I imagine that there are many people who have asked themselves, or others, “Why am I here on this earth and what is my purpose?” There could be many ways of asking the same or similar questions. I remember one hot summer day, when I was probably about nine or ten years of age, I was listless and trying to keep myself occupied. My friends were not available; I had already been swimming and now I was alone, looking for something but I didn’t know what it was that I wanted but I was looking for a way to change my temporary emptiness. Maybe the way that I felt is the feeling that many people have who have had some deep thoughts about life. Even those who are generally happy but don’t know why they sometimes feel an emptiness, like something is missing in their lives. Many have jobs and loving families and maybe even go to church but yet, there is something that gnaws at them, something they lack that would make them feel more complete if they had it. They may have the same or similar feel- ing that I had as a young person, my emptiness was temporary, theirs may be ongoing or every once in awhile. Ordinarily, for the answer to those questions, one might think that they could go to their minister or local clergy. However, many clergy may not have answers to those deeper questions. They may not be able to satisfy that feeling that there is something more they need to know to feel happy. I believe latter day revelation is the only place where the answers can be found. “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” ( Jeremiah 33:3)
Revelation will clarify what is hard to understand or less clear in the scriptures, meaning the King James version of the Old and New Testaments. Modern day revelation from God will take us far beyond those scriptures alone. They introduce new insights into the WHY? Because: “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret unto his servants the prophets.”(Amos 3:7) Many have been led to believe that there are no new or modern day prophets and thus no revelation. “Are there actually such things as visions, revelations, and new scriptures that are not found in the Old and New Testaments?” The answer is, of course! God spoke to His prophets of old so why wouldn’t He talk to them in our day? I have often wondered why so many people can accept dead prophets and reject living ones. If God is the same today, yesterday and forever, as the scriptures indicate that He is. Maybe we are the one’s who have changed and maybe we no longer have the faith to be worthy of that kind of communication? That great prophet Isaiah, speaking of our day said; “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precepts of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.” (Isa. 29:13–14) He has already performed that marvelous work and that work has been slowly spreading across the world for over a hundred years.
This ‘glimpse into the Eternal’ will be just a glimpse. The Great God of this universe has given us much more than a glimpse. But in this brief thought, you will just find a glimpse, and that, from a layman’s point of view.
In 1909, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints declared: “Man, by searching , cannot find out God. Never, unaided, will he discover the truth about the beginning of human life. The Lord must reveal Himself or remain unrevealed; and the same is true of the facts relating to the origin of Adam’s race—God alone can reveal them.”
God has revealed through latter day revelation as much as we are ready to receive and it is a lot more than most people who populate this earth are ready to receive.
Let’s start with the nature of Him, the God of this universe. What is He like? The great prophet Abraham’s own words: “Thus I Abraham , talked with the Lord, face to face, as one man talketh with another; and he told me of the works which his hands had made.”(Abraham 3:11)
Moses likewise spoke to God face to face. In speaking of man in respect to the various phases of life we experience, He stated that among other things, “…If there be two spirits, one shall be more intelligent than another, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or eternal…I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all…I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, in all wisdom and prudence, over all the intelligences thine eyes have seen from the beginning….” So we see from this scripture that God the Father or ‘Elohim” is more intelligent than all other intelligences that are. (all matter has some degree of intelligence)
“The Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these were many of the noble and great ones ” (Abraham 3:18-23) An example is found in Jeremiah where the word of the Lord came to him saying: “Before I formed thee in the belly, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” (Jeremiah 1: 4-5) Too, all intelligent matter has the ability to choose to do as, they feel inclined to, according to their various interests and abilities. We are agents unto ourselves, We, humans, were first intelligence’s, but what is an intelligence?
