1:2,4
How important are the things that were written in the Book of Mormon? Are these monthly musings by the writers? No. It sounds like they wrote just the most precious principles and events. Those stories and lessons that would benefit US the most. "And he gave me, Jacob, a commandment that I should write upon these plates a few of the things which I considered to be most precious."
Not the precious, but the MOST precious. "And if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates, and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of our people." So, only the "heads" of the sacred preaching, great revelation or prophesying should be written.
This helps me understand the significance of what I'm reading. I'm only seeing the most essential of the most important, sacred writing of prophets over the course of a thousand years. It motivates me to really dig in and try to understand the entire meaning of each sentence. Nothing that wasn't of supreme importance was included.
Also, considering the difficulty in writing on metal plates, they didn't write anything that wasn't absolutely necessary for us.
1:5, 7, 8
"For because of faith and great anxiety, it truly had been made manifest unto us concerning our people, what things should happen unto them." I think "anxiety" had a different meaning for Jacob than it does for us today. Now, we focus on the psychiatric meaning/diagnosis. For Jacob, I think he meant something along the lines of "eagerness."
He felt the urgency to be diligent. He felt soberness about his responsibilities. He felt real empathy about his people. He knew what was going to happen to them and felt a righteous pressure to do what he could. He understood the seriousness of the situation. I think if we all had such great faith - coupled with a sense of urgency about doing what we could to persuade others to come unto Christ, there would be a lot more of Israel already gathered.
"Wherefore we labored diligently among our people, that we might persuade them to come unto Christ, and partake of the goodness of God, that they might enter into his rest..." His faith and anxiety led to diligent labor. Action follows sincere faith and eagerness. Feeling eager and staying aren’t usually paired.
Many learn the truthfulness of the gospel and then allow themselves to be deceived. This is happening all around us. Those whose testimonies aren’t sincerely fought-for and then consistently maintained can be deceived by a well-articulated argument or embarrassing event in church history.
Being deceived is not the same as open rebellion. “Wherefore, we would to God that we could persuade all men not to rebel against God…” There is nothing worse than open rebellion. To rebel is to know the truth and disregard it anyway. This is a bad path to be on! Mortal rebellion is a step towards eternal rebellion.
To “eternally rebel” is to have the veil lifted and continue to rebel. Think about it, if we KNOW truth in this life and rebel - how easy is it to KNOW EVERYTHING and rebel. Rebellion against what we know to be true is bad. I believe that to rebel after the veil is lifted is what “denying the Holy Ghost” is. The reason why it is unforgivable is it doesn’t matter whether someone is forgiven or not, they will still choose to rebel. Christ’s infinite atonement can’t reach them because THEY DON’T WANT IT TO.
1:15
“And now it came to pass that the people of Nephi, under the reign of the second king, began to grow hard in their hearts, and indulge themselves somewhat in wicked practices, such as like unto David of old desiring many wives and concubines, and also Solomon, his son.” If we allow our hearts to “harden” and become less open to promptings from the Light of Christ or the Spirit, we will begin to give in to the natural desires that we have. The urges that each of us have can quickly take over if we harden our hearts to the Spirit. We “indulge ourselves.”
1:16; 2:13
Pride is one of those feelings that can be indulged in. It is a natural urge. “Yea, and they also began to search much gold and silver, and began to be lifted up somewhat in pride.” If we lose our spiritual eyes, we see only the worldly. If we mostly see the world, we lose sight of what is important. We lose our perspective. Gold and silver can become our objective rather than heavenly rewards.
The thing that makes gold and silver valuable is their exclusivity. Some people have more and some have less. Those who have more can easily feel pride. They can feel better than those who have less. Pride is always connected to comparison. “And the hand of providence hath smiled upon you most pleasingly, that you have obtained many riches; and because some of you have obtained more abundantly than that of your brethren ye are lifted up in the pride of your hearts, and wear stiff necks and high heads because of the costliness of your apparel, and persecute your brethren because ye suppose that ye are better than they.” The proud get no pleasure in having something - only having more.
Do we do this? You betcha.
