Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - 3 Nephi 12-16 Part 1 • Dr. Brad Wilcox • September 30 - October 6 • Come Follow Me

Episode Date: September 25, 2024

How did it feel to be part of the Day of Days? Dr. Brad Wilcox explores the profound and beautiful chapters of 3 Nephi when Jesus Christ appears and examines how Jesus’s Atonement and teachings changes lives, even today.SHOW NOTES/TRANSCRIPTSEnglish: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM40ENFrench: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM40FRGerman: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM40DEPortuguese: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM40PTSpanish: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM40ESYOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/9DOUqw2QqzcALL EPISODES/SHOW NOTESfollowHIM website: https://www.followHIMpodcast.comFREE PDF DOWNLOADS OF followHIM QUOTE BOOKSNew Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastNTBookOld Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastOTBookWEEKLY NEWSLETTERhttps://tinyurl.com/followHIMnewsletterSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followHIMpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastTIMECODE00:00 Part I  -  Dr. Brad Wilcox02:32 Dr. Brad Wilcox bio 05:14 President Nelson’s gift to world leaders06:43 Mercy and justice of Jesus manifest08:28 3 Nephi 9:13-15 - Jesus the Son of God10:18 3 Nephi 11:18 - A year of miraculous change13:29 3 Nephi 9:20 - A voice and a choice17:59 A voice bears witness of Jesus’s divinity21:53 Parallels to Helaman 523:55 Hosanna, Jesus descends27:27 3 Nephi 11:18-19 - Jesus bows and kisses Jesus’s feet32:34 Keys and baptism37:57 3 Nephi 11:32-38 - The doctrine of Christ39:03 3 Nephi 12:3-6 - The Beatitudes43:41 Happiness that comes after death47:10 3 Nephi 12:1-6 - Beatitudes and temple covenants49:44 3 Nephi 11:6-9 Our desires and contention55:28 “Peacemakers Needed” by President Russell M. Nelson56:46 3 Nephi 12:10-12 - Salt and light1:00:44 3 Nephi 12:21-29 - A higher law1:06:24 End of Part 1 - Dr. Brad WilcoxThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith. I'm your host. I'm here with my co-host, John, by the way, who, John, I learned this week that you pray for me because in 3 Nephi 12 44, it says pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you. And I know I have persecuted you, John. You have? Yeah, and I know I have persecuted you John You have yeah, I saw I'm grateful that you pray for me No, John, by the way is the best man on the planet people get after me. Sometimes you tease him too much I said well, I know but That just shows how close we are. We had a great week last week with dr

Huntsman the day of days Jesus Appears to the People of Nephi. We're going to continue on with that discussion looking at 3rd Nephi 12 through 16. What are you looking forward to? The sermon is similar to the Sermon on the Mount, but this is the sermon at the temple. The audience is different. It's those who were considered more righteous that are still there after the destructions. How is he going to talk differently to them? And they are also astonished, but for a different reason. Fun to see what a different audience is and yet how consistent he is on what he teaches.

For the first time reader in the Book of Mormon, this is breathtaking. Hearing from the Savior again, the Savior of the Bible, the Gospels, has more to say. It's a miracle that we have this book. John, we are joined by someone we both adore and have for many, many years, Dr. Brad Wilcox. He's just Brad to us, but he did earn that title, Dr. Brad Wilcox. Brad, what are we going to do today? As you look at 3rd Nephi 12 through 16, what stands out to you? What are you going to teach us? First of all, we're going to talk about repentance because you need to repent for persecuting John. Yeah, okay. I will.

Pray for them which tease you. Yeah. After that, I am really looking forward to talking about the Beatitudes in this context. Like John said, it's a different audience. And in this different context, we see the Beatitudes through a different lens. I'm excited to be able to talk about that. Brad, I love that. Let's walk through the Sermon on the Mount. Again, you can't hear this sermon enough. It's something that needs to be read. I think that's why the Lord gives it to us because He wants us to read it. He wants us to

read it often. John, I know you could do this from memory. You could give us a bio of Brad because how long have you known each other? When I was an EFY counselor right after my mission, my mission. Brad was one of the speakers and I thought, this guy is amazing. I started in 1985. Would that be the right year? That's when I thought, he's got every kid listening, even the ones that mom had to force to be there. And he was fun and delightful and he taught them powerfully. And I was like, wow, listen to this guy. I've been a fan and an admirer ever since. Well and we've been friends. We've team-taught together for years and years and years. Same with you Hank, many many years of teaching together. I love it. I love that we still

have the opportunity to reach out to the youth. Beautiful. Except you guys have been doing a lot longer than me. That sounded like a long time ago. Here comes the persecution. Here comes the persecution. Was Lorenzo Snow there with you guys? He was in the next room. At that session.

John, do you have a bio for Brad, an official one? Yeah, I have an official one. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from BYU and his doctorate in education from the University of Wyoming. Go Cowboys! He was a mission president in Chile where he also served as a missionary. Your Santiago East mission, right Brad? That's the one where I presided over.

And the one I served as a young man was Vina Del Mar. Vina Del Mar. When Brad left on his mission, he was a professor in education and he specialized in children's literature and since that time he's been teaching in religious education. Currently, the first counselor in the Young Men's General Presidency. We love hearing you speak and everything. Brad, I wanted to show the folks, you and presidency. We love hearing you speak and everything, Brad. And I wanted to show the folks, you and your brother Roger, see all my bookmarks, wrote a book about the Beatitudes. In fact, Hank, I've used some of the stories from here

for our follow him stories. That book is called, Blessed Are Ye Using the Beatitudes to Understand Christ's Atonement and Grace by Brad and his brother Roger Wilcox. John, we've said this before. We've had Brad on many times, but his landmark talk, 2011, BYU Speeches, His Grace is Sufficient, most downloaded talk in BYU speech history. You can get that at speeches.byu.edu. I was there for that talk. I wanted to support my friend. I knew when it was being given.

