D&C 29:26-50

29:26-29 - Here we have more information on the Millennium and the resurrection. The Lord says that “before the earth shall pass away, Michael, mine archangel, shall sound his trump, and then shall all the dead awake, for their graves shall be opened, and they shall come forth- yea, even all.” Concerning Michael sounding his trump, the IM teaches, “Michael, who is Adam, holds the keys of salvation for the human family, under the direction and counsel of Jesus Christ, who is the Holy One of Zion. Adam will, when the earth is cleansed and purified and becomes a celestial globe, preside over the children of men, who are of his posterity. He is Adam, ‘the prince, the arch-angel.’ In the eternities before this earth was formed he was the arch-angel. He became Adam when he came to this earth to be the father of the human family. The Prophet Joseph Smith said of Adam: ‘Commencing with Adam, who was the first man, who is spoken of is Daniel as the ‘Ancient of Days,’ or in other words, the first and oldest of all, the great progenitor of whom it is said in another place is Michael… Adam holds the keys of all the dispensations of the fullness of times, i.e. the dispensations of all times have been and will be revealed through him from the beginning.” The Lord continues that he will tell the wicked “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” The IM teaches, “The wicked referred to here are cast into ‘everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ There is a close parallel between Doctrine and Covenants 29:28 and Doctrine and Covenants 76:36. The Lord indicated that He has never said that they should return; rather, He has said that they cannot come where He is, and they have no power, meaning that the power of the Spirit is completely withdrawn from them. All of this additional information indicates that those spoken of here suffer the second death and are sons of perdition.” There is an interesting teaching that comes next when the Lord says, “But remember that all my judgments are not given unto men.” The IM comments on this saying, “Man in his mortal condition, with very limited understanding and imperfect character, is in no position to fully understand the judgments of God, who is perfect and omniscient. God does not reveal all of His judgments and the reasons for His actions. It is certain, however, that all God’s judgments are just and right. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that ‘He(God) holds the reins of judgment in His hands; He is a wise lawgiver, and will judge all men, not according to the narrow, contracted notions of men, but, according to the deeds done in the body whether they be good or evil.’ … He will judge them, ‘not according to what they have not, but according to what they have,’ those who have lived without law, will be judged without law, and those who have a law, will be judged by that law. We need not doubt the wisdom and intelligence of the Great Jehovah; He will award judgment or mercy to all nations according to their several deserts, their means of obtaining intelligence, the laws by which they are governed, the facilities afforded them of obtaining correct information, and His inscrutable designs of God shall be made manifest, and the curtain of futurity be withdrawn, we shall all of us eventually have to confess that the Judge of all the earth has done right.” This is a concept that is really fascinated me, one that I have definitely learned the hard way. I’ve learned the hard way to follow Prophetic counsel even when I don’t understand, to follow personal revelation and spiritual promptings, even when I don’t want to. I’ve learned that if I ask Heavenly Father to help me understand a principle that I struggle with, He will help me, but first I have to obey. The model for my life is first I obey, then comes the lesson, sometimes years later, but the lesson still comes, then I understand more fully, but he doesn’t usually explain the lesson to me before I am obedient, only afterward. This is what builds faith, the obedience then the understanding. 29:30-39 - We come to another concept that I find really interesting and that I’ve also struggled with, and that is the connection between all things, temporal and spiritual. The Lord says that he created all things spiritually first, them temporally. This has always been interesting to me because I think it means that all the plants and animals were spiritual beings first, I imagine this earth as a spiritual creation and wonder what it would have looked like, what it would have sounded and smelled like. In conjunction with that the Lord continues, “all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal.” The first time I heard this was surprising to me, because I think about all the commandments that seem temporal, such as tithing, the word of wisdom, self-reliance, modesty, etc. and all of those seem pretty temporal to me, but if he’s telling us that this are spiritual commandments then I have to stop and think, how is it spiritual? What is the connection? For instance, the word of wisdom might seem like a temporal commandment, but the Lord is