followHIM - Doctrine & Covenants 63 : Dr. Lynne Hilton Wilson Part I

Episode Date: June 5, 2021

The Lord judges not by appearance, but by potential. This is true for Missouri and Zion as well. Dr. Lynne Wilson teaches how our observance of the Sabbath is important for not only building Zion but for our preparations for the Second Coming. The Saints (and us) in Kirtland and Missouri are taught by the Lord how to prepare for the Temple, Zion, and the Second Coming.Show notes: https://followhim.co/episodesYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcast

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, and welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith. I am the host of Follow Him with my co-host, the charming John, by the way. Hi, John. Charming. Oh, wow. Prince, Prince Charming, right, is what we call you. We are excited to be here. We want to let you know that you can follow us on social media. We have Instagram and Facebook. You can rate and review the podcast. You can find show notes at followhim.co. And feel free to engage with us. Ask us some questions, anything you want to see happen on the podcast. Please let us know. We are all ears, right, John? We're just

grateful to be here. Oh, so excited. Yeah. Yeah. So every week we talk with a great mind in the church, and this week is no different. John, who's with us today? We have Dr. Lynn Hilton Wilson with us, and I'm just excited. I read this bio, and I just think, wow. She's a co-founder of Book of Mormon Central, which if you have not seen that site, you have got to go there. Yay! But set aside a few hours, because the videos they've got, the scholarship there, I steer my students to this all the time. I show videos in class. Anyway, so if you haven't heard

of Book of Mormon Central, and now isn't there a Doctrine and Covenants Central? And the church asked us to do Pearl Great Price. Although we're completely independent from the church, we were happy to prepare one. Dr. Wilson earned her PhD in theology and American religious history from Marquette University. Her doctoral dissertation compared Joseph Smith's understanding of the spirit with his contemporaries. Her master's degree focused on New Testament studies. And it just keeps going. An accomplished cellist, Lynn played with the BYU Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestra. My goodness. She returned to BYU and taught religion as an adjunct professor.

She served in the church educational system for the past 33 years with assignments in France, Belgium, Wisconsin. Have you heard those three grouped together before? And most recently, California. It all has to do with where the best cheeses are. Wisconsin has excellent cheese. And so going from Paris to Wisconsin was very natural. This makes total sense now. She's a popular presenter at BYU Education Week, Society of Biblical Literature, Mormon History Association, FAIR, Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology, BYU Sperry Symposium, Silicon Valley Educational Conference, and Stanford Friday Forums. And I don't think this is in here, but you teach Institute at Stanford, right? Yeah.

And it's for the Stanford wards. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Ooh, those are smart people. Her publications include Christ's Emancipation of New Testament Women, Nativity Narratives, Learning the Language of the Lord, a Guidebook to Personal Revelation. And she's got articles in BYU Studies, The Interpreter, Religious Educator, and BYU Religious

Studies Center. She and her husband, Dow R. Wilson, live in Palo Alto, California. They have seven children, all with red hair, five grandchildren with blonde, ginger, and brown. Did we hit the important stuff? Except for the fact that there's been two more born. That's what I wondered. I should have asked you. One on Easter morning.

Oh, beautiful. Congratulations. So it's seven grandchildren then. Yeah. John, I've heard that grandchildren are the best part of life. I've yet to experience it, and so have you. But Lynn, is that true? Are grandchildren the best part of life? Because that's what I've heard. Second only to scripture study. Okay. Wow. Okay. And Lynn combines the two, right? So thank you. Welcome to our program today. Today we get to study the scriptures with Dr. Wilson. This is going to be fantastic.

Let's jump right into the lesson. This is an interesting week, Lynn, because we only have one section of the Doctrine and Covenants, which sometimes in our lessons we're flipping through eight or nine sections or at least seven sections. And this one, we're just going to kind of set it up and then go through it and allow you to allow you to teach. So let me just give a little bit of background, then you can fill in. So it's August 1831. It says that they just returned to Kirtland from Missouri. So why don't we back up a little bit and you tell us, give us the background you think we need to have in order to approach this section. You know, I'm fascinated with American religious history's understanding in the second great awakening of the millennialism. It was such a happy, exciting time.

