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.

Ether 3

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

CHAPTER 3

The brother of Jared sees the finger of the Lord as He touches sixteen stones—Christ shows His spirit body to the brother of Jared—Those who have a perfect knowledge cannot be kept from within the veil—Interpreters are provided to bring the Jaredite record to light.

  1 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared, (now the number of the vessels which had been prepared was eight) went forth unto the ^amount, which they called the mount ^bShelem, because of its exceeding height, and did ^cmolten out of a rock sixteen small stones; and they were white and clear, even as transparent glass; Here is a literal reference to glass, confirming they had it... and he did carry them in his hands upon the top of the mount, and cried again unto the Lord, saying: Did he have to climb to the top of the mountain to visit with the Lord? One could make the analogy that we have to make an effort to visit with the Lord. What would be the equivalent in your life to climbing a mountain? Going to the temple?
  2 O Lord, thou hast said that we must be encompassed about by the floods. Now behold, O Lord, and do not be ^aangry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are ^bunworthy before thee; because of the ^cfall our ^dnatures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires. Good thing to remember to keep us humble. We have fallen natures which means we are continually in a state of needing to repent (call upon God). The blessing is that even in this condition, God wants to grant us our desires. 
  3 Behold, O Lord, thou hast smitten us because of our iniquity, and hast driven us forth, and for these many years we have been in the wilderness; nevertheless, thou hast been ^amerciful unto us. O Lord, look upon me in pity, and turn away thine anger from this thy people, and suffer not that they shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness; This sounds a little like they wandered a bit because of iniquity...but behold these ^bthings which I have molten out of the rock.
  4 And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all ^apower, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy ^bfinger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea.
  5 Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this. We know that thou art able to show forth great power, which ^alooks small unto the understanding of men. This is an interesting expression. Wouldn't the great power of the Lord look great because the understanding of men would not be able to explain his great works? Why would he say the great power of the Lord looks small to the understanding of men? Does that mean that men have small understanding to be able to explain the great power of the Lord?  Or does it mean that asking the God of the Universe to make a few small stones light up is probably a very small thing to God in light of what He is capable of doing. But even that would be a show of great power, even though we might deem it small because of what we know God can do. 
  6 And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold, the ^aLord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his ^bfinger. And the ^cveil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the brother of Jared ^dfell down before the Lord, for he was struck with ^efear.
  7 And the Lord saw that the brother of Jared had fallen to the earth; and the Lord said unto him: Arise, why hast thou fallen? Did He not know why he had fallen? It reminds me of when Adam and Eve hid in the Garden and God asked them where they were. Wasn't it the Lord that removed the veil? Or was it merely a product of his faith? Considering the Lord had always been hidden in a cloud, it would be natural to assume that you weren’t supposed to see the Lord and might be in trouble because you saw. Or he was a little shocked because he saw a finger and didn’t know God had a body? 
  8 And he saith unto the Lord: I saw the finger of the Lord, and I feared lest he should ^asmite me; for I knew not that the Lord had flesh and blood. So...this is a little interesting. It's like he's talking to the "Lord" (the Father?) because he speaks of seeing the finger of "the Lord" instead of saying "I saw YOUR finger"....
  9 And the Lord said unto him: Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me ^aflesh and blood; and never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so ye could not have seen my finger. Sawest thou more than this? But now...it's the Lord (Jesus) saying "I" shall take upon me flesh and blood; and that the brother of Jared was coming before the Lord (Jesus). Interesting that he could discern that his finger was of flesh and blood when Christ hadn’t been born yet and said “I shall take upon me flesh and blood” ...Did Christ’s premortal body look the same as a mortal? Or did he just appear that way? 
 10 And he answered: Nay; Lord, ^ashow thyself unto me. Now he’s feeling more confident. Before he was saying he was afraid he’d be smitten for seeing the finger of the Lord....now he’s saying “since I’m not in trouble for seeing your finger....how about you show me everything...”
 11 And the Lord said unto him: ^aBelievest thou the words which I shall speak?
 12 And he answered: Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and ^acanst not lie.
 13 And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord ^ashowed himself unto him, and said: ^bBecause thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my ^cpresence; therefore I ^dshow myself unto you. This sounds a little like a formula. If you work it backwards...If you want to have the Lord show Himself to you, then you have to be brought into his presence; if you want to be brought into His presence you have to be redeemed from the fall; to be redeemed from the fall you have to believe all the words that the Lord speaks; that all His words will be fulfilled because He cannot lie and only speaks truth. I’m thinking the Lord knows that we believe His words because He sees us acting from that place, not only to “say” but to “do”. But to believe His words you have to first hear them, seek them out, study and pray about them. I also think that “knowing” these things is a gift from God through the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost...
