My mother was a woman of great faith,” recounts Avilda’s daughter. “It was Mother’s practice to never let a day go by without praying to God for his watchful care. When I was a small child growing up in Monroe Louisiana, Mother had a dream one night that she was driving along a country road with my sister and me playing in the back seat of the car. En route, my mother suddenly glanced in the rearview mirror and saw smoke and flames shooting from the trunk area. Quickly, she pulled to the side of the road, jumped out, and began searching for something to douse the flames. In a nearby gully, she spotted a rusty bucket filled with rainwater. Grabbing it, she ran back to the car and emptied the bucket on the fire. A strange dream, my mother thought as she awoke. And she let it go at that.

The next morning, Mother piled my sister and me into the car for a sixty-mile trip to attend Sacrament Meeting. About halfway there, on an infrequently traveled road, she was suddenly startled to see flames and smoke rising from the trunk of the car. My sister and I were frightened, but because of her dream Mother knew what to do. Pulling over to the side of the road, she quickly got out, ran about ten yards to a nearby gully, located a rusty bucket of rainwater, and extinguished the fire. Then, catching her breath and offering a simple prayer of gratitude, she settled back in the car and drove to church.

Avilda’s miracle story is not uncommon. Many people have experienced divine intervention from an unseen Source. Often, that intervention came at a time of crisis when other options had failed. Pure and simple, it was a gift.

What Are Gifts?

Gifts, by definition, are pure, voluntary offerings of love, indisputable evidence of the Giver’s affection. A gift cannot be earned; it is freely imparted with no expectation of repayment. Furthermore, inherent in the gift is the personality of the Giver. The gifts of God, for example, reveal his perfect attributes of character-his power, his awareness, his love-upon which believers rely and upon which their faith pivots.

These gifts-miracles-are unique in that they are inexplicable by the laws of nature. We receivers cannot duplicate them. Large or small, the gifts of God attest to his nearness and his interest in our welfare. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “God is found in the details of our lives.” Thus we can expect to find him as we struggle with relationships, finances, health and weaknesses. We discover him as we labor over difficult decisions. We become acquainted with him as we receive unanticipated warnings of danger, gain added strength to endure, and follow carefully prepared paths of escape. From time to time we glimpse him delivering unexpected bouquets of affection, those almost anonymous offerings that communicate, “I am aware. I am near. I love you.”

Gifts often come when extraordinary help is needed; gifts provide us evidence of the existence of the Giver and illustrate his active involvement in our lives. God’s gifts provide hope, anchor faith, and demonstrate that prayers are heard and answers come. One man wrote:

Our family had suffered through a string of serious illnesses that had taken their toll on our family. My husband, who had been sick for three years, had finally come to the conclusion that his business could not be saved and that he needed to liquidate the inventory to pay his creditors. He made the difficult decision to close down the company and begin to pay off $300,000 in debts–without a job! Two years later, he had managed to pay back only $100,000 by liquidating the best of the remaining inventory. To retire the last $200,000 seemed impossible and he began to despair.

On New Years day, 1993, he called a friend whom he knew to be a man of faith. After my husband had explained our situation, he and his friend decided to pray and seek God’s help. Then the friend, in the authority of the priesthood, laid his hands on my husband’s head and sought divine counsel. The words of the blessing were astonishing.

“The time for your efforts is over. Heavenly Father has prepared another way to pay your debts.”

When the blessing had ended my husband asked, “I don’t understand. What should I do?”

“Go about your daily life,” his friend answered. “Your debts are God’s now.”

Ten days later, the area where we lived experienced a massive snowstorm.

Early on the morning of January 10th, my husband received a phone call and was told that he should hurry down to the warehouse where his inventory was stored. When he arrived, he could not believe his eyes. The warehouse roof had collapsed under the weight of the snow. A water line had broken and water was gushing all over his inventory. It appeared as though a bomb had exploded. Substantially everything was damaged.

As we later gathered to consider our options, bankruptcy was the only thing that came to mind. It was a discouraging alternative, one that we had tried to avoid for several years. Then we remembered the insurance policy. Five months earlier, the thought had weighed on my husband’s mind that he should reinsure the inventory for a value equal to what we owed the creditors. Although he had to scrimp to find the money for the extra premium, he had followed the prompting.

The result?

Within six weeks from the day of the priesthood blessing we were out of debt. The insurance company paid us $200,000!

Gifts Draw Us Close to the Giver

People who receive gifts from God often consider their experiences as holy ground whereon they become acquainted with the Giver. Diverse and intimately personal, gifts are woven from a common loom, summoning within their owners deep confidence in their Father in Heaven. Placing hope in the Giver of gifts proves not to be a vain effort after all.

Sometimes receivers of gifts experience miraculous intervention, and other times gifts come as quiet love notes. In either case, those who receive the gifts experience an increase of faith so that when they encounter difficulty again, they are better equipped to once more appeal to a loving Father who has the ability to help, is indeed aware, and cares enough to help. Receivers of gifts believe that their hope is anchored to something substantial. Simply put, they believe they are not alone.

This is not to say that there is an equation for God’s intervention: A+B=C. Our definition of deliverance is seldom God’s definition. We can dictate neither timelines nor terms. Nevertheless, we can be absolutely confident that our every prayer is heard and counts, and that somewhere in the process of working through, a divine encounter will happen. A son in Utah recounts:

When Mother was dying of cancer, she asked for a blessing to know the will of the Lord. I agreed to give the blessing, but I knew it would be the hardest of my life. Not that it would be harder for the Lord. I knew that he could heal cancer as easily as a cold. But for me, I had to prepare. I dared not approach this blessing casually.

Over the next few days, I attended the temple and prayed and humbled myself before the Lord. I read the scriptures about miraculous manifestations of power and healing. I counseled with wise men that had spent a lifetime exercising their priesthood righteously. Then I began to fast. I would not eat until the blessing was given. Mother lived six hours away.

As I drove through the night, I prayed continuously. I attempted to remove all doubt from my mind. I knew that God could heal Mother; I knew that the priesthood was the power; I knew that the ordinance of anointing and sealing had been revealed for this very purpose. I had come to that point of confidence and clarity. I pushed aside the temptation to craft words and plan the blessing. I had no desire to be eloquent or clever. I only wanted to plainly state what would be dictated by the inspiration of the Spirit-and remarkably, I now felt fully prepared to pronounce the promise of healing and witness a miracle.

I will not recount my reaction to stepping into Mother’s room and witnessing her frail, weakened body. My emotions were so tender. I loved my mother. How I longed for divine permission to say the words of healing. Our family knelt in prayer. We pled for a miracle. I was sure it would come.

It did.

At the moment I laid my hands upon my mother’s head, the Spirit said, “No.”

I wasn’t prepared for the answer. I felt Mother relax and concede under my hands. The miracle followed–sweet words of comfort and peace, every word dictated by a loving influence that knew her and understood her pain. Mom was going home.

Gifts Build Faith in God

In the Lectures on Faith, the Prophet Joseph Smith laid out the fundamentals of our achieving faith in God. Imperative in that process is our having a correct idea of God’s perfect attributes of character, including power, knowledge and love. Hope and faith in God turn on the belief that he possesses these and other attributes in perfection.

Otherwise, what’s the use in petitioning God at all?

In times of urgency, we hope that God has the power to help, we hope that he is aware of us, and we hope that he loves us enough to rush to our rescue. We reach out to the Giver and plead for his gifts because we believe that he has both the ability and the disposition to grant them. In the end, perhaps there is no better way to know him.

A great example is found in the oft-told tale of the ill-fated journey of the Martin and Willie handcart companies. Having begun their westward trek late in the fall of 1856, they were caught in an early winter storm in Wyoming. Although help was quickly dispatched from Salt Lake City, the storm took a terrible toll. Some people froze to death; others starved. When the survivors had later recovered in the safety of the valley, they settled and tried to piece together their lives. Years of controversy ensued. Debating the wisdom of their journey made good fodder for backyard courts and juries.

Much later, in the setting of a comfortable, frontier Sunday School class, criticism was raised once more over the company’s shortsightedness in leaving so late in the year.

An old man in the corner sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it, then he arose and said things that no person who heard him will ever forget. His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity.

In substance he said, ‘I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here, for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Handcart Company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it…. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company ever apostatized or left the Church, because everyone of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities….’ (Relief Society Magazine, January 1948, p. 8.)

It is upon our own personal holy ground that we add stories of our receiving God’s gifts to these. It is within our individual sacred space that we become acquainted with Someone who hears, who knows us, who has the ability to help, and who loves us enough to shower us with his gifts.

As we have learned, Abraham desired to become like God and to receive greater revelations and privileges. Therefore, to that end he sought for the higher commandments, which are associated with the Melchizedek Priesthood and which yield those results. These greater commandments helped to conduct Abraham, a “follower of righteousness,” into the Lord’s presence. Likewise, when the Nephites stood in the presence of the Lord, they received greater commandments that had to do with celestial living. Their account becomes our model.

The Greater Commandment to Pray Always

Of the many commandments that the Lord gave to the Nephites on the occasion of his appearance, we will single out three that directly produce a Zionlike life. The first is the commandment to pray always. Jesus ”commanded them that they should not cease to pray in their hearts.”

At a minimum, praying always would mean that we should assume a reverent, prayerful attitude while we go about our daily activities. This would include continual communication, worship, awareness, gratitude, accountability to God for our actions, and recognizing our total dependence on the Lord. This prayerful attitude is the engine that drives humility and the purification of the heart; this attitude raises the antenna of revelation and flags opportunities to serve.

Continual prayer forms a shield of protection against the adversary, whose attacks are as persistent as should be our prayers. To the Nephites, Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always, lest ye be tempted by the devil, and ye be led away captive by him. . . . Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name.”

Then Jesus raised the issue of light as a reason to pray. As much as he was the Light and had set a bright example, so his disciples must become lights themselves, for the purpose of drawing people to the Light by means of their prayers and actions:

Behold I am the light; I have set an example for you. . . . Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up-that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed. And ye see that I have commanded that none of you should go away, but rather have commanded that ye should come unto me, that ye might feel and see; even so shall ye do unto the world.

We must personalize and live this commandment; but if we neglect to live it, we will lose the protection of prayer and become vulnerable to the attacks of Satan: “And whosoever breaketh this commandment suffereth himself to be led into temptation.”

Constant prayer helps us to retain light. As we know, light is synonymous with truth, spirit, intelligence, power, law, life, agency , and glory, to name a few things. Whereas a celestially resurrected body “shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in [it],” a telestial body must receive ongoing transfusions of light in order to progress spiritually: That which is of God is light; and that light growth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.”

The Lord has told us how we can infuse light into our systems. A few transfusion methods are participating in scripture study, partaking of the sacrament, being anointed with oil, performing charitable service, participating in temple worship, and, of course, praying. The more our bodies are filled with light, the more we can comprehend all things. Therefore, we should pray always.

Continual prayer facilitates the creation of Zion people by offering them an avenue of communication with God. But there is more. Continual prayer provides Zion people access to God’s protection and power of discernment. Continual prayer gives them a way to infuse light into their beings, thus increasing their capacity to assimilate or enjoy truth, spirit, intelligence, power, celestial law, spiritual life, and glory, and agency. Once lighted through constant prayer, a Zion person is commanded to light other people and bring them to the Light, even Jesus Christ.

Prayer fulfills the law of asking and receiving. The simple act of praying is a powerful agent to access God and draw upon his goodness, abilities, and resources. Asking the Father in the name of Jesus Christ for those things that we need is central to the law of consecration. Once we have covenanted to live that law-and indeed are striving to live it-we are forevermore entitled to ask for those things that we need and want from the higher kingdom so that we might build ours.

And what is the eternal kingdom that we are striving to build by asking and receiving? Our families. Therefore, the Lord instructed, “Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.” Continual prayer is the vehicle to ask and receive, and sincere prayer carries the Lord’s absolute promise: “And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.”

From all indications, it seems that once the Nephites, in their interaction with the resurrected Lord, had experienced the power of prayer, they never returned to offering casual prayers. Surely they recognized prayer’s inherent power to make them Zion people, and obviously they employed it. If we wish to become Zion people with the ability to ask for and receive blessings, we must follow this same pattern.

The Greater Commandment to Have All Things in Common

Almost as an aside, Mormon noted that after the Savior’s visit, the Nephites experienced a cultural transformation that was as extraordinary as the mighty change that they had experienced in their hearts. Mormon wrote: “And they taught, and did minister one to another; and they had all things common among them, every man dealing justly, one with another.”

It is difficult to overstate the significance of this occurrence. The cultural change that had happened among the converted Nephites was the polar opposite to life as they had known it. Once they had made a covenant to assume this new way of life, they determined to live that new way without external legislation. That is, they managed to live a new way by individual choice.

Because of the new condition of their hearts, they determined to become stewards who were accountable to God; no longer would they see themselves as owners of the Lord’s property. Forevermore, they would labor to build up the Church and their Zion instead of selfishly pursuing individual wealth-building enterprises. They would fully embrace the Royal Law of the gospel: “Thou shalt the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” The result of their transformation was that they became one and had all things in common.

Their faith in living this new cultural experiment paid off with unbelievable and unanticipated blessings. Mormon recorded that contentions and disputations ceased; “and every man did deal justly one with another;” poverty, servitude, and social stratification were eradicated; the people became equal; peace prevailed; and great and marvelous miracles became the norm. Moreover, the people experienced unequalled prosperity. Now unified, they built great cities, and “did wax strong, and did multiply exceedingly fast, and became an exceedingly fair and delightsome people.”

Continuing, we read that they married within the Covenant, “and were blessed according to the multitude of the promises which the Lord had made unto them.” They became strictly obedient and “did walk after the commandments which they had received from their Lord and their God, continuing in fasting and prayer, and in meeting together oft both to pray and to hear the word of the Lord.” The love of God dwelt in the hearts of the people. “And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God. There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God. And how blessed were they! For the Lord did bless them in all their doings.”