This was a life-changing message. It has touched many lives. Brad, we're glad you're here. Thank you. I always love to be with you. And I love that we're gonna be diving into Third Nephi. Now, I know that this week, we're not covering before chapter 11, but I'd like to go back

and set a context. At the mission leader seminar, where the new mission presidents are instructed by the apostles and by the first presidency and others, President Nelson spoke and he talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon, the power of the Book of Mormon. And he said, when we have leaders come, world leaders come to visit us as a first presidency here in Salt Lake, he said, we give them a gift. And then he said, do you want to know what gift we give them? It's a copy of the Book of Mormon. Not only do they give a copy of the book as a gift to the people who come to visit,

they actually sit down and read from 3rd Nephi 11. I thought that was amazing to think of the First Presidency sitting down with ambassadors and first ladies and presidents and rulers and to be able to have them actually sit down and read to them part of the scriptures that we're going to be covering today. I thought that really reinforces the importance of this book and the importance of these chapters that we're reading right now in our lives as Latter-day Saints. Let's get back a little bit to set a context. If we go to chapter 8, we see that there are tempests and earthquakes, fires, whirlwinds,

physical upheavals that many people are destroyed and that darkness covers the land for three days. Now, Andrew C. Smith talks about how the purpose of the Book of Mormon is for Christ to manifest himself to all nations. And then he says, right here in the Book of Mormon, we see three manifestations of Christ. And at first I was like, what? What's he talking about? Christ only comes the way. And he says, no, he says we see the justice of Christ manifest, we see the justice of Christ manifest. We see the mercy of Christ manifest. And then he talks about a third manifestation. He points out that Christ's voice actually takes primary responsibility for the destruction.

We are seeing the justice of Christ. And then when he comes in chapter 11, we are definitely seeing the mercy of Christ and then when he comes in chapter 11 we are definitely seeing the mercy of Christ but look in between look at chapter 9 and look at verse 13 Oh all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they will ye not now return unto me and repent of your sins and be converted that I may heal you." Between the justice and the mercy, we see a Christ who offers us a choice. We have a choice as to how we are going to be received by Him with justice or with mercy, and He gives us a choice. Notice in verse 15, Jesus says,

Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Josh Mattson points out that Jesus never said those words in the Bible, which really shocked me. Other people say it about Him, they say, thou art the Son of God. But Jesus never says he is the Son of God. It's only in the Book of Mormon that we read, Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is testifying of his own divinity and he's giving us a choice. Without justice there is no order and without mercy there is no hope. But without justice and mercy there is no choice. There's no freedom and where there is no freedom, where there's no choice, then there's no growth.

There's no change. The third manifestation that Brother Smith talks about is a God who gives us a choice, a God who has preserved freedom. Yes, Jesus is a God of justice. Yes, he's a God of justice. Yes, he's a God of mercy. But there's a third manifestation that we see here, and that is that he is a God who gives us choice.

And with that choice, the chance to be changed. Now listen to this. In 8.5, it says, and it came to pass in the 34th year in the first month on the fourth day of the month. We're talking however they measured time, however they measured the years. We're talking about the beginning of the year, but now skip over and we're going to take a look at verse 18 of chapter 10. And it says, and it came to pass that in the ending of the thirty and fourth year, although there was darkness for three days, this time period has lasted about a year. And that gives us a completely different way to look at the beginning of chapter 11.

They gathered at the temple, they're conversing one with another. It says they were marveling and wondering one with another and were showing one to another the great and marvelous change which had taken place. Now all my life, I always thought they were talking about the change in the land. Got beachfront property and I didn't used to have beachfront property or I've got a mountain in the backyard and there wasn't a mountain there before. I was thinking that that's what they were marveling about but when I recognized how long the time had been between chapter 8 and chapter 11, how much time had passed. Then I started thinking, no, maybe they're marveling about the change that has taken

place in them. It's Clifford P. Jones that has written an article about that, and he says they were conversing about this Jesus Christ. Maybe they were talking about when they heard Jesus' voice, when he issued an invitation, he said, come unto me, repent of your sins, and be converted that I may heal you. Maybe the change they're talking about is that healing that had taken place, what had happened in their hearts and souls as they made the choice to welcome Jesus into their lives. And that is a choice we make that welcomes change.

It welcomes transformation. It welcomes his power into our lives. I don't know if you've put that together before, but that was really eye-opening to me when I looked at the time and I looked at what Brother Smith had said about those three manifestations and I started putting it all together and suddenly I was seeing Third Nephi in a completely new light. Brad, I love that. The chapter 11 verse 1. They were showing to one another the great and marvelous change which had taken place. That's not just about land. That's about hearts and people and society. I really like that. It took time. Jesus says you were more righteous than the ones who were destroyed,

but then he doesn't define righteousness as perfection. He says, come and repent, because it's through the process of repentance that good people get better. It's through the process of repentance and coming to Christ that we use our agency to choose to have Him reach into our hearts and change them. One thing that we didn't talk about with Dr. Huntsman that I wanted to mention was 35 chapter 9, verse 20, where, Brad, you brought this up, in chapter 9, where the Lord says, be converted and I'll heal you. And if you go to verse 20, he says, come to me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and I'll bapt you. And if you go to verse 20, he says, come to me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit and I'll baptize you with fire with the Holy Ghost as the Lamanites because of their faith in a time of their conversion were baptized with fire. He's talking about Helaman chapter 5

