking about

specifics about prophecy is about actual

people's that have are being prophesied

about so when he says behold thus saith

the Lord I will liken the old house of

Israel what he's saying is I'm taking

prophecy

and I'm going to make a metaphor out of

it with the allegory of the olive trees

right and this is important to

understand with what Nephi does with

Isaiah he's not Nephi is not just taking

Isaiah and making stuff up about his

people based on words of Isaiah that

were meant for only his time for

Isaiah's time he's taking prophecy from

Isaiah and likening that unto them and

so there's a lot of well there's a

little bit of confusion and different

ideas about what that likening means I

think that zenus makes it very clear

that when you liken this you are

likening actual prophecy to an actual

people there's some books out there now

that talk about likening saying for

example I'm gonna take what Isaiah

talked about that was about his own time

and people and I'm gonna pretend in a

way that that's about my people being

Nephi's people right that's a bit

of a stretch to me so I think that's

something that's gonna come up more and

more about likening and it's I think

it's a very important part of the

truthfulness actually of the Book of

Mormon and understanding that prophecy

actually exists and so as he's likening

this unto the olive trees he's creating

a metaphor out of actual prophecy with

actual peoples that he has seen in the

future and how they're going to operate

right so I just want to make that clear

he then goes on and says which a man

took a nourishing in his vineyard and it

grew and waxed old and began to decay

this is the natural process that we see

over and over again right so again let's

take a step back here and understand how

covenant works among us not just between

us and God because we have to have

covenant between us as well the doctrine

of Christ as we went over in the last

lesson is not just about

Christ's words and us trying to follow

his Commandments it's us being like him

right that's key and the only way that

that works is through this type of a

plan that we see with the olive trees

here where we reach out to those that do

not have what we have and we pull them

up we teach and we preach and we share

our testimonies and we love and we act

right between people's that's what the

doctrine of Christ is we need to

condescend below others just as he is

condescended below all of us and so in

order for that idea to work right you

have to have a starting point and that

starting point you can back up to about

the time of the way that we look at it

anyway that starting point comes from

Abraham Isaac and Jacob right where we

have the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob

where we have the new and everlasting

covenant with those three patriarchs

and Jacob is Israel and his twelve sons

then that's the starting point

at least at that from that dispensation

and so from there you have the house of

Israel that grows out and the reason you

have that one place is because you can't

have it everywhere not all peoples can

be the beginning point you have to have

people that can reach out and help

others and others that can receive that

help and whether we have the gospel or

not

we need to receive help from others

where we're lacking and give help to

others where they're lacking that's the

plan

so the house of Israel is the starting

point we can look at it that way and

then everything else needs to pull into

that right we want what we want is for

everything eventually we talk a lot

about the blood of Abraham getting out

throughout the world it takes time right

it's the same thing with the gospel and

then even though we have a small

minority that have the fullness of

the gospel it's up to them to preach to

the world it's up to them to do all the

temple work and the first shall be last

in the life

shall be first and so you can look at

that from different peoples and you can

look at it from generations the first

shall be last you can look at from the

ancients and coming the ancestors to

the descendants and the descendants to

the ancestors that's what this is all

about but decay is all a part of this so

even that starting point as you build

that out and we see it over and over

again in the Old Testament it starts to

fall apart right and again as we've

talked about this a lot of that has to

do with the knee whore principle and

crushing the doctrine of Christ

diminishing it reducing it or getting

rid of it completely that's where the

decay starts it starts with pride which

is the opposite of the Tree of Life

which is the doctrine of Christ and so

then in verse four we get that the

master goes went forth among the

vineyard and he sees that it's starting

to decay so he starts to prune it and

dig about it and nourish it right so

there's different things that he's gonna

offer from above to help support that

this is an important point that zenus is

making because he's saying that his hand

is in our lives that's what he wants to

show he wants to show that revelation

the Scriptures prophets the Holy Ghost

ordinances covenants prayer receiving

blessings from prayer that he is

involved with our lives right that's

