Scripture Gems S03E01-Come Follow Me: Moses 1 and Abraham 3

Hey, you found us! Welcome, everybody! This is Scripture Gems. Shalom, and welcome to the show! My name is John Fulmer, and this is my brother, Jay. Aveinu shalom aleichem, John! How's it going? We are two brothers who just can't get enough of the Scriptures. Yeah, we love them! So, John, what's the deal with this new opening? What were those phrases we added? Well, Jay, as you know, because we rehearsed this earlier, we're starting our study of the Old Testament this year. L'chaim! Hey, you're pretty good with your Jewish expressions. Well, I've seen Fiddler on the Roof. Well, as you know, most of the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, the ancient language of Israel. Shalom is a greeting. In Hebrew, it means peace. And aveinu shalom aleichem means we bring peace to you. Also a greeting. Now, what about that music? Oh, that's a style of music called klezmer. It's traditional among the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. That's just fun. Oh, nicely done! This episode, we're going over the Come Follow Me lesson for December 27th, 2021 through January 2nd, 2022. This is covering Moses chapter 1 and Abraham chapter 3. And now let's bring out the star of the show, the Scriptures. He could not be more excited to be jumping into the Old Testament this year. It's true. And now let's consult the Scripture-Matic 6000 to find out how long it will take to read this week's reading. 17 minutes, 56 seconds. Excellent. And what would that be daily? 2 minutes, 33 seconds. So doable. Here we've got time codes if you want to take it chapter by chapter. Otherwise, buckle up and let's jump into it all together. Now, before we jump into the chapters today, we want to start off with some introductory material. These are resources that could help you to get a lot out of your study this year, and they're available in your Gospel Library app. Let's start with the Old Testament Institute Manual. Such a great manual. There's two of them. One for the first half, one for the second half. There's a lot of information in there. These are older manuals, and they've been updated a little bit, but not a lot. But they're still a great resource. Also, the Seminary Old Testament Teacher Manual. This is the 2018 version. That's obviously much newer and has some great resources in it. Notice this isn't the student or home study manual. This is the teacher manual. Highly recommended. In the online version, there is a lot of pictures and video resources along the way as well. So check those out. Also, in your scripture study helps, the Bible Chronology. In our paper scriptures, it's in the Bible Dictionary, but in the digital resources, it's on its own, and it walks through the order of events of the Old Testament stories. Now, this chart here is called the Old Testament Times at a Glance. It was originally published in the January 2002 Enzyme and used to be available for purchase, but it's not available anymore. I haven't been able to find it. And there isn't a good digital version, like a high-res digital version. So I created one, and you can link to it as a PDF in the description below the video. Now, many times people ask the question, how can we teach this for our kids better? Let me introduce you to some great resources for children, whether you use them in primary at church or with your own kids at home. First of all, go to Come Follow Me for Primary. It's in your Gospel Library under Come Follow Me, click Primary, and then the Old Testament. Also, there are videos for children. They have updated, and this, boy, it's this long past two, they have updated the Old Testament stories. And they're really great, simple text, great for kids. But actually, and I want to make this point, the readers for kids, I hauled those around with my study materials for years as an adult, because I found them very helpful for me to try to get a sense of the overall story and where things were placed. It's not easy to learn, so don't be afraid to embrace these readers, the Old Testament stories and others. So the Old Testament stories, the new version, is in your Gospel Library. Go to Children, and then Scripture Stories, and then the Old Testament stories are there. There's actually two versions, and you can enjoy both of those. If you want a paper copy of this, you can order it here. But of course, the nice part about the digital version is it also has a video option that you can watch with your kids. And you can access a coloring book here if you want to for Old Testament stories. Now, this is for children and adults. We didn't really mention this last year, but I think it's going to be really important for us this year. Use your church magazines. Every four years, the church magazines focus on our curriculum of study. You can look back and past issues. But this year, keep checking your church magazines, the Liahona. Or for teens, for the Strength of Youth. Or for kids, the Friend magazine. They will have resources in there to help you get the most out of your Old Testament study. But how about a bonus resource? This is a video I made some years ago called The Bible in Eight Minutes. It walks through the whole story of the Bible, as well as its structure, in eight minutes. It's narrated by kids. It's got cartoons. It's easy and fun for all. Highly recommended. Also, our new video, How We Got the Bible. Okay, it's not a short video. It's a long video. But you don't have to watch the whole thing. You can watch it in parts. We have it broken up into individual videos and parts as well. But it's the great, amazing, and really exciting story of how we got the Bible in English. And I hope it'll be fun. And I promise that you will be amazed at what you learn. What an incredible, incredible journey the Bible has been