The Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Words of Jesus (3 Nephi 27)

A Video Supplement for

Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 14:

“He Shall Rise … with Healing in His Wings” (Easter)

Transcript

Jesus Christ did many things for us, including not least his sacrifice for us, his example, and his teaching of the gospel. One of his most straightforward proclamations of the gospel comes in 3 Nephi 27, beginning in verse 13:

13 Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.

Jesus’s commitment to do whatever the Father asked him is perhaps the ultimate expression of what the gospel is all about. Whether that means we go out or come in, whether that means serving in one way or another, whether that means we worship the Lord by assembling together physically as a Church or whether that means that we worship the Lord in our own homes, when we do what the Lord asks of us in our own time and circumstances we are doing what the gospel requires of us, and we are doing what Jesus would do when we act in obedience to the Father.

14 And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—

Jesus was sent so that he might be lifted up. As we read in Luke 22:42, this was not exactly how we would have preferred his mortal mission to go. As we read there, he asked, “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Nevertheless, he was willing to do his Father’s will even if it meant giving up not only his own hopes and preferences but his life to follow the Father.

15 And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works.

Now none of us are perfect in our obedience as Jesus was, so this proclamation of the gospel doesn’t just stop at the judgement, but points immediately past it to our repentance, and the things we can hope for because of the gift of repentance:

16 And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world.

Filled I think is best read as filled with the Holy Ghost, concerning which as Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 5:5 using the Wayment translation, “God prepared us for this very thing and gave us the Spirit as a guarantee.” In other words, when we live so as to have the Spirit as our companion, we are in the path that leads to being held guiltless before the Father in the judgement and if we endure in following that path and the guidance of the Spirit, then we can proceed with the utmost assurance that the promises of God to us will all be fulfilled in their time.

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