In Deuteronomy 10:1-5, we read that the Lord directed Moses
to place the tablets that contained the Ten Commandments into an ark made of
shittim (acacia) wood, we know this as the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant
was made to very exact specifications in regards to its size, décor, covering,
position in which it was to be carried in the march of the Israelites, and where
it was to be kept when they were not traveling (within the tabernacle). This gives
us some indication as to the value that the Lord places on the commandments He’s
given His children.
In the Joseph Smith Translation of Deuteronomy 10:2, we see
that the new tablets (remember, he broke the first set) that Moses placed in
the Ark had all of the previous commandments, except something very important,
“And I will awrite
on the tables the words that were in the first tables bwhich
thou brakest, save the
words of the everlasting covenant of the holy priesthood, and thou shalt put them in the ark.”
Here’s some clarification we find in Doctrine and Covenants
84:14-27,
“14 Which aAbraham
received the priesthood from bMelchizedek,
who received it through the lineage of his fathers, even till cNoah;
15 And from Noah till aEnoch,
through the lineage of their fathers;
16 And from Enoch to aAbel, who
was slain by the bconspiracy
of his brother, who creceived
the priesthood by the commandments of God, by the hand of his father dAdam, who
was the first man—
17 Which apriesthood
bcontinueth
in the church of God in all generations, and is without cbeginning
of days or end of years.
18 And the Lord confirmed a apriesthood
also upon bAaron and
his cseed,
throughout all their generations, which priesthood also continueth and dabideth
forever with the priesthood which is after the holiest order of God.
19 And this greater apriesthood
administereth the gospel and holdeth the bkey of
the cmysteries
of the kingdom, even the key of the dknowledge
of God.
20 Therefore, in the aordinances
thereof, the power of bgodliness
is manifest.
21 And without the ordinances thereof, and the aauthority
of the priesthood, the power of godliness is bnot
manifest unto men in the flesh;
22 For without this no aman can
see the face of God, even the Father, and live.
23 Now this aMoses
plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought
diligently to bsanctify
his people that they might cbehold
the face of God;
24 But they ahardened
their hearts and could not endure his bpresence;
therefore, the Lord in his cwrath,
for his danger was
kindled against them, swore that they should not eenter
into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fulness of his glory.
25 Therefore, he took aMoses out
of their midst, and the Holy bPriesthood
also;
26 And the lesser apriesthood
continued, which priesthood holdeth the bkey of
the cministering
of angels and the dpreparatory
gospel;
27 Which agospel is
the gospel of brepentance
and of cbaptism,
and the dremission
of sins, and the elaw of fcarnal
commandments, which the Lord in his wrath caused to continue with the house of
Aaron among the children of Israel until gJohn,
whom God raised up, being hfilled
with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb.”
That’s kind of a long reading for a
casual reader.
Here’s a summary: the Lord’s church has
always had this higher priesthood, from Adam to Moses. It was taken from the
earth, due to the disobedience of the Israelites, leaving the lesser priesthood
with the sons of Aaron, eventually used by to John the Baptist, to prepare the
way for the Savior’s coming. Jesus restored this higher priesthood, which was eventually lost again through disobedience.
It has since been restored.
In Deuteronomy we are also commanded to
love the Lord, keep His commandments, and serve Him—with all our hearts and
souls (Deut. 11:1, 13-14). In the New Testament, Jesus teaches that this is the
most important commandment (Matt. 22:36-40, well, below is from Mark 12).
How can we be commanded to love? Can we
love someone we can’t see? How do we keep this commandment?
I think that we have to take baby
steps.
Obedience to every commandment comes with corresponding blessings. When we
experience the blessing, and are able to recognize that it came from the Lord,
and was a direct result of obedience, it encourages us to be more obedient. When
we recognize that the blessings we enjoy come from the Lord, it begins to occur
to us that He must love us.
Why does He love us? Because we are His children. When
we know that, it makes sense that He wants to bless us, that He wants us to be
happy. When we have this gratitude for what He’s given us, it is natural for us
to turn our hearts to Him, and we begin to love Him. The more obedient and
grateful we become, the more we find we love Him.
We can know Him and love Him by keeping
His commandments.
From Deuteronomy 28:1-14, we can find a
list of the blessings of obedience:
- Overtaken by blessings
- Set above other nations
- Our children, and livelihoods will be blessed
- We will have enough
- Our comings and goings will be blessed
- We will overcome our enemies
The rest of that chapter states the
cursings of disobedience. It’s not terribly PG; it’s pretty much a list of the worst
possible things you could think of, and many you would never think of. Many of
them illustrate, I think, the absence of blessings that we take for granted
(like health, ample food, etc.).
The Lord wants us to have every
blessing He has for us. He wants us to turn to Him in all things, at all times,
so He can bless us more fully.
We get to decide how much joy we get; turns out, it’s based on how obedient we are willing to be.
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