We might expect that our initial attempts to implement the law of Zion so that commonality could prevail would feel like a temporary cultural shock, causing us to rethink our priorities. But if we can summon courage and push through the learning curve, incredible blessings await us, which will more than compensate for the effort.

The Greater Commandment to Be “Even As the Lord Is”

For the commandments to pray always and have all things in common, Jesus is our Exemplar. When he prayed for the Nephites he focused their attention on his example: “Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye have all witnessed.” Jesus is our model of a celestial lifestyle: “I have set an example for you.” Pertaining to the law of consecration, which produces commonality among all people, the Lord said that this law is “even as I am.” If we were to choose one word to describe Jesus’ with the Father and the relationship to which we must aspire if we hope to become even as he is, that word would be oneness: “I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.”

If we are commanded to become like him, we might ask ourselves, What are the Father and the Son like? Perhaps Joseph Smith offered the best description: “God is the only supreme governor and independent being in whom all fullness and perfection dwell; who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient; without beginning of days or end of life; and that in him every good gift and every good principle dwell; and that he is the Father of lights; in him the principle of faith dwells independently.”

Of course, at this stage of our existence, we can only appreciate these divine traits; for now, these traits are beyond our reach. Therefore, our efforts should be centered on developing these divine traits. As we continue to progress, we rely on the Lord’s promise that our journey will lead us to inheriting all that God has and become all that he is.

As we strive to become even as the Father and the Son are, we remember that we have in common with them our co-eternalness; that is, our origin is the same; likewise, because we are literal children of God, our potential destiny can be the same. Our challenge, therefore, is to become co-equal with the Father and the Son, and that is accomplished by following their example and developing their traits and their level of oneness.

To become like God is to internalize his lifestyle so completely that we will not depart from it. Describing God, Joseph Smith said that he was the same before the creation as he is today: “He changes not, neither is there variableness with him; but that he is the same from everlasting to everlasting, being the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and that his course is one eternal round, without variation.” For us to become even as the Father and the Son are, we must strive for a consistency of righteousness.

The Prophet continued to list a set of characteristics and attributes that the Father and the Son possess in perfection. We must develop these traits if we are to become like them. The Prophet began with the characteristics of mercy and graciousness (“indulgent, generous, displaying divine grace and compassion”). Continuing, the Prophet said that God is “slow to anger” and “abundant in goodness.” Moreover, “He is a God of truth and cannot lie”; “He is no respecter of persons”; that is, if we work righteousness, he is obliged to accept and bless us, just as he accepted and blessed Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph Smith, and all who sought his face-and if we do wickedly, he is obliged to send consequences, regardless of our previous favor. Finally, “he is love.”

The Prophet went on to say that God’s character is a set of perfect attributes; that is, he possesses the following qualities in totality. These are:

• Knowledge-He knows all things past, present, and future.
• Faith or power-He is all powerful.
• Justice-He is completely fair and equitable.
• Judgment-He is perfect in both his reasoning and his rulings.
• Mercy-His grace, compassion, long-suffering, pity, clemency, forgiveness, kindness, sympathy, understanding, leniency, and benevolence are infinite and unending.
• Truth-Beyond being incapable of lying, he deals with things as they really are; he is accurate, genuine, precise; he is honest, loyal, devoted, and sincere; his integrity is impeccable; he deals with unimpeachable facts and certainties.

When the Lord commands us to become like him, he expects us to aim for these characteristics and attributes. Our eventual goal is to become like him: that is, celestial governors in our own right; independent beings in whom all fulness and perfection dwell; gods like the supreme God, who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, without beginning of days or end of life; beings who possess every good gift and in whom every good principle dwells; celestial fathers and mothers of lights, in whom the principles of faith dwell independently.

These are samples of greater commandments–to pray always, to have all things in common, and to be even as Jesus Christ is–that have power to help us become Zion, the pure in heart, and to qualify to someday stand in the presence of God.

Author’s Note

Click here to view a new video presentation called, “The Pure in Heart.”

This article was adapted from my new book, The Three Pillars of Zion. Click here to receive a free sample.

D&C 59:4.

Abraham 1:2, 15-19.

See, for example, 3 Nephi 12-14.

3 Nephi 20:1.

3 Nephi 18:15, 18-19.

3 Nephi 18:16, 24-25; emphasis added.

D&C 88:7-13.

1 John 5:6; D&C 84:45; 88:66.

D&C 84:45.

D&C 93:29.

D&C 88:7-10, 13.

D&C 88:13.

John 1:4.

D&C 93:30-31.

D&C 93:36.

D&C 88:67.

D&C 50:23-24.

D&C 88:67.

John 16:24; 3 Nephi 27:29; D&C 4:7; 49:26; 88:63; 103:31.

3 Nephi 18:21.

3 Nephi 18:20; emphasis added.

3 Nephi 26:19.

Matthew 22:37-39.

4 Nephi 1:3-18.

3 Nephi 18:24.

3 Nephi 18:16.

D&C 38:27.

Smith, Lectures on Faith, 2:2.

D&C 84:35-39; 132:19-24.

Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 395.

Smith, Lectures on Faith, 3:13-18.

Smith, Lectures on Faith, 4:5-10.

Smith, Lectures on Faith, 2:2.

NOTE: This article is the last of four articles adapted from Chapter 8 of The Three Pillars of Zion. You can download a free Sampler of this new Zion series at www.PillarsOfZion.com.)

In Parts 1-3 of this four-part series, we learned how the Jewish marriage symbolizes the New and Everlasting Covenant, the first pillar of Zion. Something extraordinary begins to happen when we see the scriptures through the lens of the marriage covenant. Suddenly, we understand that the New and Everlasting Covenant is much more than a system of covenants, ordinances, and commandments; the Covenant describes an intimate, loving and fruitful relationship. This is the covenantal relationship that is offered to us by the Bridegroom, who invites us to take his name upon us and to share his life.

Perhaps to better teach us that our covenantal relationship with him is very much like a marriage, the Lord describes the New and Everlasting Covenant in tender and caring language that is charged with symbolism and importance. Founded on the New and Everlasting Covenant, Zion is established, and the vocabulary that illustrates this first pillar of Zion is at once beautiful and endearing.

Review

In Part 1 of this series, we learned that the Jewish marriage describes the beauty and loving nature of the New and Everlasting Covenant. In Part 2 of this series, we examined the betrothal ceremony. In Part 3, we examined the events that occur during the waiting period-the time between the betrothal and the wedding.

• After the betrothal ceremony, the bridegroom’s father made the first of two announcements of the marriage of his son. The first announcement, or calling, was proffered to close friends, family, and others who were invited to the wedding. We are likewise called to the wedding of the Son. Sadly, we also understand that of the many who are called, few will actually be chosen to attend.
• Once the bride was betrothed, she wore a veil in public to show that she had entered into the marriage covenant. The bride wore the veil as an indication that she belonged only to her husband and that no one else had the right to appreciate her beauty except him. This custom is reminiscent of present-day temple worship. Once we have accepted the Lord in the Covenant, we, like the Jewish bride, are considered set apart, consecrated and holy.
• The friend of the bridegroom was a witness of the couple’s covenant. During the betrothal period, the friend conveyed messages between the bride and groom, and he helped the bride prepare for the coming of her husband. Just so, the Holy Ghost, witnesses our covenant-making process. While we wait and prepare for the Lord, he conveys messages between the Bridegroom and us (the bride). Additionally, he prepares us for the coming of the Bridegroom. He encourages us to remain faithful, and ultimately, when we are finally brought together, he bears testimony of our having remained worthy.
• During the long betrothal period, both the bride and the bridegroom were to prepare for each other. She would make herself beautiful and learn essential skills for her new life. He would prepare a place for his beloved in the mansions of his father. Because the bride did not know the day or hour that her bridegroom would come for her, she had to live her life in constant anticipation and readiness. To endure the wait, the bride retained reminders of his promise to return-”I go away and come again unto you.” These reminders, which she held close to her heart, were the bride price, the marriage contract, and the token. She also had his pledge, which was reminiscent of the Lord’s words to us: “Let not your hearts be troubled; for in my Father’s house are many mansions, and I have prepared a place for you; and where my Father and I am, there ye shall be also.” And at another time, “I go to prepare a place for you.”

In this final article, we will examine the events leading up to the actual wedding. These events begin with the father’s giving his son permission to go and claim his bride. At that point, the father issued his second and final call to the wedding. Then the wedding processional began. The bridegroom came as a thief in the night and whisked away his beloved and conveyed her as a queen to the place that he had prepared for her. Then the wedding took place; the bridegroom and his bride were finally together, never again to be parted.

Invitation to the Wedding

When the bridegroom completed the “little mansion or bridal chamber” for his bride, and when the groom’s father finally declared that the construction and preparations met with his approval, the father finally gave his son permission to go and claim his bride. Immediately, the bridegroom began to organize a wedding procession by calling and gathering his close associates. In this we remember the reference to the Lord’s coming with “all the holy angels with him.”

While the bridegroom was thus engaged, the father sent his servants to make the second announcement or in other words “for the last time.” We recall that the first announcement or calling happened at the time of betrothal. At that time, the invited guests covenanted to come to the wedding whenever the father announced that the wedding, feast and festivities are about to commence. We must keep in mind that the chosen ones had promised that they would remain in readiness and attend the marriage of the son. To reject the invitation now would be nothing short of a monumental insult and a serious offense. Jesus spoke about the second announcement and the seriousness of following through on our initial covenant:

A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.

And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.

And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

Notice that the chosen guests who did not attend the wedding used as excuses property, possessions and family concerns. It is sad but true that many of the chosen ones will step aside from their covenant: “Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men.”

For an invited guest to place anything above his commitment to attend the wedding or for an invited guest to be unprepared, as were five of the ten virgins, are insults that will summon the Father’s indignation. To not respond to the Bridegroom’s advent will most certainly result in such individuals’ being shut out from the wedding and the Bridegroom’s denying knowing them.

The Wedding Processional

The bridegroom led a procession to the bride’s home to claim her. He was decked out in regal attire, often wearing a crown, dressed in garments “scented with frankincense and myrrh,” and appearing in every way like a king. This joyous occasion was one of “singing, dancing and merriment.” Now the bridegroom’s long-awaited purpose and the object of his sacrifice were about to be rewarded. The clamorous late-night procession wound through the streets with their torches beaming and their trumpets blaring, awakening everyone along the way. The scriptures inform us that “the Son of Man shall come, and he shall send his angels before him with the great sound of a trumpet.” Those in the procession beckoned others to join them: “…and they shall gather together the remainder of his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

When the procession neared the bride’s home, “a messenger was sent ahead to give the shout, ‘The bridegroom cometh!’” At that point, the bride had about half an hour “to make final preparations” before the shout was given again and the bridegroom claimed her. “And he [the angelic messenger] shall sound his trump both long and loud, and all nations shall hear it. And there shall be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour; and immediately after shall the curtain of heaven be unfolded, as a scroll is unfolded after it is rolled up, and the face of the Lord shall be unveiled.”

Claiming the Bride

The Jewish marriage is filled with the imagery of the New and Everlasting Covenant. When we entered into the Covenant with the Bridegroom through baptism, we recognized the fact that he had paid a price for us. In the covenantal agreement, he promised to provide for us, redeem us, and to live with us in a loving relationship. Then he presented us with tokens (his wounds) representing his love and devotion. He did all of this in the presence of witnesses. He vowed to prepare a place for us in the mansions of his father, and he promised to one day return for us: “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” When at last he would finally come for us, we together would make the marriage complete and he would seal us his. This is an interesting phrase, given our understanding of the temple. Conversely, if we neglect or reject our covenant with the Lord, “the devil doth seal [us] his.”

The hour had finally come for the loyal and long-suffering bride. Having made all preparations, having waited faithfully and patiently for the bridegroom’s return, having heard the trumpet and the shout, having gathered all together during the last half hour, and having heard the final shout, the bride now gave herself willingly to the bridegroom as he burst through the door of her home to claim her. By this action, the bridegroom suddenly elevated his bride to the stature of a queen.

The New and Everlasting Covenant provides for such regal unity: “[The Bridegroom] hast made us unto our God kings and priests [and queens and priestesses]: and we shall reign on the earth.” Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:

This unity among all the saints and between them and the Father and the Son, is reserved for those who gain exaltation and inherit the fulness of the Father’s kingdom. Those who attain it will all know the same things; think the same thoughts; exercise the same powers; do the same acts; respond in the same way to the same circumstances; beget the same kind of offspring; rejoice in the same continuation of the seeds forever; create the same type of worlds; enjoy the same eternal fulness; and glory in the same exaltation.

Immediately, the bride was lifted up into a special chair-a throne-”and carried to her new home. The four strong men,” who conveyed the bride, were “given the honorary title, Giborei Yisrael, or heroes of Israel.” In this regal setting, the bride appeared stunningly beautiful without spot or blemish. Moreover, she was beautiful within, having prepared during and faithfully endured the wait. Similarly, the apostle John saw latter-day Zion “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” The psalmist wrote, “The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king’s palace.”

Now the bridegroom brought her to the place he had prepared for her. Donna Nielsen explained:

The most important period of the marriage festivities was when the bride entered her new home. The bride and groom were sometimes crowned with real crowns or with garlands or roses, myrtle, or olive leaves…. The couple was treated like royalty during this time. The new husband was literally considered a king and priest in his own home, with his wife as queen.

How glorious is the Covenant that exalts us and makes us equal with the King of Heaven!

The Wedding

A number of symbolic events occurred when the guests entered into the father’s home. These events hearken to blessings that attend the New and Everlasting Covenant. For example, each guest had his feet and hands washed, then he was anointed, embraced and kissed. These gestures were evidences of reconciliation; no hard feelings would be allowed in the father’s house on such a joyous occasion. We might expect to be thus treated when we regain the Father presence.

