Jacob 6

(All of my own thoughts are in red type.5/20Green 3/21 Orange 5/22 Brown 2023)

Chapter 6

The Lord will recover Israel in the last days—The world will be burned with fire—Men must follow Christ to avoid the lake of fire and brimstone. About 544–421 B.C.

  1 And now, behold, my brethren, as I said unto you that I would prophesy, behold, this is my prophecy—that the things which this prophet ^aZenos spake, concerning the house of Israel, in the which he likened them unto a tame ^bolive tree, must surely come to pass.
  2 And the day that he shall set his hand again the second time to ^arecover his people, is the day, yea, even the last time, that the ^bservants of the Lord shall go forth in his ^cpower, to ^dnourish and prune his ^evineyard; and after that the ^fend soon cometh. We are in that ‘day’. Is missionary work of this last dispensation the “recovery” talked about? Or is it the recovery of the Jews, or the lost Tribes? I am thinking the servants that "go forth in power" are maybe the 144,000. Is "that day" this whole dispensation, or is it a period of time within that dispensation? We have a lot of missionaries out there, but would a prophet of old look at what we are accomplishing and describe it as going "forth in his power"? They do have his priesthood, which is his power...hmmm...
  3 And how ^ablessed are they who have labored ^bdiligently in his vineyard; and how ^ccursed are they who shall be cast out into their own place! And the ^dworld shall be ^eburned with fire. How do we know we are laboring diligently? Is it missionary work? Family History work? Speaking more openly about Christ in our families and daily life? I think we are being called to step out more diligently each day to testify of Christ.
  4 And how merciful is our God unto us, for he remembereth the house of ^aIsrael, both roots and branches; and he stretches forth his ^bhands unto them all the day long; and they are a ^cstiffnecked and a gainsaying people; this is to refuse to accept the truth and to speak in open opposition to it as well but as many as will not harden their hearts shall be saved in the kingdom of God. Pray to have your eyes opened to see the hand of God working in the world. Pray for softened hearts.
  5 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repent, and come with full purpose of heart, and ^acleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you. And while his ^barm of mercy is extended towards you in the light of the day, harden not your hearts. It is possible to repent NOT with full purpose of heart. We say, “sorry” but make no intentional effort to change; repeat the offense; say “sorry” again, etc. In doing so we are not cleaving to God and the Atonement of Jesus Christ with faith that He has power to change us. We must daily repent while it is “day”, for the “dark night” may be in reference to when His Spirit is withdrawn and mercy is withdrawn. If you are not spiritually prepared for that ‘night’ you may lose your soft heart and it may quickly go hard. Ultimately, the "change" we seek comes only through the remission of sins granted by Christ only; the "mighty change". We must seek this in this life!
  6 Yea, today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts; for why will ye ^adie?
  7 For behold, after ye have been nourished by the good ^aword of God all the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit, that ye must be ^bhewn down and cast into the fire?
  8 Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the ^aprophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and ^bdeny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the ^cgift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a ^dmock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you?
  9 Know ye not that if ye will do these things, that the power of the redemption and the resurrection, which is in Christ, will bring you to stand with ^ashame and ^bawful ^cguilt before the bar of God?
 10 And according to the power of ^ajustice, for justice cannot be denied, ye must go away into that ^blake of fire and brimstone, whose flames are unquenchable, and whose smoke ascendeth up forever and ever, which lake of fire and brimstone is ^cendless ^dtorment.
 11 O then, my beloved brethren, repent ye, and enter in at the ^astrait gate, and ^bcontinue in the way which is narrow, until ye shall obtain eternal life. Ponder what makes this gate ‘strait’? the word means “narrow; strict in manner” - both fit. When you submit to this path, there isn’t a lot of latitude for your conduct. Diligence requires daily expressions of worship and belief. Repentance is a blessed and necessary part of staying in this strait and narrow way. The gate is being spiritually reborn. So my question is: When are we on the "covenant path"? If you take the words literally, then when you receive the ordinances of the gospel and 'make' covenants, that would put you on the covenant path. But there seems to be a path after you enter this 'strait gait' and that is the path we need to strive to enter and be on. Maybe the 'covenant' path is the one that leads to the gate which leads to the "strait and narrow path" that leads to eternal life...
  12 O be ^awise; what can I say more? love this phrase. It is his summary statement for the last 5 chapters. In essence he’s saying, “you have the truth; you have a prophet(s); you have the scriptures; you have personal revelation; you have the Spirit - be wise. Don’t go against all you’ve been given. It’s not a wise choice. There are consequences you won’t enjoy.
  13 Finally, I bid you farewell, until I shall meet you before the ^apleasing bar of God, which bar striketh the wicked with ^bawful dread and fear. Amen. No mention of the “pleasing” part for the righteous. He is trying to put the fear of God in them. In the book of Enos he talks about how only ‘this’ kind of talk would keep them in the right way. Little children are first taught by the fear of consequences and then hopefully move on to making right choices out of wisdom and understanding and love. Societies make laws hoping the fear of punishment will keep some who don’t care for God’s higher laws, in the right way. Our country and form of government only works because it was founded on a belief in God and being subject to a higher authority than the law. One of it’s founders said it is “wholly unsuitable for any other kind of people”. We are seeing that today. I think our Utah legislature just passed 500 laws this session. We are seeing that without laws people are not making right choices. Too many have lost their belief in God and think right is decided by public or private opinion. God will soon open their eyes to that mistaken or rebellious belief.