LeGrand L. Baker

1 Nephi 11:22-23 

22. And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, that sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.
23 And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.

The symbolism of a glorious tree is an appropriate representation of the love of God. It represents “the most desirable above all things” and “the most joyous to the soul.” The reason lies in both the beauty of the tree and the taste of the fruit. We cannot imagine a more meaningful symbol, because a tree is a tangible example of towering strength and endurance. It is our protection from the unexpected thunder storm. We are nurtured by its fruit, just as we are sustained by pure waters. They become the source of our energy, of our continuance in life, of our personal fulfillment—a fundamental part of our very being.

Our personal sense of fulfillment never comes in tandem with a sense of our being alone. We are most completely ourselves when we are with those whom we love. The fulfillment comes through our sustaining them, and of our being sustained by them—of being one with them—so that as we feel that togetherness we are more completely our Selves than we can be otherwise. There is a place in our souls that can be filled only with those whom we love. When they are not there, their place feels empty. The tree of life which represents the Savior’s love for us, and bears the fruit that is the nourishment of our souls, represents that eternal togetherness. Similarly, the sacred Temple Feast—like our the sacrament— represented to the ancients their returning to the Garden of Eden where one may be with God. It is hearing the voice of God saying, “I am your friend”—it is an eternal embrace.

Nephi said the Tree of Life “ is the love of God, that sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men.” There we get the sense of a beautiful fall day when the fully ripened leaves fall to the welcoming earth. In the word “sheddeth,” we find a multiplicity of ideas. Since almost everywhere in the scriptures “shedding” has to do with shedding blood, when we consider Nephi’s description of the tree, we think of the sacrificial blood sprinkled upon the altar, the tabernacle and the priests to purify them on the Day of Atonement. Thus, Nephi may have been describing the symbolism of the atoning powers of the Savior. Isaiah understood that blood of the Day of Atonement represented the Savior’s redeeming power (Isaiah 52:15, 3 Nephi 20:45), as did Peter (1 Peter 1:2).

There is another symbolic image in Nephi’s words, “sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men”—it is that of one standing under a tree of light that is dropping its burden of anointing oil—and the oil appears to be a display of dazzling lights. That may have been the kind of “shedding” Nephi was alluding to—an anointing of light—a baptism of fire.

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1 Nephi 12:10-12

10. And these twelve ministers whom thou beholdest shall judge thy seed. And, behold, they are righteous forever; for because of their faith in the Lamb of God their garments are made white in his blood.
11. And the angel said unto me: Look! And I looked, and beheld three generations pass away in righteousness; and their garments were white even like unto the Lamb of God. And the angel said unto me: These are made white in the blood of the Lamb, because of their faith in him.
12 And I, Nephi, also saw many of the fourth generation who passed away in righteousness.

Verse 10 an assurance that the twelve disciples will receive eternal life. Now, verses 11 and 12 extend that same promise to the people in the “three generations [who] pass away in righteousness,” and to many in the fourth generation.

That same promise is, of course, extended to all persons who live their life “in righteousness” because of their faith.

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1 Nephi 12:10 

10. And these twelve ministers whom thou beholdest shall judge thy seed. And, behold, they are righteous forever; for because of their faith in the Lamb of God their garments are made white in his blood.

“Righteous forever”—forever is a very long time. It reaches from before this world, through this world, and for all eternity hereafter. “Righteous” is one of the most important sacred code words in the scriptures.

“Righteousness” is zedek—correctness and propriety in performing and receiving sacred ordinances.{1} For one to be righteous before coming to this world presupposes correct fulfillment of priesthood assignments during and after the Council in Heaven. Doctrine and Covenants 93, Alma 13, Abraham 3, and Ephesians 1 are keys to understanding what those assignments might have been.

Modern prophets have taught us about how one can be “righteous forever.” The Prophet Joseph said,

When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter, that the Lord hath promised the Saints, as is recorded in the testimony of St. John, in the 14th chapter, from the 12th to the 27th verses.{2}

President Marion G. Romney spoke of this often. On one occasion he said:

After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost (by the laying on of hands), . . . then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shall be exalted. When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure (D. H. C. 3:380).{3}

The fullness of eternal life is not attainable in mortality, but the peace that is its harbinger and that comes as a result of making one’s calling and election sure is attainable in this life. The Lord has promised that “. . . he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come” (Ibid., 59:23).{4}

Now in conclusion, I give you my own witness. I know that God our Father lives, that we are as Paul said his offspring. I know that we dwelt in his presence in pre-earth life and that we shall continue to live beyond the grave. I know that we may return into his presence, if we meet his terms. I know that while we are here in mortality there is a means of communication between him and us. I know it is possible for men to so live that they may hear his voice and know his words and that to receive “the Holy Spirit of promise” while here in mortality is possible. And so, in the words of the Prophet Joseph, “. . . I . . . exhort you to go on and continue to call upon God until [by the more sure word of prophecy] you make your calling and election sure for yourselves,…”{5}
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FOOTNOTES

{1} For a discussion of the meaning of “righteousness”—zedek and Zadok—priesthood and temple correctness see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, First edition, p. 279-85; Second edition, p. 198-201.