there. If you go back to Helaman 5, this is where Lehi and Nephi are in prison. There's darkness all over, sounds a lot like 35, 8, 9, and 10. And what do we do? How do we get out of this darkness? And it's a minidab who says, repent and cry unto the voice. You're right. You have a choice to make. You're in darkness. What do you want to do? I'm not going to force this on you. What do you choose?" I really like that, Brad. Those who make that choice, then they welcome Christ, and you can't welcome Christ without welcoming change. Suddenly, he is able to reach in and change them. And Clifford P. Jones says, that's probably the change that they were discussing, as they were conversing about this Jesus Christ of whom the sign had been given.

You'll remember that they heard a voice. They heard a voice and they didn't recognize the voice. And if we look in verse 3, it says it was a small voice. Now, if you follow the footnote down to the bottom, it gives us 1 Kings 19 12. That is where we talk about it's not in the fire. It's not in the earthquake. It's a still small voice. And do you remember when President Hinckley was on 60 Minutes? Right on 60 Minutes, national broadcast, millions of people watching, and the guy said, oh, so you're a prophet, so you talk to God, what does God sound like? And without skipping a beat, President Hinkley said, it's not like a fire, it's not like an earthquake, it's a still small voice. Listen to what Elder Packer taught about this. He said, the spirit

does not get our attention by shouting. The spirit whispers. On another occasion he wrote, the voice of the spirit comes as a feeling rather than a sound. You will learn, as I have learned, to listen for that voice that is felt rather than heard. It is a spiritual voice that comes into the mind as a thought or a feeling put into your heart. Now, that always brings up the question, then how do I know if it's my thoughts and feelings or how do I know if it's from God? And I think we learn the answer right here in 3rd Nephi because they heard the voice, they

didn't recognize it. Verse 4, again they heard the voice and then verse 5 and again a third time they heard the voice. Look at the consistency. Joseph Smith said this, revelation occupies my mind and presses on my feelings. It's not every thought and every feeling that is the spirit, but I've sure learned to pay attention to the consistent thoughts and the consistent feelings. One time I was getting on an airplane and I had this thought, oh what if this plane went down? And then I panicked. I thought, oh is that a prompting? Is the spirit telling me not to get on this plane? And I literally had a tug of war with the lady that was trying to take my ticket and scan it

because I was thinking if I get on this plane and it goes down I am going to be so mad that I did not follow this prompting. But finally I thought, no, Brad, if God didn't want you on this plane, he's had six months to tell you about this. He's not going to wait till the last second and go, surprise, don't get on. He's going to be consistent and he's going to let me know. And that has helped me a lot as I struggled to decide, is this a prompting or is this something that is my own thought or my own feeling?

By the way, I did get on the plane and I did live to tell about it. Look for the second time the voice comes. Look for the third time the voice comes. Look for the third time the voice comes. That's what they did here. And finally, they heard and they recognized that voice. Look at verse 7, behold my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name. Again, most of my life, I always believed that he was proud of Jesus.

Same thing we always hear when we read about the First Vision, in whom I am well pleased, the baptism of Jesus. Finally, one day I thought, maybe he's not telling us how proud he is of Jesus. Maybe he is bearing a testimony, a testimony of Christ's divinity. This is my beloved Son. God is bearing His unique testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ. So we had Jesus testifying that He is God's Son when He was speaking in the darkness. In a minute, we're going to see, as you pointed out, John, that Jesus Christ himself a little later says he is God's son and here God is saying this is my son, this is my beloved son in the

flesh. Then they see a man descending out of heaven, he's clothed in a white robe in verse 10, behold I am Jesus Christ and says, I've performed the atonement. Eleven, I have drunk out of that bitter cup. I have met the demands of justice so that I can now come to you in mercy. Then he's resurrected. He's showing them a resurrected body. Hank, you once wrote, I'm quoting you now, you said in the one chapter you did on mourning,

you talked about how the resurrection is the greatest of all miracles. And then you described it in a way that I've never forgotten. You said, take all the breathtaking moments of your life, the times where you literally have been in awe, put all of those together. And then in that, you can start understanding what the resurrection means. Have I quoted you correctly? I think so. It's never happened before on Follow Him. I'd like to stamp this moment with the Follow Him approval stamp. If

I'm quoting Hank, I'm doing well. Oh, thank you for this, Brad. I've always looked at verse 4 and thought, here is yet another attempt to describe the Spirit, which even President Packer in that article you quoted said that we don't have the words, even the scriptures don't have the words to perfectly describe the Spirit, but we've got, okay, it's small, it's not harsh, it's not loud, but it pierces to the center. I really like that part. Yeah, at the bottom of verse 3, it pierces to the center. Yeah. I liked it in verse five. It talks about they heard it, they heard it again, they heard it a third time, but then they did something

different. They did open their ears to hear it. My mind went back to Amulek who said, I was called many times and I would not hear. Therefore, I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know." There was a point where they had to open their ears to hear it, which I'm fascinated by what they actually did. It sounds like there's an eagerness to hear and to listen that suddenly became a part of why they were able to understand then what they were hearing. I think it goes back to what Brad said with the choice. You make a choice and when you turn, come unto me and I will come to you. Turn towards me, I will come to you. Go back to Helaman 5, the pattern is still hitting there. Amidadab says to them, repent, cry unto the Lord, the darkness disperses. Does this not sound like 3 Nephi? Then they hear

a voice. And this is how it's described in Helaman 5.44. They were filled with that joy, which is unspeakable, it's very difficult to describe, and full of glory. The Holy Spirit of God did come down from heaven, did enter into their hearts. They could speak forth marvelous words. And then it's described this way, a pleasant voice, a pleasant voice, as if it were a whisper. Here's testimony again, peace be unto you because of your faith in my well beloved. These two chapters are meant to be paralleled and we learn in both chapters what the Holy Ghost, what that revelation is like. I really like what you said, Brad. What did Joseph Smith say? Revelation?