1:19; 2:2-3, 5
Jacob writes that they acted in three ways to ensure that they were doing everything they could for the people:
“And we did magnify our office unto the Lord…”
“…taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence.
“Wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments.”
Jacob and Joseph understood their callings as “consecrated priests and teachers.” They didn’t shrink from their callings. They didn’t make their callings small and inconsequential. Instead, they magnified their calling. They felt the weight of responsibility of ensuring that all people were taught. They didn’t want anyone to be able to claim ignorance of the commandments. They labored with their might.
What’s your calling? What’s your responsibility? Are you laboring with your might? I certainly can’t claim perfection at this. I can say that our current calling as Sunday School teachers for the 15-18 year olds is a responsibility we take seriously. We prayerfully begin preparing a week ahead so we have time for promptings to come throughout that week. We consider this specific group of young men and women as we prepare. We ask the Spirit to guide us in what we should do, ask, say during class. We consider different teaching methods that will get the most participation and invite the Spirit. Right now, we are magnifying our calling. I haven’t always done this and I can say it feels very good to do it.
Jacob continues in the next chapter. He says that he did “magnify mine office with soberness.” He took his calling very seriously. “I have hitherto been diligent in the office of my calling.” He was diligently working to prevent what was happening. I felt that way a lot on my first mission. I would be teaching someone and putting a lot of effort into it and they would choose not to progress towards baptism. It was frustrating but I had comfort in knowing that I was doing all that I could.
In this case, the people were choosing to ignore what Jacob and Joseph were teaching. “I can tell you concerning your thoughts, how that ye are beginning to labor in sin.” It’s an interesting phrase to “labor in sin.” Sometimes, sinning takes a lot of effort. Consider the work needed to:
Become the most wealthy person in the neighborhood.
Have an affair.
Embezzle from your employer.
Be a burglar.
Keep track of the lies you’ve told.
It takes a lot of time and effort to maintain a sinful life. Many are “laboring in sin.”
2:7, 9-11
“And also it grieveth me that I must use so much boldness of speech concerning you, before your wives and your children, many of whose feelings are exceedingly tender and chaste and delicate before God, which thing is pleasing unto God.” Women and children are more naturally tender, chaste and delicate. This is a good thing. If everyone were hardened and tough, who would do the nurturing. We should be grateful that there are people in our lives whose feelings are this way. Jacob was grieved by how he had to speak to them. He felt empathy.
His empathetic words continued. “Wherefore, it burdeneth my soul that I should be constrained, because of the strict commandment which I have received from God, to admonish you according to your crimes, to enlarge the wounds of those who are already wounded, instead of consoling and healing their wounds; and those who have not been wounded, instead of feasting upon the pleasing word of God have daggers placed to pierce their souls and wound their delicate minds.” The women and children had already been wounded by their husbands and fathers. Jacob was sensitive to the fact that his admonishment would reopen old wounds.
It’s possible that there were many who were living in ignorant bliss of the wickedness surrounding them. I believe Jacob was thinking about them when he felt burdened that he must “pierce their souls and wound their delicate minds.”
Why did he do it then? “But, notwithstanding the greatness of the task, I must do according to the strict commands of God, and tell you concerning your wickedness and abominations, in the presence of the pure in heart, and the broken heart, and under the glance of the piercing eye of the Almighty God.” Not all commandments from God are rosy and universally pleasant. Often, church leaders have the say the hard thing.
“Wherefore, I must tell you the truth according to the plainness of the word of God.” The key word there is “truth.” Sometimes, we must tell the truth and let the cards fall where they may. We may offend many around us. We may become unpopular. Others might become angry or even violent. We must be brave and obedient when asked to speak the truth. Certainly, Jacob’s speech at the temple didn’t make him popular.
He is an example of how we should embrace the people in our lives while being willing to speak the truth. We should not give the impression that we support the sin. We love others unconditionally. We can, just like Jacob, condemn the sin using “the plainness of the word of God.”
