All Eternity Shook
More Reflections on Doctrine and Covenants 19
In the previous post on our study of the Doctrine and Covenants I posed a few soul-stirring questions:
Why was Jesus Christ willing to suffer?
What caused God, the greatest of all, suffering so sore, exquisite, and hard to bear?
What caused God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit?
What caused God, the greatest of all, to wish not to drink the bitter cup?
An angel revealed to King Benjamin that at least one cause of Jesus Christ’s agony was our sins:
And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people. (Mosiah 3:7)
Jesus Christ was willing to suffer, and He did suffer, because of His love for His Father and for us. His agony and His anguish were a result of the wickedness and the abominations of His people.
Our limited and imperfect mortal minds cannot fully comprehend the love of our Savior or His suffering, but there was at least one mortal whose expanded understanding and vision helps us to better appreciate the why and the wherefore of Gethsemane and the Cross:
And after that Zion was taken up into heaven, Enoch beheld, and lo, all the nations of the earth were before him;
And there came generation upon generation; and Enoch was high and lifted up, even in the bosom of the Father, and of the Son of Man; and behold, the power of Satan was upon all the face of the earth.
And he saw angels descending out of heaven; and he heard a loud voice saying: Wo, wo be unto the inhabitants of the earth.
And he beheld Satan; and he had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced.
And Enoch beheld angels descending out of heaven, bearing testimony of the Father and Son; and the Holy Ghost fell on many, and they were caught up by the powers of heaven into Zion.
And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains?
And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?
And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still; and yet thou art there, and thy bosom is there; and also thou art just; thou art merciful and kind forever;
And thou hast taken Zion to thine own bosom, from all thy creations, from all eternity to all eternity; and naught but peace, justice, and truth is the habitation of thy throne; and mercy shall go before thy face and have no end; how is it thou canst weep?
The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency;
And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood;
And the fire of mine indignation is kindled against them; and in my hot displeasure will I send in the floods upon them, for my fierce anger is kindled against them.
Behold, I am God; Man of Holiness is my name; Man of Counsel is my name; and Endless and Eternal is my name, also.
Wherefore, I can stretch forth mine hands and hold all the creations which I have made; and mine eye can pierce them also, and among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren.
But behold, their sins shall be upon the heads of their fathers; Satan shall be their father, and misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?
But behold, these which thine eyes are upon shall perish in the floods; and behold, I will shut them up; a prison have I prepared for them.
And that which I have chosen hath pled before my face. Wherefore, he suffereth for their sins; inasmuch as they will repent in the day that my Chosen shall return unto me, and until that day they shall be in torment;
Wherefore, for this shall the heavens weep, yea, and all the workmanship of mine hands.
And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Enoch, and told Enoch all the doings of the children of men; wherefore Enoch knew, and looked upon their wickedness, and their misery, and wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook. (Moses 7:23-41)
Enoch knew. He saw the wickedness and misery of God’s children. To me, this is one of the most powerful verses in all of scripture:
And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Enoch, and told Enoch all the doings of the children of men; wherefore Enoch knew, and looked upon their wickedness, and their misery, and wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook. (Moses 7:23-41)
When Jesus Christ suffered in Gethsemane and upon the Cross, all eternity shook. Because Jesus Christ who is the Eternal God trembled because of pain, this is another sense in which all Eternity shook. When Enoch beheld these things in vision, with stretched for arms, swelling heart, and yearning bowels, all eternity shook. All eternity shakes and God weeps because of His sorrow, our Savior’s sorrow, Enoch’s sorrow, and the sorrow of God’s servants for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.
The wickedness and abominations that Enoch witnessed during the time of his great grandson Noah are perhaps only rivaled by the wickedness and abominations in the time of Christ, the meridian of time (“the days of wickedness and vengeance”), and in the time in which we now live, namely the last days (also “the days of wickedness and vengeance”). Listen to how the Lord described the last days to Enoch as recorded in the Book of Moses:
And the Lord said unto Enoch: As I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfil the oath which I have made unto you concerning the children of Noah;
And the day shall come that the earth shall rest, but before that day the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of darkness shall cover the earth; and the heavens shall shake, and also the earth; and great tribulations shall be among the children of men, but my people will I preserve;
And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem.
And the Lord said unto Enoch: Then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there, and we will receive them into our bosom, and they shall see us; and we will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our necks, and we will kiss each other;
And there shall be mine abode, and it shall be Zion, which shall come forth out of all the creations which I have made; and for the space of a thousand years the earth shall rest.
And it came to pass that Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, in the last days, to dwell on the earth in righteousness for the space of a thousand years;
But before that day he saw great tribulations among the wicked; and he also saw the sea, that it was troubled, and men’s hearts failing them, looking forth with fear for the judgments of the Almighty God, which should come upon the wicked. (Moses 7:60-66)
Great tribulations among the wicked, troubled seas, men’s hearts failing them, fear for the judgments of the Almighty God, the heavens darkened, a veil of darkness covering the earth, and the heavens and the earth shaking: this is the time in which we now live. These are the last days.
Why is it thus?
Jesus explained the reasons for such tribulations when His disciples came to Him privately on the Mount of Olives. He taught them that “as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man.”
This is why the Lord commanded Martin Harris and each one of us to repent:
Wherefore, I command you again to repent, lest I humble you with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest, yea, even in the least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit. (D&C 19:20)
This is why the Lord commanded Martin Harris to preach repentance:
And I command you that you preach naught but repentance, and show not these things unto the world until it is wisdom in me.
For they cannot bear meat now, but milk they must receive; wherefore, they must not know these things, lest they perish. (D&C 19:21-22)