Have you ever felt the pull of an ancestral legacy urging you to embrace your spiritual inheritance? Join us on Standing Firm, where this week Lou and Jordan discuss Lehi’s final words to his beloved family. We discuss the promised land, inheritances, the words of a “trembling parent” and much more!
Standing Firm: A Come, Follow Me Podcast.
Have you ever felt the pull of an ancestral legacy urging you to embrace your spiritual inheritance? Join us on Standing Firm, where this week Lou and Jordan discuss Lehi’s final words to his beloved family. We discuss the promised land, inheritances, the words of a “trembling parent” and much more!
Standing Firm: A Come, Follow Me Podcast.
Welcome to Standing Firm, a Come Follow Me podcast. Here are your hosts, jordan and Louis Onga. Hello everybody, welcome to Standing Firm, where we talk Come Follow Me scriptures with you each and every week. My name's Lou. My co-host, as always, is my brother, jordan. And Jordan, how have you been?
Speaker 2:Doing good, brother. How about you then?
Speaker 1:Not too bad. I was thinking just before we started the show. It's been a couple of weeks now since you famously announced that you have joined the gym and just wondering how it's going.
Speaker 2:I knew you were going to ask me to see some of this, so I've actually been going three days a week. One day Wednesday and Friday. Still just as sore as I proclaimed a few weeks ago, but I'm hanging in there, man.
Speaker 1:I was actually getting ready to rip you right there. I thought you were going to be like me and say that you had paid for two weeks of the gym and gone one time. Good for you, good for you. So second Nephi chapter one.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, so now safely in the promised land that was prepared and preserved by the Lord. This is kind of Lehi's final days, right? So he gathers his family and he informs them that he had seen a vision that Jerusalem's officially been destroyed. And this isn't merely like a feeling that Lehi had. It was confirmation through revelation. It's also an interesting observation that Lehi also knew by revelation that he and his family would have perished had they remained in Jerusalem During the Babylonian siege. There were many people, including prophets of the Lord, that were spared. They didn't seem to be a rhyme or reason as to who was destroyed and who was carried captive into Babylon, but we do know. For reasons unknown to me, lehi and his family would not have survived the siege in Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're right. And speaking of everything that has led them to this point, the description of the promised land must have seemed like a dream to Lehi and his family. In fact, it might have been one of Lehi's main selling points to his family, particularly Laman and Lemuel, for joining him on this journey. In the first place, the Lord described the land as a land of liberty In verse 7,. They shall never be brought down into captivity. Verse 8 is very specific. And behold, it is wisdom that this land should be kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations. For behold, many nations would overrun the land that there would be no place for an inheritance.
Speaker 1:Later on, in 2nd Nephi, chapter 10, the Lord promised us to fortify this land against all other nations. These promises were music to the ears of this family who lived for many years under the constant threat of invasion in the kingdom of Judah. From what we know of Lehi, it's fair to surmise that in his travels he was experienced and knowledgeable about the surrounding kingdoms and the various treaties and other geopolitical dealings that kept his homeland relatively safe. Now, contrast that with the land that, by all accounts, is free of all of that turmoil. You know a place that is hidden from all other nations, where Lehi and his family can raise up posterity unto the Lord in righteousness. The Lord, though, warns the inheritors of this land that through wickedness, iniquity and unrighteous living that all of it can come crashing down. Those warnings persist even today. Countries today in the world that enjoy freedom from oppression and tyranny, they can still earn the condemnation of God by turning away from Him.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. You definitely see that today. So Lehi continues to call out Laman and Lemuel and he has a very particular phrase that he uses quite a bit in this chapter, which is to awaken and arise. And typically if you want someone to wake up to some extent, you want them to move or to maybe come to their full potential. And this being Lehi's kind of final plea to his sons to turn to God and keep his commandments and, overall, just arise from the dust.