All these new states have a Zionsville or Eden, you know, Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem, you know, so many places across as the Appalachian mountains opened for population after 1791, you just start springing up this really enthusiastic interest in the millennium. And it did not shy away from those who are also joining the restoration under Joseph's prophetic leadership. And the saints were so eager to learn every morsel they could about building a Zion society. And, you know, Joseph moves to Kirtland in February, that first week in February, he arrives. And the first thing that happens is he gets the law of consecration. And within a few months, he's told, the land of Zion is going to be

down in Missouri. And they have that church conference there so that he and Edward Partridge and several other leaders go down to meet with the small branch. And they are as devastated when they arrive, I think, as the British saints were when they arrived in Salt Lake. I just think it had nothing to do with their Yankee background. You know, they no longer have their strong Puritan Calvinistic roots where going to church was important, where education was important. Instead, it's a very different mentality. Land was so important in the South. They had very different religious feelings in the South. The blue laws in Connecticut said you have to go to church every two weeks. In the South, you only have to go once every two months. You know, a whole different view of religion. And the reason why Jackson County was so horrific, I feel like, you know, it's not only the wild, wild west of the West. But right when Mexico was breaking off and we were getting that change between the Missouri Compromise, you know, just 10 years before Joseph arrives, they begin a company called the Santa Fe Trade

Company. And it was it was it reminds me of the California gold rush. You know, everybody comes to get rich. So the people that came specifically to independence were working with this Santa Fe marketing and they're going down into the Mexican, Spanish territories to get their coins because we had such a deficiency of metal money in the United States that they would bring them back. And you were making 150 percent on your money every month. You know, they were just becoming millionaires in a day and age when you earned a dollar twenty five a day. You know, I mean, this this was just an amazing get rich quick location. And as a place where of landing between, you know, it's the border of United States. And a couple of years before the president said, we'd like all the native Americans just right over the border.

And so you're getting this horrendous deportation of all the refugees of our Native Americans. And you have all this money pouring in. And also, like a port town, you have a lot of adultery going on because the men have been out on these get-rich-quick schemes. And then they come home and the first place they have to check in is in independence again. And so you have a lot of problems with prostitution and a lot of supplies. So it is not just a Southern state where there's a problem with feelings on Africans and slavery and feelings on Native Americans. It is a really materialistic place. And Joseph arrives there and he is so disheartened. And that's when he gives that beautiful prophecy that we studied about last week and come follow me, that beautiful

prayer. I mean, to the Lord, when is the desert going to, when is it going to, when are we going to see the blossoming of a rose? You know, when is Zion going to be able to be built up? But he knew the voice of the Lord and Joseph learned to trust the voice of the Lord way before July of 1831. So even though he and Emma have just made that huge move to Kirtland, he picks up his bags. And because they're using the mail route, they're not using, you know, the missionaries when they went down there to preach to the native americans they um used the mail route and it wasn't just a 900 route so if you go on google maps it's 800 miles but they were going 900 miles but when the missionaries did it it was 1500 um so because they're using you know you know they're going the long way you know they're

there's and also they're preaching and they make make their little stops off, of course, in Kirtland and other places, but it is really a, um, a disheartening experience. And I think that's why there was so much tension at this time. So Joseph arrives and, um, he feels the spirit say, nope, this is the right place. Even though, you know, don't judge me by what I look like, you know, even though you're looking at a house of disrepute, this is the right place, you know. And it's one reason why we didn't get along with our neighbors, you know, but we could have improved. There was faults on both sides. But that small branch, Joseph dedicates the land for the Zion on July 20th, 1830. And then we have this sweetness of Pauline night passing away there as the first one buried at age 55.