“Another Jewish custom was to wear a ‘wedding garment.’” These garments were supplied to the guests by the bridegroom’s father. They were white, “a color associated with royalty.” Moreover, the white garments represented light. If someone were found not wearing a garment, such as the guest mentioned in Matthew 22:11, he would be cast out. His action would be interpreted as disdain for the father’s generosity.

While the guests were dressing, greeting and conversing, the bridegroom and the bride dressed in their white wedding clothing, which was symbolic of “purity, forgiveness of sins, and solemn joy.” Isaiah exulted, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”

At this point, the bride would be anointed with sweet olive oil. We remember that this sanctifying act signified her joy and her willingness to transform her life from a single woman to a queen to her husband. This change of status was shared by both the bride and the bridegroom. “Each groom at the time of his wedding and later in his own home was to be considered as a king and a priest.” The act of clothing the couple in royal wedding robes signified among other things that they were now consecrated to become fruitful and bear children. Similarly, the Covenant clothes us “with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace.” Our purpose changes from profane to holy, and joined with the Lord we become fruitful.

Now the time of the wedding was at hand. The place of making the covenant was under a canopy, a square piece of cloth held up by four poles. The canopy was open on all sides, reminiscent of the hospitality Abraham and Sarah showed guests in their open tent. The canopy was usually positioned outside so as to be under the stars. Symbolically and among other things, it represented “God’s sheltering love” and also the covenant that God made with Abraham, promising that his children would be as numerous as the stars of the heavens. Likewise, when we marry in the temple, we are sealed together in the presence of the luminaries of heaven and blessed with all the blessings of Abraham, including “a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.”

After the bridegroom had been escorted to the canopy by his parents, the bride was brought to the canopy by hers. At that point, the “officiator faced the couple and read the Psalm of Thanksgiving (Psalm 100). A goblet of wine was raised, and a blessing was said over the wine. This was called the ‘Cup of Joy.’ Both the bride and the bridegroom drank from the same cup, indicating they would share the joys of life together.” Likewise, we are yoked to Jesus in the New and Everlasting Covenant. Our Bridegroom covenants to share with us all the joys and sorrows of life; by covenant, we will never be left alone.

Then the bridegroom places a ring, which represents eternity, on the bride’s right index finger. It was the right hand that was used for making covenants. At that point, the bridegroom “lifted the bride’s veil and placed the corner of it on his shoulder. This was a proclamation to everyone present that the government of his bride now rested on his shoulder,” an image that Isaiah used to describe the Savior’s relationship to us. Then the marriage contract was read aloud for all to witness, which reading was followed by the officiator’s reciting blessings. Similarly, the Lord pronounces blessings upon those whom he seals together:

And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them–Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection…and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths…and if ye abide in my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.

Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.

Next, the officiator offers a second cup of wine to the couple. “This cup was called the ‘Cup of Sacrifice’ and the ‘Cup of Salvation.’ They would have to share sacrifices in life, but eventually those sacrifices would be a source of salvation for both of them.” Again, in the Covenant, the Bridegroom vows to walk the path of life by our side. Against all odds, he is determined to drink of the Cup of Sacrifice for our salvation: “…the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” Our life together is one of mutual sacrifice that most assuredly will lead to mutual salvation. In the Covenant, we counsel and make decisions together; we love together; we hurt together. What he wants, we want. We share in our hopes, desires and dreams, and we also share in our sorrows. We are one.

Drinking from the Cup of Sacrifice or the Cup of Salvation is vividly described in the Savior’s own words: “For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; but if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit–and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink–Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.”

The Bridegroom’s Plea

No doctrine is more glorious than the New and Everlasting Covenant. Significantly, the Bridegroom initiates the invitation to join with him in a covenantal relationship that is as holy, loving, intimate, fruitful, trusting and enduring as an eternal marriage. Equally significant is the fact that in inviting us to enter into a covenant relationship, the Lord essentially pleads with us that we will have mercy on him that we might agree to join with him. Hosea 6:6 states, “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice….” This is an interesting twist considering the fact that we are ever pleading for his mercy.

We begin to understand this gospel irony when we note that the Hebrew word for mercy is hesed, which “refers to the deep spiritual and emotional bond that exists between two very close people such as husband and wife. Immediately, one perceives that God wants us to be as emotionally and spiritually close to him in thought and action as a devoted husband and wife would be…. It is a humbling moment when we realize that such a powerful, loving, and kind God wants this type of a relationship. Such knowledge inspires one to ‘grow up’ spiritually and to think more about the impact his life has on God.”

That the Lord would literally beg us to enter into a covenantal relationship with him evokes tender images. At the end of his earthly ministry, we recall that Jesus lamented over proud Jerusalem, the bride whom he had courted for so long, the bride whom he would have gathered to him so many times in protective and loving care, and yet she would not give him her love. That image evokes the vision of a prospective groom, who has loved a woman for a very long time, and finally has managed to gather enough to pay a substantial bride price by sacrificing his all. Now he hands her a document written on fine parchment which contains his covenantal promises: He will provide for her, redeem her, love her and give her his name. Then he offers her a token or a gift of value, a representation of his promises, and in the presence of witnesses he recites a pledge to irrevocably bind and consecrate himself to her forever. Now he places a cup of wine before her…and waits. Will she drink of the cup or will she refuse him?

How we respond to the Bridegroom’s invitation will determine our eternal future. A great and divisive decision lies before us. Those who neglect or reject the Lord’s proposal to enter into the New and Everlasting Covenant will find themselves on his left hand, symbolically the hand of disdain to the Jewish mind. Conversely, those who accept the Lord’s proposal and thereafter live faithfully in the Covenant will find themselves on his right hand, the hand of covenant making, the hand on which the bride accepts her husband’s ring.

Jesus commented on this reality in words of stark imagery: “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…. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”

May we respond to the Lord’s plea and accept his invitation to join him in the New and Everlasting Covenant. Then may we, like the bride, stand forever on the Bridegroom’s right hand and there exult as did Jeremiah, “This is the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.”

Publisher’s Note

The Three Pillars of Zion is an extensive 5-volume set of books that explores the covenants, attributes and characteristics that define a Zion person. This Zion series is heavily documented with over 3,800 references, making it one of the most extensive research projects ever written about Zion. New York Times best-selling author, Ron McMillan, says, “Larry Barkdull has written one of the most definitive works on the subject of Zion.” This ground-breaking series contains one of the most critical messages for our day. We invite you to learn more and receive a complimentary copy of the Pillars of Zion Sampler at www.PillarsOfZion.com.

John 14:28

D&C 98:18

John 14:2

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.33

Matthew  25:31

See Jacob 5:62-64; D&C 24:19; 39:17; 43:28; 88:84; 95:4; 112:30

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.40

Luke 14:16-24

D&C 121:34-35

See Matthew 25:1-13

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.41

JS-Matthew 1:37

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.42

D&C 88:94-95, emphasis added

John 14:2-3

See Mosiah 5:15

See Alma 34:35

Revelation 5:10

Bruce R. McConkie, “Unity,” Mormon Doctrine, p.814

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.43

Revelation 21:2

Psalms 45:13-15

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.44

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.51-54

Isaiah 61:10

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.52, 54-55

D&C 88:125

See John 15:5-8

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.55-56

D&C 132:19

See Matthew 11:29-30

See Isaiah 9:6

D&C  132:19-20

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.57-60

John  18:11

D&C 19:16-19

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p. iv

See Matthew 23:37

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.57

Matthew  25:31-34, 41

Jeremiah 15:16

(NOTE: This article is the third part of four articles adapted from Chapter 8 of The Three Pillars of Zion. You can download a free Sampler of this new Zion series at www.PillarsOfZion.com.)

In Parts 1 and 2 of this four-part series, we discussed how the Jewish marriage mirrors the New and Everlasting Covenant with amazing similarity. A Zion life, marriage, family and priesthood society are built upon three foundational covenants-pillars. The first of these covenants is the New and Everlasting Covenant, which the Lord chooses to describe in terms of marriage, the most beautiful, intimate and fruitful of all relationships. Clearly, the ancient Jews clearly structured the rituals surrounding the marriage covenant to symbolize the New and Everlasting Covenant.

Review

In Part 1 of this series, we learned that the Jewish marriage describes the beauty and loving nature of the New and Everlasting Covenant. In Part 2 of this series, we examined the betrothal ceremony.

• The bridegroom was to pay a bride price for his beloved. Likewise, the Savior “buys” us with his blood; we are “bought with a price.” We are his peculiar treasure. When we enter into the New and Everlasting Covenant with the Savior, we leave behind all other loyalties and affections and shift our devotion exclusively to him.

• The bridegroom offered his intended bride a marriage contract, which stipulated among other things that he would provide for her security, redeem her if she were taken captive, and live with her in love forever. Likewise, we cling to the Covenant because it offers us the Bridegroom’s guarantees of continually providing for us, keeping us safe, redeeming us from our enemies, and living with us in loving and fruitful companionship. The Covenant promises us the Bridegroom’s name, and it reminds us of the great price that he paid for us. The Covenant guarantees that he will endow us with all that he is and has.
• The bridegroom’s offered his beloved “a token,” or “a gift of value.” Similarly, we receive tokens of the Lord’s sacrifice, which are represented by the emblems of the sacrament.
• The bridegroom made a pledge of devotion to his bride. By this, he irrevocably consecrated himself to her with a promise that could not be broken. Similarly, the Lord covenants with us, saying, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled.”
• Then the bridegroom offered a cup of wine to the bride. The wine represented blood, which always accompanied covenant making. If she chose to enter into the covenant of marriage, she would drink of the cup and thus take upon her the bridegroom’s name. We express our willingness to take upon us the name of Christ by partaking of the cup that represents his blood, and thus we make and renew our Covenant with him.
• The betrothal ceremony ended with a feast, which included the “breaking of bread.” To commemorate the day we entered into the New and Everlasting Covenant, we eat a covenantal meal containing broken bread.

In this third segment of this four-part series, we will examine the events that occur during the waiting period-the time between the betrothal and the wedding. We will examine the calling, symbolic clothing, the responsibility of the friend of the bridegroom, and the importance of the bridegroom and the bride’s preparing for each other.

The Father’s Announcement

Immediately after the betrothal ceremony, the bridegroom’s father made the first of two announcements of the marriage of his son. This announcement, or calling, is proffered to close friends, family, and others who were invited to the wedding. The scriptures inform us that “many are called” to the wedding because of their relationship with the father and the son.

By covenant, if the invited people accepted the father’s invitation, they were duty-bound to honor their commitment; that is, they must agree to come to the wedding when it was eventually announced, regardless of the inconvenience of the hour. Donna Nielsen explained, “The initial acceptance obliged the guest to respond to the summons at the ‘hour of the banquet.’ Only those who accepted the first invitation would receive the final invitation when the feast was ready.”

The Bride’s Veil

Maidens, who were not yet spoken for, could be seen in public with unveiled faces. But once they had entered the betrothal or engagement period-that is, when they had entered the Covenant-they veiled their faces in public. This custom, of course, is reminiscent of temple worship. Once the young woman had accepted her beloved proposal of marriage, she was considered set apart, consecrated and holy. Therefore, she wore the veil as an indication that she belonged only to her husband and that no one else had the right to appreciate her beauty except him.

As a symbol of consecration, the bride would forevermore “wear a veil over her hair whenever she was in public. This would indicate her status as a betrothed woman and signal that she was not available to anyone else. She would wear a veil over her hair for the remainder of her life as a symbol of her devotion and faithfulness to her husband. Properly understood, her veil hid only that which was too precious for the common, careless gaze.” This was not a sign of inferiority, but rather of glory. Her beauty was to be “enjoyed exclusively by her groom. In fact, only those things which were treasured and glorious were veiled.”

Sometimes in scripture Christ becomes the Bride, who beckons us to receive him. As the Bride, he also symbolically becomes the “veil,” as indicated by the author of Hebrews. This term, veil, seems to signify that we go through him to return to the Father. In this light, other scriptures connecting Christ and the veil begin to take on added meaning. For example, “Sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you will see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will.”

Only the bridegroom was allowed to look upon the bride’s beauty that remained hidden behind the veil. Just so, it is our unique honor to part the veil and gaze upon the glory of the Lord: “And again, verily I say unto you that it is your privilege, and a promise I give unto you that have been ordained unto this ministry, that inasmuch as you strip yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye are not sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am.”

Clearly, that which is most holy is hidden behind the veil. We recall that Moses veiled his face after he returned from speaking with the Lord. His face was filled with so much glory that the people could not endure his presence. That same idea of veiling that which is most holy was represented in the tabernacle and later in the temple of Solomon: a first veil concealed the inside of the temple and a second veil concealed the Holy of Holies.

As we have mentioned, the bride became a temple to her husband; therefore, in symbolism, she wore the veil to indicate that by covenant her beauty and her loyalties belonged exclusively to her husband. Likewise by covenant, we “veil ourselves” from the things of the world and allow no unhallowed hand or glance to remove us from the Bridegroom to whom we give exclusively the beauty of the temple of our souls. By covenant, we “come unto Christ (the Bridegroom)…and deny [ourselves] of all ungodliness,” and we love him with all our “might, mind and strength.” Symbolically, we hold sacred those things about ourselves that only the Bridegroom might cherish. “Like a temple,” wrote Donna Nielsen, “the woman was now ‘set apart’ for holiness-the greatest holiness of all.”

The Friend of the Bridegroom

After the bridegroom had paid the bride price, offered his beloved the marriage covenant, given her a token or emblem, consecrated himself to her and pledged his enduring devotion, then after the bride had indicated her agreement to enter into the marriage covenant by drinking the cup of wine in the presence of witnesses from a cup, and finally, after the two had shared a covenantal meal together, the bridegroom left to prepare a place for her in his father’s house. The bridegroom and the bride would not see each other again for about a year. Then on an unspecified night, he would come suddenly for her and whisk her away.

