Brother of Jared and the 16 Stones Clip Art

Jeffrey R. Kingdom of the netherlands, "Rending the Veil of Unbelief," in The Voice of My Servants: Apostolic Messages on Teaching, Learning, and Scripture, ed. Scott C. Esplin and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Immature University; Table salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010), 143–64.

Elder Jeffrey R. Hollandwas a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when this commodity was published. Address given at Sperry Symposium on October 7, 1995, published in A Book of Mormon Treasury: Gospel Insights from General Authorities and Religious Educators (2003), 47–66.

If 1 were to enquire a coincidental reader of the Book of Mormon to name the main character in that book, the responses would undoubtedly vary. For one thing, any tape covering more a one thousand years of history—with all the persons such a history would include—is unlikely to have any single, central figure emerge over such an extended menses as the master character. Nonetheless, after acknowledging that limitation, perchance some might list any one of several favorite, or at to the lowest degree memorable, persons. Such names as Mormon, the abridger for whom the volume is named; or Nephi, the book's early and very recognizable young prophet; or Alma, to whom then many pages are devoted; or Moroni, the fearless captain who flew the title of liberty; or his namesake, who concluded the book and delivered it some 14 hundred years subsequently to the young Joseph Smith—these would undoubtedly be among some of those figures mentioned.

All of these responses would be provocative, just they would also be decidedly incorrect. The principal and commanding figure in the Book of Mormon, from beginning affiliate to terminal, is the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the book is truly "another testament." From the starting time page—indeed, from the book's title page—to the final declaration in the text, this attestation reveals, demonstrates, examines, and underscores the divine mission of Jesus Christ as recorded in the sacred accounts of two New Globe dispensations, accounts written for the do good of a third dispensation, the terminal and greatest of all dispensations, the dispensation of the fulness of times. This sacred record, written past prophets and preserved past angels, was written for one crucial, fundamental, eternally essential reason: "to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations" (Volume of Mormon, title page).

In a remarkable vision recorded early in the Book of Mormon, the immature prophet Nephi sees the eventual grooming and apportionment of the Holy Bible, "a record of the Jews, which contains the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of State of israel" (ane Nephi thirteen:23). Simply, alarmingly, he also sees the abuse and doctrinal decimation of that volume as information technology moves down through the ages and passes through many hands.

It was foretold in this vision that the Bible record would be clear and untarnished in the summit of fourth dimension, that in its kickoff "it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord," with both Onetime and New Testaments going "from the Jews in purity unto the Gentiles" (i Nephi 13:24–25). But over time, through both innocent error and malicious design, many doctrines and principles, especially those emphasizing covenantal elements of "the gospel of the Lamb," were lost—and sometimes were simply willfully expunged—from "the book of the Lamb of God" (1 Nephi thirteen:26, 28). Unfortunately, these missing elements were both "patently and precious" (1 Nephi thirteen:28)—plain, nosotros presume, in their clarity and power and ability to be understood; precious surely in their profound worth, gospel significance, and eternal importance. Whatever the reason for or source of the loss of these truths from the biblical record, that loss has resulted in "pervert[ing] the right means of the Lord, . . . blind[ing] the eyes and harden[ing] the hearts of the children of men" (i Nephi 13:27). In painful understatement, "an exceedingly groovy many exercise stumble" (1 Nephi 13:29). Honest women and men are less informed of gospel truths and less secure in the salvation of Christ than they deserve to be because of the loss of vital truths from the biblical canon as we have it in modernity (see 1 Nephi 13:21–29).

Simply in His love and foreknowledge, the great Jehovah, the premortal Christ, promised Nephi, and all who have received Nephi'southward tape, that

after the Gentiles do stumble exceedingly, considering of the most plain and precious parts of the gospel of the Lamb which take been kept back . . . I volition exist merciful unto the Gentiles in that 24-hour interval, insomuch that I will bring forth unto them, in mine own power, much of my gospel, which shall be obviously and precious, saith the Lamb.

For, behold, saith the Lamb: I will manifest myself unto thy seed, that they shall write many things which I shall minister unto them, which shall be plain and precious. . . .

And in them shall be written my gospel, saith the Lamb, and my rock and my conservancy (1 Nephi xiii:34, 36).

This promised record, now known to the world as the Book of Mormon, along with "other books" that take at present come up forth by the revelatory power of the Lamb,

shall make known the plain and precious things which accept been taken away from [the Bible]; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved.

