Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - Doctrine & Covenants 133-134 Part 1 : Dr. Derek Sainsbury

Episode Date: November 13, 2021

Have you ever read the Appendix to the Doctrine and Covenants? Just as Section 1 is sometimes called the Preface, Section 133 is often called the Appendix. Dr. Derek Sainsbury relates how these two sections were given two days apart, and Section 133 is the Lord’s generous answer to questions about missionary work and what the Lord desired for the Saints. We discuss the differences between Zion and Babylon and then the Second Coming.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/episodes/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive ProducersDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Sponsor/MarketingLisa Spice: Client Relations, Show Notes/TranscriptsJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Assistant Video EditorAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsKrystal Roberts : French TranscriptsIgor Willians : Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-pianoPlease rate and review the podcast.

Welcome to Follow Him, a weekly podcast dedicated to helping individuals and families with their Come Follow Me study. I'm Hank Smith and I'm John by the way. We love to learn, we love to laugh. We want to learn and laugh with you. As together, we follow him. Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith and I am here with my honorable

co-host, John By the Way. Hello, John By the Way. I'm honored to be a co-honored with my honorable. You are. A co-honorable host. Hey, we want to remind everybody, come find us on social media. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram, Jamie Nielsen,

our amazing team member runs that. And we would love to hear from you there. You can get show notes at followhim.co, followhim.co. And we'd love for you to subscribe to, rate, review the podcast that really helps us a lot. So if you feel like we've helped you, please do that and help us a little bit. Now, John, you know the routine, we go out and search

the church for one of the best minds on our particular lesson today and we have found one. Who's with us today? Yes, we have. I love this bio-deric saintsbury is a happy, reformed sinner. I meant that's a big club. I love that. Yeah, happy reform sinner. He's married to his high school sweetheart Meredith, who he said as a nine time cancer survivor. Yep. That's a whole podcast in itself or two, isn't it? They have three adult sons,

Bryant, Nathan, and Joshua, and three dogs. He has a bachelor's degree in political science and history from the University of Utah, a masters of public administration from Brigham Young University, and a PhD in American history from the University of Utah. And this is the part Hank that we were talking about before. He's the author of the groundbreaking book, Storming the Nation, the political missionaries

of Joseph Smith's presidential campaign, which is a unique contribution. It's the first book length investigation of Joseph Smith's 1844 presidential campaign. He's authored several articles, speaks at academic conferences, assists, several pro-Laddard A. St. websites with content. He's taught in various assignments and seminaries institutes for the past 26 years. And currently is teaching in the church history and doctrine department at Brigham Young University and with these sections and this bio bio I'm so excited to welcome Dr. Sainsbury, welcome and thank you for being with us today.

Thank you. I appreciate the invite. It's good to be with you. Yeah, we had, we were lucky. We had Derek in ancient scripture in our department over at BYU, but they recently stole him from us in church history and doctrine. recently stole him in church history and doctrine. And it's a pretty rare teacher, John. And you know that both teach in both departments, yeah. It be why you, that's pretty incredible. Hey, Derek, we wanna give you all the time in the world. So we're studying sections 133 and 134 today.

So why don't you back up, how far you need you need to? Let our listeners know where they need to kind of come from in order to get the most out of these sections. Awesome. Well let me just put out just a really quick trajectory of where I kind of want to go to combine these and kind of where your next podcast will go. So section 133 kind of defines the restoration's purpose. It was originally in appendix to the book of commandments and kind of fleshes out section one, which was the preface that was only given

a couple days earlier. And it has this real pre-millennial urgency, right? That Jesus is coming. and there's this real split in the world between Zion and Babylon, and we'll go into all this, and what that means as far as Christ's second coming, and that we've got to go out and prepare the world. Section 134 is four years later, and the reality has set in of what Zion looks like in America, and it's not pretty. And we'll talk about how this statement that was included in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants about government comes out of those experiences, comes

out of this trying to build Zion in the United States. Then I thought at the end, I'd take a little time to bridge the gap between 134 and 135, which is the next section, which is many years later, with Joseph Smith's martyrdom, and feeling that gap with a little bit of history that actually flows from these two sections and kind of where my expertise is. Derek, this, yeah, we're excited. John and I are long for the ride. We love it. Well, so like I said was section 133, this is given on November 3rd, 1831.

So we have to remember again that the church is so young, right? And everyone is a convert. There's probably about 600 members at this time with 13 million people in United States and about 1 billion in the world. And so this is a very extremely small group. So Derek, just for our listeners sake,

this one comes out of order, right? Yes, yes. Yeah, because the last one we studied with Dr. Holbrook, we were back in, we were in 1843, we were moving right along towards, you know, through Navu and you're jumping way back to Ohio, the beginnings of Ohio, right? Yeah, that's absolutely right. In fact, they've just that the previous summer, so just a few months earlier,

the Joseph Smith and other early members had gone down to Jackson County, Missouri, and received the declaration of it being the center place for Zion and had dedicated the, of it being the center place for Zion and had dedicated the temple lot, right? And so we're jumping back 12 years. Yeah, we're way back. And then they come back to Kirkland and at this conference that is held, they're trying to decide which revelations to put in the book of commandments. And so the reason why there's this out of order is that the preface is received on the first day of the conference and the day after the conference,

