Part 16

Now, it is perfectly plain that the great mission of Jesus was not entirely finished during His sojourn upon the earth. That for which He came was accomplished, it is true. But just as we needed a Savior--one who would unselfishly lay down His own sinless life for the sins of others--so we need even now, when that sacrifice has been made, a mediator, an advocate, to intercede for us with the Father. For we are all sinful at the best; weaknesses of various kinds beset us, and if we were to be rewarded strictly according to our merits, many of us would get but little in the way of blessing. Jesus continues then to be our Redeemer, pleading our cause before the Father. "Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." So did Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, express to the Hebrews his faith in the mediating power of Jesus; and to the Romans he wrote, "Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is {304} risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Jesus continues, then, His great redeeming labor, bringing salvation and exaltation to those who accept Him and diligently seek Him.

[Sidenote: Many mansions in the Father's house.]

And He prepares a place also for His own, that they may be appropriately received when they shall go to their eternal reward. One day when Jesus was talking to the apostles about His coming sacrifice, and the apostles were sorrowful because they thought that He intended to go away, He said to them, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself: that where I am, there ye may be also." Even as He promised His disciples that He would prepare a place for them, so is there a place prepared for each one of us. For in many respects the future life will be ordered like the present. In this life we are generally able to achieve such advancement as we work for. If we honestly and conscientiously make the most of the opportunities that lie about us; if we strive to make the most of what we have, never hiding the God-given talent in the earth--we are bound to progress and to succeed. But there are in the world many degrees of diligence, and therefore many degrees of success. So will it be in the kingdom of God. There, there are many mansions; and such a one will be prepared for us as will satisfy fully the degree of diligence with {305} which we have served. The risen Christ is not only our advocate with the Father, but also our judge.

[Sidenote: Lord of lords and Kings of kings.]

To this judge all power is given. So declared Jesus Himself when He appeared after His resurrection to the apostles and the five hundred brethren who had assembled on a mountain in Galilee. "Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." Moreover, Jesus, to whom all power is given, is the sole mediator between man and God. Said Paul to Timothy, his own son in faith, "There is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all." And in this exalted position as Lord of lords, and King of kings, Jesus shall reign forever. "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever."

[Sidenote: Jesus to come again.]

You see, then, what a wonderful hope is prepared for those who serve Jesus. This earth is to come to an end. It is to be purified and sanctified; then there will appear a new earth as an abode for the blessed. But before that time shall come Jesus, Himself, is to come again to minister to His people upon the earth. When the apostles stood gazing up into heaven, whither Jesus had ascended, there appeared before them suddenly two men in white apparel. These men said, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." This truth Jesus Himself declared in {306} the trial before the high priest. When the perjured witnesses testified against Him, Jesus made no reply. Then, "the high priest asked Him, and said unto Him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." When this wonderful occurrence shall take place, no one knows; it has never been revealed, but is known to the Father alone. But it appears that it is to take place at a time when the earth is troubled, and the end is not far off. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." If we are to be worthy of the ministry of Jesus when He shall come again, we must learn to know Him, and to live according to His teachings; for He has declared that He will be ashamed at His coming of those who are ashamed of Him. "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."

[Sidenote: The nearness of Jesus.]

Even in His coming He will be our advocate and our judge. How close then Jesus stands to us. He came into the world to enlighten the world, that they might learn to know God and Jesus Christ {307} whom God sent; He laid down His life as a voluntary sacrifice to redeem the world from the original sin; now He sits at the right hand of God the Father and intercedes for those who believe in Him; and ere long He shall come again in clouds of glory, again to minister to men, that they may have the better chance to gain eternal life. The love and anxious sympathy of Jesus know no bounds.

"Listen to Him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before Him, saying, Father, behold the sufferings and death of Him who did no sin, in whom Thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of the Son which was shed--the blood of Him whom Thou gavest that Thyself might be glorified; wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe in my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life."

THE REFERENCES

Matt. 21:33-41. 1 Tim. 2:5, 6.

1 John 2:1.2. Rev. 11:15.

Mark 16:19. John 14:1-3.

