I Love Your Soul
More Reflections on Doctrine and Covenants 18
The worth of souls is so great in the sight of God that the Lord inspired four brothers, the sons of Mosiah, friends of Alma the Younger, to decline their right to political power among the Nephites, and to preach the word of God to their wild and blood-thirsty enemies the Lamanites.
Many of the Nephites thought that the sons of Mosiah were crazy to embark upon such a mission. But the sons of Mosiah were filled with the love of God and great desire to lead souls, even the souls of their enemies, unto Christ and repentance:
Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble. (Mosiah 28:3)
The Spirit of the Lord worked upon the sons of Mosiah, and for fourteen years they preached the word of God among their enemies, the Lamanites. The Lord granted unto them much success. They brought many souls unto Christ and repentance. When they returned to their native land, they encountered their friend Alma the Younger who was with them when the angel first appeared unto them.
Alma the Younger rejoiced exceedingly to see his friends, his brothers, again. But he rejoiced even more because “they were still his brethren in the Lord,” and because “they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth.” After fourteen years of trials, tribulations, afflictions, suffering, and diligent efforts to preach the word of God among their enemies the Lamanites, the sons of Mosiah became “men of a sound understanding” who had “searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.” Furthermore, the sons of Mosiah had prayed and fasted much, and thereby they obtained “the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation,” which enabled them to teach “with power and authority of God.”
The sons of Mosiah (Ammon and his brothers) understood that the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. As Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery translated and transcribed this portion of the Book of Mormon, the Lord prepared them, like the sons of Mosiah, to preach the Gospel and to build up His Church in a world that was ripening in iniquity. Like the sons of Mosiah, the Lord prepared Joseph and Oliver (along with other early Saints) to declare salvation to every creature.
Joseph Smith was only 24 years old, and Oliver Cowdery was only 23 years old when the Lord commanded them to remember that the worth of souls is great in His sight.
In the previous post I shared how the Lord feels about the worth of souls and His joy in the soul that repents. The Lord promises great joy for those who, even after a lifetime of labor and crying repentance, bring save it be one soul unto Him, and He promises that such great joy will be magnified for those who bring many souls unto Him.
Let’s take a closer look at these magnificent and memorable verses of scripture that have also been translated into song (en Español, tambien aquí):
And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me! (D&C 18:15-16)
In the previous post we learned that the worth of souls is great in the sight of God because the Lord our Redeemer suffered death in the flesh, and suffered the pains of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him. In these verses (as in Christ’s parables) we learn that the worth of even one soul is inestimably and unfathomably great in the sight of God.
The worth of your soul and the worth of my soul and the worth of the soul of our neighbor is inestimably and unfathomably great in the sight of God.
As I ponder this truth, a verse from the Christmas hymn “O Holy Night” comes to mind:
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth
When Christ appears, the soul feels its worth.
In a letter to a new convert, the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote:
I love your soul and the souls of the Children of men and pray and do all I can for the salvation of all.
Although I have a long way to go before reaching the spiritual stature of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and even further to go before arriving at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, I want you to know that I love your soul and the souls of the Children of men, and I too pray and do all I can for the salvation of all.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that:
The things of God are of deep import, and time and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out, thy mind O Man, if thou wilt lead a soul into Salvation must stretch as High as the utmost Heavens, and search into and contemplate
the lowest considerations ofthe darkes<t> abyss, andexpand upon the broad<expanse of eternity. Thou>considerations of Eternity’s Expance, hemust commune with God, how much more dignified and noble are the thoughts of God, than the vain imaginations of the human heart, none but fools, will trifle with the souls of men.
The great worth of one soul is also established in Moroni’s record of his father Mormon’s testimony:
And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.
And he hath said: Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and have faith in me, that ye may be saved.
And now, my beloved brethren, if this be the case that these things are true which I have spoken unto you, and God will show unto you, with power and great glory at the last day, that they are true, and if they are true has the day of miracles ceased?
Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved? (Moroni 7:33-36)
The worth of one soul is so great in the sight of God that you and I are called to cry repentance unto this people all our days. How great will be our joy in the Kingdom of God if we bring save it be one soul unto Christ.
Our joy will be even greater if we bring many souls unto Christ, as the great aforementioned missionary Ammon, one of the sons of Mosiah, taught:
Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance. (Alma 26:22)