through so that we can have it in our hands today. Well, let's get started. This year, we will continue to seek the Savior, even though the books we will be studying are from before he was born on the earth. From the Come Follow Me manual, we read, If you wonder whether you and your family can come closer to Jesus Christ through studying the Old Testament, keep in mind that the Savior himself invites us to do so. When he told the leaders of the Jews, the Scriptures testify of me, in John 5, verse 39, he was talking about the writings we call the Old Testament. Aha! Now, quick aside. That's something that's really important to realize. First, the Old Testament is more than half of our current standard works. That means it contains more scriptural text than the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price combined. A lot of people dismiss the Old Testament because maybe it's old or hard to read, but it was considered very important by a lot of people. When Nephi told us that his soul delighteth in the Scriptures and his heart pondereth them and writeth them for the learning and profit of his children, which Scriptures was he talking about? The Book of Mormon? It hadn't been written yet. The New Testament? Nope. About seven centuries too early for that. It's the Old Testament. The Come Follow Me manual just reminded us that Jesus Christ himself refers to the Scriptures in his mortal ministry, and it references John 5, verse 39. Which Scriptures does he mean that testify of him? The Old Testament. The Scriptures that are talked about in New Testament times by Peter, James, John, Luke, and Paul? That's the Old Testament. We'll reiterate this later in the year and next year. But when Jesus famously answered the question of the tempting lawyer, which is the great commandment of the law? He gives this answer as recorded in Matthew 22, 37-39. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. What people don't often realize is that Jesus was quoting two Scriptures to give his answer. Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 5, and Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 18. Both Scriptures are found, you guessed it, in the Old Testament. But let's go back to the Come Follow Me manual. Don't expect the Old Testament to present a thorough and precise history of humankind. That's not what the original authors and compilers were trying to create. Their larger concern was to teach something about God, about his plan for his children, about what it means to be his covenant people, and about how to find redemption when we don't live up to our covenants. Sometimes they did it by relating historical events as they understood them, including stories from the lives of great prophets. We'll talk more about the structure of the Old Testament as we go on. But for now, let's take a look at where we are in our Scripture chronology chart as it relates to what we're going to talk about today. So, look for Abraham and Moses. The Bible tells us that Moses was the first author of the Bible and you can see where Abraham is. He predates those writings. So, where did the book of Abraham come from? From the seminary manual, Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldees in approximately 2000 BC. In obedience to the Lord's commands, he traveled from Ur to Haran and then to Canaan, to Egypt, and back to Canaan, the land the Lord promised to give to Abraham's seed. We do not know when Abraham recorded the writings in the book of Abraham. However, it appears that they were originally written while he was in Egypt, though the papyri may be the transcription of a much later date. The prophet Joseph Smith became aware of these writings in 1835 when a man named Michael Chandler brought four Egyptian mummies and several papyrus scrolls of ancient Egyptian writings to Kirtland, Ohio. Members of the church purchased the mummies and rolls of papyrus. The prophet translated some of the writings and began publishing excerpts in the book of Abraham in a church publication called Times and Seasons, beginning in March 1842 at Nauvoo, Illinois. Several fragments of papyri once possessed by the prophet Joseph Smith were discovered in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The exact dates of the discovery are unclear, however, it appears the First Presidency learned about them as early as 1965. The museum transferred the fragments to the church in 1967. Now, if you're interested, obviously we're just telling you a short version of the story, but if you're interested in more information, your gospel library has some. Check out Church History Topics, Book of Abraham Translation, also Gospel Topics Essays, Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham. Links will be found in the description. Also, Joseph Smith Papers, Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts. You can find information there. And this is a great resource, the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, written in 1992 but hosted currently in an electronic format at BYU. You can check for Book of Abraham and also Papyri, Joseph Smith, and we'll have links for all that in the description. But that can really help you to get to know more about the story. But let's take a look at Abraham, Chapter 3. The Seminary Manual gives us a little introduction. Before Abraham went to Egypt, the Lord spoke with him face to face and instructed him about the nature and order of the cosmos and the centrality of Jesus Christ in the plan of salvation. Now, in the first 17 verses of Abraham 3, it contains the account of the Lord teaching Abraham about the stars, which helped Abraham understand the greatness of Jesus Christ and the importance of each of God's children. Look for what the Lord taught Abraham about true greatness. Starting in verse 1, And I, Abraham, had the