"The Fourth Interpreter' Part 2
- Josiah, Jeremiah & Lehi
- Laman & Lemuel
- Abinadi was killed because he preached about Jehovah being born into mortality (The Son of God) and bearing the sins of the world.
- The times of Jesus
Come Follow Me
LDS Mormon Laman Josiah Jeremiah Isaiah Nehor Deuteronomists Abinadi
and then we can come down to the time of
Lehi and here Jeremiah is preaching to
the people who are becoming wicked and
he's saying that all the priests are
wicked in other words those that are
running the temple are wicked there is a
huge problem interestingly at this time
about the time of King Josiah so about
621 622 BC this would be probably in
Lehigh's younger life
Josiah an 8-year old King let's put in
when he's eight years old has very
similar reforms to what Hezekiah hat and
in the Book of Kings were to end in with
Jeremiah we're told that well in the
Book of Kings we're told that Josiah's
was a great king and all these reforms
were great and it was all about idol
worship and they had to get rid of this
idol worship that might be true but one
of the things they do again here is they
take something else out of the temple
several things but they take out what
they call the a schwa in other words
we're used to thinking well the Astra is
the fertility goddess and they wanted to
get rid of the fertility goddess out of
the temple because it was not the true
God and they were worship and that's
pretty odd though what does the ash were
doing in the temple in the first place
it's more than likely ashrita who would
be the mother and would be represented
very possibly by a menorah which would
be the Tree of Life the mother and the
son are the Tree of Life so when we talk
about parsing out the doctrine of Christ
and we think of the title the Son of God
this is really important the Son of God
is the son of God because as a Bennett I
tells us because he's born of a woman
into mortality so anything that
represents the Son of God is going to be
shown oftentimes with a mother
birthed him into this world when Nephi
has his vision when he's looking at the
this is about the tree of life or the
menorah there was probably in the Holy
of Holies that's when we look at the
Tree of Life vision we should think of
it as a temple procession we're getting
to the celestial room think of the
chandelier in the celestial room as the
Tree of Life and that's what Lehi’s
vision is about but the ashram or the
ashrita that would have been in the
temple would have been a large menorah
now they kept a menorah the menorah is a
part of the Jewish faith that would have
been outside in the holy place but not
in the Holy of Holies we're talking
about something that was likely inside
of the Holy of Holies and what are we
told in Lehigh's vision that the tree
represents when Nephi asks the angel
what is the Tree of Life that's his
first question strangely enough the
angel goes to the description of Mary he
doesn't say it's Mary but the first
thing he talks about which is what
Professor Peterson has said is he goes
and he talks about Mary as this fair
virgin in the land of Jerusalem and her
bearing a son and that that's what the
tree of life represents if you look in
other cultures in the Middle East
trees can oftentimes being kings but
they're oftentimes their mothers also so
we know we're told specifically later on
that the tree is a representation of the
son of God
of Jesus Christ but one way that you
portray the Son of God is by portraying
his mother because that's what the Son
of God means it means that he's been
born into mortality
need a mother for that so they get rid
of the ashrita during this time and then
all heck breaks loose over the next 30
years plus and eventually get down to
Lehigh going around preaching around
Jerusalem and so what is the environment
in Jerusalem I think it's we think about
oh well they're just there they're there
there's a lot of iniquity the people are
sinning they're sinners but that doesn't
mean that they're not religious they
were very religious but what had changed
is the tradition the doctrine had
changed and they believed that they were
righteous they had gotten rid of this
looking forward maybe completely gotten
rid of it it sounds like there was a lot
of this going on already for decades
before maybe centuries where they were
corrupting the law or the doctrine of
Christ but in this time around the time
of Josiah and these major reforms that
were made a whole new theocratic party
came into play called the Deuteronomists
and the Deuteronomists were all about
the law of Moses and the lower law and
Christ was taken out of the picture
there was no longer a looking forward to
the son of god
I didn't say Messiah there was no longer
a looking forward to the Son of God
Jehovah coming down and taking on the
sins of the world and so what do we get
from Lehi just like with Isaiah in his
time where what is he writing about I
say is writing about the Messiah and
about the son of God and of course in
the Book of Mormon Nephi loves the words
of Isaiah why because Isaiah was going
through the same thing that Lehi and
Nephi were these attacks against the
doctrine of Christ and they saw what was
happening to the religion to the temple
to the people and getting rid of this
higher law
and tweaking and corrupting this
doctrine water always runs downhill and
the first place is gonna deter off is in
the specific doctrine of Christ or the
Son of God
so Lehi is caught in this environment
he's a prophet he may have known jerk
Jeremiah he may have may have been
recently converted for all we know into
this higher law an understanding of
what's really going on or not but Lehi
begins preaching the gospel
why is he preaching the gospel it's not
because they're just wicked though they
are because they're losing what is most
important to them in their religion when
you've been given what is right and you
remove that then your heart becomes
that much more hardened that we learned
that in the Book of Mormon with all
those groups that had the truth and then