{2} Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 150.

{3} Marion G. Romney, Improvement Era, October, 1949,754.

{4} Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, October, 1965, 20.

{5} Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, October 1965, 23.

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1 Nephi 12:4-5 

4 And it came to pass that I saw a mist of darkness on the face of the land of promise; and I saw lightnings, and I heard thunderings, and earthquakes, and all manner of tumultuous noises; and I saw the earth and the rocks, that they rent; and I saw mountains tumbling into pieces; and I saw the plains of the earth, that they were broken up; and I saw many cities that they were sunk; and I saw many that they were burned with fire; and I saw many that did tumble to the earth, because of the quaking thereof.
5 And it came to pass after I saw these things, I saw the vapor of darkness, that it passed from off the face of the earth; and behold, I saw multitudes who had not fallen because of the great and terrible judgments of the Lord.

The mist of darkness Lehi described in chapter 8 symbolized the difficulty through which one must walk in this life in order to reach the tree of life. However, the one Nephi describes here is the real physical darkness that enveloped the Nephites just prior to the Savior’s coming to visit them. That prophecy was literally fulfilled. He also mentions “great and terrible judgments” associated with this “vapor of darkness.” Those judgements are physical, but there is no suggestion that they are temporary. Peter uses the same imagery to describe the final situation of the people who have fought against the purposes of God in this life, and describes them as unreal as the pride that sustains them: “These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever” (2 Peter 2:17).

When one reads the catalogue of indictments against those who died in the catastrophe that occurred while their world was black ( 3 Nephi 9), it becomes apparent that the vapor of darkness that obscured the immediate intensity of their destruction may well be thought of as symbolic of the darkness of the place that awaited their spirits after they died and left this world, when the darkness may be only their individual and collective refusal to see the light.

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1 Nephi chapters 13-14 

After introducing us to the apostasy that destroyed the Savior’s Church Nephi does a quick jump, passing over a thousand years of European history to a new era of enlightenment. Much had happened in Europe during the time that Nephi skipped over. The original Christianity had been completely absorbed by pagan traditions. However, during that absorption the first steps toward preparation for the restoration of the gospel had already taken place. Europe had been “Christianized.” The pagan gods seemed to have disappeared. but the basic theology of the pagan religions still remained essentially intact,

An example of how that was done is the missionary effort of the French king Charlemagne. His missionary methods were simple and effective. When his armies conquered a village, he gathered its leading men together and forced them to hear a sermon preached by his own priest. The sermon carried a simple message: baptism was necessary for one to go to heaven, so without baptism one would go to hell. After the sermon, Charlemagne gave his captives a choice. They could either be baptized and go to heaven at their leisure, or they could refuse to be baptized and go to hell immediately. They tended to choose baptism. Charlemagne was not interested in theology, so he let them keep their old beliefs but insisted they worship “Jesus” rather than Odin. Thereupon Odin became “Jesus,” and the local gods were given the names of Christian saints. The belief systems remained the same. Jesus now looked and acted much like Odin, but Odin did not exist anymore. Since false gods only exist in the minds of their worshipers, when the worshipers no longer worship them those gods no longer exist. That is important because, no matter what their beliefs were, the Europeans were now worshiping a god whose name was “Jesus.” Consequently, centuries later when Gutenberg invented the printing press and Rasmus published the New Testament in Greek, much of the preliminary work toward a real European conversion to Christianity had already been done.

Armed with these new printed scriptures, the Reformers began to address the questions, “Who was the real Jesus, and what did he really teach?” It was not necessary to start afresh by introducing Christianity to Europe, because the Europeans already worshiped “Jesus.” All that was necessary was to redefine both Jesus and his teachings. That was accomplished on two fronts: first by the great Protestant reformers, and then by the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Both groups read and accepted the New Testament and tried to make their religions square with the teachings they found there.

Then even more marvelous things began to happen. People who read the New Testament discovered a theology in which God was loving and kind and where individual people had souls that mattered. But that was not all. With the invention of the printing press, scholars began to publish works of ancient Greek histories and philosophers. Thus, the very best ideas of the ancient world were thrust upon Europeans as new and revolutionary ideas. Into the mix of the Judeo-Christian doctrines that people had individual worth, were the Greek ideas of rationality and responsibility and the Roman idea of the supremacy of the law. Calvinism added the doctrine of the Protestant Work Ethic. Ittaught that one should work hard, be frugal, honest, and generous, because those qualities are evidences that one is in God’s good graces, and such a person will go to heaven. That doctrine was the rationale behind the individual initiative that created the free market system and participatory government. All of those ideas came together in England, where they were merged with an acceptance of freedom of religion and with the very best of British legal traditions: British Common Law and the fundamental principles of local and national, democratically elected representative government. All of those ideas blossomed together into a beautiful new kind of Christianity. That Christianity had taken almost 2000 years to develop, and when it was at its purest beauty, it was transplanted to North America where it could mature to create the political, economic, and religious environment in which the fullness of the gospel could be restored by the Prophet Joseph Smith.