Urim and Thummim which the Lord my God had given unto me in Ur of the Chaldees. Now, from the Institute Manual and also the Bible Dictionary, Urim and Thummim come from Hebrew words meaning lights and perfections. The title Urim and Thummim was given to an instrument the Lord prepared to assist in obtaining revelation in translating languages. Back to the Scriptures. Verse 2 And I saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God, and there were many great ones which were near unto it. And the Lord said unto me, These are the governing ones, and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me. For I am the Lord thy God. I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest. So, again, understand that this isn't just a lesson about stars. When in verse 3 it says the great one, we should be thinking in spiritual terms. Now, in verses 4 through 17, Abraham learned details about the planets and stars. For example, one day on Kolob is equivalent to a thousand years on earth. See verse 4. The Lord also showed Abraham his creations and promised Abraham that his posterity would be as numerous as the stars and the sands. The Lord commanded Abraham to declare these truths in Egypt. As you review those verses, think of the traits described about the stars. President Joseph Fielding Smith summarized it this way. Kolob is the first creation and is nearest to the celestial. It is the first in government. Oliblish, so called by the Egyptians, stands next to Kolob in the grand governing creation near the celestial, or the place where God resides. This great star is also a governing star and is equal to Kolob in its revolutions and in its measuring of time. Other grand governing stars were also revealed to Abraham. This is from his book, Man, His Origin and Destiny. Is it possible we are actually learning about God and those that have light like his and that this is not so much an astronomy lesson? From the Institute Manual, it tells us, It is not size that makes one star or planet greater than another, but rather its proximity to Kolob. So it is with the children of God. Their greatness and glory will depend upon their proximity to the Creator, Jesus Christ, who is nearest unto the throne of God, the Great One, the first creation, and is set to govern all those which belong to the same order. Thus, the great star Kolob is a symbol of Jesus Christ. Going back to the chapter, verse 18, Howbeit that he made the greater star, as also, If there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning, they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are nolam, or eternal. And the Lord said unto me, These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other, there shall be another more intelligent than they. I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all. This really harkens back to last year with Doctrine and Covenants 93, verse 29. It defines intelligence as the light of truth. Right. Of course, God would have all the light of truth, which relates to that whole star thing in the first 17 verses. And so, those that have more intelligence or more light of truth are those that are closer to God. To verse 21, I dwell in the midst of them all, I now therefore have come down unto thee, to declare unto thee the works which my hands have made. Wherein my wisdom excelleth them all, for I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, in all wisdom and prudence, over all the intelligences thine eyes have seen from the beginning. I came down in the beginning, in the midst of all the intelligences thou hast seen. Wonderful. Now, you might notice in the book of Abraham, these pictures, these drawings, these are facsimiles, meaning that they are woodcuts in order to make copies of the original drawings that were found in the papyri. This one, facsimile 2, this facsimile contains symbolic figures relating to the planets and stars and the Lord's plan of salvation. Other than the explanations provided by the Prophet Joseph Smith, we have no additional revelation about the facsimile from modern prophets. Now, God is following a pattern here. First, you learn who God is, then he teaches you something about who you are. Let's see what he teaches Abraham about himself. In verse 22, Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was. And among all these there were many of the noble and great ones. And God saw these souls, that they were good. And he stood in the midst of them, and he said, These I will make my rulers. For he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good. And he said unto me, Abraham, thou art one of them. Thou wast chosen before thou wast born. So our heavenly Father chose his noble and great children before they were born to become leaders in his kingdom on the earth. From the Gospel Topics in your Gospel Library app, there's an article on foreordination, and it tells us this. The doctrine of foreordination applies to all members of the church, not just the Savior and his prophets. Before the creation of the earth, faithful women were given certain responsibilities, and faithful men were foreordained to certain priesthood duties. As people prove themselves worthy, they will be given opportunities to fulfill the assignments they then received. But what does it mean that some spirits had more intelligence, or the light of truth, than others? From the Pearl of Great Price Student Institute Manual, it has this quote from President Joseph Fielding Smith, who said, We know they were all innocent in the beginning, but the right of free agency which was given to them enabled some to outstrip others, and thus, through the eons of immortal existence, to become more intelligent, more faithful, for they were free to act for themselves, to think for themselves, to receive the truth, or rebel against it. This is from his