they turn against the truth and then end
up fighting against the Nephites they
have the hardest hearts their hearts are
much harder than those of the Lamanites
for example that's the environment with
Lehi and they're going to kill him why
are they going to kill him because they
don't like him because he's telling them
that they're bad boys and girls no
that's not the problem this is the
problem we missed this sometimes I think
right at the opening of the Book of
Mormon this is about Lehi we don't
talk about this vision as much we talked
about his vision of the tree of life but
this is his vision here in Chapter 1 and
being thus overcome with the spirit he
was carried away in a vision even that
he saw the heavens open he thought he
saw God sitting upon his throne
surrounded with numberless concourses of
angels in the attitude of seeing and
praising their God this is really
important because one of the doctrines
that was lost at this time maybe earlier
was the multiplicity of individuals that
were with God the angels right he's the
Lord of hosts the Deuteronomists the
the aquatic party that took over got rid
of all of those ideas in fact they got
rid of the term Lord of Hosts there was
only God that was in the beginning there
were no hosts with him
that's where the deuteronomist said this
is different from what Lehi is bringing
up here he's bringing this up
specifically because of the environment
that he's in in Jerusalem and he came to
pass that he saw one descending out of
the midst of heaven and he beheld that
his luster was above that of the Sun at
noonday and he also saw 12 others
following him and their brightness did
exceed that of the stars in the
firmament and they came down and went
forth upon the face of the earth and the
first came and stood before my father
and gave unto him a book and bade him
that he should read and then we get he
talks a little bit more about expounds
on the vision a little bit more this is
a Nephi writing and then he comes down
here and says that he began to prophesy
and to declare unto them concerning the
things which he had both seen and heard
what did he seen here and it came to
pass that the Jews did mock him because
of the things which he testified of them
which things think about the mocking
here by the way later on with the vision
that Lehi has with the great spacious
building how many of us have thought of
the great and spacious building is
actually being the Temple in Jerusalem
and it having been corrupted and changed
or the city of Jerusalem up on hill
being lifted up in pride that seems like
the background that Lehi has here so he
talks about how he had what he had he
testified of that he had seen was of
their wickedness and abominations and
that's more like what we think about is
the people in Jerusalem being but then
he says and he testified that the things
which he saw and heard and also the
things which he read in the book
manifested plainly of the coming of a
messiah and also the redemption of the
world the atonement the sacrifice of
Jesus that's the key that's what the
Jews had gotten rid of at that time the
Jews had gotten rid of the
Deuteronomists had gotten rid of the
of Christ and when the Jews heard these
things about Christ they were angry with
him yeah even as with the prophets of
old whom they had cast out and stoned
and slain and they also sought his life
that they might take it away so right at
the get-go of the Book of Mormon what do
we have
it is another testament of Jesus Christ
and right from the beginning we have
Lehigh's vision of Jesus Christ who is
the Redeemer of the world and who is
going to be coming into the world
it's the doctrine of Christ that's why
they were going to kill him now why
would they kill him because of that
blasphemy
it's because of blasphemy they are
religious but they are set in their ways
at the lower law this ideological fervor
that they have about the law of Moses
and they're not going to hear anything
about a savior of the world or the Son
of God coming into mortality to them
Lehi here like laman and lemuel accuse
him of later is a visionary man he
believes in revelation he receives
dreams and inspiration and he believes
in this son of God Messiah that is going
to save everyone and so they're going to
kill him for it it's important to
distinguish this I think because of even
if it would go further into the
scriptures here using this knee whore
principle and seeing what's going on why
our laman and lemuel going to kill Lehi
and Nephi we're told that neat that they
think Nephi wants to make himself a king
over them that he's kind of all puffed
up but they accuse their father Lehi of
being a visionary man and they do not
understand the way Nephi does what Lehi
is teaching them they have been it
appears indoctrinated with this ideology
of the law of Moses they are not wicked
in the sense that we would just
generally think of is old layman Allah
we are bad guys Nephi and Sam are good
they're probably very religious you
never see anything in the Book of Mormon
where laman and lemuel
are breaking the commandments they don't
have an issue with a Sabbath day they're
not worshipping idols they're not
committing adultery or fornication why
do they think they need to kill Lehi
their own father and Nephi their own
brother think about well think about
Isis today think about how their fervor
is their religious fervor is what might
they kill somebody for it would be a
religious reason more than likely it
would be blasphemy it would be because
you are outside of their ideological
framework so the Book of Mormon is
launched here right launched out of this
environment of the Nehor principle
out of this loss of Christ in Jerusalem
and so Lehi and Nephi go off and what
are they so passionate about of course
it should be anyway but because of where
they come from because of the
environment that they're in this is what
drives their teaching this is what
drives what they write about because
they have seen what has happened to
Jerusalem and it's they've lost it and
