What Happens
"Jacob explains that the Jews will be gathered in all their lands of promise—The Atonement ransoms man from the Fall—The bodies of the dead will come forth from the grave, and their spirits from hell and from paradise—They will be judged—The Atonement saves from death, hell, the devil, and endless torment—The righteous are to be saved in the kingdom of God—Penalties for sins are set forth—The Holy One of Israel is the keeper of the gate."
2 Nephi 9 Chapter Heading
Commentary
In our last episode, Jacob was preaching to the people of Nephi, and was reading to them from Isaiah. In this chapter, he tells us why he was reading from Isaiah, and continues his sermon.
The reason that he gives for reading from Isaiah is so that everyone will know the covenants that the Lord has made with the house of Israel (verse 1), and so that we can rejoice that we are part of that promise (verse 3). (Incidentally, this applies to everyone who is willing to accept the gospel. In Genesis 26:4 God tells Abraham "in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." So, if we aren't already a part of the Abrahamic covenant, we can choose to be.)
Jacob goes into the Fall, the Atonement, and Resurrection, talking about how death came into the world, and how that problem was solved through the Atonement, and then in verses 8-12 he alternates between praising God for how cool all of this is, and explaining it a bit more. :)
I really like when he gets into some of the details of the resurrection, talking about how our new bodies will be immortal and that we will have a perfect knowledge (verse 13). Immortality is awesome. The idea of perfect knowledge is too, but God warns us that perfect knowledge can be a double-edged sword. We could have a perfect knowledge of awesome things, or a perfect knowledge of awful things (like guilt in verse 14), and a large part of that has to do with our actions and our ability to repent. I think this whole idea of perfect knowledge really helps us to understand why we would want to keep our minds clean. You don't want back up storage of sewage to suddenly be always there in our minds, not to mention how it will feel to face God with anything like that between us. Good reminder of how much we need repentance.
Verse 15 talks about the Judgment, and I like that it gives some detail about how it happens after the resurrection rather than instantly after death. The whole idea of restoration is explained as well. It's almost like working with clay and then firing it... we solidify into what we have become at that point, but until then, we are still being shaped. It shows us the importance of repentance, change, and of being who we truly want to be, because when we get to that point, we are what we have chosen. And I really can't imagine getting to that point and being something that we never wanted to be... how important to make good choices. I love this part of verse 18: "their joy shall be full forever." Eternal happiness sounds pretty awesome. :)
The verses after this get into praising God for his mercy and holiness, which is definitely awesome... I think the core of this might be in verse 20 where it talks about how God knows all things... which is how he could see the danger that we were going to be in if we tried to become like him, and why he set up his whole plan to save us in the first place. Sometimes this can get over our heads, but the way I think of it is just like regular parents. They have a child and they can see ahead and know that later in life the child is probably going to need some job skills and a way to earn money, and so starts investing so that they can send them to college. The kid doesn't have to go, but the money is there because the parents were able to plan ahead for something they could see coming. God's foreknowledge is much, much bigger and more detailed, and his plan is much more comprehensive.... but the idea is similar, and sometimes that helps me get my head around it. :)
Verses 21 and 22 are explaining the atonement, and I like the simplicity of it. He suffered for all of us so that we could be resurrected. Of course there is more complexity, and this chapter explains a lot of things about law, punishment, justice, and more. One of my favorite parts is verses 28-29, talking about how frail we are and how easily we fall into Satan's traps. "When [we] are learned [we] think [we] are wise," and we stop listening to God. On the other hand, if we DO listen to God, then being learned is good. ... And aren't most things like that? Without God, it is all fail, but with him, everything is better.
We get a similar vibe in the next verses, talking about the rich, the deaf, the blind, and "the uncircumcised of heart." The rich because of where their hearts are, and the deaf and the blind because they choose not to hear, and see. I also think the heart image is amazing... we know that the natural man is an enemy to God, and we have to bridle our passions, and I think that is the idea here. We have to edit our own hearts if we want to tell the story of who we truly want to be. Just gushing out whatever we find there makes us essential three year olds, right? Throwing tantrums and demanding our way. Becoming circumcised of heart means letting go of that anger and pain that we feel from finding out that the world isn't there to cater to us, and instead embracing the gospel and helping others. Finding out what a blessing it is to be other-focused rather than always focusing inwardly on our own needs and desires.