And they must come up co-ordinate to the words which shall be established by the mouth of the Lamb; and the words of the Lamb shall be made known in the records of thy seed, every bit well equally in [the Bible]; wherefore they both shall exist established in i; for there is one God and 1 Shepherd over all the earth (1 Nephi 13:39–41; accent added).

Surely the most plain and precious of all truths lost from the Bible, particularly the Sometime Testament, are the clear, unequivocal, and all-encompassing declarations regarding the coming of Christ and the eternal, essential covenantal elements of His gospel that have been taught beginning with Adam and continuing in each dispensation of time. Thus, the highest and nearly revered purpose of the Book of Mormon is to restore to Abraham's seed that crucial message declaring Christ'southward divinity, disarming all who read its pages "with a sincere center, with existent intent" that Jesus is the Christ (Moroni 10:iv).

The fact that four-fifths of this record comes out of a period before Christ'southward birth, the fact that information technology is a record of an otherwise unknown people, the fact that inspiring insights and deep doctrines regarding Jesus are revealed here and establish nowhere else in the biblical catechism—or all of Christendom, for that affair—and the fact that the Book of Mormon reaffirms the truthfulness and divinity of that Bible insofar as the latter has been translated correctly are only a few of the reasons that the book should rightly exist considered the most remarkable and important religious text produced since the New Attestation gospels were compiled nigh ii millennia ago. Indeed, in light of the manifestly and precious portions that take been lost from the New Attestation too as the Old Attestation, it could exist said that in restoring ancient biblical truths and adding scores of new ones about the Simply Begotten Son of the Living God of us all, the Volume of Mormon links with the Holy Bible to form the most remarkable and of import religious text e'er given to the world in whatever age of time.

The Book of Mormon has many purposes, and it contains many true and stimulating principles, but one purpose transcends all others in both kind and caste. That purpose is "the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ" (Book of Mormon, title page).

A very special contribution the Book of Mormon makes in this matter is to our knowledge of the premortal Christ. Christ as Jehovah, Christ as the God of Lehi and Nephi and the blood brother of Jared before His birth likewise every bit the Redeemer of Mormon and Moroni after it, is ane of the prominent messages of this tape.

In modern times many students of religion have groovy difficulty in linking One-time Attestation theology and divinity with that which is presented in the New Testament. The Book of Mormon does and so very much to span that gap, not only in terms of actual history, commencement half-dozen hundred years earlier Christ and ending four hundred years afterwards, just likewise in the continuity of doctrine and consistent paradigm of divinity that is taught through that period. Nosotros talk well-nigh the 2 sticks of Judah and Joseph coming together, equally prophesied past Ezekiel, as one of the great latter-day contributions of the Book of Mormon (see Ezekiel 37:15–28); notwithstanding, I think it is nearly as of import to note, in bringing "sticks" together, what the Book of Mormon does to unite the Quondam Testament with the New Testament in a fashion that is not recognized or sometimes even seen every bit a possibility in other religious traditions.

Early Witnesses of Christ

Nephi, Jacob, and Isaiah—all living and prophesying before Christ—are positioned where they are at the beginning of the book to serve equally the three aboriginal witnesses of the Book of Mormon or, more than specifically, three special Book of Mormon witnesses of Christ, which surely they are. But that part of witness is shared by many, many others in the Book of Mormon, most of them prior to Christ'southward birth and ministry in mortality.

Amulek says to his fellow citizens of Ammonihah (about 74 B.C.), "My brethren, I think that information technology is incommunicable that ye should exist ignorant of the things which have been spoken concerning the coming of Christ, who is taught by us to be the Son of God; yea, I know that these things were taught unto yous bountifully before your dissension from among us" (Alma 34:2; emphasis added).

The coming of Christ and the particulars of His mission and message were taught bountifully throughout the entire course of the Book of Mormon. It should non be surprising that the book as we at present take it begins with a vision of "One descending out of the midst of heaven, and [Lehi] beheld that his luster was to a higher place that of the sun at apex-solar day" (1 Nephi ane:9). This vision of the premortal Christ, accompanied in spirit by "twelve others," brought forth a book in which Lehi was bidden to read. The volume spoke of "many great and marvelous things," including the plainly proclamation "of the coming of a Messiah, and also the redemption of the world" (1 Nephi 1:14, 19).