important to note so after this work he

shows that this work is done he says

that new branches from this work came

out and they were good but the top of

the olive tree has got a problem this is

interesting about olive trees because

you can have a mixture in them you can

have part of it decaying and part of it

good and in fact you can have part of

the fruit of the tree some of the fruit

of the tree is bad and bitter and

some of it is you know in wild and

some of it is good and can be used but

he says to his servant again he's using

the term servant here who's the servant

well we've heard of the servant songs in

Isaiah the servant is the Lord servant

is Jehovah here in this time period the

servant is Jesus

Christ in our time period he's going to

stand in as an advocate in the vineyard

or in the world but we need to use the

idea of the fluid hierarchy here and of

temple imagery where we can step into

different roles and understand that

prophets could be put into that role as

well as the servant and oftentimes

prophets act as the servant in in the

place of Christ or use speak as if it

was Christ we can be put into that

position as servant where we are acting

as savior’s on Mount Zion right so that

fluid a hierarchy is something that

again using the Dove fullness of the

doctrine of Christ if we looked at it

that way we can also be the servant but

primarily the idea here is that the

servant is Jesus Christ and the master

says to the servant or the father to the

son it grieveth me that I should lose

this tree wherefore go and pluck the

branches from a wild olive tree and

bring them hither unto me and we will

pluck off those main branches which are

beginning to wither away so that would

be part of you know remove the decaying

parts of the of the natural olive tree

and we will cast them into the fire that

they may be burned so that's how olive

trees work interestingly enough you can

take these other Wilder trees that are

not as natural as is seen as terms them

and bring them in and you can it will

actually help the olive tree and so it's

kind of like the idea of look the more

exclusive you get what happens with

routine right what happens with routine

what happens with the blessings that

that group receives eventually pride

enters in and decay starts to happen and

so bring in a wild something wild that

don't have the teachings to begin with

and they are new converts think of that

new converts new energy that is brought

into it a change to the system honestly

for me right now and I'll go over this

on another

episode but even this idea or this

current practice that we have from the

coronavirus of having sacrament meeting

at home it's a great disrupter in a

positive way we had a wonderful

spiritual experience in our sacrament

meeting it's different and you

can kind of look at it like okay you've

got it's not as routine obviously from

what we have with church obviously we

don't want to keep it this way but we

can look at it very much in a very

positive way and I'm sure you have had a

very similar experience it's like

something different it's something wild

that is coming in in a positive way

something new and in nourishes the tree

it can nourish the tree now it depends

on how you treat that right so the plan

is to bring in this mixture so we start

thinking about the Gentiles into the

house of Israel and this has probably

happened more than maybe we're even

aware of in the Old Testament

I mean think of even Jonah going to

Nineveh which is part of Assyria and

preaching to them there's a lot there

that we may not quite understand

remember the ultimate the

scriptures even from the time of Lehi

Wright had gone through a period of

great nationalization and exclusion

right and centralization looking inward

at that time and so we don't know

previous to that how a missionary

program would have been going outside of

Israel but it's pretty obvious in the

allegory that as he talks about the

starting tree and the other trees and

moving the natural branches into areas

of wild trees and bringing wild trees

into a natural tree or wild branches

into a natural tree this mixture is what

saves the vineyard right this this

covenant this bringing together making

at one of these different types of

branches is actually what saves the

vineyard and then in verse 13 we get

this mmm this is talking about some of

the branches being put out in the nether

most part

of my vineyard whithersoever I will in

matter if not unto thee and I do it that

I may preserve unto myself the natural

branches of the tree so a lot of well

even leaders of the church and some

Book of Mormon scholars have said this

looks like it might be the Americas so

this might be the Nephites and Lamanites

here and you can see how you would go to

another part of the world to try and

start something new I mean this happens

over and over again that's the cycle

right everybody you almost always have

an exodus of those that are more

righteous trying to lead what is not

righteous and then what is left is

burned right so if we look at things

here where the Lord keeps saying I'm

going to burn everything town I'm going

to burn the branches or pull the

branches out of here what you end up

with is eventually in some civilizations