Doctrines of Salvation book. So then, what is our purpose in this earth life? Going on with Abraham chapter 3, verse 24, And there stood one among them that was like unto God. And he said unto those who were with him, We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell. And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them. So this test began in our premortal life, or our first estate. The scriptures refer to our premortal choice to follow Heavenly Father's plan as keeping our first estate. From the Institute Manual, we get this quick quote from Elder Rex C. Reeve, Sr. from the October 1982 General Conference. He says, This life is a time of testing. It is not the reward time. That will come later. We are here being tested. The test is going on now. Great insight. Let's go back to the chapter in verse 26, And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon. And they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate. And they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads forever and ever. Now, with this idea of keeping first and second estates, let's turn to the Pearl of Great Price Student Institute Manual. There's a quote by Elder Neil A. Maxwell from the October 1985 General Conference. He teaches this, Premortality is not a relaxing doctrine. For each of us, there are choices to be made, incessant and difficult chores to be done, ironies and adversities to be experienced, time to be well spent, talents and gifts to be well employed. Just because we were chosen there and then, surely does not mean we can be indifferent here and now. In fact, adequacy in the first estate may merely have ensured a stern second estate with more duties and no immunities. Additionally, tutoring and suffering appears to be the pattern for the Lord's most apt pupils. Our existence, therefore, is a continuum, matched by God's stretching curriculum. Agreeing to enter this second estate, therefore, was like agreeing in advance to anesthetic, the anesthetic of forgetfulness. Doctors do not de-anesthetize a patient in the midst of what was previously authorized to ask him again if it should be continued. We agreed to come here and to undergo certain experiences under certain conditions. But there is one more important teaching before we leave the vision of a pre-earth life. And we'll learn more about that as we go along this year. Well, and even in this chapter as we turn now to Moses chapter 1. From the Pearl of Great Price Institute Manual, it gives us this introduction. Soon after the church was organized on April 6, 1830, the Lord commanded the Prophet Joseph Smith to begin an inspired translation or revision of the King James Version of the Bible. Today, this inspired translation, which the Prophet worked on until the time of his death, is known as the Joseph Smith Translation. The Prophet Joseph Smith restored to the Bible many parts which are plain and most precious, and also many covenants of the Lord which were taken away. Between the summer of 1830 and February of 1831, the Prophet completed Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 through chapter 6 verse 13, which is now contained in the Pearl of Great Price as Moses chapter 1 through 8. From the seminary manual, we're told, the book of Moses may be divided into two major sections. Moses 1, which relates experiences from Moses' life that are not found in the book of Genesis, and Moses 2 through 8, which contains the inspired and restored account of events described in the Bible. We do not know exactly when Moses received the revelations recorded in the book of Moses, or where he was when he recorded them. However, we know that the experiences recorded in Moses chapter 1 occurred after Moses encountered the burning bush, but before he returned to Egypt to deliver the children of Israel from bondage. As we look at the first 11 verses, notice that same pattern we saw with Abraham. First, God needs us to know who he is, and then he will teach us who we are and what he wants us to do. From the Pearl of Great Price Student Institute manual, we get this additional note. The personage who spoke to Moses was the premortal Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament. Being one with Heavenly Father, Jesus at times speaks as if he were God the Father. This is known as divine investiture, whereby Christ is invested with authority to speak for and in behalf of the Father. We'll see the Holy Ghost do the same thing in Moses 5. So, let's get started in Moses chapter 1, verse 1. So, what have we learned about God? Notice how he describes himself, Almighty, Endless. Why is that important for Moses to understand about God? Consider that as we go forward. Now, let's pause for a moment and just look at what's included in this introduction. One, God is all-powerful and endless. Two, you are his child. What does that mean? If we know that God is endless and all-powerful and that we are really his child, what does that say about our potential? Three, he will show us his works but not all. There are limitations. We shouldn't expect that he's going to give us all answers. The reason that he seems to show us his works is because he has a work for us to do. Here is God, all-powerful. Here are we, his child. Most important, then, do you see my works? I want you to be included. I have a work for you. Many years ago, there was a talk at General Conference by a member of the Seventy who is from England. He talked about his father coming back from the war and how excited he was to meet a father he'd never met. One of his favorite things was to be with his father while he worked in his little workshop, fixing things like chairs and those kinds of things for the house. Often, he would build something from scratch and he would involve his son. He recognized that, yes, he probably was more of a