From these opening passages onward, the Book of Mormon speaks continually of Christ before His mortal birth, during His sojourn amidst both the Jews and the Nephites, and in His postmortal rule and reign in the eternities that follow. Even though His contemporaries in Jerusalem rejected that message given by Lehi, that great prophet still continued his prophecies of "a Messiah, or, in other words, a Savior of the globe" (1 Nephi 10:4). Included in Lehi's very specific knowledge of the coming of Christ to mortality were such revelatory details as a vision that the Messiah would exist slain and "should rising from the dead, and should make himself manifest, by the Holy Ghost, unto the Gentiles" (1 Nephi ten:11).

Whether it was this kind of revelation or something even more definitive (a personal appearance of Christ?) we exercise non know, but Lehi obviously had some very special manifestations regarding the Son of God. Shortly before his expiry, he testified to his sons, "Behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled near eternally in the arms of his love" (2 Nephi one:fifteen; accent added).

As early every bit Nephi's writings we learn the name which the Messiah shall acquit, only that aforementioned Nephi is quick to acknowledge that other ancient prophets knew the name too. "For according to the words of the prophets," he writes, "the Messiah cometh in six hundred years from the fourth dimension that my male parent left Jerusalem; and according to the words of the prophets, and also the discussion of the angel of God, his proper name shall be Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (two Nephi 25:19).

Nephi's brother Jacob follows that acquittance with a powerful testimony of the latitude of revelation and widespread knowledge of Christ that had been given to those ancient prophets. He writes:

For this intent have we written these things, that they may know that nosotros knew of Christ, and we had a promise of his glory many hundred years earlier his coming; and not only nosotros ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were earlier u.s.a..

Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Begetter in his name. And for this intent we go on the police force of Moses, it pointing our souls to him. . . .

Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses nosotros obtain a hope, and our organized religion becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly tin command in the proper noun of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the body of water (Jacob iv:4–half dozen).

In that bold and persuasive spirit he pleads with his brethren: "Behold, will ye decline these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which accept been spoken apropos Christ, after and so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the souvenir of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great program of redemption, which hath been laid for you lot?" (Jacob 6:viii).

But soon enough 1 came doing exactly those things: Sherem, the first of the anti-Christs in the Book of Mormon. Sherem came declaring "that at that place should be no Christ" and in every way attempted to "overthrow the doctrine of Christ" (Jacob 7:2). Knowing that Jacob "had religion in Christ who should come up," Sherem sardonically made particular effort to confront and challenge him on the practice of what Sherem called "preaching that which ye phone call the gospel, or the doctrine of Christ" (Jacob 7:3, half-dozen). His argument was based on the feeble and tediously predictable reasoning of all anti-Christs—that "no human knoweth of such things; for he cannot tell of things to come" (Jacob seven:7).

Of Sherem, Jacob asks: "Believest thou the scriptures? And he said, Yea.

"And I said unto him: Then ye do not empathize them; for they truly testify of Christ. Behold, I say unto you that none of the prophets have written, nor prophesied, salve they have spoken concerning this Christ" (Jacob 7:10–11).

The Brother of Jared

One of the greatest of those prophets in the Book of Mormon—indeed, a very strong example could exist fabricated for calling him the greatest of the prophets in the Book of Mormon—goes unnamed in the record that documents Christ's remarkable life. That prophet is identified to the modern reader but every bit "the brother of Jared." Still even in such near anonymity, the revelation that unfolded before this man'southward optics was so boggling that his life and legacy to u.s.a. have become synonymous with bold, complete, perfect organized religion.

In the dispersion required of them at the time of the Belfry of Boom-boom, the people of Jared arrived at "the great sea which divideth the lands" (Ether two:13), where they pitched their tents, pending further revelation regarding the crossing of a mighty ocean. For four years they awaited divine management, but obviously they waited as well casually—without supplication and exertion. So this rather remarkable moment presented itself:

"And it came to pass at the end of four years that the Lord came again unto the brother of Jared, and stood in a cloud and talked with him. And for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared, and moderated him because he remembered not to call upon the proper name of the Lord" (Ether ii:xiv).

It is difficult to imagine what a 3-hour rebuke from the Lord might exist similar, but the brother of Jared endured it. With immediate repentance and immediate prayer, this prophet again sought guidance for the journey they had been assigned and for those who were to pursue information technology. God accepted his repentance and lovingly gave further direction for this crucial mission.

