Receiving the mysteries that are sealed

Sometimes when I am taught by the Spirit when I read and think about what I have read I feel the need to write down my thoughts so I will remember them. This past Friday I had that experience. In the morning I read Ether 4 where Moroni explains that he has included on the plates all of the things the Brother of Jared was taught, but that they are sealed and not to be translated until when the Lord determines that we are ready to receive them. 

Throughout the day I thought of this chapter and also was thinking about President Russell M. Nelson’s talk on receiving revelation in our lives that he gave in last April’s Conference. The Spirit helped me to see how they are related. Sometimes when you are taught spiritual truths it is hard to express them or to write them down but I will try.

In his talk President Nelson said the Spirit had prompted him to talk about the precious gift of receiving revelation in our lives. He said it was one of the greatest gifts of God. He asked “how can we become the men and women … the Lord needs us to be?” We need to receive revelation in our lives. He counseled us to “Turn to Him for answers and for comfort.” And he gave us a simple pattern to follow.

“Pray in the name of Jesus Christ … And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day … you will ‘grow into the principle of revelation.’ Does God really want to speak to you? Yes.” Then President Nelson gave this heartfelt plea, “I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation.”

President Nelson gave this formula to receiving revelation: “Nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work.”

President Nelson said further, “we must learn to receive revelation … in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost … I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation. … Choose to do the spiritual work required to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and hear the voice of the Spirit more frequently and more clearly.”

The Spirit helped me see how this counsel from the prophet is related to the experiences of the Brother of Jared. Jared and his brother were living at the Tower of Babel when the Lord confounded the languages. The brother of Jared prayed about specific things and he, Jared and some of their friends and their families were blessed accordingly. The Lord did not confound their language and said he would lead them to a promised land. They were on their way to the promised land but stopped for a time at a place they called Moriancumr. They may have gotten too comfortable. They stayed there four years. Then the Lord talked to the Brother of Jared in a cloud and chastised him for not remembering to call upon the name of the Lord. The brother of Jared repented and the Lord forgave him but warned him that it was a dangerous thing to forget to pray. It can cut us off from the presence of the Lord. The Lord taught the Brother of Jared about the boats He wanted him to make to cross the “great deep” to the promised land and said that they could not cross the “great deep” unless the Lord prepared the way for them and He asked what the Brother of Jared would like Him to do so they could have light in their boats.

The Brother of Jared made clear stones and asked the Lord to touch them. And the Lord did and the brother of Jared saw and learned much more than he expected. He was brought into the presence of the Lord where he saw and heard amazing truths of the eternities. Then he was told to seal up these truths so they could not be read unless the Lord allowed it to happen, which He did for the Nephites during their 200 years of peace and righteousness. Moroni said he included these things on the plates but that they were sealed again until the due time of the Lord. But we are promised that in a day when the Gentiles (that’s us) will exercise faith like the Brother of Jared that the things the Brother of Jared saw will be made manifest to us as the Lord unfolds to us all of His revelations. (Ether 4:5-7)

The Lord promises, “But he that believeth these things which I have spoken, him will I visit with the manifestations of my Spirit, and he shall know and bear record. … Come unto me, O ye Gentiles, and I will show unto you the greater things, the knowledge of which is hid up because of unbelief. … when he shall rend the veil of unbelief … then shall the great and marvelous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world [be revealed to you].” (Ether 4:13-15)

I have thought (and taught) that one of the places we are taught these “greater things” that are hid from the world is in the temple. And of course another, as taught by President Nelson, is in the individual revelation that we can receive for guidance and instruction in our lives. Some talk about “mysteries” and wonder when things will happen, such as when the Second Coming will occur, but our prophets don’t talk about these things. Instead they teach us how to prepare to meet God. And as we pray specifically, like the Brother of Jared did, and especially when we seek revelation as we are trying to serve our family and others we will be taught from heaven and will receive these “greater things” the Lord has promised to reveal to us. President Nelson included this important verse in his talk:

D&C 42:61

If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.