Speaker 2:Hearing Lehi speak to his sons this way with so much passion can't help but think that maybe Lehi looked back at their journey so far, from when they left Jerusalem and all throughout that journey I definitely noticed a pattern that each time the family stayed put in one area for too long, they always found themselves in trouble. That's when all the murmuring began, that's when all the trials and tribulations brought upon themselves happened, and a lesson to us all is to simply don't stop moving, Keep moving forward, because in that moment when we stop, we allow Satan to begin his work, and Satan is relentless in his work. So that's definitely something that stood out to me was Lehi's call to his sons to wake up and to keep moving towards the Lord.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great point, and obviously a lot of that standing still took place in the Valley of Lemuel before Bountiful, and it was always trouble. So, moving on to verse 13, there is a phrase used shake off the awful chains. And there's some obvious symbolism here, with the awful chains representing the chains of iniquity or the chains of the adversary, and that's certainly what Lehi is talking about here in verse 13. But there is another type of chain that sort of fits the bill here, and it's the chains or restrictions that this mortal life places on our celestial understanding. Well, jordan, one of your favorite metaphors that you use often in your teachings is referring to this life as a marathon toward Christ, and it certainly feels like that sometimes In that context, if we could shake off the awful chains that limit our eternal perspective, for all of us it would no longer be a marathon, it would be an all out sprint toward Jesus Christ and all out sprint toward the fruit of the tree of life. Now, in his infinite wisdom, god didn't make that a part of the plan. Removing those blinders from every person is certainly not any way to test us or our loyalty. However, if in this life, even from time to time. If we can shake off those chains and catch just a glimpse of what is in store for the faithful, avoiding the pitfalls and the temptations of this world would become infinitely easier.
Speaker 1:Moving on to verse 14, I love the words. Hear the words of a trembling parent. There's so much feeling and affectivity in those words. Here's this mighty prophet of God now feeling death drawing near, and the emotion in Lehi's voice is palpable. Throughout 1st Nephi we hear instances of Lehi's pleading with his children and several verses we can feel, not just read, but we feel the love that he has for his family. He saves this final plea for his final days and tugs on the heartstrings of all of us with these moving and stirring words. I think anyone who's been a loving parent I can understand deep within their soul. With the words of a trembling parent sound like Our children will make us tremble. And if they haven't yet, just wait because, they will.
Speaker 1:Sometimes a parent trembles with an overflowing of love, like when you hold a newborn for the first time and you realize this child is mine to take care of. A parent may tremble with gripping fear in a moment when a child is seriously injured, especially when there's little or nothing that we can do and all we want is for them to be okay. A parent may tremble when the child makes a waiver choice. During teenage years, long nights are sometimes spent wondering what you could have or should have done better. In this beautiful verse, we learn that the well wishes and the love of a parent never stop. The love of a parent is never ending and really this is a similitude of the love that our Father in Heaven has for each one of us.
Speaker 2:Totally, man. I think you captured the love of a parent beautifully there. I always seem to forget Zoram, but Lehi gives praise to Zoram here in verse 31. He gives him the blessing due to his faithfulness to partake in the blessings of the promised land. This certainly is symbolic of the fact that anyone, regardless of who you are, where you're from, what lineage you're from, everyone can be a full citizen in the household of God by making and keeping the covenants. And they're just saying that I absolutely adore. There's always room at the table for one more in God's kingdom.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Speaking of which, in this chapter, one of the things that Lehi discusses with his sons is inheritance. And although Lehi has undoubtedly lost nearly all of his valuable possessions, from a worldly standpoint, in Israelite culture the blessings of the patriarchal order would still have been important to Lehmann. It's probable that Lehmann would have been interested in the patriarchal birthright for purposes of status or for ranking in the new power structure of the family. He sees this new land, and there's no governmental structure, there's no kings to answer to, and a person who's as wise to the world as Lehmann would have seen the opportunity there. In fact, he mentions it multiple times when he accuses Nephi of dragging them off to a faraway place so that he can be a ruler over them. So this is something that's on his mind.
Speaker 1:Although in modern day, birthright and inheritances work much differently, there's still an important lesson here from Lehi for anyone that's leaving inherited blessings to children or anyone else.