2:16
“O that he would rid you from this iniquity and abomination. And, O that ye would listen unto the word of his commands, and let not this pride of your hearts destroy your souls!” That’s a pretty strong condemnation of pride. If we allow pride to enter in to our hearts, certainly, our souls are affected. Not just affected, but destroyed! Consider how pride affected the trajectory of Satan! His fall came as a result of wanting God’s glory. His downfall came from thinking that his plan was better than Heavenly Father’s!
I could spend days writing about the dangers of pride. I’ll just say that we should all be wary of this. Pride is not just about riches. We can be proud of anything. What are you proud of?
2:17-19
What are riches for? Are they to make our lives more comfortable? Are they to allow us to live in luxury? Are we blessed with riches so we may have several houses and the most expensive cars? I don’t think luxury is the purpose of riches. Neither did Jacob. “Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.” We shouldn’t view ourselves as the “owners” of wealth. It would be healthier to see ourselves instead as “stewards” of our wealth. If we have wealth, we should see clearly that this wealth is our temporarily. We should use our wealth for good.
Jacob wants us to keep our priorities in correct order. “But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.” Wealth helps us live a life of freedom. I’m currently writing this on a plane ride to San Diego. We’re headed there to spend some time with our good friends. We see this freedom as a blessing. However, wealth should not be confused for the purpose of life. Satan definitely wants us all to think that. The world is set up this way. It appears that we can buy ANYTHING in this world with money. That may be true. But, ALL that this world has to offer is temporary. We shouldn’t seek after the temporary - we should seek after the ETERNAL!
“And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them.” This is an interesting statement. Why is that? Surely this isn’t a 100% guarantee - but I can see a connection between being positive and optimistic and making more money than most. If we are cynical and negative, surely we may not make as much as we would otherwise. If we are confident in our futures, we will feel less anxiety and won’t miss opportunities. As we become more Christlike, we will be more outward facing rather than focused on ourselves. We will see more chances to bless other people. As we do, our ability to be valuable to others will increase. Surely, riches follow this behavior.
“…and ye will seek them for the intent to do good…” Here, Jacob gives us a list of what we can do with our stewardship over money:
“Clothe the naked.”
“Feed the hungry.”
“Liberate the captive.”
“Administer to the sick and the afflicted.”
Those who have extra money, how much of it is spent doing these four things? If the answer is “not much,” we should possibly reconsider our stewardship over money.
2:21
Jacob talks to those who “have afflicted your neighbor, and persecuted him because ye were proud in your hearts…” What does it look like to afflict and persecute your neighbor? Certainly, most of us are not actively causing affliction and persecuting our neighbors. If we are doing something like this, it’s likely subdued. So, what is the Utah LDS version of afflicting and persecuting our neighbor out of pride. It could be:
Judging those who are not wealthy as being lazy.
Discounting their opinions as less than.
Not including someone because of their status.
Gossiping about a family who is struggling financially.
Simply looking down on those who are poor.
“Do ye not suppose that such things are abominable unto him who created all flesh? And the one being is as precious in his sight as the other. And all flesh is of the dust; and for the selfsame end hath he created them, that they should keep his commandments and glorify him forever.” The problem isn’t necessarily the affliction and persecution we’re causing in others - the problem is more the pride side for us. Our pride does much more spiritual damage to our souls than the temporal affliction we may be inflicting on someone else. Jacob covers both cases:
The one being is as precious in his sight as the other.
All flesh is of the dust.
On one hand, we are all precious. This is a good message for those who think that others may be less valuable than themselves because they are poor. On the other hand, all flesh is of the dust. This is also a good message for the prideful to remind them that we are all nothing compared to the glory of God. None of us should think we are uniquely amazing. The best among us are still unprofitable servants.
Finally, Jacob reinforces EVERYONE’S purpose in life is simply to “keep his commandments and glorify him forever.” That’s the primary purpose of our existence. It is not to earn riches. Someone who is rich, who is disobedient, is poor indeed with what matters.
2:23
The Nephites were attempting to “excuse themselves in committing whoredoms.” How were they attempting this? They were saying it was okay “because of the things which were written concerning David, and Solomon his son.” They had taken multiple wives. Solomon had many concubines. Jacob is sure to explain that this “thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord.” But, because David and Solomon did it, it must be okay. They were justifying their current decisions based on the examples of previous prophets.
