Ether 12-15: Faith to Overcome or "By Faith All Things are Fulfilled"

Before going into Ether 12-15, please note that I posted an extra topic last week and then posted my lesson thoughts later on in the afternoon so you may have missed "Prayer and Gratitude" from the three previously posted thoughts from the book of Ether:

• Context and Timelines from the Book of Ether
• Ether 6-11: Prayer and Gratitude
• Ether 1-5: The Brother of Jared Prayed

Faith through Trials: A Brief Recap
I love the theme of Faith we see in Ether 12-15. We see how important this is because Ether 12-15 covers 28 generations of men, starting with the son of Jared who became the first king of the land, and was a good king. Jared's descendants led to seven good kings in a row from the seven generations of sons, BUT unfortunately, during those seven generations, wicked sons and son-in-laws overthrew those good kings multiple times, and the land was frequently in turmoil. Throughout the next 21 generations, there was a mix of good sons and bad sons, and when the sons were bad, they were really bad. They threw their fathers into captivity, one threw his own son into prison and ensured he starved to death. Incredibly, by the end, there were only two wicked leaders left, and they killed each other, thus finishing off a people that had been sent to the Promised Land and had had so much ... promise. Yet, despite this disturbing end, we learn that throughout those pockets of greed and wickedness, there were faithful followers of God that were truly tested and were blessed for their faith. 

Ether Taught about Faith
In Ether 12, Ether cried unto the people "from the morning, even until the going down of the sun, exhorting the people to believe in God unto repentance lest they should be destroyed, saying unto them that by faith all things are fulfilled." (Ether 12:3).

How many times in the history of the world, including right now as we struggle through a pandemic and in the U.S., great political turmoil, have these words spoken to you? "Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world?" (Ether 12:4).  

Ether teaches that faith:

1) Is "an anchor to the souls of men" (Ether 12: 4)

2) Is "things which are hoped for and not seen" (Ether 12:6)

3) Leads to the gift of hope, "if ye will but have faith" (Ether 12:9)

4) Is needed for the Lord to perform miracles. (Ether 12:12, 16, 18)

In Weakness We are Made Strong
I have always been moved by this scripture:

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." (Ether 12:27)

I want to share three perspectives on this scripture:

1. Moroni's inadequacy. Moroni, the son of Mormon, who abridged Ether's records, shared his fear with the Lord that he was not "mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared." Who else does this remind you of? How about Moses, who told the Lord that he feared his inability to speak well before the people? (Exodus 4:10–12; 14:31) How about modern day general authorities that have shared the inadequacy they felt to take on these roles and help lead and guide faithful followers of Christ? Although these are the examples that immediately came to my mind, the Come Follow Me guide for Sunday School also lists Enoch (Moses 6:31–34; 7:13), Gideon (Judges 6:12–16; 8:22–23), Peter (Luke 5:8–10; 22:55–62; Acts 4:13–21), and Joseph Smith (Joseph Smith—History 1:28; Doctrine and Covenants 35:17; 135:3). I'm thankful that these records were protected and shared with us in this modern day, that we could see and learn that even some of the greatest and most faithful people to have ever walked this earth had weaknesses and felt inadequate at times. I'm grateful for the reassurance that the Lord will "make weak things become strong unto them." 

2. The story of Tom Holdman. I've shared this story in the past, but I had the opportunity to hear Tom speak at a local meeting many years ago. He really made a big impression on me during a year where I was battered on all sides by a difficult work environment. Tom is a stained glass artist that has created many of the beautiful stained glass works in many of the temples throughout the world. Tom is not defined by his impairment, which appears to be a fairly severe case of Tourette syndrome that interrupts his own speech. He is defined by his faith in the Lord and what he has been able to accomplish because of his faith. You can see some of his incredible stained glass work for temples around the world here. When Tom spoke at this meeting, he started with Ether 12:27 that I quoted above. I did not know he had a speech impediment at the beginning of this talk but it soon became apparent. In a 2015 issue of Friend magazine, Tom said, "I was born with a speech impediment, which means I stutter. When I was a child, I was often treated unkindly. But it actually blessed me because I had to find other ways to express myself. Through my art, people can feel my love for the Savior."

I doubt that impediment felt like a blessing to Tom for a great many years but Tom was faithful, and the Lord made weak things become strong. He has a beautiful wife and family and has done much to bring beauty and light into the world mostly through his stained glass work but even in speech, where the place where he inspired me was speaking in front of a group when I needed to hear his words.