Speaker 1:I think the temptation, especially in a family dynamic, is to make everything even and fair, and obviously that's a perfectly acceptable way to handle it. In fact, that's probably the preferred way to do it. But I've talked with many people over the years who are in this position, who wish to reward a certain child or certain children over others because of their faithfulness or because of their good decisions. Now, I'm not qualified or inclined to give any advice on the subject, but the Book of Mormon is, and the lesson in this chapter is that Lehi did exactly that. So, as a parent, or parents, if you're tormented with this decision and it can be agonizing and painful remember Lehi's courage and remember that the Lord will direct your paths in this, as he does in all things. Follow the Spirit and just know that, yes, the guilty will take the truth to be hard, but the Lord rewards the faithful with blessings and you can follow the Savior by doing the same, if that's what you wish.
Speaker 2:I love that, louis. That was a great connection there. So that kind of wraps up chapter one and heading into chapter two. It starts out with Lehi, and this time he's speaking directly to Jacob. One thing that he mentions is just the greatness of God and how God will consecrate afflictions for our gain when we go through a period of time that may be difficult, may be really. It is not for nothing, as God will make it for our gain. By remaining faithful during trials, we also unlock God's power in our lives, and there's a saying, louie, that I've always loved Teacher is always silent during the test. So just know that when we are going through those hard times, that God is at the helm and it's all going to be for our benefit somehow, some way.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. It reminds me of Scripture from Romans 8. All things work together for good to those that love God, and that was the message there to Jacob. For sure I love that one.
Speaker 2:So Caraviond, verse 3, lehi is still talking to Jacob. He lets him know that he has been redeemed because of the righteousness of the Redeemer, and Lehi chose to describe Christ as the Redeemer and that really stood out to me and I have an experience I'd love to share, if you don't mind, louie. So, for those of you who may not know, I'm currently in my PhD program and I'm studying organizational leadership and being at a Christian school, I have a wonderful opportunity to study with leaders of other Christian denominations and share beliefs of Jesus in. And let me just say what an amazing experience that has been to learn with these intelligent and inspired men and women and hearing of their love for the gospel, and it's truly grown to be one of my favorite experiences that I've ever had and seen that we actually agree more than we disagree on this doctrine. And I was talking to a friend of mine and a listener of the show about our favorite names or references to Christ and I explained to him that he just has so many and chief among them, all Friend is the one that trumps it all. For me that Christ is a friend.
Speaker 2:And Reverend Roosevelt Riley, my buddy from school. He teaches out of the Southern Baptist Convention Church in Texas, and he profoundly shared with me that Redeemer is his favorite name for Christ, and when I asked him why, he referenced in old French language that Redeemer is actually red-Eimner and in his own form of translation he relates that to the paybacker, meaning Red-Eimer is a person that is buying something back. And he went on to beautifully say that Christ came to pay the debt that we did not owe, and we forever stand out of debt because of the mattress offer that was given, and that just hit me so strongly to know that God cared about me enough that he sent his best option to come and buy me back. And so I definitely want to give a shout out to my main man, rosie Riley. Thanks for listening to the show, brother, but I thought that it related beautifully to how Lehi chose to call Christ the Redeemer. But that also made me think, louis, I don't think I've ever asked you this question, but what is your favorite name for Christ?
Speaker 1:no-transcript. Oh wow, yeah, I really like the reverend's name. The paybacker, that's so cool. I love that for me. I've thought about this from time to time, and the Lord is identified by many names in the scriptures. But I love the name I am. It's just so simple but has such deep meaning as well. I actually have looked up some of the Instances in scripture where that name appears. In the book of Exodus, moses asked the Lord to Identify himself to the children of Israel and he gives his name.
Speaker 1:I am that I am hey you know I like at the end of Chapter 8, john, the Lord is confounding the Jewish leaders and draws their ire with a statement that Shakes them to the very core. Before Abraham was I am, doctrine Covenants 68. The Lord says I am the son of the living God, that I am, that I was and that I am to come. There's really some deeper symbolism in the meaning of I am in the name of the Lord in the Hebrew language. I'm not an expert in those things at all, but I do testify that Jesus is the Christ, that he's the great Jehovah and the great I am love that is so powerful man.