Until then, the friend of the bridegroom, who had been a witness of the couple’s covenant, would act “as liaison between the bride-to-be and the groom during the betrothal period…[he would become] the guarantor of the bride’s virgin chastity until the consummation took place…[later he acted as the] governor at the marriage feast, and finally, his last obligation was announcing to the assembled guests that the full marriage was successfully ‘completed.’”

In this tradition, we see the obvious role of the Holy Ghost, who witnesses the initial covenant-making process. Thereafter, as we wait and prepare for the Lord, the Holy Ghost conveys messages between the Bridegroom and us (the bride). Additionally, he prepares us for the Bridegroom, encourages us to remain faithful, and ultimately, when we are finally brought to the wedding, the Holy Ghost justifies us to the Bridegroom and bears testimony of our worthiness. Thus, he oversees the entire proceedings from start to completion, and in the end he declares the covenantal process is finished. Then the Bridegroom’s friend hands us over to the Bridegroom and the friend’s job is completed.

Preparing for Each Other

During the preparation period, which might approach one year, the bridegroom and the bride busied themselves with the primary thing on their minds: their coming wedding. As we have mentioned, the young woman was now considered a bride, so she wore a veil over her hair in public as a token of her new status. Whereas she had belonged to her mother and father, she now belonged to her husband; therefore, she set aside all former relationships in favor of the relationship with her husband, which would define her forevermore: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

For the bride to be separated from her beloved for a year was an exercise in long-suffering and patience. As she prepared for her wedding, she wondered when her bridegroom would come for her. Her not knowing the day or hour is a theme of the Second Coming that is widely rehearsed in scripture. For example, “…the hour and the day no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor shall they know until he comes.” Because the bride did not know the time, she had to live her life in constant anticipation and readiness. Her faithfulness is reminiscent of the five virgins whose lamps were trimmed and filled with oil when the bridegroom came. Her example also hearkens to the chosen few, those handful of faithful saints among the many who were called to the marriage of the king’s son. Only those people were actually allowed to attend the wedding.

The apostle Paul applied the imagery to a woman who was now about to give birth: “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”

Commenting, Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:

Paul’s illustration here is perfect. The Second Coming is compared to a woman about to give birth to a child. She does not know the hour or the minute of the child’s arrival, but she does know the approximate time. There are signs which precede and presage the promised arrival. And so it is with our Lord’s coming. He shall come as a thief in the night, unexpectedly and without warning, to the world, to those who are in spiritual darkness, to those who are not enlightened by the power of the Spirit. But his coming shall not overtake the saints as a thief, for they know and understand the signs of the times.

On difficult days, the bride might have even despaired, wondering if her bridegroom would ever come. Likewise, we might become discouraged when the Lord delays his coming to our aid. Nevertheless, we are counseled to watch, pray and not faint while waiting. We are to “seek the face of the Lord always, that in patience ye may possess your souls, and ye shall have eternal life.” In every difficulty, the Lord will eventually come for us. Even if the time is protracted, he will come. The Lord told Isaiah, “Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come…he will come and save you.” We are assured that “he remembereth every creature of his creating, he will make himself manifest unto all.” “Ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.” Most certainly, the Bridegroom will come; it is not a matter of if but when.

To comfort and help the bride endure his absence, the bridegroom left in her possession reminders of his promise to return-”I go away and come again unto you”–which symbolize his enduring love for her. These reminders, which she holds close to her heart, are the bride price, the marriage contract, and the token. When he left her, he knew her wait would be difficult. His pledge was reminiscent of his words to us: “Let not your hearts be troubled; for in my Father’s house are many mansions, and I have prepared a place for you; and where my Father and I am, there ye shall be also.” And at another time, “I go to prepare a place for you.”

It is important here to realize that during the separation period the bridegroom was preparing for his bride; she was not preparing alone. Additionally, although he would be physically absent, he had arranged to provide for her safety and her comfort. He assigned his trusted “friend” or “comforter” to watch over her until he returned. We recall that when Jesus announced his imminent departure, he said to the apostles, “I will not leave you comfortless.” As we have mentioned, the Lord’s “friend” is the Holy Ghost.

During the protracted betrothal period, the bridegroom spent his time building his beloved a bridal chamber within the confines of his father’s house or estate. After the wedding, the chamber would become their home. Donna Nielsen explained:

The new home was built under the direct personal supervision of the groom’s father. In that culture, a son is considered to be a representative of his father, and everything that the son does reflects either favorably or unfavorably on the father…. With such close identification between a father and his son, the father wanted everything regarding the bride’s new home to be as beautiful and perfect as it could be…. The father of the groom was the sole judge of when the preparations were complete….When the father determined everything was ready, he gave permission for the son to claim his bride. No one knew when that permission was forthcoming…only the father knew.

The bride would not see her bridegroom until the night he came for her, which time was hidden from her view. Thus, the bride spent the betrothal period preparing for the time that her bridegroom, who was also preparing, would finally receive his father’s commission, suddenly appear with little warning then whisk her away to the “mansion” that he had prepared for her.

The Serious Nature of Preparing

The subjects of preparing for the Bridegroom’s return and receiving an inheritance in his Father’s kingdom occupy chapter 25 of Matthew. This chapter describes who and what we are preparing for, how we must prepare, and how the principle of stewardship assists us to prepare. Here the Lord gives three parables-The Ten Virgins, The Parable of the Talents, and The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. Kent P. Jackson wrote:

These allegories seem to form a progression, teaching different aspects of readiness that Jesus encouraged of His listeners and readers. The Joseph Smith translation of verse 1 places the story of the ten virgins clearly in the context of the Second Coming…. (Matthew 25:1-13) Preparation is a necessary precaution because “ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh.” This parable…ends with the admonition, “Watch!”

In the parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), the master, traveling to “a far country,” leaves different quantities of his goods in the hands of three servants, to each “according to his several ability.” Two of the servants doubled their master’s resources that had been entrusted to them. The third, however, hid his allotment for safekeeping. To the two who magnified their investment, the master said upon his return, “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” The final servant returned the master’s talent to him, yet he did not receive his lord’s praise but rather his condemnation: “Thou wicked and slothful servant.” This is not a parable about the uncertain timing of Christ’s return but about what we are to do with the gifts He has entrusted to us while we were waiting. As Joseph Smith taught, we should “improve upon all things committed to [our] charge.” This parable…ends with the unprofitable servant’s intense sorrow, “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The final parable, that of the Sheep and the Goats (see Matthew 25:31-46), again addresses what people do with the blessings entrusted to them-but in a different way. The setting…is a judgment scene: “When the Son of Man shall come in his glory…and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.” Those placed on his right hand will receive an inheritance in His kingdom, whereas those on his left hand will be sent off to “everlasting fire.” Jesus explained in some detail the criteria for the King’s just judgment. Those worthy of an inheritance of glory will be those who fed Him when he was hungry, gave Him drink when he was thirsty, took Him in when He was a stranger, clothed Him when He was naked, visited Him when He was sick, and came to Him when He was in prison. Those who will be condemned will be the ones who had the same opportunities but did none of those worthy things.

The burden of stewardship is intrinsically linked to our preparation for the Lord’s Second Coming. In this context, we are both the bride and the steward. First, as the bride, we must anticipate the Bridegroom’s arrival in an attitude of constant readiness, as would a betrothed bride prepare and watch as she waited for the promised return of her beloved. She would “always remember him.” Just so, during our wait, we are to remain absolutely loyal to the Bridegroom. We are not to divide our affections with another. Our entire attention is to prepare for the coming wedding when we will be more surely joined with the Bridegroom and live with him forevermore. The one who helps us to prepare and who comforts us so that we can endure the wait is the Bridegroom’s “friend,” the Holy Ghost. We are also comforted by holding in our possession the price that the Bridegroom paid for us, the Covenant he made with us, and the token (his wounds) that he gave to us.

In our dual roles of bride and steward, we receive from the Lord both gifts and stewardships to help us endure the wait and prepare: 1) as the “bride,” we receive from the Lord gifts to help us remember him and his promise to return; 2) as the “steward,” we receive from the Lord stewardships as sacred trusts to manage his property and resources until he returns. As both the bride and the steward, we are to anticipate the Lord’s return and actively prepare for it. As the steward, we are to magnify our stewardships during the wait. We do so by using the resources and surpluses of the stewardship to bless the Lord’s children. As the steward and the bride, we have covenanted to take upon us his name, and therefore we belong to him. As his bride, his children become our children, and we share in his efforts to take care of them.

Both the loyal bride and the faithful steward are “accounted worthy to inherit the mansions prepared for him of my Father.” But, as both the bride and the steward, if we do not prepare for the Bridegroom, if we do not remain loyal to him, if we do not listen to his friend, if we are ashamed of the gifts he has given us or hide or misuse our stewardships or do not use them as he instructed (to bless the lives of others)-if we do any of these things, he will say to us when he comes that he does not know us: “Depart from me.” Then sadly we will have forfeited the marriage. In that miserable state, we will be cast away to where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” We will find ourselves on the Lord’s left hand, the place that is called “cursed,” and described as “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Clearly, the Bridegroom expects his bride to hold his name in high regard, always remember him, and remain loyal to their marriage covenant. To the extent that the bride remains faithful, she will have the Bridegroom’s friend to attend, comfort, instruct and prepare her for the Bridegroom’s coming and the wedding.

The Bride’s Final Preparations

As we have mentioned, the bride did not know the exact day and hour of the bridegroom’s coming, but her relationship with the bridegroom’s friend would have provided her signs of the bridegroom’s coming. As the approximate time approached, she intensified her preparations. She kept herself adorned. She practiced applying wedding make-up, and she paid special attention to her fingernails, hair, and skin so that she would appear as attractive as possible for her new husband. Also from the time of the bridegroom’s departure, she had kept a lamp burning in her window; she would keep it burning bright until he came for her.

As the time of the wedding drew closer, the young girl anxiously awaited her groom’s arrival. By custom, it would be sudden, with an element of surprise, and often late at night. She invited her sisters, cousins, and friends to join her vigil and be supportive at this time of joyous anticipation…. Night after night, they would strain to hear the shouts of the bridegroom and his friends.

This custom is reminiscent, of course, of Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins. We recall that the vigil had gone on a long time, and the bridegroom had “tarried.” Then late in the night, “at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” Intrinsic in the New and Everlasting Covenant is the stipulation that we, the bride, “watch.” That is, we must live in a state of happy anticipation and preparation, “for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

In the last days before her wedding, the bride would submit to a ritual washing and anointing, because she was about to become royalty. At her wedding, she become a queen and presented to a king. In a special pool called a mikvah, the bride immersed herself completely in “living waters.”

Her life and her body were to be the gift of a living sacrifice to her husband, and to be pure without spot or blemish was a condition required of sacrifices (Ephesians 5:27; Romans 12:1)…. The Jewish bride did not immerse herself because of uncleanness, but in preparation for holiness, to fulfill God’s commandment to be fruitful and multiply…. After her immersion in the mikvah, the bride’s friends would help her anoint herself as part of the preparation for marriage.” This ceremonial immersion in living water symbolized, among other things, “a preparation for holiness.” Additionally, “it also represented a separation from an old life to a new life-from life as a single woman to life as a married woman.

As part of the New and Everlasting Covenant, we are also to go into a holy place (the temple) “to prepare…for the ordinances and endowments, washings and anointing.” The visual image of washing hearkens to the process of purification, which is to eliminate impurities, contaminants and pollutants. We are washed or purified in preparation to be anointed and thus sanctified. The idea of anointing speaks to the process of changing the purpose of something or someone. By ceremonially washing and anointing her body, the bride avowed that she was clean and ready for her life’s purpose to change; she was now ready to be endowed with the fulness of the marriage covenant and thus become a queen in Israel. By the rituals of washing (purification) and anointing (sanctification), the bride demonstrated her willingness to become totally consecrated to her husband and yield to the transformation of her life’s purpose. Now, all was in order to that she could join with her husband, who would be her king.

Of interest, the bridegroom, although not required, usually submitted to washing in the mikvah to purify himself in preparation for the wedding. This voluntary washing reminds us the Savior’s submitting to baptism, although he was sinless. His purpose was to enter the New and Everlasting Covenant by fulfilling all righteousness. Later, at the end of his life, he also submitted to voluntarily sanctify himself so that he might better help others to become sanctified so that they could become one with him: “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth…. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.”

Thus we see Jesus submitting to the processes of purification and sanctification to prepare himself to become one with those whom he loved. It is said that Jesus Christ is our Mikvah-Israel, which means “hope of Israel.”

Next Time

In the next segment of this series, we will examine the events leading up to the actual wedding: the father’s giving his son permission to go and claim his bride; the father’s issuing his second and final call to the wedding; the wedding processional; the bridegroom’s coming as a thief in the night, whisking away his beloved, and conveying her as a queen to the place he has prepared for her. Then the wedding takes place; the bridegroom and his bride are finally together, never again to be parted.

Publisher’s Note

The Three Pillars of Zion is an extensive 5-volume set of books that explores the covenants, attributes and characteristics that define a Zion person. This Zion series is heavily documented with over 3,800 references, making it one of the most extensive research projects ever written about Zion. New York Times best-selling author, Ron McMillan, says, “Larry Barkdull has written one of the most definitive works on the subject of Zion.” This ground-breaking series contains one of the most critical messages for our day. We invite you to learn more and receive a complimentary copy of the Pillars of Zion Sampler at www.PillarsOfZion.com.