And then he leaves Sydney with the task of dedicating the land, dedicating the temple spot and Joseph goes back home. But there was so much contention amongst the brethren that were going back with him. And I feel like a lot of the messages in section 63 relate specifically to that journey back and forth. You remember that Edward Partridge is just writes that beautiful letter to his wife where he says, pray for me that I can be humble and be able to accept this assignment. I do not want to be here. I do not want to be away from you.

I don't want to take this calling, but God has called me. I've got to do it. We've promised ourselves that we're going to serve the Lord with all of our might. And unfortunately, Brother Booth did not have that much humility. And in his journal, he writes,

I cannot believe that Joseph is a prophet if he is saying that we're to build Zion here. And he drives enough anxiety amongst the other people that are traveling with Joseph that there's a lot of contention. And I don't know if you remember the story about when they're on the river and Oliver chews everybody out saying, stop yelling at Joseph. And if we're going to have so much contention, we're going to have an accident. And Sidney and Joseph get everybody off the water. And they say, you're a wimp. You don't even know how to canoe. I mean, there was, it reminded me sometimes of family reunions. And it was,

it was really well until think everybody gets tired and hungry. Of course they're tired and hungry. And I love the report. When we read and some of the people that traveled with them of their bloodied and blistered feet. And then one of them says, I just love this. And Joseph, of course, had as many as everyone else. And yet he bore it because he knew he was on the Lord's errand. You know, he was the servant of the Lord. And the others just, it's hard when you feel pain to not become a pain. And it's fascinating to me as I look at how the members of my community, my faith community in the San

Francisco Bay Area approach challenges. And if we are not meek, we will fall into that same pattern. And as I look at section 63, so Joseph gets back finally to see Emma and rejoice in that reunion with their sweet little Joanna. They are living at that point down up in Kirtland, I mean, and it is August and the twins were born in May. So the twins are just a few months old and the Murdoch twins, yeah, the Murdoch twins. And he gets to come home and see these little toddlers and so happy with that reunion. And yet when he gets there, everyone wants to know more about Zion. And there's other people who are saying Joseph is not a prophet of God if he's calling this Zion.

And so you've got the whole spectrum of feelings going on. The people ask Joseph the question and then they, he receives the answer. And I just feel like the more questions we ask, the more revelation we'll receive. And that's what happened here with section 63. Oh, I love the, how often Hank, isn't this true? more revelation we'll receive. And that's what happened here with section 63. I love how often, Hank, isn't this true, that we have seen people's expectations be incorrect.

And here's another case where, oh, we thought it was this, and now the Lord's saying it's this. And that seems to be a pattern, not just here, but all the time. Hank and I talked with somebody about, you know, on the road to Emmaus. Well, we had hoped that this would be, yeah. Yeah. Thank you for that. I didn't know other towns were, they were naming their towns, Zionville and stuff. Indiana. Well, think of the Millerites. They're gathering this whole community that became later on the Seventh Day Adventist is expecting Christ's return in 1844. And they gather thousands of people together for this experience that they think is coming. And the Millerites are just one of the many faiths who were combing through the old Testament and the book of revelation to real,

to pinpoint the second coming of our savior. Yeah. I've taught the book of revelation numerous times and tore it right at the end. Those last four chapters, Zion, you know, here comes the Lord.

And so that's available to everyone in the, in the Bible. I think it was John. I think it was Dr. Harper who said, if you base your faith, this is like Ezra Booth here, if you base your faith on false assumptions, it will be easily overturned. And that seems to be what happened with Ezra Booth. He has some assumptions about what prophets should be able to do and shouldn't do, right? And those assumptions

aren't met. And he's like... Yeah, that's why in section 63, the Lord says, faith has to precede the miracle here, guys. You got your cart before the horse here. You know, you got to turn this around. Because Andrew Booth, of course, was converted with a miracle of Elsa Johnson's arm being healed. Her rheumatism, her rheumatic arm, or whatever they called it at that time. I was going to ask about the Elsa Johnson story. Yeah. So John and Elsa live 30 miles South of Kirtland and, um, beautiful, beautiful farm. And so when, um,