Speaker 2:So, moving on here, in this chapter, lehi still talking to his son, he actually mentions how Lucifer was seen as a fallen angel from God and how he had become so miserable after falling through heaven that he forever has his eyes set on the misery of all mankind. And that hit me kind of hard. He wants all of us to be miserable for his mistakes and in a way I feel sad for him. You know what I mean, sure, but later in this verse it goes on to teach more about Satan. While in the Garden of Eden, satan actually told very few lies when he was speaking with Adam and Eve, but he was able to mix just enough to try to confuse and throw off God's plan, or so he thought.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely a method that he uses to deceive us, mixing truth and lies to age-old strategy. Verse 23 of this chapter brings up an interesting teaching and the eighth article of faith that states we believe the Bible to be the word of God. As far as it is translated correctly, we also believe the book of Mormon to be the word of God, and there are many instances in the scriptures where the book of Mormon gives additional information or more complete information about a particular Topic, or teaching in verse 23 is a good example of this. I Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that Adam and Eve were not able to have children while in the Garden of Eden.
Speaker 1:That truth is brought to us courtesy of Lehi in the Book of Mormon, and it makes complete sense. We know that the forbidden fruit is the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. No knowledge of good and evil is, as Lehi describes it, a state of innocence. The world to this day views the fall of Adam and Eve as a tragic event, because many assume that Adam and Eve could have remained in the presence of God in the Garden of Eden and had children, but the reality is that the fall of Adam was a necessary and indispensable part of God's plan of happiness. I love how this principle is taught in the Temple, because, instead of placing blame for the fall on Eve for yielding to temptation, it's presented in a way that I feel is more appropriate and correct that Eve had wisdom to know what needed to happen and Adam followed as a result of her counsel. And how true it is and how blessed we are that the women in our lives often lead us down the right path.
Speaker 2:That is a great point. I do not want to know where I would be without my wife, let's for sure, wrapping up towards the end here. My last thought, louis. It ties in with Lehi. It's found in the 28th verse and Lehi speaking to his sons, he almost gives them a challenge. In verse 28 he says I would that ye should look to the great mediator and hearken into his commandments and be faithful into his words and choose eternal life according to the will of his Spirit. And just that wording there, louis, to choose eternal life. This life is our choice. We are children of God and because we are, that entitles us to power, the power of agency. And Lehi's challenge here to choose Christ was very profound to me.
Speaker 1:Yes, for sure. And speaking of challenges, we'll finish up our study of this week's scriptures with a challenge what things in your lives are causing you to be in a spiritual deep sleep? Make a list of the things that you're aware of and, if you're courageous enough, ask someone who knows you what things they have noticed. As well as you review your list, pick one thing and ask yourself how can you awaken and arise and shake off the awful chains that entangle you? If, with the help of the Lord, we can rise above one thing, we will then have a blueprint to overcome the other things in our lives that may cause us to fall short of our own divine inheritance. An update on the tear jar this week nobody cried. You know what? I almost threw in $5 for you. Forget it, I am $5 for you. That brings our total to $65 for the year through episode 5. And, as everyone knows, all of that money is going to a great cause church humanitarian aid. That is all for this week. Enjoy the teachings of Lehi here in 2nd Nephi, chapters 1 and 2.
Speaker 1:We want to invite all of the people who listen to the podcast. If you have Instagram, join us on our Instagram page at Standing Firm Podcast. We've got some content on there. We're working on upgrading some of the content that we have and posting things that sort of invite discussion about these scriptures. We really want this to become a community where we can discuss these things together. Absolutely, that's all for this week, until next week. Du'umau Stand Firm For Jordan. I'm Lou and we'll talk to you in a week.
Speaker 2:Thanks guys.
Speaker 1:Standing Firm a Come Follow Me podcast is a production of Sierra House Publishing LLC. The show or any opinions expressed therein are not affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For a transcript of today's show, please visit our website at StandingFirmPodcastcom.