all right
so one eternal round this comes about
from reading
dnc section three verse two
i wanted to go in and talk just a little
bit more about this concept
we see it a few times in the scriptures
it's written in other ways as well
uh one eternal round right for example
the lord is the same
today yesterday and forever
but i want to go into a little bit more
depth about this idea of
one eternal round what is it
and by dipping into the scriptures a
little bit more we can get some more
context behind it to see what it means
and what we find
is really a treasure of meaning
and i think for me a clearer
understanding of what these authors are
trying to get across
when they use this term or what the lord
is trying to get across
when he uses this term first off before
we go into the scriptures on this
i want to give some basic foundations
here to understanding this idea of
one eternal round when we talk about one
eternal round
we need to think about a circle that's
that's what is meant there
and anciently there was a lot of meaning
to a circle
so for example we can go back to the
early parts of the renaissance with
nicholas of cusa who was a
cardinal a german cardinal in the
catholic church
and he wrote a little bit about this
idea of the circle
he said that god's path is an infinite
circle so that would be the same idea as
one eternal
round nibbly hugh nibbly
said that the round or a circle
is the universal concept of completeness
which is really very interesting because
again the idea of completeness
in greek is taleos and president nelson
spoke on this just a couple years ago
right teleos is the word for perfect
that we get in
matthew 5 48 right be
therefore perfect even as i am perfect
that's
talios so that would be the completion
of a circle or the idea of
completeness so when we hear about
one eternal round we have the idea of
completeness or
perfection which is very interesting
when looking at
for example the sermon on the mount in a
ritual or even
perhaps temple type of setting
probably the oldest jewish mystic book
the sefer yet sera
has this to say it says talking about
their tan sephirot i don't know if
you've ever seen their tree of
the ten sephirot but it says their end
is embedded
in their beginning and they're beginning
in their
end right so they're tied together in a
way there's no beginning and there's no
end
or we could even say and use the title
of
i am alpha and omega i am the beginning
and the end of a circle that continues
to go
round and round and round eternally this
is the idea behind the euroboros
right this is the snake that is in a
circle
that is eating its own tail it
represents the
the eternal process of creation
and destruction it's a never-ending
cycle it is in some cases we can look at
it as
dispensations even or generations
but the same thing goes into place over
and over again
this is what i have for the quick media
logo right it's the uroboros it's the
snake
as we see at the beginning and the end
of every one of these episodes
that's what i get it from right it is to
me
i interpret that it's one eternal round
and it has to do with putting out the
word of god
and i'm going to go over that in just a
second here so let's take a look here at
section 3 doctrine covenant section 3
verses 1 and 2. here's what it says the
works and the designs and the purposes
of god cannot be
frustrated neither can they come to not
well what are we talking about here
in section three it's about the lost 116
pages
the joseph smith after his third visit
to the lord so to speak his
his third plea finally gets an approval
from the lord to give
this manuscript over to martin harris
who then loses it
apparently or has it stolen from him
more likely so what are we talking about
here there's two things that i really
want to focus on here
number one is the overall umbrella
concept
of god giving the word his word in
in terms of revelation right through
seership
but it's it's about giving revelation to
what to a
record to the word of god to this
what becomes the scriptures right what's
going to be the book of mormon
that's an important anchor point for us
to see
from these authors using our authorship
interpreter we can see what they're
trying to do here
by comparing it to other examples of
where we see
one eternal round so it's about
the records and and about revelation
and the idea that god has a purpose that
is different from man's
and there's a big difference between the
two of them but his word can't be
frustrated
ours will be frustrated right verse 2
for god doth not walk in
crooked paths neither doth he turn to
the right hand nor to the left
neither doth he vary from that which he
hath said
therefore his paths are straight
and his course is one eternal round
okay now if we read nibbly here we're
going to see
that what the way he infers this
is that the one eternal round the circle
is perfect and he doesn't move to the
left or the right of that ever bending
arc of the circle and that might be the
case but i want to add something in here
that seems to make some sense to me as i
look through these different
references in the scriptures and that is
is that if
we look through these references
we see something else here about
preparation so i'm going to get to that
in a minute
but more of a preparatory gospel
that comes from man upward
right and our works as compared to god's
works which come down the revelation the
word of god
that becomes scripture or the visions
etc
and so what we're looking at here is two
things we've already got a circle
the one eternal round well what else
would go with that what would pair with
that well that is the square
and so when we talk about the paths
being straight
my recommendation just like we get with
john the baptist
right prepare either way make his paths
straight
whether we get that in the new testament
or in isaiah
or elsewhere malachi
as far as one coming before i
i think what we want to look at here is
is the earth and
the heavens right genesis 1 1
