Thursday, March 5, 2015

The Place of the Sacrament in The Way to Eternal Life

This is part 1 of 2 of a lesson I wrote for Elders Quorum on the symbolism of the sacrament. I tried to write it so that even a recent convert would understand. Maybe I achieved that purpose, maybe not.

INTRODUCTION

In order to better understand the sacrament, it is useful to understand the steps of spiritual progression that begin with faith, repentance and baptism, and culminate with entering God’s presence and being given a promise of eternal life. The scriptures use different phrases to describe these steps of spiritual progression such as “the way” and “the doctrine of Christ” (2 Nephi 31:21), “paths of righteousness” (Psalm 23:3), and “the way of eternal life” (2 Nephi 10:23). These steps are represented by the layout of the tabernacle of Moses. The showbread in the tabernacle corresponds to our ordinance of the sacrament today. The showbread and the sacrament represent the step in the journey of spiritual progression just prior to entering the presence of God.

Each step in the administration of the sacrament has symbolic meaning. It is like the enactment of a great drama. The steps that will be considered are preparation of the sacrament, singing a hymn, breaking the bread, offering the sacramental prayers, passing the sacrament, partaking of the sacrament, and returning the empty trays.

THE TABERNACLE OF MOSES AND THE STEPS OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESSION

The picture of the layout of the tabernacle of Moses above comes from a lesson titled “The House of the Lord in the Wilderness” from an LDS Church Education System Institute manual (http://www.ldsces.org/manuals/old-testament-institute-student-manual-1/ot-in1-04-exo-13.asp; I shifted the labels on left-hand side slightly in order to better align with the layout and then rotated it 180 degrees). The tabernacle represents the phases of a person’s spiritual journey from being a born into a fallen world to returning to the presence of God. The outer courtyard with the altar of sacrifice and the laver represents the phase of spiritual development where a person first develops faith in Christ, repents, and is baptized. This corresponds to a telestial level of spirituality and testing. At this level, you repent of major sins, particularly sins of commission (things that you actually do that are not right). At this level, the major test is to do the right things. One person’s experience at this level will be similar to other people’s experience at this level.

Receiving the Holy Ghost, or being baptized by fire and the Holy Ghost, is represented by the entrance to the Holy Place. In real life, it is a transition from a telestial level to a terrestrial level of spirituality and testing. At this level, you repent of smaller sins, particularly sins of omission (things that you should do but don’t). The main features of the terrestrial level in real life are an increase in spiritual experiences beginning with the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, and feasting on the word of Christ, represented by the table of showbread and the sacred lampstand in the Holy Place of the tabernacle. A person who is progressing within this level will likely be fasting, praying, and studying the scriptures regularly. He will also give more and more selfless service. The major test at this level is to do the right things for the right reason, which is love or charity, and God will put you through tests of his choosing to determine that. Or, as the Psalmist said, “him shall [the Lord] teach in the way that he shall choose” (Psalm 25:12). We each have very different experiences at this level. It is more individualized than the previous (telestial) level.

Once you have progressed through the terrestrial level in real life, you will meet God at the veil in a very real experience that may or may not include seeing him. However, once you are admitted into his presence and transition to a celestial level of spirituality, you will most likely see God. This is represented in the tabernacle of Moses by the veil and the Holy of Holies. Once at this point spiritually, you will likely receive a promise of eternal life, also known as calling and election made sure. God will also give you instructions on what you are then expected to do with your life.

Prophets Describe the Pattern of Spiritual Progression

The Book of Mormon prophet Alma the Younger told his son Helaman about his own ministry and the pattern he followed to bring souls to Christ – “For because of the word which he has imparted unto me, behold, many have been born of God, and have tasted as I have tasted, and have seen eye to eye as I have seen; therefore they do know of these things of which I have spoken, as I do know; and the knowledge which I have is of God.” (Alma 36:26).

That verse outlines the order of the major phases of spiritual progression. First is to be born of God. This corresponds to faith, repentance, baptism and the reception of the Holy Ghost. This is symbolized in the tabernacle of Moses in the outer courtyard. Second is to taste of the joy that Alma had tasted. This corresponds to the principles of feasting on the word of Christ and hungering and thirsting after righteousness, to being tested by the “bread of adversity, and the water of affliction” (Isaiah 30:20), and to the symbolism of the ordinance of sacrament as we practice it today and to the showbread in the Holy Place of the tabernacle of Moses. To see eye to eye as Alma had seen refers to meeting Christ at the veil after mighty prayer. This corresponds to the symbolism of the altar of incense and the veil in the tabernacle of Moses. Christ described this step as “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). The final step is to gain the same knowledge that Alma had. This is symbolized in the tabernacle of Moses by being in the Holy of Holies. It is “the more sure word of prophecy,” which means that a person has knowledge “that he is sealed up unto eternal life, by revelation and the spirit of prophecy, through the power of the Holy Priesthood. It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.” (D&C 131:5-6).