telling us that by keeping our bodies healthy, we are also able to keep our spirits healthy and able to thrive. It’s really an interesting concept. The IM teaches, “When the Lord created the earth, He first created all things spiritually. After the Fall all things became temporal. At the end of the earth, the temporal will again become spiritual. Thus, in the beginning things were spiritual first and temporal second. In the end things will be temporal first and spiritual second. These expressions are given by the Lord only for the sake of man’s understanding in mortality, however. From God’s point of view there is neither beginning nor end, and all things are spiritual. Man makes a distinction between temporal and spiritual laws, and some are very much concerned about keeping the two separate. To the Lord everything is both spiritual and temporal, and the laws He gives are consequently spiritual, because they concern spiritual beings. When He commanded Adam to eat bread in the sweat of his brown, or Moses to strike the rock that the people might drink, or the Prophet Joseph to erect the Nauvoo House, of the Saints in Utah to build fences and roads, such laws were for their spiritual welfare, as well as physical. To obey such laws, when given, is a spiritual duty. One who performs his daily labor ‘as to the Lord, and not to men’ derives spiritual benefit from whatever his duties are.’” Very well explained, and it makes sense that all things we do, eat, drink, work, play, etc. we can do with a mind towards God and his will or a mind facing ourselves with selfishness. We could focus on making all our duties to glorify God or to satisfy ourselves, and that is not just going to church or not, it’s serving others, praying, having a good attitude, being kind, we do all those things in all aspects of our lives, these are all ways in which we can serve God or serve ourselves. Verse 36 has come pretty interesting implications in it, saying, “And it came to pass that Adam, being tempted of the devil- for, behold, the devil was before Adam, for he rebelled against me, saying, Give me think honor, which is my power, and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency.” DJR comments that one point of doctrine here is that “the ultimate source of God’s power is His honor and integrity.” This is a pretty abstract concept and I don’t really understand it all that much, but interestingly, just today I heard an article from the June 2015 Ensign entitled “Divine attributes of Jesus Christ: Virtue” which ends the article saying, “Through His virtue, Christ can heal, enable, strengthen, comfort, and cheer when we choose with courage and faith to reach out to Him.” I was really perplexed with this idea because I don’t understand how the virtue of the Savior can allow Him to do all these things. It would seem that virtue, in this sense, is not a noun describing one aspect of the Lord’s character, but instead seems like a verb, a word that describes action and behavior. So I guess that begs the question, how is virtue an action word? The second doctrinal point in verse 36 is that, according to DJR, “we had agency in premortality.” He explains saying, “some people wonder to what extent we had agency in our premortal life as spirit children of our Heavenly Parents. The answer is that we were given knowledge and agency there, such that we could make choices, make mistakes, repent, be forgiven, and thus make progress there. In other words, our situation there was very similar to our situation here in mortality. It had to be, in order for us to progress there. A summary of this is given in the New Testament student manual, used in our institutes of religion, as follows: ‘We were given laws and agency, and commandments to have faith and repent from the wrongs that we could do there. ‘Man could and did in many instances, sin before he was born…’ In conjunction with the above quote, it is important to note that the Atonement of Christ is infinite, and thus operated for us there in premortality also. A quote from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, in which he speaks of things we might think about during the sacrament, verified this as follows: ‘We could remember that even in the Grand Council of Heaven (held in premortality) He loved us and was wonderfully strong, that we triumphed even there by the power of Christ and our faith in the blood of the Lamb.’” This is another concept that can be confusing to people, and even though I didn’t really put my thoughts to word very much before, it would make sense that if a third of the hosts of heaven chose to follow Satan instead of Christ, it would be implied that there was agency, because Satan couldn’t force anyone to follow him, and Heavenly Father wouldn’t ever force any of his children to be forced into basic slavery to fulfill the need of tempters for his other children. They had to choose, and interestingly in my patriarchal blessing there’s a phrase about myself and others having the opportunity to make choices in the premortal world. I wonder at what point Satan realized that his choices were what facilitated the plan of salvation