Come Follow Me LDS- Matthew 25, Mark 12-13, Luke 21 Part 2

'Prepare, Procrastinate, Perish'
- Rehashing the parable of the 10 Virgins
- Parable of the Talents, Spiritual Capital
- Higher & Lower Laws in the Parables
- The destruction of the temple of the Jews, the restoration of the temple of the Gentiles.

 

 

Come Follow Me New Testament

LDS Mormon Matthew Mark Luke Bible

 

all right in this episode we're going to

talk about prepare procrastinate and

perish here we go so again in this

episode like other episodes that fall in

this timeframe of the week of Easter the

week of the atonement we've covered many

of these things already so what I'm

going to do here again is I'm going to

kind of recap several of these some of

them will dip down into and talk a

little bit more about some of them I

have not talked about some of the

parables and and other points that are

made in in these chapters that we're

going to cover and bring everything

together kind of in a 30,000 foot level

if you will and look at how what the

Lord is talking about here what Jesus is

talking about is us being prepared and

not procrastinating for the coming of

the Lord and something to keep in mind

here the Lord here as we saw in the last

episode is talking about his second

coming he's also talking about what is

going to happen to Jerusalem in the next

several decades here where Rome is going

to totally destroy Jerusalem a lot of

what we read in several of these

chapters where Jesus is talking about

the sign of the times using the fig tree

etc we see the first half of what he's

talking about is about the Jews about

Jerusalem and what's going to happen

there over the next forty years and the

destruction that is coming to them in

the second half of those chapters that

he's talking about the sign of the times

we know from the Joseph Smith

translation that he shifts gears here

and what he starts to talk about are the

last days our days where the first half

he

talking about the time of the Jews and

then in the second half he is talking

about the signs of the times for the

times of the fulfillment of the of the

Gentiles and so the Jews and the

Gentiles the first shall be last the

last shall be first but that's how these

are mostly split we're gonna start in

Matthew 25 and here we have three

parables all of which we have well the

first two we've already covered

yeah the first is the ten virgins and if

you go back to the Easter week episodes

i did one for eight days straight in

episode three which was the Tuesday of

that week we covered the first two

parables here of the ten virgins and of

the talents but I'm gonna rehash that

right now a couple things to look at

here again think about the context here

of these parables this is about

preparation this is about the Son of God

coming back destruction coming and us

meeting the Savior for in the second

coming now there's different ways that

we will all meet the Savior one is that

death so to speak where we are

eventually going to meet him and be

judged and so we do not as the Book of

Mormon tells us we don't want to

procrastinate the day of our repentance

this is a probationary state that we're

in right now but eventually we're going

to meet our maker we're going to meet

the Savior and we're going to be judged

and so we want to be prepared for that

we want to take this time this

probationary state and put ourselves in

a position where we are ready to meet

the Savior and that's the context here

he's talking about the second coming and

when he comes back and we need to be

ready for that but again these are

principles these are our eternal

principles so even though the Second

Coming is something we look at in the

future a future event here on earth

the second coming so to speak is

something we will all go through right

we will all meet the Savior we will all

be judged and so that's the principle

that sits at the center of these

parables so the first one is the ten

virgins and remember that there are five

that are prepared and we can look at

preparation also in a way of being

repentant so as you look at all these

different parables one way to look at

that is that these are people that are

have repented that they are on the right

track that they are doing the right

things that this is the time this mortal

life here is the time for repentance do

not procrastinate the day of your

repentance so preparation and

procrastination are two things that work

against each other and that's the heart

of these parables so we have five of the

Virgin's that have oil in their lamps to

spare and I've seen a lot of examples or

or metaphors for that oil one thing I

had talked about previously about that

oil is that we can look at it in a way

kind of like the Melchizedek Priesthood

the oil is a temple symbol it is a

symbol of the Melchizedek Priesthood it

is a symbol of the Holy Ghost which is

part of the higher law and we can also

look at it with the number five a lot of

these parables that Jesus uses they take

in to account the number five one thing

that another number five represents

especially in this example is marriage

we know that from Pythagoras of the

Pythagorean theorem one of the

number five is a representation of

marriage but another thing we might look

at with this is a lot of the early

church fathers like Augustine and others

considered that the number five here

could have represented the books of

Moses or the law of Moses so to speak

right so the first five books that

contained the law the Torah the law of

Moses that that was what the number five

here would represent for those that

don't have the oil so here's the

scenario five of the Virgin's do not

have the oil they don't have the higher

law they don't have the fulfill the

fullness of the gospel they don't have

Jesus Christ in the life they don't have

the true Messiah they don't have the

Holy Ghost and anything that prepares

you to bring that into your life is not

in their lamp there's five of them which

would represent the lower law they don't

have everything and without everything

they're not going to be prepared to meet

the Son of man to meet Jesus - the

second coming whereas the other five

virgins have the oil the representation

of the higher law that goes beyond the

five books of Moses and has the fullness

