Abide: Moses 1 and Abraham 3

Joseph Stuart: The visions of Moses and Abraham as found in the Pearl of Great Price radically reframe how Latter-day Saints understand and think about creation. As Terryl Givens writes about Moses chapter 1, in The Pearl of Greatest Price. Here we see the first concrete foundation of what is becoming a full blown cosmic narrative emerging from Joseph Smith's theological innovations. The creation story that follows, a retelling of Genesis 1, is hereby radically recontextualized, not as a primal act of the universe's creation ex nihilo. But as one particular instance of a timeless, ever continuing creation of world upon world that dynamic still emerge in cosmos inhabited by embodied spirits consequent to a divine purpose that envisions the apotheosis of the human family.

My name is Joseph Stuart, I'm the Public Communication Specialist with the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University. Kristian Heal is a Research Associate at the Maxwell Institute, and each week we'll be discussing the week's block of reading from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Come, Follow Me curriculum. We’re not here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the Scripture block, so as to help fulfill the Maxwell Institute's mission to “Inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and engage the world of religious ideas.”

So, I really like what Givens says about how Moses 1 helps us to reframe the creation narrative. But what is going on in general in Moses chapter 1, Kristian?

Kristian Heal: Moses chapter 1, is this prelude to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 0, if you will. And it gives us, it sets up, what for everyone else is this third-person narrative describing externally creation of the world, and turns it into a personal revelation, an encounter with God, an encounter on an exceedingly high mountain that results in this vision of all. And so we not only get the story of creation as this product of a direct encounter between Moses and God. But we see something happening to Moses on this mountain as well, which is this kind of apotheosis moment, this, this transformation, this, this coming closer to God.

Stuart: Yeah, I like that the mountain is exceedingly high. It's not just a regular old mountain. It's an exceedingly high one. And it reminds me of when I was in the University of Virginia, and we were recruiting a student who had attended BYU. And one of my friends from Florida had said, “Hey can you believe how great these mountains are?” –meaning the Blue Ridge in the, in the Appalachians. And the student turned to me and just was like, “What is he talking about? You're not recognizing that the Blue Ridge are nothing like the Wasatch Mountains in Utah.” And I think about the different types of mountains, how, in the scriptures, mountains are used in very different ways. You already mentioned the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew chapter 17, where Jesus is transfigured, but what other types of events are taking place on mountains throughout scripture, Kristian?

Heal: Mountains are interesting places in the scriptures. We often, I think as, as Latter-day Saints connect mountains with temples, that's our sort of first… so we, we do think of mountains as sort of holy places. But in the Bible, mountains were also kind of problematic places. It's where people went up to worship false gods as prophets sort of warn against Isaiah and Jeremiah. But they're also mountains, that the mountains are also where temptation happens. Jesus has taken into an exceedingly high mountain, and is tempted of the Devil. So, somehow, Satan is appearing in these mountains as well. We have temptation, we have revelation, and we have Transfiguration, all happening on these mountains, throughout scripture. And interestingly, in Moses chapter 1, all of these mountains kind of come together in one kind of archetypal story of temptation, transformation, and revelation.

Stuart: Yeah, I like to think about those three separate ideas as sort of like interwoven threads as you’ve described them to me. And I'm thinking about how lots of different types of words and ideas and phrases show up throughout scripture that connect one to another. And I think there's a nerd word for phrases, ideas and images like that. Can you remind me what it is?

Heal: This is intertextuality. This is the idea that, that words, phrases, ideas, connect texts- not just reminding us of texts- but bring other texts into conversation in the text that you're reading at a particular time. And so when we're reading Moses, chapter 1, our minds are thinking of Nephi, our minds are thinking of Jesus being tempted, our minds are thinking of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. And that weaving together of those different stories into the story, that we're reading both sort of actively and passively, is transforming the way that we understand this. It's adding richness, it's adding depth. And it seems to me that it's something which is essential to scripture itself. We'll find echoes of Genesis throughout the Old Testament, we'll find echoes of, and allusions to the Old Testament throughout the New Testament. The Book of Mormon is filled with allusions to the Bible, as is the Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price. And this is something which, one of the things which defines scripture, it seems to me is this interwoven this, this intertextuality, this deep thread of a network of, of images and ideas and potency, which are sort of brought to bear with scripture. Interpreting each other, with scripture, explaining each other, with scripture, kind of gesturing towards other passages, which have similar ideas and feelings.