Acts 7:56. Acts 1:11.

Heb. 7:25. Mark 14:62.

Rev. 8:34. Matt. 24:29,30.

Mark 28:18. Mark 8:38.

Doc. and Cov. 45:3-5.

{308} THE QUESTIONS

1. Interpret the parable of the householder and the wicked husbandmen.

2. What is the position of Jesus in heaven?

3. In what sense is Jesus our advocate with the Father?

4. What did Jesus mean by many mansions in His Father's house?

5. What power is given to Jesus?

6. How do we know that Jesus is to come again?

7. What is to happen when Jesus comes again?

8. In what way may we sense the nearness of Jesus?

{309}

{310} PICTURE: THE ASCENSION, Biermann

{311}

XXXIX

THE LIVING CHRIST

[Sidenote: Jesus the living Christ.]

From what we have learned in the preceding lesson, it is plain that Jesus, the son of Mary of Nazareth, is in truth the Living Christ. Jesus was from before the beginning of this world, and will continue in power and glory throughout the endless eternities. In the great council in heaven, He volunteered to become the Christ and to save the children of God without force. He fulfilled His noble but agony-filled mission without faltering. He gave up His life with a prayer on His lips for those who brutally persecuted Him and killed Him. He was approved of the Father, and exalted to sit on the right hand of the throne of power. He is worshipped by untold millions, to whom He has brought consolation, hope, and love. And it is not only on the so-called common people of the earth that Jesus has made so wonderful an impression that He is worshipped as the very Son of God, but also over the greatest intellects in the world has He wielded so powerful an influence that they bow in admiring adoration. Poets, artists, philosophers, scientists, and statesmen alike acknowledge Jesus, the Living Christ and Advocate with the Father.

[Sidenote: The testimony of Napoleon.]

As we learned at the beginning of this book, Napoleon avowed his admiration of Jesus, while living an exile on the island of St. Helena. Napoleon's further testimony is interesting. "Superficial minds see a resemblance," said {312} Napoleon, "between Christ and the founders of empires and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and other religions the distance of infinity. Everything in Christ astonishes me. Here I see nothing human. The nearer I approach everything is above me. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and myself founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded His empire upon love, and at this hour millions of men would die for Him. Christ proved that He was the Son of the Eternal."

[Sidenote: The conviction of an English philosopher.]

Other great men, too, have been as profoundly impressed by the divinity of Jesus as was Napoleon. The great English philosopher, John Locke, expressed his convictions in these words: "Before our Savior's time, the doctrine of a future state, though it were not wholly hid, yet it was not clearly known in the world? He brought life and immortality to light. And that not only in the clear revelation of it and in instances shown of men raised from the dead; but He has given an unquestionable assurance and pledge of it, in His own resurrection and ascension into heaven. How has this one truth changed the nature of things? The philosophers, indeed show the beauty of nature, but leaving her unendowed, very few are willing to espouse her. It has another relish and efficiency to persuade men that if they live well here, they shall be happy hereafter. Upon this foundation, and upon this only, morality stands firm; and this is the gospel Jesus Christ has delivered to us."

{313} [Sidenote: Declarations of Emerson and Webster.]

Two notable Americans may be here cited also to show the influence of the work of Jesus upon men of great intellect. Ralph Waldo Emerson, philosopher and poet, wrote, "Jesus is the most perfect of all men that have yet appeared. The unique impressions of Jesus upon mankind are not so much written as ploughed into the history of this world. He saw with open eye the mystery of the soul. Alone in all history, He estimated the greatness of man." And Daniel Webster declared in his argument in the Girard Will Case, "I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. The miracles which He wrought establish in my mind His personal authority and render it proper for me to believe what He asserts."

[Sidenote: Additional testimony.]

