1 Nephi 1: 14 - 15
"And it came to pass that when my father had read and seen many great and marvelous things, he did exclaim many things unto the Lord; such as: Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high in the heavens, and thy power, and goodness, and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth; and because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish! And after this manner was the language of my father in thr praising of his God; for his soul did rejoice, and his whole heart was filled, because of the things which he had seen , yea, which the Lord had shown unto him."
Lehi's exclamation to God, "Thy throne is high in the heavens," brought to our attention a couple of things.
It would seem that God shows unto His children His works and His dwelling place.
"And I, Abraham, had the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord my Gos had given unto me, in Ur of the Chaldees; And I saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones which were near unto it; And the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord they God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest....And it is given unto thee to know the set time of all the stars that are set to give light, until thou come near unto the throne of God...And he said unto me: My son, my son (and his hand was streched out) (why the specific attention to God's hand being streched out?) behold I will show you all these. And he put his hand upon mine eyes, and I saw those things which his hands had made, which were many; and they multiplied before mine eyes, and I could not see the end thereof." (Abraham 3:1 - 12)
Abraham was also given knowledge of the various stars concerning their set times and revolutions and their laws and glories. (Abraham 3:1 - 12)
The knowledge that Abraham had of the stars was also had by all the Fathers previous to him.
"But the records of the fathers, even the patriarchs, concerning the right of Priesthood, the Lord my God preserved in mine own hands; therefore a knowledge of the beginning of the creation, and also of the planets, and of the stars, as they were made known unto the fathers, have I kept even unto this day, and I shall endeavor to write some of these things upon this record, for the benefit of my posterity that shall come after me." (Abraham 1:31)
The Prophet Joseph exhorted the saints as follows.
"...let honesty, and sobriety, and candor, and solemnity, and virtue, and pureness, and meekness, and simplicity crown our heads in every place; and in fine, become as little children, without malice, guile or hypocrisy. And now, brethren, after your tribulations, if you do these things, and exercise fervent prayer and faith in the sight of God always, [He shall give unto you knowledge by His Holy Spirit, yea by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, that has not been revealed since the world was until now; which our forefathers have waited with anxious expectation to be revealed in the last times, which their minds were pointed to by the angels, as held in reserve for the fulness of their glory; a time to come in which nothing shall be withheld, whether there be one God or many Gods, they shall be manifest; all thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, shall be revealed and set forth upon all who have endured valiantly for the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and also if there be bounds set to the heavens, or to the seas; or to the dry land, or to the sun, moon or stars; all the times of their revolutions; all the appointed days, months and years, and all the days of their days, months and years, and all their glories, laws and set times, shall be revealed, in the days of the dispensation of the fullness of times, according to that which was ordained in the midst of the Council of the Eternal God of all other Gods, before the world was..." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith pgs. 137-138)
We discussed in the previous post how Moses, and we believe Lehi also, saw ,"..if there be bounds set to the heavens, or to the seas; or to the dry land,..." because they saw every particle of this earth and all of the inhabitants thereof.
Does it make sense, from Lehi's exclamation concerning the throne of God, that he also had revealed to him concerning"...the sun, moon or stars; all the times of their revolutions; all the appointed days, months and years, and all the days of their days, months and years, and all their glories, laws and set times..." just like Abraham who was also a son of God?
All of these things to be revealed were ordained in the midst fo the Coucil of the Eternal God of all other Gods.
Does that mean that since God ordained the positions and times and laws and glories of all these things that they are an ordinance established in the heavens for all men; an ordinance that is so far removed from our mortal powers of corruption that they stand pure forever but can be forgotten by us?
We discussed why God would show His works unto His children in the previous post but why is it so critical to also show to them His dwelling place?
In the transcript of "The Faith of an Observer -- Conversations with Hugh Nibley" (available online as a PDF) Hugh Nibley gives some insight as to the why it is important to understand, like Abraham and we believe Lehi or any other individual who has become a child of God, the stars; why God ordained them as they are now with their set times and revolutions and glories and laws etc.