For such an oceanic crossing, these families and their flocks needed seaworthy crafts similar to the barges they had constructed for earlier water travel—small, light, dish-shaped vessels identical in blueprint in a higher place and beneath and then that they were capable of staying afloat even when facing overwhelming waves or, worse yet, when they might be overturned by them. These "exceedingly tight" crafts (Ether 2:17) were obviously boats of unprecedented blueprint and undiminished adequacy, made under the direction of Him who ruled the seas and the winds that rend them, to the end that the vessels might travel with the "lightness of a fowl upon the water" (Ether ii:xvi).

These were miraculously designed and meticulously constructed ships. Only they had one major, seemingly insoluble limitation. In such a tight, seaworthy design, there was no means of allowing calorie-free for the seafarers who would travel in them. The blood brother of Jared "cried again unto the Lord proverb: O Lord, behold I take done fifty-fifty as thou hast commanded me; and I have prepared the vessels for my people, and behold there is no light in them. Behold, O Lord, wilt 1000 suffer that we shall cross this great h2o in darkness?" (Ether 2:22).

Then comes an boggling and unexpected response from the Creator of sky and world and all things that in them are, He who boldly declared to Abraham, "Is anything also hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14): "And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will ye that I should practise that ye may have calorie-free in your vessels?" (Ether 2:23; emphasis added).

Then, equally if such a convincing enquiry from almighty deity is not plenty, the Lord gain to verbalize the very problems that the brother of Jared already knows but too well.

For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they volition be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye have burn with you, for ye shall not go past the light of burn.

For behold, ye shall be equally a whale in the midst of the body of water; for the mountain waves shall dash upon y'all. . . . Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have lite when ye are swallowed upwardly in the depths of the ocean? (Ether ii:23–25; emphasis added).

Clearly the brother of Jared was being tested. The Lord had done His office—miraculously, profoundly, ingeniously. Unique, resolutely seaworthy ships for crossing the body of water had been provided. The brilliant applied science had been done. The hard office of this construction project was over. Now He wanted to know what the blood brother of Jared would do about incidentals.

After what has undoubtedly been a great deal of soul-searching and caput-scratching, the brother of Jared comes before the Lord—perhaps red-faced but not empty-handed. In a clearly apologetic tone, he says:

At present behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for nosotros know that chiliad art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that nosotros are unworthy before thee; because of the autumn our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee nosotros may receive according to our desires.

Behold, O Lord, grand hast smitten the states considering of our iniquity, and hast driven us forth, and for these many years we have been in the wilderness; nevertheless, one thousand hast been merciful unto united states of america. O Lord, expect upon me in pity, and turn abroad thine anger from this thy people, and suffer non that they shall go along across this raging deep in darkness; but behold these things which I have molten out of the rock (Ether 3:2–iii).

Things—the blood brother of Jared hardly knows what to call them. Rocks probably doesn't sound any more inspiring. Here, standing next to the Lord's magnificent handiwork, these ne plus ultra, impeccably designed, and marvelously unique seagoing barges, the brother of Jared offers for his contribution: rocks. As he eyes the sleek ships the Lord has provided, it is a moment of genuine humility.

He hurries on:

And I know, O Lord, that k hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of human; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and set them that they may polish forth in darkness; and they shall smoothen forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have calorie-free while we shall cross the sea.

Behold, O Lord, thou canst exercise this. We know that thou art able to show forth great power, which looks small unto the understanding of men (Ether three:4–5).

For all of his self-abasement, the faith of the brother of Jared is apparent. In fact, we might better say transparent in low-cal of the purpose for which these stones will be used. Surely God, as well equally the reader, feels something very striking in the artless innocence and fervor of this homo'due south faith. "Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this." Perhaps there is no more powerful unmarried line of faith spoken by homo in scripture. It is well-nigh as if he is encouraging God, emboldening Him, reassuring Him. Non "Behold, O Lord, I am sure that chiliad canst do this." Not "Behold, O Lord, thou hast done many greater things than this." Notwithstanding uncertain the prophet is nearly his own ability, he has no uncertainty nearly God's power. There is nothing hither only a single, clear, bold, and assertive declaration with no hint or element of vacillation. It is encouragement to Him who needs no encouragement just who surely must have been touched by information technology. "Behold, O Lord, thou canst practise this."

The Rending of the Veil

What happened next ranks among the greatest moments in recorded history, surely among the greatest moments in recorded faith. It forever established the brother of Jared amid the greatest of God'southward prophets. Every bit the Lord reaches forth to touch the stones one by ane with His finger—a response, it would seem, coming in undeniable response to the commanding faith of the blood brother of Jared—"the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a human, similar unto mankind and claret; and the brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear" (Ether iii:6).