so as they go out to start this new
civilization this is at the core is this
this doctrine of Christ and everything
that follows with the prophets descended
down through Nephi he is focused in on
this rock-solid doctrine of Christ
because of where it was born of here
with Lehi and Nephi let's go down to one
more example of this that we find in the
Book of Mormon and there's several but
let's go to one more and that's going to
be with one of the most important
stories in all of scripture highly
recommend that you study this over and
over and over again that is the trial of
Abinadi Abinadi remember is with
those that have our descendants of
zenith zenith left Zarahemla went off to
the land of Nephi and he
starts a new Kingdom a new city and Noah
is his son King Noah is his son and he
has his priests with them and they have
this trial that's going on now what is
happening here is that the author's
Mormon here contrasts king Noah with
King Benjamin even though they're very
far apart in when these events actually
happened but we get the story of King
Benjamin and then the story of a Ben and
I but we have these two separate stories
where you have Benjamin who is the
benevolent service King where he is in
the temple he is giving his discourse
probably possibly a festival of
Tabernacles speech when they would very
possibly coronate the new king that
would make sense that's what they did at
the Feast of Tabernacles and that would
be his son Messiah but they contrast
King Benjamin who sees God and who
speaks about the Savior with king Noah
and his priests and what is it about
King Noah and his priests that are it's
so important for us to look at and to be
warned about they don't believe in the
doctrine of Christ that's the problem
they are focused in also on the law of
Moses and Abinadi is trying to preach to
them about what the law of Moses really
represents that it is a looking forward
to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and
that without that it's dead it's a dead
law all by itself because that is what
it is it's just it's a law that just
ends up eating in on itself without the
ability to look forward to something
eternal and so a Ben a die
has his trial and the whole trial is
based on this the law of Moses sitting
on its own
versus the higher law with Christ that's
what this is all about and they bring in
Isaiah over and over again and one of
the questions that the finally the final
question that the priests ask of Ben and
I has to do with Isaiah chapter 52
verses 7 to 10 these are the verses that
talk about how beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of the messengers
I'm parrot paraphrasing here this is a
very very important scripture and I'm
going to make a suggestion to you here
and that is that you research this a
little bit and understand what that
really means what the whole chapter 52
is talking about because it is central
to the entire Book of Mormon that's why
this this trial of Abinadi is so
crucial I have seen lately from LDS
scholars that I really really like what
I believe is a an interpretation that is
not the best interpretation of what's
happening there in other words they look
at it as a lot of secular academia looks
at in biblical scholarship so in chapter
52 verses 7 to 10 in a way that makes
limb high and his people look at look
like you know kind of nationalists that
they are the righteous branch of people
and they might have thought that that's
that could be a real possibility and
that a Bennett eye has come in to
basically tell them hey you're not that
great you're actually wicked but that
loses the whole point of the entire
sermon that a Bennett eye gives to King
Noah and his priests and it is the
entire point that Mormon is trying to
point out
it is all about the doctrine of Christ
they end up killing a Bennett I not
because he's telling them that they're
bad boys and girls they kill Obinna die
because he tells them that the Messiah
will be born of a woman into mortality
and take on a body and take on the sins
of the world that's why they kill him
read chapter 7 before all of this ever
even happens Mosiah chapter 7 so here is
another example where as we use this
interpreter this knee whore principle we
get a better idea of this current of
opposition that is happening throughout
the scriptures where this doctrine of
Christ continues to be corrupted it is
the second law of thermodynamics right
everything runs downhill everything
dissolves disintegrates even our ideas
in our theology unless we stick to our
covenants and we continue to put Christ
and his sacrifice what he did at the
very top one more point about the son of
God that I want to make let's go to the
time of Christ why did they kill Jesus
we get this specifically in mark and in
John they do not kill him because he is
the Messiah this is important to
understand again there are very various
corruptions of the doctrine of Christ
and that's why I say the doctrine of the
son of God for example the Jews at this
time those that were in power not
everybody remember we're not talking
about all of the people of Judah of
Judea all of the people that claim to
have an affinity to the Temple in
Jerusalem
most of them may not have had the same
theology as those that were in power the
high priests Sadducees Pharisees elders
scribes
cetera that's an important thing to
understand there are many of the people
in Jerusalem at the time of Christ that
would have been possibly scattered out
in the wilderness with a few inside of
the Land of Jerusalem that had a
completely different tradition and
understanding of theology and what would
that have been they may have had a
different idea about the Son of God they
may have had a truer understanding about
what the Messiah meant that he was going
to be born of God and that he was the
savior of the world remember that's
where John the Baptist is out in the
desert he's preaching to everybody out
there that's where he's first getting
his converts and that's where Jesus has