it's a two-day conference, the day after the conference, what we call section 133, was received. At that point, it was called the appendix, right? It wasn't even a section. It was kind of like the appendix of a book, right? It kind of fleshes out where we go from here, kind of a thing. And so that's why it's so out of order. So we should probably have our listeners go back and listen to section, our episode on section one with Anthony Sweat. And you can absolutely or just give it. Yeah. If you haven't listened to that one, we'd encourage you. go back, listen to section one, then come back and listen to section,

this episode we're doing on 133 because those were given just two days apart. So yeah, and the neat thing about that is there's a lot of similarities of phrasing and ideas that get fleshed out more in 133, which it's kind of cool to be able to, you know, kind of read them side by side. The other neat thing about the context here is it's held on November 1st, which is a

Tuesday, and I don't think that's random. November 1st is All Saints Day in the Christian tradition, and of the congregations in the 1800s that celebrated All Saints Day, the Methodists were pretty adamant about celebrating it. And since many early members of the church are former Methodists, I don't see much coincidence in the fact that Section 1 is received on All Saints Day. So because the message right is to all saints and then to all the world in both the section one, the preface and 133, the appendix. And so here's the background that Joseph Smith writes in his history. At the end of this conference he writes, at this time there were many things which the elders desired to know

relative to the preaching the gospel, to the inhabitants of the earth, and concerning the gathering and in order to walk by the gospel, to the inhabitants of the earth, and concerning the gathering, and in order to walk by the true light and be instructed from on high. So they wanna know, you know, more about the gathering, preaching the gospel and know how to live in such a way that they're doing it right.

And so the Lord is, gives that and more, which is always so wonderful about the Lord in Revelation. He always gives us even more than we're asking. And so this section overall is kind of like, prepare for the second coming. There is Zion and Babylon. There's no mention of like a specific nation.

It's just nations, right? So it's kind of dividing the world between Zion and Babylon, and then at the second coming, it will be a great day for Zion and a terrible one for Babylon. And then basically, this is why I've called Joseph Smith, and this is why missionaries are going out to the nation and read these commandments, right, that they're bringing with them is kind of the kind of the setup. I don't know, something just hit me as you were discussing this, that you know, section 135 is coming and the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. And I love how this book finally gets arranged. In the end, it gets arranged with,

we watch him grow, we watch him grow, we watch him grow. And he brings in so, he restores so much. And just before he's killed, let's take a look right back at that very beginning moments for him when he was just a brand new president of the church. And I just, I really like how this ended up. Like we build it up. Let's go back and take a look just before, you know, he's, we lose him in 135. Yeah. Well said.

Well, let's dive in then. Just like the preface in section one, it starts out with the idea of harken all the people of the earth, right? Harken all the people of the church. So that idea of not just listening but living. And then he quotes Malachi.

The Lord does when he says, well, he's actually quoting himself, right? Through Malachi, the Lord does when he says, well, he's actually quoting himself, right, through Malachi, but the Lord who shall suddenly come to his temple. So right away, there's this urgency to this message. And that can be several things. One, of course, is going to be, he is going to come to the Kirtland temple in five years from then, but also they've just received the revelation just months ago, right, about the temple in Zion, where God will reign with his people. So there's that connotation to it as well. And then the next verse is, the Lord who shall come down upon the world with the curse

of judgment on the ungodly. So the other thing about suddenly coming to his temple is the idea of coming to the world. So the ancient Hebrews and the Hebrews at the time, the Jews at the time of Jesus, believed that the heaven earth creation was a temple, that God was coming to be with his people. And so when it says he's suddenly coming to his temple, it has many, as it always does in scriptures,

it has many applications. He's coming to the Kirkland temple. They don't know that yet. It obviously makes sense. He's going to be coming to the Missouri temple when it's built, but just the whole idea that he's also coming to the entire world, right? To the earth itself.

Yeah, to cleanse that temple, just like he does in his first time here on earth. So I really like that idea. It speaks to me. And then we get this idea of gathering, which has been going on for less than a year in the church. So let's just look at a couple verses, verse four, sanctify yourselves, so prepare yourself, gather ye together. Then down in verse seven, go out of Babylon, gather ye among the out from among the nations. Down to verse nine, go ye forth unto the land of Zion.

And then if you skip over to verse 12, then all of a sudden it's flea and to Zion, right? So this idea that again this urgency, it kind of builds up through the phrasology here. And the reason why is in the verses before that the the bridegroom is coming. Jesus, right? He's coming to meet his bride, which is the church. And so people of all nations are being given the chance to be a part of it, to be a part of this great thing that's going to happen. And while he says in verse 15, don't let it be doing, you know, don't do it in haste. Prepare how you're doing this. But also

he goes back to quoting himself from the Bible where he says, you know, don't look back. Once you've decided to come to Zion, don't look back. Remember, you know, the idea of remembering lots' wife. So I like that, that right off, again, there's this urgency about doing this, right? That this is so important to do. Yeah, and you're right, I'm seeing all this from section one, right? The same, same language. I love these, these, they're, they're on their bookends.

