3.010 The Lord Showed Himself unto Him

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as savory salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you'll serve.

What's that old saying about the mouth of two or three witnesses shall all things be established? Or something about the truth of all things through two or three witnesses? Let's go for witness number three today.

We've been reading this week Moses chapter 1 and Abraham chapter 3. The nature of God as our Heavenly Father, the nature of Jesus Christ as our Savior, and us as His children. As I was reading this week, I mentioned at the front end of Season 3 that we are not going to have a piecing of the Book of Mormon, but that we are going to sprinkle in Book of Mormon readings that supplement our study of the Old Testament.

Ether Chapter 3. A little bit more topical or thematic, if you will. And that's what we got today.

Our reading today is actually going to come from Ether chapter three. And if you followed along for the last two seasons, you're like, "Whoa, we don't usually get to Ether until December, right?" Which is true. This time, we're going to go along things as they come up and as they continue to build in testifying together with the Old Testament on the truth.

If you remember the situation in Ether chapter 3, we have the brother of Jared, and they are trying to escape from their place and they're trying to build their barges and they're trying to get to a new land, a new promised land, right? That's the scenario there. And then we get the incident where the brother of Jared witnesses or sees the Lord.

And see if our verse for today doesn't ring a bell with the experiences that we've read in Moses chapter 1 as well as Abraham chapter 3. Our verse for today is Ether chapter 3 verse 13. Now, this is the middle of the event, so you'll want to read a little bit before and a little bit after.

But it says this: "And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things, ye are redeemed from the Fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore, I show myself unto you." Now, this revelation that occurs here is slightly different than the Moses and Abraham experience, in that we find out in verse 14 that this is Jesus Christ appearing to the brother of Jared. But that's all the more testimony of the reality of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, in my opinion. Moses sees Heavenly Father.

He is shown everything, the full expanse. Abraham sees the whole deal. And here we have an experience where the brother of Jared witnesses face to face.

Here we are again. David, right? Showed himself unto him.

Therefore, I show myself unto you. We have a full revelation. My friends, I think these three testimonies are such an important foundation for the Old Testament.

And the reason for that, our first one is that in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall all things be established, right? We've learned that. Another one that we learn: The Lord has said, "I am the same yesterday, today, and forever." And if we see here very clearly a pattern of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ revealing themselves to their prophets, then why would it change today?

We have an understanding. We have a belief that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And that would be completely insane and absurd if there was no precedent for God communicating with man on the earth.

And yet this week, as we've gone through Savory Salt, we've been able to see now three distinct examples of the Lord and His Son Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father, God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ, revealing themselves to the prophets. I am so excited to continue to see the ways that the Lord shows up in the lives of the people of the Old Testament because it's going to help me be able to see the ways that the Lord can show up in my life going forward as well. That is all for today, my friends.

You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith, and let's be savory salt. We'll be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.