D&C 45:16-25

45:16-21 - This next section is kind of an interesting one, DJR gives the background saying, “As mentioned previously, the Savior will now teach us what He taught His disciples, as recorded in Matthew, chapter 24. It was the last week of Christ’s life, probably Tuesday (He will be crucified on Friday). The Savior’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem two days earlier had set the entire city of Jerusalem into an uproar. City officials and priests, along with many others, were determined to eradicate Jesus and His followers. (Much the same sentiments existed in the hearts and efforts of residents of the Kirtland area, at the time section 65 was given). The Master’s disciples were very concerned about His safety, as well as their own future. They came to Him with two specific questions as He say upon the Mount of Olives: 1. When would the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the Jews take place? 2. What are the signs of His Second Coming and the destruction of the wicked?” The IM teaches, “Most of this revelation is the Savior’s retelling of one of His sermons while He was in Jerusalem. After leaving the temple, the Savior and His disciples climbed the Mount of Olives, where they had a dramatic view of the temple and Jerusalem. Here His disciples asked, ‘when shall these things be… and what is the sign of thy coming?’ His lengthy answer provides one of the most detailed revelations on the signs of the times and of the Second Coming. Known as the Olivet Discourse because it was given on the Mount of Olives, the full sermon is given in Matthew 24-25. Joseph Smith’s inspired corrections of the Olivet Discourse are so significant that they have been included in the Pearl of Great Price. Mark and Luke also recorded portions of the discourse, though not as fully as did Matthew. The Lord’s citation of the same discourse in Doctrine and Covenants 45 begins in verse 16 with the words ‘As ye have asked of me.’ The Savior interrupts the quotation after verse 33 to make an explanatory comment but continues it in verse 35 with ‘be not troubled.’ He seems to end the account at the end of verse 59 and begins speaking directly to Joseph Smith in verse 60.” This is kind of abstract for me, a lot of these revelations are, it’s like the Lord is answering many of their questions in one revelation, so there are many topic covered, especially in big, doctrinally dense sections such as this. The IM asks a similar question, “Why were the early apostles anxious to know the signs of the second coming?” And answers, “one reason for their anxiety to know the signs is here stated. The separation of the spirits from the bodies is, even to those who are Christ’s own, a ‘bondage,’ which is ended only by a glorious resurrection, and they were interested in knowing by what signs they might recognize that their day of redemption was drawing near, when spirit and body should be united. The departed saints are, we may be sure, looking for the signs of the coming of the Lord, with an intense interest as the saints still in mortality. Jesus graciously showed them ‘how the day of redemption shall come, and also the restoration of scattered Israel.’ The two events are inseparably connected.” I had no idea that the resurrection and the redemption of Israel were connected, that’s interesting.  I think that the first phrase in verse 17 is interesting, saying, “For as ye have looked upon the long absence of your spirits from your bodies to be a bondage, I will show unto you how the day of redemption shall come, and also the restoration of the scattered Israel.” It’s hard to understand that this body is such a blessing because it’s such a given here, like you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone. Because the veil is so thick, it’s hard for me to imagine anything else, and I even look at the “other side” as a step forward in our existence, like that it will be so much better than this life, but I guess that’s human nature, the grass is greener on the other side. It’s hard for me imagine that I waited for eons of time to come to this life and get this body, especially when I’m so tired or hungry or sick. I guess it would make sense that during suffering, we would look forward to the time when our bodies are perfect and healthy and glorified. The Lord’s response to their question, is interesting, he says “for as you have looked upon the long absence of your spirits from your bodies to be a bondage,” he doesn’t tell them that it is a bondage, just that they perceive it to be so. The Lord continues telling them that “desolation” will come to the temple in Jerusalem and that “this people shall be destroyed and scattered among all nations. And this temple which ye now see shall be thrown down that there shall not be left one stone upon another.” The DJR gives information regarding the fulfillment of this prophecy as follows: “In about 70 A.D., the Romans literally burned the flammable components of the temple and then tore the above-ground portion of the building apart, stone by stone. It is helpful to note that, when the Roman before destroying the Jewish nation, faithful Christians of the day heeded the word of the Lord and fled to Pella (about eighty mile north of Jerusalem, east of the Jordan River), and were thus spared the atrocities that were heaped upon the unbelieving Jews.” Very interesting to know that the Lord, like in pretty much every other instance, warned his faithful saints to flee to spare them. This is really comforting to know that if we heed prophetic counsel we can be protected from violence and horror, sometimes, if it’s the Lord’s will. It’s hard because