and the circle has always represented
the heavens and the square
represents earth in many ways it is what
we have to do
in terms of obedience and repentance
we need to keep a straight right angle
right like the square we need to stay
straight and we can make
something straight through a right angle
through a square
that's how buildings are built that's
how the temple is built
we can see how much the focus on noah's
ark and on
the tabernacle and on solomon's temple
all the measurements in the materials
etc
that painstakingly long boring sections
of the scriptures
that go over the measurements well these
are crucial
and so if we look at this a little bit
more as not just a round or
at least looking at the round as god's
circle
and then looking at man's square and
looking at heaven and earth
we can kind of pull some things together
here i think that helps us to understand
what's going on
and tie some scriptures together we can
see these themes
throughout these references so if we
talk about the paths
of preparation that need to be straight
before the lord comes in
right before the lord's power comes down
before revelation comes down
again we're talking about the idea the
quick principle i put out there of the
royal procession
and that's important to see because we
can combine that and understand that
there we're talking about the higher and
the lower laws here
when we're looking at first being having
a preparatory state
an ironic state an ironic
function before we bring in the
melchizedek before we bring in christ
before we bring in the powers of heaven
we see that with john the baptist right
he is the preparer
he's the one who makes the path straight
first what for for the lord to come in
that's
he comes in in the procession what we
usually call the triumphal
entry which i think is a mistake because
we should look at that as the procession
that's what it is
it's it's a king's entrance into the
gates of jerusalem
going to the temple where there will be
a temple drama
that's what that is but if we understand
the procession process
a little bit then we can see and make
some parallels here with
one eternal round for example in egypt
where we really want to pull from and
look at some middle eastern cultural
events and parallels here we can look at
the socar festival so car was
a god of the underworld we can see so
car
likely so car in facsimile number two in
figure number four
on his bark going across the sky and in
that festival what they would do is they
would take out
the statue of socar put him on a bark
he'd actually go out
out on different uh bodies of water
including the nile
and visit different places and then
there would be a procession bringing him
in
back to the palace and the temple and
what they would do is they would bring
him in and then they would have him
circle the gates right move him around
the temple at least or circle the gates
of the city
right one eternal round
and this was a process that was done at
a new coronation that's important to
understand also in tying a couple of
things together here
we look at one eternal round think about
the concept
of of kingship and going from the father
to the son
or from one person to another right
we're going to link that up as well here
as we go through these references
so if this was done during a coronation
it would be the power
being moved from the father who is now
deceased to the son
who is the new king another example in
egypt is the circumambulation of the
white walls
this was a ritual procession where they
would circle around this was in memphis
where they would circle around
the white walls of memphis and what this
did was it it
solidified the power of the king right
again
one eternal round and this is you can
see these examples throughout ancient
egypt and and in processions but again
if we think about the the principle of
the royal procession
then we see that that's either there's a
preparatory state making the past rate
which is a lower state or an aaronic
state and then there is the
higher law or the higher state which is
the king
who is coming in or the god that is
coming into the temple
so that gives us a square and a
circle what is the circle made from it's
made from
a compass so we get the compass and the
square
now a little bit further down in section
three here in verse 11
he says that you need to repent right to
joseph smith about giving up these 116
pages he says
that you have no more gift now your gift
is gone
so again it's the gift coming down from
heaven it's the one eternal round
coming down that gift is removed we're
going to see that this is
idea of gift and revelation is given
throughout
these anchor points of one eternal round
and then lastly in this section
something that we're going to see in
most of these references
is a focus on the savior and here down
at the bottom
in verse 19 to 20 19 talks again about
the purpose of the plates
right the record and then 20 talks about
the merits of jesus christ and his
sacrifice
so that also becomes a part of these
themes that we see around
one eternal round now again this idea of
something round and and
the square you know a lot of people talk
about that being something
involved with just the masons right
that's not true we see it throughout
egyptian culture we see it throughout
jewish
not just mysticism but in the scriptures
in a number of different places about
these i
this idea of measurement and these
phrases in the scriptures about making
paths straight
and we have other things today that that
are built off of this these ancient
concepts
that are a big part of our really our
everyday lives i mean look
our our numerals are arabic
right from the middle east our alphabet
is phoenician
from the middle east our circles are
babylonian right also from the middle
east what do i mean by that with the
circles
well they're the ones that were built on
the idea of the number
60. that's how their numeric system was
built
our numeric system with circles is built
off of 60.
