Ether 4

 (All of my own thoughts are in blue 2020 red type 7/20 orange 8/21 Brown 2022 -23) 

CHAPTER 4

Moroni is commanded to seal up the writings of the brother of Jared—They will not be revealed until men have faith even as the brother of Jared—Christ commands men to believe His words and those of His disciples—Men are commanded to repent, believe the gospel, and be saved.

  1 And the Lord commanded the brother of Jared to go down out of the mount from the presence of the Lord, and ^bwrite the things which he had seen; Jesus always commands what He has revealed and prophesied to be written down... and they were forbidden to come unto the children of men ^cuntil after that he should be lifted up upon the cross; and for this cause did king Mosiah keep them, that they should not come unto the world until after Christ should show himself unto his people. This was still over 100 years before Christ was born. Maybe 150 til his resurrection. Seems like Mosiah would have to translate the record to know it said not to reveal them. 
  2 And after Christ truly had showed himself unto his people he commanded that they should be made manifest. to the Nephites? Will we have to wait for "a return" from Jesus to get these sealed writings? If so, will the things written in them help us to finally bind Satan and prepare us for Zion and to live in a terrestrial world and celestial laws? 
  3 And now, after that, they had the record of what the brother of Jared saw revealed and they still rejected it. Will that have to happen again? they have all dwindled in unbelief; and there is ^anone save it be the Lamanites, and they have rejected the gospel of Christ; therefore I am commanded that I should ^bhide them up again in the earth.
  4 Behold, I have written upon these plates the ^avery things which the brother of Jared saw; and there never were ^bgreater things made manifest than those which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared. what is it? what is it? 
  5 Wherefore the Lord hath commanded me to write them; and I have written them. And he commanded me that I should ^aseal them up; we literally call them the "sealed portion" because that part (the more part) of the plates were sealed so Joseph couldn't translate them. and he also hath commanded that I should seal up the interpretation thereof; wherefore I have sealed up the ^binterpreters, according to the commandment of the Lord.
  6 For the Lord said unto me: They shall not go forth unto the Gentiles until the day that they shall repent of their iniquity, and become clean before the Lord. This has to be the covenant Gentiles. But this sounds like a prophecy...that we will repent and become clean and receive them... but when?
  7 And in that day that they shall exercise ^afaith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become ^bsanctified in me, then will I ^cmanifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my ^drevelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the ^eFather of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are. This should be on my mirror and such a motivation for me and all of us to live so that we can receive these things... How did the brother of Jared exercise faith in the Lord? How did his faith sanctify him? We have only 3 chapters so far. That’s not very much to study....
  8 And he that will ^acontend against the word of the Lord, let him be accursed; and he that shall ^bdeny these things, let him be accursed; for unto them will I show ^cno greater things, specifically the sealed plates saith Jesus Christ; for I am he who speaketh.
  9 And at my command the heavens are opened and are ^ashut; no rain or revelation and at my word the ^bearth shall shake; and at my command the inhabitants thereof shall pass away, even so as by fire. worst kind of death
 10 And he that believeth not my words believeth not my disciples; and if it so be that I do not speak, judge ye; what does this mean? Judge why he is NOT speaking? for ye shall know that it is I that speaketh, at the ^alast day. This seems to point to when the Lord says if we don’t believe the words of His servants He will preach His own sermons by the voice of earthquakes and thundering. Which means we haven’t listened to the voice of prophets...
 11 But he that ^abelieveth these things which I have spoken, him will I visit with the manifestations of my Spirit, and he shall ^bknow and bear record. For because of my Spirit he shall ^cknow that these things are ^dtrue; for it persuadeth men to do good.
 12 And whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do good is of me; for ^agood cometh of none save it be of me. I am the same that leadeth men to all good; he that  will ^bnot believe my words will not believe me—that I am; and he that will not believe me will not believe the Father who sent me. For behold, I am the Father, I am the ^clight, and the ^dlife, and the ^etruth of the world.
 13 ^aCome unto me, O ye Gentiles, and I will show unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid up because of unbelief. How do we really do this? We really need this "knowledge which is hid up". We have to let go of unbelief. For the Gentiles in general, it is unbelief in the scriptures we have and in Christ. For the Church it is unbelief in the prophecies of the scriptures and the words of Christ.
 14 Come unto me, O ye house of Israel, and it shall be made ^amanifest unto you how great things the Father hath laid up for you, from the foundation of the world and it hath not come unto you, because of unbelief. How do they we do this? How do we come unto Christ so that we can receive what has been "laid up" for us? How do we let go of our unbelief?
 15 Behold, when ye shall rend that veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of wickedness, and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind, then shall the great and marvelous things which have been ^ahid up from the foundation of the world from you—yea, when ye shall ^bcall upon the Father in my name, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, then shall ye know that the Father hath remembered the covenant which he made unto your fathers, O house of Israel.
 16 And then shall my ^arevelations which I have caused to be written by my servant John be unfolded in the eyes of all the people. Remember, when ye see these things, ye shall know that the time is at hand that they shall be made manifest in very deed. Will God help us with this by revealing the Secret works of darkness so we have a chance to believe? What are the "these things" that we need to "see" to know that the revelations are about to be revealed? When we see veil of unbelief is rent? When there is mass repentance? How do we "rend the veil" of unbelief?  A veil is a covering and we know the whole world is covered in darkness...What is the whole world believing that is not true? (that there are no secret combinations at work, is one...) We have to pray and sincerely repent. Are the revelations unfolded in the eyes of all as they come to pass? (not good things...) But when they are coming to pass, we can know that the time is at hand that the things hid up will be revealed. I guess we rend the veil of unbelief when we can no longer deny the revelations of God because they are happening?
 17 Therefore, ^awhen ye shall receive this record ye may know that the work of the Father has commenced upon all the face of the land.
 18 Therefore, ^arepent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and believe in my gospel, and be ^bbaptized in my name; for he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned; and ^csigns shall follow them that believe in my name. If there are no "signs" we can know that we are not truly believing as we should. What are these signs? 

