Post by Nephi –
For quite a number of posts you certainly realize have concentrated on prophecies of things that I know must surely come to pass. But now I want to change direction a little bit. I say a little bit because many of the prophecies were about the coming of the Messiah – even Jesus Christ.
What I want to write about now is the doctrine of Christ. My desire is to speak so plainly as to leave you no room for misunderstanding. My soul delights in plainness, for in reality the Lord God does work with His children in plainness. He gives light for the purpose of understanding. He speaks to men according to their language, so they may clearly understand Him.
Remember that I spoke about that prophet which the Lord showed to me, who would baptize Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who would take away the sins of the world?
Now, if the Lamb of God, He being perfect and holy, needs to be baptized by water to fulfill all righteousness. Then how much more, we being so unholy, need to be baptized by water. Let me ask you this, “How did our Savior fulfill all righteousness by being baptized by water?” We know that He was holy and we would think He of all of God’s children would not need baptism.
So, nothwithstanding His perfection, He shows us, God’s other children, that according to the flesh, He humbles Himself before our Father in Heaven and He witnesses to our Father in Heaven that He would be obedient to the Father in keeping this great commandment. Therefore He was baptized with water and the Holy Ghost descended upon Him in the form of a dove.
This shows us the straitness of the path and the narrowness of the gate by which we must enter if Jesus Christ, even the Savior of the world, would set such an example before us.
No doubt, buy the time you read this blog there will be several meanings that could be justifiably applied to my use of the terms straitness of path and narrowness of the gate. I imagine some of you may be thinking “not crooked” which would be accurate, others, who understand that in our Hebrew the two words, strait and narrow are synonyms and we use them together for emphasis meaning “very narrow” as opposed to broad and undefined. Others will assign the definition of difficult or stressful, possibly full of obstacles. This too is accurate, as is “rigourous, tight, upright and even morally strait.” All of these apply wonderfully to my use of these words. However, I wish you to read even more into their meaning. Please continue reading to see what I am referring to.
Jesus said to all of us, our Father in Heaven’s children, – “Follow thou me.” Now think, can we follow Jesus except we are willing to keep the commandments of the Father? The Father said – “Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son.”
I Nephi, have also heard the voice of the Son saying to me –
“He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me and do the things which ye have seen me do.”
With all the seriousness I can muster I declare that I know that if you will follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, with no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that you are willing to take upon yourselves the name of Christ, by baptism – actually following His example and going down into the waters of baptism, you too will receive the Holy Ghost. This is what we call the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost and you will be able to speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises to the Holy One of Israel. (Speaking with the tongue of angels is a whole other blog)
Its not that there is a catch or small print associated with this great promise, but let me share a caution with you, a caution that came when the voice of the Son said to me –
“After ye have repented of your sins, and witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to keep my commandments, by the baptism of water, and have received the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, and can speak with a new tongue, yea, even with the tongue of angels, and after this should deny me, it would have been better for you that ye had not known me.”
That is quite sobering. However, following this from the Son, I then heard a voice from the Father saying –
“Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.”
The Father Himself seldom communicates with His children directly. He has always worked through His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. But when He does communicate with us, typically He is bearing witness of His Son. As you read the holy scriptures, you will notice this to be true.
Thus through the workings of the Spirit and the voice of my Savior Jesus Christ, I know that unless we follow the example of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, enduring to the end, we cannot be saved. Therefore do the things I have told you I have seen your Lord and your Redeemer do. This is the very reason they have been shown to me, that you might know the gate you should enter.
So, the strait and narrow way or strait and narrow gate, that I referred to earlier in this post, is repentance and baptism by water. Only after this comes a remission of your sins by fire and by the power of the Holy Ghost. Only then are you in the strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life. You will have entered in by the gate, you will have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son and received the Holy Ghost – remember it is the Holy Ghost that witnesses of the Father and the Son, which is the promise to you if you enter the gate.
After you have gotten into this strait and narrow path, you are not done. You need to realize that you will not have made it this far except it were for the word of Christ and unshaken faith in Him, relying upon His merits as being the only one who is mighty to save. Therefore once you reach this point, you must press forward, steadfast in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope and a love of God and of all men. If so you will press forward, feasting on the words of Christ, enduring to the end and then comes the fulfillment of the promise given us by the Father – “Ye shall have eternal life.”
This is the only way. There is no other name given under heaven where man can be saved in the kingdom of God.
This, as plainly as I can possibly be, is the Doctrine of Christ. It is the only true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. And I bear witness of it – Amen.
(Book of Mormon | 2 Nephi 31:1 – 21)