Yeah, he says, "'Revelation occupies my mind "'and presses upon my feelings.'" That's a wonderful way to describe it. Just to give Aminadab another shout out. Who was this guy? He was in prison. He had once belonged to the Church of God but had dissented from them.

And yet deep in his heart he knew exactly what to do. And he knew exactly what to tell others to do. This is what you have to do. And their question, what shall we do this cloud of darkness may be removed from overshadowing us? Cry into the voice. I love that deep down, like Amulek, not exactly like it, but sort of, he knew what to do. The Lord put him there. Even in those circumstances to tell others, I know what to do. You've got to cry to the voice

and repent. How cool is that? Even as a dissenter, he wasn't lost from the Lord and I think gives a lot of people hope that Maybe somebody isn't where you wish they were right now. It's still in there and there'll be a chance for it to come out Brad what a moment to look up to see a man descending out of heaven And then he speaks I am Jesus Christ. How do you get tickets to that? Well, all I know is that's why I love the description that you've given me. Take all the breathtaking moments of your life, put them in one single moment, and that would be what you would be feeling. And then they have the chance to greet him and become special witnesses one at a time. There were about 2,500 people there. The Book of

Mormon tells us in chapter 1725, it's all about one-on-one. It's all about the individual. And the people start crying, Hosanna, Hosanna. Hosanna means save now we pray. Do we ever say Hosanna in our church today? When do we cry, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna? When do we do that? That's a temple dedication. We do it at temple dedications or other special occasions. I think President Hinckley led a Hosanna shout when they dedicated the conference center and President Nelson did a Hosanna shout in 2020 for the celebration of the 200th anniversary

since the first vision. And we were all in our homes because of COVID. Do you remember? And we all stood up and we did the Hosanna shout in our homes. It's interesting to think back and realize that we don't wave palm leaves like they did at the triumphal entry. We wave our white handkerchief, but we're remembering the triumphal entry. And prophets have also said that we're doing some other things as well.

We are told that we are remembering the time we shouted for joy in the pre-mortal life when we found out that Jesus would be our savior and that we would be able to survive mortality and become better because of it. We shouted for joy. And then Lorenzo Snow, who used to teach at EFY with John and me, Lorenzo Snow says, the same shout of Hosanna is what we will use when we welcome the Savior in His glorious second coming. Every temple dedication is a dress rehearsal. Now, if you've ever been in a play, you know the drama director always says, now do it like it's the real thing, do it like it's the real thing. I always give that pep talk to the teenagers before they do a Hosanna shout in a temple dedication, because sometimes they stand there waving their

handkerchief and looking around like, I hope nobody can see me right now. And how embarrassing that we're doing this. I want them to realize that this is the very chance they have to shout at the top of their lungs the way these people shouted when Jesus came to them, because that's what we will do when Jesus comes again. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna. when Jesus comes again. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna. Yeah, once you realize what you're practicing for, it's not a weird thing at all. It's an exciting thing. It's much like the sacrament. Aren't we supposed to look forward to that meal with Christ one day that we will have? I love that you said that, Brad, that we're practicing for that future moment,

and we're remembering past moments when we've done it before. Exactly. Look at this in verse 18. It says, he spake unto Nephi. Now let's remember that this Nephi had already heard the voice of the Lord because this is the Nephi that was praying on the morrow. They're gonna kill all the believers Please help us and he heard that Christ would come into the world He had heard the voice of the Lord and now the Lord is again saying to him

Come and he's saying come before me and Nephi arose and went forth verse 19 and bowed himself before the Lord and did kiss his feet. Now I don't know Hank are you old enough to have actually remembered Bruce R. McConkie's final testimony? I have heard it but I do not remember it. This was in 1985. And if you remember, everyone knew he had cancer. They knew this was his last testimony. And he died 13 days after this final testimony. I still remember clearly hearing him.

Do you, John? Absolutely. I remember clearly hearing him bear that to you John Absolutely April 85. I was sitting next to my dad and my dad always said during general conference if elder McConkey got up He said everybody sit up straight Yeah, listen to his words I am one of his witnesses and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God's almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood

and in no other way. And here's Nephi. This was not a surprise to him. Oh what, Jesus, you're real? He knew already. He knew, just as Bruce R. McConkie knew. This was not a new experience for him. But look at how he bowed himself before the Lord and did kiss his feet.

And then the Lord gave unto him, look at 21, power that he shall baptize. Now I think that's so interesting because the people are yelling, Hosanna, Hosanna, which means save now we pray. And then he says, okay, you want salvation? Let's talk about salvation. Let me give you the authority and let me have you get baptized. John Hilton has done so many wonderful studies to see how many times different words are said in the Book of Mormon. He says there are 14000 words attributed to Christ. That's about 5% of the text of the Book of Mormon.