How do we justify “whoredoms” today? I think we disregard chastity for many reasons. Some of which are:
Everybody has sex early and often.
People should try sex before they marry someone.
It’s natural and nothing to be ashamed of.
We have been shamed by our old-fashioned church leaders.
2:28
“For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.” Why would the Lord “delight” in the chastity of women (and men)? Chaste people:
Are protected from unwanted pregnancy.
Avoid sexually transmitted diseases.
Prevent extra marital affairs.
Build relationships based on conversation, time together, serving each other, activities that are more than just sex. Relationships built on lust will eventually lose that “spark.” When their attractiveness slips away over time - they may “fall out of love” with each other.
Focus more effort on career, developing skills, hobbies, etc.
This list could be very long if I thought about it enough. Chastity is a shield against a thousand different pitfalls that snare many men and women.
2:31-35
“For behold, I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people in the land of Jerusalem, yea, and in all the lands of my people, because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands.” How many hearts of wives and daughters have been broken because of their husbands? How many wives have felt betrayed and daughters abandoned? I see more homes broken by the actions of the man rather than the woman.
Women are more tender and trusting. “For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness…”
“And now behold, my brethren, ye know that these commandments were given to our father, Lehi; wherefore, ye have known them before; and ye have come unto great condemnation; for ye have done these things which ye ought not to have done.” When we know right and wrong and choose the wrong, that is when the consequences are greater. Not that God is grabbing a bigger stick to punish us with. It’s more about the shaping of our character that happens when we knowingly sin. If we knowingly sin now, we will knowingly sin then. If we know then we know - sinning against knowledge isn’t different here compared to the spirit world or heaven. Location doesn’t affect our character! There are always consequences when knowingly sinning.
Not the least of these consequences is how it affects our loved ones. “Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them.” Is there a worse thing than to break the hearts of your wife and lose the confidence of your children? There isn’t much worse that we can do as husbands and fathers. There is a long list of sins and broken commandments that will do less damage to our souls and our families.
I’m reminded of a quote about how “no amount of success will compensate for failure in the home.” If we can, as men, protect the hearts of our wives and maintain the respect of our children, we can feel confident and satisfied in how we’ve lived. It may be we are pitiful failures in our careers and can’t complete a single push-up - those things are meaningless in the eternal scope of things.
3:2
“O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever.” This is interesting. The pure in heart should:
Lift up their heads.
Receive the pleasing word of God.
Feast upon his love.
What affects our ability to do this? Jacob says, “…ye may, if your minds are firm, forever.” What does it mean to have a firm mind? Why does a firm mind affect our ability to receive the pleasing word of God and feast upon his love?
I think Jacob is talking about determination, diligence, self-control, and focus. It requires these attributes to be obedient and faithful. It requires determination to do the small things on a regular basis that bring us closer to Christ. It requires diligence to refuse to participate in the many natural temptations that surround us. If we are walking down the center of the covenant path, the word of God is pleasing to hear. We feel squarely in the center of God’s love. We know that, not only does God loves us, but he loves the choices we are making. To feel God’s love in this way truly is a feast. If we are simply aware of how God unconditionally loves us but doesn’t love what we are doing, this is nibbling on the edges of God’s love - not feasting.
We are loved unconditionally regardless of our choices. However, if our minds aren’t firm and we’re making bad choices, we feel his love but that feeling is mixed with our disappointment in ourselves. When we hear the word of God, it’s possible that His words poke at our guilt. His pleasing words become uncomfortable. When we are righteous, we love every single word - there is no discomfort mixed in.
3:5, 7, 9-10
“Behold, the Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which hath come upon their skins, are more righteous than you; for they have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our father—that they should have save it were one wife, and concubines they should have none, and there should not be whoredoms committed among them.” The Nephites are hating the Lamanites because they are different. It's not because the Lamanites were wicked, it was just simply that they were different. The Nephites were not seeing them as children of God. They were categorizing them and putting them in a box based on how they were perceived. We should consider how we do this today.
