Knowing stuff makes us more powerful. (D&C 93)

93:1

God is no respecter of persons. He is willing to appear to anyone. “Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who…

• …forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me,

• …and calleth on my name,

• …and obeyeth my voice,

…and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am.” What are the qualifications?

1. Sacrifice our will for his. We must be willing to give up our sins and follow Jesus. We are to refine ourselves as we approach becoming like Christ. We are to be slowly but surely walking towards the Savior by matching our will with his.

2. Call upon Christ’s name. We are to develop our relationship with Christ. We are to depend on him. We are to think about him and consider what he wants for us. Our relying on the Savior is a healthy action that will help us be qualified to see him. This is about faith. Our faith should be in him. We should see him as our Savior and Redeemer and the only way we can progress to become like our Father.

3. Obey his voice. The promptings that we receive through the Spirit should be followed. We should act on promptings. We must also become very familiar with his voice. We should be studying his words and see the principles and patterns that he demonstrated and use that as an example for how to behave. We will not know Christ, let alone see him in the flesh, if we are not familiar with him and his mortal life’s effort to teach us.

4. Keep his commandments. Obviously, if we are very good at keeping his commandments, we will become closer to him. We will be able to personally testify that what he taught was true. We will see the fruits of obedience for ourselves. One cannot know someone who is a teacher if they don’t follow what the master taught.

Every single person has the opportunity to see Christ in the flesh. It’s not reserved for the prophet and apostles only. If we follow what is prescribed here, we are ready to see him. I believe that this is a natural law. Those who are ready will see him. In Ether, we read that the Brother of Jared “could not be kept from within the veil.” Why? It was “because of the knowledge of this man he could not be kept from beholding within the veil.”

I think it’s a righteous goal for all of us to want to see the Lord in mortality.

93:3-4

“And that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one - The Father because he gave me of his fulness, and the Son because I was in the world and made flesh my tabernacle, and dwelt among the sons of men.” We know that the Father and Jesus are one in purpose. This is what I generally think when I read a verse like this. But, we could interpret this to mean that Christ is our Father because he is the father of creation and the source of all life, including ours. He is the Son because he condescended to be born as a mortal to suffer everything that all of mankind suffers.

So, Jesus truly is our Father and he is the Son of God.

93:10

“The worlds were made by him; men were made by him; all things were made by him, and through him, and of him.” We know that Christ is the creator of the universe. The phrases “by him,” “through him,” and “of him” are interesting. It sounds like that Christ didn’t literally create every blade of grass. Others may have been involved in creation process. It could even be some of us!

However, it’s important to understand that this verse reaffirms Christ as creator, but the wording agrees with other restoration scripture showing that He may have delegated parts of creation to others under His authority. He is still the source — nothing exists apart from Him — but the actual organization may have involved a divine council, as we read in Abraham 4 with the “council of Gods.”

93:12-14, 20

“And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace; And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness; And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first.” Jesus was not born perfect. He progressed throughout his mortal journey. It was not until he was resurrected that he became a perfect being - exactly like his Father.

His life was a process of progression. He was blessed with grace after grace. Christ received that grace. It can be said that we are able to progress from grace to grace but we have to receive it. John said that he continued from grace to grace. Again, we should follow Christ’s example and continue to progress. Sometimes, we don’t continue. Sometimes, we let up or take it easy or stall or plateau. Christ never did. He leaned into his progression perfectly. He did this by continually and perfectly following God’s will. If we perfectly submit to God’s will, we will also continue from grace to grace.

“For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace.” The key is being obedient to God’s will for us.

93:19, 24

“I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness.” Understanding WHAT we worship is so essential to our progression. How so?

• Knowing that God was once like us gives us hope for ourselves and our own futures.

• It gives us an eternal perspective about our potential. This understanding pulls us forward.

• We will see the trials of mortality as stepping stones. We can feel empowered.

• We can feel closer to God knowing that he is like us and not some mystical, incomprehensible being that rules the universe. We see that he truly is our father. The father-child relationship can be very intimate and powerful.

• We better understand the plan of salvation. We understand God’s motivations. He is not some being who is playing with us and views us as insignificant. He sees us as his children.

• We more fully understand our value. Whether we are rich or poor, powerful or weak, healthy or sick, famous or unknown - every one of us is a child of God.

