Day 64 Christ: A Sanctuary or a Stone of Stumbling

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth, and in the same sentence offers a warning that savorless salt is good for nothing. Join me in an attempt to be savory salt as I share each day one verse of scripture and one small thought. Perhaps this small daily emphasis can lead to greater savor in your life and ultimately you and I can be savory salt.

Hello, my friends and family, wherever you're listening from. Thank you for joining me and know that I'm cheering for your every success. Welcome to day 64 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon.

Thank you for joining us. I hope that what we have in the reading today is going to bring a little bit of savory salt into your life. On your 365-day journey, you are going to read today 2 Nephi chapter 17, verses 16 through 25.

So finish that one out. And then you are going to read 2 Nephi chapter 18, verses 1 through 14. So, these Isaiah chapters, I think the pacing of them is a little bit more aggressive than we are used to.

But at the same time, it is helping us get through the Isaiah chapters, right? Today, we're going to read the very tail end of our reading assignment. It's going to come 2 Nephi 18, verse 14.

And this is going to be talking in reference to Jesus Christ a little bit. So I'm trying to pick those verses that help me understand him a little bit more. And this one certainly did, especially as I dug into it a little bit and did some extra research around it.

Verse 14 says this: And this one really gave me pause for a second because the very first part of this, he's going to be a sanctuary. But then the rest of the verse here, it says stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, right? He's going to come across as offensive, right?

To both the houses of Israel. Studying the Book of Mormon is really interesting because it can go not quite verse by verse but at least chunks of verses by verses. But this one actually is specific to verse 14.

And I thought I would share it with you because it provided a little bit of interesting insight. This is a quote from Elder Bruce R. McConkie, who was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

And he said this — it's been a while — he said this in 1973. For those of you that are listening, you're like, whoa, back in the 1900s? But this is what he says specifically about this verse of Scripture.

He says: "The ability of Emmanuel to both save and condemn." He says, "Now this is an interesting side of things, but really if Christ is going to come, we learn back with Lehi teachings that laws that don't have consequences are no laws, right?" It doesn't exist. And so we have to have these consequences attached to it. And as Christ comes, those that have followed the commandments, those that have sought to repent as we talked about yesterday and try to do their best to live the gospel of Jesus Christ, will find sanctuary at the coming of Jesus Christ.

And then there's those that won't. There'll be those that will stumble and fall because of Jesus Christ. That's an interesting perspective to take here.

And I think Isaiah is just trying to provide a warning and say, "Hey, you still are in a place of choosing here." Which would you rather? Which would you rather? Would you rather a place of sanctuary or would you rather a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense?

Certainly something worth digging into in terms of your personal study today inside of the verses as you read them. That's all for today, my friends. Remember that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

Keep it small, keep it simple, and always seek to be savory salt. I'll be here tomorrow. I hope you are too.