Alexander Campbell's, um, group comes through with the disciples of Christ, um, they hear about it and are interested. And then of course, when the four missionaries come, I thought 30 miles was a long way in that age. But because they were religious seekers, they became interested in the message of the restoration as well. And then when Joseph moved there, they haven't joined the church. They're just hearing and listening and pondering more like, you know, Brigham's two years is a little different here. But the Johnsons actually

come up to meet the prophet to Kirtland. And they're in a room. And as far as I'm recalling, I haven't reviewed this recently, but Joseph just notices the need across the room. And I believe they're at the Whitney's or something like that, you know, they're at a member's home. And Joseph stands up and walks over to Elsa. He's aware of a need and he reaches out and heals her. And it just reminded me so much of the Savior's healings. He sees a need, faith is extended. And Ezra Booth was in the room at that time, as were others. And he saw it and said, this must be a man of God. And unfortunately, I don't know if his testimony was based on the restoration and the Book of Mormon. But the spirit. Yeah.

The foundation was not quite right. So he didn't quite remain, but he did feel the light of Christ and feel the witness of the spirit and did be converted. And the Johnsons did, of course, and then the Johnsons will invite Joseph. In section 63, the Lord says,

you're gonna have to move off the land where you're living, Joseph and Emma, and you're gonna have to find and just listen to the spirit and you'll be directed. And the spirit tells them you're going to go down and live with the Johnsons in their beautiful farm. And they also make room for Sydney. So Joseph moves into the house with the Johnsons and Sydney moves outside in another of their log cabins on the property. And two of their boys become members of the original 12, right?

That's Luke and Lyman. Luke and Lyman Johnson both become members of the original 12. And that home, I've been to that home. Oh, yeah. I think you all have. It is something else. It's beautiful. Even for 1830, you're going, wow, this is really nice.

I wanted to show for those on video, this is in the Come Follow Me manual. This is the beautiful painting of Joseph healing Elsa Johnson's arm. So if you have your manual, you can see that. But yeah, you can stand in that place. They say it was right in here somewhere. And that kind of sets up, Hank, too, doesn't that set up the fact that Joseph and Sidney were there? That sets up Section 76, which is coming. There's going to be a lot of revelations received in the John Johnson farm.

Yes. Section 63, what are some of the verses that we could go through and point out what's in this revelation? And what's the question? It's about Zion, right? What's happening? Yeah, that's exactly what they were asking. Tell us, tell us what's happening. You know, what's what happened? You've been gone two and a half months, Joseph. We've missed you. Tell us more. And of course, this group of saints in

Kirtland were very interested in the gifts of the spirit. And he speaks about those. I don't know if you guys have talked about the challenges that the early Kirtland Saints had with the gifts of the Spirit. But when the missionaries left them, I believe it was John Whitmer who was told to come back and take care of the Kirtland Saints when the four missionaries left before Joseph arrived a few months later. I think Joseph was gone. There was just a four-month hiatus, and John Whitmer was there for two of those months, and then Joseph came.

But when Joseph arrived, they were experimenting with gifts of the spirit that were completely counterfeits. They were barking and jerking and acting like baboons, some of the records in the journals say. And so Joseph addresses some of these issues that they had challenges with. And remember, as soon as Joseph gets to Kirtland, he gives section 46 on the gifts of the spirit. And he says five times in that section, you only have the gifts of the spirit to bless other people, not to aggrandize your own self. You're given them if you want to build the kingdom, if you're my servant and you're willing to bless others. So I feel like section 63 addresses some of the issues there. He does the miracle. You have to have faith first.

He addresses the gifts of the spirit. He addresses Zion. He addresses the second coming. In fact, I did a little counting and 40% of the verses address some sort of eschatology, some sort of either the second coming or millennialism. And one of my favorite things is that there is a parable in this. And in the Deccan Covenants, we actually have 12 parables. Some of them are new, some of them are old, but seven of the 12 refer to the 10 virgins. And this is one of them.