of the gospel and everything that you

need to be prepared and ready and

progressed enough to be able to meet

Jesus at your day of judgment so that's

something to consider with that parable

and then in the Joseph Smith translation

we get a transition going from the ten

virgins to the next parable and

basically what Joseph Smith says is let

me tell you a parable about these things

that is about the ten virgins and so

this is another parable of preparation

being ready to meet Jesus being prepared

for the coming of the Son of Man and

this is the parable of the talents now

just a couple of episodes ago there's an

episode I did called pounds palms and

procession and in that I talked about

the pair the parable of the pounds in

the same Easter episode I did episode

three four

Tuesday I also talked about the parable

of the talents here but I'll rehash this

again I had said that I liked the

parable the pounds more than the parable

of the talents they're basically

identical it's the same thing the

difference is that the parable of the

pounds gives us a clearer understanding

of what we're talking about

it's money remember we're talking about

economy typically that's what Jesus

likes to use comparing the temporal

economy with the spiritual economy and

the talents is a weight measure right

it's like money it is not about our

singing ability it's not about you know

these talents that we develop and then

use for others it can be for that but

that's not what this is that is a common

mistake and I think it's an important

thing to understand the intent of this

parable because what we're talking about

here is opportunity each of us has given

opportunity we're told in this parable

that one servant is given five talents

another is given to another he's given

one and they're given these amount of

talents based on their several ability

so in other words some people are

progressed more than others that's okay

we are not equal we don't want to be

equal that's not how the plan of

salvation works we want some people to

be more advanced at least in some things

and maybe in all things then where we

might be certainly the Savior is more

advanced than all of us fortunately for

us or we would not have a savior so we

want people that are more advanced than

us why because they can help they can

help many people it could be their

intelligence it could be their mercy

it could be their talents right that

would be one option it could be their

street smarts but all of these things

can help advanced civilization can

reduce

ring and most importantly can pull us up

from somewhere where we are lacking so

if you've looked around and you've seen

people that you want to emulate at least

maybe in one thing maybe in all things

but at least in one thing we are

fortunate that there are those types of

people that we can have as mentors or

examples for us so the plan of salvation

the plan of happiness is not about

equality we don't want that we need the

opportunity for those that are more

advanced that have more talents more of

a spiritual more spiritual capital to be

able to help others now many of those

people that have that spiritual capital

don't they don't do that

they have their agency but many do and

we're very fortunate that they do and

then for us that need growth and

progression we have somebody to reach up

to many people to reach up to where we

can follow an example where a path has

already been blazed for us and where we

can grab some help so that we can grow

and progress and then there's a meeting

there like covenant right there's a

meeting there a covenir coming together

of those that have more of the spiritual

economy and those that have less again

might not be in everything like just

being one thing or two or three things

but we need that that is how the plan of

salvation works no man no woman is an

island so this is talking about the law

of abundance and again going back to how

this works the servants that had five

went out and traded and grabbed another

five talents grew their return in other

words to ten the one that had to grew

the return doubled that as well and had

a total of four and the one that had

only one so the one that had the in this

example the least ability the least

Capital sat on it and didn't do anything

with it and that's a problem that means

idle hands that means that whatever I

think they're trying to say here here's

the person at the lower end of the wrong

at least in this matter instead of

saying I'm down here and I need to

progress I need to grow I need to expand

my capacity I need to take on this

little bit of responsibility so that I

can grow and get more responsibility

instead of doing that the servants sat

on it hid it and didn't do anything with

it and so that could be someone who

doesn't repent they're giving it an

opportunity maybe over and over again to

make a change and they don't that could

be somebody who's been giving the

opportunity of living in in the West

living in a solid family anywhere in the

world having the gospel anything but

they're given a little bit and they

don't take advantage of it and so it's a

law of abundance that one talent that

that servant sat on was given to the

servant that had the most so you get a

Pareto principle here right the 80/20

rule where 20% of the people do 80% of

the work or 20% of the people have 80%

of the wealth and that's the way the

spiritual economy works as well

not because of inequality but because of

choice so that's different from the

temporal economy right it is or not

necessarily but can be so it is choice

it is okay I don't care where I am

because we all have the same opportunity

to end up at the same place which is

infinite growth and fulfillment and

happiness and glory we all have the same

choice it doesn't matter where we are it

matters where we choose to go if I'm at

one talent I need to try and get to two

and then I can go from there

if I'm a 5/10

to try to get to 10 and then I can go

from there of course it's even worse

where much is given much is expected so

if you've given five talents because

you've grown to that point spiritually

and then you have idle hands or you make

them to many spiritual mistakes and you

don't take advantage of the place in

your spiritual position at that point