you have an exodus of those that are

righteous and then Jerusalem is

destroyed right the trees burned now of

course the Jews were taken away and then

they're brought back and then this whole

allegory here is about how in a way how

the how the how the truth is going to

get back to the Jews how they're going

to be saved but this looks like a direct

reference to the Nephites and the

Lamanites here in verse 13 and then in

verse 15 he says something that's kind

of interesting and again when we look at

things that have temple imagery in them

we ought to bring closer in our own

temple experience and in the Temple of

Solomon into this a little bit and that

gives another reason why we might be

looking at maybe maybe a writing here

about the Tree of Life right in 15 it

says and it came to pass that a long

time passed away and the lord of the

vineyard said unto his servant come let

us go down into the vineyard that we may

labor in the vineyard so thinking of

those that would go down here you have

the father and the son primarily but

that's not always the way it is right we

know that in this kind of an example and

it's kind of an example you can insert

different servants different types of

servants prophets or even you and me

where we are looking out at the vineyard

and if we are acting in the name of the

Lord then we are trying to help preserve

the vineyard as well and he says here

down in 18 in the middle there he says

now if we had not grafted in these

branches the tree thereof would have

perished so again you need that newness

that freshness you need something coming

in from the outside that's why we always

have this discussion when we talk about

the new and everlasting covenant why the

Gentiles are always a part of that

because without that without bringing

that in the new and everlasting covenant

isn't worth much

right because you eventually lose out on

the whole idea of obscene and then the

seeds of a seed of Abraham and then he

brings up another interesting idea later

on here he talks about different types

of soil different parts of the vineyard

and he points out to the servant he says

look this is I can put this into a bad

part the servant says well why are you

putting this into a to a bad part of the

vineyard it's not the soil isn't good

but he shows how it does produce you

know the trees and the branches that are

that are planted there they can produce

really well even in a bad place and you

know the way I take that is look I mean

it's even if we look at for example you

know there's if you've ever read

anything by Jared Diamond who is an

anthropologist at UCLA he writes some

amazing things right and he talks about

how the environment and the resources

and geography are everything for him

right as to how a civilization is going

to grow and develop and certainly that's

a major part of it and for most of the

world it's a major part but in my mind

as I reread Jared Diamond there's

something higher than that and that is

the culture right in the belief system

the religion it is it is agency and

maybe even though it's just a handful of

individuals men and women

that make a massive difference

regardless of the resources in that

civilization and they change everything

I think of Nephi as he builds the ship

and leaves the peninsula of Arabia think

of the difference between the me fights

and the Lamanites when they have common

resources so as far as natural things go

that's a big part of the one when we

talked about being led to a promised

land and we're mentioning that in a

physical sense in a Geographic sense

there's a lot of truth to that I mean

look at the greatness of the

Americas and the ability to pull

yourself away from major Wars that's

been a huge thing right is that you

don't you don't you don't have major war

and conflict in the Americas it just

hasn't happened yet that's huge

because of the geography of it the other

geography of it if it gives it strength

because you have the East Coast and the

West Coast and you have for example the

US has an amazing Navy right now because

it can go out on the Pacific you can go

out into the Atlantic it's a major

strategic advantage and that is

certainly part of inspiration not

because America is great but because

it's the birthplace of the gospel it's

the birthplace of the restored Church

and of course it has also incredible

resources an incredible soil but above

that as what the master of the vineyard

here says to the servant even that is is

enough that you look you've been we've

been told many times here you've been

led you know the Nephites have you've

been led to a promised land but if you

don't obey the commandments then you're

not going to prosper so that it just

doesn't that's a great thing to

have and it's a great blessing to have

the natural resources and the geography

but ultimately it has to do with your

culture ultimately it has to do with

following specific principles and

keeping again the doctrine of Christ up

at the highest value in your values

hierarchy I mean starting off the

natural tree here or the house of

Israel begins to decay even though it's

been sent to a promised

and right a land of milk and honey and

that's because they lose the doctrine of

Christ now we get also other examples of