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.40

See D&C 121:40; Matthew 22:14

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.41

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.16, 31

See Hebrews 10:20

D&C 88:68, emphasis added

D&C 67:10, emphasis added

See Exodus 34:29-35

See Hebrews 9:1-7

Moroni10:32

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.31

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.19

Genesis 2:24

D&C  49:7

See Matthew 25:1-13; D&C 45:56-59

See Matthew 22:1-14

1 Thessalonians 5:2-4

Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, vol.3, p.54

See Matthew 26:41; Luke 1:18

D&C 101:38

Isaiah  35:4

Mosiah  27:30

Mosiah  24:14

John 14:28

D&C 98:18

John 14:2

John 14:18

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.34-35

Kent P. Jackson, “The Olivet Discourse,” The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ: From the Transfiguration through the Triumphant Entry, Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment, eds, p.342-43

D&C 20:77

D&C  72:3-4

See Matthew 25:12, 30, 41

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.36, 38

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.39

Matthew  25:5-6

Matthew 25:13

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.38

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.37-38

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.125

Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.308

See Isaiah 4:4; Psalm 51:2

See Leviticus 8:10-12

See D&C 20:77

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.44

See Matthew 3:15

John 17:19, 21

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p. 125, quoting a rabbi from the first century

(NOTE: This article is the second part of four articles adapted from Chapter 8 of The Three Pillars of Zion. You can download a free Sampler of this new Zion series at www.PillarsOfZion.com.)

The Jewish marriage parallels the New and Everlasting Covenant with astonishing similarity. Because the New and Everlasting Covenant is the first “pillar of Zion,” and because it is upon this foundational Covenant that a Zion life or a Zion marriage are established, we would be well served to become familiar with these ancient customs.

Review

In Part 1 of this series, we learned that the Jewish marriage describes the beauty and loving nature of the New and Everlasting Covenant.

• Marriage was considered the primary and most glorious purpose of life. Just so, the New and Everlasting Covenant provides the glorious end-purpose of our lives.
• Jewish children were “born to marry” just as we are born to enter into the Covenant.
• Parents shouldered the responsibility to help choose their child’s mate, although the child retained the freedom of choice. Likewise, parents have the obligation to introduce their children into the New and Everlasting Covenant, but the children do so by choice.
• To legalize the marriage covenant, the bridegroom had to 1) pay a bride price, 2) offer his bride a marriage contract, and 3) the couple had to consummate the marriage, meaning to know each other. Similarly, in the New and Everlasting Covenant, we (the bride) are:
  • “Bought with a price.”
  • United by covenant according to the Law of Consecration, which is “the law of the celestial kingdom.”
  • Known, or “made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood.”
• The bridegroom initiated the offer of marriage to the bride. Just so, the Savior extends his hand to us and lovingly invites us to join with him in the New and Everlasting Covenant.

In this second segment of the four-part series, we will examine some of the rites associated with the Jewish betrothal that initiated the marriage and preceded the wedding.

Bought with a Price

When the marriage delegation, which included the groom, his father, friend(s) and witness(es), arrived at the bride’s home, the proposal ceremony began. First, the young man paid the girl’s father a “bride price.” There are several important symbolic parallels to our covenant with the Savior that are portrayed in the price that the bridegroom paid for the bride.

It meant a pledge of money given by the man to seal his offer to marry. This was not like buying a slave but was perceived as compensating the father for the great loss of his daughter and her contribution to the household. It recognized the care and diligence required to raise her to be a suitable wife. In addition, it also sealed a bond of alliance between the two families.

This relationship of ownership is described in the word segulah, “which means ‘peculiar treasure’ or ‘treasured relationship’…. Truly, the worth of a bride was great in the eyes of her husband.”

Importantly, the bride price “signified the transfer of authority from father to husband.” That is, when the bride gave her consent and entered into the marriage covenant, she agreed to fully belong to her husband, not as if she were a slave or property, but exclusive as would be a beloved eternal companion. She was “bought with a price.” Now she was expected to shift her loyalty from her father to her husband and follow him in righteousness. Likewise, when we enter into the New and Everlasting Covenant with the Savior, we leave behind all other loyalties and affections and shift our devotion exclusively to him.

Of great significance was the amount of the bride price. A small amount suggested that her husband held her in low esteem and of little value. But if he paid a great deal for her in money or service, the implication was that he was acquiring something extremely valuable that required cherishing. Thus a bridegroom’s consecrating his all to “purchase” his bride would signify both immense sacrifice and unbounded love. In his eyes, she would be of infinite worth. We recall that Jacob “served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.” When we consider the bride price, we cannot avoid the reference to the Savior who paid for us with his life and offers us all that he is and has. He bought us with “his own blood.”

Although the bride’s father received the bride price, he returned most of it to his daughter. This became her dowry, which her husband could never access. It was her security, in case her husband died. Effectively, her father endowed her so that she might enter her new life and have adequate security to face with the uncertainties of that life. Thus, her security originated from the sacrifice of her husband and culminated in the generosity of her father.

Similarly, our Heavenly Father endows us with gifts of great value that ensure our future safety and security, and these gifts flow to us from the sacrifice of our beloved Bridegroom.

The Marriage Contract

In Jewish thought, all covenantal relationships were extremely serious. Often, only when they were sealed in blood did they became final and legally binding. The actual terms of the marriage covenant “were spelled out in a formal document called a ketubah…which stated the bride price…the promises and obligations of the groom and listed the rights of the bride. It signified a permanent covenant and an exclusive agreement.” The wording of an ancient ketubah might be representative:

1. I will provide you with food, clothing and necessities.
2. I will redeem you if you are ever taken captive.
3. I will live with you as a husband according to the universal custom.

Notice that the marriage contract was weighted in the bride’s favor. The groom listed “what he would do for her, what he would give her, and how he would care and provide for her.” While it is true that we agree “to take upon us the name of [the] Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments,” it is also true that we sometimes forget how much the New and Everlasting Covenanted is weighted in our favor. If we “receive” Jesus, we also receive all that Jesus inherits from his Father: “[the] Father’s kingdom…therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him.” “They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things.”

The marriage covenant was one of love, security and comforting assurance. The bridegroom listed promises to always take care of his wife with food, clothing, necessities, redemption and affectionate attention. We would expect the same treatment by our relationship with the Lord in the Covenant. The text of Psalms 37 in the Jewish Tanakh reads: “The Lord is concerned for the needs of the blameless [the bride]; their portion lasts forever; they shall not come to grief in bad times; in famine, they shall eat their fill…. I have never seen a righteous man abandoned, or his children seeking bread. [The Lord] is always generous.”

By taking some license, we might personalize the promise of continuous caring that Jesus gave to his apostles on both continents:

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Another stipulation of the marriage contract was the bridegroom’s vow to redeem his wife should were she ever taken captive. Lehi assured his son Jacob of the surety of the Lord’s redemption: “Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth. Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice.”

All of us have sinned and to one extent or another have been taken captive by the enemy. Each of us is in need of the Bridegroom’s promise of redemption: “and he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people.” We are reminded of Abraham, a type of the Savior, who assembled an army to rescue Lot and his household from their enemies when they had been taken captive. “And [Abraham] brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.” Thus by covenant, the Bridegroom places all that he has and is, including his own life, on the altar of sacrifice to redeem us from our enemies and to clear every obstacle that stands between us and exaltation.

Finally, the bridegroom promised to live with his wife with love and affection. Donna Nielsen wrote,

The third and last promise in the [marriage contract] was the groom’s promise to live as a husband with the bride and to give her an opportunity to bear children. In Hebrew ‘to bear children’ was synonymous with the term ‘to bear fruit.’ Children were called the ‘fruit of the womb (Luke 1:42).

To first be married (oneness) and to then bear fruit (fruitfulness) was considered by the ancients to be the measure of one’s creation. The oneness and fruitfulness shared by a husband and wife is described by the Savior (the True Vine) in the following verse: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” As long as we abide in the Covenant with him, he promises to abide in us, and together our union will be one of abundant fruitfulness.

Moreover, he promises his continuous affection. Nephi called these acts of affection “tender mercies,” gentle reminders of his love and awareness, love notes from the one who knows and adores us most. “Behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen.” These evidences of love flow to us quietly but continually; they are a “multitude of his tender mercies.” When the bride recognizes her husband’s constant goodness, she is brought to tears for her good fortune: “And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them.”

The marriage contract was often elaborately decorated, a piece of art and thus as a thing of beauty. It contained the words of a binding and holy agreement, and the bride cherished it. The marriage contract was tangible proof of her future husband’s devotion and her immutable rights. Again, we hear overtones of the New and Everlasting Covenant. No doctrine is more glorious. We cling to the Covenant because it offers us the Bridegroom’s guarantees of continually providing for us, keeping us safe, redeeming us from our enemies, and living with us in loving and fruitful companionship. The Covenant promises us the Bridegroom’s name, and it reminds us of the great price that he paid for us. The Covenant guarantees that he will endow us with all that he is and has. It states that we, his bride, are his “great treasure,” and the Covenant reminds us that he has given his own blood to seal the covenant. What bride would not cherish such a document, especially if it was backed up by years of verifiable devotion?

The Gift of Value

The presentation of the marriage contract was followed by the bridegroom’s offering his beloved “a token,” that is, “a gift of value.” This gift was different from the bride price, which the bridegroom had paid to the young woman’s father. In this case, the groom offered the token directly to his intended bride. “The groom’s gift was considered to be an extension of himself….It also symbolized his willingness to sacrifice and served as a reminder of his love. A gold ring was frequently used as this token or gift because it represented eternity. Anciently, the ring used was often a link from a gold chain. The chain represented past and future family associations and was seen as symbolically linking the girl to her new family.”

Sometimes the “gift of value” was silver or gold coins. A devoted bride would often make a chain of the coins and attach them “to her veil as an important part of her headdress.” In private and in public, she was spoken for, beloved, and ever abiding in the covenant. If she lost something this valuable, she would take it as a tragedy. Jesus’ parable of the lost coin makes more sense in this light; the loss of something so precious could indicate that she had been careless with the token that her betrothed husband had given her. Clearly, our treatment of the Lord’s gifts is an indication of our respect for him and the Covenant that we have entered into. The tokens he gives us are the emblems of his sacrifice represented by the emblems of the sacrament.

The Pledge

After the bridegroom had paid the bride price, offered his beloved the covenantal marriage contract, and given her the token or gift of value, he “recited a ritual statement to consecrate himself to his bride.” For example, the Biblical prophet, Hosea, speaking for the Lord, pledged, “And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.”

Donna Nielsen explained that the word “consecrate, wherein the groom consecrated himself to the bride, is used to mean, ‘to devote irrevocably.’ The groom has no options here-no escape clauses-there is no question ever that he would rescind his invitation to the woman to marry. He cannot break this [covenant] if the woman remains faithful, for he is bound if she fulfills her part of the covenant.”

Just so, Christ consecrates and devotes himself to us irrevocably when he offers us the Covenant. He will absolutely live up to every promise made in the Covenant. The scriptures are replete with such language. For example, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled.” “Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.” “Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled?”

The Cup to Seal the Covenant

Now the bride had before her the marriage covenant, which stated the bride price, and the token or gift of value. She had heard the bridegroom make an irrevocable pledge stating his eternal devotion and indivisible consecration to her. At this point, he placed before her a cup of wine, which represented blood. Donna Nielsen wrote, “The idea was that the blood of the covenant superseded all other loyalties.” The wine also signified sacrifice and joy. “These three elements [blood, sacrifice and joy] were intrinsic to the marriage relationship….Now came the suspenseful part. At this point, the woman had about thirty seconds to make up her mind….If the woman was willing to receive the man and his proposed condition, she would accept his gift [token] and also drink the cup of wine, which sealed the covenant. This showed that she was willing to take his name upon her.”

When the Savior offers us the New and Everlasting Covenant, we must not vacillate but rather make a firm decision. Our being “lukewarm” only summons the Savior’s rebuke. Elijah became indignant with such indecision: “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” However, in the act of acceptance, we see glimpses of our saying yes to baptism, receiving the sacrament, and consenting to taking our temple covenants and ordinances. Drinking of the cup is implied in every covenant-making instance: “But Jesus answered and said…Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.”

The bride’s drinking of the cup of wine had to be witnessed by two observers. If and when the bride drank of the cup, the couple was considered betrothed for marriage. “Following the woman’s acceptance, the groom and sometimes the girl’s father recited additional formal statements….To the bride, the groom would speak the words, ‘Thou art set apart (or consecrated) for me according to the law of Moses and Israel.’ Interestingly, the same word for ‘set apart,’ in the New Testament Greek, ‘hagiazo’ was also used to describe the state of a temple once it was dedicated.”

The bride’s body was now considered a temple for her husband. Likewise, when we enter the Covenant our bodies become temples for the spirit of the Lord. That idea was suggested by Paul: “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” And in another place, “The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”

All of this suggests, of course, that the marriage covenant represented more than mere ritual or the rehearsing of words. To become valid and eternal, those outward ritualistic actions had to become an inward condition of two hearts bound together by love:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel [the bride]; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people [my bride]. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.” Most intimately and most completely, we will know the Bridegroom, and our love would not permit us to violate our Covenant with him. “This is eternal lives–to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my law.

The Covenantal Feast

The betrothal ceremony often ended with a feast at the home of the bride. Included in the feast would be the “breaking of bread.” By partaking of the “same loaf at the same table,” the participants became bound together as companions. Significantly, the sharing of a meal together followed the couple’s entering into a covenant.

We cast our thoughts immediately upon the sacrament table and the Lord’s supper, which among other things reminds us of our previously having entered into the New and Everlasting Covenant with the Lord through baptism. Additionally, the sacrament reminds us that we are “in waiting,” anticipating the time when the Bridegroom will come for us and take us into the place that he has prepared for us in the mansions of his Father. We are always in a state of remembrance, obediently preparing and patiently anticipating the Bridegroom.

The sacrament also helps us to hearken back to the day when we accepted the Lord’s proposal and made mutual vows to each other in the presence of two witnesses. That was the day when we formalized our covenant with Lord by being immersed in the living waters or in other words drinking fully from the cup of his love. To commemorate the day we entered into the New and Everlasting Covenant, we eat a covenantal meal containing broken bread from the same loaf.

Therefore, by the bread and the cup of wine, we keep forefront in our minds our love for and hope in our loving Bridegroom; we hold in sacred remembrance our immutable vows to each other; we know that he will someday come at an unannounced hour to carry us away to the place that he has prepared for us, our eternal inheritance-”our mansion”-where we will live with him forever in the house of his Father.