Stuart: In a much more mundane way, this actually reminds me of watching a Marvel movie or Marvel television show, where I will immediately get on to an explainer post to understand why on earth something was significant that everyone was freaking out about on social media, because I don't understand the full context of this Marvel Universe in the same way. Again, on a very different plane, but the intertextuality of those comic books and heroes, thinking about scripture as all being connected to one another, and all telling part of a larger story in this universe that we inhabit. I'm also thinking about the mountain as a place of geographic separation, that it is something wholly distinct from flat ground, or really from anything else. We are fortunate enough to live in Utah, where there are many mountains. And it is a place where I have often gone for solitude to get some time to myself, and to think through a problem. And it's also a place though, it's not only geographically separate, but I myself am in a different frame of mind when I am going into the mountain. It's not the same thing as going into a 7/11, or walking across campus or things like that, it is, “I am making a plan to ascend the mountain and to do something specific there.” In many ways, and again, in a, this is less of a mundane way, but in a more special way, preparation to go to the temple. Both require the preparation of special clothing, of being prepared for what you'll encounter and participate in there, and also going with a specific purpose to do so. Even if the purpose is quote-on-quote, “Just to help someone,” by performing their vicarious work. As you're preparing to ascend into the mountain of the Lord, the temple, or to ascend into a literal mountain, you need to be prepared for what's going to be there so that you can have the best experience possible. Now, I also think about the glory of the mountains. I have hiked Mount Timpanogos, exactly once in my life. But I remember being at the top of that mountain, overlooking the Salt Lake and Utah Valleys. I remember the wind, I remember how cold it was. I remember seeing the sun in the sky, it was mid-afternoon, I remember what I was wearing. I remember how thirsty I was. And it's amazing to think about these sort of turning point moments that for whatever reason, become visceral in our memories. They become really vivid, they become something that we can recall at a moment's notice. And I also remember looking out over those valleys, at the majesty, or the glory of God's creations, thinking about how the landscape had changed over the previous several hundred and several thousand, and several hundreds of thousands of years, and just marveling at what had been created. Now I think that that feeds into Moses chapter 1, where Joseph Smith uses the word glory 13 times as he translated Moses chapter 1. Does it stick out to you as significant that the word is repeated so many times?

Heal: I think this is another way that scripture communicates itself to us. So, it connects itself to other texts, and then it repeats certain key-words and key-ideas, because it's trying to teach us… in a sense, a message. Part of that message, of course, is in Moses 1:39, “This is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of mankind.” And so this, this notion of that something which is familiar to us, but I think something else is going on here with this invocation of the glory of God. And in the Hebrew, this is Hakkavod. Hakkavod, the glory of the Lord. And where we see this elsewhere in the Bible, is in moments of sanctification. Of the sanctification of the tabernacle, the sanctification of the temple. And so, the glory of God is somehow transforming the place that Moses is upon, for example, this is the first part I think of this process of sanctification, but then also Moses himself. So we start to think of the glory of God doing certain work. It's sanctifying us, it's sanctifying a place. But we also think of the glory of God, as we start to see the sort of awfulness of God in this, the traditional sort of English sense of that as a rousing or inspiring awe. And so this glory, and that's, I think, what we feel in the mountains. In part, we feel this sense of awe and wonder. And that, awe has… gives us a kind of a reflection of, I think, this transformative effect. We're different when we ascend the mountains, we’re different when we look out and have this grand vista. Just as we are when we sort of get out into the world that God has created and sort of placed us in. Until –I think that's part of what's going on here with this, this repetition of glory, that it's doing work in this story, and it's doing work in our own lives.

Stuart: I can imagine that every listener can look back on their lives at those moments of awe, those moments of wonder in their lives that really mark a turning point in their lives. For me, when I was a Latter-day Saint missionary, I was having a really hard time with the companions that I had. Sorry to any who may be listening right now, and really wanted to confirmation that my mission president was receiving revelation, that I would be put in the best position to serve, to help others develop faith in Jesus Christ, repent, become baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then endure to the end. And so I was transferred to this small area in Beaverton, Oregon, and I met a man named Mark who had been going to church for 35 years. He had held callings, he had sent his son on a mission, he had sent his kids to BYU, and he had never chosen to be baptized. And the first Sunday I was there it was Statke Conference, and it turns out at that state conference that Mark received a prompting that he should be baptized. And I quickly figured out that, that had nothing to do with me. And it had everything to do with how I was meant to serve others. In this case, I believe that I was sent there to help the family through the transition, because although it was a happy transition, there was a lot going on for Mark's family. And they are still lifelong friends, they came to my temple sealing, I went to their temple sealing a year later, and thinking about how I needed to know that God was putting me in the best position to serve, and not in the way that I thought of. It wasn't about baptisms. It wasn't about that sort of thing. It was about helping those who needed our Heavenly parents’ help, and following the spirit to know who to help, and how, and when, is one of those turning points in my life. And I was only in that area for six weeks, but I made lifelong friends and had a very special experience.

