D&C 130:12-23

130:12-13 – We have another prediction about the civil war, though it is not named as such, saying that it will begin in South Carolina and will probably be over the issue of slavery. The IM says “Section 87 foretells a war between the northern and southern sections of the United States. The Prophet Joseph Smith learned of this impending war on Christmas Day 1832, and these verses written eleven years later are a second mention of the same disaster.”

130:14-17 - There is an interesting part here that shows that JS was just as curious as the rest of us as to when the Savior will come again. JS relates a story to us about a time that he “was once praying very earnestly to know the time of the coming of the Son of Man, when a heard a voice repeat the following: Joseph, my son, if thou livest until thou art eight-five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man; therefore let this suffice, and trouble me no more on this matter.” The Lord doesn’t give a date or time, he doesn’t say “oh you’ll be dead long before that happens,” he leaves it ambiguous but closes the subject. JS concludes “without being able to decide whether this coming referred to the beginning of the millennium or to some previous appearing, or whether I should die and thus see his face.” I think I’ve talked about here how I was raised to think that the second coming was so soon that I should plan for retirement or anything like that, like it could literally happen any second of the day. I hear that the second coming is going to be soon, but then I think about what has to happen before hand and it just seems so far away. I’ve decide, for my own sanity, to just treat everything like it’s totally normal, make decisions based on the knowledge that I have instead of speculation.

130:18-19 - “You can’t take it with you,” is only applicable to physical things, but here we learn that “whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.” I thought that it was interesting that knowledge and intelligence comes through study, yes, but it also comes through obedience, which seems kind of unrelated. How does obedience and knowledge work together? I’ve found that I must obey the commandments and prophetic counsel, even if I don’t understand why, before I am given the explanation. I’ve actually said many times, “obedience first, then the lesson.” That’s something that I’ve learned in my life through disobedience and repentance. The IM says, “It is fair to conclude that spiritual and mental growth can be attained only by obedience to the laws on which they are predicated,’ wrote Elder Albert E. Bowen. ‘If through diligence, observance of correct principles, discipline of the mind and of the spirit, a man attains to a fine development of personality in this life, surely it is not unreasonable to suppose that that will be his imperishable possession and glory in the life he enters upon after death. On the contrary, if through lethargy or sin his self-realization in his life is dwarfed, he shall be handicapped to that extent as he enters upon the new world.” Your physical possessions stay on the physical earth just like your physical body, but your spiritual possessions go to the spirit world, and who you are in spirit it what goes with you.

130:20-23 – I have never really understood the concept of “there is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated- and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” Maybe this is for a more eternal perspective, because I’ve never understood that because I am not obedient to most commandments, and yet I am still blessed excessively. Maybe it’s like everything else, it doesn’t matter that we are 100% perfect at obedience, because we can’t be, but we are still blessed for trying.