I am the Law and the Light

1. I am the Law and the Light 3 Nephi 12-15

2. President Benson We are a covenant-making people. The temple is one of the holy places in which the Savior commanded the faithful to stand. It is a holy place because it is a house of covenants.

3. Rabbi Sternfield of Chicago Nearly 4000 years ago, in seeking to establish our people’s own unique identity, the people of Abraham…devised the idea of the covenant. Several times in the Torah, God is described as establishing that Covenant with the Jewish people. God is depicted as speaking directly with Abraham, then later with Moses and the other Hebrew prophets. It is much more likely that if happened the other way around. It was our people who invented…yes, invented…this Covenant with God. Thus arose unfortunate moniker of the Chosen People, when in fact we have been only a choosing people, having chosen to follow the Torah’s discipline.

4. Shavuot (Pentecost) Also known as the Festival of Weeks 50 days after Passover Celebrates the day the Law was given to Israel Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center: Shavuot also means "oaths", with the giving of the Torah, the Jewish people and G-d exchanged oaths, forming an everlasting covenant, not to forsake one another.

5. Bro Jay Welch Shavuot was a day for remembering great spiritual manifestations. … Shavuot came to be associated with the day on which the Lord came down in smoke and flame on Mount Sinai and appeared to Moses on behalf of the host of Israel. Now Jesus had come down and appeared to all gathered in Bountiful (at Shavuot). …as the Nephites had washed and presented themselves ritually clean before the Lord at the temple, the question must have forcefully arisen again, as it had a generation earlier when the sign of Jesus' birth was seen, asking what priestly functions this branch of Israel should continue to perform at its temple now that Jesus had lived and died.

6. Important Sequence of Events • Appears in great light • By feeling the prints of the nails, they know it is Him • He then gives the Sermon at the Temple (Sermon on the Mount)

7. After the Sermon 3 Nephi 15:4 Behold I say unto you that the law is fulfilled that was given unto Moses • Behold, I am the law and the light The Sermon (on the Mount, at the Temple) could be renamed to “How to be Disciple”

8. Sermon At the Temple 3 Nephi 12:2 And again, more blessed are they who shall believe in your words because that ye shall testify that ye have seen me, and that ye know that I am. Yea, blessed are they who shall believe in your words, and come down into the depths of humility and be baptized, for they shall be visited with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins.

9. 3 Nephi 12: 2 Yea, blessed are they who shall believe in your words… 3 Nephi 12: 3 Yea, blessed are the poor in spirit (who come unto me), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven FAITH AND BELIEF and again blessed are allthey that mourn, for they shall be comforted… …and come down into the depths of humility… REPENT … and be baptized… and blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth… BAPTISM and blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled (with the Holy Ghost…) …for they shall be visited with fire and with the Holy Ghost… HOLY GHOST and blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy… … and shall receive a remission of sins. FORGIVE TO BE FORGIVEN andblessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God ..ye shall testify that ye have seen me and …know that I am TEMPLE LIVE THE GOSPEL OF PEACE 3 Nephi 18:34…blessed are ye if ye have no disputations among you… And Blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. 3 Nephi 15:9…for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life… and Blessed are all they which are persecuted (for my name’s sake): for theirs is the kingdom of heaven ENDURE TO THE END

10. Salt 3 Nephi 12: 13 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the salt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor wherewith shall the earth be salted? The salt shall be thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men.

11. The Utah War Jesse Crosby: President Young sent (the army) a load of salt on hearing they were out but (General Johnston) would not receive it and our men scattered it in the snow… Richard Dewey reports that “…the officers mess was soon after supplied by the Indians at the rate of $5 a pound.”

12. Senator Sam Houston An act of civility was tendered by Brigham Young, and you might, if you please construe it, under the circumstances, rather as an act of submission on his part. … As an act of humanity, thinking that at least it could not be regarded as discourteous, he sent a supply of salt requisite for the relief of the encampment, … What was the message the military officer sent back? I believe the substance of it was that he would have no intercourse with a rebel (Brigham Young), and when they met they would fight. They (the Mormons) will fight; and if they fight he (Johnston) will get miserably whipped. That was a time to make peace with Brigham Young, because there is something potent in salt. With the Turk, who has similar habits and religion of the Mormons, it is the sacrament of perpetual friendship.

13. One Covenant Ends- But another still continues 3 Nephi 15:5 Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am I he who covenanted with my people Israel 8- For behold, the covenant which I have made with my people is not fulfilled; but the law which was given to Moses hath an end in me.

14. Thomas S. Monson Stan, a dear friend of mine, was stricken by cancer. He had been robust in health, athletic in build, and active in many pursuits. Now he was unable to walk or to stand. His wheelchair was his home. The finest of physicians had cared for him, and the prayers of family and friends had been offered in a spirit of hope and trust. Yet Stan continued to lie in the confinement of his bed at University Hospital. Late one afternoon I was swimming at Deseret Gym, gazing at the ceiling while backstroking width after width. Silently, but ever so clearly, there came to my mind the thought: "Here you swim almost effortlessly, while your friend Stan is unable to move." I felt the prompting: "Get to the hospital and give him a blessing.“ I ceased my swimming, dressed, and hurried to Stan's room at the hospital. His bed was empty. A nurse said he was in his wheelchair at the swimming pool, preparing for therapy. I hurried to the area, and there was Stan, all alone, at the edge of the deeper portion of the pool. We greeted each other and returned to his room, where a priesthood blessing was provided.

15. Slowly but surely, strength and movement returned to Stan's legs. First he could stand on faltering feet. Then he learned once again to walk, step by step. Today one would not know that Stan had lain so close to death and with no hope of recovery. Frequently Stan speaks in church meetings and tells of the goodness of the Lord to him. To some he reveals the dark thoughts of depression that engulfed him that afternoon as he sat in his wheelchair at the edge of the pool, sentenced, it seemed, to a life of despair. He tells how he pondered the alternative. It would be so easy to propel the hated wheelchair into the silent water of the deep pool. Life would then be over. But at that precise moment he saw me, his friend. That day Stan learned literally that we do not walk alone. I too learned a lesson that day: never, never, never postpone a prompting.