Exactly. To all these revelations that came between them. Yeah, so let's investigate this idea of Zion for just a second. So Zion is actually mentioned zero times in the New Testament. So for Christianity at large, this is kind of a different idea. In the Old Testament, it's there 153 times, but in the Book of Mormon, which has preceded this, 42 times, and 191 more than the Old Testament and the doctrine of covenants in totality, by now they've only had a sum,

but not all of them, and then 14 times in the Perle Great Prize. So Zion is a very Old Testament and Restoration kind of idea and it comes from they think it comes from the Hebrew Cion which means castle or citadel which I think is really cool too because that's the originally named the place where the Jesuits were that David takes their citadel, Mount Zion, right? And then later they move it a few hundred yards to the temple mount, which we know is Mount Mariah. So there's this, it's got ancient roots,

but not as big a message in Christianity, post apostasy, right? Then as, I mean, even in the early times. So the Protestants of Joseph Smith's America wouldn't be talking about not building Zion, right? They may talk about Zion as another name for Jerusalem or for the Jews, all of Israel as Zion, but not for Christianity. And it's in the book of Mormon, of course, a lot of those are quoting Isaiah, right,

who quote Zion a lot. But Nephi is also talking about Zion in an independent way, bring forth my Zion at the latter days, if the Gentiles don't fight against Zion. The other thing is that's important for us to know is the term New Jerusalem, which is nowhere in the Old Testament, only two times in the New Testament, which is both in the Book of Revelation.

But in the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, eight times each, and then one very important one in the Pearl of great price. And why I say it's important is that in Moses 7.62 it combines Zion and the New Jerusalem as the same thing. And this has already been revealed by this time. So, Latter-day Saints understand Zion in a way completely different from the rest of the world, basically. That Zion is this New Jerusalem, and the Book of Mormon says that it's going to be built somewhere in the Americas, right? And so it's a whole different idea, and a deeper idea as well from that same chapter, we learn that Zion is a community. It's not just a city, but it's a way of life, it's a community, right?

Based on covenants, that's one in heart, that's one in mind, that dwells in righteousness with no poor among them, right? And that back in section 133, verse 9, that it can grow, right, that it can grow from its center place. And so that's, I mean, that's really important to understand that they're looking at Zion and understanding Zion so much different than anybody else is. And what Zion is is so, you know, this idea of this community, and Joseph Smith is going to later say, there's already been seeds planted, right? But Joseph Smith is going to later say that the whole reason to gather in any dispensation is to build temples to make

those important covenants. And so that's so different. Build a people, not into city, we want to build a people. That's right. That's right. A temple people. And that's just so different from the rest of Christianity, which we'll talk about, especially the consequences that lead to section 134.

You know what's interesting to me? I don't know if both of you have had the six periods, but the central parts of the book, Mormon, that talk about the gathering and Zion are the parts that everyone skips. Second, Neat Eye, Jacob chapter five, and the Savior's second visit, Chapter five and the Savior's second visit, 3 Nephi 20 through 26. Those are ones are kind of the least talked about, least read, and those are the three major, those are probably the three I would say

in the book of Mormon, that highlight the idea of gathering Israel to Zion. We just kind of go, I don't understand that and we skip over it. So in my classes, we're not skipping this, we're gonna understand it by the time we're done. So help me sit there and fill the spirit. Now.

All right. And look how much that has been like the President Nelson. This is the greatest work to ever be involved is the gathering of Israel. This is why you've come now. This is everything. So that's a good point. So let's talk about Babylon,

which is where they're being told to run from. Okay. So let's look at it anciently for a second. So Babylon begins with the idea of Babel, the tower of Babel of Nimrod and whoever he's conspiring with to build a tower to God. And so it was always been and where the confusion of the nations whoever he's conspiring with to build a tower to God. And so it was always been,

and when the confusion of the nations happens and the confusion of the languages, in fact, the Hebrew word is that they use is that means confuse, okay? And but the Samaritan definition of Babylon, and that comes from that story, obviously. The Samaritan definition, their own definition of it is the that comes from that story, obviously. The Sumerian definition, their own definition of it, is the gate of the gods. So it's that same idea, right?

This is the center of the universe. This is the center of the galaxy, and this is where the gods meet. And in the ancient times, it was the superpower, right, of all superpowers before, you know, the Persians and the Romans, but in the biblical, most of the biblical times of the Old Testament, Babylon is numeral unil, right? And it becomes a world center for commerce, for art, for learning. Some historians estimate that there could have been as many as 200,000 people in the city itself, which is in those times, you know, not even close, nothing else is even close to that.