for example there are 360 degrees
in a circle that is 60
times 6. so there's six different
sections
of 60 degrees each within a circle
a clock right we use to tell time with
has 60 minutes in it
within those minutes there are one
revolution is
60 seconds so those things are all built
off of a babylonian
numeric system our friend nicholas of
cusa tried to do what
what was called squaring the circle a
nearly impossible task
which was creating a square with the
same area of a circle
a specific circle very difficult to do
the symbol the medieval symbol of
melchizedek is a circle with a square
same idea why would that be because it's
the higher and the lower laws it's the
square
which represents the earth the four
directions we can look at
facsimile one and facsimile two and what
do we see there we see
a representation with the four
characters the four gods
the four canopic jars
of a representation of the four
directions of the earth we have the four
rivers
coming out from the tree of life in the
garden of eden
number four is a square now let's go to
section 35
here and let's read the summary a
portion of the summary here and see what
we're talking about it says
at this time the prophet was engaged
almost daily
in making a translation of the bible
it's about the record again and here's
verse one
listen to the voice of the lord your god
even alpha
and omega the beginning and the end the
first and the last letters of the
alphabet
whose course is one eternal round
and then we get a a confirming statement
here or
title perhaps that says the same today
as yesterday and forever right so that's
something that
is coupled with the idea of one eternal
round
but what is this section about it's
about the record
it's about the bible it's about the
revelation coming down from god
and keeping a specific record which is
the word of god
that we where we want to keep it
straight
and not surprisingly in verse 4 what do
we get thou art blessed for thou shalt
do great things
behold thou was sent forth even
as john that's john the baptist
to prepare the way before me
and before elijah which should come and
thou knewest it not
again prepare ye the way
make his path straight for what for the
coming into the savior for the king
it's the higher and the lower laws that
are referenced
right here with one eternal round again
okay our next reference here that we'll
add to it is first
nephi 10 remember what situation we're
in here this is really interesting
here we're not talking necessarily about
a record
of scripture but we're talking about a
revelation of
vision remember that in chapter 10 here
this is where nephi
comes in after he describes the vision
that lehi his father had
so father to son here now we're going to
get a
vision a revelation the word of god
coming to
nephi and he ties that together actually
with the record look at verse one here
and now i need if i proceed to give an
account upon these
plates of my proceedings and my reign in
ministry
right so we're tying it into the record
here as well
and he goes right in here talking about
verses four five
six talking about the savior and him
being the redeemer
an important point here with one eternal
round verse seven
here we go and he spake also concerning
a prophet who should come before the
messiah
to prepare the way of the lord there it
is again
yea even he should go forth and cry in
the wilderness prepare ye the way of the
lord
and make his paths straight
fascinating right what is the word of
god what is the one eternal round
that needs to be straight in every you
know it's it's learning about the higher
and lower laws
that's the word of god and then he also
brings up
the idea of a gift right in verse 17 he
says
i nephi was desirous also that i might
see and hear and know
of these things by the power of the holy
ghost
these things are the vision that are
going to be written in the record
which is the gift of god unto
all those who diligently seek him as
well in times of old as in
the time that he should manifest himself
unto the children of men
verse 18 for he is the same yesterday
today and forever and the way is
prepared for all men from the foundation
of the world if it so be that they
repent and come unto him
and then down in verse 19 again as well
in these times as in times of old
and as well in times of old as in times
to come wherefore
the course of the lord is one eternal
round so
we're bringing these themes together
again in the same place
this means something this is not a
coincidence
all right now quickly over to alma 7.
