Symbolism: 40

40

Sufferings or travail-- a sanctification and purification process.  

Last week during Sunday school, they were talking about Moses and the children of Israel. A man raised his hand and asked the teacher and the class:  Is there any kind of significance with the number 40? The teacher didn't know, and nobody in the class said anything.  So I said yes.  It's a symbol of a purification and sanctification process.   Then I gave a few examples...

Children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.
Christ fasted for 40 days and nights.
Noah--it rained for 40 days/nights.
Salt lake temple took 40 years to build.

So this has been on my mind.  Then today, I was searching for something else and came across this post written a couple of years ago on Denver's blog.  He makes some interesting points about 40.  I especially like the last two paragraphs.

October 12, 2012
Forty is a symbol
"The number 40 appears in a several different places in the scriptures, almost always in the context of purging or purification. When the Lord destroyed the wicked at the time of Noah, He caused it "to rain upon the earth for forty days and forty nights." (Genesis 7:4.) When Moses met with the Lord on the Mount, he was in the presence of the Lord "forty days and forty nights" (Exodus 24:18.) When Israel proved unprepared to inherit the promised land, the Lord left them in the wilderness for forty years. (Deuteronomy 8:2.)

Elijah was fed by an angel before being sent into the wilderness. After the meal, Elijah "went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God." (1 Kings 19:8.) In preparation for His ministry, the Lord likewise "fasted forty days and forty nights." (Matthew 4:2.) That preparation culminated in angels ministering to the Him. (Matthew 4:11.)

In these examples, it is not a man volunteering or choosing to afflict his soul for forty days. The period of purification is imposed by the Lord. We do not get the choose to be purified through suffering for a period of forty days, or forty years, or any other amount of time. However, if the Lord chooses to purify a soul, and that suffering does last for forty days, you can take it as a sign that the purification was given of God.

I know people have tried to voluntarily afflict themselves for forty days. I think an effort like that shows a poor understanding of how God deals with man. We wait on Him. We submit to Him. Then He alone chooses."

Harken, O Latter-day Saints

"Hearken, O ye people of my church, to whom the kingdom has been given.... hearken unto my voice, lest death shall overtake you; in an hour when ye think not the summer shall be past, and the harvest ended, and your souls not saved.

28 And when the times of the Gentiles is come in, a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness, and it shall be the fulness of my gospel;

 29 But they receive it not; for they perceive not the light, and they turn their hearts from me because of the precepts of men.

 30 And in that generation shall the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

D&C 45

The fullness of the gospel is the accent to God, for every individual who desires it.  It matters not what position they hold in the church, the wealth they posess or don't posess, or whether they be male or female.  (See Lectures on Faith)  Rejecting that doctrine--that anyone can seek the face of The Lord now, is rejecting the fullness of his gospel.  Even worse, are those who not only don't seek it for themselves, but hinder others who would otherwise enter in.  What happens after rejection of the fullness?

"When they do, Christ will "bring the fullness of my Gospel from among them." (3 Nephi 16: 10.) Upon removing the fullness, and the gentiles being filled with their pride, priestcrafts, deceits and hypocrisy, the Lord will use the remnant who remain to return judgment upon the gentiles in the same manner the gentiles had earlier returned judgment upon the remnant. (3 Nephi 16: 15.)

As Christ states above, using the words of Isaiah, "a remnant of the house of Jacob" will "go forth among them; and ye shall be in the midst of them who shall be many; and ye shall be among them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goeth through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver."

We've discussed the "beasts of the forest" and the "flocks of sheep" before. Both categories of gentiles will be swept away. None can deliver them from this coming judgment. The remnant will be the Lord's instrument of judgment upon the gentiles, and the gentile pride, priestcrafts, lyings, deceits will all come crashing down upon them in judgment. Their idols will be trodden down and torn in pieces, for they are their own idols imagining in their own hearts themselves to be greater than any other people. Their image of themselves as high and lifted up will be brought down low, into the dust. (Compare Isaiah 14: 12-17.) How like their master Mahon these gentiles have become. But then rejecting the fullness of the Gospel when it has been offered to a people always carries a heavy price.

The remnant will be doing the work of the Father in that day. For the judgment is the Lord's and not the remnant's. The remnant are only the means by which the judgment is delivered.