The, you know, the walls were according to an ancient historian, 80 feet thick and 300 or 200, no, 320 feet tall. And it was this, when you were approaching the city, you could see one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, the hanging gardens, where they had created this elaborate plumbing system, where it looked like there was this beautiful garden of Eden just floating above this building because the plants themselves hid the columns

that contained the water. And so, I mean, it was everything, right? And hence, one of the reasons why it's connected with wickedness. The other is, it's, of course, that group that comes in and destroys Judah, destroys Jerusalem, destroys the temple, and then takes captive those that are left of the Jews. Right? And so it's always going to have in Judeo-Christian thought this idea of the world and evil and wickedness. Yeah, just for our listeners who aren't versed in their ancient history. This is about what, 10 to 15 years after Lehigh flees Jerusalem,

this is Babylon taking over and they take captive little boys that we've read about, Daniel. Right. Shadrach, Meshach, a bednego. This is right during that same time and Babylon was the, hey, came in and conquered

and it was brutal. It was brutal. As I've read about that destruction of that city, Lee, I was right. It was, it was gonna be bad. John, what were you gonna add there? I think, I love what you said, Derek, and I hope people will just take a minute

and go back and read the Bible dictionary entry on Babylon because it talks about the height of those walls and what a wonder of the world it was. And now it's like, I think it's nothing but sand. I think there was a story about, was it President Kimball and Mary and G. Romney or something. And did you see Babylon? And he said, I saw what was left of it. I think when they toured there because, but yeah. And we sing that song so often, oh Babylon, oh Babylon, we bid thee farewell. That was written by my great, great grandfather,

Richard Smife. Wow. No kids. I just had to throw that in. Yeah. Maybe you should sing it. Israel, Israel God is calling. Come out of Babylon, right?

Because it's coming down and lands of woe, right? Yeah. Science walls are going to ring with praise, right? Because it's coming down and lands of woe, right? Yeah. Zion's walls are going to ring with praise, right? Leave Babylon, come to Zion. So thanks, Grandpa. That's great. Just two more things that kind of help us with the insight here is that Babylon, the glory of the Chaldees, falls in one night with almost out of fight. And that's important because the Lord is through John is going to use that in the book of Revelation as well to say, it looks great, it looks awesome, but no man knows the hour and the time, and then in one day, it's all gone. And so what happens is the Persians actually, the cities built on top of the Euphrates River with

grates that go down into the river and they took a huge chunk the Persians of their army up water and built a reservoir and then waited to kind of divert it till the National Festival of the Gods for Babylon and then divert the river in the middle of the night and the Persian army, while everybody's partying downtown, just walks right under in the riverbed, right under the gates and takes the city and Babylon falls in one night. And so that's the other part.

It's the Cyrus King of Kings. Yeah, so the idea there though, is come out of Babylon, right? And don't wait because when it falls, it will fall so suddenly, so quickly, that there won't be time to do anything else. And the other part of that that's instructive, because as you read in verse 5, in section 133, go yet from Babylon, be clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. That comes from the book of Second Chronicles,

where the men who are bringing back the temple instruments, except the Ark of the Covenant, because Indiana Jones had to give that for it shall work out. All of the other parts of the temple that had been taken by the Babylonians were given back to the Jews to take back, and they had to be clean to carry those. And so there's also this idea of restoration that's coming out of that, right?

That fits into this overall narrative really well that we've been captive so long in Babylon and now God is restoring us, including the beauties and glory of the temple. Because Babylon becomes a symbol for what would you say? Whirledliness, the world, it's kind of like great and spacious building almost. Right. Yeah. Confusion, deception, right? All of those fit, right? And the Lord makes sure we understand that in verse 14 where he says, in the midst of

wickedness, which is spiritual Babylon. Yeah, I think it's important because we use it all the time as a symbol. So this is a great discussion to say, a symbol of what? Because it was admired too. It had a worldliness and a wealth. And like you said, even technology as far as the hanging gardens that was admired and then the Lord calls spiritual Babylon. I'm so glad you brought that in. I think it's smart for us to help our listeners connect it to the great and spacious building or what, what does Nephi call it, the great and abominable church, right? And John even references it in the book of Revelation. And there's a point in the book of Revelation 18 where the Savior calls to the people in Babylon

and says, come out of there, my people. Yeah, that's, I love how you talked about the way it was taken in one night because I think that matches, and this is what you're doing, I think, the, I come quickly suddenly without warning type of an idea that Babylon's going to fall like that. And I thought that's a strategy. That's what the Book of Mormon would call a strategy. Wouldn't it divert the river and go up on the knee? Let's take this place by strategy. And they did. And Derek, it would probably be this idea

if Babylon could never fall. Exactly. The Titanic could never sink and Babylon could never fall. What an interesting connection. I'm loving these connections across scripture. Yeah. And so there's a Zion Babylon dichotomy in these sections, not just 133, but in all the sections

so far that have talked about it, that there's Zion where the saints are gathering and then everything else is Babylon, and nations are just talked about as nations, right? That they don't matter as much as citizenship in one of these two kingdoms, if you will. And the reason that that's important is, as we said before, that the marriage of the Lamb, that the return of Jesus,

is going to happen at Zion, right? First, in fact, throughout this section, we see three different second comings. You know, we always like to group the whole thing into one, but we see, actually actually as we go through this We'll see there's three talks about it three different times as three different things He spends more time on some than others, but It's important then that that's why in verse 16 he says

Harkin in here and listen everybody on earth. Please listen my elders, right? I'm calling on everyone to repent, right? That's why I have brought the gospel out. Make the path straight, straighten out your paths so I can come to you. So you're in the place where I'm coming for the hour is nigh, right? So again, that urgency, that immediacy

that then also feeds in with that kind of follow Babylon. And the first of those is in verses 18 and then also 44 and 45. And this comes from the book of Revelation. When the Lamb shall stand upon Mount Zion and with him 144,000 having his father's name written on their foreheads, and then if you'll skip to 44 and 45 with me and then we'll kind of break it all down. Yay, when thou come us down and the mountains flow down, we'll talk about what that means a little bit later.