Verse 38 talks about the tragedy of dying in our sins and returning to God in that state. Imagine being the way we are for eternity... all those things that we meant to do, or to change remaining undone. We should probably step it up a little. I like that Jacob seems to feel bad about all the negative stuff (verse 40), warning us of our sins and reminding us of the awfulness of it (verse 39), but it is clear that he is speaking the words of God, and that his whole goal (like God's) is to save us... to turn us to God, to get us to take action and learn to communicate with him and to seek his counsel.
Jacob says "Prepare your souls for that glorious day" speaking of the Judgment Day, which I also liked. We don't usually think of the Judgment as a really positive time, probably because we are scared that we aren't doing enough... which is fair. But Jacob with that one word I think causes us to imagine the other side of some of what he is saying. He speaks of shrinking with fear and guilt on that day, but he also causes us to remember that it doesn't have to be that way. It could be gloriously happy. He makes us long for the words that he hints at in verse 48: "if ye were holy I would speak unto you of holiness" and we want to know those words, rather than being stuck facing these ones again.
And just at that moment when we are longing to escape from ourselves, Jacob gives us that invitation in verses 50 and 51, and reminds us that it isn't as hard as we are making it out to be. We just have to go to God, accept his gifts... pray to and thank him, and allow our hearts to rejoice. This is huge, because it reminds us that we keep getting in the way of our own happiness. That is all that God wants for us, but we resist because we think that we know better, or we want to look cool, or whatever other reason... but if we could just let go of that pride and that self-focus that keeps tripping us up, we could be so much happier, and we could find our way through our obstacles, and even overcome our own weaknesses with God's help.
Jacob lets us rest here, but promises to tell us more tomorrow... and we're sort of glad, because that was a lot to process. Tune in next time as Jacob's Sermon continues.
"Jacob explains that the Jews will be gathered in all their lands of promise—The Atonement ransoms man from the Fall—The bodies of the dead will come forth from the grave, and their spirits from hell and from paradise—They will be judged—The Atonement saves from death, hell, the devil, and endless torment—The righteous are to be saved in the kingdom of God—Penalties for sins are set forth—The Holy One of Israel is the keeper of the gate."
2 Nephi 9 Chapter Heading
Commentary
In our last episode, Jacob was preaching to the people of Nephi, and was reading to them from Isaiah. In this chapter, he tells us why he was reading from Isaiah, and continues his sermon.
The reason that he gives for reading from Isaiah is so that everyone will know the covenants that the Lord has made with the house of Israel (verse 1), and so that we can rejoice that we are part of that promise (verse 3). (Incidentally, this applies to everyone who is willing to accept the gospel. In Genesis 26:4 God tells Abraham "in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." So, if we aren't already a part of the Abrahamic covenant, we can choose to be.)
Jacob goes into the Fall, the Atonement, and Resurrection, talking about how death came into the world, and how that problem was solved through the Atonement, and then in verses 8-12 he alternates between praising God for how cool all of this is, and explaining it a bit more. :)
I really like when he gets into some of the details of the resurrection, talking about how our new bodies will be immortal and that we will have a perfect knowledge (verse 13). Immortality is awesome. The idea of perfect knowledge is too, but God warns us that perfect knowledge can be a double-edged sword. We could have a perfect knowledge of awesome things, or a perfect knowledge of awful things (like guilt in verse 14), and a large part of that has to do with our actions and our ability to repent. I think this whole idea of perfect knowledge really helps us to understand why we would want to keep our minds clean. You don't want back up storage of sewage to suddenly be always there in our minds, not to mention how it will feel to face God with anything like that between us. Good reminder of how much we need repentance.
