Behold, my brethren,
he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit
speaketh the truth and lieth not.
Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as
they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly,
for the salvation of our souls. But
behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for God also spake them
unto prophets of old.
But behold, the Jews
were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed
the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness
came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away
his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot
understand, because they desired it. And
because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.
And now I, Jacob, am
led on by the Spirit unto prophesying; for I perceive by the workings of the
Spirit which is in me, that by the stumbling of the Jews they will reject the stone
upon which they might build and have safe foundation.
Jacob 4:13-15
Continuing his discussion of prophecy, Jacob explains that
the “Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth
not.” The Spirit speaks “of things as they really are and of things
as they really will be.” The Lord
told Joseph Smith, “And truth is knowledge
of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come” (D&C 93:24).
Once again, we are reminded that the word of God is given to
us plainly so we will understand. Jacob
had said earlier, “Wherefore, I must tell
you the truth according to the plainness of the word of God. For behold, as I inquired of the Lord, thus
came the word unto me, saying: Jacob, get thou up into the temple on the
morrow, and declare the word which I shall give thee unto this people” (Jacob
2:11). Alma2 taught, “And [the glad tidings] are made known unto
us in plain terms, that we may understand, that we cannot err; and this because
of our being wanderers in a strange land; therefore, we are thus highly
favored, for we have these glad tidings declared unto us in all parts of our
vineyard” (Alma 13:23).
Robert Millet observed:
[T]he more I encounter men's
approximations to what is, the more I treasure those absolute truths that make
known "things as they really are, and . . . things as they really will
be" (Jacob 4:13; see also D&C 93:24). In fact, the more we learn, the
more we begin to realize what we do not know, the more we feel the need to
consider ourselves "fools before God" (2 Nephi 9:42).[1]
Richard Rust wrote:
It is as though writers of great
literature give widening circles of response to truths about man and God, and
the gospel provides the circumference. Put another way, the gospel provides a
center for my life and allows means for proving all things and holding fast
that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). These answers, found through study
and faith, have been confirmed to me by the power of the Holy Ghost. It is
possible, as Jacob says, to know by means of the Spirit "of things as they
really are" (Jacob 4:13).[2]
The Jews “despised the
words of plainness and killed the prophets.” They looked for things they couldn’t
understand. They were blind to the truth
and because of this blindness; they “looked
beyond the mark and must fall.” This
is an interesting statement by Jacob. What
is meant by looking “beyond the mark”? Paul Hoskisson addresses this question.
In teaching Book of Mormon at
Brigham Young University over the past quarter century, I have rarely found a
student, whether true freshman or returned missionary, who knows what the word mark means
in Jacob 4:14. Most of them know that the mark symbolizes Christ in this
verse, but they do not know what a mark is. That is, if a mark symbolizes
Christ, then mark must be something in real life other than
Christ…
At the time the Book of Mormon was
published in 1830, mark still meant something to aim at and
would have been easily understood by 19th-century readers, though target was
beginning to be used. Thus, throughout 19th-century Latter-day Saint writings mark is
still used for target…
In Jacob 4:14 Jacob said that
the spiritual blindness of the Jews came by "looking beyond the
mark." When it is realized that mark means target in
this verse, then the blindness of the Jews is explained: The Jews were not
generally blind. They were looking beyond the target and therefore were blind
only with respect to the target. If you are going to hit a target, you had
better look at the target, and not beyond it. And what does the target
symbolize in this verse? As most of my students can say, within the context of
this chapter it is clear that the target the Jews should have been focusing on
was Christ. Because they were not looking at Christ, they could not see Him and
were thus blind to Him. Therefore they stumbled spiritually.[3]
Because of the stiffneckedness of the Jews, they lost the
plainness and the Lord “delivered unto
them many things which they cannot understand.”
Because of this, the Jews, in the words of Paul Hoskisson, “stumbled
spiritually.”
Hugh Nibley comments:
Alma took up the scriptures
"to explain things beyond" (Alma 12:1). Having come this far, I ask
myself with Alma, "O then, is not this real?" (Alma 32:35). And I
find the answer in Jacob, who faces the issue fairly and squarely by placing
the two conflicting views of reality side by side. First he speaks of prophecy:
"For the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh
of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore,
these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our
souls" (Jacob 4:13). But most people will have none of this. "They
despised the words of plainness," refusing to take the world literally.
They are always missing the point "by looking beyond the mark." They
want to explore" many things which they cannot understand," and God
permits them to go their way, "that they may stumble" (Jacob 4:14), which
they are bound to do if they insist on finding definitive final answers to the
Terrible Questions in learned debate or even in the laboratory.[4]
[1]
Knowledge
by Faith, Robert L. Millet, Maxwell Institute, accessed March 27, 2014.
[2]
Questions
Answered – My Study and Teaching of American Literature and the Book of Mormon,
Richard Dilworth Rust, Maxwell Institute, accessed March 27, 2014.
[3]
Missing
the Mark, Paul Y. Hoskisson, Maxwell Institute, accessed March 27, 2014.
[4]The
Meaning of the Atonement, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed March
27, 2014.
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