 14 Behold, I am he who was ^aprepared from the foundation of the world to ^bredeem my people. He can only redeem those who become His sons and daughters (his people) Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the ^cFather and the Son. I'm assuming that Jesus is saying he's the "Father" because He does everything under the direction of the Father or when we take upon us His name he becomes the Father of our Salvation In me shall all mankind have ^dlife, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my ^esons and my daughters. making him the Father in that respect.
 15 And never have I ^ashowed myself unto man whom I have created, for never has man ^bbelieved in me as thou hast. Seest thou that ye are created after mine own ^cimage? Yea, even all men were created in the beginning after mine own image. and the image of the Father. I wonder why Jesus doesn’t say after the Father’s image? In the Endowment we learn that the Father came down with Jesus when Adam was created. I believe God fathered Adam, but I’m not certain. 
 16 Behold, this ^abody, which ye now ^bbehold, is the ^cbody of my ^dspirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh. The brother of Jared thought the finger he saw was flesh and blood, but here we learn it was spirit, so the spirit must look like the flesh. 
 17 And now, as I, Moroni, said I could ^anot make a full account of these things which are written, therefore it sufficeth me to say that Jesus showed himself unto this man in the spirit, even after the manner and in the likeness of the same body even as he ^bshowed himself unto the Nephites. So Jesus is the "Lord" that is speaking. Not sure how this works with praying to the Father only. Maybe because Jesus was leading them, they communicated with Him directly?  And obviously if Jesus is talking to you in person, your talking to Him isn’t the same as prayer.
 18 And he ministered unto him even as he ministered unto the Nephites; teachings? ordinations? seeing? touching? and all this, that this man might know that he was God, because of the many great works which the Lord had showed unto him.
 19 And because of the ^aknowledge of this man he could not be kept from beholding within the ^bveil; and he saw the finger of Jesus, which, when he saw, he fell with fear; for he knew that it was the finger of the Lord; and he had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing ^ddoubting. The wording makes it sound like the knowledge preceded his fully seeing Jesus. What knowledge was that?
 20 Wherefore, having this perfect knowledge of God, he could ^anot be kept from within the veil; Was the perfect knowledge just from seeing His finger? therefore he ^bsaw Jesus; and he did minister unto him. Moroni was making commentary right in the middle of his record, just like I'm doing!
 21 And it came to pass that the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: Behold, thou shalt not suffer these things which ye have seen and heard to go forth unto the world, until the ^atime cometh that I shall glorify my name in the flesh; wherefore, ye shall ^btreasure up the things which ye have seen and heard, and show it to no man. So he could only write them to come forth after His resurrection. So the Nephites had them when the 24 gold plates were found and translated in Mosiah's day? Is there any record of them having/reading this? 
 22 And behold, when ye shall come unto me, yet again in the future?  ye shall write them and shall seal them up, that no one can interpret them; for ye shall write them in a ^alanguage that they cannot be read.
 23 And behold, these ^atwo stones seer stones? will I give unto thee, and ye shall seal them up also with the things which ye shall write.
 24 For behold, the ^alanguage which ye shall write I have confounded; so I think the brother of Jarad may still have had the Adamic language...wherefore I will cause in my own due time that these stones shall magnify to the eyes of men these things which ye shall write. Sounds like they will yet be used in our day. The Lord is also giving credibility to seer stones being used for translation. 
 25 And when the Lord had said these words, he ^ashowed unto the brother of Jared ^ball the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he ^cwithheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth. Wouldn’t he be blown away at all the progress and technology and buildings and houses that he would see that didn’t exist yet? 
 26 For he had said unto him in times before, that ^aif he would ^bbelieve in him that he could show unto him ^call things—it should be shown unto him; therefore the Lord could not withhold anything from him, for he knew that the Lord could show him all things. This sounds simple. Believe in Christ. But it must not be that simple. It must be a belief that drives your every thought and action. Interesting that the brother of Jared had been taught before this that he could be shown all things. 
 27 And the Lord said unto him: Write these things and ^aseal them up; and I will show them in mine own due time unto the children of men. our day?  For sure in Mosiah’s day. Something to ponder...the people who possess this land at some point receive the record of previous people who received the land who were destroyed for not worshiping God. We have the record through the Book of Mormon. The Nephites had it through the 24 plates they found. Will we get the full record like they did before we are swept off? 
 28 And it came to pass that the Lord commanded him that he should seal up the two ^astones which he had received, and show them not, until the Lord should show them unto the children of ^bmen. Was this the Urim and Thumim that Joseph used? Or is it future?