3. My own weaknesses. Personally, I've never liked being the center of the attention in a room full of people, raising my hand, or speaking before a group. Through high school and college, I always tried to sit behind someone bigger than me, or with large hair, so I could disappear into the room. I'm no longer shy as an adult but I prefer 1:1 interactions over group interactions, and I have to really push myself to raise my hand and speak up in groups. I "fake it" really well as I can be quite social in smaller groups, so this isn't a known thing. However, speaking up in large groups has been a weakness for me and impacted my schooling and careers, as both in school and work, in American culture, being loud and confident in front of others is often equated with intelligence and awarded accordingly.

Today, I'm an adult Sunday School teacher, and that means leading the discussion and teaching the lesson in front of a large group of adults. I always felt that one day I would be asked to do this in church, in fact, I quite strongly felt that this was coming. However, by the time it happened, the Lord had prepared me and made weak things become strong. I had faithfully tried to do my best with all of my previous church callings, including one of my first ones, where I stood up when the Relief Society met on Sundays, and gave a brief music appreciation highlight each Sunday. I learned what worked best for me to prepare to speak before a group. I learned to rely on the Lord. I learned to become more comfortable in myself as I taught with conviction and faith in the things the Spirit had inspired me to consider and teach. Every calling I took in church, as well as every task I had to do in my full-time job as a Product Manager in technology, forced me to learn skills that allow me to teach in front of adults. 

Trust in the Lord in All Things
I want to end with a quote from David A. Bednar, in the October General Conference talk, "We Will Prove them Herewith," said, "Faithfulness is not foolishness or fanaticism. Rather, it is trusting and placing our confidence in Jesus Christ as our Savior, on His name, and in His promises. As we 'press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men,' we are blessed with an eternal perspective and vision that stretches far beyond our limited mortal capacity."

I'm so grateful for the Gospel of Christ and the sure knowledge I have that through Him, weak things can be made strong, that we can overcome the trials in this world. 

Ether 6-11: Prayer and Gratitude

I'm privileged to share some thoughts from the book of Ether today.

While much of Ether 6-11 encompasses greed, treachery, and a line of both good and bad kings, to keep my comments to a reasonable length, I've chosen to focus most of my thoughts on Ether 6, though I do briefly address Ether 7-10. You can focus more on other topics by visiting the Come Follow Me manual.

A painting by Robert T. Barrett depicting Ether 

recording the history of the Jaredites; 

Primary manual 4-54

First, a Recap (Ether 1-5)
Last week, I talked about how the Brother of Jared prayed, and led followers of God to the seashore, where they camped for four years before building barges and preparing to depart for the Promised Land. The Lord had to rebuke the Brother of Jared for camping at the seashore for four years and for not praying for further direction and guidance. I think that seashore seemed "pretty good" to them, and they were tired of traveling, but the Lord had something better in store for them, the Promised Land. To get there, they would need to take a long and rough journey across a vast sea. In other words, they would need to leave the pleasant seashore where they had camped for four years, where things were pretty good, for something a whole lot better than pretty good. 

It May Get Worse Before It Gets Better
I am reminded of the many promises we received from many of our leaders during October General Conference, that things will be better on the other side of tribulation. Some of the assurances given in October 2020 General Conference:

• "Truly, for those faithful hearts and eyes to see, the Lord's tender mercies are manifest amidst life's challenges. Faithfully met challenges and sacrifice do bring the blessings of heaven. In this mortality, we may lose or wait for some things for a time, but in the end we will find what matters most. That is His promise." (Gerrit W. Gong, "All Nations, Kindreds, and Tongues")
  
  
• "Our best days are ahead of us, not behind us. That is why God gives us modern revelation! ... Now, this does not mean we won't experience turbulence in our flight through mortality. It doesn't mean there won't be unexpected instrument failures, mechanical malfunctions, or serious weather challenges. In fact, things might get worse before they get better." (Dieter F. Uchtdorft, "God Will Do Something Unimaginable")
  
  
• "Opposition is an essential part of the divine plan for helping us grow, and in the midst of that process, we have God's assurance that, in the long view of eternity, opposition will not be allowed to overcome us. With his help and our faithfulness and endurance, we will prevail. Like the mortal life of which they are a part, all tribulations are temporary." (Dallin H. Oaks, "Be of Good Cheer")

For the Jared, Jared's brother, and their family and friends, it did get worse before it got better. They were stuck in those barges for 344 days, often "buried in the depths of the sea" because of "great and terrible tempests." (Ether 6:6). Yet, the Brother of Jared and his people never forgot their Savior or lost their gratitude.

A Spiritual Prescription: Daily Prayer and Gratitude
In fact, they way they handled their trials is consistent with the guidance that our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, gave on November 20, 2020 last week, regarding the Healing Power of Gratitude. As a man who has lost a first wife and two daughters, and known his share of heartache, he said of gratitude:

Over my nine and a half decades of life, I have concluded that counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems. No matter our situation, showing gratitude for our privileges is a fast-acting and long-lasting spiritual prescription. 

