D&C 33

Section 33 is kind of an interesting one, much of what is covered here is also covered in many other sections, so I just thought that this was going to be an easy “review” chapter, but I was wrong, there is definitely some new and interesting content. We meet two new characters, but I don’t think that they are going to be brought up again, their names are Ezra Thayre and Northrop Sweet. The IM gives introduction saying, “The Lord, who is ever ready to instruct such as diligently seek in faith, gave the following revelation at Fayette, New York: (D&C 33). Ezra Thayre and Northrup Sweet came in the Church at the time of the preaching of the Lamanite missionaries. On October, 1830, they were called by revelation to enter the ministry and hearken to the voice of the Lord, ‘whose word is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow.’ It was not long after this that Northrop Sweet left the Church and, with some others, formed what they called ‘The Pure Church of Christ,’ and organization that soon came to its end.’” According to DJR “Ezra Thayre was born October 14, 1791, and was thus 14 years olds than Joseph Smith. He was converted by the preaching of Hyrum Smith, and was baptized by Parley P. Pratt in October of 1830. After much faithful service in building the kingdom, accompanied by periods when he was out of harmony with the leaders of the Church, Ezra Thayre refused to follow the Twelve after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and ultimately ended up a high priest in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.” So both of these men apostatized, though not at the same time. 33:1-16 - The most part of this section that is discussed by the IM is the first five verses, and some of these are also topics which have previously been addressed. The Lord begins by telling these two men, calling them by name, which is interesting because if we think back to the first vision, one of the most impressive parts was that Heavenly Father called Joseph Smith by name. This is a pretty significant part, it shows that we are all individually known and valued by God, he knows us personally, and these two brothers are no exception. The Lord continues, “hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, whose word is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow, soul and spirit; and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” One thought that I had while reading this verse was that when I imagine a sword cutting up joints and marrow, I visualize a tool that gets deep into the body on almost a cellular level. Likening this to the gospel, the word God is meant to penetrate every aspect of our beings, to be at the forefront of our minds in every decision, and influence our every thought and action. The visualization that is conjured up with this phrase reinforces to me that the gospel is meant to be all consuming, just something I thought about today. The IM teaches, “The scriptures clearly teach that there is life and power in the word of God (see 2 Nephi 1:26-29; 32:3; Jacob 4:9; Alma 4:19; 31:5;32:27-42; D&C 1:37-38; 21:4-6; 84:44-47, 85). I don’t usually give the references like this but I thought that the sheer number of citations here were impressive as to the reinforcement of this principles. The Lord continues to call them “to lift up your voices as with the sound of a trump, to declare my gospel unto a crooked and perverse generation.” I always find it interesting when the Lord uses generalizations to describe large groups of people, especially considering that the Church has just been restored only a few months earlier, so in actuality, it wouldn’t have been possible for this generation to receive or reject the gospel message. Maybe that’s why the Lord prefaced that statement saying that he “is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The IM quotes President Joseph Fielding Smith as commenting on the previous phrase saying, “There are many debts which we owe to the Lord. There is the debt of preaching this gospel to a wicked and perverse generation… The Lord has given unto men their agency. They may act for themselves, they can choose to do good, or they can choose to do evil. The Lord said that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Yet our mission, I say, is, so far as it is within our power, to regenerate, to bring to repentance, just as many of the children of our Father in Heaven as it is possible for us to do. That is one of our debts; that is an obligation the Lord has placed upon the Church, and more particularly upon the quorums of the priesthood of the Church, and yet this obligation belongs to every soul. It is the duty of every member of this Church to preach the gospel by precept and by example.” I can only look at the Lord’s statement from my own personal view point and I would like to think that I wouldn’t be part of a wicked or perverse generation, but in fact I was, even when I had the gospel. Maybe the wickedness and perversion is referring to what the people are doing without the influence of the gospel on the earth. People don’t know any better so they kind of spiral downward into sin and the “natural man” type of lifestyles. So maybe it doesn’t mean that they are wicked and perverse within their character, but by default because they have no other guidance. This makes sense because if they were so wicked and perverse within their character, then the only purpose of preaching the gospel to them would be to give them the opportunity to repent or reject the gospel, such as was the case in Ninevah, who repented, or Sodom, who did not, and Zarahemla, who did not, etc. But the Lord indicates that this is not the case, and that there are many who are prepared to hear the gospel when he says, “for behold, the field is white already to harvest; and it is the eleventh hour, and the last time that I shall call laborers into my vineyard. And my vineyard has become corrupted every whit; and they is none which doeth good save it be a few; and they err in many instances because of priestcrafts, all having corrupt minds. And verily, verily, I say unto you, that this church have I established and called forth out of the wilderness. And even so will I gather mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, even as many as will believe in me, and hearken unto my voice.” The Lord is indicating that this isn’t just going to be a “wash your hands of them” sort of mission, this is going to be a successful missions because there are “elect” people, special people ready and waiting to hear the gospel from all over the world, just like we learned about PPP yesterday, and Sidney Rigdon, they were prepared to hear the gospel, and they are not unique, there were and are many others. The IM defines the “eleventh hour” by saying, “The phrase ‘the eleventh hour’ seems to refer to the parable of the ten virgins. The bridegroom came at midnight, catching unaware