The Lord, seeing the brother of Jared fall to the earth, commands him to rise and asks, "Why hast thou fallen?" (Ether three:7).

The reply: "I saw the finger of the Lord, and I feared lest he should smite me; for I knew not that the Lord had flesh and blood" (Ether 3:8).

Then this marvelous declaration from the Lord: "Considering of thy religion grand hast seen that I shall accept upon me mankind and blood; and never has man come before me with such exceeding faith equally thou hast; for were it not so ye could non accept seen my finger. Sawest thou more than this?" (Ether 3:9).

The brother of Jared answers, "Nay; Lord, show thyself unto me" (Ether 3:10). The Lord removed the veil completely from the eyes of the brother of Jared and came into full view of this resolutely true-blue man.

So this most remarkable revelation of the premortal Jehovah:

Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the earth to redeem my people," He said. "Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Male parent and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my proper noun; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.

And never have I showed myself unto man whom I accept created, for never has man believed in me as g hast. Seest k that ye are created later mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in the beginning after my own image.

Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and human being have I created afterward the trunk of my spirit; and fifty-fifty as I announced unto thee to be in the spirit volition I appear unto my people in the mankind (Ether 3:fourteen–xvi).

Before examining the doctrinal truths taught in this divine encounter, it will be useful to note ii seemingly problematic issues here, issues that would seem to take reasonable and adequate resolutions.

The beginning upshot is suggested in 2 questions the Lord asks the blood brother of Jared during the vision as it unfolds: "Why hast grand fallen?" and "Sawest g more than than this?" It is a basic premise of Latter-day Saint theology that God "knoweth all things, and there is not anything salve he knows it" (2 Nephi 9:20). The scriptures, both ancient and modernistic, are replete with this assertion of omniscience. However, God has oftentimes asked questions of men, usually equally a way to test their faith, measure out their honesty, or let their knowledge greater development. For example, he called unto Adam in the Garden of Eden, "Where fine art g?" and afterward asked Eve, "What is this that thou hast done?" (Genesis 3:9, xiii), yet an omniscient parent clearly knew the answer to both questions, for He could meet where Adam was and He had watched what Eve had done. It is obvious that the questions are for the children's sake, giving Adam and Eve the responsibility of replying honestly. Later, in trying Abraham's religion, God repeatedly called out regarding Abraham'south whereabouts, to which the faithful patriarch would answer: "Here am I" (Genesis 22:eleven). The purpose in this scriptural moment was non to provide God with information He already knew merely to reaffirm Abraham's fixed faith and unwavering position in the virtually hard of all parental tests. These kinds of rhetorical questions are frequently used past God, particularly in assessing organized religion, honesty, and the total measure of agency, allowing the "students" the freedom and opportunity to express themselves as revealingly as they wish, even though God knows the answer to His ain and all other questions.

The second issue that requires preliminary comment stems from the Lord's exclamation, "Never has man come before me with such exceeding religion every bit one thousand hast; for were it not so ye could not accept seen my finger" (Ether 3:ix). And later, "Never take I showed myself unto man whom I accept created, for never has human being believed in me as thou hast" (Ether 3:15). The potential for confusion here comes with the realization that many—indeed, we would assume all—of the major prophets living prior to the brother of Jared had seen God. How then does one account for the Lord'southward announcement? Adam's contiguous conversations with God in the Garden of Eden can be exempted because of the paradisiacal, prefallen country of that setting and relationship. Furthermore, other prophets' visions of God, such as those of Moses and Isaiah in the Bible, or Nephi and Jacob in the Book of Mormon, came after this "never before" feel of the brother of Jared. Merely before the era of the Belfry of Babel, the Lord did appear unto Adam and "the residue of his posterity who were righteous" in the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman three years before Adam'south death (see D&C 107:53–55). And we are left with Enoch, who said very explicitly, "I saw the Lord; and he stood before my face up, and he talked with me, even as a homo talketh one with some other, face up to face up" (Moses 7:4). Nosotros presume at that place would have been other prophets living in the catamenia between Adam's leaving the Garden of Eden and the building of the Tower of Babel who besides saw God in a similar manner, including Noah, who "found grace in the optics of the Lord" and "walked with God" (Genesis 6:8–9), the same scriptural phrase used to describe Enoch'due south relationship with the Lord (see Genesis 5:24).