Joseph Smith described the successive steps of spiritual progression similar to how Alma the Younger described them, but included more information about the final step:

“The other Comforter spoken of is a subject of great interest, and perhaps understood by few of this generation. After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the laying on of hands), which is the first Comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the Saints, as is recorded in the testimony of St. John, in the 14th chapter, from the 12th to the 27th verses.

“Now what is this other Comforter? It is no more nor less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and this is the sum and substance of the whole matter; that when any man obtains this last Comforter, he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him, or appear unto him from time to time, and even He will manifest the Father unto him, and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions of the heavens will be opened unto him, and the Lord will teach him face to face, and he may have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God; and this is the state and place the ancient Saints arrived at when they had such glorious visions—Isaiah, Ezekiel, John upon the Isle of Patmos, St. Paul in the three heavens, and all the Saints who held communion with the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 150-151)

The Sacrament in the Journey of Spiritual Progression

The ordinance of the sacrament represents a phase of spiritual development between receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and entering the presence of God. The sacrament is more or less equivalent to the showbread in the tabernacle of Moses. The showbread was kept on a table in the Holy Place of the tabernacle. Wine was also kept on the table. In Hebrew, the showbread was called “bread of the presence”, meaning that it was the bread of the presence of God. Twelve loaves were placed on the table each week. They were eaten and replaced at the end of the week. The Holy Place also had a giant menorah or sacred lamp stand. In the sacrament prayer, the priest asks “that they may always have his Spirit to be with them.” The light of the menorah represents the spirit of Jesus Christ to which the sacramental prayers refer.

Christ visited the Nephites at one of their temples after his resurrection. The Nephites built temples similar to the temple of Solomon, which had a layout very similar to the tabernacle. While he was speaking to the Nephites, he asked twelve disciples to go get bread and wine, which he would then use to institute the sacrament among the Nephites. They most likely went into the Holy Place of their temple and brought the showbread and wine to Christ so that he could administer the sacrament. Thus, the sacrament is rooted in the temple. Our sacrament is patterned after the Nephite sacrament as described in The Book of Mormon (see Moroni chapters 4 and 5).

If you were to walk further into the tabernacle, you would come to the veil and on into the Holy of Holies and the presence of God. After passing through the phase of spiritual development represented by the sacrament, “the man will find his calling and his election made sure.” The ordinance of the sacrament is preparation to enter the presence of God and to obtain eternal life. Priesthood holders who administer the sacrament are helping to prepare others to enter the presence of God. 

2 comments:

  1. I liked your thought of where they got the bread and wine from the temple at Bountiful. How did your quorum like your lesson?

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  2. Hi James - congratulations and thank you for being the first commentor on this blog! More than I expected. I figured this would mostly be a blog for myself. Now that I look back, it seems like my writing style and content is somewhat technical, too detailed, and isn't easy to read in large chunks. But that's the way I like to put it out there.


    To answer your question, a few days before the lesson I sent the entire 5-page paper out to the quorum so that they could prepare for the lesson if they chose to do so. During the actual lesson I didn't feel a lot of spiritual flow. Afterwards one of the guys did tell me that he had read the paper and it did make a positive impact when he took the sacrament earlier that day. He also felt that there were others in the quorum who may not have said anything but were also positively impacted. Another guy emailed me and said he enjoyed the paper and learned some new things. I guess I reached some more than others. I did arrange for the Elders to administer the sacrament the next week as a follow-up to the lesson. It was a special experience for some of the Elders who did participate in administering the sacrament that day.

    I gave pretty much the same lesson to the Aaronic priesthood during a 5th Sunday lesson 1 1/2 years ago. That lesson went really well and there was a great spiritual flow and I could tell that the boys and the adult leaders were mostly interested and learning a lot.

    A few weeks ago I gave a lesson in Elders Quorum on the Beatitudes and the layout of the tabernacle of Moses. That lesson had a great spiritual flow and I could tell that the men there were feeling it too. A few them came up to me after that lesson to thank me.

    - Joe

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