half of those waiting. Thus, to say that it is the eleventh hour is to imply that the time of the coming of the Bridegroom is drawing near. President Joseph Fielding Smith showed how the phrase is also related to another parable given by the Master: ‘The time in which we live is compared to the eleventh hour, and so it is in the Lord’s reckoning, for we are in the closing scenes of the present world. Elder Orson F. Whitney referred to our dispensation as the ‘Saturday night’ of time. And, according to the parable of the men employed in the vineyard, we who labor in this hour will be rewarded if we are faithful, with equal compensation with those who labored in the previous hours, or dispensations, in the history of mankind.” I look at what I perceive to be my service in the kingdom, and it doesn’t seem to be that hard or significant, as compared to the pioneers or those who were mauled to death my lions during the early Christian ear. But to know that the Lord values my service just as much as he values that of others, is pretty validating, and I appreciate that. Another phrase that surprises me is that his “vineyard has become corrupt every whit.” I think that I hold too much negative connotation with these terms, because if I were to be referred to as corrupt, then that would imply that I’ve lost my integrity or sense of justice and fairness. And I’d like to think that if I were to be a part of the “corrupt vineyard” at the time of the restoration that the Lord was referring to here, that I would still be held to have good moral character, even if I didn’t have the truth available to me at that time. I think that I more associate the word “corrupt” with extortion, robbery, immorality, taking bribes, politicians, people who misuse the authority with which they’ve been entrusted. But I don’t think that that is the way that the Lord means it here. The IM quotes Elder Hyrum M. Smith as explaining, “Let me explain, when I use the term ‘corrupt’ with reference to these ministers of the gospel, that I use it in the same sense that I believe the Lord uses it when he made that declaration to Joseph Smith, the Prophet, in answer to the Prophet’s prayer. He did not mean, nor do I mean, that the ministers of religion are personally unvirtuous or impure. I believe as a class they, perhaps, in person purity, stand a little above the average order of men. When I use the term ‘corrupt’ I mean, as I believe the Lord meant, that they have turned away from the truth… and have turned to that which is false. A false doctrine is a corrupt doctrine; a false religion is a corrupt religion; a false teacher is a corrupt teacher. Any man who teaches a false doctrine, who believes in and practices and teaches a false religion is a corrupt professor, because he teaches that which is impure and not true.” This is a much more thorough explanation, and I think that this bodes much better with me that my own assumptions that I had made earlier. The IM comments on “how has the Church been called out of the wilderness” and this is an interesting explanation, saying, “This imagery is drawn from the book of Revelation where the Church of Jesus Christ, symbolized as a woman, is drive into the wilderness, or apostasy, by the great dragon who is Satan. Therefore, to call the Church form out of the wilderness refers to the Restoration of the Church upon the earth after centuries of apostasy.” 33:17-18 – The last part that I want to talk about is these last two verses which reference the parable of the ten virgins. The Lord says, “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.” The IM gives the standard definition of this saying, “Here the Lord again drew on the imagery of New Testament parables. This phrase, too, has reference to the parable of the ten virgins. When the hour of the bridegroom’s coming arrived, the virgins arose and trimmed, or prepared, their lamps. It was then that the five foolish virgins discovered they had no oil. This admonition is clearly a warning for the Saints to maintain a state of spiritual readiness as the coming of the Lord draws ever closer.” For me, personally, this explanation made this parable something so abstract that I never really even thought about it, because yes, I might be alive during the second coming, but it’s also possible that I will not, it’s so far out there that really, it doesn’t mean a whole lot to me. However, DJR gives an excellent insight into this parable, and thus these verses when he says, “Perhaps you’ve noticed, when you’ve read the Parable of the Ten Virgins, that all ten of the virgins had oil in their lamps. The problem came when five of them did not have a reserve supply of oil. These ‘reserved’ come from faithfully living and keeping covenants.’ Those who do so have the ‘reserve’ strength and spiritual stamina to remain faithful when it takes longer than they thought for the Savior to come into their lives and rescue them from difficulties.” This was the sucker punch for me because it brought this parable home to me, it brought it into my daily life. I’ve been kind of overwhelmed for a while, waiting for a few of my situations to change, and honestly, I thought that these issues would have been resolved long ago, but yet here I am, so I’ve been trying to figure out “what’s the lesson?” It’s one thing to endure for a while, which is what the full lamps might indicate in the beginning of the parable, but it’s entirely another to endure to the end, which is what the reserve of oil might indicate at the end of the parable. I can endure my trials when I think that they are going to end soon, when I can see the “light at the end of the tunnel.” But it’s so much more difficult to endure with patience and meekness and humility, when I can’t see the end, when I don’t know that my relief is coming, or even what kind of deliverance to expect. And even then I spend so much time and energy wallowing that I don’t prepare myself for when the deliverance does come. A couple of weeks ago, I had an event where I thought my shift at work was going to be able to change, and while I had been praying for this particular blessing for months, when the time came, I realized that I wasn’t ready, I hadn’t spent the time during the trial to prepare so that I could take advantage of it. It’s then that I realized, I’ve spent time wallowing and feeling sorry for myself when I should have been getting my stuff together so that when the time arrived, I would be able to make a seamless transition. Fortunately, the Lord is always merciful to me, and changed that opportunity so that I didn’t have to be the one to make the decision, and I’m grateful for that, that he didn’t make me choose, that he didn’t force my hand, but was able to show me that I needed to get on my game so that I can be ready to receive the blessings which I pray for. It was a beautiful thing, even though it wasn’t my deliverance, it was definitely my warning.