Bout shall meet him who rejoices and worketh righteousness, who remembereth thee in thy ways. For since the beginning of the world have not man heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath I seen, oh God, besides the how great things thou hast prepared for him, that weighteth for thee. And so it's not beautiful. I just love the language. You know, and it's so beautiful how what the Lord does for me at least in Doctrine and Covenant, it's about how he just pulls from everywhere and makes these beautiful phrases and beautiful analogies that then we can go back and look at these original ones

and it's already been embedded to teach us what's going on. And I just love that. I'm glad you said this because as I was studying this as preparing today, I thought, wow, first you've got some Isaiah in here and then you've got some book of revelation in here and then you've got some Malachi in here and it reminds me of an interesting phrase at the end of Jesus' visit in the New World that said he expounded all the scriptures in one. And I've always wondered, how do you get a ticket to that? First of all, but second of all, it's like all of the scriptures, as you said, they came from him

in the first place anyway, but he had them all together in this nice harmony. And boy, this section is pulling from everywhere. You know, now we just got first Corinthians in there. Yeah, we're a year and a half in, right? Yeah. And I think it also, as you said that, I thought, John, that's also maybe another way to look at the dispensation of the fullness of times, of the gathering of all dispensations.

All coming together. Yeah, that all the scriptures from all the dispensations, he's weaving together in these revelations and the doctrine of covenants in such a beautiful way. Yeah, all the scriptures from all the dispensations, he's weaving together in these revelations and the doctrine of covenants in such a beautiful way. So this first appearing at Mount Zion, we learn later in section 84 verse two that Mount Zion is the New Jerusalem or the center place,

which is in Jackson County, Missouri. And we know the temple will be built there. We know the Savior will appear there to saints that are there, but we also know a few dozen miles north of there at Adam and Diamond. There's that great meeting that you talked about in an earlier episode. So before he comes to the world, there's this beautiful opportunity where he's meeting with the gathered tribes of Israel

except for Judah, right? And it's just beautiful. And the things that will, John Taylor talked about him coming to our homes and us being able to give him a meal and shake his hand and things like that. Now whether that's exactly how it's gonna happen or not, I don't know, but the idea that he comes to us first,

those of us that have prepared, I think, is just so beautiful. And it teaches us why we won't be unprepared. So if we're preparing now, we get to be a part of this part of his second coming. The world doesn't know what's going on, but we already know what's going on, you know? Yeah.

We've left, we've left Babylon and God is on. Yeah. In a previous podcast, we had Dr. Robert Millett and he talked about that, the two kind of different metaphors used for his second coming, the thief in the night is for those that are unprepared, that are wicked perhaps. But the woman in Trevail is for those of us who are watching the signs of the times. A woman knows she's known for months. And so it's nice to have the Lord give us all this information and say, I'm letting you be in the know. So it won't overtake you suddenly, like a thief in the night or like

Babylon falling. So their father's name written on their foreheads, that's, you know, again, from the book of Revelation. It's the idea of sealing. It's the idea of temple covenants, more specifically, and so forth. So in verse 20, he says, we hold, he shall stand upon the mount of all of it. So the mount of olives, right? And then if you jump over to verse 35, it says, behold, he shall stand upon the mount of all of it. So the mount of olives, right? And then if you jump over to verse 35, it says, and they also the tribe of Judah, that's who he's appearing to in the mount of olives, which is across the valley from the temple mount of Jerusalem,

that after their pain, which is the persecution of the war of Armageddon or whatever that is that's going on, shall be sanctified in holiness before the Lord to dwell in His presence day and night and forever. So His second appearance seems to be the rescuing of the Jews at the end of the War of Armageddon or the Battle of Armageddon or whatever you want to call it. And it dawned on me once. you know, whatever you want to call it. And it dawned on me once. This teaches me so much.

You know, we know how we have those verses in the Old Testament of, you know, they'll look upon me and see the marks in my hands and my feet and who did this. And this was done in the house of my friends and the Messiah they've been waiting for and praying for that they didn't believe was Jesus, that those that were alive at that time, obviously.

He comes the way they wanted him to come. He comes to save them from the nations of the world. And then he teaches, he's gonna be teaching them the first part, right? The real reason I came, I came the way you wanted me to come, but the real reason I came is so that, as first says, you can become sanctified.

And since he is the line of Judah, since I just find it so personally touching for me about the character of the Savior that he, it's not missionaries teaching the Jews. He's going to come and be with his, be with his family, right? Save them the way they want them to be saved, but then teach them the greater thing that he's done, not just for them, but for the whole world. And I'm not going to be qualified to be there, but boy, I hope they do some kind of

year-and-a-thumbam recording or whatever, because it's going to be a third Nephi 17 moment, and it's just gonna be beautiful and awesome, I think. Derek, I love that idea. It won't be, this is, you know, a guilt trip. This is who I was wounded at the house. And my friends, thanks a lot. It will become my family, the house of Judah.

