I'm finishing up reading through the Pearl of Great Price for the second time this year. Here in Moses 6 Enoch teaches the people by quoting the words of the Lord to Father Adam:
59. That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the aspirit, which I have made, and so became of bdust a living soul, even so ye must be cborn again into the kingdom of heaven, of dwater, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and eenjoy the fwords of geternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal hglory;
As I've been marking my scriptures, I've been marking commandments in green, and blessings in pink. So I have to look at each phrase and decide whether it's a teaching, a commandment, or a blessing, etc. You get the idea. When I got to "Enjoy the words of eternal life", I assumed it was a commandment. Another thing to add to our list of things to do. But looking again, I don't think that's the case. The Lord here is saying that we must be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and be cleansed by the blood of Christ. As a result of doing this, we receive certain blessings. The three Enoch lists here are: 1) Be sanctified from all sin, 2) Enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, 3) Enjoy eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory.
The word "enjoy" here, according to the thesaurus, might mean "take pleasure in", or "be favored with". Either one is interesting in this context. If we are blessed to "take pleasure in" the words of eternal life, then when we are converted and baptized and have the Holy Ghost, we learn to love receiving the words of eternal life, whether we find those in scriptures, in church meetings, in conference talks, or any of the sources of instruction available to us. If we take the latter meaning, "be favored with", then those words of eternal life are a gift to us, a Christmas present, a birthday gift, a source of joy and peace and continual love that we need to treasure every day. When we're counting our blessings, the words of eternal life surely should be right at the top of the list!
Friday, December 11, 2009
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I love the double meaning. As I've studied the scriptures using books written by other people, I've found that many if not most scriptures have double or triple meanings. I think that's why we can re-read them and get something new every time. They are a constant source of enrichment and inspiration.
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