"Behold, their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children; and their unbelief and their hatred towards you is because of the iniquity of their fathers; wherefore, how much better are you than they, in the sight of your great Creator?" We should not judge...ever. We never know the whole story of the person we're tempted to judge. Even a wicked man who does wicked things may have been brought up to do exactly that. Their wickedness didn't originate with them. When we knowingly sin, our wickedness DOES originate with us. That choice is a crossroads of accountability. We will be held accountable for knowingly making wrong choices. Those who make bad choices because of their fathers' instruction will not be held as accountable.
"Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye revile no more against them because of the darkness of their skins; neither shall ye revile against them because of their filthiness; but ye shall remember your own filthiness, and remember that their filthiness came because of their fathers." The empowering principle here is to focus on ourselves and our own weaknesses. We cannot control the righteousness of others but we can with ourselves. Unfortunately, many of us spend more time pondering the weaknesses of others and ignore our own sinfulness. We should not do that - especially when a sinful person is that way because of their fathers.
Jacob wants the Nephites to remember this when considering their own choices. "Wherefore, ye shall remember your children, how that ye have grieved their hearts because of the example that ye have set before them; and also, remember that ye may, because of your filthiness, bring your children unto destruction, and their sins be heaped upon your heads at the last day." Nephi doesn't want to see the Nephite children be in the same predicament as the Lamanite children. If they continue in "filthiness," their children will be filthy and that filthiness will lead to their destruction in mortality. The blame will be on the heads of those who are knowingly sinning.
3:11
"O my brethren, hearken unto my words; arouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may awake from the slumber of death." That is an interesting phrase. Consider how your soul has faculties. A "faculty" is an "inherent mental or physical power." Our souls have inherent powers. What powers are those? Are they different than our mortal powers of mental and physical strength?
I think they are. I think our souls have senses that are beyond the five physical senses. Our souls can:
Recognize truth when we hear it.
Know if something is right or wrong.
Sense a familiarity with elements of the plan of salvation.
Feel a literal connection with Christ.
Desire light over dark.
I think our mortal bodies can lull our souls to sleep. I believe that is why Jaco is saying that we should shake ourselves and awake from the slumber of death. When the physical overwhelms the spiritual, we are essentially asleep to the spiritual lives that can be ours.
4:3
"Now in this thing we do rejoice; and we labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents." As a parent, I can empathize completely. The humanity of Jacob is definitely shining through here!
4:5
"Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name. And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him; and for this cause it is sanctified unto us for righteousness, even as it was accounted unto Abraham in the wilderness to be obedient unto the commands of God in offering up his son Isaac, which is a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son." They knew that the law of Moses was the lesser law. They knew that it simply pointed their souls to God. You could say that, since they were so aware of Jesus Christ, that they could just skip to the higher law and live the gospel of Jesus Christ rather than the law of Moses.
But, Jacob knew that living according to the law of Moses had a sanctifying effect. You could say that Abraham offering his son to God was a futile and unnecessary act. But, the act of obedience is what sanctified Abraham.
We could argue that NOT drinking wine is an unnecessary rule because, clearly, Christ himself drank. What's the use of avoiding wine? Being obedient to this principle of the restored gospel has a santicifying effect. It is not for us to debate the usefulness of the rule. It is simply for us to submit and obey.
4:6
"Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea." Their ability to...
Receive revelations.
Have the spirit of prophecy.
Develop unshakable faith.
Command the trees, mountains or waves of the sea.
...relies on their "searching the prophets." In other words, their scripture reading is what leads to all these other amazing and miraculous things. Our testimonies and faith and strength all come from what we learn from studying the scriptures. In fact, the very act of searching demonstrates our sincerity towards growing closer to Christ.
4:7
Why aren't we all talented, good looking, athletic, healthy, charismatic and rich? It would be very hard to be meek and humble. It would be much harder to recognize that we are dependent on God. We would more easily believe that we are the source of goodness in our lives. "Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things." By giving us weaknesses, we are reminded about our reliance on Him.