I loved men, Derek, that was beautiful. I was just saying, and again, that idea, you came the way we wanted you to come, that we thought you would guide. That God does, I think, personally, I feel that way, that he is able to mesh what he needs for me, and what sometimes I think I need for me if it's not harmless, right? And I just, I just love that, the sweetness of that moment, that idea. And I just wanted to say thank you for equating that like a third Nephi moment because, I mean, it says it right there, they're going to be looking at his hands.

And in third Nephi, he invited them one by one to come look at my hands, look at my side. He invited him to touch his side. And the wounds in my feet. And you mentioned Zachariah 13.6. That's the one. What are those wounds in your hands? And then I invite our listeners to section 45 gives gives even more detail, my hands and in my feet. And these are terrific moments that have been prophesied about coming, but oh, thank you for saying that. I love trying to imagine that as more of a tender

third Nephi 17 moment. Yeah, that's a, I like thinking of it that way, yeah. Yeah, and of a that's a I like thinking of it that way. Yeah, yeah, and and You know, of course he splits the he splits the mountain right by just by landing there if you will and creates that valley of safety and a river that runs to the From underneath the temple mount to the Dead Sea and you think of I Ezekiel's metaphor about that how everything that the water touches it heals. And restore the dead sea.

Yeah, and so it does that's doing the same thing there that Jesus does. He restores the people in 1st Nephys 17, right? All the people who are ill or whatever are restored. And so yeah, I think it, so you've got these two really awesome tender moments that are happening before he comes to the whole world, right? That the House of Israel is really, you know, and you just have to be making keep-covenants, right? You know, we, it's such a strong, long argument about what it means to be a descendant of any tribe or whatever. But the idea is, is that it's this invitation that he's saying, both in the preface one

and the appendix 133, that I'm talking to all of you, come in. You're all my children. I want you all to have these great experiences that I have not seen, ear have not heard, has any been entered into your heart before the other stuff happens. And I just really love that.

I just think it's so powerful and so awesome. I wanted to bring up something really quick. Versus 18 and 19, you have some language here that's very Old Testament. And John, hopefully our podcast is going to keep going into the Old Testament so we can talk about this. Also, very New Testament. There's this idea of having the Father's name written on your forehead? So, the idea here, and you guys can help me out, is, is, it's the idea of ownership. Who do you belong to? And in the book of Revelation, you have two choices.

You can get the Mark of the Beast, or the mark of Babylon, or you can get the mark of the Father. So those are your two choices. Which team are you on? That's really what that is. And then verse 19, when it talks about the Savior being the groomed, you guys want to expand on that? The idea is that Israel, his family, is going to be a bride, right?

And he's the groom, and we've made covenants. And you can see this throughout the Old Testament, especially Isaiah, right? This woman, the whole church, all of Israel, who just can't be faithful to her husband, and he's always inviting her back, inviting her back, saying, come back, and let's, you know, let's re-covenant and be married again.

Any thoughts on either of those ideas before we keep going? I love, I mean, it's another beautiful thing and we get so many male role models that I love this, that the church is a woman, right? In Revelation, being a raid in this beautiful white linen, which is the righteousness of the saints. And of course, it's not because of our righteousness, it's because of his righteousness and his atonement that's changing. There's a band I love, a Christian band

called Casting Crowns, and they have a song called Wedding Day, which is just a beautiful analogy of combining this idea of Christ returning with the church with us as individuals, individual brides, right? And our history, like you were talking about, Hank of not being the best, being sinners and the idea that he looks at her and all of that melts away. And it's just so beautiful and inspiring to me.

And of course, it's the end of the gospel as well, right? The whole idea of creating this beautiful relationship that goes on forever between a husband and wife. And it's the central symbol, it seems, of his second coming. And so there's just this amazing beauty to it that we can all step into that role and think about that idea of being sealed to Christ, right?

The being married to him in righteousness, you know, not the usual way of marriage, but you get the point I'm trying to make. And it's just so personal and beautiful and full of love that idea, right? And so again, just awesome. And we take, I mean, we take his name upon us in our covenants, right?

I mean, we're the bride and we're taking our his name on us. In fact, the only chapter of Isaiah, the Savior quotes to the Nephites, John, you can help me with the chapter. This is the third Nephi where he quotes Isaiah 54. It is the most beautiful chapter on this woman who is distraught and lonely and feeling outcast, and he goes and gets her and takes her home. It's just, I mean, it's just, it's a beautiful idea that's all throughout scripture. Derek, you are just, you're pulling us away today.

Well, and so the ending of that song, the last part of the verse of the last verse is, and he takes her hand as the clouds roll back and walks her through the gate, you know, forever we will reign, which also comes out of revelation and out of two times in this section and in verse 45 that, again, he's done all the work,

and yet we're going to reign with him. And again, it's just this beautiful, just, it emotes for me, it's just so powerful. That is. I remember Dr. Alonzo Gaskell teaching me once, even about Adam and Eve. You can see this relationship that Eve is the church. All of us and Adam can represent Christ and she leaves the presence of God and he goes with her.