what happens here where the wild

branches can be grafted into the natural

tree and that strengthens it and in

bears great fruit and it saves the tree

right but it can also be overrun right

the wild branches can overrun the

natural tree the natural branches and

and turn it wild and produce bad fruit

and so he gives that example here going

down to verse 39 and it came to pass

that way they went down into the nether

most parts of the vineyard again that

might be the Americas and it came to

pass that they beheld that the fruit of

the natural branches had become corrupt

also yay the first and the second and

also the last and they had all become

corrupt and the wild fruit of the last

had overcome that part of the tree which

brought forth good fruit even that the

branch had withered away and died so

even though you bring in something and

it's part of it's kind of like creation

right you have to creating something

means moving light and order into chaos

and you have to be able to do that at a

certain a certain speed so to speak and

and if you do it too fast and you enter

to small amount of order into too much

chaos you're going to get overwhelmed by

the chaos and creation then comes to a

stop and chaos overcomes it but if you

are able to bring it in at the right

rate and not allow it to be overwhelmed

then you can take the goodness that

you already have that isn't too stale

yet so to speak in the natural branch

and you can bring in the wild branch and

the freshness of that and you can

produce something that's going to

produce good fruit but he says to the

servant he says what could I have done

more for my vineyard and so what is Enos

saying here to us he's saying we the

Lord is giving us every opportunity to

help create Zion

he's giving us every opportunity to help

create our relationships and it doesn't

all rely on us but that's where we start

and his hand is involved in our lives

what could I have done more for my

vineyard and in 47 he repeats it he says

but what could I have done more to my

vineyard have I slackened mine hand that

I have not nourished it nay I have

nursed it right and at the bottom of

verse 47 he says who is it that has

corrupted my vineyard so he goes from

not what is it but who is it so he's

using a coupling here of the branches as

peoples and then instead of referring to

you know what is it what branch has done

this he says directly to us who is it

that has corrupted my vineyard 48 is the

answer and it came to pass that the

servant said unto his master is it not

the loftiness of thy vineyard have not

the branches thereof overcome the roots

which are good so it can be overwhelmed

right the goodness can be overwhelmed by

the loftiness and what is the loftiness

well the term loftiness is only

mentioned one other time in the Book of

Mormon in second Nephi in reference to

man exalting himself over God right and

ultimately again we go back to the exact

same thing that we get from the war in

heaven right it's is that's what it

is the great accuser right Lucifer

what is he doing he is exalting himself

over God and that is what causes the

problems in other words it's pride it is

the opposite of the natural tree which

is the tree of life and so the master

says look I'm just going to burn this

down these ones that have been

overwhelmed by the wild branches but the

servant as the advocate for the olive

olive vineyard here says in 50 but

behold the servant said unto the lord of

the vineyard spirit a little longer and

the Lord said yea I will spare it a

little longer for it grieve with me that

I should lose the trees of my vineyards

so there we have the advocacy of the

Savior saying I want to fight for the

vineyard right I want to fight for

everyone here I will work this vineyard

I will sacrifice for it and then he

talks about another process here to

strengthen the natural tree and this is

in 66 for agree with me that I should

lose the trees of my vineyard wherefore

ye shall clear away the bad according as

the good shall grow so there is a

natural process because of not because

you know not because the Lord is

directly necessarily clearing away the

bad right it's their net we I think in

that case we need to look at natural

consequences he says here that the root

of the top may be equal in strength

until the good shall overcome the bad so

in some cases as you have these natural

consequences happen where civilizations

families communities don't follow

certain principles there are going to be

natural consequences for that and

they're going to be removed so to speak

from the tree but then we get into this

idea of at one mint atonement he says in

68 and the branches of the natural tree

will I graft into the natural branches

of the tree and thus will I bring them

together again that they shall bring

forth the natural fruit and they shall

be one right so again this is the idea

of at one mint this is covenant between

the peoples and that's the whole idea of

the house of Israel whether you started

in that group so to speak with an actual

physical direct bloodline to that or

whether or not you are being adopted in

or grafted in it's all the same the Lord

is no respecter of persons it's how it

works it's how covenant and grace and

mercy

work not just from the Lord but from us

