18 I might have rendered a plainer translation to this, but it is sufficiently plain to suit my purpose as it stands. It is sufficient to know, in this case, that the earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding clink of some kind or other between the fathers and the children, upon some subject or other—and behold what is that subject? It is the baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect. Neither can they nor we be made perfect without those who have died in the gospel also; for it is necessary in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, which dispensation is now beginning to usher in, that a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place, and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time. And not only this, but those things which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall be revealed unto babes and sucklings in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times.
Wow, I had to read this more than once, this verse is packed with stuff.
19 Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of gladness! A voice of mercy from heaven; and a voice of truth out of the earth; glad tidings for the dead; a voice of gladness for the living and the dead; glad tidings of great joy. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that bring glad tidings of good things, and that say unto Zion: Behold, thy God reigneth! As the dews of Carmel, so shall the knowledge of God descend upon them!
The first thing I think of is positive thinking, being happy and upbeat. These are good things.
22 Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.
I love the imagery of this verse. On the day before the election this is really sounding like a political speech. "Let the earth break forth into singing" I just love the thought of that. That would be wonderful. I have been watching Hairspray about 5 times this week, ha ha. I love the music and the dancing. Today I was at the grocery store dancing in the isles. It was really funny, but I couldn't get the music out of my head.
D&C 86
2 Behold, verily I say, the field was the world, and the apostles were the sowers of the seed;
3 And after they have fallen asleep the great persecutor of the church, the apostate, the whore, even Babylon, that maketh all nations to drink of her cup, in whose hearts the enemy, even Satan, sitteth to reign—behold he soweth the tares; wherefore, the tares choke the wheat and drive the church into the wilderness.
4 But behold, in the last days, even now while the Lord is beginning to bring forth the word, and the blade is springing up and is yet tender—
5 Behold, verily I say unto you, the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields;
6 But the Lord saith unto them, pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender (for verily your faith is weak), lest you destroy the wheat also.
7 Therefore, let the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest is fully ripe; then ye shall first gather out the wheat from among the tares, and after the gathering of the wheat, behold and lo, the tares are bound in bundles, and the field remaineth to be burned.
The last verse just made me think of the world today. I used to be a tare, and I have had many tares in my life. There are still a few. What to do about it is a tough choice. We are all growing together, do you minister to them or ignore them? They aren't going away, we are all in it together. Some of them won't be ready to be ministered to by me when I am there, and some of them might be. I hope I can have the wisdom to know the difference. The last part of the verse reminded me of when Abinadi said that those people would perish as he had. The field remaineth to be burned.
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3 comments:
wheat and tares has another meaning for me. it's like if God says the money is the tares, he isn't going to get rid of it all so soon, because too many people have grown up used to it and wouldn't know how to function without it. I'm not saying money is tares, but that is just an example. I think the tares are always tares and don't change. people are always the precious wheat. God wants to save all of them, but some will cling too closely to the tares. So for those wondering why God doesn't just destroy the wicked, this makes more sense to me.
I think that people can and will and do choose whom they will serve. You in your life have chosen to serve God. Therefore are not a tare. However there will be those who will never chose to serve God. Bummer for them. In our lives if we have friends or associates like that we never give up on them and should only leave them if the associations are damaging to our eternal progression. For no one is more important then our own salvation. Jesus was the ultimate Wheat and he spent his mortal ministry among the tares of society and through his ministry some became wheat. It is a process.
It will be burned one day.
I like the thought that all people are wheat, but it's better imagery for me to think of some of them as tares.
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