hindrance than a help. And yet, he was so excited to see what the thing his father was building would become and to be able, even in some small way, to be a part of it. What a great, amazing perspective of the plan of salvation. So, let's go on. There's a quote in the seminary manual from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. It's from a talk from the Church Education System Fireside for Young Adults given on November 1, 2009 called, The Reflection in the Water. He says, You are something divine, more beautiful and glorious than you can possibly imagine. This knowledge changes everything. It changes your present. It can change your future. And it can change the world. Because of the revealed word of a merciful God, you have felt the eternal glory of that divine spirit within you. You are no ordinary beings, my beloved young friends all around the world. You are glorious and eternal. It is my prayer and blessing that when you look at your reflection, you will be able to see beyond imperfections and self-doubts and recognize who you truly are, glorious sons and daughters of the Almighty God. Well, let's go back to Moses chapter 1, starting in verse 7. And now behold, this one thing I show unto thee, Moses, my son, for thou art in the world, and now I show it unto thee. And it came to pass that Moses looked and beheld the world upon which he was created. And Moses beheld the world and the ends thereof and all the children of men which are and were created. Of the same he greatly marveled and wondered. And the presence of God withdrew from Moses, that his glory was not upon Moses, and Moses was left unto himself. And as he was left unto himself, he fell to the earth. And it came to pass that it was for the space of many hours before Moses did again receive his natural strength like unto man. And he said unto himself, Now for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed. I really love this quote from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. It's from the October 2011 General Conference. He says this, The vast expanse of eternity, the glories and mysteries of infinite space and time are all built for the benefit of ordinary mortals like you and me. Our Heavenly Father created the universe that we might reach our potential as his sons and daughters. This is a paradox of man. Compared to God, man is nothing. Yet we are everything to God. While against the backdrop of infinite creation we may appear to be nothing, we have a spark of eternal fire burning within our breast. We have the incomprehensible promise of exaltation, worlds without end, within our grasp. And it is God's great desire to help us reach it. In verse 11, Moses marvels that he could look upon God and that he had to be changed, transfigured to do so. In the Guide to the Scriptures in your Gospel Library app, under the heading Transfiguration, it tells us that Transfiguration is the condition of persons who are temporarily changed in appearance and nature, that is, lifted to a higher spiritual level, so that they can endure the presence and glory of heavenly beings. Now, going forward, we have one of my very favorite parts in Scripture. And so, we haven't done this in a long time. We're going to do this as a reader's theater. This is Moses chapter 1 verses 12 through 23. And it came to pass that when Moses had said these words, behold, Satan came, tempting him, saying, Moses, son of man, worship me. And it came to pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said, Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his only begotten. And where is thy glory, that I should worship thee? For behold, I could not look upon God except his glory should come upon me, and I were transfigured before him. But I can look upon thee in the natural man, is it not so, surely? Blessed be the name of my God, for his spirit hath not altogether withdrawn from me. Or else, where is thy glory? For it is darkness unto me, and I can judge between thee and God. For God said unto me, Worship God, for him only shalt thou serve. Get thee hence, Satan, deceive me not. For God said unto me, Thou art after the similitude of mine only begotten. And he also gave me commandments when he called me out of the burning bush, saying, Call upon God in the name of mine only begotten, and worship me. And again Moses said, I will not cease to call upon God. I have other things to inquire of him, for his glory has been upon me, wherefore I can judge between him and thee. Depart hence, Satan. And now when Moses had said these words, Satan cried with a loud voice, and ranted upon the earth, and commanded, saying, I am the only begotten, worship me. And it came to pass that Moses began to fear exceedingly. As he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell. Nevertheless, calling upon God, he received strength, and he commanded, saying, Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of glory. And now Satan began to tremble, and the earth shook. And Moses received strength, and called upon God, saying, In the name of the only begotten, depart hence, Satan. And it came to pass that Satan cried with a loud voice, with weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. And he departed hence, even from the presence of Moses, that he beheld him not. And now of this thing Moses bore record. But because of wickedness it is not had among the children of men. I'd like to talk just a minute about these verses. Every one of my children at one point has woken up in the middle of the night with a nightmare. And for every one of them, I've taken them into the living room, sat down with them, put my arm around them, and shared a couple of scriptures with them. The first one is in 2 Timothy 1 verse 7, which says, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power. And when I talk to them