Day 65 Christ, Our Political and Spiritual Messiah

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 65 and welcome to what would be, I understand that Savory Salt is going to be available for any time anyone wants to listen and read through the Book of Mormon.

I'm going to mark this episode in the podcast itself as a special Easter episode so that anyone that is listening to this in the future and may be able to have a place to refer back to this episode. We're going to dive in today on our 365 journey through the Book of Mormon into 2 Nephi 18, verses 15-22. And this is where we're going to dive in and get our Easter message, which is actually also a Christmas message.

It's become very popular in the West, at least, to use this as a Christmas scripture. But this one, we're in the middle of the Isaiah chapters. I had to choose this one.

I mean, this one's like, you gotta go to this one, right? This one's a famous scripture and has been immortalized by the incredible talents of Handel. And so let's get to verse 6 and then let's talk about "Handel's Messiah" here for just a second.

Verse 6 says this, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Wow. Now, one activity you can do with this is just spend some time in reflection and maybe even some time in personal study connecting all of these incredible names that Isaiah gives to the Savior.

Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. So there's one activity that you could do with this. And yet, the interesting thing is, as I read it this time, something stuck out to me in this verse that I wanted to share with you, and that is, "...and the government shall be upon his shoulder." You know, I think it's interesting as Isaiah and the people of his time, especially early on, the nation of Israel, they were looking for a political Messiah just as much, more so even than a spiritual Messiah.

And I think in today's world, we look very much so for a kind of a spiritual Messiah, someone that's going to help us out spiritually and bring us a spiritual connection in the world. The thing that stuck with me this time is that Jesus Christ is both. He is both a political Messiah and a spiritual Messiah.

He is the Messiah of the world. And we call this incredible musical piece, I'll put a link to it as well, this incredible musical piece, we call it "Handel's Messiah", because Handel wrote this amazing piece of the life of Jesus Christ into music. It's beautiful.

And I'd encourage you to take some time clicking through the website that I'll put a link in here for. But I also want you to consider that Jesus Christ is the answer for all political upheaval. As we live in a world with political turmoil all around, the scriptures would say, 'wars and rumors of wars.' We have leaders rising and falling.

We have leaders debasing each other and mocking each other. And there are many people looking for some sort of political answer: 'Who do I turn to?' And the answer is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our Messiah.

He is the one who will take our lives and make them better and provide us a better future. Now, how does that look for me in my life today as I'm waiting for Christ to come and be that political authority as well? Well, it means that I look to my leaders and seek with the Spirit to see who can take those roles and who I believe could fulfill those roles and lean into my support for those people.

But remember, President Nelson told us we're going to need the Spirit in our lives all the time in order to be able to stay spiritually alive in these days. So I testify to you that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and he is the Messiah spiritually, politically, and in every other area of our lives. 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.