Next Time

In the next segment of this four-part series, we will examine the events that occur during the waiting period-the time between the betrothal and the wedding. We will examine the father’s calling, some symbolic clothing, the responsibility of the friend of the bridegroom, and the importance of the bridegroom and the bride’s preparing for each other.

Publisher’s Note

The Three Pillars of Zion is an extensive 5-volume set of books that explores the covenants, attributes and characteristics that define a Zion person. This Zion series is heavily documented with over 3,800 references, making it one of the most extensive research projects ever written about Zion. New York Times best-selling author, Ron McMillan, says, “Larry Barkdull has written one of the most definitive works on the subject of Zion.” This ground-breaking series contains one of the most critical messages for our day. We invite you to learn more and receive a complimentary copy of the Pillars of Zion Sampler at www.PillarsOfZion.com.

D&C 105:4

D&C 76:69

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.21

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.25-26

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.21, referencing John J. Collins, “Marriage, Divorce, and Family in Second Temple Judaism,” Browning, p.104-162

1 Corinthians 7:23

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.22

Genesis 29:20

Acts 20:28

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.23

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.111

D&C 20:77

D&C 84:38

D&C 76:55

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.111

Psalms 37:18-19, 25-26, Tanakh

3 Nephi 13:28-33

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.112

2 Nephi 2:6-7

Alma 7:12

Genesis 14:16

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.114

See Joseph Fielding Smith, The Restoration of All Things, p.244

John 15:5

1 Nephi 1:20

1 Nephi 8:8

Ether  6:12

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.28

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.28

See D&C 98:14; 132:19

See Verse 7, “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief,” Hymns of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, #153

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.29

Hosea  2:19-20

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.31

D&C 1:38

Joshua 23:14

D&C 58:31

See Revelation 3:15-16

1 Kings18:21

Matthew 20:22-23

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.30-31

1 Corinthians  6:19

1 Corinthians 3:17

Jeremiah 31:33-34

D&C 132:24

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.20-21, 32

See 1 Corinthians 11:20

See Enos 1:27; Ether 12:32, 34, 37; D&C 98:18

See Matthew 20:22-23; 3 Nephi 18:8-9

(NOTE: This article is the first part of four articles adapted from Chapter 8 of The Three Pillars of Zion. You can download a free Sampler of this new Zion series at www.PillarsOfZion.com.)

According to D&C 42:67, a Zion life is built upon three “pillars.” These pillars are:

1. The New and Everlasting Covenant
2. The Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood
3. The Law of Consecration

The New and Everlasting Covenant Compared to Jewish Marriage

Throughout the scriptures, the marriage metaphor is used to describe our covenantal relationship with the Lord. He is the Bridegroom and the Church is the bride. By extension, we, individually, are his bride: “For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.” We are to prepare ourselves for the time the Bridegroom comes to receive us: “Wherefore, be faithful, praying always, having your lamps trimmed and burning, and oil with you, that you may be ready at the coming of the Bridegroom–For behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, that I come quickly.” We are to become prepared and beautiful for him: “adorned as a bride.”

That the Lord chose marriage to describe the New and Everlasting Covenant should summon our solemn contemplation. Marriage is the summit of gospel covenants, the relationship that is the most intimate, most enduring and the most loving of unions. Marriage is the relationship in which the power of God to create is manifest; children spring from this union; multiplication, replenishment and fruitfulness become possible. The metaphor of marriage suggests the abandonment of selfish interests, profound loyalty and complete sacrifice.

Marriage requires the entire consecration of one’s time, talents and resources to his or her companion, the totality of all that one is and all that one has. Marriage is a covenantal lifestyle that results in oneness, a relationship wherein the partners are no longer “twain, but one flesh,” joined together by God, and intended to endure beyond man’s attempts to put asunder. If marriage is to be successful, it requires losing one’s life in selfless service to and the loving of one’s spouse; then, in return, marriage leads to finding one’s life in a more exalted purpose.

Marriage urges the best of behavior in the partners: “and they shall mention the loving kindness of their Lord, and all that he has bestowed upon them according to his goodness, and according to his loving kindness, forever and ever.” Marriage is yoking together to ease one another’s burdens, and the mutual sharing of each other’s challenges: “In all their afflictions he was afflicted…and in his love, and in his pity, he redeemed them, and bore them, and carried them all the days.” By purpose and by design marriage is eternal, the highest order of celestial living, the ultimate source of happiness, and significantly the highest order of the Priesthood.

Conversely, disloyalty to the marriage covenant is a grievous sin, “most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost.” Clearly, the Lord takes seriously the New and Everlasting Covenant and expects us to do the same.

In the foreword of Donna B. Nielsen’s excellent work, The Beloved Bridegroom, Dr. Robert J. Norman wrote, “The wedding ceremony was a metaphor often used by Christ and the Old Testament authors. A study of the Jewish marriage customs yields a wealth of spiritual understanding and deeper insight into the teachings of Jesus and the Biblical prophets.” Donna Nielsen explained, “A knowledge of Biblical marriage imagery can greatly enrich our understanding of how God relates to us through covenants.

Biblical covenant marriage imagery encompasses principles as diverse as Sabbath observance, the Atonement, temple worship, and missionary work. It literally begins with Adam and ends with Zion.” Let us, therefore, examine the New and Everlasting Covenant by contrasting it with the Jewish marriage tradition. In advance, we thank Donna B. Nielsen for her generous support in providing access to her research.

Born to Marry

Elder John A. Widstoe stated that marriage is “the most important event between birth and death,” and certainly the Jewish people agreed. We cannot overstate the importance of marriage in Jewish society. Marriage was clearly linked to the covenant God made with Israel; in fact, we might say that children were born with the purpose of marrying.

Donna Nielsen stated that an infant male “was often affectionately called ‘the little bridegroom.’ This reflected one of three great hopes that parents had for their children, namely that their children would: study Torah (study the scriptures), be under the wedding canopy (marry in the covenant), and do good deeds (live righteous lives).” Immediately, we see the connection between marriage and the New and Everlasting Covenant. From the moment of birth, our life’s purpose should be to learn about and prepare for the Bridegroom, enter into a Covenant with the Bridegroom, and do the works of the Bridegroom. As much as Jewish children were born to marry, we are born to enter into the Covenant.

Because marriage was the goal of life, husbands and wives married at an early age. No later than eighteen was the norm, and most often they married years before that. A boy became a Son of the Law by age thirteen, and technically one month later he was considered of marriageable age. Girls were eligible at twelve years and one month.

In today’s culture, we might have difficulty imagining Joseph and Mary, two teenagers, taking on the heavy responsibility of marriage and caring for the Savior of the world. Also, we might struggle with the concept that Jesus could have been married for 12-15 years and had children before he began his ministry at age thirty. But according to Jewish custom, these facts probably hold true. Marriage was the focal point of Jewish life, and we might imagine that Joseph and Mary, and later Jesus, followed the prevailing tradition by marrying in their teens.

The Parents’ Responsibility and the Bride’s Choice

Marriages were thought to be too important to be left to chance. Fathers and mothers made these decisions for their children. Who else loved the child more? Who else had the child’s best interests in mind? Who else wanted the child’s happiness more than the parents? Today, we might cringe at this ancient custom, but Jewish children expected their parents to advocate for their happiness. Despite the fact that the parents were expected to prayerfully deliberate then introduce their children to their intended spouse, the children owned the ultimate choice. Their agency was never violated.

Today, of course, parents do not formally choose their children’s mates, but the similarity to the ancient custom is clear: Parents have the responsibility to introduce their children to Christ. Fathers, by virtue of their holding the priesthood, have the responsibility to take their children into the waters of baptism and help them to enter into the New and Everlasting Covenant with Jesus. Now the children are given over or married to Christ by Covenant, and taking upon them his name, they begin a relationship with him that will end up in the mansions of his Father.

Love for each other was expected to be cultivated after the marriage, not necessarily before. We note that after Isaac married Rebekah he grew in his love for her. This reversal of order might seem strange to us, but the implication is intriguing: Covenant people grow together in love as they remain true to each other. When we enter into the New and Everlasting Covenant, we do so without a full appreciation for or love of the Lord. These things take time. But as we live together in the Covenant and as we have experience with the Lord, we grow to love him more and more. “The Semetic root word for ‘love’ is haw or hav. It means ‘to warm’ or ‘to kindle,’ ‘to set on fire.’” Over time, our love for the Bridegroom grows from an ember to a blazing fire until love becomes as perfect as the God of love, who “dwells in everlasting burnings.”

Requirements to Legalize the Covenant

The marriage covenant “had serious implications. There were three parts that were vital to a completed marriage contract in Biblical times. These were money, writ, and intercourse. All three of these conditions had to be met for a marriage to be recognized as legal.” The groom was expected to pay a bride price for his beloved. Then he was to offer her a marriage contract, a writ or ketuba, whereby he consecrated himself to his bride. Finally, the marriage had to be consummated; that is, he must know his wife through intercourse. This last condition fulfilled the requirement that blood be shed to complete the covenant.

Thus, in both marriage and in the New and Everlasting Covenant, we (the bride) are:

1. “Bought with a price.”
2. United by covenant according to the Law of Consecration, which is “the law of the celestial kingdom.”
3. Known, or “made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood.”

When we consider these conditions, we begin to understand the price that Jesus was willing to pay to draw us to him, redeem us and secure our eternal affections. Marvin Wilson wrote:

…the joining of a man and a woman is a reenactment or replica of God’s eternal covenant relation to his chosen. To understand Biblical marriage is to understand the Biblical concept of covenant. In Hebrew ‘to make a covenant’ is literally ‘to cut a covenant’….The shedding of blood dramatically ratified and sealed the covenant (Genesis 15:9-18; Jeremiah 34:18-20). If one attempted to break the covenant, the blood served as a powerful visual lesson that one’s own blood would be shed. In brief, it was a solemn oath to be kept on pain of death. It was thus inviolable and irrevocable.”

Initiating the Marriage Proposal

The bridegroom initiated the process of offering the covenant of marriage to the bride. When we consider this action in light of the New and Everlasting Covenant, we see something tender and loving about the character of the Savior. We are immediately impressed by the fact that he, not us, invites us into the New and Everlasting Covenant. Clearly, “we love Him because he loved us first.”

When we are baptized, we often miss the fact that Jesus was the one who reached out to us and bade us enter into an eternal covenantal relationship with him. We sometimes mistakenly think that we were the ones who instigated the process, but according to the Jewish marriage tradition, that is not true. In advance of every baptism is Jesus’ implied invitation. This fact speaks to his adoring love for us. He is the Bridegroom and we are his potential bride. He is the one who begins the covenant-making process. He does this through the Holy Ghost and through his authorized representatives: fathers, Home Teachers, bishops or missionaries.

The occasion of the marriage proposal often happened at the harvest season, suggesting a bounteous relationship and a fruitful future. Likewise, when we join with the Lord in the Covenant, we glorify both him and his Father and we “bear much fruit” together. The proposal procedure began by the bridegroom’s going to the house of the bride. He was accompanied by his father or a close friend(s). We immediately envision a small entourage, a companionship, two or more witnesses like missionary companions, on an important mission to convey an invitation of infinite worth to the intended bride.

In her presence, the bridegroom would make the covenantal offer while his friend(s) would support him and bear witness of the event. This was the beginning of holiness, for truly, upon her acceptance of the marriage covenant, the bride would effectively ascribe holiness unto the Lord, her new husband. Donna Nielsen wrote: “The collective term for all that broadly comprises a Jewish marriage is Kiddushin, which literally means ‘sanctities.’ This concept includes the ideas of being devoted irrevocably, being sanctified and set apart, and being consecrated.” Clearly, the Jewish marriage is the perfect metaphor for the New and Everlasting Covenant.

Entering into the Covenant

The Bridegroom’s proposal to us includes sacred rituals that consecrate him to us (the bride), and our accepting his proposal consecrates us to him. We hear overtures of the Law of Consecration in this. Other symbolisms of the New and Everlasting Covenant become evident as the betrothal ceremony unfolds. In the Jewish marriage, the groom offered the bride’s father a bride price-she was “bought with a price.”

Then the bridegroom presented his potential bride a written covenant of marriage that he had prepared. Then he offered her a “gift of value,” which represented a “token” of his promise and an “emblem” of his love. With the token he recited a pledge to irrevocably bind and consecrate himself to her forever. Then, in the presence of two witnesses, he placed before his beloved a cup of wine. If she drank of the cup, the contract of marriage was ratified or sealed, and the betrothal period began. Moreover, by drinking of the cup, she indicated her willingness to take upon herself her husband’s name. At that point, the couple, along with their guests, shared a covenantal meal.

Thus, by these rituals that were rich in imagery, the bridegroom and bride entered into the eternal covenant of marriage. When the ceremony was complete, the only question that remained was would the rituals that represented the marriage covenant translate into life-long acts of devotion and consecration? That is, would the couple’s covenant become royal by their subsequent loyalty, patience, sacrifice and love? Or would the Covenant remain a set of symbols and a piece of paper upon which promises had been made but never enacted?

Next Time

In the next segment of this four-part series, we will examine the beautiful rites that were associated with the Jewish custom of betrothal that initiated the marriage and preceded the wedding

Publisher’s Note

The Three Pillars of Zion is an extensive 5-volume set of books that explores the covenants, attributes and characteristics that define a Zion person. This Zion series is heavily documented with over 3,800 references, making it one of the most extensive research projects ever written about Zion. New York Times best-selling author, Ron McMillan, says, “Larry Barkdull has written one of the most definitive works on the subject of Zion.” This ground-breaking series contains one of the most critical messages for our day. We invite you to learn more and receive a complimentary copy of the Pillars of Zion Sampler at www.PillarsOfZion.com.

