Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

9:1-12 - The fifth angel sounds his trumpet and John sees “a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to the angel was given the key of the bottomless pit.” The JST is important here because without it, it makes it seem like Satan was given the key personally and we know that he was not, but the angel that blew the trump could administer keys of the kingdom. When the angel “opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit,” which darkened the sun and the air, “as the smoke of a great furnace.” This reminds me of the oil fires in Iraq. Out of this smoke comes “locusts upon the earth,” now whether this means Satan’s spiritual followers or actual insects or people or animals or what. The “locusts” look like battle ready horses with crowns of gold, the faces of men, the hair of women and the teeth of lions. They are wearing armor and their “Wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.” They had tails like scorpions with stingers. But these “locus...

8:1 - Now Jesus opens the seventh seal, and we all know that this is where it hits the fan, and “there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” I had a Sunday school teacher once do the math of “ok, if one day to God is 1,000 years, then each hour is about 41.7 years, so half of that would be a little over 20 years.” It made sense at the time and even now still does, but I think trying to pin down a date when everything is going to start to go wrong is spending our energies in the wrong way. Interestingly, the IM notes “Zephaniah described a similar period of silence that preceded the ancient destruction of Judah. The Lord’s judgment and intervention are described as times when the Lord does not keep silent.” Let’s just get a couple of my reservations out of the way at the beginning. First, I struggle to accept that our global society is more wicked than any other time since the flood. Looking at the Greek empire, Persians, Romans, all of these were brutal and violent,...

7:1-3 - We are still here in the 6th seal and after the world leaders try to hide themselves from God, John sees the whole world with “four angels standing on the four corners of the world.” There are a lot of numbers being thrown around in this chapter, but the IM notes that the number four can indicated “geographic fullness,” such as the “four directions of the compass. “A fifth angels comes out of the east to give direction to the other four angels. This fifth guy is unique in that he “was given to hurt the earth and the sea,” but at this point he tells the others to “hurt not the earth, neither the sea, not the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” This seems to stand in contrast to the “mark of the beast” that is so popularly talked about in our society. Interestingly, these four destroying angels were referenced by President Wilford Woodruff as quoted in the IM manual saying, “God has held the angels of destruction for many years, lest they sho...

6:1-2 - Jesus is standing in the midst of millions of angels, 24 elders in seats with crowns, 4 beasts, and God sitting on His throne and he holds in his hand a scroll with seven seals on it. Here is where “the Lamb” opens the first seal. Now, what do these seals represent, the IM explains saying, “each of the seven seals of the book was opened, John saw visions concerning a thousand-year period of earth’s history (see D&C 77:7). Thus, the first seal related to the first thousand years of earth’s revealed temporal history (from about 4000 to 3000 B.C.), and so forth.” As I read through chapter 6, I was just sad. I’m a white, American woman living in 2021 which is probably one of the most privileged existences to be had in all of human history, and even with all that, I’ve lived a life of violence. I’ve partially checked out of this life and I have had probably one of the easiest lives ever in comparison. This all begs the question, if my experience as one of the ultimate lucky ones...

5:1-6 - We have the scene set before us, the throne of God with colors representing the 12 tribes of Israel, a rainbow arched over the throne, 24 seats around the throne with 24 elders kneeling in front of them with their crowns out in front of them. The ground is crystal and represents the celestialized earth and there are 4 winged beasts in front praising God. Chapter 5 picks up here when John notices that the man sitting on the throne, presumably God, is holding in his right hand “a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.” I had always envisioned this as a literal book like we have that just had binding around different chapters, but the IM has a picture of what this probably looks like according to what was used at the time that this was written, and it’s really interesting. Under the picture of an ancient sealed papyrus scroll, the IM says, “Sealing an ancient document identified its owner and his authority, made the document legally binding, and protec...

4:1-5 - The first 3 chapters of the book of Revelation included instructions to 7 church leaders in Asia Minor. Starting with chapter 4, John gets in to another vision that he had of “things which must be hereafter.” John sees “a door was opened in heaven” and heard a voice “as it were of a trumpet talking to me.” He sees “a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.” The description of the scene set before him is unique, I’ve never heard it described like this and I don’t know exactly what it means. John describes a man sitting on the throne who looked “like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.” I googled “sardine stone” and it’s a red colored stone, one article defines it as “a gem of blood-red colour.” I was surprised because I thought that it would be white. After doing some digging, I found what was important to know about this from an article about “Jasper and Sardine stone” from biblestudytools.com...

3:1-6 - To the “angel” or “servant” in charge of Sardis, a JST comes into play when the Lord tells him “we watchful therefore, and strengthen those who remain, who are ready to die.” Kind of ominous words there, and I’m not exactly sure what “ready to die” means, if it indicates that they are tired of this life, or if it refers to their faithfulness in not fearing martyrdom. But overall Jesus is not pleased with this guy, “for I have not found thy works perfect before God.” The Lord continues that if he does not repent, he will not be prepared in “what hour I will come upon thee.” I don’t think He’s talking about the second coming here, I think he’s probably referring to the personal death of this leader in Sardis. It seems as though there are only “a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments,” so overall Sardis isn’t too strong in the obedience department. But for those who “overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment,” and will remain in the “book of...

2:1-7 - The seven “candlesticks” described in chapter 1 are the seven churches that John is writing the first part of this letter to, and I think that the seven stars that Jesus is holding are the seven individual leaders of each of those branches. Chapter 2 goes through the individual counsel given to each leader starting with “the angel of the church of Ephesus.” The JST changes “angel” to “servant” which makes a lot more sense. Another aspect to note here is that each section follows the same pattern, which the IM notes saying, “each letter first addresses the leader of the church in the area and uses symbolic terms to identify Jesus Christ. It next conveys the Lord’s words of praise and commendation and His words of correction and warning. Then, promises are given to those who overcome through faith in Jesus Christ. These promises are related to exaltation and eternal life, and they contain rich temple symbolism.” The first area addressed is Ephesus, the Lord says, “I know thy wo...

1:1-6 - We’re finally finishing up the New Testament after over 5 years! Just starting this last book of Revelations, I’m hoping to be finished with it by the end of the year. I’ve always just imagined that the book of Revelation is a guide to the last days, but the IM says, “The message of Revelation is the same as that of all scripture: there will be an eventual triumph on this earth of God over the devil; a permanent victory of good over evil, of the Saints over their persecutors, of the kingdom of God over the kingdoms of men and of Satan.” That’s pretty optimistic for a book that is considered to be about all the horror that will befall the people at the end of the world. The IM also quotes the Prophet Joseph Smith saying, “The book of Revelation is one of the plainest books God ever caused to be written.” So if we keep this in mind as we go through it, then hopefully we’ll find it profitable. The first part of chapter 1 has an extensive JST which indicates that these are “the R...