Hugh Nibley shares as follows concerning Abraham.
"...he was rescued at the last minute, rescued by an earthquake. The moment he is rescued, the angel takes him up to heaven and then the angel shows him a picture. He draws the whole things for him on this round picture and points it out to him and says, "when you get back to earth you'll make a duplicate of that," you see. Well, he shows him this diagram of the cosmos, and it looks like our Facsimiles. And of course we see it as the hypocephalus, what it is. Then Pharoah ordered all his court, 365 nobles, to bring their children to the court and had Abraham sit on the throne and teach them about the Sun and stars. That's what it says here in Facsimile 3 [Book of Abraham]. "Where Abraham seated upon the throne of Pharoah is discoursing upon the heavens." Now her's an interesting thing. That figure on the throne is Osiris. Well of course he's Osiris; he has to be. Abraham would have to be Osiris in that capacity. And he is the king. But how it begins, it begins with the Figure One. Osiris is lying on the couch. And he cries out. "Come to my aid and resuce me!" When he reaches the depth, at the last extremities, he cries out, and the Angel of the Lord comes to deliver him. Now this is Horus, you'll notice. He is the Horus Hawk; and always the son of Osiris, is Horus. Horus comes in the form of a hawk and rescues him and takes him up and he delivers him and takes him on a guided tour through the heavens, and before you receive your final throne you have this tour of the universe and you see all this stuff and then in the final scene you mount the throne. This is what you do. You come out in glory. And so this is the theme and is exqactly the course, the sequence that we follow in the Pearl of Great Price. Facsimiles 1, 2, and 3 in that order." ("The Faith of an Observer," transcript, pgs. 25-26)
There is an interesting verse in the Book of Mormon that we believe relates to what Joseph declared about all things being revealed in the last days and what Abraham saw and what Hugh Nibley was giving insight into.
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, when the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (2 Nephi 12:2 - 3)
Isaiah foretold a time when the Lord's house would be established in the top of the mountains. (Not in a mountian valley or on the plains; in the top of the mountains.)
Isaiah saw that many would go up to the mountain and to the Lord's house so that, "he (God) will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths;..."
What are God's ways?
Could His works be considered His ways?
Where are His paths?
Do His paths exist in the heavens?
Is it necessary for us to know His paths in order to return to Him?
Is this the reason God shows His dwelling place to His children so that they are able to find their way back to Him by walking in His paths?
Will there come a time when a people, no matter how few in number, actually repent, like Abraham, (being followers of righteousness and seeking to be greater followers of righteousness) are commanded to build a house to the Lord in the tops of the mountains; where all who come there learn of the ways of God (they are shown His works) and walk in His paths (they are taken on a tour of the heavens) just like all others who have become children of God?
Brother Nibley giving further insight into Abraham stated the following.
"This Abraham who towers like a colossus is Every Man, as every man should be." ("The Faith of an Observer," transcript, pg. 29)
We believe the insight from brother Nibley.
We believe that it is necessary for every one of us to come up to this understanding even like Abraham.
We believe that Lehi has come to this cosmic understanding at this point and that is why he is able to give praise to God Who's throne is high in the heavens.
Lehi now understands the cosmos and the paths that God walks in for he has walked them himself.
We would also like to point out something that we also believe is related to this part of Lehi's exclamation but we do not have time to address it in this post.
We will look at this later on.
But as a brief introduction, we also believe that Lehi now understands Jacob's ladder or how one ascends through the eternities to become like God our Father; how God arrived to sit on His throne high in the heavens.
Joseph referred to this in his teachings above when he declared concerning what would be revealed in the last days:
"...nothing shall be withheld, whether there be one God or many Gods, they shall be manifest; all thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, shall be revealed and set forth upon all who have endured valiantly for the Gospel of Jesus Christ;..."
We also believe that these things will be revealed to those who enter into the Lord's house established in the tops of the mountains when a group is found worthy to build such a house.
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