Enoch's Vision Cont. - Moses 7:54-62

7:54-57 - Just like how we are so far on this end of the human timeline, Enoch is so far on the opposite side of the beginning that he’s trying to make sense of all the prophesy and covenant, etc. Enoch asks, “When the Son of Man cometh in the flesh, shall the earth rest?” He’s been told of floods and mass human destruction and wickedness and a Savior, and it’s a lot of information. Jesus answers Enoch’s question by showing him the crucifixion “and he heard a loud voice; and the heavens were veiled; and all the creations of God mourned; and the earth groaned.” It’s always been fascinating for me to consider the Savior’s death on all his creations that aren’t smothered with sin. Like we talked about yesterday, if the earth has a spirit, surely it is innocent, and all the plants and trees, they love Jesus. I was reading a book once called “Visions of Glory” and it’s about a guy who had multiple life after death experiences and one of the things that he mentioned that I thought was just so profound was “the most powerful thing I’ve ever heard was the testimony of Jesus Christ borne to me by a blade of grass.” This is in-line with what we are learning here, that the earth has a spirit, etc. One of the things this guy said in the book was except for humans, every element of creation recognizes Jesus as their creator and adores him, so when we talk about the Savior’s death, it absolutely makes sense that there are innumerable elements on the earth who would see this as a death of their most sacred and undeserving friend. Even if they knew and understood the plan of salvation, that wouldn’t make it any easier to watch or any less heartbreaking to experience along with him. The IM quotes President Spencer W. Kimball as teaching, “These earth spasms (were) a revolt by the created earth against the crucifixion of its Creator.” Even though the earth rebelled at the evil act of killing God, a bright spot was seen, when the “saints” arose and were crowned “at the right hand of the Son of Man, with crowns of glory.” Not only that but, “many of the spirits as were in prison came forth, and stood on the right hand of God.” The IM says, “Enoch saw that the Saints who died before Christ would arise and be crowned at the right hand of God. Samuel the Lamanite also prophesied of a resurrection that would take place in America following the Resurrection of Christ. Accounts of this first resurrection are found in Matthew 27:52-53 and 3 Nephi 23:9-13.” I had never really understood why the resurrection was such a big deal, like, yeah, I want to have a perfect body that is never tired and stuff like that but what’s the big deal. It wasn’t until a church lesson about why the resurrection is the most important part of the gospel, of our existence that I really started to think about it. The IM quotes Howard W. Hunter as teaching, “without the resurrection, the gospel of Jesus Christ becomes a litany of wise sayings and seemingly unexplainable miracles.” Without the resurrection, it wouldn’t matter how righteous we were, how much we repented, etc because ultimately we would still be dead. To curse us with eternal life without our bodies wouldn’t be just because it wasn’t our fault that death was introduced into the world in the first place, it was A&Es. But a fullness of joy only comes with spirit and body together, and if we could only have perfected spirits, then Satan would have succeeded in thwarting God’s plan, which means Satan is more powerful than God, and then God would cease to be God. The resurrection is the only way that the plan of salvation works, that’s why it’s part of the atonement, because we have to have both. 7:58-62 - Enoch started out hearing the earth cry for relief of the wickedness of the people even before his vision of the flood, and then when Christ was crucified, the earth suffered even more. At this point it seems like too much, and he “wept and cried unto the Lord, saying: When shall the earth rest?” Jesus answers that this is going to be the long game, “even so will I come in the last days… but before that day the heavens shall be darkened… but my people will I preserve; and righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth.” What could Jesus possibly mean by that? The IM quotes President Ezra Taft Benson as teaching, “The Book of Mormon is the instrument that God designed to ‘sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather our (His) elect.’ This sacred volume of scripture needs to become more central in our preaching, our teaching, and our missionary work… The time is long overdue for a massive flooding of the earth with the Book of Mormon for the many reasons which the Lord has given… We have the Book of Mormon, we have the members, we have the missionaries, we have the resources, and the world has the need. The time is now!” I have often wondered, with all the information in the gospel, how do you know exactly what people will respond to, which sliver of doctrine will speak to their soul so that they can feel God’s reality? It appears that here’s the answer, the Book of Mormon. I read something just this week that said something to the affect of “the Book of Mormon is the tool that God gave us to preach the gospel,” and I thought, how interesting because I don’t know about anyone else, but when I talk about the gospel with other people, the Book of Mormon rarely comes up. Maybe it’s one of those things where we have to pray for opportunities to use the Book of Mormon to share the gospel.