2025 Study Summary 10: “LEARN OF ME”
Doctrine and Covenants 19
“LEARN OF ME”
Doctrine and Covenants 19. Revelation given through Joseph Smith, at Manchester, New York, likely in the summer of 1829. In his history, the Prophet introduces it as “a commandment of God and not of man, to Martin Harris, given by him who is Eternal.”
1–3, Christ has all power;
4–5, All men must repent or suffer;
6–12, Eternal punishment is God’s punishment;
13–20, Christ suffered for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
21–28, Preach the gospel of repentance;
29–41, Declare glad tidings.
How can I sense the power of my Savior?
“Retaining all power, even to the destroying of Satan and his works at the end of the world, and the last great day of judgment, which I shall pass upon the inhabitants thereof, judging every man according to his works and the deeds which he hath done.” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:3) Jewish thought has this to say about “power.” “The Mishnah (written collection of the Jewish oral traditions) states that the copper serpent (nahash nehoshet in Hebrew) was not the power which cured the people. Rather it was when the people finally turned their eyes upward toward Heaven and listened to the will of God that they were cured. After the plague ended, the nahash nehoshet served as an ever-present reminder of the dangers and evils which could befall the people in the desert were it not for God’s constant loving care.” “The people kept the copper serpent when they settled in Erez (land of) Israel and remembered its significance. However, when they began to look up to it instead of gazing beyond it to heaven, King Hezekiah had it destroyed so that it should not lead to idol worship.” (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)
How is He my Redeemer?
Isaiah, who knew the mountains of Judah, also knew the Lord and combined the majesty of both in teaching us about the Savior and His atonement. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” (Isaiah 52:7) Looking at the sacred event that redeemed us from the sins of life, bruises of experience, captivity of conscience, blindness of bigotry, hurt of hearts broken, poverty of stinginess and the imprisonment of self-pity, we are drawn to the Mount of Olives. Two thousand years ago, He sank below all things, experiencing deeper depths than we would ever reach so that we would never have to. Bleeding from every pore of His body, He was stained for us. How beautiful upon the Mount of Olives are the feet of Him who brings good tidings. Good tidings are the “good news,” the gospel of joy. Isaiah wrote the words of the Savior’s testimony seven hundred years before the Savior would speak them. “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;” (Isaiah 61:1) (Luke 4:18) Although the principle of “one atoning for our sins” in Judaism has diminished over the years, one day every year is set aside as the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. “The tenth of the Hebrew month of Tishrei is Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and prayer for all Israel, a day which has been significant to Jews throughout the ages. The Day of Atonement is the last of the Ten Days of Penitence which begin with Rosh Ha-Shanah (New Year), and is the climax of the repentance and soul-searching incumbent on every Jew during this period. “Perhaps the most beloved ritual of the Day of Atonement, Kol Nidrei is . . . chanted before sunset as the . . . worshipers are wrapped in tallitot and some even robed in white gowns (kitels).” (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)
How do Latter-day temples represent repentance?
The Hebrew word LaShuv (to return, to repent, to turn back). Temple worship is exemplified by “going back” – to the council in heaven – to the creation – and to the mission of the Son of God – the atonement. Since 1967, when Jerusalem became open for Jews, the (Jewish) congregant’s response is “Next year in Jerusalem-rebuilt.” This is an expression of rebuilding the temple in the mountains of Judah. “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3:1) And, who is this LORD of hosts? “I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God; wherefore, gird up your loins and I will suddenly come to my temple. Even so. Amen.” (Doctrine and Covenants 36:8)
How is the Temple an instrument of atonement?
Picture the future scene for the Jewish covenant part of the family. The Lord will return to a Jerusalem that will have the House of the Lord. The entire city will become the City of The Lord. (Doctrine and Covenants 124:36) “In pre-Temple times, in the desert, the whole encampment was considered to be in a state of sanctity, and hence anyone who was tameh (unclean) was forced to go outside the marked boundaries and was forbidden to return until he had completed the purification ritual. With the destruction of the Temple, such sanctions ceased to apply. Nevertheless, the maintenance of ritual impurity has remained an essential aspect of Jewish life. Thus, because all Jews are now assumed to be ritually impure, they are even today forbidden to enter the Temple area in Jerusalem.” (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.) Bringing our two parts of a covenant family together allow me to repeat an event at the turn of the 20th century, the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, John Taylor (1808-1897) was speaking to Baron Rothschild as he was showing him the Salt Lake Temple. ‘Rothschild said, “Elder Taylor, what do you mean by this temple? What is the object of it? Why are you building it?” President Taylor answered, “Your fathers had among them prophets, who revealed to them the mind and will of God; we have among us prophets who reveal to us the mind and will of God, as they did. One of your prophets said–The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, but who may abide the day of his coming? For he shall sit as a refiner’s fire and a purifier of silver! . . . (Micah 3:1) sir, will you point me out a place on the face of the earth where God has a temple?” Rothschild said, “Do you consider that this is that temple?” President Taylor answered, “No, sir, it is not . . . The Lord has told us to build this temple so that we may administer therein [ordinances] for our dead and also to perform some of the sacred matrimonial alliances and covenants that we believe in, that are rejected by the world generally, but which are among the purest, most exalting and ennobling principles that God ever revealed to man.” Rothschild asked, “Well, then, this is not our temple?” And President Taylor responded “No . . . you will build a temple, for the Lord has shown us, among other things, that you Jews have quite a role to perform in the latter days, and that all the things spoken by your old prophets will be fulfilled, that you will be gathered to old Jerusalem, and that you will build a temple there; and when you build that temple, and the time has arrived, `the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.’” (Gospel Kingdom, John Taylor, Page 293)
How can every part of our family come home?
“Repentance in Hebrew is known as teshuvah, which literally means ‘return,’ and signifies a return to God. A person who repents his sins is known as a ba’al teshuvah (returnee to Judaism) Many rabbis of the Talmud (source of Jewish religious law (halakha), Jewish theology), believed that the real ba’al teshuvah is greater even than a person who has never sinned and they furthermore said that when a person repents out of love of God (and not just out of fear of divine punishment), all the sins he had committed are considered to be mitzvot (blessings). This is perhaps the most comforting doctrine that Judaism has given to the world.” (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.). Maimonides (1138-1204) in his code refers to the section of laws related to the Holy Temple as the laws of the ‘Chosen Home’. (From “Messages”—Season 2, Episode 3) (https://www.chabad.org/multimedia/video_cdo/aid/1490420/ jewish/G-ds-Choice-of-Home.htm) ) “If you will prepare yourself to enter the temple, you will be “ready to receive the fulness of [His] gospel” in the temple (D&C 35:12). The temple is a place of power and blessing. The Lord instructed the Prophet Joseph Smith and the early Saints to gather to Kirtland, Ohio, USA, where they would eventually build a temple. “There you shall be endowed with power from on high” (D&C 38:32)” (Preparing to Enter the House of the Lord) Elder Kent F. Richards of the Seventy and Executive Director of the Temple Department, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/2015/07/preparing-to-enter-the-house-of-the-lord?lang=eng)
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