And it's all throughout the Old Testament. And it is really a, it's an overpowering idea, something we can all identify with. It's just beautiful. The third coming is going to be later, and there's this middle section here where in verse 21, it says that he utters his voice from Zion and from Jerusalem, right?

This idea that there's a capital in both places and his voice shall be heard among all people and then it shall be a voice of you know, that's described in other places like water and thunder which shall break down the mountains and the valleys shall not be found. Now for these next several Scriptures early I'm not be found. Now, for these next several scriptures, early Latter-day Saints, prophets, and others since then have interpreted everything here literally. And I don't have a problem with that at all. I believe that can be the case. But as with all scripture, there's always, for me, at least, often more powerful thoughts in the symbolism of what's going on, because that's the way that those that wrote the scriptures

were from that kind of a culture, right? They're writing poems and telling stories as opposed to our kind of logical adding upwards to deal with something. So what I'm gonna say now, I'm not discounting the fact that these things could happen in a literal way, but I think there's more power to them for me right now in the symbolism of what they're teaching. So mountains in the ancient world as used in the Old Testament were symbols of great nations, great powers, right?

And when he comes, he shall break down the mountains. So all of those kingdoms are gone. And then valleys would be just the opposite, right? Those kingdoms or those peoples who are just the opposite. They're not even flat. They're valleys. And he's going to raise them up. So this whole idea of this kind of flattening of the nations of the peoples that there are no more, there's just him, there's no more superpowers, there's no more nations that are being exploited,

there's just him, and he shall command the great deep, and it shall be driven back into the north countries, and the islands shall become one land. So in the Old Testament, water is often a symbol for the nations of the world, particularly the wickedness of nations of the world, and land is more about the good people of the world or Israel. And so he's pushing away all the wicked, right? What he's doing here is he's pushing away all the wicked and then taking all the humanity

and in the next verse, verse 24, all coming back together in one place, right? Panji, if you want to look at it literally, but the idea that we've been scattered since Babel and as people in different languages, different tongues, different cultures, and with his return, all those earthly governments are die, right, or gone, or collapse. And everything comes back together in the millennium, and everyone comes back together in the millennium. And then that's followed by verse 25 where he says, I will stand in your midst and shall reign over all flesh. So I just love that. Again, that thought that we're all children of God. We've all been divided from one another because of humanity, because of sin, because of whatever

you want to call it, but that the great cause of Zion leading into the millennium is to do just the opposite, to gather us all back, taking the best from each culture, right, and gathering us all back. So I think that's beautiful that way. In the great intercessory prayer, Jesus's central request is B1. B1, no division, no division, B1, and here the earth will come together again before it was divided. And you think of Satan as the great divide right? Anyway, we can divide people. Let's divide them and create contention and division.

I feel like sometimes the scriptures are pretty plain. And sometimes they're written in a genre called apocalyptic. I had a Dr. Richard Draper, my book of Revelation professor, that was so great in helping us understand. When you're reading Daniel, when you're reading Revelation, when you're reading Ezekiel, it's a different genre and there's heavily symbolic. And you gave a beautiful meaning to that there.

Yeah, maybe some of these things are literal. Maybe they're apocalyptic. And you can see a symbolic meaning in the people coming together. I'm really, I really glad you said it that way and even some of the commentaries I've read have said, you know, we don't know everything about this, but look for the Lord to reveal more and look for the symbolic meanings here. Either of you have a comment about apocalyptic versus more straightforward way of writing. John, I do this all the time. My central example I use with my students is the moon will be

turned to blood. I said, do you think that's literal? Is that a metaphor? God could turn the moon into a big ol' blob of B positive, right? But it could also be figurative in which the moon is like God, it's looking at the earth and it's angry or embarrassed, and so it's red, right? And so you can definitely, figurative and literal is a scripture study skill that everyone needs to have. If you're going to get the most out of the scriptures, I think Derek gave us a great example of that right there. And I think so like from 26 to verse 34 is the return of the lost tribes. And I mean, the commentary on this, as you said,

it's all over the place to, you know, they're on a planet, they're at the in the center of the earth that they're underneath some icebergs. Polar ice cap. Yeah, for me to triangle, my favorite for me to triangle. Okay, so there's all these things. And again, I'm not discounting that anything could be possible, but even again here, the symbolism is just beautiful.

