The Lord Teaches His People
[Secret Teaching of the Lord after the Resurrection]
[Gathering Together of the Righteous]
[Restored Ordinances]
[Beatitudes]
[By the Wicked, the Wicked are Punished]
[Rejection of the Economy We Practice]
[We Must Make the First Move]
334 Notice what happens.. He [the Savior] comes to them. If you were writing this, it would be the biggest challenge of all when you came to the big climax—the Lord finally comes. Now what does he do? What does he say? Does he just repeat the New Testament? Well, he does and a lot more too. The Lord teaches them what he taught the Jews before the Resurrection. He comes to the Nephites after the Resurrection as a resurrected being. And, of course, he begins by filling them in. He says, these are the things I taught the Jews before my ascension to heaven. He tells them that, filling them in up to there. It’s all the gospel, everywhere the same gospel. From then on he takes it up and says, these are the things I taught the apostles after the Resurrection. During the last thirty or forty years, any time [someone has found] a very early Christian writing, it almost always has the title, “The Secret Teachings Which the Lord Gave the Apostles after the Resurrection.” We know he taught them after the Resurrection. We know that before the Resurrection they didn’t understand what he taught at all. After the Crucifixion they broke up and all went home and thought it was all over. Then when he appeared first to the women and then to John and they came and reported, the apostles wouldn’t believe it. They said, you’re crazy—he’s not going to come again. Then when he did appear to them, Thomas wasn’t the only who doubted. He was actually the least doubting of them all. But that’s another story.
334 When he came to them after the Resurrection, what did he teach them? At the end of Mark it says: beginning with Moses and the prophets he taught them all the things concerning himself. Then their eyes were opened, but we don’t have a word of that sermon [in the Bible]. Those were the secret teachings the Lord taught the apostles after the Resurrection. They all turn out to be the same, and we have them here. This is what we find in the Nag Hammadi Scrolls. These became distorted to form various gnostic doctrines, etc. But the Lord taught the apostles lots of things after the Resurrection. He appeared no [fewer] than twenty-seven times. I have some long articles on that particular subject. “The Gospel of the Forty Days” it was called. For forty days after the Resurrection he came and taught the apostles, and we don’t have one word in the Bible of what he told them after that. This is what sent them out on their missions—this is what they were going to teach. But this we have in the Book of Mormon. We have it included here, but first we must get filled in here.
334,335 3 Nephi 11:35 We got to chapter 11, which was a tremendous climax with the great multitude gathered together, etc. You notice that Christ comes to every individual; it’s all on an individual basis. He takes them by the hand, he gives each one the signs and tokens, and he blesses them one by one. Then in the blessings and promises he gives them, he says, I and the Father will come to him, meaning “to him and to her,” using the common gender and always using the singular that way. He assures them that they are in the same program as the Father and the Son. I am teaching only what the Father tells me to, he says. I am simply doing his will. The Holy Ghost is in on it, and now you are in on the same thing. We are bringing you in on the very same thing [he says]. How do we take that tremendous leap? Well, this is done in the chapters that follow. 3 Nephi 11:35: “And unto him will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost.” This takes us up to the very highest level.
335 Then we come to 3 Nephi 12. We said this individual settlement is paid. We make our covenants and have our standing with the Lord, but we are not alone in this. We don’t just go our several ways after that if we have all had the same experience and we know heart-to-heart exactly what the other person has gone through. We have the greatest feeling of unity with the others—”that they may be one even as we are one,” as the Lord repeatedly says in John 14-17. So we don’t go our several ways. We must all live together in eternity; we are all going to be in this. We all have identical understanding with those who rule and reign forever. This is going to be something, and very interesting questions arise as to our individuality, etc. We are all going to be together for endless ages.