remember this is where alma is preaching
to the people of gideon
in verse 9 but behold the spirit hath
said this much unto me
saying cry unto this people saying
repent
and prepare the way of the lord and walk
in his paths right that's making the
path straight that's the square
for behold the kingdom of heaven is at
hand and the son of god
cometh upon the face of the earth that
is the royal procession
and so this is about christ right in
verse 10 it goes right into
the how how he the the messiah will be
born to mary at jerusalem
or in the land of jerusalem down in
verse 19
again i perceive that ye are making his
paths
straight remember the people of gideon
were a righteous people
but there we have it again and then
verse 20 is where we get our big
reference it says i perceive that it has
been made known unto you
by the testimony of his word that he
cannot walk in crooked paths this is the
lord
and then at the end of the verse
therefore his course
is one eternal round now
i want to add one more thing in here a
little bit more specificity to the gift
remember that's mormon and moroni's
message at the end of the book of mormon
is about the opening of the heavens and
the gifts of the spirit coming down from
heaven
well here he talks about it again right
in this chapter where we find one
eternal round
in verse 24 and see that ye have faith
hope and charity and then you will
always abound in good works
right so so there's our gifts that we've
seen in the other references
and that we're going to see again here
now let's go to alma 37
and this one is a famous chapter
remember this is the chapter where we
have
alma speaking to his son hilaman this is
alma
younger speaking to his son hilumen
about what
about the records right he's talking
about the brass plates he's talking
about
keeping up the record of the nephites
the the record of nephi
the plates of nephi and this is where we
get one eternal round again
and this is again a father to a son
verse one and now my son heal him and i
command you that you take the records
which have been entrusted with me we get
that word entrusted a lot with these
references you know it's our
responsibility
to keep this properly and proper and
straight
first two and i can also command you
that you keep a record of this people
so the first one was the records of the
brass plates
and then in verse 3 the record of the
brass plates and these plates of brass
which contain these engravings which
have the records of the holy scriptures
upon them
and then verse 4 we get this idea again
coming down generation to generation it
says that they should be kept
and handed down from one generation to
another
to go forth unto every nation so he's
entrusting man
to to keep the word of god to keep the
path straight
to look up toward the one eternal round
to try and get to that point
and then we have the focus on christ
right these records
and their words brought them under
repentance that's of the lamanites
that is they brought them to the
knowledge of the lord their god and to
rejoice in jesus christ the redeemer so
that's also
a clear focus of this theme of one
eternal round is talking about at the
center of the word of god
of the records is christ we get another
phrase here that comes up
often around this phrase of one eternal
round
says in 12 and it ca and it may suffice
if i only say
they are preserved for a wise purpose
which purpose is known unto god for he
doth counsel and wisdom over all his
works
and his paths are straight the square
and his course is one eternal round the
compass or the circle and again in 14
god has entrusted you this is helaman
speaking to helaman
with these things which are sacred and
then
interestingly enough along with the
records he talks about the urim and
thumb of the interpreters
right because that's also where we get
revelation from god where we get more of
that one eternal round so to speak
and then he goes into the leona which
was also a direction
right a director they called it helping
them keep their paths
straight literally right moving them
toward the promised
land toward the higher law toward the
abrahamic covenant
toward christ interestingly
probably coincidentally is
this was a compass right it was a
compass
in 44 for behold it is as easy to give
heed to the word of christ
which will point to you a straight
course
to eternal bliss and then again
using the symbolism of the brazen
serpent which you know i love
he says that if they would look they
might live
even so it is with us the way
is prepared and if we will look
we may live forever okay so again the
same themes around this idea of one
eternal round
so again we get this idea looking at
these phrases of one eternal round in
these chapters if we
if we build out from there and we look
at the principle of authorship
what are they trying to get across
understanding that they're probably
drawing on
other records that talk about one
eternal round
right where where this i i'm i'm almost
certain
just deducing this and looking at all of
this
that they had a a going all the way back
to
the beginning of nephi right in first
nephi 10
that they have in the brass plates
examples of using the phrase
one eternal round they understood this
concept of the compass and the circle
and the square likely
