I hope you enjoy some insights from my Come, Follow Me for Doctrine and Covenants 41-44. If you missed last week’s insight, Doctrine and Covenants 37-40 click here for it. Please share this with your friends or use this picture to save this pin to read later
How we treat revelation.
“These words are given unto you, and they are pure before me; wherefore, beware how you hold them, for they are to be answered upon your souls in the day of judgment. Even so. Amen.”
Doctrine and Covenants 41:12
How we treat the scriptures will define us as disciples of Jesus Christ. It will either brings us blessings or it will condemn us on Judgement day. An example of this is the Book of Mormon, Ezra Taft Benson taught that “the early Saints were rebuked for treating the Book of Mormon lightly, are we under any less condemnation if we do the same?” This verse says the same will happen if we treat the Doctrine and Covenants lightly also.
But this principle applies to modern revelation as well. President Ezra Taft Benson taught that “every generation has its tests and its chance to stand and prove itself.” President Dallin H. Oaks said, “I believe our attitude toward and use of the family proclamation is one of those tests for this generation. I pray for all Latter-day Saints to stand firm in that test.”
The Power of the Scriptures.
“Thou shalt ask, and my scriptures shall be given as I have appointed, and they shall be preserved in safety;”
Doctrine and Covenants 42:56
I love how in this verse Jesus Christ calls the scriptures “my scripture.” Do we treat the scriptures that way? Do we fully understand their value, power, and meaning? There is no substitute for the scriptures. It was the scriptures that Lehi sent his sons back to Jerusalem to get and when they returned with the brass plates he rejoiced. When Jesus Christ Himself visited the Nephites he spent his time quoting the Old Testament to them and in Chapter 23 He inspects their scriptures and asks them why the prophecies of Samuel the Lamanite are missing.
Why?? Why would Lehi send his sons back to Jerusalem?? Why would Jesus Christ spend some of His short time with the Nephites to make sure their scriptures were correct and preserve?? Because they understood the power and effect of the scriptures. They understood the absolute necessity of having the written word of God.
The Millennium
“For the great Millennium, of which I have spoken by the mouth of my servants, shall come.”
Doctrine and Covenants 43:30
What is the Millennium? It is the thousand-year period that is initiated with the second coming of Jesus Christ. It is a period of peace and joy, where Satan will be bound. The Millennium is when every promised blessing will be fulfilled. Every blessing denied us by the actions of others will be made right during the Millennium. President Dallin H. Oaks explained that some of the circumstances “of mortality will be set right in the Millennium, which is the time for fulfilling all that is incomplete in the great plan of happiness for all of our Father’s worthy children.”
Think about that, every single person longing to be married but never had the chance will! Every mother who had a child die will have a chance to raise that child! NO BLESSING WILL BE DENIED THE FAITHFUL. President Russell M. Nelson taught: “In the Lord’s own way and time, no blessing will be withheld from His faithful Saints. The Lord will judge and reward each individual according to heartfelt desire as well as deed.”
As the world grows ever closer and closer to war and chaos we have an opportunity to experience the peace that the Millennium brings in our lives and families. We, through our actions and the enabling strength Christ gives us, we can “bind” Satan in our lives by rejecting sin and choosing Christ!
To Preach Repentance.
“And it shall come to pass that they shall go forth into the regions round about, and preach repentance unto the people.”
Doctrine and Covenants 44:3
Repeated in the Doctrine and covenants we are commanded to preach repentance. Preaching repentance is hard because often the guilty take the truth to be hard. But it is our duty, as Elder D. Todd Christofferson said “If we do not invite others to change or if we do not demand repentance of ourselves, we fail in a fundamental duty we owe to one another and to ourselves. A permissive parent, an indulgent friend, a fearful Church leader are in reality more concerned about themselves than the welfare and happiness of those they could help. Yes, the call to repentance is at times regarded as intolerant or offensive and may even be resented, but guided by the Spirit, it is in reality an act of genuine caring”