335 3 Nephi 12:1 The next step here, the purpose of the twelfth chapter, is to get us together; you’ll see that. He called the Twelve, and notice what he does here. First of all he appoints the Twelve, but he doesn’t appoint them as superiors, but as servants. He doesn’t appoint them as a higher rank. Notice what he says here—there’s no rank. They don’t belong to a higher peer group; they are just part of your group. “He stretched forth his hand unto the multitude, and cried unto them, saying: Blessed are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words of these twelve whom I have chosen from among you [they are just your people; they are not from a higher rank, a higher order of beings, or a different peer group] to minister unto you, and to be your servants.” [They are] not to boss you around or to lay down the law for you. In other words, they are absolutely equal with you; there’s no difference whatever here. There’s no sense of rank. This makes it very clear. We are all starting out in the same thing together. How do we get along together? We don’t pull rank on each other at all. “. . . and unto them I have given power that they may baptize you with water.” I have given them power, but the power they have is only mine. They are just acting as proxy for me. Notice, at all times the ordinances of the temples are by proxy. The Book of Mormon gives us the formula here, “Being commissioned of Jesus Christ [he told me to do it; I’m just doing it for him], I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. .. .Wherefore, ye shall do all things in the name of the Son, and repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.” So it is the Son who is doing it all. Remember, we talked about that intense concentration on this one person, and it still goes on here. We are still all as equal as anything can be. They will baptize you for me [the Savior says]. As I said, all baptism is by proxy.
335 3 Nephi 12:1 After that I will personally baptize you to a higher order of things, and that is with fire and the Holy Ghost. They don’t baptize you with that. That is bestowed on you. He says here in verse 1: “I will baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost; therefore blessed are ye if ye shall believe in me and be baptized, after that ye have seen me and know that I am.” They have seen him now; [they need] to believe that he is the Savior, that he is what he says he is. These people are able to believe in him. Then he says, others will not have seen the way you have, but “more blessed are they who shall believe in your words [you are just handing it on] because that ye shall testify that ye have seen me, and that ye know that I am.” John starts out with what we have seen with our eyes, heard with our ears, felt with our hands. That’s what we testify of, and the world doesn’t receive our testimony because they don’t think it’s spiritual enough. “Blessed are they who shall believe in your word.” They haven’t had the same privilege. You are just carrying it on. This is what the gospel is, handing it all around. “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39)—to see that everybody gets it. We all [the righteous] get into this same glorious continuation. It’s going to be a long haul ahead. It won’t be anything like this world, so it will be quite a wonderful thing.
336 3 Nephi 12:2 “Yea, blessed are they who shall believe in your words, and come down into the depths of humility and be baptized.” This is the way they will accept it, you see. This is not the same life as before when you’ve borne witness like this. Did you actually see that? Did that actually happen? Did the Lord really come down? [They will ask] all these things. That’s it—we’ve seen it. It’s all right if they believe in your words. Then comes the test; they have to humble themselves to believe that because they weren’t there. They have to accept it. They have to “believe in your words, and come down into the depths of humility” and be willing to take a chance on it and be baptized. Then they shall be visited; I’ll take care of that [the Savior says]. Then they shall receive the higher order too. They will recognize their total ignorance, come down in the depths of humility. If they accept your baptism of water, which is my baptism—you are just baptizing for me—then I will confirm it with the other baptism, he says. You are confirmed with the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. I’ll take care of that. So we are all going to be one big happy family; we are all entering in it together. Notice what they must do here.