No doubt, Nephi saw all of that, but he focused on those events during that 2000-year history that were most relevant to himself and to his people. He described Columbus as being brought to America by the Holy Ghost, and then the European invasion and destruction of the cultures of the American Indians.

Thus the events that Nephi described to us may be seen in two lights—each illuminating a different facet of the same history. One is the story of corruption, decadence and apostasy in the old world. But the other is the testimony of how the Lord carefully works through human history to achieve his purposes, without violating the agency of any individual. Even though Nephi mourned because of the destruction of his own people, his mourning was subordinated to his rejoicing in the restoration of the gospel, the triumphal return of the Savior, and the establishment of His millennial reign.

There are two ways to consider the Great Apostasy. The first is to see it as a dreadful thing that extended through the period of the Roman Empire, through the Dark Ages, through the Reformation and the Renaissance, and continues on through to our time. That view is defensible but inadequate.

The second way of looking at the apostasy is to see it as a short-term event lasting less than 200 years as the Church established by the Savior was perverted from within and persecuted from without, then seeing most of the next 1600 years as events in the process of creating an environment in which the gospel could be restored. That is a much more positive and accurate description of what happened.

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1 Nephi 13:1-5 
1 And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld many nations and kingdoms.
2 And the angel said unto me: What beholdest thou? And I said: I behold many nations and kingdoms.
3 And he said unto me: These are the nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles.
4 And it came to pass that I saw among the nations of the Gentiles the formation of a great church.
5 And the angel said unto me: Behold the formation of a church which is most abominable above all other churches, which slayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity.

What Nephi was being shown was the “formation” of a great and abominable church. That formation began in the old world even before the apostles were killed. Both Paul and Peter warned the saints—not that it was coming—but that it is upon them already.

The apostate movement did not originate as a single organization, but it was a widespread decay of both doctrine and priesthood authority. Nephi understood it as a single church because it had a single founder—the devil—and because, in all of its parts, it engaged in the same coercive and destructive tactics.

Christianity quickly spread all over the world. Historians credit that spread to the vigor of Christian missionaries, but we can gather from the Savior’s statement to the Nephites that he personally visited the remnants of the house of Israel wherever they were. That would account for the sudden growth of Christianity. For example, I learned while I was on my mission that there is a little chapel near Norwich, in Norfolk, England that sits on the hill where tradition says the Savior came and taught the sermon on the Mount—which, judging from his appearance in America, is precisely what we would expect he would have done. There is another tradition that both Peter and Paul were in England, as well as in Gaul and Italy. The acts of Thomas tells how that apostle went to India and was very successful there. Marco Polo reported that not long before he arrived in China, there had been a titanic battle between the Christian and non-Christian armies, and that the Christians had been wiped out. One of the greatest problems these widespread congregations had was their inability to communicate with each other. The technology did not exist that would enable men with priesthood authority to keep reins on the church organization or its eroding doctrine. There was no way for the apostles to keep in touch with each other or with their converted friends—except by letters that were slow in arriving (that is, if the letters arrived at all).

From the writings of the apostles in the New Testament, it is clear that people, rather than letting go of their old traditions, were importing them into the church. The upshot was that each of the scattered congregations was left to its own resources and its own interpretations of doctrines.

One can find other symptoms of apostasy developing even before the conclusion of the New Testament. The letters written by Peter and Paul show that neither of them had any hope that the church they had helped establish would survive. Rather, their letters focused on the hope that their friends would hold on to their own individual testimonies— that they would be able to endure to the end.{1}

There was a systematic, murderous persecution of the saints by the Roman government. In time, all of the Twelve except John were martyred and the church was left without apostles or prophets. The result of that was that many of the people who actually did have the authority to lead the church by revelation, and actually did have the true doctrines, were killed, and other people (some well meaning, others self serving) tried to take their place and established their own authority. The result was that within the first few generations in most parts of the world, Christianity was different from the Church that had been instituted by the Savior and his apostles. The apostasy was already completed within 150 or 200 years so the question was how is the Lord going to fix things. The way he accomplished that was one of the most wonderful stories in history.

So “the formation of a great church” that Nephi describes was a general apostasy, where people without proper authority sought to restructure the church and accommodate its teachings to their own purposes.
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FOOTNOTES

{1} Examples of warnings of that early apostasy are Acts 20:28-31; Galatians 1:6-8; 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 1:13-15, 3:10-15, 4:1-8; 3 John 1:9-11.

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