I am the Law and the Light

1
I am the Law and the Light

• 3 Nephi 12-15

2
President Benson

• We are a covenant-making people. The temple is
  one of the holy places in which the Savior
  commanded the faithful to stand. It is a holy
  place because it is a house of covenants.

3
Rabbi Sternfield of Chicago

• Nearly 4000 years ago, in seeking to establish
  our peoples own unique identity, the people of
  Abrahamdevised the idea of the covenant. Several
  times in the Torah, God is described as
  establishing that Covenant with the Jewish
  people. God is depicted as speaking directly with
  Abraham, then later with Moses and the other
  Hebrew prophets.
• It is much more likely that if happened the other
  way around. It was our people who inventedyes,
  inventedthis Covenant with God. Thus arose
  unfortunate moniker of the Chosen People, when in
  fact we have been only a choosing people, having
  chosen to follow the Torahs discipline.

4
Shavuot (Pentecost)

• Also known as the Festival of Weeks
• 50 days after Passover
• Celebrates the day the Law was given to Israel
• Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center
• Shavuot also means "oaths", with the giving of
  the Torah, the Jewish people and G-d exchanged
  oaths, forming an everlasting covenant, not to
  forsake one another.

5
Bro Jay Welch

• Shavuot was a day for remembering great spiritual
  manifestations. Shavuot came to be associated
  with the day on which the Lord came down in smoke
  and flame on Mount Sinai and appeared to Moses on
  behalf of the host of Israel. Now Jesus had come
  down and appeared to all gathered in Bountiful
  (at Shavuot).
• as the Nephites had washed and presented
  themselves ritually clean before the Lord at the
  temple, the question must have forcefully arisen
  again, as it had a generation earlier when the
  sign of Jesus' birth was seen, asking what
  priestly functions this branch of Israel should
  continue to perform at its temple now that Jesus
  had lived and died.

6
Important Sequence of Events

• Appears in great light
• By feeling the prints of the nails,
  they know it is Him
• He then gives the Sermon at the Temple (Sermon on
  the Mount)

7
After the Sermon

• 3 Nephi 154 Behold I say unto you that the law
  is fulfilled that was given unto Moses
• Behold, I am the law and the light
• The Sermon (on the Mount, at the Temple) could be
  renamed to How to be Disciple

8
Sermon At the Temple

• 3 Nephi 122 And again, more blessed are they who
  shall believe in your words because that ye shall
  testify that ye have seen me, and that ye know
  that I am.
• Yea, blessed are they who shall believe
  in your words, and come down into the
  depths of humility and be baptized, for
  they shall be visited with fire and with the
  Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission
  of their sins.

9
3 Nephi 12 2 Yea, blessed are they who shall
believe in your words
3 Nephi 12 3 Yea, blessed are the poor in
spirit (who come unto me), for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven
FAITH AND BELIEF
and again blessed are all they that mourn, for
they shall be comforted
and come down into the depths of humility
REPENT
and be baptized
and blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit
the earth
BAPTISM
and blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst
after righteousness, for they shall be filled
(with the Holy Ghost)
for they shall be visited with fire and with the
Holy Ghost
HOLY GHOST
and blessed are the merciful, for they shall
obtain mercy
and shall receive a remission of sins.
FORGIVE TO BE FORGIVEN
and blessed are all the pure in heart, for they
shall see God
..ye shall testify that ye have seen me and know
that I am
TEMPLE
LIVE THE GOSPEL OF PEACE
3 Nephi 1834blessed are ye if ye have no
disputations among you
And Blessed are all the peacemakers, for they
shall be called the children of God.
3 Nephi 159for unto him that endureth to the
end will I give eternal life
and Blessed are all they which are persecuted
(for my names sake) for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven
ENDURE TO THE END
10
Salt

• 3 Nephi 12 13
• Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you
  to be the salt of the earth but if the salt
  shall lose its savor wherewith shall the earth be
  salted? The salt shall be thenceforth good for
  nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden
  under foot of men.

11
The Utah War

• Jesse Crosby President Young sent (the army) a
  load of salt on hearing they were out but
  (General Johnston) would not receive it and our
  men scattered it in the snow
• Richard Dewey reports that the officers mess
  was soon after supplied by the Indians at the
  rate of 5 a pound.

12
Senator Sam Houston

• An act of civility was tendered by Brigham
  Young, and you might, if you please construe
  it, under the circumstances, rather as an act
  of submission on his part. As an act of
  humanity, thinking that at least it could not
  be regarded as discourteous, he sent a supply
  of salt requisite for the relief of the
  encampment, What was the message the
  military officer sent back?
• I believe the substance of it was that he would
  have no intercourse with a rebel (Brigham Young),
  and when they met they would fight. They (the
  Mormons) will fight and if they fight he
  (Johnston) will get miserably whipped.
• That was a time to make peace with Brigham Young,
  because there is something potent in salt. With
  the Turk, who has similar habits and religion of
  the Mormons, it is the sacrament of perpetual
  friendship.

13
One Covenant Ends- But another still continues

• 3 Nephi 155
• Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am I he
  who covenanted with my people Israel
• 8- For behold, the covenant which I have made
  with my people is not fulfilled
• but the law which was given to Moses hath an end
  in me.

14
Thomas S. Monson

• Stan, a dear friend of mine, was stricken by
  cancer. He had been robust in
  health, athletic in build, and active
  in many pursuits. Now he was unable to
  walk or to stand. His
  wheelchair was his home. The finest of
  physicians had cared for him, and the
  prayers of family and friends had been offered in
  a spirit of hope and trust. Yet Stan continued to
  lie in the confinement of his bed at University
  Hospital.
• Late one afternoon I was swimming at Deseret Gym,
  gazing at the ceiling while backstroking width
  after width. Silently, but ever so clearly, there
  came to my mind the thought "Here you swim
  almost effortlessly, while your friend Stan is
  unable to move." I felt the prompting "Get to
  the hospital and give him a blessing.
• I ceased my swimming, dressed, and hurried to
  Stan's room at the hospital. His bed was empty. A
  nurse said he was in his wheelchair at the
  swimming pool, preparing for therapy. I hurried
  to the area, and there was Stan, all alone, at
  the edge of the deeper portion of the pool. We
  greeted each other and returned to his room,
  where a priesthood blessing was provided.

15

• Slowly but surely, strength and movement returned
  to Stan's legs. First he could stand on faltering
  feet. Then he learned once again to walk, step by
  step. Today one would not know that Stan had lain
  so close to death and with no hope of recovery.
• Frequently Stan speaks in church meetings and
  tells of the goodness of the Lord to him. To some
  he reveals the dark thoughts of depression that
  engulfed him that afternoon as he sat in his
  wheelchair at the edge of the pool, sentenced, it
  seemed, to a life of despair.
• He tells how he pondered the alternative. It
  would be so easy to propel the hated wheelchair
  into the silent water of the deep pool. Life
  would then be over. But at that precise moment he
  saw me, his friend. That day Stan learned
  literally that we do not walk alone. I too
  learned a lesson that day never, never, never
  postpone a prompting.