for others? I wonder at what point Satan realized that not only did he not destroy God’s plan, but he enabled it to happen? That must have been a bitter day for him, and it’s sad really. Satan facilitated God’s plan by providing the rest of us with temptations, which is crucial to our eternal progression, as the Lord says in verse 39, “And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet.” I think that back in the war in heaven, one of Lucifer’s arguments was that we couldn’t progress without opposition, and since he had not fallen at that point, he didn’t see how that opposition was to be provided, and because he didn’t understand that he himself would provide that role, he couldn’t understand how the plan would work. I think that’s one way that he led others astray, probably saying something like “we must have opposition in order for us to choose the right, but there is no opposition provided! God can’t do it! He can’t fulfill his plan!” And many people believed him, whereas the rest of us probably looked at that argument and thought, “I don’t know how the opposition will be happen, but God will provide.” And that’s how we were able to reconcile that with ourselves, and ultimately, God did provide, and that Satan who argued that point so vehemently was the one who ultimately fulfilled that purpose. It seems like Satan was a victim of the saying, “many meet their destiny on the road they take to avoid it.” 29:40-45 - Going more in depth with Satan’s role of the plan of salvation and the fall, the Lord continues, “Wherefore, it came to pass that the devil tempted Adam, and he partook of the forbidden fruit and transgressed the commandment, wherein he became subject to the will of the devil, because he yielded unto temptation.” DJR quotes Elder John A. Widtsoe as teaching, “Such was the problem before our first parents: to remain forever at selfish ease in the Garden of Eden, or to face unselfishly tribulation and death, in bringing to pass the purposes of the Lord for a host of waiting spiritual children. They chose the latter… This they did with open eyes and minds as to consequences. The memory of their former estates may have been dimmed, but the gospel had been taught them during their sojourn in the Garden of Eden… the choice that they made raises Adan and Eve to preeminence among all who have come on earth.” He also quotes the Encyclopedia of Mormonism as saying, “Satan was present to tempt Adam and Eve, must as he would try to thwart others in their divine missions: ‘and he sought also to beguiled Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world.’ Eve faced the choice between selfish ease and unselfishly facing tribulation and death. As befit her calling, she realized that there was no other way and deliberately chose mortal life so as to further the purpose of God and bring children into the world.” He also asks “Was Adam and Eve’s partaking of the fruit a sin?” And answers by quoting Elder Joseph Fielding Smith as teaching, “What did Adam do? The very thing the Lord wanted him to do; and I hate to hear anybody call it a sin, for it wasn’t a sin… I see a great different between transgressing the law and committing a sin. If it wasn’t a sin, then why did the Lord ‘curse’ them for doing it? … When Adam was driven out of the Garden of Eden, the Lord passed a sentence upon him. Some people have looked upon that sentence as being a dreadful thing. It was not; it was a blessing. In order for mankind to obtain salvation and exaltation it is necessary for them to obtain bodies in this world, and pass through the experiences and school that are found only in mortality… The fall of man came as a blessing in disguise, and was the means of furthering the purposes of the Lord in the progress of man, rather than a means of hindering them.” I always thought that when Adam and Eve ate the fruit, that they did so with a complete non understanding of what they were getting themselves into. I guess maybe they knew that somethings were going to change, were going to be different, but I always thought that they had no idea just how bad it was going to be. This seems to imply that they had a much greater knowledge of exactly what they were getting themselves into when they chose to eat the fruit, knowing that they would have to leave the garden. The idea that they made a conscious choice to fall into mortality, leave the garden, and suffer through life is much more comforting to me. Sometimes I feel like I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into when I decided to venture into this mortality, that maybe I made a mistake. But I know that the me from the premortal world would disagree, would say that it would be worth it, and I know that that “me” is right, that it will be worth it, but because I live here with blinders on, it’s hard to see a happy outcome. Thinking that maybe Adam and Eve would have thought that leaving the garden was a mistake, makes me question my own choice to come here, but thinking that they thought that it was worth it, not only before they fell but afterward when they knew how hard it was going to be, that makes me feel more