So it's been in verse 35, section 35, section 33, section 45. And, you know, so seven times through we get references to this. And I just say to myself, what more does the Lord want us to learn? Obviously, if he's mentioned it in seven different sections, he really wants the restoration, the saints, to understand that parable and to apply it in our lives. This to me is a section that says, I want you to get ready for Zion to be built, but you have to do it my way. And it'll come when it comes. But you already mentioned teaching the book of Revelation. And I just have to jump ahead to chapter 19 in Revelation where the Savior says, we can

cut the calamity short as soon as the bride is ready for the bridegroom. And in section 65, Christ is introduced as the bridegroom as he is in the New Testament in the book of Revelation. But I feel like Joseph is laying out the platform of how we, as members of the restoration of this great and marvelous work that has been brought forth, starting with the translation of the Book of Mormon, how we can build a Zion society, and then Christ can come. But until we're ready to live the law of consecration, which was restored, of course, in section 42, as soon as Joseph arrives in Kirtland, he receives the law. And all these sections in this next year address how to become a Zion society. Actually clear up through section 105, isn't it?

When the Zion's camp that you mentioned earlier talks about how to become a Zion society. And I think section 63 is a beautiful, gives lots of ideas on how to do that. In fact, I also noticed that five of the 10 commandments are listed in this section, because if we're going to live a Zen society, we not only have to keep following the living prophet, but we also need to obey the counsel of our past prophets as well.

Wonderful. I want to make sure I wrote that down right. Seven of the 11 parables in the Doctrine and Covenants. Twelve parables. There's 12, okay? Seven of the 12 refer to the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. Yeah, I just did a little search on LDS. I use the app from Book of Mormon Central, and I use the app from our church's website,

and I just did a little looking on the virgins, and I just said, wow, we really talk about this a lot. And those Matthew 25 parables are all preparation parables, right? They're all preparations for the second coming. Yeah. Get ready parables. And I have to just add that I feel like this has become more and more a topic in general conferences and in other messages from the brethren. I'm thinking of Larry Y. Wilson's talk on the return of the Kings and Elder Christofferson's on the Lord needs a people prepared. And there's just been a lot, even our prophet in this last conference addressed our need to prepare for the second coming. And this section, I think does a great job. The only thing

that they don't talk about is the Sabbath, which is a major sign of our preparation for the second coming. Interesting. I feel like we're all set. We've got the feeling of the section. It helps so much to know what's happening. What's the feeling like? Joseph is home. He's relieved to be home to see his little brand new adopted twins. But there's quite a bit of tension. I think Ezra Booth is creating some, just be difficulty for him. And others too. Yeah, he had others.

And I just had my scriptures open to the wrong page. It was section 59 where the Lord said, we've really got to start living the Sabbath. So he doesn't need to repeat it a few weeks later. And that was just given in Missouri. And now he's up in Kirtland't need to repeat it a few weeks later in, you know, that was just given in Missouri and now he's up in Kirtland, but it's just a few, you know, it's just that journey length of time. So the Lord has just said it. So perhaps that's why that is not repeated again as part of the preparation for the second coming, because I feel like certainly that has

been a message that has been loud and clear that we need to improve on in our generation. But section 63 is fascinating the way the Lord, so he gives this great introduction, but he starts out even in the introductions talking about, I want you to take heed. My word is going to be, this is verse five. You know, the Lord, my word is going to be obeyed. I'm going to speak and I am going to be obeyed. My word is going to be, this is verse five, you know, the Lord, my word is going to be obeyed. I'm going to speak and I am going to be obeyed. And then he says, but in verse six, it's going to be in a day of wrath. You better watch out, you know? And he just immediately goes in to the signs that are coming. And it's fascinating because in the New Testament, when we refer to signs, it's often translated as miracles. You know, John,

in John's gospel, there are seven miracles and seven sermons, and they're often called seven signs in different translations of the New Testament. And so when the Lord refers to, in verse seven, and in verse nine, I love verse nine, faith cometh not by signs, but signs follow those that believe. And I can testify that if you, if I look at my life, every day of my life, within the lens of, have I seen God in my life today? I see him every hour. This is such a sweet reality that if we extend our faith, we will see signs that the Lord is in our camp. Yeah. And you are referring to a sequence that I love here. It's not signs precede those, it's signs follow those that believe. And I don't know, can you share with our audience some of the health challenges?