but how they were tied together with the
idea of revelation of
the revelation for the word of god and
keeping the records
that are entrusted to man and visions as
the example of lehigh and nephi
now the thing about the father and son
thing is interesting too right because
that's that seems to be part of the deal
right here we have in 37 it was it was
alma the younger and helium and his son
we have lehigh and nephi father and son
or at least one person to another right
in exchange
just like you would have in a coronation
the father's legacy
to the new father's reign the father's
legacy
to the sun's new reign as king
i think that's an important part of what
we're talking about here as well
it's about generations it's that's also
one eternal round
now going back to our second reference
of doctrine and covenants
uh 35 we get another phrase here that is
very similar to one eternal round that
we get
in other places in the scriptures that
we can kind of tie together here and
look for these same themes even though
we don't see the exact phrase
one eternal round remember here in verse
1
it says whose course is one eternal
round
the same today as yesterday and forever
so if we look at that phrase the same
today and as yesterday and forever
if we search for that and then look at
the context
of the author and the chapters there
let's see if we can help
firm this up a little bit with this idea
of what one eternal round is
give us a little bit more context well
here in section 20 in verse 11 it says
proving to the world that the holy
scriptures
are true in other words they're not
deviating to the left or to the right
in the following verse verse 12 thereby
showing that he is the same god
yesterday today and forever
so again tied very closely to the
scriptures
in the book of hebrews i'm not going to
go there but in the book of hebrews
i think it's in chapter 7 we get the
same idea of
strange doctrines being taught and how
this is not
what the lord would give because he's
the same today and yesterday and forever
we already went over first nephi 10
where nephi's about to
see the vision for himself from his
father even though we get the phrase
one eternal round there we also get the
phrase that he is the same today
yesterday and forever and everything
that was surrounding
that theme in chapter 10 of first nephi
in second nephi 2 the chapter that lehi
the philosopher gives us
we get the same phrase and what do we
get in there we get the idea of the way
is prepared before
christ here's a really interesting one
you want to add some evidence to
the veracity of the book of mormon
look at this second nephi 27
this is very similar to isaiah 29
what is that about that's about
not being able to read a sealed
book it's about the records here's verse
23 for behold i am god
and i am a god of miracles opening up
the heavens bringing that down
and i will show unto the world that i am
the same yesterday today and forever
so this idea of the gifts and the
miracles coming down is right there
right and we this is where we get i will
i will proceed to do a marvelous work
among this people yea a marvelous work
and a
wonder that's right there this is about
the book of mormon
reference directly to isaiah 29
and isaiah 29 is about the book it's
mentioned several times in that chapter
and the book that can't for example that
is sealed and that cannot be read
definitely a tie-in here and then
ii nephi 29 what do we get here
verse 3 a bible a bible
we have got a bible and there cannot be
any more
bible it is about the scriptures about
the word of god
in verse 9 and i do this that i may
prove unto many that i am the same
yesterday
today and forever and that i speak forth
my words it's revelation
and of course down below that it's all
about the books verse 11
for out of the books which shall be
written i will judge the world
for in verse 12 for behold i shall speak
unto the jews
and they shall write it and i shall also
speak unto the nephites
and they shall write it and i shall also
speak unto the other tribes of the house
of israel
which i have led away and they shall
write it it's about the records
again way too much here to be a
coincidence
on understanding the context
of one eternal round and an unchanging
god
and then we get it in mormon nine which
is really moroni
talking about denying the gifts of god
you know in faith hope and charity and
then of course where are we going to get
it
where would you guess we would get it
finally in the book of mormon
well of course it's in the last chapter
moroni 10
where we are both talking about the
record the book of mormon itself
and about the gifts of god faith hope
and charity
and all the other gifts and revelation
coming down from the heavens from the
circle
right verse one here's what moroni says
i write unto my brethren the lamanites
verse two and i seal up these
records right and then he goes into
faith
hope and charity and all the gifts of
the spirit
and in verse 7 for he worketh by power
according to the faith
of the children of men the same today
and tomorrow and forever
not a coincidence here now i want to go
back up to the idea in verse 2 about
i seal up these records this is moroni
well he had his seal remember
at the top of the plates his own seal
that he seals
there but the brother of jared likely