Testimonies of this kind might be added upon without limit. Of course, there may be found also many men who reject the testimony of Jesus. But the interesting fact about the influence of Jesus is that the farther we become removed from the time of His earth-ministry, the more strongly is His influence felt, and the closer does the world really come to Him. In spite of the war that Satan has waged in the world against Him, Jesus is dearer to men today than He has ever been before. Even the great world war now raging is turning the hearts of men to Jesus; and many more men of learning and leadership are expressing their faith in the teachings of Jesus the Christ. It is to be hoped that all men will soon come to the conviction of the great German philosopher, Kant: "In the life and the divine doctrine of Christ, example and precept conspire to call men to the regular discharge of every moral duty for its own {314} sake. Christ is the founder of the first true Church; that is, that Church which exhibits the moral kingdom of God upon earth."

[Sidenote: Reasons for strong testimonies in the Church.]

Now, if the men of the world can get such testimonies and can feel so strongly that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, surely the children of the Latter-day Saints ought easily to learn to know this sublime truth. Jesus came to earth, as He Himself declared, when He was twelve years old, to attend to His Father's business. That business, we learned, is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. And we have learned also that it is life eternal to know God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. Jesus devoted His life to expounding the principles of eternal life. He showed in His own person what kind of being God is. He explained His own relationship to God the Father. He revealed the nature and the office of the Holy Ghost. He taught the essential principles of the Gospel, which Paul called the power of God unto salvation. He emphasized the necessity of divine authority in order to act officially in the things of God. He explained by parable and by teaching the duties that man owes to God. He made perfectly clear, too, the duties that man owes to his fellowmen. He established by His wonderful life and work His own divinity as the Son of God. He overcame death, the barrier between God and man, by laying down His own life. He proved the actuality of the resurrection and the life after death by arising Himself from the tomb. He continues as the Living Christ, interceding with the Father for us. All this the children of the Latter-day Saints have had taught to them as clearly as it has been {315} taught to the children of the world. In addition, the children of the Latter-day Saints have membership in the true Church of Jesus Christ. The Holy Priesthood is here established. The Gospel in its fulness has been restored. The Church believes in continual revelation, and is favored with the living word of God. These are the marks of the Church of Christ. The inspiration of the Holy Ghost ought, therefore, to cause the testimony of Jesus to burn brightly in the bosom of every Latterday Saint. To us also Jesus has revealed the means of salvation, by His teaching, by His personal example and influence, by His death and resurrection. And to us He has delivered the keys of the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.

[Sidenote: Evidences of testimony in the Church.]

The members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. They recognize the fact that the object of Christ's life-work was to reveal God, to teach men to know God as their Father, to persuade them to live lives of righteousness, and to redeem them from the sin of the garden of Eden. And as intellectual, men of the world have avowed their conviction that Jesus is the Christ, so also have the leaders of "Mormon" thought and life. Almost every meeting held in the Church is a meeting of declaration of faith in Jesus. The monthly testimony meetings, particularly, are filled with assurances of faith in Him. The Presidency of the Church, the twelve apostles, and all the members of the quorums of general authority, devote their lives as special witnesses of Jesus to the testifying to His divine Sonship. And of all the testimonies of Jesus as the true and living Christ, {316} the ever present and ever active advocate with the Father, there is no other so strong and effective as that of the Prophet, Joseph Smith, and his associate Sidney Rigdon.

[Sidenote: "The testimony last of all."]

"We, Joseph Smith, Jr., and Sidney Rigdon, being in the Spirit on the sixteenth of February, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two. By the power of the Spirit our eyes were opened and our understandings were enlightened, so as to see and understand the things of God--Even those things which were from the beginning before the world was, which were ordained of the Father, through His Only Begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, even from the beginning, of whom we bear record, and the record which we bear is the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the Son, whom we saw and with whom we conversed in the heavenly vision.

"For while we were doing the work of translation, which the Lord had appointed unto us, we came to the twenty-ninth verse of the fifth chapter of John, which was given unto us as follows. Speaking of the resurrection of the dead, concerning those who shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and shall come forth; They who have done good in the resurrection of the just, and they who have done evil in the resurrection of the unjust. Now this caused us to marvel, for it was given unto us of the Spirit; and while we meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about; and we beheld the glory of the Son, on the right hand of the Father, and received of {317} His fullness; and saw the holy angels, and they who are sanctified before His throne, worshipping God, and the Lamb, who worship Him for ever and ever. And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of Him, this is the testimony last of all, which we give of Him, that He lives; for we saw Him, even on the right hand of God, and we heard the voice bearing record that He is the Only Begotten of the Father--That by Him and through Him, and of Him the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God."