then you're gonna drop and those talents

are gonna be taken from you that

spiritual capital is going to be lost

and so nobody's set where they are it's

a fluid hierarchy that we have

spiritually and that's the beautiful

thing about it we all have in the long

term the same opportunity and we all

have the same potential with the law of

abundance which is not the law of

equality or equality of outcome and then

we have the parable of the sheep and the

goats and this is one I have not covered

so I'm gonna go in here and read this

verse 31 when the son of man shall come

in his glory and all the holy angels

with him then shall he sit upon the

throne of his glory and before him shall

be gathered all nations and he shall

separate them one from another as a

shepherd divideth his sheep from the

goats and he shall set the sheep on his

right hand but the goats on the left

then shall the King say unto them on his

right hand come ye blessed of my father

inherit the kingdom prepared for you

from the foundation of the world and

then he goes into the I the idea of for

I wasn't hungered and he gave me meat I

was thirsty and he gave me drink I was a

stranger and you took me in naked and he

clothed me I was sick and he visited me

I was in prison and he came unto me then

shall the righteous answer him saying

Lord when saw we thee a hunger to defeat

and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee

drink when saw we thee a stranger and

took thee in or naked and clothed thee

or when saw we thee sick or in prison

and came unto thee and the King shall

answer and say unto them verily I say

unto you inasmuch as ye have done it

unto one of the least of these my

brethren he had

to me remember the least of these my

brethren Christ Jesus is the least of

all in the sense that he lowered himself

below all of us and so here we have the

difference between those that are sheep

and those that are goats it's those that

go out and help others that have charity

that have service that have love for

their fellow man love being a verb and

this could all be brought back all the

way to those that had the talents what

was the servant doing that had five

talents that brought five more talents

back as a return charity it was love it

was the higher law it was following the

example of the Savior and the same could

likely be said of the ten virgins the

oil in the lamp is the higher law of

charity and the example of the Savior

and the Lord says that the goats that do

not do these things will perish they

will go into everlasting punishment but

the righteous into life eternal so

there's a separation between the two and

the Joseph Smith translation talks about

the talents also saying that those that

receive more talents in other words

those that are in a mode of progression

will be the ones that are saved that

will be on his right hand like a sheep

but those that have the talents that are

losing their talents that is losing

their spiritual capital they're going

backwards they will be on his left hand

those are the goats then we move over to

mark 12 hmm and here I'm not going to go

into any of the verses here specifically

because we've already covered most of

this at least once but here's a rundown

it we have first of all the parable of

the wicked husbandmen remember this is

where the servants are sent back to the

Lord's vineyard and the husbandmen are

watching over it and the servants are

stoned or killed and then finally the

lord of the vineyard sends his son and

saying there first

going to Revere my son and they kill the

son for his inheritance so obviously

this is talking about those that are in

power the Sadducees and the scribes here

especially the elders that are in charge

of the priesthood and they're going to

kill the son along with the ruling of

the Sanhedrin they are going to condemn

him to death and here we have in in this

parable a preparing right we go back to

preparing here remember the lower law is

prepare you either way it's John the

Baptist prepare either way make his

paths straight that's what's coming back

that's what the Lord is scent of the

vineyard is sending back to the

husbandmen he's sending the prophets

which are saying repent ye repent ye for

the kingdom of God is at hand so we have

the lower law here with repentance and

obedience in place and speech right the

speech of the prophets that are going to

the husbandmen they're telling them to

repent so in the lower law those four

phases of the priesthood that I cover

the lower law first is obedience we

would talk about obedience in the

commandments first agency and then the

next one up in that lower law would be

speech and that's what we're getting in

the parable of the wicked husbandmen and

then of course the next thing that we

move into is the higher law where we

talk about marriage and so that's where

they're right away here mark goes into

marriage after this or the Savior goes

into marriage right after this that's

the first of the two phases in the

higher law the milk is attic law and

then he goes into the two Commandments

and we've talked about that with putting

things in place properly getting your

values hierarchy straight those two

things love the Lord with all thy heart

might mind and soul I'm paraphrasing and

then love your neighbor as well right

there are values in place not everything

is equal we have to learn values and

kind of learn to live by those values

and arrange our own values hierarchy

along the lines of the Lord's values

higher and after he talks about

these two then we move down into the

divine sonship right of Jesus Christ how

he is the son of man and he is the

example and the one that is going to

provide mercy part of the higher law and

then lastly we get the story again of

the widows mites and what happens there

she's giving everything that she had

remember what Jesus is talking about

here you have a lot of the rich people

coming into the Treasury at the temple

they're giving a lot of money into the

end of the Treasury but the widow comes

in and she gives her mights and gives

all that she has that's the law of

consecration that is Zion the law of

Zion that is the highest of the two

phases of the priesthood with the higher

law so we have all four of those phases

of the priesthood of the plan of