D&C 124:98 And these signs shall follow him—
he shall heal the sick,
he shall cast out devils, and
shall be delivered from those who would administer unto him deadly poison;

D&C 84: 65 And these ^asigns shall follow them that believe—

66 In my name they shall
do many wonderful ^aworks;

67 In my ^aname they shall
cast out devils;

68 In my name they shall 
^aheal the sick;

69 In my name they shall 
^aopen the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf;

70 And the tongue of the dumb shall speak;

71 And if any man shall administer ^apoison unto them it shall not hurt them;

72 And the ^apoison of a serpent shall not have power to harm them.

Mormon 9 (Mark 16:17):24 And these signs shall follow them that believe—in my name shall they
cast out devils; they shall
speak with new tongues; they shall
take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover;

Perhaps our unbelief is in these gifts?
3 Nephi 29:6 Yea, wo unto him that shall deny the revelations of the Lord, and that shall say the Lord no longer worketh by revelation, or by prophecy, or by gifts, or by tongues, or by healings, or by the power of the Holy Ghost! Are we guilty of unbelief in these gifts? When was the last time you were sick and had a blessing and were healed? or heard of someone speaking in tongues? Or casting out devils? (I think the whole LGBT issue would be gone if we believed in casting out devils...) or preached so powerfully that people could see and hear truth; how many are taking this "poison" and not being hurt; or any of the poisons were are being hit with in the air, water, and food?  Are we denying these gifts? Are they not "following us" because we are trapped in a veil of unbelief? How do we "rend" that veil?
 19 And blessed is he that is found ^afaithful unto my name at the last day, for he shall be ^blifted up to dwell in the kingdom prepared for him ^cfrom the foundation of the world. And behold it is I that hath spoken it. Amen.