Cleansing precedes the blessing. And this blessed land will be Zion. But not while occupied by filthy people who idolize themselves, reject the fullness, support priestcrafts, lyings, deceit and hypocrisy calling it righteousness, truth and beauty. They cannot see their own condition, and will not trust the Lord to reveal it to them. They will say the Lord does not speak any more, and we have enough of the revelations of God. (2 Nephi 28: 27-29.) They will say God has finished His work of restoring truth, given His power to men, and now we must follow men to be saved. (2 Nephi 28: 5.)

But the Lord will prove that He had more to say when the gentiles learn, too late, they trusted in the arm of flesh rather than in the Spirit which saves. (2 Nephi 28: 31.) At that day, despite all the gentile petitions for relief from that God whose fullness they rejected, none will deliver.

The interplay between the gentiles and the remnant is a fascinating subject, with prophetic details given so as to allow us to appreciate the peril we find ourselves as gentiles in these last days. It is good we Latter-day Saints know we are safe and are part of a great, saved and favored community to be preserved against the coming judgments, isn't it? It is good we do not need to repent much if at all to be saved, because as we hear so very often: All is well. All is well.

"And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.  Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." (Isa. 6: 9-10.)"

-DS

Lectures on Faith

"Joseph Smith understood the correct doctrine. And he's trying to give you the character, the nature, the attributes of God, because until you get that correct, you're not going to have the power to exercise faith in Him. This is why you're going to encounter some amount of resistance between what it is you need to believe, and what it is everybody in your generation believes. It doesn't matter. The responsibility is placed upon you to understand what is true, and what is false. You have to choose. You have to sort it out. You have to come to the correct conclusion. It is only by exercising faith in the correct conclusion that you manage to align yourself with that narrow window through which the heavens are opened, where Jacob’s ladder is found"
Denver Snuffer -Lectures on Faith

I read the Lectures on Faith for the first time this past year.  If you've never read them, or your copy is dusty,  I HIGHLY recommend them.  Game changer.

Are Mormons in trouble?

There are a lot of things that the early lds church members weren't perfect at. And likewise, there are a lot of things that modern day church members struggle with.   But there is ONE specific thing that caused The Lord to put "the whole church" under condemnation.  He said "this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, EVEN ALL." D&C84
 
And interestingly enough, President Benson said we're under condemnation for the same thing. What is that one thing and why is it that? And not something else seemingly more grievous?

It is for taking The Book of Mormon lightly.
Well, what's the big deal with the BOM? Lots of things, but one of them is, it tells the story of our cozy little Mormon church slipping away into apostasy, and eventual downfall. (Unless repentant) If a person is reading the BOM without an understanding of who the Gentiles are, and who The Remnant is, then they are missing a very loud message that's taught all throughout. It's explained quite clearly who's who in the title page. 

When it's understood that we are grouped in with, and considered Gentiles-as far as the context of the BOM is concerned.. The book then becomes very sobering indeed! In fact, it becomes our greatest condemner. When ironically enough, we continue to pass it out to all the world. 

I'm afraid that the wheat and the tares are not going to be as easily discernible as people think. There is corruption in our church, and many people will falter when that corruption starts to be revealed. They will throw the baby out with the bath water, because their testimony is based on the righteousness of the top 15 etc.  Whereas, if it's rooted in Jesus Christ and the BOM, then when the walls start to crumble, they will still be left standing. It won't matter one whit who's doing what! Things like tattoos, double earrings, mild barley drinks, coffee, long hair, beards, white shirts, ties, etc. etc. have become our measuring sticks against one another.  When those things are incredibly unimportant.

I would love to see someone get up in General Conference on Saturday wearing jeans and a button up shirt. It'd be amazing! That's the equivalent of what Christ did in his day. We are becoming Pharisees, and can't even see it. The warnings are there in the BOM as plain as day. "And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon."

Our friend, and wilderness prophet Hugh Nibley, also had a lot to say about it...

