39 O, my beloved brethren, remember the awfulness in
transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the
enticings of that cunning one. Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to
be spiritually-minded is life eternal.
40 O, my beloved brethren, give ear to my words. Remember
the greatness of the Holy One of Israel. Do not say that I have spoken hard
things against you; for if ye do, ye will revile against the truth; for I have
spoken the words of your Maker. I know that the words of truth are hard against
all uncleanness; but the righteous fear them not, for they love the truth and
are not shaken.
41 O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the
Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is
narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the
gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is
none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord
God is his name.
After presenting the Nephite Ten Commandments, Jacob spoke against sinning against God. This is one the devil’s tools, to entice us to sin. Nephi would later write:
“For behold, at
that day shall [the devil] rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir
them up to anger against that which is good.
“And others will he
pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is
well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth
their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.
“And behold, others
he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them:
I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he
grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance” (2
Nephi 28:20-22).
King Benjamin would echo Jacob’s words in his final sermon:
“But, O my people,
beware lest there shall arise contentions among you, and ye list to obey the
evil spirit, which was spoken of by my father Mosiah…
“And ye will not
suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that
they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and
serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath
been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness” (Mosiah
2:32, 4:14).
What are the
consequences of giving into the enticings of the devil? “[T]o be carnally-minded is death” (2 Nephi
9:39). What are the consequences to obeying
the word of God? “[T]o be
spiritually–minded is life eternal” (2 Nephi 9:39). Paul would tell the Romans, “[T]o be carnally
minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans
8:6). “As righteousness tendeth to life:
so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death” (Proverbs 11:19).
Jacob tells the people, “Do
not say that I have spoken hard things against you” (2 Nephi 9:40). “Just as the word of God can be comforting to
those who accept it, it can be discomforting—‘hard,’ ‘sharp,’ or ‘strict’—to
those who reject it. This dichotomy is a prevalent theme in the Book of Mormon.”[1]
Solomon wrote, “Correction is grievous unto him that
forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die” (Proverbs 15:10).
Speaking to King Noah and his priests, Abinadi told them, “Yea, and I perceive
that it cuts you to your hearts because I tell you the truth concerning your
iniquities” (Mosiah 13:7).
The classic example of those murmuring against the
admonitions of the Lord was Laman and Lemuel.
“AND now it came to
pass that after I, Nephi, had made an end of speaking to my brethren, behold
they said unto me: Thou hast declared unto us hard things, more than we are
able to bear.
“And it came to
pass that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken hard things against
the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I justified, and
testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore, the guilty
taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center” (1 Nephi
16:1-2).
Like his brother,
Nephi, Jacob reminded them he was teaching them the word of the Lord. “[T]he the words of truth are chard
against all uncleanness; but the righteous fear them not, for they love the
truth and are not shaken” (2 Nephi 9:40).
And, we are all
familiar with the words of Solomon, “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but
the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1).
Come unto the Lord,
Jacob tells his people. He might have
been influenced by his brother, Nephi.
“For the fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved”
(1 Nephi 6:4).
Alma2 desired to “declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and
the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that
there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth” (Alma
29:2). The Savior told the Nephites, “it shall come to pass, saith the Father,
that at that day whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them
will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel” (3 Nephi 21:20).
As Moroni completed the Book of Mormon, among his lasts
words were:
“And again I would
exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift,
and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing.
“And awake, and
arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O
daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever,
that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal
Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.
“Yea, come unto
Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if
ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might,
mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye
may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye
can in nowise deny the power of God” (Moroni 10:30-32).
The gate is narrow.
It is a straight course. “Strive
to enter in at the [narrow] gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter
in, and shall not be able” (Luke
13:24).
When you arrive at the gate, you meet the keeper of the
gate. “There's that marvelous line in
the Book of Mormon, ‘The keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he
employeth no servant there.’ (2 Nephi 9:41). He will personally talk with you
and bring you in. You are just as important as anybody else in the kingdom of
God, he says.”[2]
Truman Madsen writes:
“As the ‘keeper of the gate’ (2 Nephi 9:41), Jesus the
Christ summons us, ‘Come unto me’ in my holy sanctuary (Matthew 11:28; see 2
Chronicles 30:8; D&C 110:7–9), and he promises, ‘Whoso knocketh, to him
will [I] open’ (2 Nephi 9:42). He is in his sanctuary; ‘he employeth no servant
there’ (2 Nephi 9:41). We who put off our shoes to walk on holy ground need not
be put off by the fact that mere mortals administer these divine ordinances.
They may be familiar and ordinary persons from just around the corner. Yet they
represent the Lord himself. Christ himself is blessing us, reaching down to us
through those ordinances. The Lord himself is waiting for us beyond the veil.
It is he who voices and magnifies and endows the temples with a summation of
human experience that is a step-by-step ascent into his presence. May we go to
him in his temple. May we serve as he served. May we live as he lived…”.[3]
The only way we can enter heaven is through the gate. The Lord cannot be deceived; only the
righteous may enter.
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