D&C 45:6-15

45:6-15 - The Lord asks them to “listen together, and hear my voice while it is called today.” The IM comments “three scriptures contribute to an understanding of this phrase. Modern revelation states that the earth’s temporal history spans seven thousand years, divided into periods of one thousand years each. Peter and Abraham taught that time on earth, compared to the time where God dwells, is at a ratio of a thousand of earth’s years to one day of God’s time. Since the earth will have a temporal existence before it is celestialzed, since it is known that the earth is not in the sixth period of a thousand years, or the sixth ‘day,’ in the Lord’s terminology the present period is ‘today’ and Christ will come ‘tomorrow.’ In a later revelation, the Lord used this same terminology, indicating that ‘now it is called today until the coming of the Son of Man,’ that ‘after today cometh the burning,’ that ‘tomorrow all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble.’” I love the definition that the Lord gives of the gospel in verse 9 as “mine everlasting covenant into the world, to be a light to the world, and to be a standard for my people, and for the Gentiles to seek to it, and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way before me.” The gospel is a light and standard, I love that. DJR comment “in verses 10-15, next, the Savior issues a wonderful invitation to all who join His Church. He says, in effect, that He will chat and reason with us, just as He did with prophets and Saints in ancient times. What an invitation! He will teach us so that the gospel makes sense and so that we can see the big picture and the reasons for keeping the commandments.” This is a big lesson that I’ve been learning recently, that the Lord can teach me way more than I can ever learn from people, if I’m open to learning and don’t block off my access way by acting a fool, then I can learn so much. And it’s not just that I can learn a lot, like in a college class, but I can learn in a way that I understand, that speaks to me. I’ve come to “learn” more and more as I draw closer to God, and it always amazes me how I can gain knowledge, information, and understanding by the Holy Ghost in a way that I’ve never encountered before. Usually in places of learning, there’s kind of a competitive nature to it, those who teach are sometimes threatened by those who eager to learn and who might have the potential to be just as good, if not better, than they are in the future, but that’s not how God’s attitude is at all. He says, “let me show unto you even my wisdom,” he wants to share everything he has with us, he has unlimited resources, something that is pretty unfathomable to us as humans. As the Lord moves on, DJR says, “verse 13, next, expresses the sentiments occasionally felt by many of the righteous. There are times when it seems that no one else wants to live the gospel as thoroughly as they do, which leaves them feeling lonely and like strangers away from home for a season.” The Lord says, speaking of the people in the City of Enoch, “they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” It can definitely feel like a lonely place, trying to be righteous in a wicked world. I can’t even tell you how many times that I’ve been made fun of or not been able to do something because it was going to be bad, it can be lonely, and strange.