Up from the grave He arose, with a mighty triumph o’er his foes! (from chorus of “Christ Arose”)

If you’ve watched any movies that depict the life of Christ, they almost all end with Jesus returning from the dead. It makes for a nice ending — the hero is alive, the good guys (the disciples) were sad but end up happy, and the bad guys who had appeared to have won didn’t win after all. Of course, the same description can be applied to the ending of many other movies that have nothing to do with Jesus.

It’s important to understand that the resurrection is not just a happy ending to the story.

REDEEM

• To save (a person or soul) from a state of sinfulness and its consequences
• To set free, as from slavery or kidnapping, by providing money or other compensation
• To recover ownership of by paying a specified sum
• To restore the honor, worth, or reputation of

In the passage from Isaiah that Jacob shares in 2 Nephi 8, he refers to the redeemed of the Lord: \\\"Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy and holiness shall be upon their heads; and they shall obtain gladness and joy; sorrow and mourning shall flee away\\\" (2 Nephi 8:11). This particular verse refers to those of the House of Israel who will one day accept Christ and be gathered into Zion.

You’ve probably gone through something like this at some point. You have a close friend who lives near you (or works with you, attends the same church, goes to school with you, etc.). The day arrives when your friend moves away (leaves the company, church, school, etc.).

Promises are made that you’ll still be close friends. Perhaps that lasts for a while, but as time passes, contact is less frequent. The closeness is no longer there. The day may come when your friend calls and says, “What happened? We used to be so close but now we hardly even speak anymore.” Rather than hurt your friend’s feelings, you may choose the typical meaningless reply (“Things have been so busy … you know how it is.”) but what you really want to say is, “Hey, who moved? I’m still in the same place I was before — you’re the one who moved away. Why would you expect our relationship to be unchanged?”

In 2 Nephi 6, Nephi’s brother, Jacob, shares some prophecy regarding the role of the Gentiles in restoring the House of Israel. In order to provide some credibility for his words, Jacob begins with this introduction: “I, Jacob, having been called of God, and ordained after the manner of his holy order, and having been consecrated by my brother Nephi…” (2 Nephi 6:2).

Even as Jacob was ordained into the priesthood at that time, we have people today who occupy ordained offices in The Church of Jesus Christ. These ordained offices are Apostle, Evangelist, Elder, Teacher, Deacon and Deaconess. How is a member of The Church placed in one of these offices? The steps are outlined in Jacob’s statement above.

After the death of his father, Lehi, Nephi finds his life threatened by his brothers, Laman and Lemuel. Heeding the warning of the Lord, Nephi takes the members of his family who are supportive of him (hereafter known as Nephites) and separates from Laman and Lemuel and their followers (hereafter known as Lamanites).

After establishing their new home in a different part of the land, the Nephites set to work on a couple of projects:

Here’s the scene: You’re at church on Sunday, and you’ve invited several brothers and sisters to come to your house after church. When you arrive home, you’re met with quite a sight — your teenage son and several of his friends have taken over your house! They’ve made quite a mess of things and are currently passed out on sofas, chairs, and the floor. What do you do?

It probably goes something like this: WAKE UP EVERYBODY!! Clean this room right now! And to your son — Don’t ever do this again!

A key belief of The Church of Jesus Christ is that a man will come forth in the future who will play an important role in The Church’s mission among the Seed of Joseph and the House of Israel. The title used for this man is the Choice Seer. Most of the information regarding the Choice Seer is contained in 2 Nephi 3.

If you read chapter 3, you’ll see the name Joseph used quite frequently. In fact, almost everybody referenced in the chapter is named Joseph, so here’s a “scorecard” of who each Joseph is:

In 2 Nephi 2, Lehi shares his insights on the weather in Southern California, arranged marriages and winning a major sports championship. What? You say you didn’t see any of those insights in this chapter? Let’s take them one by one.

As 2 Nephi begins, Lehi is on his deathbed, and he shares some final words of wisdom with various members of his family as recorded in chapters 1-4. In chapter 1, he speaks primarily to Laman and Lemuel, his oldest sons, who'd given the family the hardest time as they traveled in the wilderness and had never really accepted the Lord into their lives. Here’s a summary of the points Lehi makes as he pleads with his sons:

• Shake off the chains that bind you (verses 13, 23)
• Soften your hardened hearts (verse 17)
• Keep the commandments of God (verses 16, 20)
• Do the above to avoid eternal destruction (verse 22)
• Ultimately, the will of God will be done (verse 19)

MARVELOUS (adjective)

• Extraordinary
• Awesome
• Causing great wonder
• Extremely good or pleasing

In 1 Nephi 22:8-9, Nephi tells his brothers,

"And after our seed is scattered the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed; wherefore, it is likened unto their being nourished by the Gentiles and being carried in their arms and upon their shoulders.

And it shall also be of worth unto the Gentiles; and not only unto the Gentiles but unto all the house of Israel, unto the making known of the covenants of the Father of heaven unto Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed."

1 Nephi 21 includes the Book of Mormon's first descriptions of a place and time period known as "Zion." Although there is much that can be written about Zion — and perhaps will be in future blog articles — this particular article focuses on Zion as Israel's gathering place, as described in chapter 21.

Scattering of Israel

The story of Zion begins with the descendants of Jacob (a.k.a. Israel), also known as the "House of Israel." The House of Israel were God's "chosen people," but due to their unbelief (especially in Christ), they found themselves scattered throughout the world. Even today, we only know of two of the twelve "tribes" of Israel (Judah and Joseph); the whereabouts of the other 10 are still unknown.

Psalm 19:14, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."

How powerful is this verse? There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking the Lord to make you pleasing to Him. In fact, He loves to teach you His ways. He tenderly molds your character so that you speak, think, and act in ways that honor Him.

David's greatest concern as a servant of the Lord is his own acceptability to his Master. As he surveyed the wonderful heavens and looked into the wonderful word of God, he sees himself in light of these two creations and then views his own sinful condition. He can only conclude with a prayer for God to sanctify him constantly. How much more should this apply to our lives today?

Psalm 19:12-13, "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression."

David starts verse 12 with a rhetorical question: Who can understand his errors? Answer: Very few people.

Nobody wants to admit when they’re wrong. It’s not in our DNA. It’s so much easier to blame others for our mistakes. Even from the beginning, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent for their sins instead of taking ownership of them. From that day until now, we continue to play the blame game. We choose to break God’s laws and then act as if we haven’t done anything wrong at all.

Psalm 19:11, "Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward."

First, go back and read the whole enchilada, all of Psalm 19:7-14. Go on…

Today we are looking at verse 11 in our quest to memorize this passage.

So, now go back and re-read the 11th.

By them and in keeping of them… "Them" is referring to the judgments of the Lord in verse 9. If the word "them" is replaced with what it is referring to, this verse could be translated to say, "Moreover by the judgments of the Lord is thy servant warned: and in keeping of the judgments of the Lord there is great reward.

Psalm 19:10, “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”

In the previous three blogs, we learned that the word “they” in this verse refers to God’s law, testimony, statutes, commandments, judgments, and even the fear of the Lord.

Recently, I was grieving the loss of my dear mother. My wife and I had been blessed to spend most of the past two years in her home as caregivers. The previous night added to the sting of her loss, as several of us began to go through her earthly belongings.

She had accumulated little of this world’s wealth, but seemingly insignificant items were now repositories of rich memories and all we had left. To be honest, even if she had left behind a wealthy estate, it would have done nothing to fill the void I was feeling that day.

But something my wife found changed my perspective.