This issue has been much discussed by Latter-day Saint writers, and at that place are several possible explanations, any one—or all—of which may cast some light upon the larger truth of this passage. Nevertheless, without boosted scriptural revelation or commentary on the matter, whatsoever conjecture is but that—theorize—and as such is inadequate and incomplete.

One possibility is that this is merely a comment made in the context of i dispensation and as such applies only to the Jaredites and Jaredite prophets—that Jehovah has never before revealed Himself to one of their seers and revelators. Manifestly this theory has astringent limitations when measured against such phrases as "never before" and "never has human being" and combined with the realization that Jared and his brother are the fathers of this dispensation, the beginning to whom God could have revealed Himself in their era.

Another suggestion is that the lowercase reference to "human being" is the primal to this passage, suggesting that the Lord has never revealed Himself to the unsanctified, to the nonbeliever, to temporal, earthy, natural man. The implication hither is that only those who have put off the natural human being, only those who are untainted by the world—in curt, the sanctified (such every bit Adam, Enoch, and now the brother of Jared)—are entitled to this privilege.

Some have believed that the Lord hither means He has never before revealed Himself to this degree or to this extent. This theory would advise that divine appearances to before prophets had non been with this same "fulness," that never before had the veil been lifted to give such a complete revelation of Christ'due south nature and being.

A further possibility is that this is the showtime fourth dimension Jehovah has appeared and identified Himself as Jesus Christ, the Son of God, thus the interpretation of the passage beingness "never have I showed myself [every bit Jesus Christ] unto man whom I have created" (Ether 3:15). This possibility is reinforced by 1 way of reading Moroni's later editorial comment: "Having this perfect knowledge of God, he could not be kept from within the veil; therefore he saw Jesus" (Ether three:20; accent added).

Yet another interpretation of this passage is that the faith of the brother of Jared was so great he saw not only the spirit finger and torso of the premortal Jesus (which presumably many other prophets had also seen) but also had some distinctly more revealing attribute of Christ'south body of flesh, blood, and bone. Exactly what insight into the mankind-and-blood nature of Christ's time to come body the brother of Jared might have had is not clear, just Jehovah does say to him, "Because of thy faith thousand hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood" (Ether 3:9), and Moroni does say that Christ revealed Himself in this instance "in the likeness of the same body even as he showed himself unto the Nephites" (Ether three:17). Some have taken that to mean literally "the same body" the Nephites would encounter—a body of flesh and blood. A safer position would be that information technology was at least the exact spiritual likeness of that time to come body. Jehovah says, "Behold, this torso, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit . . .and even equally I announced unto thee to exist in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh" (Ether 3:sixteen), and Moroni says, "Jesus showed himself unto this human in the spirit" (Ether 3:17).

A concluding—and in terms of the religion of the brother of Jared (which is the issue at hand) surely the almost persuasive—explanation for me is that Christ is maxim to the brother of Jared, "Never take I showed myself unto man in this fashion, without my volition, driven solely by the faith of the beholder." As a rule, prophets are invited into the presence of the Lord, are bidden to enter His presence by Him and only with His sanction. The brother of Jared, on the other mitt, stands lonely then (and we assume now) in having thrust himself through the veil, not as an unwelcome guest but peradventure technically an uninvited one. Says Jehovah, "Never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so ye could non have seen my finger. . . . Never has man believed in me as thou hast" (Ether 3:9, fifteen; emphasis added). Manifestly the Lord Himself is linking unprecedented faith with this unprecedented vision. If the vision is not unique, then information technology has to exist the religion— and how the vision is obtained—that is and then remarkable. The only way this religion could exist so remarkable would be in its ability to accept this prophet, uninvited, where others had only been able to get past invitation.

Indeed it would appear that this is Moroni'due south own understanding of the circumstance, for he later writes, "Because of the knowledge [which has come every bit a result of faith] of this man he could non exist kept from beholding within the veil. . . .

"Wherefore, having this perfect knowledge of God, he could non be kept from inside the veil; therefore he saw Jesus" (Ether 3:19–20; emphasis added).

This may be i of those very provocative examples (except that it is real life and not hypothetical) about God's power. Schoolboy philosophers sometimes ask, "Can God make a rock and then heavy that He cannot lift it?" or "Can God hibernate an particular and so skillfully that He cannot find it?" Far more than movingly and importantly we may ask hither, "Could God have stopped the brother of Jared from seeing through the veil?" At commencement blush i is inclined to say, "Surely God could block such an experience if He wished to." Merely think over again. Or, more precisely, read over again. "This man . . . could not be kept from beholding within the veil; . . . he could non be kept from within the veil" (Ether 3:19–20; emphasis added).