Does gratitude spare us from sorrow, sadness, grief, and pain? No, but it does soothe our feelings. It provides us with a greater perspective on the very purpose and joy of life.

Second, he advised us to pray. He said:  

Second, let us unite in thanking God through daily prayer. Jesus Christ taught His disciples to pray by first expressing gratitude to God and then petitioning Him for the things we need. Prayer brings forth miracles.

The people of Jared were happy because waaaay back then, they were doing the things that the prophet is advising us to do today.

First, they continued to pray. In Ether 6:7 it says, "therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters."

Second, they praised the Lord continually. In Ether 6:9, it says, "... they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord."

In Ether 6:10, it talks about how they had light continually, "whether it was above the water or under the water." From this, I assume that based on previous scriptures about the plugs that could be removed, they either received natural light through the plugs being removed when they were above water, or light from the stones that the Lord touched at the Brother of Jared's request.

This light can be seen both as a literal light and as the Light of Christ. The people of Jared were so focused on gratitude and praising the Lord that they didn't have time to complain about being stuck in a boat for a year. In fact, the first thing they did when they stepped on the shore of the promised land was to "humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them." (Ether 6:12).

Always Remember
Unfortunately, as Jared and his brother grew old, we learn at the end of chapter 6, their many descendants wanted to name a king. Just like King Benjamin in the Bible,  the Brother of Jared was concerned that having a king would lead to the unrighteous desire for power and eventually, "leadeth into captivity." (Ether 6:23).

The story in the next few chapters is an unrelenting cycle of greed vs. good, one we've seen repeated over and over in the Book of Mormon and Bible, of how we lose the way when we forgot God and focus on greed and pride. Kings rose and fell as they used "secret combinations" and dishonest means to rise to power. Fathers and sons threw each other in prison and killed each other to take over kingdoms. Good Kings brought peace to the land. Bad Kings drove the spirit away. Through it all, we see many of the same patterns we've already learned in previous chapters:

1. The Lord loves us all and continues to send prophets to lead and guide. 

"And there came prophets in the. land again, crying repentance unto them - that they must prepare the way for Lord or there should come a curse upon the face of the land ..." (Ether 9:28)

"And in the days of Coriantor there also came many prophets, and prophesied of great and marvelous things, and he cried repentance unto the people, and except they should repent the Lord God would execute judgement against them to their utter destruction." (Ether 11:20)  

2. When we repent and humble ourselves before the Lord, he is waiting and willing to act on our behalf.

"... they began to repent ... and it came to pass that when they had humbled themselves sufficiently before the Lord he did send rain upon the face of the earth; and the people began to revive again." (Ether 9:34-35)

3. We are blessed when we remember.

"... Shez began to build up a broken people. and it came to pass that Shez did remember the destruction of his father, and he did build up a righteous kingdom, for he remembered what the Lord had done in bringing Jared and his brother across the deep; and he did walk in the ways of the Lord ..." (Ether 10:1-2)

Context and Timelines for the Book of Ether, the record of the Jaredite people in the Book of Mormon

I made some timelines and maps for the Book of Ether that I shared during my Sunday School lesson last week. I thought I'd share a few of them here.

Click to view any of these charts larger.

This chart shows the journey of Jared and his people to the Promised Land, as guided by the Lord and by the prayers of the Brother of Jared. You can see that they crossed water multiple times, not just at the end when they built their famous barges that were tight like a dish. Also, that they stayed for four years by the seashore. 

The chart below shows that it was almost 1500 years after the Brother of Jared prayed that their language not be confounded and the Lord directed them to the Promised Land, that their destroyed civilization was found, along with their 24 gold plates. It was then another 400 years before Moroni, the son of Mormon, the last Nephite alive, abridged those records into the Book of Ether (although he only abridged the part about the Jaredites as the book covered a lot of history that was already covered elsewhere).

This is not geographically accurate in size and exact placement but just gives a general reminder of how the plates came to be found and translated.

A summary of what you are seeing above, from the Book of Mosiah:

1. First, Zeniff left Zarahemla with his family and friends to reclaim Nephite land, believing the Lamanites were friendly. He was wrong about the Lamanites and his people spent most of their remaining years there fighting of Lamanite invasions.

2. Zeniff's son, King Noah was wicked, but had a son Limhi, who was not.

3. King Limhi sent 43 men to look for how to get back to Zarahemla. The men got lost but they found the remains of the Brother of Jared's descendants and a record (24 plates) that they couldn't translate. 

4. King Mosiah in Zarahemla sent Ammon to look for the people of Zeniff. Ammon and his men were successful in finding them. He brought King Limhi and his people back to Zarahemla, along with the 24 gold plates. That's how King Mosiah ends up with the 24 gold plates that Mormon's son, Moroni, abridged years later.