1 Nephi 11:24-36
11:24-25 - I don't know if this vision was legitimately this confusing or if it's just the way that it was recorded, but it seems to have pieces of different stories all occurring at the same time and it is hard to follow. In 24, Nephi sees the Savior during his ministry, then he sees the rod of iron leading to the tree of life, which he also describes as the fountain of living waters. All 3 of those elements occurring in the same plane is difficult to put together. Another reason why this might not make sense to me is because this was Nephi's vision and as we learned earlier, I believe that Nephi has a unique learning style. Plus in our day, we have knowledge of what happened during Jesus' ministry, but Nephi didn't have any background information so seeing all these elements together this way might have been what he needed to put it all together.
11:26-27 - "Look and behold the condescension of God!" One thing that bothers me about the way we are taught about baptism is that there is so much focus on "washing away your sins." When my daughter turned 8 and was going to be baptized, I talked to her a lot about why we do this, what's the point and really the only concept that she had been taught in Primary was that she needed her sins washed away. This didn't make sense to me, since the age of accountability is 8 years old, she was incapable of being held accountable for her own sins, so she was a clean vessel, so being baptized for the sake of being washed clean isn't it, especially for children. I guess that comes out wrong, I don't mean it's not an amazing gift, because it absolutely is, but having your sins forgiven isn't the sole purpose of baptism. Baptism is making a commitment to the Lord and living a righteous life according to the commandments. It's receiving the Lord's promises in return. It's the beginning of a new life, a new dedication. But it's also a saving ordinance, required for all. Jesus was sinless in life and was truly always dedicated to his Father's work. So he had no need to wash away his sins, I guess he could have made an even deeper commitment to his Father's service, but I think that Jesus was baptized because it is a covenant with his father, and because it is an ordinance. He told John the Baptist that it was to fulfill al righteousness and I never really knew what that meant, but now it makes more sense looking at it from more than just a sins are forgiven thing. Coming to a man (John) who was far beneath himself in terms of spiritual status and righteousness (because really, who is as awesome as Jesus,) and asking that man to provide you with a saving ordinance is truly the act of descending below your rightful place in the kingdom. And then the Holy Ghost appears as a dove, must have been a different sight to behold, especially since the was talking with the Holy Ghost at the time.
11:28-29 - I listened to either an Ensign article or General Conference address which discussed the difference between priesthood power and priesthood authority. Jesus had the authority from his father to do all his works, but the power to do so probably wasn't just given to him. I need to look more into Jesus' life from his perspective through the D&C. It would seem to me that, just like men who have to live worthy to have power in the priesthood, Jesus would have had to build that type of power within himself as well. Sure I think that it was probably augmented quite a bit but probably on a scale that I am not able to understand at this time. Kind of like yes, Jesus was a God but also a mortal, I don't really understand how he was both, or rather, how that worked in him personally, if that makes sense. I wonder why the 12 apostles were taken away from Nephi that he didn't see them. I had heard, I don't remember where, that the 12 apostles were going to be the ones doing some of the judgement on judgement day at the end of the world. But that always confused me because there have been lots of 12 apostles. Israelite ones, Nephite ones, other's we probably don't know about, our modern day apostles etc. I wonder if it was the number 12 that was significant and not the actual individual people.
11:30-34 - I don't understand the angels coming down to minister to the people. Everything else is pretty straightforward and I get the reference, but this I really don't. Nephi says that the angel showed and told him all of this, so I guess he was getting like a narrated tour. He sees Jesus heal and perform all manner of miracles with power. And then he saw Jesus' trial and execution and it must have been abhorrent to Nephi or so bizarre that he thought we might not believe him because he says at least twice that he bears record of it. I would think that in today's terms that would be like someone saying "I swear" after telling an outrageous story. Thinking about it the way Nephi saw it, it wouldn't make sense that after all those miracles and great works, how a people could just kill the literal Son of God. I guess any way you look at it, it doesn't make sense. Then after he is killed, the rest of the world fight against his apostles, or his gospel and that is where the apostasy comes in.
11:35-36 - Then it goes from the life and death of Christ to the great and spacious building and the great fall of it. Jesus is killed, then the wicked in the world are destroyed. Just looking at it superficially, wouldn't you think that after Jesus was killed, the wicked would be partying it up like they won? Even though they didn't win anything, it would seem like a temporary victory. And that's what I've always thought, but it occurs to me that if you look at Christ's death in terms of the atonement, as soon as he died and his spirit left his body, the atonement was finished and satan was defeated. So superficially it would appear to be a great moment for the wicked, but in fact, this was the last and most devastating blow that was dealt to the devil. So looking at it that way, it makes complete sense that when Jesus died, all the wicked were destroyed through the completion of the atonement.