Verse 15 talks about the Judgment, and I like that it gives some detail about how it happens after the resurrection rather than instantly after death. The whole idea of restoration is explained as well. It's almost like working with clay and then firing it... we solidify into what we have become at that point, but until then, we are still being shaped. It shows us the importance of repentance, change, and of being who we truly want to be, because when we get to that point, we are what we have chosen. And I really can't imagine getting to that point and being something that we never wanted to be... how important to make good choices. I love this part of verse 18: "their joy shall be full forever." Eternal happiness sounds pretty awesome. :)
The verses after this get into praising God for his mercy and holiness, which is definitely awesome... I think the core of this might be in verse 20 where it talks about how God knows all things... which is how he could see the danger that we were going to be in if we tried to become like him, and why he set up his whole plan to save us in the first place. Sometimes this can get over our heads, but the way I think of it is just like regular parents. They have a child and they can see ahead and know that later in life the child is probably going to need some job skills and a way to earn money, and so starts investing so that they can send them to college. The kid doesn't have to go, but the money is there because the parents were able to plan ahead for something they could see coming. God's foreknowledge is much, much bigger and more detailed, and his plan is much more comprehensive.... but the idea is similar, and sometimes that helps me get my head around it. :)
Verses 21 and 22 are explaining the atonement, and I like the simplicity of it. He suffered for all of us so that we could be resurrected. Of course there is more complexity, and this chapter explains a lot of things about law, punishment, justice, and more. One of my favorite parts is verses 28-29, talking about how frail we are and how easily we fall into Satan's traps. "When [we] are learned [we] think [we] are wise," and we stop listening to God. On the other hand, if we DO listen to God, then being learned is good. ... And aren't most things like that? Without God, it is all fail, but with him, everything is better.
We get a similar vibe in the next verses, talking about the rich, the deaf, the blind, and "the uncircumcised of heart." The rich because of where their hearts are, and the deaf and the blind because they choose not to hear, and see. I also think the heart image is amazing... we know that the natural man is an enemy to God, and we have to bridle our passions, and I think that is the idea here. We have to edit our own hearts if we want to tell the story of who we truly want to be. Just gushing out whatever we find there makes us essential three year olds, right? Throwing tantrums and demanding our way. Becoming circumcised of heart means letting go of that anger and pain that we feel from finding out that the world isn't there to cater to us, and instead embracing the gospel and helping others. Finding out what a blessing it is to be other-focused rather than always focusing inwardly on our own needs and desires.
Verse 38 talks about the tragedy of dying in our sins and returning to God in that state. Imagine being the way we are for eternity... all those things that we meant to do, or to change remaining undone. We should probably step it up a little. I like that Jacob seems to feel bad about all the negative stuff (verse 40), warning us of our sins and reminding us of the awfulness of it (verse 39), but it is clear that he is speaking the words of God, and that his whole goal (like God's) is to save us... to turn us to God, to get us to take action and learn to communicate with him and to seek his counsel.
Jacob says "Prepare your souls for that glorious day" speaking of the Judgment Day, which I also liked. We don't usually think of the Judgment as a really positive time, probably because we are scared that we aren't doing enough... which is fair. But Jacob with that one word I think causes us to imagine the other side of some of what he is saying. He speaks of shrinking with fear and guilt on that day, but he also causes us to remember that it doesn't have to be that way. It could be gloriously happy. He makes us long for the words that he hints at in verse 48: "if ye were holy I would speak unto you of holiness" and we want to know those words, rather than being stuck facing these ones again.
And just at that moment when we are longing to escape from ourselves, Jacob gives us that invitation in verses 50 and 51, and reminds us that it isn't as hard as we are making it out to be. We just have to go to God, accept his gifts... pray to and thank him, and allow our hearts to rejoice. This is huge, because it reminds us that we keep getting in the way of our own happiness. That is all that God wants for us, but we resist because we think that we know better, or we want to look cool, or whatever other reason... but if we could just let go of that pride and that self-focus that keeps tripping us up, we could be so much happier, and we could find our way through our obstacles, and even overcome our own weaknesses with God's help.
Jacob lets us rest here, but promises to tell us more tomorrow... and we're sort of glad, because that was a lot to process. Tune in next time as Jacob's Sermon continues.