I will tell you one sweet miracle. When I first started going blind, I asked for a blessing. And the first things out of that wonderful Melchizedek priesthood holder's mouth was, Rejoice, you will see the hand of the Lord in your life. And then I had four more episodes and my optic nerves kept deteriorating. And I kept telling myself every hour if I needed to rejoice, you will see the hand of the Lord in your life. And now as I bump around into things and I'm half blind, I have to tell you that I am so grateful for the perspective that it has given me that I do not see the whole picture. I believe that it is so applicable to church history. Ezra Booth did not see the whole picture. I believe that it is so applicable to church history.

Ezra Booth did not see the whole picture. Elsa Johnson didn't see the whole picture. Joseph didn't see the whole picture. You know, we are partially veiled, but our savior sees the whole picture. And that simple little natural blessing of, you know what? I don't see the whole picture. I got to be careful. I might be missing something here. That little blessing has been so sweet. And with my two years on chemo every day, I prayed, this medicine is taking out the incorrect growths in my body. Can you please, Lord, cleanse my soul?

Can you help me cleanse those things that have grown inappropriately and in the wrong direction? I just feel like hardships are such a blessing. The reason why the Lord gave us weaknesses is because those things take us to our knees. And it's when we are on our knees that we draw closer to our Savior. I've underlined the word signs in 7, in 8, in 9, in 10, in 11, in 12. And so it sounds like this was a big part. Is this all because of Ezra Booth or this is all saying, this is not what you should be looking for. No, I think it's also because of the misunderstanding of what the gifts of the spirit were. But it's during the second great awakening.

You know, everyone's going to revivals and they're all jumping around and they're all thinking that it's the swooning. That's the spirit instead of a still small voice. You know, they're looking for the earthquake. If we were going back to Elijah. But it is in that little section from from verses seven to 12 is that portion that he refers to the signs. And then right after that, but I still feel it's a great deal because the saints are so new. They haven't even been baptized a year yet. This is the first, the missionaries didn't arrive. Those missionaries to the Lamanites don't even arrive until November. And here it is the following August.

And it's August 30th, by the way, when he gets this, according to the Joseph Smith papers. August 30th when he receives this one. So my heart just says, no, he's doing post-baptism teaching lessons right here. You know, this is really the basics. But later on, he talks about Joseph having the gift of discernment. And George A. Smith, Joseph's cousin, you know, his little cousin who followed him around and just looked up to him like a hero. George A. said, you know, if this gifts of the spirit were one of Joseph's favorite topics, the gift of discernment was his

favorite gift. And he said it was the thing he spoke most on more than anything else. Now that's from his perspective as a young boy. I think if we asked Joseph, he'd say, actually, no. But when I have read all of Joseph's sermons in Nauvoo that are collected by E. Hatton Cook and also available on Joe Smith Papers, I would say, yes, the workings of the spirit are one of Joseph's absolute key doctrines that he taught the most. And so when Joseph is told here, you will need to seek the gift of discernment. Joseph, obviously, in 1831, took that to heart. And by the time George A. says it in Nauvoo, 10 years later, George A. says, oh, no, that was his favorite topic. And it may have come from here or may have come from the years of working with Moroni, trying to get that straight on how to get the plates home.

Lynn, you made me think of something. There's a great book called Remembering Joseph by Mark McConkie. And I've always wondered why anyone would want to learn about, if you want to really learn about Joseph Smith, hear it, go to his friends. I mean, who knows you best? Your friends or your enemies? Who knows you best? Go to those who know him best, his family and his friends. And that book, Remembering Joseph, that's always the first book I recommend if someone says, hey, can I, I want to read a book on Joseph Smith. I'll say, oh, Remembering Joseph, you can hear it in their own words, talking about, like you said, with George A. What was it like to just be with him every day? And they describe it beautifully.