336 3 Nephi 12:3 Now we come to the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are in Matthew 5. People always say, well, this is general philosophy; this is general rules of behavior; this is wisdom literature. Well, it’s specific instruction which is perfectly clear in Matthew 5. The apostles asked, who are qualified to be members of the church? Who will we accept? Remember, the church and kingdom are something very special. If they are willing to be baptized, that’s a test—if they are humble enough to be baptized and to come down in the depths of humility. So the Beatitudes are not wisdom literature. These are specific requirements to qualify one for membership. Notice, the Beatitudes begin in verse 3: “Yea, blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me.” Who are those who will be accepted? Those “who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
336 3 Nephi 12:3-9 The kingdom of heaven is wherever the commandments of God are being obeyed. They are willing to come into the kingdom, and they will receive the kingdom if they are poor in spirit. If they are humble and come to me, then they will blessed. They will be qualified to enter into this great covenant that we are going to be in here. As I said, this is not just wisdom literature. These things are all qualities which people should possess; nevertheless, it’s very specific here. Verses 3-9 are basic qualifications, you notice—they who mourn and they who are meek, and who hunger and thirst for righteousness. These are rare souls, you see. They shall be filled with the Holy Ghost. And the merciful are qualified. You will be judged as you judge, the Lord tells us. And blessed are they, above all, who are pure in heart. You are not going to see God if you are not. No unclean thing can stand in the presence of God. “And blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
336,337 3 Nephi 12:9-12 “And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Well, God’s [kingdom] is the peaceable kingdom, of course. Notice, these are the qualifications that everyone should have, these Beatitudes in verses 3-9. Then in verse 10-12 [we find] what they can expect in this world. Remember, this is not your final reward here. This is all the testing, he says. “And blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” They will revile you and persecute you and do all manner of evil against you. Well, of course, if you deserve it that’s something else. “... for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.” The apostles are in the same position as the ancient prophets, and so are all the members. That’s what he’s talking about. As I said, they are all on the same level. So verses 10-12 are what they can expect in this world. It won’t be very [pleasant], but they will be blessed and will be able to pull through.
337 3 Nephi 12:13-16 Verses 13-16 are about the taking on of these obligations. If you take these obligations on, you have a responsibility. Now you are “the salt of the earth.” A little salt goes a long way. There are only a few of you, but you go a long way. You are expected to react and to do something. If you are not [doing something], you have lost your savor. There’s no point in giving this to you if you are not going to pass it on, because I’m passing it on to you. We’re passing it around, and there is no point to doing this [if members don’t share with others]. So you have to let your light shine; you have to be a light unto the people.
337 3 Nephi 12:17 These things are all in logical order; you can see that. This is taking on the obligations that go with it. What about the former obligations? What about the law of Moses that the rabbis argue about endlessly? Well, that’s still in effect, he says; that hasn’t been done away with. It still holds. But what do we do? He says [verse 17]: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law of the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfil.” It’s like the Word of Wisdom. Is the Word of Wisdom the law we live by? Do we discuss it endlessly and analyze it? No, we accept it as a matter of course, just like you accept the old law of Moses—the Ten Commandments, [for example]. The Lord says in the first two commandments they are taken care of. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy might, mind, and strength. . .. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (D&C 59:5-6). Well, if you love the Lord thy God with all your might, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself, you are not going to steal and you are not going to lie. You wouldn’t even think of that. You don’t have to be given those commandments every day. When you go out of the house, Mama doesn’t tell you, “Now, don’t kill anyone today; don’t tell any lies today or anything like that.” No, you just don’t think of that. It’s written in your heart; the Prophet Moses said it must be.
337 3 Nephi 12:20 “Therefore come unto me and be ye saved; for verily I say unto you, that except ye shall keep my commandments [you have to keep these commandments], which I have commanded you at this time.” This is bringing them up to date, as it tells us in chapter 23. This is the minimum now. The law of Moses was the minimum before. You kept the Ten Commandments—not to commit adultery, worship idols, and things like that. They aren’t really active laws for us. You keep them—of course, you do. He says, they are not done away with by any means, but they are fulfilled if they are written in your heart. You don’t even need to rehearse them; you’ll never do that kind of thing. But these things carry us further now; these are further obligations. He says, unless you live up to my commandments which I give you at this time, you won’t enter the kingdom of heaven. This is the next step that you’re going to have to take.