trying to follow his example and

working with each other in 70 he says

and he brought other servants and they

were few so again we're looking at other

roles here they're starting to come in

here to help work through the vineyard

and then in 74 and they became like unto

one body and the fruits were equal so

how do you work that that's not

something that happens very easily look

what Jacob had just been going over when

there was the gold rush right and you

had that that the you know you're going

to inevitably work into a class system

right by working with everybody and

everyone using their own agency not by

force to work toward helping each other

and bringing each other together then

you get at one minute then you get an

equality that is based off of an

individual's agency and that is built

out of an equality of opportunity and

choice not forced equality of results

and then let me let me back up also to

verse 63 because I want to cover this as

well because this is a big part of

covenant he says here grafting the

branches begin at the last that they may

be first and that the first may be last

and dig about the trees both old and

young the first and the last and the

last and the first that all may be

nourished once again for the last time

right so there's this idea you know

those that began are a part of Israel go

to those that are the Gentiles and then

the Gentiles need to go back and go to

those that are of Israel and that's how

it's working right now right we are we

are the Gentiles so to speak are working

toward preaching to the world and

eventually getting back to the house of

Israel to the Jews so the last shall be

first and the first shall be last right

is this whole idea of the allegory of

zenus and you know what that term the

phrase that is used

in the New Testament who knows that may

have originated even in the New

Testament from the same source here that

might be from Zenos and from this

allegory and again here in the allegory

we have the servant who is Jesus Christ

who is the first and the last in a sense

he's in charge of bringing everything

together he is the crux the core of at

one mint and so after all of this

process of working through these people

and going through time with some

destruction with some of the natural

branches being corrupted and being

burned with some of the wild branches

coming in in helping the natural

branches and in other cases coming in

and overwhelming the natural branches

back and forth tossed to and fro so to

speak we end up in a position where

finally in the last few verses here in

75 and it came to pass that when the

lord of the vineyard saw that his fruit

was good and that his vineyard was no

more corrupt he called up his servants

and said unto them behold for this last

time have we nourished my vineyard and

thou behold us that I have done

according to my will and I have

preserved the natural fruit that it is

good even like as it was in the

beginning this is before this is we can

talk about the beginning of as in the

pre-existence or we can talk about the

beginning of the house of Israel or we

can talk about the beginning as the Holy

of Holies and then he talks about how

those that work in the vineyard have

great joy right and blessed art thou for

because you have been diligent and

laboring with me in my vineyard and have

kept my Commandments and have brought

unto me again the natural fruit that my

vineyard is no more corrupted and the

bad is cast away behold ye shall have

joy with me because of the fruit of my

vineyard and so that's our message the

message to us right again the doctrine

of Christ is about us also being the

servant or additional servants with him

and following his example and trying to

create covenant trying to create at one

man

and this is exactly what President

Nelson is talking about now writers he's

really had this emphasis on this

gathering of Israel well of course what

is the gathering of Israel mean it means

everyone

it means preaching the gospel to

everyone and having them all go through

those ordinances and adopting the

doctrine of Christ in their lives and

that doesn't mean they are just of the

tribe of Israel it means all of the

Gentiles all of the wild branches being

grafted in so we play a major part in

the grafting we play a major part in the

health and success of the vineyard and

then if we go over to Jacob sex here he

kind of gives a summary of all of this

I just want to drill down here just in

verse eight here he says behold will you

reject these words will you reject the

words of the prophets who what

prophesied about Christ and will you

reject all the words which have been

spoken concerning Christ after so many

have spoken concerning him and deny the

good word of Christ and the power of God

and the gift of the Holy Ghost and

quenched the Holy Spirit and make a mock

of the great plan of redemption which

hath been laid for you

in other words what if you're if you're

part of the wild branches and stay the

wild branches this is what it is that

happens it's that denial of Christ and a

denial the Holy Ghost in the sense of

closing off revelation right it's

closing the veil it's making it

concrete so that so that revelation

cannot come down it's shutting off the