we know of times when the saints have suffered and when they have been spared, so it’s a matter of God’s will and the eternal perspective I guess. The IM gives a very graphic and detailed account of how the Jews were scattered. We need to keep in mind, if I remember correctly, that the 10 tribes of Israel had already been scattered when they were taken captive into Assyria, and so what is left to be scattered of the Jews is literally the tribe of Judah. The IM gives the horrific details as follows: “In the year 66 A.S., Cestus Gallus marched into Judea and threatened Jerusalem. He might have taken the City, but he retreated and met with defeat near Beth-Horon. The Christians in the City, remembering the words of our Lord, fled to the little city of Pella, but the Jews were fired, by their temporary success, to renewed resistance.” It is important to note the attitudes of the different groups of people. The Christians were looking for peace and left their land and homes to find it, they were willing to sacrifice so that they could keep the blood of war off of their hands. The Jews on the other hand wanted blood, and they got it. The IM continues, “ Vespasian was then sent from Tome to crush the rebellion. He took some of the strongholds of the Country and approached Jerusalem. Internal strife prevailed there, and such horrors were perpetrated that Vespasian decided to give his army a rest, while the Jews destroyed each other. Vespasian was elevated to the throne, and his son, Titus, was left to continue the conquest. The siege began in the year 70 A.D. Soon famine prevailed. Citizens who ventured outside the walls to search for roots to eat, if seized, were crucified by the Roman soldiers. Sometimes hundreds in that awful position could be seen from the walls. A trench was dug around the City, in order to make its isolation complete. Prisoners of war were cut open, while alive, to enable soldiers to search their bodies for gold which they might have swallowed. Six hundred thousand persons died within the walls, and the dead bodies, too numerous to be buried, were left in the houses. The Zealots, a fanatical sect whose members maintained that God would save them at the last moment, went about murdering and urging the people to resistance. At length the temple became a fort. Titus attacked it as such. A  Roman soldier, contrary to order, set fire to it. After a while the scene was one of carnage and plunder. Six thousand Jews perished in the flames. In this awful war more than a million and a half Jews perished, and many were sold into slavery, and thus ‘scattered among all nations.’ The Savior spoke the words of the Olivet Discourse during the last week of His life, in A.D. 33. Jerusalem fell in A.D. 70. His promise ‘that this generation of Jews shall not pass away until every desolation… shall come to pass’ was fulfilled. Some of the disciples who heard Jesus speak those words were still alive when the legions of Titus put the temple to the torch.” Wow, that’s incredibly powerful and disturbing. It is so on course with the destruction of the Nephites and Jaredites, and really, every other civilization that has ever fallen because they refused to repent, and it’s one thing to hear that it happened, but it’s another to be told the details and to envision standing on the wall of Jerusalem and looking out to see rows of dead, decaying bodies, probably sometimes people that you knew, family members, hundreds crucified. We thought the Savior being crucified between two thieves was grotesque, imagine hundreds of people crucified, gutted, sick, sick, sick.  

45:22-25 - Speaking of the “end of the world” in verse 22, the IM quotes Elder Bruce R. McConkie as teaching, “The end of the world is the end of unrighteousness or of worldliness as we know it, and this will be brought about the ‘the destruction of the wicked.’ When our world ends and the millennial era begins, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Lust, carnality, and sensuousness of every sort will cease, for it will be the end of the world.” Verses 24-25, DJR gives the idea “we are briefly taught about the scattering and latter-day gathering of the Jews.” The IM quotes President Joseph Fielding Smith as teaching about the “times of the gentiles,” saying, “the times of the Gentiles commenced shortly after the death of our Redeemer. The Jews soon rejected the Gospel and it was then taken to the Gentiles. The times of the Gentiles have continued from that time until now. The Lord said: ‘But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.’ In that day the Gospel was given first to the Jews and then taken to the Gentiles. In this dispensation it was taken first to the Gentiles and afterwards it will go to the Jews.’ The times of the Gentiles began with Peter’s vision and the baptism of Cornelius. Paul and the other Apostles then began the great missionary work to the Gentiles, since the Jewish nation, for the most part, had rejected Jesus. As President Smith indicated, the times that the major gospel effort would be with gentile nations continued with the Restoration. The times of the Gentiles will be over, or fulfilled, when the major efforts of gospel teaching begin to focus on the house of Israel: the Lamanites, the Jews, and the ten tribes.’ In the Olivet Discourse, the Savior gave four signs to indicate when the times of the Gentiles were over. Three are given in section 45, and one given in Luke’s account of the great discourse. 