Satan is very tricky

"There is a precedent for the bit of faking--a most distinguished one. Satan, being neither stupid nor inexperienced, knows the value of a pleasing appearance--there are times when it pays to appear even as an angel of light. He goes farther than that, however, to assure that success of his masquerade (given out since the days of Adam) as a picturesquely repulsive figure--a four-star horror with claws, horns, or other obvious trimmings. With that idea firmly established, he can operate with devastating effectiveness as a very proper gentleman, a handsome and persuasive salesman. He "decoys" our minds (a favorite word with Brigham Young) with false words and appearances. A favorite trick is to put the whole blame on sex. Sex can be a pernicious appetite, but it runs a poor second to the other. For example: We are wont to think of Sodom as the original sexpot, but according to all accounts "this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom": that great wealth made her people cruel and self-righteous.  The worst sinners, according to Jesus, are not the harlots and publicans, but the religious leaders with their insistence on proper dress and grooming, their careful observance of all the rules, their precious concern for status symbols, their strict legality, their pious patriotism. Long hair, beards, necklaces, LSD and rock, Big Sur and Woodstock come and go, but Babylon is always there: rich, respectable, immovable.."

Hugh Nibley

Judge not according to the appearance

"It is not difficult to discover the plot of the drama of the restored gospel. But the prince of this world does not like certain aspects of the play, and so his people have undertaken to rewrite the script. What has today happened is an old story and is crassly obvious--they have switched villains on us. They have cast an obnoxious young lightweight (a very minor devil) to the role of the Evil One while the one most qualified to play it prefers to take the part of a dignified, upright, mature, and often charming gentleman. It was clever to put a pathetic, long-haired, dirty, neurotic, mixed-up, idealistic, sex-hungry fool in the role of the heavy while an actor of infinitely greater skill and experience takes the highly respectable part of the arch pillar of society. But no one whose knowledge of life and letters has taken him as far as a season of TV westerns or soap operas would be fooled for a minute by the shift. The well-groomed, well-dressed, well-fed, successful, respectable man of the world (in the western, it's the banker, mine owner, or local land baron) points a finger trembling with righteous wrath and scorn at the miserable, half-baked tramp or cowboy who gives himself away all over the place. The sorriest thing about Babylon's masquerade and the switched villains is that there is nothing the least bit clever or subtle about it. It is all as crude, obvious, and heavy handed as it can be, and it only gets by because everybody wants it to. We rather like the Godfather and the lively and competitive world he moves in: what would TV do without it? What other world have our children ever known? We want to be vindicated in our position and to know that the world is on our side as we all join in a chorus of righteous denunciation; the haircut becomes the test of virtue in a world where Satan deceives and rules by appearance." 

The Lord has said, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment

(John 7:24).

Hugh Nibley

Matthew 23 -JS

Matt 23 

Bold are JS additions

1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude,
and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:

2 All, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, they will make you observe and do; for they are ministers of the law, and they make themselves your judges. But do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not.
3 For they bind heavy burdens and lay on men’s shoulders, and they are grievous to be borne; but they will not move them with one of their fingers.
4 And all their works they do to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi, (which is master.)
5 But be not ye called Rabbi; for one is your Master, which is Christ; and all ye are brethren.
6 And call no one your creator upon the earth, or your heavenly Father; for one is your creator and heavenly Father, even he who is in heaven.
7 Neither be ye called master; for one is your Master, even he whom your heavenly Father sent, which is Christ; for he hath sent him among you that ye might have life.

Who are the sinners

"Brigham Young has this to say on the Puritan ethic, which shifts the burden of guilt from wealth to sex:

When the books are opened, out of which the human family are to be judged, how disappointed the professedly sanctified, long-faced hypocrites and smooth toned pharisees will be, when the publicans and harlots enter into the kingdom of heaven before them; people that appeared to be full of evil, but the Lord says they never designed to do wrong; the Devil had power over them, and they suffered in their mortal state a thousand times more than you poor, miserable, canting, cheating, sniveling, hypocritical pharisees; you were dressed in purple and fine linen, and bound burdens upon your weaker brethren that you would not so much as help to lift with your little fingers. Did you ever go without food, suffer with tooth-ache, sore eyes, rheumatism, or the chills and fever? You have fared sumptuously all your days and you condemned to an everlasting hell these poor harlots and publicans who never designed an evil. Are you not guilty of committing an evil with that poor harlot? Yes, and you will be damned while she will be saved." 

 Hugh Nibley