42 And whoso knocketh, to him will he open; and the wise,
and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their
learning, and their wisdom, and their riches—yea, they are they whom he
despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves
fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open
unto them.
43 But the things of the wise and the prudent shall be
hid from them forever—yea, that happiness which is prepared for the saints.
When we arrive at the gate, we will knock and the Savior will choose for whom he will open the gate. Jacob is specific who will not have the gate opened for them, “the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches—yea, they are they whom he despiseth” (2 Nephi 9:42).
“The wicked flaunt their riches and their learning in the
highly visible manner; ‘they are they whom he [God] despises.’ To be righteous
they must ‘consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of
humility’ (2 Nephi 9:42), with no photo opportunities whatever.”[1]
Once again, Jacob reminds us that the wise will be ignored
unless they humble themselves. The
Savior taught, “I thank [GR praise] thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes [GR innocent people]” (Matthew 11:25).
The Lord revealed to Isaiah, “I will proceed to do a
marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the
wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent
men shall be hid” (Isaiah 29:14). The
prophet Jeremiah taught the word of the Lord, “Thus saith the LORD, Let not the
wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might,
let not the rich man glory in his riches” (Jeremiah 9:23).
Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
“Let no man deceive himself.
If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a
fool, that he may be wise.
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in
their own craftiness [GR cunning, villainy].
“And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that
they are [GR deceptive, fruitless]” (1 Corinthians 3:18-20).
Whose plan is it for the wise to be arrogant and turn from
the Lord?
“Here is the devil's plan, and it is devilishly clever, the
best possible way to turn men's minds against the plan of salvation being the appeal
to their vanity. The two things people want are to be successful and to be
smart—The Elite: ‘and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who
are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches,’
are the ones who think they are putting God in his place, while it is He who is
rejecting them: ‘yea, they are they whom he despiseth; and save they shall cast
these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in
the depths of humility, he will not open unto them’ (2 Nephi 9:42).”[2]
Ultimately, the things the wise value will be hid from them
forever; that which is hidden is “that happiness which is prepared for the
saints” (2 Nephi 9:43). We will close
this post with the words of Paul:
“But as it is
written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart
of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
“But God hath
revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth [GR explores,
investigates] all things, yea, the deep things of God.
“For what man
knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but
[JST 1 Cor. 2:11 ... except he has
the Spirit of God].
“Now we have
received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we
might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
“Which things also
we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy
Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
“But the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness
unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned [GR
examined, tried, judged].
“But he that is
spiritual judgeth [GR examines, tries, judges] all things, yet he himself is
judged of no man.
“For who hath known
the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?
But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:9-16).
[1] Last Call: An Apocalyptic Warning from the
Book of Mormon, Hugh Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute.
No comments:
Post a Comment