Yeah, that's great. John, anything else on signs? I love what you said there. I just think there's something that I thought was fascinating about this. We look at Jesus' saying, it is a wicked and an adulterous generation that seeketh after a sign. And you talked about all these houses of ill repute around there. And right after this signs thing, he goes to verse 14. There were among you adulterers and adulteresses. And I was watching one of the roundtable discussions the BYU professors used to have,

and one of them said, this is a really fast way to lose the spirit. You know? Well, and I also wondered as I was reading and studying this section, do you remember in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, the Savior refers to, I'm just going to quote Isaiah. Um, where is the bill of thy divorcement? You know, they refer to this marriage relationship as adultery between God and his

people. Um, and Zion, um, is experiencing adultery when they are experiencing idolatry. And so I wondered in this situation, I know he tells, you know, some people in their, in their sections, okay, I know you've been struggling with, um, with adultery, uh, and everyone now knows it. Thank you, Joseph. Uh, you know, the scarlet letter A is now in Braden here on my chest. Um, but I wondered in some of these verses, and he goes on, I'm starting in verse 13 to probably, anyway, adultery is a topic here for quite a while. A few verses down, and I'm just, it goes through 19, it looks like, 13 to 19.

I'm just wondering if some of that is idolatry, just as it was in both the old and new testaments. So I don't want to just knock all of us out if, Oh no, I don't struggle with that. That's not an issue for me. Well, don't think you don't need to read this because we can look at it in the way the Lord defines adultery in the Bible, which is often you have broken your covenant with God. You have, you have, you are no longer honoring and worshiping him as your father or our savior as your father, as your spiritual father. You just didn't work with any weakness that we have beware and repent

speedily. Right. I know at times when he says here, beware, I know at times when I've made the worst mistakes is when I'm just not being aware, right? I'm just not paying attention. I'm on autopilot. And then all of a sudden I'm like, wait, what was I thinking there? Beware and repent quick. I like that. I like that. Repent quick.

Let's see. Should we turn the page here? Are we ready to scroll down as everyone else? Yeah, no, keep it with pages. Right. I'm going to petition the church that when you scroll on your scriptures, it makes the little scripture noise, you know. I love that. It puts a page number on the side. I find myself with my students. Now, at the top of the next column, oh wait, I mean, scroll down to verse. So on the Scriptures Plus

app, the scriptures there are exactly how they are in our book. Really? Yeah. So they have them this way, not the other way. So the Scriptures Plus app allows you to maintain that memory of where things lie on the page. Yeah. You learned this on Follow Him, folks. You know, it's interesting though, because right as we start turning the pages is where we start getting all these verses. And I mentioned that there were 40% of the verses. I think there's 26 actually verses that discuss eschatological topics,

whether it's the tragedies before the second coming or this millennium or the first resurrection. But the idea of the Savior's coming, this broad umbrella, he starts right away there in verse 18. Well, actually, it's before that too. but this is the fourth time in verse 17. Those people that are going to be burned with fire are those who have completely flagrantly disobeyed God. And then in verse 20, we get the beautiful, that if you have faith to do my will, then you will overcome and you will have your inheritance. And I think this is a great tie because you know how the Lord always speaks on two or three or four or five levels. You know, you can always interpret scriptures differently at different times in your life because they're just so rich and gorgeous. I just feel like I'm eating

the best ice cream or chocolate I've ever had, you know. But right here in verse 20, I think this idea of inheritance is speaking not only of in Zion, you know, we want to send all your extra money down to buy property in Jackson County, but also your inheritance as he continues on in the next life. So even though this life is full of thorns and thistles and briars and pain, we will be able to overcome and we will be able to have an inheritance. And he goes on to what we didn't get on the Mount of Transfiguration in our letters, but it was part of this beautiful message that is given in the Doctrine and Covenants. I just feel like the whole Bible comes alive when we get Joseph's little tidbits like this in verse 20, on the day of

transfiguration. We didn't get the whole picture then on the Mount of Transfiguration. What's written down is only part of it. They got to see this beautiful vision of the fullness that was not given yet. Yeah. And in verse 21, it says, the earth shall be transfigured even according to the pattern which was shown upon mine apostles on the mount. So the footnote below is, you know, Matthew 17, where this happened. And I thought, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, what? The earth will be transfigured as well. And that mount or transfiguration was a pattern.