confident in my choice, feel more assuredly that it is going to be worth it after all. This sentiment must have been more common than I thought because the Lord follows in verse 43, “And this did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man the days of his probation- that by his natural death he might be raised in immortality unto eternal life, even as many as would believe. And unto they that believe not unto eternal damnation; for they cannot be redeemed from their spiritual fall, because they repent not; for they love darkness rather than light, and their deeds are evil, and they receive their wages of whom they list to obey.” Coming to this life guarantees that we will be given resurrected, immortal bodies, but our willingness to repent is what determines if we are resurrected and given eternal life, or God’s life, or if we will be “damned” or stopped in our eternal progress. This is comforting to me, knowing that whether or not I’m saved is up to me, knowing that no one will be begging Jesus to let them repent and be turned away, but rather it will probably be the Lord begging them to repent and be saved. That’s the beauty of the Atonement. Satan makes us believe that God is a cold-hearted monster, that he will not allow us to be saved despite our deepest desires, but in fact the opposite is true, I read something recently that said something to the effect of “The Lord’s work of salvation will not be complete while there is still one soul willing to repent.” That was very powerful and comforting, it shows the true character of God, and I’m grateful for it. 29:46-50 – Considering that the infant mortality rate has historically been at least 50%, what happens to little children is on the forefront of every parent’s mind. Also thinking about JS’s personal family issues, this would probably have been very tender doctrine to him and Emma as well, as they lost something like 7 of their 11 children to death as babies. The Lord gives this incredible doctrine saying, “But behold, I say unto you, that little children are redeemed from the foundation of the world through mine Only Begotten; Wherefore, they cannot sin, for power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children, until they begin to become accountable before me.” I imagine JS weeping as this doctrine sunk in and he more fully understood it. The IM quotes President Joseph Fielding Smith as teaching, “through the atonement of Jesus Christ all little children are redeemed, for they cannot sin, and the power is not given to Satan to tempt them. The question naturally may arise as to the meaning of the words of the Lord that ‘little children are redeemed through the Only Begotten.’ This does not mean that redemption was mode for them before, or at, the foundation of the world, but at that time when the plan of salvation was received provision was made for the redemption of little children and also for those who are without the law, and this was consummated in the atonement made by Jesus Christ.” DJR comments, “Perhaps you have wondered if the above means that little children will be saved in the celestial kingdom, lowest degree, or if it means that they will gain exaltation. The answer is that they will receive exaltation, which is the highest degree of glory in the celestial kingdom. President Joseph F. Smith taught that they ‘will inherit their exaltation.’ Thus, we understand that they will have the opportunity to choose a spouse, perhaps in the spirit world or during the Millennium, will be sealed together by proxies during the Millennium, and will enter celestial glory as husbands and wives in their own family units, and live forever as gods, having their own spirit offspring and creating worlds for them.” There is so much that I don’t understand about infant mortality, why don’t they have to live in mortality? Why do we? Who are they? Did we know them before? Do they know us? Are they helping us from the other side? Why us and not them? I think about the numbers, the immensity of people that never really ventured too far into this world, about who they are and what they are doing, and what they did before that negated their need for this life. I’ve gotten much more insight into this as my nephew was stillborn last December and that was heartbreaking and really awful for us as a family. The Lord continues that it is not only those who died as children that have a different requirement, but also “he that hath no understanding, it remaineth in me to do according as it is written.” The IM teaches, “Little children or individuals who do not understand the laws of God because of mental deficiencies will not be judged on the same basis as those who are also to understand them. President Joseph Fielding Smith taught: ‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints considers all deficient children with retarded capacity to understand, just the same as little children under the age of accountability. They are redeemed without baptism and will go to the celestial kingdom of God, there, we believe, to have their faculties or other deficiencies restored according to the Father’s mercy and justice.”