To us, then, removed nearly two thousand years from the time of the birth of Jesus, comes with a new significance the chorus of the angels. "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord . . . . Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

THE REFERENCES

Doc. and Cov. 76:11-24. Luke 2:10, 11, 14.

THE QUESTIONS

1. In what sense is Jesus the Living Christ?

2. To what does Napoleon testify?

3. Upon what is John Locke's conviction based?

4. What did Emerson and Webster say of Jesus?

5. What truth does Kant derive from the life of Jesus?

6. Why should the Latter-day Saints have exceptional testimonies of Jesus?

7. How can you show that the Latter-day Saints do have exceptionally strong testimonies of Jesus?

8. What is the powerful "Testimony last of all"?

9. What do the teachings of Jesus mean to us?

10. Explain what it means to know God and Jesus Christ.

{318} PICTURE: ANGEL MORONI

{319}

XL

A RELIGION WORTH WHILE

[Sidenote: The feeding of the five thousand.]

In a desert place in Galilee, Jesus performed one of the most impressive and awe inspiring miracles recorded in His whole career. A multitude of the five of approximately five thousand people had gathered to hear Him teach. All the day He had instructed them, and explained to them the law of the Gospel of salvation. Then the evening drew near. The people were tired and hungry; but there was no adequate supply of food available. The apostles would have had Jesus send the multitude away. But He asked how much bread was to be found amongst them. The apostles reported five loaves and two fishes. Jesus took the five loaves and the two fishes, "looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided He among them all. And they did eat and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men."

[Sidenote: The meat that endures unto everlasting life.]

This wonder-rousing miracle Jesus performed just before He left Galilee forever, and while His popularity was at its height. One can easily imagine how the people marvelled at what Jesus had done. And yet, a miracle of feeding, more wonderful even than this, has Jesus performed in turning the hearts of men toward Him. It is really not so very strange that this Man, who could change water into wine, and open the eyes of the blind, and cast out devils, and still the {320} tempest, and raise the dead to life again, should be able also to multiply five loaves and two fishes so as to feed a multitude of men. He who is endowed with infinite power might easily be able thus to collect the elements and to increase the quantity of available food. This was a miracle of the physical world, calling into action some natural law with which we are not yet acquainted. But in His ministry and death and resurrection, Jesus has performed a spiritual miracle more wonderful even than this. Jesus Himself considered the spiritual conversion much more significant than the physical achievement. John records the fact that the people sought Jesus again after this great miracle; and when they found Him, He said to them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed. . . . I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." It may be said now that the whole world has heard of Jesus, and that most of it has learned to look to Him as its Savior. New life and spiritual light has Jesus given to the world. But while the world has learned to recognize Jesus, the teachers of the world have perverted His doctrine so much that the people hardly know which way to turn. They hunger still, and they thirst for the true teachings of Jesus; they are looking still for the true Church of Christ, with a religion worth while.

{321} [Sidenote: What Jesus taught.]

The history of the growth and spread of Christianity in the world reads almost like fiction. Jesus Himself established His Church upon the earth. We have learned that He called and ordained twelve apostles, and others whom He called "seventy." He taught the fundamental principles of the Gospel--faith, repentance, baptism, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the many duties that devolve upon faithful Church membership. Jesus revealed in His own person the personality of God the Father, and taught clearly the true relationship existing between the Father and His children. Jesus taught plainly, too, the duties that men owe both to the heavenly Father and to their fellowmen. In short, Jesus revealed and taught to His apostles, and to the peoples of the Holy Land, all the principles of the Gospel necessary for a life of righteousness upon the earth. And when He ascended to heaven, He left with the apostles the authority of the Holy Priesthood, an organized church, and the Gospel, the plan of salvation. The Church of the apostles possessed the three essential marks of the true Church of Christ.

[Sidenote: The acts of the apostles.]