Intelligent matter is physical matter but there is no place in the scriptures that they are physically described but it is comforting to know that our intelligent matter is ‘gnolaum’ meaning eternal. This is an important understanding of the relationship between man and God. For he cannot, nor would He’ force us or any lesser intelligences, to be obedient to His commands. We and all lesser intelligences obey because we honor Him. By our choosing to be obedient, we prove our loyalty to the most intelligent, just and loving person in the universe. Too, He would never encourage us to do anything contrary to nature. By being obedient, we can return to be with Him after this earth life and this trial of our faith is over. He, it was, who gave our intelligent matter, spirit and physical form, we therefore became his sons and daughters. It is His desire that we grow by learning and progressing, to become more like Him, we are His spirit offspring, exactly how we are, is unsure but we were made in His image as described in Genesis. Therefore, we know that if we were made in His image, His image is very much like ours. We can each imagine, for ourselves, what He might look like as a glorified being, yet one who looks like and has the same form as a man. Paul in writing to the Hebrews stated that God; “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds. Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person.” (Hebrews 1:1–2) We do not know exactly what Jesus looked like when He dwelled on the earth, over two thousand years ago, we know he was a man and by imagining what He may have looked like than we can also imagine what God His father looked like. Jesus said to his disciples; “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.” He also sees things from an eternal perspective, we, on the other hand, see and think of things from a very limited earthly perspective.
Do we have any idea where God dwells? The following scripture gives us some incite: Abraham; saw the stars and worlds without end, they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones that were near unto it: And the Lord said unto me : “these are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me…I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.” (Abraham 3: 2-3) So, even though we do not know the exact location in the universe where he dwells, it is near a great governing planet, apparently based on size and gravitational control. We also know that one revolution of that planet is equal to a thousand years on earth. Thus, a thousand years of our time is as one day in the Lord’s time frame. Peter put it this way ‘But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’ (2 Peter 3:8-9) That scripture also indicate that the ‘days’ of creation’ might not be literally days, but rather thousands of years in duration.
Before the earth was created (organized) He (God) met with the noble and great spirits, God said, “these I will make my rulers. One among them was like unto God (this was the firstborn) who said, “We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth, whereon these may dwell. (The earth was not created out of nothing but rather it was organized from materials already available in space.) “And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.” (Abraham 3:24-25) This instruction that we were given, is more appropriately referred to as the “Plan of Progression or Salvation.” The person making those statements was no other than the “Son of God,” the Firstborn, even the one who would eventually be born to earth Himself as ‘Jesus Christ.’ John the beloved Apostle stated that: ”In the beginning was the Word…All things were made by Him…and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us…” The Son (the Word), who eventually came to earth and was named Jesus, was commanded by God the Father, to create or organize this earth wherein we could dwell and therefore we understand the power over the elements the first born of the Father has. He, who is our eldest brother.
With ‘agency’ we had the option to obey or disobey the Father’s plan of growth for us. His plan was designed to facilitate our continued and ‘eternal growth’ and progress. We are all his spirit offspring (Acts 17:28); and He loves us. “In that pre-existent state there was one (the son of the morning) who rebelled against me God— (he thought he had a better plan, therefore he said) “Give me thine honor, which is my power, and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency. And they were thrust down, and thus came the devil and his angels.” (D&C 29:36) and (Revelations 12:7-9) Satan and his angels never obtained bodies because of their rebellion, but they became the opposition to God’s plan by enticing the rest of us to be disobedient and rebel against God’s will for us. Interesting to note is; Satan wanted the Father’s honor (which is His power). God is perfectly fair to all intelligences, He is just and loving. As such we all respect and honor Him and thus He is God and He is Almighty, all powerful.
The scriptures state that were He less than ‘just’ to all, He would lose His honor and cease to be God, as we and all other intelligent matter would no longer honor and obey Him. (Without our honoring Him, He would have no power and cease to be God.)
All of us who have populated the earth, lived with God as his spirit children before coming to the earth as mortal beings.(i.e. subject to death) That state was referred to as our first estate (Abraham 3:26). Those who are yet to come to earth are still in His presence. Job described our anticipation of coming to an earth this way: When God laid the foundations of the earth, all the sons of God shouted for joy; ( Job 38:4–7) God has several names; He is referred to variously as Elohim, meaning ‘Man of Holiness.’ Christ, the firstborn, referred to Himself in the Old and New Testament as the “Son of Man.” Christ is also referred to as Jehovah, I Am, and as the ‘Lord God’.