about their feelings, we open the scriptures to this story. And we show the example of that power that God gives us. It's a gift. It's a strength that comes from him. And that it has power to overcome any fear. And then I usually give them a blessing and put them to bed. With each of my kids, they've only gotten up one time with that. I remember those early morning moments together with them. It was so amazing. Some of my favorite spiritual memories come from sharing these scriptures with my kids when they were at their most vulnerable. Now I have some additional thoughts. Notice that Satan wasn't lying when he called Moses a son of man. We are all mortal. And we know that. It's nothing new, but Satan wanted Moses to only focus on that, and not on the much more important part of ourselves that God revealed unto Moses just before. We are children of an almighty God. Notice how Moses used his previous spiritual experience with God to detect Satan's deception. How important it is for us to pursue spiritual experiences and help others to do the same so that we will know true light. So we will know what that is so that we can perceive what darkness is. Now you would maybe think everybody knows darkness from light. But you know it can happen so subtly, the loss of light. Let me just share this quick anecdote from an experience that John and I had when we were younger. We were living on a farm at the time, and I think we were probably eight and nine. And my little sister Kathy was watching us throw a softball back and forth. But it was getting dark, and at one point she went in, and we could see the light on in the living room of the house. But we kept throwing the ball. We could see just fine. And later she came out, and she was a little kid, but she told us we needed to come in. It was too dark to be playing out here. Well, that was foolish. We could tell it wasn't too dark. We could see just fine. And so we kept throwing the ball. But at that moment that John threw the ball, I saw his arm make that motion, but I had no idea. I couldn't see a ball at all until it smacked me square in the forehead. So, well, first of all, learned a couple of lessons. One, the word softball is a misnomer. And second, Kathy knew it was too dark because she had been in the light. And she could tell the light from the darkness. John and I had been in this slowly diminishing darkness, and I didn't realize it was too dark until it was too late. So some other lessons we might learn from this story. Look for how important the commandments were in verses 16 and 17 in preparing Moses for the challenges he would face. He mentions that, that the commandments helped him. Also notice the attitude of Moses, how he wants to be obedient because he wants to become like his father. Remember also that it's not by our authority or strength that we overcome darkness and the natural man, but it's by accessing the power of Christ. That's what changed things in Moses's interactions with Satan. And lastly, I would point out that Satan's craving to be the only begotten well, that was hinted at in the last verses of Abraham 3 that we talked about earlier. And one more insight that we got from the Pearl of Great Price Institute manual. This talks about the notion that we can use Moses and Jesus Christ as examples for how to deal with temptation. This comes from President Spencer W. Kimball from his famous book, The Miracle of Forgiveness. He says, quote, The importance of not accommodating temptation in the least degree is underlined by the Savior's example. Did not he recognize the danger when he was on the mountain with his fallen brother, Lucifer, being sorely tempted by that master tempter? He could have opened the door and flirted with danger by saying, all right, Satan, I'll listen to your proposition. I need not succumb. I need not yield. I need not accept, but I'll listen. Christ did not so rationalize. He positively and promptly closed the discussion and commanded, Get thee hence, Satan. Meaning, likely, get out of my sight. Get out of my presence. I will not listen. I will have nothing to do with you. Then we read, the devil leaveth him. This is our proper pattern. We would prevent sin rather than be faced with the much more difficult task of curing it. As I study the story of the Redeemer and his temptations, I am certain he spent his energies fortifying himself against temptation rather than battling with it to conquer it. Great perspective. Going on, let's look for the blessings of resisting darkness and seeking light. Verse 24, And it came to pass, that when Satan had departed from the presence of Moses, that Moses lifted up his eyes unto heaven, and being filled with the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, and calling upon the name of God, he beheld his glory again, for it was upon him, and he heard a voice saying, Blessed art thou, Moses, for I, the Almighty, have chosen thee, and thou shalt be made stronger than many waters, for they shall obey thy command, as if thou wert God. And, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days, for thou shalt deliver my people from bondage, even Israel, my chosen. From the Pearl of Great Price Student Institute Manual, we get this additional insight. From the time of Adam, the Holy Ghost has been on the earth, inspiring and testifying to God's children. President Joseph Fielding Smith said, The fact is, all the prophets had the Holy Ghost. They were led and directed by him, and without this power, they would not have been prophets. Peter said that prophecy itself came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The book of Moses, which is the original and perfect record of a part of Genesis, speaks of the Holy Ghost. So do the Nephite prophets, including those who lived in the era before Christ. I would like to point