No, this may be an admittedly unprecedented instance of a prophet'south will and faith and purity then closely budgeted that of heaven'due south that the man moves from understanding God to being actually like Him, with His same thrust of will and faith, at least in this ane instance. What a remarkable doctrinal argument nigh the power of a mortal homo's faith! And not an ethereal, unreachable, select category of a man, either. This is one who once forgot to call upon the Lord, one whose best ideas focused on rocks, and one who doesn't fifty-fifty accept a traditional name in the book that has immortalized his remarkable feat of faith. Given such a man with such religion, it should not be surprising that the Lord would bear witness this prophet much, prove him visions that would be relevant to the mission of all the Book of Mormon prophets and to the events of the latter-day dispensation in which the volume would exist received.

Afterward the prophet stepped through the veil to behold the Savior of the world, he was not limited in seeing the rest of what the eternal world revealed. Indeed, the Lord showed him "all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would exist; and he withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth" (Ether 3:25). The staying power for such an feel was again the organized religion of the brother of Jared, for "the Lord could not withhold annihilation from him, for he knew that the Lord could show him all things" (Ether 3:26).

A Remarkable Vision

This vision of "all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be, . . . fifty-fifty unto the ends of the earth" (Ether 3:25) was similar to that given to Moses and others of the prophets (run across Moses 1:27–29). In this case, withal, it was written downwards in great detail and and then sealed upwards. Moroni, who had access to this recorded vision, wrote on his plates "the very things which the blood brother of Jared saw" (Ether 4:4). And so he, besides, sealed them upward and hid them again in the earth before his death and the last devastation of the Nephite civilization. Of this vision given to the brother of Jared, Moroni wrote, "There never were greater things made manifest than those which were fabricated manifest unto the brother of Jared" (Ether 4:4).

Those sealed plates constitute the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon which Joseph Smith did not translate. Furthermore, they will remain sealed, literally besides as figuratively, until "they shall practise religion in me, saith the Lord, even as the blood brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, so volition I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are" (Ether 4:7).

The full measure of this unprecedented and unexcelled vision—"there never were greater things made manifest"—is yet to be made known to the children of men. But consider what was made known in one homo'southward experience in receiving information technology, consider that the time was approximately 2 thousand years before Christ's nascency, and consider what is not presently independent in the Old Attestation canon of that period regarding Jehovah and His truthful characteristics. These twenty-five items are all fatigued from Ether 3 and 4:

i. Jehovah, the God of the pre-Christian era, was the premortal Jesus Christ, identified here by that proper noun (see Ether 3:14).

2. Christ is both a Male parent and a Son in His divine relationship with the children of men (meet Ether three:14).

3. Christ was "prepared from the foundation of the earth to redeem [his] people" (Ether three:xiv), knowledge which had been shared before with Enoch and later would exist shared with John the Revelator (see Moses seven:47; Revelation thirteen:8).

4. Christ had a spirit body, which looked like and was in the premortal class of His concrete body, "like unto mankind and claret," including fingers, vocalisation, face, and all other concrete features (Ether 3:half dozen).

v. Christ assisted in the cosmos of man, fashioning the human family "after the body of my spirit" (Ether iii:16).

half-dozen. With a spirit body and the divinity of His calling, the premortal Christ spoke audibly, in words and language understood by mortals (run into Ether iii:16).

7. Christ is a God, acting for and with His Male parent, who is besides a God (run across Ether 3:xiv; 4:7).

8. Christ reveals some truths to some that are to exist kept from others until an appointed time—His "own due time" (Ether three:24).

nine. Christ uses a variety of tools and techniques in revelation, including the interpreting power of "2 stones": the Urim and Thummim (come across Ether 3:23–24; D&C 17:1).

10. Christ's later on atoning, redeeming role is conspicuously stated fifty-fifty before it has been realized in His mortal life. Furthermore, in a most blessed style for the brother of Jared, it is immediately efficacious. "I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people," Christ says. "In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my proper noun; and they shall become my sons and my daughters" (Ether iii:fourteen).

Then the brother of Jared has his redemption pronounced, every bit though the Amende had already been carried out. "Considering thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall," Christ promises him, "therefore ye are brought dorsum into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you" (Ether 3:13).