11:26-27 - "Look and behold the condescension of God!" One thing that bothers me about the way we are taught about baptism is that there is so much focus on "washing away your sins." When my daughter turned 8 and was going to be baptized, I talked to her a lot about why we do this, what's the point and really the only concept that she had been taught in Primary was that she needed her sins washed away. This didn't make sense to me, since the age of accountability is 8 years old, she was incapable of being held accountable for her own sins, so she was a clean vessel, so being baptized for the sake of being washed clean isn't it, especially for children. I guess that comes out wrong, I don't mean it's not an amazing gift, because it absolutely is, but having your sins forgiven isn't the sole purpose of baptism. Baptism is making a commitment to the Lord and living a righteous life according to the commandments. It's receiving the Lord's promises in return. It's the beginning of a new life, a new dedication. But it's also a saving ordinance, required for all. Jesus was sinless in life and was truly always dedicated to his Father's work. So he had no need to wash away his sins, I guess he could have made an even deeper commitment to his Father's service, but I think that Jesus was baptized because it is a covenant with his father, and because it is an ordinance. He told John the Baptist that it was to fulfill al righteousness and I never really knew what that meant, but now it makes more sense looking at it from more than just a sins are forgiven thing. Coming to a man (John) who was far beneath himself in terms of spiritual status and righteousness (because really, who is as awesome as Jesus,) and asking that man to provide you with a saving ordinance is truly the act of descending below your rightful place in the kingdom. And then the Holy Ghost appears as a dove, must have been a different sight to behold, especially since the was talking with the Holy Ghost at the time.
11:28-29 - I listened to either an Ensign article or General Conference address which discussed the difference between priesthood power and priesthood authority. Jesus had the authority from his father to do all his works, but the power to do so probably wasn't just given to him. I need to look more into Jesus' life from his perspective through the D&C. It would seem to me that, just like men who have to live worthy to have power in the priesthood, Jesus would have had to build that type of power within himself as well. Sure I think that it was probably augmented quite a bit but probably on a scale that I am not able to understand at this time. Kind of like yes, Jesus was a God but also a mortal, I don't really understand how he was both, or rather, how that worked in him personally, if that makes sense. I wonder why the 12 apostles were taken away from Nephi that he didn't see them. I had heard, I don't remember where, that the 12 apostles were going to be the ones doing some of the judgement on judgement day at the end of the world. But that always confused me because there have been lots of 12 apostles. Israelite ones, Nephite ones, other's we probably don't know about, our modern day apostles etc. I wonder if it was the number 12 that was significant and not the actual individual people.
11:30-34 - I don't understand the angels coming down to minister to the people. Everything else is pretty straightforward and I get the reference, but this I really don't. Nephi says that the angel showed and told him all of this, so I guess he was getting like a narrated tour. He sees Jesus heal and perform all manner of miracles with power. And then he saw Jesus' trial and execution and it must have been abhorrent to Nephi or so bizarre that he thought we might not believe him because he says at least twice that he bears record of it. I would think that in today's terms that would be like someone saying "I swear" after telling an outrageous story. Thinking about it the way Nephi saw it, it wouldn't make sense that after all those miracles and great works, how a people could just kill the literal Son of God. I guess any way you look at it, it doesn't make sense. Then after he is killed, the rest of the world fight against his apostles, or his gospel and that is where the apostasy comes in.
11:35-36 - Then it goes from the life and death of Christ to the great and spacious building and the great fall of it. Jesus is killed, then the wicked in the world are destroyed. Just looking at it superficially, wouldn't you think that after Jesus was killed, the wicked would be partying it up like they won? Even though they didn't win anything, it would seem like a temporary victory. And that's what I've always thought, but it occurs to me that if you look at Christ's death in terms of the atonement, as soon as he died and his spirit left his body, the atonement was finished and satan was defeated. So superficially it would appear to be a great moment for the wicked, but in fact, this was the last and most devastating blow that was dealt to the devil. So looking at it that way, it makes complete sense that when Jesus died, all the wicked were destroyed through the completion of the atonement.
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