to go too often he has to get out of
what he calls Jujuy
because they're gonna kill him the Jews
at this time and today still believe
that a messiah is coming but the
difference is not that the Jews believed
Jesus was not the Messiah and now
they're still looking for the Messiah to
come and we believe Jesus was the
Messiah and he's already come that's not
the issue the issue there the difference
is is that we believe that Jesus Christ
was the son of God and that he took on
the sins of the world that has nothing
to do with the Jewish Messiah in the old
temple in the Temple of Solomon they
used to have at the time of the Feast of
Tabernacles that's the festival in the
fall where they would have the Day of
Atonement which he used to be
anciently the most important ritual and
day of the calendar year for the
Jews before the deuteronomist came into
power but at this time at that with the
Temple of Solomon they would take the
Davidic king and the Queen and they
would parade them in in a procession
during the Feast of Tabernacles at least
during coronation but at least to
some degree they would have done
something similar each year during the
Feast of Tabernacles bring them in from
the east and up into the temple
just like Jesus did when he came in with
the palms and entered into Jerusalem as
the king and then that king and queen
would have would act as actors they
would act as the temporal king and queen
of Israel and then later just Judah they
would act for the people the
congregation that would have been out in
their tents this was also called a
festival of booths or Sukkot and then
they were they would also act as at
least the king and maybe the Queen too
the King would have also acted as
Jehovah the king of kings and what would
part of that drama be he would go into
the Holy of Holies the King going into
the Holy of Holies as a Melchizedek
priest and he would be born out of the
veil out of the Holy of Holies as the
Son of God
it was a ritual talking about the
Messiah being born into mortality and
being the one that suffered for the
world that's what the Son of God meant
to the ancient Israelites it was Jehovah
and it was reenacted through temple
imagery and drama over and over and over
again and so in the Gospels at the time
of Jesus when we refer to him as the
king they have a different context than
we do the people that would have been in
the wilderness that had a different
tradition they were looking back to an
older tradition that was lost at the
time of Lehi that they still remember
and probably still had scriptures for
the Book of Enoch and other books of
Scripture they were the easiest ones to
probably baptize and convert and they
would have gone right along with the
idea of a procession on Palm Sunday for
the king who would end up that day going
right into the temple as the son of God
so we have lastly here
the example of Jesus and his time Jesus
acted throughout that final week
especially as what his followers
understood as the true Messiah not just
a political figure interestingly enough
during the crucifixion who do they let
go a political figure a political
Messiah possibly Barabbas who was a
zealot and someone who caused problems
as a revolutionary against the Romans
how many times do you see Jesus talking
about the Romans are chiding the Romans
he was chiding his own religious people
that's what the Nehor principle is
about it is about how religion changes
and how doctrine can very easily change
John in his gospel writing after all
three of the other Gospels had already
been written wanted to make it very very
clear about Jesus not just as the
Messiah or a messiah but that he was the
son of God chapter 20 verse 31 says
specifically that's why he wrote the
gospel so that they knew he was the
Christ the Messiah The Anointed One and
the Son of God and he just like mark
sayings precisely the reason he was put
to death is because he claimed to be the
son of God just like a Bennett I was put
to death because he talked about the Son
of God then Jesus would that the Messiah
would be born into mortality and take on
the sins of the world
just like they wanted to kill Lehi for
the same thing and just why I why Isaiah
writes over and over again about the
Messiah and about the suffering servant
the royal suffering servant the son of
God because there's collapses during
these times of the doctrine of Christ
the knee whore principle
has taken hold and it always does
eventually it always eventually takes
hold so this is really about you and me
it's about how do we look at the
doctrine of Christ and how do we let it
slip sometimes in our lives how do we
change our behavior how can we excuse
things or can we really focus in on the
doctrine of the Son of Man the doctrine
that Jesus performed the miracle of the
atonement which is tied directly to our
faith our hope and even our charity
those are all part of the higher law
that come with the atonement I don't
think it is a coincidence that in the
West where Christianity has reigned
pretty much with the idea that our God
lowered himself below us and had that
kind of love and respect if you will for
individuals for Humanity that that
doesn't bring eventually an openness of
freedom and opportunity I think that
Christianity among other things but
primarily Christianity is at the core of
the West but the idea of Christ and that
doctrine is slipping further and further
and further away as the Nehor
principle takes hold
so as the forth interpreter with the
Scriptures look for this and understand
that that is the pushback and that the
prophets as they go out and they preach
about Christ over and over again they're
preaching against a force that
continually wants to assert Christ the
god of this world continually wants to
make himself known and be the god of
this world and I think that's why the
Book of Mormon in these last days as
this doctrine erodes is literally such a
godsend
because that's what its focus is we'll
talk to you next time
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