This statement underscores the eternal nature of the Amende, its effects reaching out to all those who lived before the Savior's birth as well as all those living after it. All who in Old Attestation times were baptized in Christ's name had the same claim upon eternal life that the blood brother of Jared had, fifty-fifty though Christ had not still even been born. In matters of the Amende, as in all other eternal promises, "time just is measured unto men" (Alma 40:8).

eleven. Christ had past knowledge of "all the inhabitants of the globe which had been" and foreknowledge of "all that would be," showing all of these to the blood brother of Jared (Ether 3:25).

Moroni, in recording the experience of the brother of Jared, adds these insights and revelations which come from the aforementioned encounter:

12. Future Saints will demand to be sanctified in Christ to receive all of His revelations (meet Ether 4:half dozen).

13. Those who reject the vision of the brother of Jared will be shown "no greater things" by Christ (Ether 4:8).

14. At Christ'south command "the heavens are opened and are shut," "the earth shall shake," and "the inhabitants thereof shall pass away, still as past fire" (Ether 4:9).

15. Believers in the vision of the brother of Jared volition be given manifestations of Christ'southward spirit. Because of such spiritual experience, conventionalities shall plough to knowledge and they "shall know that these things are truthful" (Ether four:11).

sixteen. "Any thing persuadeth men to practise expert" is of Christ. Good comes of none except Christ (Ether four:12).

17. Those who practise not believe Christ'southward words would not believe Him personally (see Ether 4:12).

18. Those who do not believe Christ would not believe God the Father, who sent Him (see Ether iv:12).

xix. Christ is the light and the life and the truth of the world (see Ether 4:12).

20. Christ volition reveal "greater things" (Ether 4:13), "great and marvelous things" (Ether 4:15), and cognition hidden "from the foundation of the earth" (Ether iv:14) to those who rend the veil of unbelief and come unto Him.

21. Believers are to call upon the Father in the proper noun of Christ "with a broken centre and a contrite spirit" if they are to "know that the Begetter hath remembered the covenant which he made" unto the house of Israel (Ether 4:15).

22. Christ's revelations to John the Revelator will be "unfolded in the optics of all the people" in the concluding days, even every bit they are well-nigh to be fulfilled (Ether 4:16).

23. Christ commands all the ends of the earth to come unto Him, believe in His gospel, and be baptized in His proper noun (run into Ether 4:18).\

24. Signs shall follow those who believe in Christ's name (come across Ether iv:18).

25. Those faithful to Christ's proper name at the last 24-hour interval shall be "lifted up to dwell in the kingdom prepared for [them] from the foundation of the world" (Ether 4:19).

Indeed, an entreatment like that of the brother of Jared is given by the Father to both Gentile and Israelite, to whom this record is sent. Asking the latter-day reader to pierce the limits of shallow faith, Christ cries:

"Come up unto me, O ye Gentiles, and I will prove unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid upwardly considering of unbelief.

Come up unto me, O ye house of Israel, and it shall be fabricated manifest unto you how corking things the Father hath laid up for you lot, from the foundation of the world; and it hath not come unto you, because of unbelief.

Behold, when ye shall rend that veil of unbelief which doth cause y'all to remain in your awful land of wickedness, and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind, so shall the great and marvelous things which have been hid upwards from the foundation of the globe from yous—yea, when ye shall call upon the Father in my proper noun, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and so shall ye know that the Father hath remembered the covenant which he made unto your fathers, O house of State of israel (Ether four:xiii–15; accent added).

The Book of Mormon is predicated on the willingness of men and women to "rend that veil of unbelief" in guild to behold the revelations—and the Revelation—of God (Ether four:15). It would seem that the humbling experience of the brother of Jared in his failure to pray and his consternation over the xvi stones were included in this account to show just how mortal and but how normal he was—and so very much like the men and women we know and at least in some ways so much like ourselves. His belief in himself and his view of himself may accept been limited—much like our view of ourselves. But his belief in God was unprecedented. Information technology was without doubtfulness or limit: "I know, O Lord, that m hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch on these stones, O Lord, with thy finger" (Ether 3:4).

And from that control given to the Lord, for it does seem to be something of a control, the brother of Jared and the reader of the Volume of Mormon would never be the same again. Ordinary individuals with ordinary challenges could rend the veil of unbelief and enter the realms of eternity. And Christ, who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem His people, would be continuing at the border of that veil to usher the laic through.

© Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

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Source: https://rsc.byu.edu/voice-my-servants/rending-veil-unbelief

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