out, too, that when he was filled by the Holy Ghost, look what he did. In verse 25, he called upon the name of God. God didn't just reappear to Moses. Moses reached out to him and invited him. That's such an important part of prayer, is the willingness to submit ourselves to having God's presence be with us. It's an important use of our agency. Absolutely. Going back to the chapter, verse 27, And it came to pass, as the voice was still speaking, Moses cast his eyes and beheld the earth, yea, even all of it. And there was not a particle of it which he did not behold, discerning it by the Spirit of God. And he beheld also the inhabitants thereof, and there was not a soul which he beheld not, and he discerned them by the Spirit of God. And their numbers were great, even numberless, as the sand upon the seashore. And he beheld many lands, and each land was called earth, and there were inhabitants on the face thereof. Can you imagine seeing a similar vision? Alright, everybody take a moment to wave to Moses, because we know that he sees us. Nice. So, what question might you ask after seeing something like this? Let's take a look at Moses' question. Verse 30, And it came to pass that Moses called upon God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, why these things are so, and by what thou madest them? So, in God's reply, he addresses the second question first. In verse 31, For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom, and it remaineth in me. Now, a quick aside. That is probably the closest we get to our Father in heaven saying, Because I said so. As a parent, that is very vindicating to me. Alright, verse 32, And by the word of my power have I created them, which is mine only begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth. And worlds without number have I created, and I also created them for mine own purpose. And by the Son I created them, which is mine only begotten. So, worlds without number have I created. This work is much bigger than we could imagine. And by Jesus Christ, God carried out this work. Going on in verse 34, And the first man of all men have I called Adam, which is many. But only in account of this earth and the inhabitants thereof give I unto you. For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man. But all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine, and I know them. Notice the reminder here of the aforementioned restriction on the knowledge of God's works. He will show you his works, but not all. So, in this case, the restriction to Moses is just things that relate to his world. I gotta believe that part of that would be, it would just take too long. Too much. Good point. Verse 36, And it came to pass that Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, Be merciful unto thy servant, O God, and tell me concerning this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, and also the heavens, and then thy servant will be content. And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying, The heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man, but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine. And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof, even so shall another come, and there is no end to my works, neither to my words. But now we get to the first part of Moses' question, the why. Verse 39, For behold, this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Notice that this too will be done through God's only begotten Son. Now, if you have never heard that verse of scripture before, you are either just baptized, congratulations by the way, or you have not paid attention to anything that you have ever heard in the church. This is one of the most commonly quoted scriptures, and you can see why. It is so important. This is the work and glory of the Father, to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life. And it's the only scripture I remember memorizing in seminary, so. And well done. Yeah, thanks. Now we have an introduction to what we will find starting in Genesis 1, starting in verse 40 of Moses chapter 1. And now, Moses my son, I will speak unto thee concerning this earth upon which thou standest. Thou shalt write the things which I shall speak. And in a day when the children of men shall esteem my words as not, and take many of them from the book which thou shalt write, behold, I will raise up another like unto thee. And they shall be had again among the children of men, among as many as shall believe. So that sets the stage for next week. You know, it's an interesting thing because when we read Genesis chapter 1, there's no context. We have no idea why Moses is reciting this or where it comes from. But Moses chapter 1 helps us to set that stage. It's an answer to his questions. It's part of a vision. It's very exciting. It is, and I'm so excited to go over that. What incredible things we've learned today about who God is, about who we are, and what it is that his purposes are for us and how we can be a part of his work. Don't shy away from the Old Testament. If you've never read it before, you are not alone. It can be hard at times, but we're here to help. And we'll also help you find many, many resources that the church has published to help all of us to learn on our own. Absolutely. And also, if you feel comfortable reading the Book of Mormon, remember that the Book of Mormon is the other Old Testament. Right. It's the same time period. It's the same culture that we're going to be reading about here. It's just that their stories are mostly in the new world, and we're going to talk about what happened in the old world. And of course, there's more of it, and it's going to be great. You're going to love it. So keep reading your scriptures, and we'll look forward to talking to you more about them in our next lesson. We'll see you then.