1. The Jews will be gathered back to the land of Jerusalem. In the April 1960 general conference, Elder George Q. Morris of the Quorum of the Twelve discussed this sign: ‘I think perhaps we may well now that continued saying the Jews are going to gather in Jerusalem. I think now we may well say they have gathered. The ultimate return will come later as they develop this land and are joined by others… This statement by a writer is very interesting: Strangely enough when the State of Israel was reborn in 1948, it was a nation of 600,000, the same number which the Bible reports that Moses led out of bondage in Egypt. It now numbers some two million, the same number which it is said populated the ancient Kingdom of Solomon, when Israel was in all its glory.’ That is why we may now say that the Jews have returned to Palestine.’” We know from modern day teachings that this current state of Israel is not the fulfillment of this prophecy. The IM continues, “2. It will be in a time of great social turmoil. One need only follow current events as reported in the news media for a day two to see turmoil like the Savior describe. 3. The Gentiles will for the most part reject the gospel. President Joseph Fielding Smith, writing about these verses, said: ‘And when the times of the Gentiles is come in, a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness, and it shall be the fullness of my Gospel,’ the Lord said in this revelation. The meaning is that when the time had come for the restoration of the Gospel- in the times of the Gentiles- that it would not be perceived because the hearts of the people are turned away by the precepts of men. However, in that generation this should happen, the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled.’” I think about the people that I know and work with today, and for the most part, they are all amazing people. Most of the people in the world today are kind and compassionate and loyal and have good hearts. But they aren’t jumping all over themselves trying to find out more about the gospel, and sometimes I have to ask myself why that is, because the gospel is so important and what the way in which our lives are improved by having it in our lives is so incredible that I know if they understood it the way that I understand it, there would be no question, they would embrace the gospel whole-heartedly. So why aren’t people going crazy trying to learn about the gospel, and it’s because of the reasons given here, the gospel is not “perceived,” not seen for what it really is,  and that “the hearts of the people are turned away by the precepts of men.” There have been so many atrocities committed in the name of religion, Christ’s true character and teachings are shunned while His name is still professed. The hypocrisy is such that a person of any quality of character will not want to associate themselves with a group whose actions blatantly fly in the face of the Master who they say they worship. I wouldn’t want to be around those people, and I have to work on that every time I encounter that in my own religion, and I also have to try to not become one of those hypocrites who drives people away. To think that most people would reject the gospel once they understood it on a level to which they can be held accountable is not accurate or fair, I think. The IM continues, “4. Jerusalem will no longer be ‘trodden down of the gentiles.’ Again President Smith explained: ‘When we consider the words of the Savior to his disciples, that the Jews should be scattered and ‘Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled,’ We have a fair understanding of the meaning of this… verse in this revelation. Jerusalem was trodden down of the Gentiles from the day of its destruction until the close of the year 1917, when it was freed from Turkish rule by General  Edmund H. Allenby of the British forces. After the war Palestine became a British mandate, and great Britain by proclamation declared that country to be a refuge for the Jews, who were invited to return… It is very significant, however, that Jerusalem is no longer trodden down by the gentiles and the Jews are again gathering there. This is the sign given by our Lord, for the end of the times of the Gentiles. We are not in the transition period and shortly the day of the Jew will dawn and the Gospel will be taken to them and to the remnants on this land.’ When Joseph Fielding Smith wrote those words in 1947, Israel had not yet been made a state; they were still under the British mandate. But on 15 May 1948, Israel became an independent nation and declared Jerusalem to be her capital. In the war that followed this declaration, the Jews could maintain control of western Jerusalem only. East Jerusalem became part of the state of Jordan. In general conference in 1966, Elder Smith, now President of the Quorum of the Twelve, said: ‘Jesus said the Jews would be scattered among all nations and Jerusalem would be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled. The prophecy in Section 45, verses 24-29, of the Doctrine and Covenants regarding the Jews was literally fulfilled. Jerusalem, which was trodden down by the Gentiles, is no longer trodden down but is made the home for the Jews. They are returning to Palestine, and by this we may knew that the times of the Gentiles are near their close.’ During the Six-Day war of 1967, Israel conquered the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and for the first time since the city fell to the legions of Titus in A.D. 70, Jerusalem came completely under the control of the Jewish Government.” I didn’t realize that that there was an almost 1900 year gap between the time that the Jews had control of the city, for some reason I thought that the Jews controlled it in the middle ages, but maybe that was the Muslims instead. This is pretty heavy stuff.