The whole text of the Book of Mormon, Jesus is speaking about 5% of the time. That's pretty impressive. And about half of those 14,000 words are right here in 3rd Nephi. John says no one has used the word baptize more than Jesus Christ. Isn't that something? You want salvation? Get baptized. You want salvation? Then renew that baptismal covenant. He's saying this is how you use your agency to choose my influence and power in your life. You get baptized, you renew that covenant relationship, and that's what is clearly important to Jesus Christ because he's telling us that it's through baptism, it's through the first principles and ordinances of the gospel, that we are choosing him, that we're using our agency and allowing him entrance into our lives.

It's in the Book of Mormon that we read that baptism is a covenant. In the Bible, we typically see baptism presented as a cleansing, but it's in the Book of Mormon that we see baptism as more than just a cleansing. It is how we enter a covenant, how we enter a covenant relationship with God and Jesus, and that is where we find salvation, is within that relationship. Now, it's interesting that he gives them power to baptize. He brings the Aaronic priesthood. People are often surprised to realize that in the Book of Mormon, they have the Melchizedek priesthood. There were no Levites who came with Nephi and Lehi on the ship in the barges. They didn't have the Aaronic priesthood. They had the

Melchizedek priesthood, the priesthood of prophets, and that's the power that they were using to baptize. Now Jesus comes and he says, let me give you the Aaronic priesthood as well as the Melchizedek priesthood because then they have the fullness, the temporal, the spiritual, the preparatory, the fullness of the Priesthood. But also in the Aaronic Priesthood, we find the keys for us to be able to overcome. And it's in the Melchizedek that we find the keys to be able to become. So we need both. Notice in the old world, they had the Aaronic priesthood and Jesus comes to bring the Melchizedek priesthood.

But in this world, in the Americas, they had the Melchizedek and he now brings the Aaronic because both of those priesthoods give us a fullness. The keys for overcoming, the keys for becoming. In 25 he says, having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Now most missionaries recognize really quickly that that's not exactly what we say. What do we say? Having been commissioned.

Mmm. Having been commissioned. I once asked Bob Millett What's the difference? And he said it's how long your line of authority is He says if there's one space between you and Jesus if Jesus is right there and you're right there Then you would say having authority given me of Jesus Christ if your line of authority is a little longer than that He says that they commission say having been commissioned. Isn't that interesting? I like that. Never thought about that difference. Speaking of Robert Millett, years ago, I came across a book called,

Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up? Did you stand? Is it? This Protestant scholar, I wanted to say his name is David Bercot, B-E-R-C-O-T. And he talked about baptism and how important it was in the early church and said, what happened? He said baptism seems to have replaced the altar call, but he argued that when Jesus

gave the Great Commission, I always think of that painting in the High Council Room of the resurrected Jesus saying, go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature and then what's next? Baptizing them. Why have we replaced the altar call with baptism? And one of the things I like about this is the preeminence of baptism is being restated and like a second witness of it right here in what you've just read, Brad. Jesus himself was baptized. A lot of people love the chosen and I do too. They don't portray Christ baptism because they could not get people to agree on how that should

be portrayed. There are so many differences between different Christian denominations as to how baptism should be done and if it's even necessary. Some people say, oh, it's like a wedding ring. It's nice, but it's not necessary. And here Jesus in the Book of Mormon is saying, yes, it is absolutely necessary. If you think about Jesus' baptism, which we read about in 2 Nephi, he never needed cleansing, but he needed to fulfill all righteousness. Well, what does that mean? He needed to enter a covenant with his father so that he could choose to receive his Father's power and His Father's grace, which gave Him the

power to be able to perform the atonement. Yes, He needed that covenant relationship with His Father, even though He didn't need the cleansing that the rest of us need. I was asked once, why is baptism so important to Jesus? The same verse always comes to mind, John, I brought this up before, Moses 6.59, you were born into this world by water, blood, and spirit, physically. There was a lot of water, a lot of blood, and a powerful spirit. I want you to be born again, into my family.

Baptism, to me, is the day you become his. John, you just had a new granddaughter born. That's the day she became a by the way and a Belka. She's in your family and you would do anything for her. And so would Ashley and Hans. I think this is the same way. I think baptism is Jesus saying, enter into my family. You're gonna be born of my blood this time and I will do anything for you. Choose my family.

Why is it so important to him, Brad? You've shown us that obviously it is. This is the first thing he teaches. Can you imagine the second coming, you guys, and Jesus comes and we're, what's he going to say? And he says, can I talk to you about baptism? And we all, really? But what is it, John? If they're really the first principles, then they're really the first principles. As we finish up in 11, you'll notice that he teaches his doctrine, the doctrine of

Christ. In verse 33 he says believe in me. At the bottom of verse 32 he says repent. We have faith, repentance. In 33 he says baptism, be baptized. Then in 35 it says he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost. Then in 38 we read, Become as a little child. We see faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. Spelled out, there's the doctrine of Christ and he says, this is my doctrine. Now the reason I wanted to set that as a context is because as we go into chapter 12, now some listeners are going, yeah, that's the one you were supposed to be covering all along. As we go into 12, we're going to see the doctrine of Christ again,

but we're going to see it in the Beatitudes. Let's go there. Chapter 12. In the introduction, it says he gives a discourse similar to the Sermon on the Mount. Many people in the world, including some Bible scholars, say that Jesus never taught the Sermon on the Mount. They say it's too disjointed in its structure to have been taught on one occasion. Some scholars say this is a compilation They say it's too disjointed in its structure to have been taught on one occasion. Some scholars say this is a compilation of his teachings on many different occasions. Others say, no, this was all made up by Bible translators in the Middle Ages.