See Revelation 21:2, 9-10; 22:17

Isaiah  62:5

D&C 33:17; see also D&C 88:92; 133:10, 19

D&C 109:74

Matthew 19:6

See Matthew 10:39

D&C 133:52

Matthew 11:30

D&C 133:53

See D&C 132:19

See D&C 131:2

See David O. McKay, Man May Know for Himself: Teachings of President David O. McKay, compiled by Clare Middlemiss, p.235

See Bruce R. McConkie, “Patriarchal Order,” Mormon Doctrine, p.559

Alma 39:5

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p. iii

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p. 2

John A. Widtsoe, Evidences and Reconciliations, p.297

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p. 4

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p. 2

See Enos 1:27; Ether 12:32-37; D&C 59:2; 98:18

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.13

See Genesis 24:67

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.13

See 1 John 4:8

Isaiah 33:14-15

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p. 18

See 1 Corinthians 6:20

D&C 105:4

D&C 76:69

Marvin Wilson, Our Father Abraham, p.205. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1989

1 John 4:19

See Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.14

See John 15:8

See Exodus 39:30

Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom, p.18

See 1 Corinthians 6:20

“He That Believeth in Me, Though He Were Dead, Yet Shall He Live”

To the grieving Martha, Jesus explained that the power of redemption transcends this life. The Lord’s power of redemption can reach deep within the world of spirits, offer the plan of salvation, and snatch a now-repentant, believing soul from the jaws of hell. Consider the deeper meaning of the Lord’s words: “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Because we likely foreknew our children and their problems, and because we were called and prepared to help redeem them, it logically follows that we will be given power after death to seek them out wherever they are and to continue our work with them, even if that work requires our persistence up until the very last moment before the Resurrection.

Prior to his death, President Joseph F. Smith received a vivid vision of the world of the spirits, including its inhabitants, their condition, Jesus’ visit to them after His death, and the redeeming work that the Lord organized, as found in Doctrine and Covenants 138:53-56. Our stewardships extend into the spirit world.

For example, former prophets and righteous individuals-Adam, Eve, Abel, Seth, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Elias, Malachi, Elijah, “all these and many more, even the prophets who dwelt among the Nephites”-were taught by the Lord, and given “power to come forth . . . and continue thenceforth their labor as had been promised by the Lord.” That is, the righteous continue their work among those for whom they had stewardships upon the earth. As the revelation states:

The faithful elders [and women] of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead.

Parents’ Work Goes On

Inasmuch as prophets’ stewardships continue among those for whom they had a responsibility, so it would make sense that righteous parents’ stewardships continue among those for whom they have a responsibility. The Prophet Joseph Smith stated, “There is never a time when the spirit is too old to approach God. All are within the reach of pardoning mercy.” We can infer that never indicates a very long time.

President Lorenzo Snow assured us, “When the Gospel is preached to the spirits in prison, the success attending that preaching will be far greater than that attending the preaching of our Elders in this life. I believe there will be very few indeed of those spirits who will not gladly receive the Gospel when it is carried to them. The circumstances there will be a thousand times more favorable.” At another time President Snow stated,

God has fulfilled His promises to us, and our prospects are grand and glorious. . . . In the next life we will have our wives, and our sons and daughters. If we do not get them all at once, we will have them [at] some time, for every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is the Christ. You that are mourning about your children straying away will have your sons and your daughters. If you succeed in passing through these trials and afflictions and receive a resurrection, you will, by the power of the Priesthood, work and labor, as the Son of God has, until you get all your sons and daughters in the path of exaltation and glory. This is just as sure as that the sun rose this morning over yonder mountains. Therefore, mourn not because all your sons and daughters do not follow in the path that you have marked out to them, or give heed to your counsels. Inasmuch as we succeed in securing eternal glory, and stand as saviors, and as kings and priests to our God, we will save our posterity.

When Is Our Work Complete?

Redemption, whenever and wherever it takes place, is our work and the work of Jesus Christ, and that work is not complete until our sons and daughters are fully taught, understand the gospel, repent with their own agency, embrace the truth, and experience redemption through the power of the Atonement. President Joseph F. Smith said,

Jesus had not finished his work when his body was slain, neither did he finish it after his resurrection from the dead; although he had accomplished the purpose for which he then came to the earth, he had not fulfilled all his work. And when will he? Not until he has redeemed and saved every son and daughter of our father Adam that have been or ever will be born upon this earth to the end of time, except the sons of perdition. That is his mission. We will not finish our work until we have saved ourselves, and then not until we shall have saved all depending upon us; for we are to become saviors upon Mount Zion, as well as Christ. We are called to this mission.

And President Gordon B. Hinckley confirmed the apostolic promise made by Elder Orson F. Whitney, quoting,

The Prophet Joseph Smith declared-and he never taught more comforting doctrine-that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God.

The Shepherd Will Find His Sheep

Children who have received baptism and then abandon the gospel are tethered to Christ by a cord that cannot be broken. Teaching this point in the form of a question, Elder Whitney asked, “Who are these straying sheep-these wayward sons and daughters? They are children of the Covenant, heirs to the promises, and have received, if baptized, the gift of the Holy Ghost, which makes manifest the things of God. Could all that go for naught?”

Then, encouraging parents to consider the eternal nature of the redemptive process and to persevere, he said, “You parents of the wilful and the wayward! Don’t give them up. Don’t cast them off. They are not utterly lost. The Shepherd will find his sheep. They were his before they were yours-long before he entrusted them to your care; and you cannot begin to love them as he loves them.”

When wayward children break our hearts by their foolish and destructive choices, we often mourn that the only option within our control is prayer, and we sometimes imagine that prayer is a weak solution for what is really needed. But to our knees is exactly where we should go. The Lord hears and answers prayers-that is an oft-repeated promise and should be our confidence. Both the Father and the Son will help us work with our wayward children. As Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, it is inherent in the very nature of the Father and the Son to help and bless us:

Consider, for example, the Savior’s benediction upon his disciples even as he moved toward the pain and agony of Gethsemane and Calvary. On that very night, the night of the greatest suffering that has ever taken place in the world or that ever will take place, the Savior said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. . . . Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

I submit to you, that may be one of the Savior’s commandments that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed; and yet I wonder whether our resistance to this invitation could be any more grievous to the Lord’s merciful heart . . . I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Savior of the world when he finds that his people do not feel confident in his care or secure in his hands or trust in his commandments.

Just because God is God, just because Christ is Christ, they cannot do other than care for us and bless us and help us if we will but come unto them, approaching their throne of grace in meekness and lowliness of heart. They can’t help but bless us…. It is their nature.

Then Elder Holland extended this apostolic promise:

Listen to this wonderful passage from President George Q. Cannon teaching precisely this very doctrine: “No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character [to do so]. He is an unchangeable being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come. We have found that God. We have made Him our friend, by obeying His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments.”

Does this promise, along with other prophetic promises, not give parents of wayward children reason to hope? Does knowing the extent of our preparation not give parents of wayward children cause to reach down inside themselves and summon the strength that resulted from that preparation? As President Lorenzo Snow said, “Our prospects are grand and glorious.”

D&C 138:49, emphasis added.

D&C 138: 51-52, emphasis added.

D&C 138:57.

Joseph Fielding Smith, ed., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 191.

Lorenzo Snow, “Preaching the Gospel in the Spirit World,” Collected Discourses, 363.

Lorenzo Snow, The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, 195.

Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine: Selections from the Sermons and Writings of Joseph F. Smith, 442, emphasis added.

Orson F. Whitney, quoted in Gordon B. Hinckley’s Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, 54, emphasis added.

Orson F. Whitney, Conference Report, April 1929, 110-111.

Orson F. Whitney, Conference Report, April 1929, 110.

Jeffrey R. Holland, “Come Unto Me,” Ensign, April 1998, emphasis added.

Jeffrey R. Holland, “Come Follow Me,” Ensign, April 1998; George Q. Cannon, “Freedom of the Saints,” in Collected Discourses, vol. 2, 185; emphasis added.

Lorenzo Snow, The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, 195.

Zion is built upon three covenants or pillars. The first of these pillars is the New and Everlasting Covenant. No doctrine has ever been revealed that is more glorious than is this covenant. When we abide in it, we remain absolutely safe. Here is an example of a faithful couple, who found safety in the Covenant.

Dear Larry,

My husband finished his Masters degree a year ago, but because the economy is in a free fall, we have not been able to find a permanent job. We sacrificed everything for this education. Our assets consist of a little furniture and one very old car. We depend on that car. We can’t imagine not having our car. Over the years that we have been in school, I have prayed daily that Heavenly Father would keep our car going and keep us safe when we drive around in it.

We make a little money doing contract work and teaching a dance class. We call it survival money: enough, but nothing extra. Nevertheless, we pay our tithing and attend to our callings. I have gained a great testimony of tithing and remaining true to our covenants. At times, when we have compared our budget to our bank balance, we have looked at each other and said, “If we go down, we will go down being square with the Lord.” Then we have swallowed hard and paid our tithing.

A couple of weeks ago our car broke down. For ten days it sat in our driveway while my husband and I struggled to find a solution. We prayed for help. We desperately needed a way to pay for the repairs, and we had nothing in the bank. The first week passed and then the second. We continued to pray. Then one day I walked out to the mailbox. Our tax refund had arrived in the amount of $400. We rejoiced, but it was short-lived. Our car was old and tired, and although we had tried to take good care of it, we had a feeling that the $400 would be a drop in the bucket.

On the second week, we decided to act on faith and take the car in for a diagnosis. We took advantage of our insurance policy’s free towing benefit. We took the car towed to a trusted mechanic.

Two days went by without word from the mechanic shop. We began to fear the worst, but our prayers continued. We tried to summon faith that the Lord would somehow present a solution, but we couldn’t image what that solution might be. We knew that our car was too old to pour a lot of money into repairs, but that we didn’t have the means to buy another car. We were stuck and didn’t know how to get out.

The third day came. I took a deep breath and called the mechanic. He knew our situation was difficult. He was as nice as anyone could be when they bare bad news. As he began to read the long list of repairs, my heart sank. He started with the front left side of the brake system and explained that the rotors must be fixed simultaneously. That would require repairing both the left and the right side. Then he paused as if to ascertain my reaction. When I asked if there was anything more, he said that the back brakes were shot too. He explained that his shop has a state licensing obligation to not leave certain repairs undone so that the car would be unsafe. He listed more problems with the car, and finally, when he was finished, the total ranged between $1200.00 and $1300.00!

I suppose by my silence he knew he had just delivered news like a doctor’s telling someone that he/she had terminal cancer. He gently asked if I wanted him to keep the car up on the hoists or take it down. I told him that I would call my husband, but I was pretty sure he would say take it down.

After I talked with my husband, I knelt down to offer a prayer. I said, “Heavenly Father, apparently you don’t feel we need a car.” That was an interesting idea, I thought. Then I told Him that I trusted Him. If we didn’t need a car, although it would be hard, we would somehow get by-but we would not abandon our trust in Him. And we would keep paying our tithing. If a solution existed, that solution would be found in keeping our covenants.

Within 30 minutes, the owner of the mechanic’s shop called back. He sounded baffled and embarrassed. The first thing he did was to reassure me that he and his employees were honest and careful. Now, I was baffled. I wondered why he was saying these things. Then he told me that the notes he had read to me were from one of his mechanics. Apparently, after he had spoken with me, he began to feel uneasy about the mechanic’s notes. He started to wonder if the notes were correct. He approached the mechanic, and together they poured over the notes. Then the mechanic took him to our car and showed him the car. At that point, they noticed all kinds of debris in the braking system. When they cleared it away they were astonished with what they discovered. There was nothing wrong with the back end of the car at all. In fact, the debris was causing the back breaks to malfunction.

Then they followed the brake line under the car and found that the brake fluid was empty. Strangely, they found no leak in the line. The shop owner explained to me that there was no way the fluid could leak out, but he had no explanation. Of course, that meant that there was no need to make that repair. Then when he and his mechanic examined the front right of the car, they discovered that what they had thought was a major problem was really only a minor one. The total bill would come to only $400, the exact amount that we had received from our tax return.

The shop owner was totally baffled. He told me that he didn’t understand how this could happen. It never had. I wanted to tell him that it was a miracle, but I resisted and just thanked him. When I hung up the phone, I knelt down and expressed my gratitude. I told Heavenly Father that He must feel that we really do need a car after all! And by the way, the next week we received a full-time job!

I can attest that staying true to our covenants and paying tithing keeps us safe in the Lord’s hands. I can also testify that there is no risk in trusting Heavenly Father.

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President George Q. Cannon said:

No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character [to do so]. He is an unchangeable being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come. We have found that God. We have made Him our friend, by obeying His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments.

One of the monumental discoveries of our entering into and abiding in the New and Everlasting Covenant is God will take care of us. The Lord’s intention is to build our faith in him, not to confuse or injure that faith. Therefore, despite our misgivings, we are absolutely safe if we abide in the Covenant.

One of the greatest demonstrations of the safety of the Covenant is that of the ancient Israelites.

This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, [so that] they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.

The Lord never forsook them, although they were often weak and rebellious. He was with them both day and night. He constantly instructed them. He provided manna and water to sustain them. For four decades of wandering, they lacked nothing! Amazingly, neither their clothing nor their shoes wore out!

At the end of Jesus’ life, just before he entered Gethsemane, he reminded his apostles of their early missions when he had purposely placed them in a condition of lack to teach them of their safety in the Covenant. He accomplished this lesson by sending them out with neither purse nor scrip. Now looking back he asked them: “When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing.” As much as the apostles needed firsthand experience with the Covenant’s safety, so do we. When we lack, we can go to the Lord, and because we are one with him in the Covenant, he will take care of us. We are safe.

Nehemiah 9:18-21, emphasis added

Luke 22:35

The Power of God

Falling off the Roof on Halloween Night

Some years ago, my son, Gavon and his friends, then teenagers, had tired of trick or treating. One of the boys was the son of my friend, Mike. His roof could be easily climbed and often was. It required little effort for a nimble 16-year-old boy to mount the fence, swing up a leg up and roll onto the roof.