337,338 3 Nephi 12:21 Then he goes through the Ten Commandments here and gives them another interpretation. You can see what it is—very obviously fulfilling the law. We have the Ten Commandments on how to treat each other in verses 21 and following. It is written that “thou shalt not kill,” but to despise a man is worse than to be angry with him. To be angry with him is to have murder in your heart. He tells you here not to think of a thing that you wouldn’t do. He talks about adultery. When you look upon a woman and lust after her, you shouldn’t do that because it’s as bad as the deed. The thought is parent to the deed, of course. You wouldn’t even think about a thing you are not going to do. Don’t think about things you’re not prepared to do—you’re wasting your time. Don’t curse or despise one another, because, as the Jews tell us, in another person you are looking upon the image of your Maker. To hold that in contempt is a terrible thing. Remember, the law of Moses is that you shall not beat anyone, no matter what his crime is, more than forty lashes “lest thy brother appear vile before thee.” You must not degrade another human being to the point of being vile before you. He may deserve it, but you cannot degrade the image of God to a vile and contemptible thing. Hold [no one] in contempt; that’s a terrible thing. “Thou shalt not kill” is one thing, but just to be angry with somebody, see in that person a lesser being, and say “raca” which means “curse you” [is to be] in danger of the council. You say he is a fool. To despise a man is worse than to be angry with him. Cool contempt is far more withering than rage. There are enemies who hate each other’s guts, but they respect each other. On the other hand, to hold a person in absolute contempt is worse, and that’s a thing we are guilty of a lot.
338 3 Nephi 12:23-26 : And no matter what, be reconciled to him. God will not receive you if you are indifferent and cool to these things and not willing to go all the way. If you have anything against your brother, be reconciled with your brother no matter what, because you’ve got to get along with him. “Agree with thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him.” Never burn your bridges behind you, because you are going to have to settle these things in the end These are very interesting rules of Jewish law he is talking about here [in verse 26]. You have to pay the judge’s fee or you won’t get out of prison. He’s giving that as an example. [Then we have the verses on adultery mentioned above.] Sin is a state of mind, after all. You may eat or drink something or do something, quite unaware of what you are doing. In another case, you can perform the same act and be very guilty, such as stealing or something like that. You might take something away and have no idea it belongs to somebody else, but if you know it belongs to somebody else, that’s different. It’s your state of mind that makes a sin what it is.
338 3 Nephi 12:25 Incidentally, this about the lawyers and agreeing with [your enemy—verse 25]—any [good] lawyer will tell you that’s right and the best thing. Dallin Oaks used to be in my priesthood quorum; he was in my ward when he was the president here. He used to tell us in the priesthood quorum that any settlement out of court is better than any settlement in court. He said, the worst settlement out of court is better than the best settlement in court. Whatever you do stay out of court! That’s what the Lord is telling you here. When you put things on that basis, you don’t do that [go to court].
338 3 Nephi 12: 27-29 Then he talks about the lusts of the flesh. You have to deny yourselves these things. To refrain from doing them you refrain from even thinking about them. To refrain from these vices does take restraint. This really happens. When you yield to them, you are cast into hell because they are so futile here. It’s so pitiful—to be carnally minded is death, you’re not going anywhere, you’re sick, etc. Denying yourself is real here. Every moment we make choices to the exclusion of other things; you have to do that. Is it wrong to deprive yourself? Today we say, “Oh, never deprive yourself of anything.” Well, that’s absurd; you have to deprive yourself of everything except what you are doing this very moment. We make choices to the exclusion of all those nice other things we could be doing.