Some weaknesses are sinful. I believe that these weaknesses are also an important part of the mortal experience. Good can result from struggling with a natural-man weakness. If we realize that we are hopeless without Jesus Christ and we grow to be reliant on Him, that attribute will bless us in this life and throughout eternity. In this way, this weakness helps build our faith. We realize on a deeper level that our salvation is based on grace - not our ability to overcome all natural weaknesses.
Of course, we are meant to strive to overcome our weaknesses. That is our journey and an essential aspect of enduring to the end.
4:8, 10
"Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God." There are many who have recently left the church that attempt to rationalize their decisions by pointing out how the current and past leaders of the church do not correctly represent God. It looks like they are speaking for God. They'll even start a sentence with, "God would never..." Ridiculous.
They attempt to discern the will of God. They use their intelligence to criticize the church. We must all understand that we cannot understand the "depths and mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways." We are a lower life form. A fish can never understand the logic and planning and thinking of a human. Concerning our relationship to God, we are the fish.
"Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works." We certainly shouldn't think that we can counsel God. That's not how this works. Fish don't counsel humans!
4:11-12
"Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled unto him through the atonement of Christ, his Only Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a resurrection, according to the power of the resurrection which is in Christ, and be presented as the first-fruits of Christ unto God, having faith, and obtained a good hope of glory in him before he manifesteth himself in the flesh." I love that Jacob is teaching fully the gospel of Jesus Christ around 500 years before Christ was born.
In this one sentence, Jacob is saying that we can only be reconciled through the atonement of Christ. He is also teaching about the resurrection. He is teaching that our hope comes through faith in Christ.
This was likely astonishing to these people who had been following the law of Moses. "And now, beloved, marvel not that I tell you these things; for why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection and the world to come?" Even though it was 500 years before Christ's birth, these people needed to "attain a perfect knowledge of him." They needed to understand his role in their eternal life. They needed to have the perspective of what this life is in relation to eternity and how reliant they were on Jesus Christ in every step.
4:14-15
Of course the coming of Christ was taught in every age to the Jews. "But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble." The Jews wanted laws. They wanted to achieve their perfection through strict adherence to the law of Moses. Perhaps they didn't want to rely on some future person.
How do we look beyond the mark? Perhaps we speculate about the future too much - especially as it relates to the second coming. Perhaps we read into too much about what the prophets say - distorting their actual words. Perhaps we're looking for hidden messages or signals that aren't there in their messages. Perhaps some of us entertain conspiracy theories about the church. We should assume that plainness will be the rule from our leaders. We should listen carefully to what they say and act on it and not take anything beyond what they actually say. That is the safe road. The gospel is not meant to be complicated. We are not asked to be spiritual geniuses. The purpose of life isn't to figure out the purpose of life. Our purpose is simply to submit to God's will and love our fellow man. Let's not look beyond the mark.
"And now I, Jacob, am led on by the Spirit unto prophesying; for I perceive by the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that by the stumbling of the Jews they will reject the stone upon which they might build and have safe foundation." Because the Jews stumbled, they rejected Jesus - the very person on which they could build a safe foundation. If any of us get distracted or disillusioned by any factor inside or outside of the church that moves our foundation off of Jesus Christ, we are lost just as the Jews were. The foundation of our testimony must ALWAYS be built on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ. We cannot allow our minds to drift towards any position or gospel tangent that pulls us away.
4:18
None of us should assume that we are completely safe. Until judgment day, our guard should be continually up. No one is strong enough to ignore our weaknesses. Jacob was a good example of this. "Behold, my beloved brethren, I will unfold this mystery unto you; if I do not, by any means, get shaken from my firmness in the Spirit, and stumble because of my over anxiety for you." Even Jacob, a great prophet was concerned that he may stumble. He was afraid that his anxiety may shake him. His concern over his people may damage his "firmness in the Spirit." We should all consider our natural weaknesses, which we all have, and be mindful of them and take action to strengthen those areas. None of us should believe that ALL is well even if we are walking squarely on the covenant path. We all have weaknesses and it doesn't do any good to simply ignore them. As we are mindful of them, we are in a position to build in those areas and further protect ourselves from the ever present buffetings of Satan.
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