Heal: Yeah, that's really beautiful. It reminds us that we worship a personal God who knows us. There's lots of people who see the jumping off point for Moses chapter one, as this scripture in, in Numbers, Numbers chapter 12, where God talks about the distinctiveness of Moses, there was something different about him as a prophet. It says in here in verse 6, “If there were prophets among you, I the Lord would reveal myself in visions, I would speak to them in dreams, but not with my servant, Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust. I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles. He sees the Lord as He is.” And this is the chapter, Moses chapter 1, where we see Moses encountering the Lord as He is, and also God, reminding Moses that he's known to Him, he’s, he’s, His son. God is a personal God who loves and he's guiding and directing Moses, individually and sort of personally, which is a really sort of beautiful part of this whole chapter.

Stuart: Yeah. And in thinking about, as well as all these marvelous things happening, where Moses encounters the Lord, Satan appears as well. And I don't think that we should be surprised to find Satan at this mountaintop temple. As you've noted before, during the Temptation of Christ, he appears while Jesus is fasting for 40 days and nights at the top of a mountain. Are there other instances of Satan appearing after a heavenly or holy experience that we should be aware of, Kristian?

Heal: So this is, uh, yeah I think that the Moses chapter 1, senses this sort of interesting pattern in which we approach God, there is a moment of temptation, a moment of having to discern between two- what seem to be similar forces, similar claims- and we have to be able to discern the glory of these two, that there is something essentially different to these two offers that are being made to us. And we have to then cast out the one and embrace the other. Cast, turn away Satan and embrace God. And we see this actually happening in early Christian baptismal ceremonies. In the Apostolic Constitutions, for example, we're told that early candidates for baptism in early Christianity are told that, they're, “Let therefore the candidate for baptism declared thus in his renunciation, I renounce Satan and his works, and his pomps and his worships, and his angels and his inventions and all things that are under him.” Notice how it captures, again, this sense of this claim to awesomeness that is being presented to us, as opposed to God's offer of, of true or… true, true glory. It gets really interesting later on in the fourth century, a bishop in Jerusalem, Cyril of Jerusalem is teaching candidates who have been baptized in a series of sermons, what this renunciation actually meant. And he told them this. He said, “When you renounce Satan, trampling underfoot every covenant with him, then you renounce that ancient league with hell, and God's paradise opens before you, that Eden planted in the east, from which, because of his transgression, our first father was banished. Symbolic of this is you're facing about from the west to the east, the place of light, it was at this point where you were told to say, “I believe in the Father and in the Son and the Holy Spirit, and in one baptism of repentance.” So notice here, how he's pointing them, there’s sort of something happening in the liturgical act here. And this sort of process, the important thing is, he’s explaining to them that in this renunciation of Satan, he’s opening up this revelation of God. And so there have, there are these steps in the process that we see enacted here in the Book of Moses, an encounter with God, and encounter with temptation, with, with the devil, or renunciation of the devil, that then opens up this greater light and knowledge.

Stuart: Certainly, and I think that it just points out the process that nothing in life is a constant high note. Otherwise, those high notes just become the humdrum, they become the average thing that happens to us. And I think actually about something that Elder Holland preached at BYU in one of my favorite sermons called “Cast Not Therefore Away Thy Confidence” he said, “Moses’ message to you today is don't let your guard down.” (Speaking about Moses 1), “Don't assume that a great revelation, some marvelous illuminating moment, where the opening of an inspired path is the end of it. Remember, it isn't over until it's over. What happened to Moses next, after his revelatory moment would be ludicrous if it were not so dangerous, and so absolutely true to form. In an effort to continue his opposition and his unfailing effort to get his licks in later, if not sooner, Lucifer appeared and shattered an equal portions of anger and petulance after God revealed Himself to the Prophet saying, Moses worship me. But Moses was not having it, he had just seen the real thing. And by comparison, this sort of performance was pretty dismal.” And then maybe this is the key part from Elder Holland, “I wish to encourage every one of you today regarding opposition that so often comes after enlightened decisions have been made. After moments of revelation and conviction have given us a peace and an assurance we thought we would never lose.” Just in reading that I can think back to my life of the crashing of the wave that happens after I have had these marvelous types of experiences. That doesn't mean that the experiences I had were any less important or any less real. But it does mean that to recognize high places, you also recognize low places that you are in. I'm, again, just really struck by the idea that, as the Apostle Paul said, when he was trying to encourage new members who had just joined the church, sometimes that peak, that great spiritual moment is the beginning of a new journey, and not the, the end, the vista that you're going to be looking off into for forever. I think it's incredibly important to hold on to those special experiences that we have, because those are what can sustain us when we are also having our dark times. In Joseph Smith's case, there was a first vision, but there was also him in Liberty jail. There was Moses on the mountain with the Lord, but there was also him not being permitted to enter into the promised land. It's not always going to be exactly what you want, all the time.

