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Temples

The Lord Is There

Ezekiel ends his book with a nine-chapter description of a temple in the land of Israel. He describes the arrival of God, and he names the city “The Lord is there.” The Book of Mormon relates the literal arrival of Jesus Christ at a temple after His resurrection. Temples are sanctified by God’s presence.

Agency

How Should We Then Live?

Ezekiel’s people felt hopeless. He showed them the relationship between their actions and the consequences. He also emphasized that God wanted them to live. If they would turn to Him and follow Him, they would receive the blessings He had always wanted to give them.

Steadiness

They Went Every One Straight Forward

The heavenly beings in Ezekiel’s first vision “turned not,” but went “straight forward.” This reminds me of Helaman’s army, which would not “turn to the right nor to the left.” There is safety in pursuing a righteous goal without distractions or unnecessary changes of course.

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COME, FOLLOW ME

  • There Is No Other God That Can Deliver

    Daniel in the Lions’ Den, by Briton Rivière

    The book of Daniel relates a series of miracles that happened to Daniel and to his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, while they lived in captivity under the kings of Babylon and Persia. Notably, the three friends were thrown into a hot furnace but were not burned, and Daniel was left all night in a den of lions but survived. The kings who presided over these punishments were stunned in both cases. King Nebuchadnezzar said, “There is no other God that can deliver after this sort” (Daniel 3:29). And King Darius said, “The God of Daniel … delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions” (Daniel 6:26-27).

    Three of the twelve disciples chosen by Jesus in the Americas as described in the Book of Mormon experienced deliverance from the same circumstances:

    And thrice they were cast into a furnace and received no harm.
    And twice were they cast into a den of wild beasts; and behold they did play with the beasts as a child with a suckling lamb, and received no harm.

    3 Nephi 28:21-22; see also 4 Nephi 1:32-33

    Moroni later explained the source of these kinds of miracles. Referencing the incredible stories of faith among his people, he wrote:

    [God] knoweth their prayers, that they were in behalf of their brethren. And he knoweth their faith, for in his name could they remove mountains; and in his name could they cause the earth to shake; and by the power of his word did they cause prisons to tumble to the earth; yea, even the fiery furnace could not harm them, neither wild beasts nor poisonous serpents, because of the power of his word.

    Mormon 8:24

    Because of the power of His word and because of their faith. And as the ancient kings testified, because they worshipped the true God.

    Moroni taught that stories of past miracles provide evidence that God is mindful of us:

    If there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.

    Mormon 9:19

    This week, as we study the book of Daniel, let’s view the miracles as precedents for the miracles in our own lives.

FEATURED POSTS

  • A Hundredth Part: Mormon’s Editorial Decisions

    A Hundredth Part: Mormon’s Editorial Decisions

    Book of Mormon authors made it clear how much they were leaving out as they wrote this “abridgment” of their history. Here’s a diagram showing how many words are dedicated to each of the 103 decades in the book.

  • Jesus Christ’s Sermon at the Temple in Bountiful – 3 Nephi 12-16, 20-22

    Jesus Christ’s Sermon at the Temple in Bountiful – 3 Nephi 12-16, 20-22

    Following His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ visited a group of people in the Americas. He taught them principles to help them deepen their discipleship, and He expanded their perspective by teaching them about God’s global, multigenerational work.

  • Names and Titles of Jesus Christ

    Names and Titles of Jesus Christ

    In March, 2019, I studied 20 different names or titles of Jesus Christ which appear in the Book of Mormon. I was particularly interested in the way each name was used, both in the Book of Mormon and in the Bible.