How do we know he actually taught the sermon? Well because it's right here in the Book of Mormon. He does it again. He teaches us a very similar sermon, and he does it in one setting. Harold B. Lee, President Lee said, in his Sermon on the Mount, the Master has given us somewhat of a revelation of his own character, or what might be said to be an autobiography, every syllable of which he had written down in deeds and in so doing he has given us a blueprint for our own lives. In verse 1 he says blessed are ye if ye shall believe in me

and then up at the top of that verse it says, Blessed are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words of these twelve whom I have chosen from among you to minister unto you. The first principle of the gospel, faith. Faith in me. Faith in the prophets. This is the first principle of the gospel. Then in verse 2, he says, Yea, blessed are they who shall believe in your words and come down into the depths of humility and be baptized. The first ordinance of the gospel.

Now these two beatitudes are not in the Bible. Not in the Bible as we know it now. This tells us that this audience was, as you said earlier, John, a different audience. These were people who were prepared to be able to start coming into his church. And he is telling them how they can come into his church. He says, faith, baptism, look at verse 3, then we

suddenly have the ones we recognize. Blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me. The poor in spirit, if you lack money, you're poor in finances. If you are like me and lack skills, then you are a poor athlete because I'm lacking skills. If your spirit is lacking something, then you're recognizing that you're not like God. You're not like Jesus Christ. You are recognizing that you need to become more like them. Then in four it says, blessed are all they that mourn. Now this isn't mourning at a funeral, although that is mourning, but this is a different kind of mourning perhaps. Mourning because of our sins.

If we have recognized in our humility that we're not like Jesus, then that gives us a reason to mourn because of our sins. And he gives us the solution. He says, come unto me, repent. And that's how you can be changed. Look at the next one. He said, blessed are the meek as we meekly return to the sacrament table every week. Then we are welcoming him again and again and again, day after day after day, Sunday after Sunday, weakness after weakness. We are meekly turning to him for his strength, for his spirit, for his grace, because that's how we can be changed. Look at 6. Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled with the Holy Ghost. That's not in the Bible. But here it says they'll be filled with the Holy Ghost. That's not in the Bible. But here it says they'll be filled

with the Holy Ghost. Do you see the first principles being reiterated here? He had talked about his doctrine and now in the Beatitudes he's teaching his doctrine again. You will be filled with the Holy Ghost. Now blessed is related to the Greek word, Markarios, that is often interpreted as complete, whole, or fully formed. The Beatitudes, the word comes from Beatus in Latin, which means fortunate or happy. Happy are those, fortunate are those, fortunate are the pure in heart, fortunate are the meat. But if we go to the Greek, it's coming from a word markerios. That's a Greek word that means more than happy. It's a happiness that

can only come after death. Andrew Skinner says if you examine the root of that in Hebrew, the word actually means exalted or holy. Wow! Holy are the. Exalted are the. This isn't good advice for the world. This isn't just an ethics course. This isn't something that everybody should cross-stitch and put on their wall because it's good advice for everyone. This is Jesus teaching his doctrine. This is Jesus teaching us how we can enter into a covenant with him and through that covenant relationship, we can be made holy. We can be exalted. He says, blessed are the merciful.

Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are they who are persecuted for my name's sake. These are the qualities that we can attain as we endure to the end, as we continue to make covenants with Christ in the temple. We can start owning these qualities because, as President Lee said, these are Christ writing an autobiography. He's saying, I am merciful and I can make you merciful. I am pure in heart and I can help you be pure in heart. I am a peacemaker and I can help you in this covenant relationship where you welcome my

grace. where you welcome my grace, it can change you and you can become even as I, and you can withstand persecution as I can withstand persecution. Wow, in the Bible dictionary it says, rather than being isolated statements, the Beatitudes are interrelated and progressive in their arrangement. There is purpose in the way this is being presented. That's what my brother and I wrote about, are these possible connections with the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. I've heard teachers before say these are the steps of repentance and I've heard others compare the, these are the steps of repentance. And I've heard others compare the Beatitudes to the gifts of the Spirit.

And those are all wonderful insights. What if Jesus is giving us more? What if he's actually giving us the first principles and ordinances of the gospel? What if he's teaching us his doctrine? And more importantly, teaching us what can happen to us as we live the doctrine of Christ. Brad, let me make sure I have this right. And John, you can comment these first six verses here in 3 Nephi 12. You're right on. Show me, give heed, believe in words. That's faith. And then baptism

can't be missed. It's in there quite a bit. Then repentance at the end of verse two. We see humility and poor in spirit and humility, the proud are not going to have faith. They're not going to be baptized. They're not going to do that. We see the humility to turn to Christ, and then we see the mourning for our own sins, repentance, and then we see meekness, which is what we demonstrate as we renew our baptismal covenant. Three, four, and five, repentance, and then verse six, and also back in verse one, Holy Ghost. So it's verses 1 through 6. In the book that my brother and I have done, we actually start trying to connect the other

Beatitudes to the covenants that we make in the temple during the endowment. For some people, that might be stretching it a little too far. Roger and I found that very insightful to start looking at how mercy and purity and peacemaking and even the persecution that comes as we are consecrated to the cause of Christ, we found some connections that were very meaningful to us. As I live these principles and ordinances, this is what I become. What an excellent insight. Merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, whether the connection is there or not, but that is the hope of the temple, right? That I come out of the temple more merciful, pure in heart, I come out of the temple more merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, ready to be persecuted for the Lord's sake.