The North country. So in Hebrew, North is hidden or concealed. And so they're lost, right? The tribes went north out of Nineeneva and they're lost. And this is all about the Lord remembering them and them coming back, right? And instead of mountains flowing down, there's these ice is flowing down, right? And ice is only used that I could find, at least, very few times in the Old Testament. And the one time that it's used in Job 16 it says, you know his friends come to comfort him right and they're really not comforting him, they're

they're really making it worse. And he says that they are blackish which means one of the few times black is used in the scriptures to mean, you're bringing me down, right? You're putting on saccloth and ashes that they are blackish by reason of the ice, right? You're so cold or wearing the snow is hid, you know? And there's this idea that the lost 10 tribes are lost. They don't know their identity. And they're stuck, you know, like we're stuck in ice,

or like someone can be stuck in ice. And when the Lord remembers them, you know, the ice starts to flow down, and they're able to smite the rocks that are keeping them in the way, right? So we're going back to that whole mountain analogy. Of course, there's the Moses stuff with smite the rocks too, but then a highway has lifted up for them to be able to get to Ephraim's temple blessings. And so again, Latter-day prophets in our time period have interpreted the lost tribes of being more mixed among the nations. And if you look at it that way, then this is beautiful, right? They've been stuck in their spiritual progression because they don't know who they really are. And in that way, you can even talk about the Book of Mormon as being the highway, right? That leads them

past the ice and to Zion where they can receive those temple blessings. So again, I find, and where they sing songs of joy, right? Where they get to be a part of those temple blessings. So again, I find, and order they sing songs of joy, right, where they get to be a part of those beautiful things. And so again, that's just another example where I'd rather feel that than try and wonder if they're at the center of the earth. I love that because I have always felt like lost is not geographic as much as personal identity. And the Jews kind of never lost their identity as House of Israel, but I'm reminded of one of the early talks

that where President and Sister Nelson spoke together and she talked about being with a group of 100 women in Russia or under 100 women, she said, and they were 11 of the 12 tribes were in that group, and then someone called her, we found Levi because they didn't have Levi there, and we're lost in that we don't know who we are. And a patriarch helps us get found and tells us,

this is your identity. This is who you are? So yeah, so instead of geographically lost, I've always felt like it means more of a identity type lost. And for them, getting lost was always going north, right? So the Assyrians came down, took them north. Babylon didn't come across the desert.

They went through the Mesopotamian crescent, right, and took them from the north. The Nephites are always escaping further and further north to try and get away from the north. The the the laymen the Nephites are always escaping further and further north to try and get away from the laymenites and so yeah it's it I'm with you that that the again that the the beautiful symmetry the the beautiful symbolism the apocalyptic kind of symbolism that can be both things right. Yeah and when they're they're found they're they're coming out of the north well maybe not north geographically, but out of this place where they were initially lost. That's what I tell my students. So in verse 32, just to kind of wrap

up our talk here, is that they fall down and are crowned with glory in Zion. We know that, and this has been interpreted by the prophets as temple blessings. And if I could just pause for a second, it kind of takes us back to the things we were talking about earlier. In the ancient temples, the ancient temples were places for priests and kings and prophets to be anointed, right? In fact, the word Christ is, you know, the same word Messiah, which means the anointed one,

right? And those were the three groups of people. Jesus Christ has often talked about as our prophet, priest, and king, which are these anointed offices. Again, the idea here is that at baptism, we are washed clean, and then with the laying on of hands, we are anointed with the Holy Ghost, just as Jesus was anointed at his baptism with the Holy Ghost. And so we become prophets, lowercase P, right? He's the capital P prophet, but as the Book of Revelation teaches us that the testimony

of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, right? The gift of prophecy, that begins our walk with him to become like him. And the full restoration of temple blessings that the tribes are getting here, and that we'll get to a little bit later in when we're talking about actually section 134 of all things, bring in those other two, right? The idea of priest and king and you know for for females priestess and queen. And so there's just this powerful idea that temples are or what it's all about, right? And that becoming because we're going to see him a little bit later talk about his redeemed and we're not just redeemed, we're transformed, we become what he is in a sense, right? And so I just love that idea of,

again, that we are anointed ones, with lowercase A's, right? We're not the anointed one, but we are anointed ones, nobling great ones if you want to, from the very beginning. Yeah. This is just fantastic stuff. If you look at the chapters of Isaiah and the Book of Mormon and Nephi and Jacob and so many others, Jesus in third Nephi, they're all looking forward to this day of gathering, this day of let's let's bring everybody home and they know who they are and the way you've

described it is not just a administrative yeah let's get everybody here it's a there's a spiritual beauty of love of let's gather everybody let's get them back home and and get them feeling good again. We are a family we are one one big family. Yes. Yes. I love a line that, you know, LDS historian, Richard Bushman writes in one of his books where he talks about the idea that that's in the section one and it's in section 133 here that we create Zion. Missionaries go from Zion out to the world, out to Babylon, gather people back to Zion, those people then have children and have missionaries.

And the line he writes is that Zion will bring about world renewal, that the millennium is really not time wise, but the idea of what the millennium is begins with Zion. That when Jesus comes, he'll already find a Zion millennial people, and that will play into our section 134 discussion as well. But that idea that, yeah, it's more than just gathering, it's more than doing these rituals in the temple. It is about gathering the family, as you said, John, of God back together to renew the earth. And it starts with our own individual renewals

and renewals of relationships. And we're literally in Zion, we're literally building, not just the millennium, but heaven, right? We're building those relationships with the Savior and with each other. And so I just always love that line that Zion begins the process of world renewal. World renewal. And I've heard it said before that the king can't come here until

there's a kingdom, right? Right. Right. That's what we got to build the kingdom for the king to come to. We can't just sit around and wait for him to come.