Heal: My older brother served his mission in Haiti in the late 80s, and had lots of wonderful experiences. But he came back with a number of Haitian proverbs, little sayings, and one of them was, “Dèyè mòn, gen mòn.” Apologies to, uh, speakers of Haitian Creole if I just tortured that phrase, but it means “behind mountains, there are mountains.” This is something which just stuck with me in life. And because it's, it's doing a lot of work and how I sort of view the world. In one sense, you sort of realize that this vista you're seeing is often, includes a kind of a higher peak. Now it took it took a journey to get to that sort of peak that you're on, but behind that mountain, there's another mountain. There's another journey. There's another difficulties to overcome, and then beautiful vista to see. And this sort of continuing climbing, and viewing of God's glory and then climbing and viewing of God’s glory. It seems to be the kind of pattern that we have in life. We have these moments of, of sublime wonder, family members, when children are born, beautiful moments, in, in life, but they're always surrounded by that kind of difficulty out there. They're always surrounded by this something else. And this is why it's, I think, so very important that The Pearl of Great Price with both the Book of Moses and the Book of Abraham, give us this kind of change in perspective, where it is as though we're able to sort of step back and see in paradigm, I suppose, and interpret the message. This, the whole thing kind of laid out before us. And so in those moments of difficulty, if you just sort of remember, I think that then helps us just continue the climb, to continue to overcome the dip.

Stuart: So switching gears a little bit, we're going to move to Abraham chapter 3, and thinking about how we existed before we came to the earth. Kristian, for you, how does Abraham Chapter 3 help reframe the Old Testament, as well as mortality or creation narratives, to help us better understand our Heavenly Parents' love for us?

Heal: What's important for me about Abraham 3, in particularly verse 24, is that, the deliberateness of the plan. That this is… sometimes I think, when you read what if you begin reading the story of humanity from Genesis chapter 1 forward, what you feel is that all of human existence is essentially a problem. Right? The whole thing is, is a fall and something of a disaster. It's sort of … all of it human existence is us being off course. Of course, there's a sort of an element to that. There's this sense of dislocation, here we are, we're not in our sort of heavenly home, we're disconnected from our heavenly parents, but the Book of Abraham reminds us that this was a deliberate act of God, that our lives here are purposeful and meaningful. That the fall itself was meaningful. And so it sort of reframes this narrative as a deliberate plan. God saw us, formulated a plan, and chose a Savior, which he did out of love. And so you would have these, we have this sense of confidence, in sort of God's omniscience and God's care for us, as his children. I particularly like the phrase, “We will go down” in the sense of we’ll, we're going to in this sort of optimistic, purposeful, we will go down and do this. And I think that gives us a sense of the kind of spirit in many ways of the Latter-day Saint tradition of, of Joseph Smith, and of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There's one quotation from Joseph Smith that I particularly love, because I think it embodies this. He said, “I see no faults in the church, and therefore let me be resurrected with the saints, whether I ascend to heaven, or descend to hell, or go to any other place. And if we go to hell, we will turn the devils out of doors, and make a heaven of it.” I love that sort of holy boldness, right? I mean, here he is in hell, “We will turn them out,” is just sort of reminds me, “We will go down.” We are about this work of kind of bringing about salvation of creating places where we can live together in community, whether it's joy, whether it’s holiness where God is in our, in our midst. That seems to me to be at the sort of heart and the essence of the restoration work that Joseph Smith began, and that the heart and essence of what we find here in the Book of Abraham.

Stuart: I can't think of a better place for us to end this week, than on that note, so thank you for listening. Have a blessed week, y'all.

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