D&C 131:5

131:5 - There are several concepts that are covered in the last 4 verses of this section, some of the themes are kind of abstract for me so let’s see how it goes. Verse 5 says, “The more sure word of prophecy means a man’s knowing that he is sealed up unto eternal life, by revelation and the spirit of prophecy, through the power of the Holy Priesthood.” I have absolutely no idea what this means as we’re just going to quote Elder Bruce R. McConkie from the IM as saying, “Those members of the Church who devote themselves wholly to righteousness, living by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God, make their calling and election sure. That is, they receive the more sure word of prophecy, which means that the Lord seals their exaltation upon them while they are yet in this life. Peter summarized the course of righteousness which the saints must pursue to make their calling and election sure and then (referring to his experience on the Mount of Transfiguration with James and John) said that those three had received this more sure word of prophecy. Those so favored of the Lord are sealed up against all manner of sin and blasphemy except the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and the shedding of innocent blood. That is, their exaltation is assured; their calling and election is made sure, because they have obeyed the fullness of God’s law and have overcome the world.” The phrase “overcome the world” is interesting because I’ve thought about it in terms of the atonement, in that by accomplishing the atonement Christ has “overcome the world.” I thought about what that means and how it relates to us as people and I think that the explanation here gives it another perspective. Christ was sinless so he personally didn’t have anything to overcome, he had already overcome the world, but when it comes to us, he experienced our lives, our pain, and he was able to not crack under the pressure, he didn’t give into the temptation to quit or to do something wrong. It was really profound. For us, overcoming the world means to rid ourselves of our flaws, it doesn’t mean that we never had any, but that we were able, through the atonement, to rid them from our lives and character.