Remember that the Aaronic priesthood, which is power to baptize, is power to overcome. The Aaronic priesthood that gives us the keys of repentance, it gives us the chance to be able to administer and partake of the sacrament. That's the keys of overcoming. But then in the Melchizedek Priesthood and the ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood, we find the keys to become more like the Savior. It might not be appropriate to pick a favorite beatitude but I love verse 6. Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness because I thought Jesus could have said and blessed are the righteous. I think all of us would realize well I'm not perfectly righteous but I can hunger and thirst after it. I love that those

desires count. How often do hunger and thirst have to be addressed? I mean, I'm one of those guys who likes to eat every day. Will there ever come a time in your life when you can say, oh, I'm done eating. I ate back in 2012. There will never come a time when we won't continue to hunger and thirst. And this beatitude, it gives me space for becoming. I'm going to continue to hunger and thirst after it. And if I need to repent, I can do that, but I want it. I desire that I'm going to keep coming back to that sacrament table and hungering and thirsting after righteousness.

That's where that becoming, I hope, comes in, like you said, Brad. The desires matter. I like that. Yeah. Now Brad, before we move on from the Beatitudes, you remember John shared his favorite Beatitude. I want to share mine. This is verse 9. Blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. The Spirit of the Spirit One thing we haven't talked about yet is in 3 Nephi 11, Jesus is teaching about baptism, as you said, and then he does a little side comment, I think, where he says, and since I've taught you about baptism, no more fighting over this thing, as there has hitherto been. I wonder if everybody kind of looked down,

as there has hitherto been. I don't know what you're talking about. He says, if you have the spirit of contention, you're not of me, but of the devil, who is the father of contention, who stirs men up with anger, one against another. And then he backs that up in 3 Nephi 12.9, blessed are the peacemakers. I wanted to get both of your comments on this. Both of you will remember this story. It wasn't very long ago. President Nelson. During my surgical internship many years ago, I assisted a surgeon who was amputating a leg filled with highly infectious gangrene. The operation was difficult. Then to

add to the tension, one of the team performed a task poorly and the surgeon erupted in anger. In the middle of his tantrum, he threw his scalpel, loaded with germs. It landed in my forearm. Everyone in the operating room, except the out-of-control surgeon, was horrified by this dangerous breach of surgical practice. Gratefully, I did not become infected. Yes, we're all very grateful. But this experience left a lasting impression on me. In that very hour, I promised to myself that whatever happened in my operating room, I would never lose control of my emotions. I vowed that day I would never throw anything in anger, whether it be scalpels or words. What have you both learned in your lives about

contention and peacemaking? That's a great question. I think I've been filled with gratitude for peacemakers in my life, in my ward. That's such an attribute of the Savior, to be able to make peace. And usually when things are calmer, because there's always going to be problems, but when there's a spirit of peacemaking and cooperation, problems can be solved. I've been grateful for people who have that influence over groups, over families. I remember you started talking about President Nelson way back in 1989. He gave a talk called The Canker of Contention. He said divine doctrine of the church is the prime target of attack by the spiritually contentious.

Well, do I remember a friend who would routinely sow seeds of contention in church classes? His assaults would invariably be preceded by this predictable comment. Let me play the role of devil's advocate. Recently, he passed away. This is kind of funny. One day he will stand before the Lord in judgment. Then I wonder, will my friend's predictable comment again be repeated? Imagine standing in front of the Lord and say, let me be the devil's advocate.

Really? You want to do what? Hank, if you think about it, that's what makes the setting here different from what President Nelson experienced in that operating room. That was a professional environment in which the anger was causing a problem. But when you're fighting about spiritual things, then that seems to take it to a new level. Here they're fighting about baptism and how baptism should be done and what you should say, whether it was necessary. I mean, all of those things. And he says, really? You're fighting about spiritual things? This ought to be the time when you are trying to be one, of one mind, of one heart.

Those who are not unified, those who aren't one, are not of me. Yeah, this reminds me, there is contention that is directed at the gospel, at the people trying to follow Jesus, and here it's within them. Like you said, Brad, boy that statement you just mentioned it, if ye are not one, ye are not mine. I mean the alternatives are really bad if we're not his. What else is there if we're not his? That idea to be one is another way of saying the same thing. No more contention. I would encourage everyone to go back, even stop the podcast right now, go look up Peacemakers Needed from April 2023 and read it again. Read it with your family this week. There's so many wonderful statements. I wanted to pick just one.

It's difficult, but I chose this one. The Savior's message is clear. His true disciples build, lift, encourage, persuade, and inspire. No matter how difficult the situation, true disciples of Jesus Christ are peacemakers. Again, everyone, go back and re-read this message. For me, it is one I'll never forget. I imagine 20 years from now, I'll still be quoting and thinking about that talk. And not just you, Hank.

That talk has reached far beyond the membership of the church. I have been in professional circles where I've heard people quoting President Nelson and attributing the thoughts to him, not plagiarizing him, but literally attributing the thoughts to him as they have been speaking in educational circles, as they have been speaking in academic circles. I've heard people outside the church quoting that talk. Now Brad, we've had you for a while and we're in chapter 12 around verses 10, 11 and 12. So where do you want to go from here? Well, let's take a look at it. Now he jumps into year the salt of the earth and be a light to the people. Without what we've covered, then that seems disjointed. It seems like quite a leap, quite a jump.

And that's why scholars sometimes say, no, this had to be a teaching on another occasion. But in the context that we have been establishing, this flows naturally. Because we're saying, if you can apply my doctrine, if you can come into covenant relationship with me, if you can be changed, then you can be the salt of the earth. Then you can be a light to the world. This is not only how you can be exalted or made holy yourself, but this is how now you can be more serviceable to me as you reach out and bless others. How come he says, you're the salt of the earth and we aren't offended? We aren't disturbed. Why is he calling me salt?