Based on the ‘Plan of Progression’ for us, whereby we could learn, grow and prove ourselves, in this second estate, the plan included a way to bring us back to the Father once this phase of our training were over (mortal death). A way that would not make all other and lesser intelligences then man, feel that God was partial and unjust. There had to be a Savior, one who was recognized by all other intelligences as perfect in His conduct, one without blemish, one who would be accepted by them, and one whose love for us was such that He was willing to sacrifice Himself under the most extreme circumstances. That to satisfy “Justice” according to the acceptance of the lesser and greatest of the universal intelligences. He had to be perfect, pure and innocent. When the plan was first being presented to us the Father asked; who would be willing to be that sacrifice, He, the first born was the one who said, “Here am I, send me.” He also became the God of the Old Testament, or “I AM.” He was also referred to during that period of the earth history as the ‘Son of Man.’ (The Hebrew expression “Son of Man” ben-’adam) appears 107 times in the Hebrew Bible, the ,םדא–ןב( majority (93 times) in the Book of Ezekiel.) When Moses was called from the burning bush to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, Moses said, “They will ask, who sent me?” and God speaking from the burning bush said unto Moses, “I Am That I Am : Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”( Exodus 3:13-15) The Israelite’s, then slaves of Pharaoh would know who ‘I Am’ is. Later Christ was born into the world as Jesus of Nazareth to take upon Him His own body of flesh and bone. He made preparation (by living a perfect life) for His sacrifice in our behalf. At one point during His sojourn on earth: “the Jewish leaders said various things to chide Him to find reason to slay him and Jesus responded by saying. “Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it and was glad.” Then said the Jews unto Him,
“Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham”? Jesus said unto them, Verily Verily, (meaning , ‘Truly, I say’) I say unto you, Before Abraham, ‘I Am.’ Then took they up stones to cast at him for being blasphemous; but Jesus hid himself and went out from the temple…” (John 8:56-59) The King James translators of the New Testament printed that term (I am) in small letters as opposed to making it a major noun for lack of knowing what He meant. The Jewish leaders knew exactly what He was referring to when he said “I AM.” Jehovah was the first spirit born of the Father Elohim and He was given power to create and to rule over this earth until He was born in the flesh by Mary of Nazareth. As one of us, it became His time, not only to teach but to sacrifice His life by dying in the most cruel way, for all mankind. Even asking the Father, “if this cup might pass from Him.” Timothy said: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (Tim 2:5) Prior to His coming in the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth, He did not have a body of flesh and bone. In the Book of Ether, The Lord showed Himself unto the ‘Brother of Jared’ because of his great faith, this was centuries before He was born to earth. In the 16th verse, “He said; Behold this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh.” (Ether 3:9–16) From this scripture we learn that Christ or the Son of Man, or Jehovah’s Spirit and our spirits look just as we do in the flesh. The Old Testament describes the creation of things as they were created spiritually. “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field ‘before it was in the earth.’ That last statement has caused a great deal of wonder among serious gospel scholars. There were actually two creations, first a spiritual creation and secondly, a physical creation. Those who have access to modern scripture have it clarified in the Book of Moses. “And now, behold, I say unto you, that these are the generations of the heaven and of the earth, when they were created, in the day that I, the Lord God, made the heaven and the earth, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. For I, the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth. And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air; But I, the Lord God, spake, and there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also; nevertheless, all things were before created; but spiritually were they created and made according to my word.” (Moses 3:4-7) The King James version is a little different but very close. In Genesis 2:4-5, it is observed that all things that had been ordered had been obeyed. The intelligences all obeyed because all intelligence honors the Creator and His honor is His power. There you have a layman’s version of the eternal. The Way:
“To every man there openeth, A Way, and Ways, and a Way, And the High Soul climbs the High Way, And the Low Soul gropes the Low, And in between, on the misty flats, The rest drift to and fro. But to every man there openeth A Highway, and a Low. And every man decideth The way his soul shall go.” (by John Oxenham). Man, by searching, cannot find out God. Never, unaided, will he discover the truth about the beginning of human life. The Lord must reveal Himself or remain unrevealed; and the same is true of the facts relating to the origin of Adam’s race. Nephi of old, said that he; Writes to persuade children to believe. (2 Nephi 25:23) I also pray that some of my thoughts and knowledge written in these ‘Books of On’ will persuade my descendants to believe and have faith in God even as I believe.