67 And the branches of
the natural tree will I graft in again into the natural tree;
68 And the branches of
the natural tree will I graft into the natural branches of the tree; and thus
will I bring them together again, that they shall bring forth the natural fruit,
and they shall be one.
69 And the bad shall
be cast away, yea, even out of all the land of my vineyard; for behold, only
this once will I prune my vineyard.
70 And it came to pass
that the Lord of the vineyard sent his servant; and the servant went and did as
the Lord had commanded him, and brought other servants; and they were few.
71 And the Lord of the
vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your
might. For behold, this is the last time
that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season
speedily cometh; and if ye labor with your might with me ye shall have joy in
the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself against the time which will soon
come.
72 And it came to pass
that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the
vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord
of the vineyard in all things.
Jacob 5:67-72
Having decided to make one last attempt to save the
vineyard, the Lord decides to graft the natural tree branches on the natural
tree once again. This will bring them
together and they will bring forth good fruit once again.
The trees that are bad will be cast out of the
vineyard. For only one more time, the
Lord will prune his vineyard.
After quoting the words of Isaiah, Nephi observed:
15
For behold, saith the prophet, the time cometh speedily that Satan shall have
no more power over the hearts of the children of men; for the day soon cometh
that all the proud and they who do wickedly shall be as stubble; and the day
cometh that they must be burned.
16
For the time soon cometh that the fulness of the wrath of God shall be poured
out upon all the children of men; for he will not suffer that the wicked shall
destroy the righteous.
17
Wherefore, he will preserve the righteous by his power, even if it so be that
the fulness of his wrath must come, and the righteous be preserved, even unto
the destruction of their enemies by fire.
Wherefore, the righteous need not fear; for thus saith the prophet, they
shall be saved, even if it so be as by fire.
23
For the time speedily shall come that all churches which are built up to get
gain, and all those who are built up to get power over the flesh, and those who
are built up to become popular in the eyes of the world, and those who seek the
lusts of the flesh and the things of the world, and to do all manner of
iniquity; yea, in fine, all those who belong to the kingdom of the devil are
they who need fear, and tremble, and quake; they are those who must be brought
low in the dust; they are those who must be consumed as stubble; and this is
according to the words of the prophet.
1 Nephi 22:15–17, 23
Towards the end of his life, Nephi would refer to this
subject again.
9
And with righteousness shall the Lord God judge the poor, and reprove with
equity for the meek of the earth. And he
shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his
lips shall he slay the wicked.
10
For the time speedily cometh that the Lord God shall cause a great division
among the people, and the wicked will he destroy; and he will spare his people,
yea, even if it so be that he must destroy the wicked by fire.
2 Nephi 30:9-10
So, the Lord sent his servant to bring other servants to
help him fulfill the desire of the Lord; however, the servants were few. The Lord would refer to this allegory in a
revelation given Joseph Smith. “And the lord of the vineyard said unto one
of his servants: Go and gather together the residue of my servants, and take ball
the strength of mine house, which are my warriors, my young men, and they that
are of middle age also among all my servants, who are the strength of mine
house, save those only whom I have appointed to tarry” (D&C 101:55). “But when he saw the multitudes, he was
moved with compassion on them, because they fainted [GR they were harassed],
and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his
disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye
therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his
harvest” (Matthew 9:36-38).
This would be referred to by the angel during Nephi’s great
vision. “And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and
its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who
sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who
were the saints of God, were also upon ball the face of the earth;
and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the
wickedness of the great whore whom I saw” (1 Nephi 14:12).
Paul Y. Hoskisson comments on these verses.
Rather than raze the unprofitable,
apostate earth, God decided to try one more time to establish the gospel on the
earth to see if the trees of the vineyard would produce good fruit. He began by
having the branches from the mother tree "grafted into the natural
trees" and branches from the natural trees "grafted into their mother
tree" (Jacob 5:55 and 56). He instructed the servant to "dig about
them, and prune them, and dung them once more, for the last time" (Jacob
5:64). From the beginning of the gathering of the house of Israel until the
Millennium, from the Restoration until the Second Coming, there is an unbroken
effort by the main servant and "other servants" (Jacob 5:70) to
"labor in the vineyard" with all their might for "the last
time" (Jacob 5:71). The servant and his co-workers "did obey the
commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things" (Jacob 5:72).[1]
The servants were commanded to work in the vineyard “with your might.” The Lord again emphasizes that this is
the final time he will nourish his vineyard.
Then end is near. If they labor
with all their might, they will be able to enjoy the fruit which he gathers “against the time which will soon come.”
Again, the Lord would use the vineyard in revelations given
Joseph Smith. “Wherefore lay to with your might and call faithful laborers into my
vineyard, that it may be pruned for the last time” (D&C 39:17) and “Wherefore, labor ye, labor ye in my
vineyard for the last time—for the last time call upon the inhabitants of the
earth. For in mine own due time will I come
upon the earth in judgment, and my people shall be redeemed and shall reign
with me on earth. For the great Millennium,
of which I have spoken by the mouth of my servants, shall come” (D&C 43:28
- 30).
After receiving their command from the Lord, they went out
and worked with all their might. Not
only did the servants labor, but the Lord labored as well.
In order to accomplish the
necessary pruning, the Lord instructed the servant to "go to, and call
servants" (Jacob 5:61). The servant organized a small pruning team (Jacob
5:70), and the Lord encouraged them to work hard (Jacob 5:71). They then went
to work, taking instructions from the Lord and working together with him (Jacob
5:72).[2]
[1]
The
Allegory of the Olive Tree in Jacob, Paul Y. Hoskisson, Maxwell Institute,
accessed April 26, 2014.
[2]
Botanical
Aspects of Olive Culture Relevant to Jacob 5, Wilford M. Hess, Daniel
Fairbanks, John W. Welch, and Jonathan K. Driggs, Maxwell Institute, accessed
April 4, 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment