Hark All Ye Nations
(Cowdust, have you been paying attention to the fact that many of the recent posts have come from our little competition? Here's another. :) )
I tend to think that usually, if the Lord feels the need to repeat something three times in its entirety, it's probably pretty important. Here's one of those things. "Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their faces towards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me." (Isaiah 49:22-23, 1 Nephi 21:22-23, 2 Nephi 6:6-7)
I have no idea what that means. But thankfully, Nephi expounded slightly for us. "Behold these things of which are spoken are temporal; for thus are the covenants of the Lord with our fathers; and it meaneth us in the days to come, and also all our brethren who are of the house of Israel. And it meaneth that the time cometh that after all the house of Israel have been scattered and confounded, that the Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles, yea, even upon the face of this land; and by them shall our seed be scattered. And after our seed is scattered the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed; wherefore, it is likened unto their being nourished by the Gentiles and being carried in their arms and upon their shoulders. And it shall also be of worth unto the Gentiles; and not only unto the Gentiles but unto all the house of Israel, unto the making known of the covenants of the Father of heaven unto Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed" (1 Nephi 22:6-9).
Okay, so I think I get that it's talking about the restoration of the gospel in the latter days. So why so important, what is the purpose of reminding us so forcibly three times with the exact same wording? I don't really have an answer to this, but as I was pondering on the significance of these verses, I was reminded of a CES fireside talk by Elder Jeffrey R Holland given in September of 2004. He said, "One way or another, I think virtually all of the prophets and early apostles had their visionary moments of our time--a view that gave them courage in their own less-successful eras. Those early brethren knew an amazing amount about us. Prophets such as Moses, Nephi, and the brother of Jared saw the latter days in tremendously detailed vision. Some of what they saw wasn't pleasing, but surely all those earlier generations took heart from knowing that there would finally be one dispensation that would not fail. Ours, not theirs, was the day that gave them 'heavenly and joyful anticipations' and caused them to sing and prophesy of victory. Ours is the day, collectively speaking, toward which the prophets have been looking from the beginning of time, and those earlier brethren are over there still cheering us on! In a very real way, their chance to consider themselves fully successful depends on our faithfulness and our victory. I love the idea of going into the battle of the last days representing Alma and Abinadi and what they pled for and representing Peter and Paul and the sacrifices they made.”
Somehow I think that makes a bit of a connection with me. It's so important because this is the dispensation of the fullness of times. The restoration of the gospel for the final time is a glorious event, one worth talking about and preparing for. If anyone else has more ideas on this, I'd love to hear them. Please share, I'm still learning about these verses.
I tend to think that usually, if the Lord feels the need to repeat something three times in its entirety, it's probably pretty important. Here's one of those things. "Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their faces towards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me." (Isaiah 49:22-23, 1 Nephi 21:22-23, 2 Nephi 6:6-7)
I have no idea what that means. But thankfully, Nephi expounded slightly for us. "Behold these things of which are spoken are temporal; for thus are the covenants of the Lord with our fathers; and it meaneth us in the days to come, and also all our brethren who are of the house of Israel. And it meaneth that the time cometh that after all the house of Israel have been scattered and confounded, that the Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles, yea, even upon the face of this land; and by them shall our seed be scattered. And after our seed is scattered the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed; wherefore, it is likened unto their being nourished by the Gentiles and being carried in their arms and upon their shoulders. And it shall also be of worth unto the Gentiles; and not only unto the Gentiles but unto all the house of Israel, unto the making known of the covenants of the Father of heaven unto Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed" (1 Nephi 22:6-9).
Okay, so I think I get that it's talking about the restoration of the gospel in the latter days. So why so important, what is the purpose of reminding us so forcibly three times with the exact same wording? I don't really have an answer to this, but as I was pondering on the significance of these verses, I was reminded of a CES fireside talk by Elder Jeffrey R Holland given in September of 2004. He said, "One way or another, I think virtually all of the prophets and early apostles had their visionary moments of our time--a view that gave them courage in their own less-successful eras. Those early brethren knew an amazing amount about us. Prophets such as Moses, Nephi, and the brother of Jared saw the latter days in tremendously detailed vision. Some of what they saw wasn't pleasing, but surely all those earlier generations took heart from knowing that there would finally be one dispensation that would not fail. Ours, not theirs, was the day that gave them 'heavenly and joyful anticipations' and caused them to sing and prophesy of victory. Ours is the day, collectively speaking, toward which the prophets have been looking from the beginning of time, and those earlier brethren are over there still cheering us on! In a very real way, their chance to consider themselves fully successful depends on our faithfulness and our victory. I love the idea of going into the battle of the last days representing Alma and Abinadi and what they pled for and representing Peter and Paul and the sacrifices they made.”
Somehow I think that makes a bit of a connection with me. It's so important because this is the dispensation of the fullness of times. The restoration of the gospel for the final time is a glorious event, one worth talking about and preparing for. If anyone else has more ideas on this, I'd love to hear them. Please share, I'm still learning about these verses.
posted by Chicken Dust at 8:32 PM
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