I am not versed in the history of salt, but I do believe it was used to preserve food before refrigeration. Very valuable. In fact, I think the word salary comes from the word salt money. Yes, salary. And that's how Roman soldiers were paid in salt. That's why people wanted to conquer the Holy as preservatives of the world, as we preserve the world. Salt also has health benefits. It can be used to melt ice. It can be used in many ways.

It can be for flavoring. That just is the most basic. But think of all of those things when you think about what Christ needs us to be in the world. You start realizing that when he says, ye are the salt of the world, it's a great compliment. Salt doesn't lose its savor unless it's contaminated. If it's not contaminated with other things, it will not lose its saber. When he says, be the salt that doesn't lose your sabre, he's saying, don't let the world contaminate you. You be here to bless the world. Then

he goes into, you are the light of the world. How do we reconcile his teaching, be a light to others, and then him teaching, don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing Do it in secret do it in your closet. How do we reconcile those two teachings? Some people without saying a word can light up a room. I Remember elder Bruce C. Hafen that we've had on the podcast saying that one time they were hosting a Japanese law professor at Brigham Young University and that he finally stopped Elder Hafen and said, you have got to tell me the secret behind all the shining eyes. He said this place is like an oasis in a sea of

darkness or something like that because he saw these people that were just going to their classes, but he could see a light in them. Brad, I also think it goes back to what John said earlier about those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. When the Lord is teaching us not to let your right hand know what your left hand is doing, maybe that's talking about what are you hungering and thirsting after? Let your light so shine before this people that they may see your good works and glorify who? Your father who is in heaven. Sometimes I say yes, I'm going to show people my good work so

they can glorify me. Would it come down to your desire? And your motive. As we look now, as he starts going into the rest of the sermon, he's starting to say, let me lift you to a higher place. We're not going to just talk about behavior anymore. We're not going to just talk about what you're doing. We're going to say, are you doing it for the right reasons? Are you doing it out of your heart? Are you doing it because it's a rule that needs to be kept and he starts taking us up into this higher law. That's what's happening here. He says 21 thou shall not kill 22.

No don't even be angry with your brother 27 thou shall not commit adultery 28 lust 29 don't let lust enter into your heart. He's taking us to a higher law and yet we struggle with that. The children of Israel always have struggled with that. Young people are struggling with it even now as we learn to be governed by principles rather than a set of rules. For the Strength of Youth Guide, it's giving us incredible principles to guide us, and yet people are treating it like it's an excuse to not live the lower law. Instead of an invitation to live a higher law, they're saying, oh, this is now my excuse for not living any law at all.

It's like they're saying, oh, it doesn't say thou shall not kill, so now I can kill my brother, I just can't be angry with him. And it doesn't say thou shall not commit adultery, so as long as I don't do it lustfully, then I can commit adultery. When people are using principles that are actually being written and shared with us to invite us to live in a higher and holier way, it says the purpose of For the Strength of Youth is not to give a yes or a no to every possible choice you might face. Instead, the Lord is inviting you to live in a

higher and holier way, His way, and to take that invitation and then use it as an excuse for dressing immodestly or for getting a tattoo or for having multiple piercings. That's like taking the That's like taking the Sermon on the Mount as an excuse to not live the Ten Commandments. I think this sermon and the Strength Youth pamphlet the same way, Brad, exposes what's happening internally. This sermon is kind of scary because just like the Strength of Youth pamphlet, it's going to expose me, to me, and I better like what I see. I hope I like what I see. We often speak about this as a higher law, but I think it's going another direction too. It's an inner law. It's where is your heart? I hope people will go to the church news

or get the church news app and read the talks that the young men's and young women's general presidencies gave about For the Strength of Youth at Education Week in August of 2024 because Brad talked about some of these same things. For the Strength of Youth is not minimums of behavior, it is doctrines of discipleship. Instead of asking what will God permit, we're supposed to ask what would God prefer. I feel like President Nelson has been talking about this all along. Learn to hear him, and then are you willing to let God prevail? And some are skipping those steps and going to see, okay, what are the minimums in here? Instead of saying, what is the doctrine now? I'm gonna get on my knees, I'm gonna learn to

hear Him, and I'm going to let God prevail based on these principles. And boy, that is asking a higher and inner thing of all of us, isn't it? It's easier to spell it all out. This is harder. That's what I mean, John, is when I get the Strength Youth pamphlet and I'm looking for what's the minimum I have to do, I learn something about me. Yeah. The blessing is that when we are willing to step up, whether it's the principles here in the Sermon on the Mount, or whether it's the principles in the Strength of Youth Guide, when we are willing to step up, then we can be governed by principles, whether we're in private, whether we're in public, and we can be governed by principles our whole lives. There have always been rules, there have always been dress standards,

and I hope that we can realize that this is Jesus inviting us to care about whether we're living the standard, whether other people are watching us or not, whether there's supervision or not. This is between us internally and God. It's not just a matter of, will they let me in the testing center? It's a matter of, am I going to be governed by these principles that truly will allow my heart to become more like Jesus Christ? Coming up in part two of this episode. I went to a wedding reception the other night, and it was the wedding reception of a beautiful young lady who just married a wonderful returned missionary, and they were sealed in the temple. But get a load of this story.

This was a story that was in the December 3rd, 2023 church news. It's talking about this young woman named Kaylee.