• Knowing that God is our father and everyone is a child of God helps us treat each other with kindness and respect.

  

Truly we can come to the Father is Christ’s name and in due time receive of his fullness - just as Christ did. “And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.” Having our bearings about where we come from, why we are here and where we are going are amazingly helpful in navigating our course through life. It is very hard to get to a place without a map.

93:28

“He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.” A person can learn without being obedient. Why is obedience necessary to receive “truth and light?”

When we are obedient, we are sensitive to promptings and instruction from the Spirit. If we are attempting to learn spiritual truths without the benefit of the Spirit, we will be intellectually and spiritually handicapped.

93:29-30

“Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.” This is obviously a deep scripture. We were with God in the beginning. That means we are co-eternal with God. God didn’t create us out of nothing but organized us from intelligence. I don’t fully understand what this means but I understand that intelligence has an identity and agency. It can choose. As intelligences, we have always existed.

Truth also exists outside of God. Truth is independent. God himself has to live by truth. Without truth, nothing can exist. There are foundational principles of existence that “acts for itself.”

Without intelligence, we can’t exist as an identity. We cannot choose. We cannot act. In every meaningful way, we cannot exist without intelligence and agency. We certainly can’t progress.

93:31-32, 36-37, 39

This is another deep verse. I could spend a year really studying and attempting to explain what this is saying… “Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light. And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation.” Agency leads to progression and leads to condemnation. Everyone will have their choices and opportunities “plainly manifest” to them. There will not be a single person that is saved or condemned in ignorance.

We will all have a choice. We will choose what to abide. We will choose how much light and truth to receive. Nothing will be hidden from us. Those who choose to reject light and truth will condemn themselves.

“The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth. Light and truth forsake that evil one.” This is illustrating how glory, intelligence and light and truth relate to each other.

• “Glory” describes God’s nature or radiance.

• “Intelligence” describes the eternal principle at the core of existence (including us).

• “Light and truth” describe the operational qualities of intelligence — what it looks like in action.

In verse 36, Joseph Smith is equating God’s glory with intelligence, and then clarifying that intelligence is expressed as “light and truth.” In verse 37, the subject continues — but the function of intelligence is highlighted: when light and truth are present, Satan has no hold.

So:

• “Glory of God” = His divine essence.

• “Intelligence” = the eternal reality underlying that glory.

• “Light and truth” = the qualities that flow from that intelligence and drive away evil.

Unfortunately, we have an adversary that is actively working against us. “And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers.” If intelligence is what helps us avoid evil, then it makes sense that disobedience will “taketh away light and truth.”

These verses are teaching a chain of logic:

• God’s power is built on light and truth.

• If we have light and truth, Satan can’t touch us.

• So Satan’s only move is to get us to lose that light—through sin, ignorance, or inherited false traditions.

We can plainly see how many are losing their light of Christ and their grasp of truth. I see example after example of those who have lost this light. Through sin, including pride, they can disconnect from reality and make up their own. It is early impossible to reason with someone who is disconnected from light and truth.

I imagine that there were similar spirits in the pre-mortal world that followed Satan. They had become disconnected from eternal truths and the Light of Christ. They didn’t respond to reason. They knowingly rebelled and no amount of logical argument or pleading could get them to change course.

93:49

“What I say unto one I say unto all; pray always lest that wicked one have power in you, and remove you out of your place.” We are all created to inherit all that God has. We are his children. Our divine potential is one of the independent truths of the universe. It is our place.

The only person in this existence that can remove us out of our place is ourselves - by giving control to Satan to have power over us. What is a good way to ensure that Satan never has that power? Pray.

The power of prayer is underutilized by yours truly. I have become more consistent in my prayers but I still struggle in making them sincere communication. I have lived 54 years without fully developing this area of my spirituality. Clearly, me having a successful mortal experience involves prayer.

93:50

“My servant Newel K. Whitney also, a bishop of my church, hath need to be chastened, and set in order his family, and see that they are more diligent and concerned at home, and pray always, or they shall be removed out of their place.” As a father who has had all of his children leave the church, I certainly can imagine some solid chastening that I deserve in how my house may not have been in order when my children were young.

I was very focused on building a business and traveled a lot. I wasn’t as diligent as I should have been in the home in making it a place of study and prayer and faith. I wish I could change the past. I’m sure I am not the only one who feels this way. Regret can be a heavy burden!