Happy Halloween! It’s scary to think that another year has passed; this weekend just a year ago I was in Boston, Massachusetts, listening to the words of the likes of Clayton Christensen, David Neeleman, and Elder M. Russell Ballard (see "It's the Resolve that Counts"). Their world and mine have progressed, and I am happy to say that I continue to strive to follow the admonition of the great prophet Lehi:
“And now that my soul might have joy in you, and that my heart might have gladness because of you, that I might not be brought down with grief and sorrow to the grave, arise from the dust, my sons, and be men, and be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things, that ye may not come down into captivity;
“…Awake my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust."
2 Nephi 1: 22, 24 (emphasis added)
Slowly and surely I am learning what it means to be a true man, a righteous holder of the Priesthood of God. It involves shaking off the chains to which Lehi refers, but then also creating new ones as described through modern revelation:
“…It is sufficient to know, in this case, that the earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some kind or other between the fathers and the children, upon some subject or other…For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect…for it is necessary in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fullness 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.”
D& C 128: 18
This welding between the fathers and children across all generations of time is achieved only through the active use of the sealing power, that is, the power of the Priesthood to perform vicarious ordinances for those who have passed on without having received the opportunity to accept these ordinances in mortality. These vicarious ordinances are realized only in the holy temples, sacred house of God set apart for this purpose.
No one understood the importance of welding together generations in this vein than father Lehi, who in a parting blessing to his son, Joseph, gave what in my opinion is one of the most poetic passages in the Book of Mormon. In this blessing (found in 2 Nephi 3) Lehi compares Joseph of Egypt to his son, who also was a righteous youth who received harsh treatment from his older brothers. Lehi then quotes Joseph of Egypt, who prophesied of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon by the hand of Joseph Smith, who would be a great prophet "like unto Moses."
To me this chapter represents what has been spoken of above: the essential nature of welding the fathers to the sons, and the sons to the fathers. We should never understate the importance of covenants, and what they mean for generations to come as we perform the Lord's work through the sealing power. I am grateful to have received this knowledge, to especially know that as I serve in the Lord's house I am fulfilling the words of all the holy prophets who saw our day, and rejoiced to know that the fullness of the Gospel would at last never be taken from the earth, for the very purpose of blessing all generations of time.
Have a great week!
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