This week's lesson focused on 3 Nephi chapters 8-11. The Savior's visit to the Americas is one of my favorite passages in all of scripture. The Nephites experienced three days of darkness and destruction that corresponded with the time between Christ's death and resurrection. During this time, at least 16 Nephite cities were completely destroyed by fire, flood, or being buried in the earth "to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face" (3 Nephi 9:8).
During the three days of darkness, Christ spoke to the people who had been "spared because [they] were more righteous" than the wicked who had been destroyed (3 Nephi 9:13). If you think about it, that's not really a glowing endorsement to say someone is more righteous than those who had "[cast] out the prophets, and stone[ed] those whom [God] did send" (3 Nephi 9:10).
Imagine a voice calling out of the darkness, "...will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?
"Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me." (3 Nephi 9:13-14)
I love the imagery in those verses. I picture the Savior standing with his arms outstretched, wanting so much to heal us if we will only come to him. It ties in wonderfully with Chapter 10 when He uses the imagery of the mother hen. "...how oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you." (3 Nephi 10:4) Then again, "...how oft would I have gathered you..." (3 Nephi 10:5, notice the change in verb tense between these three passages). And again "...how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart." (3 Nephi 10:6).
The other part from this week's lesson that touched me was 3 Nephi 9:20:
"And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost..."
Before I get into that one, I want to lead in with another scripture. This one is from Isaiah 53:5, where he speaks of Christ, "...he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (See also Mosiah 14:5)
The Hebrew word for 'bruised' is actually dakka, which means 'to be crushed'. Christ was not merely bruised for our sins, he was crushed under their weight. Remind me later and I'll talk about the significance of this with respect to Gethsemane...
Why do I bring this up? Because the Hebrew word for 'contrite' is dakka. This, for me anyway, ties together the sacrifice offered by Christ with the sacrifice He asks of us. Fortunately, this is a qualitative comparison and not a quantitative one. There is no way we can ever carry the burden He bore for us, but it seems that we are expected to be crushed, or brought down, with the weight and recognition of our sins as we come unto Christ. If we don't realize how much of a 'tab' we have accumulated, we will never really appreciate what Christ has done in settling our account.
In contrast to the Law of Moses where one could sacrifice an animal on their behalf, Christ now asks us to sacrifice of ourselves. He lovingly invites us to give Him our broken hearts so that he make us whole again.
During the three days of darkness, Christ spoke to the people who had been "spared because [they] were more righteous" than the wicked who had been destroyed (3 Nephi 9:13). If you think about it, that's not really a glowing endorsement to say someone is more righteous than those who had "[cast] out the prophets, and stone[ed] those whom [God] did send" (3 Nephi 9:10).
Imagine a voice calling out of the darkness, "...will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?
"Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me." (3 Nephi 9:13-14)
I love the imagery in those verses. I picture the Savior standing with his arms outstretched, wanting so much to heal us if we will only come to him. It ties in wonderfully with Chapter 10 when He uses the imagery of the mother hen. "...how oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you." (3 Nephi 10:4) Then again, "...how oft would I have gathered you..." (3 Nephi 10:5, notice the change in verb tense between these three passages). And again "...how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart." (3 Nephi 10:6).
The other part from this week's lesson that touched me was 3 Nephi 9:20:
"And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost..."
Before I get into that one, I want to lead in with another scripture. This one is from Isaiah 53:5, where he speaks of Christ, "...he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (See also Mosiah 14:5)
The Hebrew word for 'bruised' is actually dakka, which means 'to be crushed'. Christ was not merely bruised for our sins, he was crushed under their weight. Remind me later and I'll talk about the significance of this with respect to Gethsemane...
Why do I bring this up? Because the Hebrew word for 'contrite' is dakka. This, for me anyway, ties together the sacrifice offered by Christ with the sacrifice He asks of us. Fortunately, this is a qualitative comparison and not a quantitative one. There is no way we can ever carry the burden He bore for us, but it seems that we are expected to be crushed, or brought down, with the weight and recognition of our sins as we come unto Christ. If we don't realize how much of a 'tab' we have accumulated, we will never really appreciate what Christ has done in settling our account.
In contrast to the Law of Moses where one could sacrifice an animal on their behalf, Christ now asks us to sacrifice of ourselves. He lovingly invites us to give Him our broken hearts so that he make us whole again.
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