things of God the things that are

outside of yourself that would not be

part of pride and in verse 12 he says o

be wise what can I say more and then in

Chapter 7 we get what we might call the

first Antichrist in the Book of Mormon

and there's a few of them more than we

might think

more than are actually termed Anti

Christ's but this is Sharon and Sharon

is a great example of the knee whore

principle because Sharon is a religious

man right he is religious just as laman

and lemuel were that word

alleges but he denies Christ and he

denies the Holy Ghost right he denies

those things of God he wants to close

off everything at the Vail right and

turn everything into just the law of

Moses just works just meritocracy

so inspiration prophecy additional works

of the Canon of Scripture the doctrine

of Christ these things are all blasphemy

to share him right and here's how this

goes he says and now it came to pass

after some years I had passed away there

came a man among the people of Nephi

whose name was Sharom and he came to

pass that he began to preach among the

people and to declare unto them that

there should be no Christ again so we've

had this whole lead-up for throughout

1st and 2nd Nephi and now Jacob here is

finishing off with its Christ Christ

Christ Christ Christ right it is all

about the doctrine of Christ thinking

about the environment that Lehi took his

family out of in Jerusalem right they

are reacting to that loss of Christ

there and here again now Jacob is going

to insert this experience with this

Sharom who lost to do the same thing

and preach the same doctrines that were

being taught in Jerusalem and he says he

preached many things which were

flattering unto the people and this he

did that he might overthrow the doctrine

of Christ you know again there's always

this this force this this decay right

this second law of thermodynamics that

that's just everything has to run

downhill and if you start at the top

with Christ then it just seems to

in a natural world want to be pulled

down and removed and in verse 4 he was

learned of course right that he had a

perfect knowledge of the language of the

people wherefore he could use much

flattery and much power of speech so

rhetoric and influence and persuasion

according to the power of the devil

again devil means accuser and he says he

had hope to shake me from my faith

notwithstanding the many revelations and

many things which I had seen concerning

these things so why along with

this force - there's this need for some

to remove the doctrine of Christ does he

also seem to have a need to shake Jacob

from his faith why does he care right do

you see that out there sometimes it's

like why do you care that I think

like you think why is that so important

for you that I don't believe in Christ

and so he says in verse 6 brother Jacob

I have sought much opportunity that I

might speak unto you for I have heard

and also know that thou goest about much

preaching that which he called the

gospel or the doctrine of Christ I

remember going back to the New Testament

we talked about this

what is gospel when we talk about the

gospel that is not in really in reality

it's not the law of Moses right that way

the law of Moses would be a part of that

or the law of God would be a part of the

gospel but here he's equating the gospel

with the doctrine of Christ and that's

important to understand remember gospel

comes from the Old English words God and

spell right which means good and news or

tidings and what is the good news the

good news is the doctrine of Christ so

when we talked about the gospel you

don't have the gospel if you don't have

the higher law that is that's not the

gospel because you've just lost the good

news the good news is that Christ came

and sacrificed himself and had took on

the sins of the world in Gethsemane was

born into the that Christ was born into

the world took on a body condescended

condescended at the baptism with John

the Baptist went through the ordinances

went to get sin

at the oil press and bled from every

pore and took on the burdens of the

world

condescending all of us spiritually at

that point and then went on the cross

and then was resurrected and overcame

everything all spiritual and physical

things he overcame that's the good news

that's the gospel then he says this very

interesting thing here he's trying to

twist things around there's a Sharom and

he have led away much of this people

speaking to Jacob that they pervert the

right way of God and keep not the law of

Moses which is the right way again

that's what the Nehor principle is

about it's not about atheism the Nehor

principle is about tweaking

theology tweaking your belief system

tweaking it’s still religious but

it's removing the doctrine of

Christ and he says you're converting the

law of Moses into the worship of a being

which he which he say shall come many

hundred years hence so again this is the

conflict that happens between a Ben and

I and King Noah right and his priests he

says Ben and I says he goes over the Ten

Commandments and the law of Moses and

says you don't even keep this in other

words you're not using it right it's all

about looking forward to the good news

to the gospel to Jesus Christ to the

