Jesus watched
over His disciples as they prayed. He told them to continue their prayers. He
went off away and knelt in prayer.
“After His
Resurrection, Jesus Christ visited His other sheep. He called and ordained
twelve disciples, and with that authority, they ministered to the people. The
Lord Jesus Christ Himself stood among them. The Lord asked them to kneel and
pray. I am not sure if the newly called and ordained twelve disciples were
overwhelmed with their calling, but the scripture says, “It came to pass that
Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his countenance did smile
upon them, and the light of his countenance did shine upon them.”[1]
He prayed,
thanking the Father His disciples were purified because of their faith. He prayed for those who would hear and believe
their words. They all will be purified
through Him and their faith.
“Wherefore,
my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye
may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true
followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that
when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that
we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen”
(Moroni 7:48).
“But no man
is possessor of all things except he be purified and cleansed from all sin.
“And if ye
are purified and cleansed from all sin, ye shall ask whatsoever you will in the
name of Jesus and it shall be done” (D&C 50:28-29).
“And I give
unto you, who are the first laborers in this last kingdom, a commandment that
you assemble yourselves together, and organize yourselves, and prepare
yourselves, and sanctify yourselves; yea, purify your hearts, and cleanse your
hands and your feet before me, that I may make you clean;
“That I may
testify unto your Father, and your God, and my God, that you are clean from the
blood of this wicked generation; that I may fulfil this promise, this great and
last promise, which I have made unto you, when I will” (D&C 84:74-75).
He tells the
Father He does not pray for the world.
He prays for the servants He had given Him, taken out of the world
because of their faith. He said something similar towards the end of His mortal
ministry. “I have manifested thy name
unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou
gavest them me; and they have kept thy word” (John 17:6).
He asked
that they would be purified through Him.
He asked that He may be in them as He is in the Father. Through that, He will be glorified in them.
He finished
His prayer and went to the twelve. Their
prayers to Him continued. He smiled at
them, “and behold they were white, even as Jesus” (3 Nephi 19:30). Here, again, we see references to those who
have been purified by Him appearing white. They were filled with the Spirit. We see this in the scriptures.
“Come now,
and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be
as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
“And was
transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment
was white as the light” (Matthew 17:2).
“And,
behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from
heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
“His
countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow”[2]
(Matthew 28:2-3).
Again, after
watching over His disciples, He went off to again pray.
Mormon
informs us “tongue cannot speak the words which he prayed, neither can be
written by man the words which he prayed” (3 Nephi 19:32).
We know
there are many things which could not be written because they were so
sacred. Earlier, Mormon wrote, “And I know
the record which I make to be a just and a true record; nevertheless there are
many things which, according to our language, we are not able to write” (3
Nephi 5:18).
Joseph Smith
and Sidney Rigdon saw more than was recorded in D&C 76, The Vision. They wrote:
“Which he
commanded us we should not write while we were yet in the Spirit, and are not
lawful for man to utter;
“Neither is
man capable to make them known, for they are only to be seen and understood by
the power of the Holy Spirit, which God bestows on those who love him, and
purify themselves before him” (D&C 76:115-116).
The record
contained the witness of the multitude. Their hearts were open and they heard
and bore record of what they heard. Many spiritual things cannot be understood
unless we open our hearts to the Spirit.
“My son, if
thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
“So that
thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding” (Proverbs
2:1-2).
King
Benjamin began his sermon, “My brethren, all ye that have assembled yourselves
together, you that can hear my words which I shall speak unto you this day; for
I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I
shall speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye
may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the
mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view” (Mosiah 2:9).
Abinadi
chastised Noah’s wicked priests, “Ye have not applied your hearts to
understanding; therefore, ye have not been wise. Therefore, what teach ye this
people” (Mosiah 12:27).
Many great
and marvelous things were heard, but they cannot neither be written no spoken.
“I knew a
man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or
whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to
the third heaven.
“And I knew
such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God
knoweth;)
“How that he
was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable [GR ineffable] words, which
it is not lawful [GR possible, permisable] for a man to utter” (2 Corinthians
12:2-5).
“And no
tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the
hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard
Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the
time we heard him pray for us unto the Father” (3 Nephi 17:17).
“[O]ne
wonders if the marvelous words that Jesus prays to the Father in 3 Nephi
19:31–34, words so marvelous that tongue cannot speak nor hand write down, is
not a further reference to tongues speech, this time with Jesus as the speaker.
On this occasion, the disciples, who ‘were white, even as Jesus’ (3 Nephi
19:30)—a clear reference to their spiritual development at this point in the
book—understand in their hearts the words that he prayed. If so, Jesus
continues to function as the exemplar for the spirituality of the disciples, as
well as to testify of a partial fulfillment of some of the internal promises
made to the disciples in the book. That is, perhaps on this occasion the gift
of the interpretation of tongues is in evidence.”[3]
When He had
ended praying, He told His disciples he had never seen such great faith among
the Jews. During His mortal ministry, he
told a centurion, “When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that
followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in
Israel” (Matthew 8:10).[4]
Because of
the lack of faith as well as their unbelief, he was not able to do such great
miracles among the Jews. “And he did not many mighty works there because of
their unbelief” (Matthew 15:38).
He also told
them none had seen nor heard so many great things as the multitude had.
[1] Tested
and Tempted—but Helped, Elder Hugo Montoya, October 2015 General
Conference.
[2]“And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for two angels of the Lord descended from
heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
And their
countenance was like lightening and their
raiment white as snow” (JST Matthew 28:2-3).
[3]
Book of Mormon Pneumatology, John Christopher Thomas, Journal of Book of Mormon
Studies 24 (2015): 228.
[4]
And when
they that followed him, heard this, they marveled. And when Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that
followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in
Israel (JST Matthew 8:10).
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