338,339 That means hell hereafter. Hell is knowing what you are missing; look at all the things you missed because of that. These great joys could have been, and [you have] missed out on all of this, which is really hell. It wouldn’t be hell unless you could see a happier state, unless you knew that you were qualified for much better things than that, and here you have stuck yourself into this. But here you must deny yourself all sorts of things. Admittedly, these things are a temptation. There is legitimate pleasure to be found in some things. But do you engage in them without license? All appetites, desires, and passions must be kept within the bounds the Lord has set. We have appetites, desires, and passions. We wouldn’t enjoy eating if we didn’t. If we didn’t enjoy eating, we would starve to death. We don’t eat because we will die if we don’t; we don’t drink because we will die of dehydration if we don’t drink; we don’t go to sleep because we would drop dead if we didn’t get some sleep. It’s because we like to do those things. Nature has us enjoy it while we are here. There are things you can enjoy, and things you don’t have to enjoy.
339 3 Nephi 12:31-33 Here it is talking about these things—easy divorce and easy virtue that can’t be engaged in, impatience of restraint by covenant and promise. We make covenants and promises and from then on they restrain us. You have to remain within the laws of chastity; you are bound by them. You may resent other people having gone into [evil temptations]. One of the main reasons for finding fault with the Church and trying to turn it to derision is that people are not free to indulge their lusts while they are in it because they have made covenants. Lots of people have given it up because of that. It would be easier to misbehave if they didn’t feel these obligations. But [there’s this feeling] I want it here and I want it now, no matter what went before and no matter what comes after. The moment is everything. That’s what verses 31-33 are talking about.
339,340 3 Nephi 12:33 “And again it is written, thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.” This next verse is about perjury. Unsteady and uncertain creatures that we are, we should not make definitive commitments and promises and threats because we can’t keep them. Time and again in the Book of Mormon they swear solemn oaths that they will do something. You can’t add a cubit to your stature, he says, so don’t swear by things that you can’t carry out. What can you carry out? Very little, even things that you think would be very easy to carry out. If you say, I’ll never do this again, or I’ll do this at a certain time, you don’t know what the conditions will be. It will be totally beyond your control at a later time, so never make oaths and commitments of that sort. Notice, he says, you don’t swear by the heaven or the earth. How can you? You can’t make an engagement that you can’t keep.
340 3 Nephi 12:37 The next thing is how to avoid contention with all this going on. You just bear your testimony and respect the testimony of others. That’s all you can do; you can’t twist a person’s arm. I can’t have a testimony for you. I had a dream about you; therefore, you [should do this]. No, you don’t do that. Verse 37: “But let your communication be Yea, yea; Nay, nay [you make your statement and that’s it, yes or no] for whatsoever cometh of more than these is evil.” Then you are getting into your fine print, into your legalistic arguments, and all sorts of things. I can only testify for myself, and you can only testify for yourself, he says. Let there be no contention—testimony alone. We are not supposed to have a disputation. The first commandment he gave them was that there should be no more disputations [3 Nephi 11:28]. He was talking about the Father and the Son being one, etc. He said, no, you won’t argue about that anymore. There have been contentions all the time. My first commandment is that there shall be no more contention. All contention is of the devil; it is not of me [the Savior said]. I can bear my testimony, but I can’t force it on you. You can bear yours, but you can’t force it on me. That’s as far as we can go. If the Holy Ghost is going to bear witness to you, that will happen. But I can’t force the Holy Ghost to do it. Anything more than that is evil.
340 3 Nephi 12:38 “And behold, it is written, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” Our entire obsession today is with revenge; this is the theme. Revenge is the name of the game today; it’s the great human interest in all our crime shows. That’s why we have to have happy endings all the time, because they amount to revenge, which is our obsession. “But I say unto you, that ye shall not resist evil.” What can you do in that case? You turn the other cheek also. Well, that’s absurd. Are you crazy? This isn’t the real world [we might say].
