Seek This Jesus

Book of Mormon Notes - Saturday, June 8, 2024, Ether 12, Part 5

As I wondered why he wrote a farewell before even concluding the abridgment of the Jaredite record, I remembered that Moroni was a lone surviving Nephite who was being hunted by the Lamanites. Any day could have been his last day. So it is with us, but this reality must have been ever present for Moroni as he fled and hid himself from his enemies. His task was urgent, and he didn’t know how much time he had to finish it.

Thankfully, the Lord preserved his life and enabled Moroni to record many more vital messages for his future audience. Nevertheless, by this point in his record, Ether 12, Moroni had made his calling and election sure. The Lord had commended him for his faithfulness and promised to make him clean. Because he had seen his weakness, the Lord promised to make Moroni strong. The Lord also promised a place which He had prepared for Moroni in the mansions of His Father. This reminds me of another of my favorite verses in all of scripture:

And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen. (Enos 1:27)

Can you imagine the voice of the Lord calling to you in this way?

Alma put the question even more poignantly:

And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?

Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?

I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth? (Alma 5:14-16)

It would be interesting to trace the many instances in the Book of Mormon where the Lord promises eternal life to his servants. Last week in Sunday school, I was reminded of such a great moment in Alma’s life:

Blessed art thou, Alma, and blessed are they who were baptized in the waters of Mormon. Thou art blessed because of thy exceeding faith in the words alone of my servant Abinadi.

And blessed are they because of their exceeding faith in the words alone which thou hast spoken unto them.

And blessed art thou because thou hast established a church among this people; and they shall be established, and they shall be my people.

Yea, blessed is this people who are willing to bear my name; for in my name shall they be called; and they are mine.

And because thou hast inquired of me concerning the transgressor, thou art blessed.

Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep. (Mosiah 26:15-20)

Moroni experienced something similar in the process of fulfilling his duty, abridging the Jaredite record, and communing with the Lord. In fact, Moroni not only heard the voice of the Lord, but like the brother of Jared, Moroni was an eye-witness of Jesus Christ:

And then shall ye know that I have seen Jesus, and that he hath talked with me face to face, and that he told me in plain humility, even as a man telleth another in mine own language, concerning these things; (Ether 12:39)

I love Moroni’s description of his conversation with the Lord. In some ways, it seems different from the descriptions of the overwhelming and overpowering theophanies of Abraham, Moses, the brother of Jared, Nephi, Isaiah, John the Beloved, and many others. Moroni’s record of his conversation with the Lord demonstrates that, like his father Mormon, he was already deeply familiar with the Lord. Remember how his father Mormon described his experiences with the Lord in his youth:

And I, being fifteen years of age and being somewhat of a sober mind, therefore I was visited of the Lord, and tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus. (Mormon 1:15)

Have you been visited of the Lord? Have you tasted and known of the goodness of Jesus? Isn’t this the purpose of our study of the Book of Mormon and of everything that we do as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and disciples of Jesus Christ? I think so.

We may not see Jesus or talk with him face to face as Moroni did, but I believe that a sincere and earnest study of the Book of Mormon brings us closer to communing with the Lord like Moroni did. The Book of Mormon contains the words of Christ, and when we feast upon the words of Christ, the Lord can tell us in plain humility, even as a man tells another in his own language, whatever it is that we need to hear. As we come unto Him, the Lord will show unto us our weakness, not just to humble us and to help us to rely upon Him and His grace, but also to make weak things become strong unto us.

During his conversation with the Lord, Moroni remembered that the Lord had prepared a house for man among the mansions of His Father. This promise of an inheritance among the mansions of Heavenly Father gave Moroni a more excellent hope. This is also our hope, the hope of all those who love and desire to follow Jesus Christ.

Because of his weakness in writing, Moroni only wrote a few of the things that the Lord taught him. There is so much more. Thus Moroni, like his predecessors, invites us to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written. Why? That the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which bears record of them, may be and abide in us forever.

What can you and I do to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written? Let’s keep this question in mind as we conclude our study of Moroni’s abridgment of the Book of Ether, the record of the Jaredites.