salvation that is put in place here in

mark 12 done very very I believe

consciously by the savior by Jesus and

by the off the author of the Gospel of

Mark mark 13 covers much of what we just

covered in the last episode so I'm going

to skip that and we're gonna go to Luke

21 now here we have again the widows

mites we've covered that and we talked

again about the destruction of the

temple how there will not be a stone

left one upon another with the with the

temple he's talking again about what's

going to happen immediately here with

the Jews over the next several decades

the Romans are going to destroy this in

70 AD not far away and this to me is a

representation of everything about the

Jews this is their civilization this is

the core of their theology and here they

are not accepting the older religion

that they had lost which is the religion

of Jesus Christ they have lost it

centuries before and here Jesus is

trying to bring that back to them and

they are not accepting it they want to

hold on to their own power they want to

hang on to just the lower law of Moses

and eventually as we've discussed many

times that just goes in and eats itself

it disintegrates

and the representation of the temple

completely being destroyed and not one

stone left upon another to me is the

metaphor of the lower law it's what

happens to the Jews they lose their

priesthood they lose the sacrifices they

lose much of the ritual that they had

with the temple which was the core of

their civilization in their theology and

they've never recovered from that that

center that holds them which was the

temple is gone

still today for them and that is why

Jesus then in the second half of talking

about the signs of the times talks about

the times of the Gentiles because that's

when the fullness of the gospel is going

to be restored when the milk is it

expressed hood and the higher law and

the knowledge of Jesus Christ completely

will be brought back all of the temple

ordinances will be brought back and

there will be temples galore restored

through Joseph Smith a temple that has

been completely destroyed well those

stones will be brought back put back on

top of each other and the temple is

going to be rebuilt in the time of the

Gentiles in the last days so just as

Jesus has been talking about the

creation motif where in the creation

everything was brought together and

separated and ordered he talks about in

the signs of the times

using creation verbiage how things are

going to fall apart and that's what

happens with the temple but then again

through restoration everything is

brought back and that temple is built

back up in our day and then a couple of

interesting points here that I'm going

to finish up with in verse 25 and 26 of

Luke 21 we get this and there shall be

signs in the Sun and in the moon and in

the Stars and upon the earth distress of

Nations with perplexity the sea and the

waves roaring again this is creation

verbiage and everything all the

order is falling apart men's hearts

failing them for fear and for looking

after those things which are coming on

the earth for the powers of heaven shall

be shaken so men women everywhere are

going to be fearful for this order that

is starting to collapse just like with

the Jews and the temple that was about

to collapse a little later with them for

us or our children or our grandchildren

ever that time comes there's going to be

no stone left unturned so to speak I

mean every stone is gonna fall from our

temporal civilization and order is going

to fall apart all around us there will

be chaos because we aren't living or

most of mankind are not living under

that values hierarchy that we're

supposed to be but of course if we do

have that values hierarchy in place if

we have put first things first then we

will not fear or don't need to fear

because we understand the order of

things even though things around us are

going completely falling out of order

and then lastly we get a warning even if

we have our affairs in order we need to

be vigilant the Lord says down in verse

34 he says and take heed to yourselves

lest at any time your hearts be

overcharged with surfeiting that would

be debauchery and drunkenness and cares

of this life and so that day come upon

you unawares so that you're not ready

you're not prepared you don't have the

oil in the lamp you haven't taken

advantage of spiritual opportunities

with the talents for as a snare shall it

come on all them that dwell on the face

of the whole earth

watch me therefore and pray always that

ye may be accounted worthy to escape all

these things that shall come to pass and

to stand before the Son of Man

so this is our warning is to watch out

for these things to pray always because

even though we may have five talents ten

talents a hundred talents

we can lose them we can lose that

spiritual capital at any point and here

we look at the title that Jesus Christ

has given as the son of man we hear

oftentimes the Son of God but here we

have a son of man that come follow me

title for this week is uses the title of

the Son of Man which is interesting one

way we could look at this is that in a

lot of the scriptures we have visions

that have animals in them so in Daniel

and in Book of Revelations we have

animals and then we have humans and

oftentimes the language of these visions

or these writings or a there's a

division between the humans and the

animals and that would be just a higher

being and a lower being we are the

animals or we are the men and women so

priests those that would be following

the gospel would be the human beings

those that are not would be the animals

or God would be man and his servants or

even the angels might be animals because

they're at a lower plane and so having

the title son of man in that example is

imagery of that division that he is the

son of God that man in this instance is

the father and that we are to try and

not be in a lower state of being animals

but try to be in a higher spiritual

state of mankind and that's Jesus's

message in his last week here about

being ready to meet him again he's about

to leave but to be prepared to not

procrastinate so that we don't perish

and can enjoy the blessings that our

Heavenly Father

desperately wants to give us I'll talk

to you next time