the brother of jared also had a seal
at the bottom the portion that was
sealed actually where it couldn't
actually be opened
and what are the descriptions of that
seal very interestingly
it's a round it's a circle similar to
the aztec calendar or
that's the best somebody can describe
what they've seen it's actually what
charles anthony describes seeing when he
saw the characters
which are not the characters that most
people think they are
but this seal of the record
is a round it's a circle likely created
with a
compass and what
is moroni's seal well the only two that
i know of the only two
symbols aside from any characters of
alphabet or of hieroglyphics
that are written on the plate
of moroni seal is a compass
and a square that starts to make
a lot more sense
because it has to do with the record
finally my last reference here i've
given a lot because i want to support
what i'm talking about here is the
facsimile number two in the book of
abraham
this is also a round it is a
circle and it is built around a
clock or a calendar as well think of the
aztec calendar as a circle
right it's about time just like our
round clocks are about time
they have to do with one eternal round
in fact hugh nibley's last book that he
never really finished
michael rhodes had to finish it for him
massive project
that book is called one eternal round
and it is about facsimile number two
and if you look at faction number two
what you get is the idea of going to
three o'clock
on the position of the clock as sun rise
and then move over to the position of
nine o'clock which is sunset
and then move down below and that's
where you have the characters that are
all
the figures they're all upside down
because you're going down into the
underworld
or at a minimum earth down below as
compared to heaven
but there's really three sections on
that or three different worlds it looks
like
so the idea of one eternal round is also
the idea of the sun
to them the sun moving around the earth
or we could say the earth having one
revolution
what's tied to factionally number two
it's it's sex
it's it's chapter three of abraham and
what do we get there we get the
cosmology of kolob and all that funky
stuff
but it's about time as well and the
number of
revolutions or rounds that we get
in those descriptions about
the cosmology about the planets which is
really just a
an explanation of hierarchy but you'll
see in fact similarly number two where
you have
the gods that have two heads or maybe
four heads because they're looking
one way which is today and they're
looking the other way
which is yesterday so you can kind of
divide that into two in that way
the same today as yesterday and
an eternal round forever interestingly
enough this skill of creating a
hypocephalus
which is what these are called is
something that was done by
priests primarily in the area of thebes
and also
in tel al yahudah which is
the hill of the jews an area of the jews
where these are also found interestingly
enough
this skill was passed on from father to
son
a record is what it is it's a record
that is passed on from
father to son and just one quick thing
here because i've got another episode
that i will go over on here with the
facsimiles probably just facsimile too
but if you look at the very center
of the throne of god in fact similarly
number two you're going to see an x
to me as i look at that what that
represents
is the point of a compass and if you
were to go
out to the extremes here it's not
perfect because these things have been
redone
over and over again but it looks to me
like what these things represent is that
x marks the spot for the compass
and then the pen or pencil or plume
right would go out to the edge of the
circle and would be
drawn with a compass so that circle is
drawn with a compass and that's what the
x represents a compass
it's one eternal round it is the
compass and at another episode i'll go
over the square with this
as well so
in conclusion if you had never
understood what one eternal round meant
i hope that this gives you some context
i'm not going to give you an exact
definition but you have plenty of
references
to look at what the authors are talking
about when they use these phrases of
one eternal round and a god that is the
same today
yesterday and forever it has
primarily to do with the records
and revelation the revelation of the
word
of god to man and the difference
between him being perfect having one
eternal round the idea of
completeness the idea of a
perfection right talios
that is one eternal round as compared to
us
that are trying to keep things at a
right angle we're trying to make his
path straight
so that we can be worthy of the
blessings of heaven so that we can
bring the king in through the procession
to
the temple to sit on the throne
it's about a transference of power and
of the word of god from
one person to another oftentimes from a
father to a son
it's about christ as the center of that
word or of that revelation
it's a comparison of a compass being a
circle
with us as a square
it is heaven and earth
it is the higher and the lower laws it
is the melchizedek and the aaronic
priesthoods
preparing the way making his path
straight
to try and reach what god is
right and be his course which is one
eternal round i'll talk to you next time
you