doctrine of Christ and here Sharom is

telling Jacob that's not what it is

you're perverting it it's not about

Christ it's not about this being that's

gonna come several hundred years from

now he says to Jacob this is blasphemy

because no man knoweth of such things

here it is closing off the heavens for

he cannot tell of things to come it's

funny how those things go together

right again it's those things that are

outside of us that are that are from

those heavenly things that are our most

naturally removed from our belief

systems and Jacob goes on and say so you

deny the Christ he says do you believe

in the scriptures and he said insure him

says yes and then here we get this again

and we hear this again and again and

again throughout all the scriptures by

the way not just the Book of Mormon and

I said unto him then you do not

understand them for they truly testify

of Christ behold I say unto you that

none of the prophets have written nor

prophesied say they have spoken

concerning this Christ everything about

the law of Moses is about Christ

everything about the Garden of Eden is

about Christ and so he goes on to give

his testimony and then share him of

course with this same philosophy this

ideology that he has because he closes

off the things from heaven this is what

he wants he wants to turn let me explain

this in a way that remember faith goes

along with the things of heaven faith

goes in what the Lord has done for us

right faith goes toward the atonement

the sacrifice of Jesus Christ toward the

Holy Ghost and bringing blessings down

upon us toward his love grace mercy

that's what our faith goes into so if

you take that away then what you're

gonna do instead is you're going to have

results that you want to be brought in

in first and then have the faith right

you want you want results or signs first

and then the faith it's like oh then

I'll believe but of course that's not

faith at all

there's no trust involved in that

whatsoever there's no bond which means

there's no growth and there's no

progress into our relationship with God

is totally tweaked it's totally changed

but that's what Sharon wants so what

does he say here in 13 it says and it

came to pass he said unto me show me a

sign he wants to put the cart in front

of the horse show me a signed by this

power of the Holy Ghost in the which he

knows so much and so Jacob says look I

mean fine if this will be up to the Lord

but if it's so be that he chooses then

the sign will be that you're smitten and

he of course is not gonna have any

additional opportunity here to grow in

faith and so sure enough as Jacob utters

these words

Sharom is stripped is smitten down

and he asks everybody to be gathered

together the next day and says I'm about

to go to my grave and I am worried for

myself

or what I'm going where I'm going to end

up so to speak what the judgment bar has

in store for me but he says he tells

everyone I was fooled and there is a

Christ and that I was deceived by the

accuser by the devil he says for I

denied the Christ and said that I

believed the Scriptures and they truly

testify of him and so he says this and

he passes away so then Jacob as he's

about to pass away himself he passes on

these plates that remember these are the

small plates of spiritual things it's

not the large plates that would have

been somewhere else with probably the

kings but he passes these plates on to

his son Enos and gives us this little

farewell which is kind of interesting he

says our lives passed away like as it

were unto us a dream we being a lonesome

and a solemn people Wanderers cast out

from Jerusalem was they've still got

this tie to Jerusalem

born in tribulation in a wilderness and

of course that's where he was born in

the Arabian Peninsula but everyone here

you know the young ones have all been

born in a wilderness being out here away

from Jerusalem and hated of our brethren

which caused Wars and contentions were

for we didn't mourn out our days so very

solemn farewell but you can imagine here

they are trying to build this new

civilization they are constantly under

attack from their brethren the little

ammonites they're in a new world they're

cast out from Jerusalem and it's hard

even at this point to have this anchor

of their civilization and their

well-being in place

so in Jacob in totality here we have him

starting off with a doctrine of Christ

going through pride which he ends up

talking about here with zenus and the

law of chastity which is so crucial to

growing out all of those different

branches that are going to be grafted in

and part of the plan of salvation and

then bringing on the allegory of zenus

which so beautifully talks about this

idea of covenant and at one mint among

all the children of God

and then finishing off here with this

Antichrist Sharon showing how important

the doctrine of Christ is and how it's

always under attack even today we can

see in the larger Christian world there

is a watering down of what the doctrine

of Christ is and for those that

understand the allegory that we are a

part of that vineyard and our

responsibility is to gather Israel and

to act as the Savior as a servant in

helping bring to pass the immortality

and eternal life of me I'll talk to you

next time