I was going, oh, I love when the New Testament gets woven in here and other scriptures. It's so much fun. Well, there's a part in Matthew 17 where Peter is overwhelmed and he says, you know, oh, it's my favorite understatement of all time. It is good for us to be here. It's good for us to be here. Okay, this was good. And the other thing, you know, if you just read the four gospels and you read the Mount of Transfiguration, you don't, you might not get the feeling it was that big of a moment for the people that were there. But then you go to, let me see if I can find it. You go to 2 Peter, I think it is. And Peter is bearing his testimony. This is long after the

savior's been resurrected um and he can he how many different experiences has peter had with jesus and this is what he says uh about the lord he says uh this is second peter 116 uh and through 19 uh he says for we have not followed cunningly devised fables. This isn't fiction, right? When we made known unto you the power of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty for he received from God, the father honor and glory. When there came a voice to him, the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. This voice, which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him on the holy mountain. So of all the things, of all the things Peter says, he says it was the Mount of Transfiguration.

That's what comes to mind. And section 63 kind of tells us why, right? I think because it's about the second coming too. I mean, it's about the future. And so Peter is looking forward to it. And of course, Joseph and the saints assume that it's much sooner than we realize now. But in the Lord's timing, he wanted us to think it was soon with every generation. That's part of the wisdom of being a good teacher is you have to motivate people to

act the here and now. Oh, thank you for saying that. Because I've seen so many, I come quickly. He does say in one of the verses, in the Lord, in my time, I come quickly in my own time. I think it's right here in this little section here. When he says in verse 35, it's not yet, but by and by. That's another one. Yeah. He starts talking about Zion in verse 24. Actually's not yet, but by and by. That's another one. Yeah. He starts talking about Zion in verse 24. Actually, we've got to go to 23. It's so beautiful. Him that keepeth my commandments, I will give the mysteries of the kingdom.

Those to me are temple endowments as well as revelation, personal revelation on many spheres. But he is preparing a people to receive their initiatories in the Kirtland Temple that January 1836 and beyond. And he is preparing a people to receive the mysteries of God. And then you get the women at the well right after that, the woman at the well, and the same shall be in him, a well of living water springing up into everlasting life. You get this. Great connection. There's some more New Testament coming in there, you know? Yeah. I put at the top of my first column, because I'm using pages, a Zion people, and I put at the top of the next column, a Zion land, because then he starts talking about in verse 24, land of Zion, verse 25, land of Zion, verse 29, land of Zion. Purchase it. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, you know, that land was for sale a dollar 25 an acre, but we had such a hard time getting the property. It wasn't until December of 1831 that Bishop Partridge was given

63 acres, the opportunity to buy 63 acres. Remember, this is such a new state. They're still getting out their surveys. The federal government owned it initially, and they're still surveying the properties. It's not until December that Edward Partridge has the opportunity to buy the land, and he gets 63 acres of what they called seminary land. It's land that you can be used to build a school on. So it's a little bit more expensive. So it was $2 an acre and he paid $130 that December and bought it. And the Lord is saying, send your funds. We've got to earn up to this money because the Lord knows on August 30th that this property is going to come for sale and we are going to be able to buy a whole chunk of it. And by the time they're kicked out in two years, they have five different settlements where the saints are living.

And this first year, they were able to afford that $130 and they bought that first settlement. So the Lord's instructions here to prepare this land are fulfilled in December. I remember the Book of Mormon, when it was discounted, was $1.25. And that's the same price as an acre of land. An acre of land. Yeah, just to keep it in context. That's the price of a copy of the book. Please join us for part two of this podcast.