What would you do if you knew your were going to die? What are the final words you would say to your children and grandchildren? When Lehi knew that his death was immanent, he called his family to his bedside. He took this precious time to bear his testimony of the Savior, of God's Plan of Happiness, and to bless his children and grandchildren.
As he concluded his testimony, he pleaded with his rebellious sons to open their eyes and their ears and their hearts and really hear his words. Said he:
O that you would awake; awake from a deep sleep, year, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe; Awake! and arise from the dust, and hear the word of a trembling parent whose limbs ye must soon lay down in the cold and silent grave, from whence no traveler an return. A few more days and I go the way of all the earth. (2 Nephi 1: 13-14)
Lehi reminded them of the promise God had given them as part of an eternal covenant. This was a land choice above all other lands, and if they would keep their side of the promise - to worship the God of this land who is Jesus Christ - they would be blessed with liberty and happiness. If they turned away from Him who saved them, they would have no promise and would be left to suffer the consequence of their own immorality.
Father Lehi then taught them again the plan of Salvation. I have noticed that when a prophet in the Book of Mormon teaches, he teaches all aspects of the plan - the Fall, the Atonement, an the Resurrection - what Bruce R. McConkie called the Three Gardens.
The story begins in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were given two priceless and eternal gifts: their physical bodies and a physical world in which to live them, and their agency to choose. He set choices for them and then said, Nevertheless, ye are free to choose for yourselves.
He gave them two commandments, the fulfilling of one would necessitate their transgressing the other. Why would He put them in such a Catch 22 position? Because mortality is difficult. They had to make a conscious choice to enter it, hence agency.
We have the same blessings. When we enter this world, we are given a physical body and our freedom to choose. Thomas Jefferson said it well when he said that men are given inalienable rights by God and among those rights was life and liberty - agency. If we use our agency wisely, we can search for and likely achieve happiness. If we use it foolishly, we may seek happiness, but we will never fully attain it. Until we understand the Fall and its purpose, we can never understand our need for a Savior.
The next thing Lehi taught was the Garden of Gethsemane and the atonement. Because we would be free to choose, we would, by our fallen nature, sometimes choose poorly. When that happened, we would be cut off from God - a Spiritual Death. We could not atone for our sins by ourselves. Only one who was without sin could do that.
Heavenly Father chose His firstborn in the Spirit to become the Redeemer of fallen men an women. He rejected the second son for his pride and desire for power and had him cast out of Heaven and into the earth. In that position, Lucifer became called Satan for the word satan in Hebrew means adversary.
The word, atonement, can be understood by pronouncing it at-onement. When we sin, we are separated from our Heavenly Father. Through the atonement, we can be saved through obedience two the laws and ordinances of the gospel. This infers faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.
The final garden is the Garden of the Empty Tomb. Whereas freedom from the bonds of the second death is conditional upon our repentance, freedom from the bonds of physical death is a free gift to all who have ever lived. Salvation is free: Exaltation is not.
Lehi recognized that his two youngest sons who were born in the wilderness and their elder brothers, Nephi and Sam, were using their agency to choose Christ. His two eldest sons, Laman and Lemuel, were not. He feared for the state of those men. Spiritually, they were blind and deaf - asleep to anything spiritual. Lehi wanted them to stop wallowing in the dirt and stand like men and follow their Savior, Jesus Christ.
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I have experienced those feelings of frustration and sorrow over a child who is using his or her agency foolishly and heedlessly. I, too, have borne my testimony to my family and dear friends. I have taught the Fall, Atonement, an Resurrection. I have spoken of Christ and written of Christ. I have prayed for them. What I have not done is to attempt to manipulate or coerce them in any way. I respect their agency. I teach and testify and, hopefully, exemplify our Savior, Jesus Christ. But I do not force, nor do I reject them or withdraw my love. Lehi never rejected Laman and Lemuel. He prayed, taught, and testified, but he never forced.
What an example he was.
©February 2020, Dr. Kathleen Rawlings
Buntin Danielson
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