Looking for more excitement that boring Halloween night, the boys had climbed to the peak of Mike’s roof and pondered the possibilities. Someone suggested that they rig a microphone to scare passing trick or treaters. There were no dissenters. The prank played out like this: target a victim below, scream into the microphone, and run to another side of the roof to hide. Their fun time went on for a long time.

The boys had just frightened another unsuspecting child and had raced to the far, dark side of the roof, when suddenly Gavon disappeared. His friends heard a hard thump twelve feet below. When I received a phone call from Mike’s dad, Ted, he only could say, “Gavon’s been hurt. It’s pretty bad.”

I arrived just as an ambulance was pulling up. My son was lying on his back, unconscious and groaning. When the paramedics shined a flashlight on him, I saw blood seeping from his ears. “He fell directly onto his head and right shoulder,” one of them said. I tried to reach out for him but was prevented. “He may have injured his neck or back,” they said.

Ted, anticipating my needing a friend, said, “I’ll go with you to the Emergency Room.”

At the hospital, doctors cut away Gavon’s shirt and began to work on him. Nothing could have prepared me for the sight. He was still bleeding from his ears. His face was swelling. His right collarbone had a large bump that appeared to be trying to protrude through the skin. I was told that it was broken badly.

“Does the bleeding from the ears mean head injury?” I asked.

“It’s the sign of concussion. It doesn’t look good.”

“What about his neck and back?”

“We’ve ordered a CAT scan.”

When the doctors left the room, I said to Ted, “I’m so afraid for my son. Will you help me give him a priesthood blessing?”

Ted is a man of great faith. Over the years he and I had been each other’s Home Teachers. We had given many blessings together. In other trying situations, I had seen him take his problems to the Lord with the perfect assurance that he would be heard and answered. On occasion, I had knelt with him and heard him pour out his heart in behalf of someone in need. This was to be another of those times. We stood on either side of my son’s bed and pled for a miracle of healing. Then we laid our hands on my son’s head and pronounced the blessing. When we finished, the doctors took Gavon to Radiology.

During that long night while we watched Gavon’s unconscious body being scanned, we talked of God, faith and past miracles. I didn’t know what would happen to my boy. Periodically I called home to discuss the situation with my wife, who was tending our little children. We tried to prepare ourselves for whatever news might come. Finally, a doctor came from a room and approached Ted and me with a handful of x-rays. His speech was clinical. He pointed out bones, growth plates and the obvious concussion.

Has the bleeding from the ears stopped?” I asked. “Is there any brain damage?”

“The bleeding has stopped and there is no apparent brain damage.”

“What about breaks? His back, his neck?”         

“No breaks.”

“Not even his collar bone?” I asked in astonishment.

“Nothing. He will probably have a headache for a few days.”

Gavon woke up 24 hours later with the predicted headache, not remembering anything expect standing on the edge of the dark roof. The bruising and swelling was gone within the week. Within a few days, he was back playing carefully with his friends.

The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him (Nahum 1:7)

The Knowledge of God

No Food in the House

In a particularly difficult financial time, I sought God for help. I suppose that I am like other people whose prayers are offered with more feeling in times of urgent need. I remember feeling ashamed that I had not previously put more effort into my relationship with God when money had been plentiful. Still, believing that such petitioning could help, I arose one morning and began to plead for help.

The answer came in a strange way. A thought entered my mind: “Your friend Paul (name changed) has no food in his house. Go and take him some money.”

“But I have so little,” I said aloud. Then, considering to whom I was talking, I asked, “How much?”

“One hundred dollars.”

I felt anxiety shoot through me. One hundred dollars was all I had in the bank! I searched myself hoping that I had made the whole thing up. I tried to pray again but felt only silence. Then, through the quiet I perceived a message. It seemed to say, Will you trust me or not?

Paul was a good man who had recently lost his income source and was struggling through very difficult financial times. No effort of his had seemed to be able to stop the rapid decline of his assets and reserves.

I dressed, drove to the bank, withdrew one hundred dollars and headed to Paul’s house. When I stuffed the money into his hand, he couldn’t hold back the tears. He said, “My wife and I totally ran out of food last night. We have been up since four o’clock this morning praying for a miracle.”

I never missed the one hundred dollars. One thing after another fell into place to sustain my family. But no miracle was as great as the one that occurred inside me when I discovered that God truly loves his children and often uses other people to prove it.

… let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great…(2 Sam. 24:14).

The Love of God

Welcome Home

Two months after my daughter, Katie, and her husband, Jason, were married, Jason was diagnosed with Crohns Disease. In an emergency operation, eighteen inches of his intestine were removed. From that point forward, Crohns became a third member of their marriage and the hospital became their second home.

Home. That word became foreign to them. During their first years of marriage, strangling medical debt dictated their residences and moves. Now they had a baby girl. More poor health and meager finances forced them to move once again, this time in with family. The three of them crowded into two tiny bedrooms that Jason’s parents graciously provided in their house.

Later, when they thought that the Crohns was in remission, they decided that education was their only hope for normalcy. So they moved-again. This time to be students. Their excitement to finally be on their own was short-lived, however. Too soon, they discovered that the college program that they wanted required unethical practices of its students in exchange for grades. Jason and Katie had a choice to make: live their values or to leave school. They packed up and left.

When they returned to Jason’s parents’ home and the two cramped bedrooms, they felt defeated. Then Jason’s Crohns took a frightening and deep dive. Suddenly they had to face the difficult realization that his current health status would not allow him to maintain a full-time job. Katie would need to become the primary breadwinner and their prospects for affording a place of their own now seemed worse than ever. And, of course, the medical debts kept mounting.

They wanted to be self-sufficient; they wanted to be an independent family. They did not want to be reliant upon other people. So they prayed. They knew that no one could get them through this challenge except Heavenly Father.

Slowly, things began to change. Within a short period of time they received a government grant and an unexpectedly large tax return. Suddenly they could pay off their medical debts! Then Katie received a job offer; then a few months later a better one; and then a few months later a better one. But their living situation had not improved-two cramped bedrooms in their parent’s house.

One night Katie prayed again. She didn’t want to be ungrateful. She knew that one thing after another had been working out. She knew where their blessings were coming from. She hoped she wouldn’t be asking amiss.

For some time she had longed for and pictured in her mind a sweet little apartment that her family could live in-a modest place with some elbowroom, a yard with green grass, a safe neighborhood, a nice ward and a friend for her little girl…and it had to fit in their slender budget. By scrimping they might be able to come up with $650 a month for her dream place.

Unlikely. Impossible. These words had kept her from offering the prayer before. But this night she yearned for change, and she knew that she could not achieve it on my own. She humbly took her request to Heavenly Father. She imagined that it was too much to ask. But she asked anyway.

The next day, Lindsay, her sister called. Lindsay’s brother- and sister-in-law were just finishing building a new home, she said. It had a large, basement apartment. It had a huge green yard. It was in a nice part of town, and the ward was wonderful. A little girl, the same age as our daughter, lived next door. They were willing to rent the apartment for only $650 a month!

Suddenly what Katie had thought could never change changed. What she had imagined impossible was possible. When she first walked into her “dream apartment,” she said, she felt as though Someone had already been there. It was as though Someone had placed a little note on the door saying, Welcome home.

…the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth (Ex. 34:6).

May ever be aware of our powerful, loving Father, who is ever aware of our needs and who showers us with his gifts.

To rescue a wayward child spiritually, we must begin with basics. Nothing is more basic than faith in God and Jesus Christ. It is one thing to believe that they exist, but it is quite another to believe in who they really are. Here is a letter from a mother who, from the depths of sorrow, cries out her allegiance to her Heavenly Father and Savior in an attempt to regroup around her faith.

Dear Brother Barkdull,

I won’t be able to write much because of the tears following down my face. 

I have one brother who has been excommunicated after joining an apostate group, a brother who has removed his name from the records of the Church, and one brother who is totally less-active.  All of them have been through the temple, and is a returned missionary. My parents’ hearts are broken, but they continue on faithfully with good cheer and great hope.  They are my heroes and examples.  I never thought I would be living through their experience.

Last year, my son was disfellowshiped and left the Church. Within the last few months, my son-in-law has become less-active. Again, both had been through the temple, and one is a returned missionary.  My heart is broken, but trying to follow my parents’ example, I attempt to move forward with good cheer and great hope, and I try my best to be faithful.

Your messages each week lift my load and my heart. Thank you for your spiritual words. They always help, but today when I read your article about the Savior’s sanctifying himself to arrive in a more powerful position to rescue others, I began sobbing with gratitude. My husband and I are trying so hard to be worthy so we might be instrumental in helping ‘save’ these sons of ours.

You can never know how thankful I am to you.  Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Writing Through Tears

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Dear Writing Through Tears:

I am overwhelmed when I contemplate that the Father calls us parents to become saviors on Mount Zion, representing in every way the Savior, doing in proxy what he would do: “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils.” Representing Jesus is a weighty responsibility. In a remarkable manner, we become to Jesus what he is to his Father: “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” Admittedly, we need an infusion of faith for such a commission. Obviously your parents are people of great faith, as are you and your husband. Great faith produces great miracles.

Allow me to ramble a bit.

Who God Really Is

In Lectures on Faith, the Prophet Joseph Smith stated that faith pivots on our hope and belief that God possesses certain characteristics in absolute perfection. We would say the same of the Savior. In times of urgency, we hope that God has the power to help, we hope that he is aware of us, and we hope that he loves us enough to rush to our rescue. We reach out to him and plead for his help because we believe that he has both the ability and the disposition to grant our request. Therefore, when we search our faith and find it lacking, we might ask, “Which of these characteristics do I believe that God does not possess?”

Here is an abbreviated, personalized list, which I created to help me through the hard times:

             POWER. God is all-powerful. Otherwise, how could I believe that he could help me if I imagined that something was beyond his ability? Nothing is too hard for him. He can do anything, in any situation, at any time, in my behalf.

KNOWLEDGE. God possesses all knowledge about everything, including past, present, and future events. Otherwise, how could I believe that he could anticipate and solve my problems if there was something that he didn’t know, or if his attention was momentarily diverted away from me, or if I thought he had forgotten me? He intimately knows and “foreknows” me and is constantly aware of my thoughts and my circumstances.

LOVE. I am God’s child. In some remarkable manner that I do not understand, I receive all of his attention all of the time. He loves me completely. He is merciful, compassionate, kind, comforting, patient, gracious and abundant in goodness. Otherwise, how could I seek his help to face unbearable situations or to take the difficult steps of change if anything I was going through or had done could distance me from his love? His love for me is unconditional and continual and is the consistent motivating force in his interactions with me.

CONSISTENT. God is perfectly unchangeable. What he did yesterday he will be doing today and tomorrow. Otherwise, how could I anticipate the whims or circumstances that could change his mercy for me to reproach or his love for me to disdain?

JUST. God is perfectly equitable and no respecter of persons. Otherwise, how could I believe in him if I thought that he played favorites? If God’s laws specify blessings and consequences, I can count on his justice prevailing and his judgment to be correct.

TRUTH. God cannot lie. He does not make promises casually. Otherwise, how could I believe that my future with him is secure if I thought that he didn’t mean what he said, or might seek an out, or might change his mind? He will keep his word in his own way and in his own time

Ultimately, our faith in the Father and the Son is strengthened or injured according to our trusting in their divine attributes of character-all of which define who they really are. 

Faith is Trust

There are only three reasons for not trusting someone:

1) I don’t know you well enough.

2) My past experience with you was disappointing or inconsistent.

3) I don’t think you can do it. 

When we feel our trust waning, we might ask ourselves which of these reasons is retarding our hope in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?

The Three-legged Stool of True Love

If we have truly faith in God–not only faith that he exists but faith in who he really is–we trust him. Trust, I have learned, is one leg of the three-legged stool of love. In order for love to be true love, it must consist of loyalty, sacrifice and trust–and trust is often the hardest of all.

We say that we love God, but we fail to trust him; we accuse him of disloyalty, and we think that he is not doing enough for us. However, if we would examine our lives honestly, we would be forced to admit that he sacrifices and has sacrificed everything for us, he is and has been perfectly loyal, and he is and has been completely trustworthy. That is to say, he gives himself totally to us–his time, ability, and all that he has and is; he never divides his affection; he never, ever lets us down. In every way, he is the beloved Bridegroom, and we are his adored “bride.” The question of love, therefore, might be asked of us, not of him. 

The Time of Decision

Somewhere along the way, we have to make up our minds if we really love and trust the Savior. Elijah asked the people in his day to stop vacillating back and forth and make a decision: “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). The same could be asked of us: “How long are we going to go on declaring our faith in God on the one hand, while discounting his perfect attributes and characteristics on the other? If the Lord be God, trust him; if something else is your God, trust that. But stop trying to mix the two.”

We must decide once and for all if he really exists and what he is really like. When we stop comparing him to mortal men, accusing him of inattention, inability, indifference, incompetence and ignorance, then we can get back to basics and love and trust him.

If we truly have faith in God, we will have faith in Jesus Christ. We will really believe in the Atonement. We will really believe that the Savior anticipated our present circumstance, paid a terrible price to resolve it, and now holds the keys of deliverance. Turning those keys seems to be linked to our personal sanctification and divine timing. Our sanctifying ourselves and waiting in faith for him, are how we show our love for and trust in him. Remember, God showed his love for and trust in us by sending us these children. We are partners with him in their personal plans of salvation. Their present waywardness is our opportunity to get into the trenches with the Father and the Son and learn the invaluable principles of redemption that will benefit us in our eternal work. Who else would they trust with such a job? 

I testify that you are greatly loved and trusted, and the work that you have been called to shoulder is on a course of success that you cannot presently perceive. 

Blessings,

Larry Barkdull