340 Well, what do you do? How do you resist evil? By doing good; that’s the only thing. You can’t fight it if a person is going to be that way. You can’t control the other person’s conscience; you can’t make him righteous by shooting him. It’s possible that he might repent. Time and again there are many stories about the angels wanting to come down and reap, or the story of Capernaum with the Lord talking to the apostles. Why doesn’t God smite these people with lightning seeing how terribly wicked they are? Why does he allow this to go on? [they ask]. He says, because they might repent sometime. That’s what we’re here for—their probation as well as your probation. You have chances to repent too, and they might repent. This has happened; we’ve seen this happen here with the Lamanites. And these vicious Gadiantons become not only good citizens but excellent missionaries. We get wonderful people who were very bad before, and the other way around. As [Ezekiel 33:18-19] tells us, though a person has done righteously all his life, as long as he is on earth he may completely turn the tables. When he turns to wickedness, all his former righteousness will be forgotten. And if a person has done evil all his life, if he should repent and turn away from that, all his former evil will be forgotten. It’s the life he is living now that counts here. As long as you are here you can still repent, so don’t take it upon yourself to punish the wicked. This is a great lesson in the Book of Mormon from now on. After the Nephites fall, the whole theme is revenge, and we find a great deal said about that. “But, behold, the judgments of God will overtake the wicked,” Mormon says, “and it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished” (Mormon 4:5). Don’t worry about the justice of God. He will overtake the wicked, but if you try to punish them you are wicked too. So we say, yea, yea, and nay, nay. We don’t argue about things, and we don’t resist evil—you turn the other cheek. Of course, this we all know from the Bible. You cannot eliminate it. What do you do? Well, you do good. That alone will defuse it if you do that.
341 3 Nephi 12:40 This is where Brother Oaks used to make it strong. Verse 40: “And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.” But whatever you do, don’t go to court. If he wants you to go a mile, go two miles with him. “Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn thou not away.” This is an important thing too; lend without interest.
341 3 Nephi 12:43,44 “And behold it is written also, that thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy [it says it was written, and that was the code]; But behold I say unto you, love your enemies.” As Brother Kimball said, they will cease being your enemies in that case; that’s the only way they will ever cease being your enemies. Unless you kill them—there’s the answer, of course. As we learn a little later on, “God will not that man should shed blood, but in all things hath forbidden it since the beginning of man” (Ether 8:19). That’s not the solution. What you do is “pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you.”
341,342 How do you confront evil? By doing good. If your enemy knows you are praying for him, this is something your enemy can’t prevent you from doing, no matter how strong he is. He can’t prevent you from exercising this powerful prerogative of prayer on his behalf, if necessary. You have him in your power, so to speak. You have an influence on him. If you pray for them who despitefully use you, you have the ascendant position. You are in the dominant position if you can pray for them, knowing that the Lord will answer your prayers. This is the only way you can be the children of your Father who is in heaven. No children of God will hate God’s other children, no matter who they are, because God puts up with them too. There are some very wicked ones, and God loves all his children equally. In some who do his will he delights. But why would he feel so sorry and mourn and be wrathful against those who are wicked? Because he loves them. If he didn’t care [he wouldn’t do that.
342 Our Father cares immensely for us, far more than we care about ourselves. So when we do evil he goes through all this trouble, etc. He seethes with emotions on our part. Remember he weeps in the book Enoch. God has created worlds without number; how can he weep? Enoch said he weeps and will not be comforted. The Lord said, “Wherefore, I can stretch forth mine hands and hold all the creations which I have made . . . and among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren” (Moses 7:36). Yet these were to be kept in prison until the Day of Judgment; then they are to be rehabilitated, we are told. They were to have the gospel preached to them in prison. They were those who were disobedient at the time of Noah, as Peter tells us. And these were the ones that Enoch preached to, warning of the flood. He was the great preacher before the flood. When they were disobedient they were kept in prison, and these were the ones that the Lord himself went down and preached to— the spirits in prison. He put himself out in their behalf, and they were the lowest and the wickedest of all. Of all the worlds he created, they were the worst, and yet he went down to save them. It’s a marvelous thing; it [the atonement] covers everything.
342 3 Nephi 12:45,46 “That ye may be the children o