In part 1 I described the plan of salvation in terms of down and up movements. The fall and exaltation are key parts of the plan. But even though the fall was part of the plan and it is also normal to slip during the ascension on the covenant path, we must be careful not to become fallen again by abandoning the covenant completely as exemplified in certain Book of Mormon passages.
I may have given the impression in that last post that the downward movement is always negative and the upward movement is always positive. It's a bit more complicated than that. For instance, we can be lifted up in pride. This is a type of false ascension and is not sustainable. We also read that King Benjamin's people had fallen to the earth and begged for mercy through the atoning blood of Christ in Mosiah 4:1-2. Obviously a good thing.
For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted (Luke 14:11)
The point is not any ascension but the right kind of ascension. The right kind comes by first humbling yourself (which can somewhat ironically be considered a downward movement) and then covenant with a being that exist on a higher level than yourself with the power to lift you up. Sometimes that even entails beings on a higher level descending to get you and pick you up. This is the ministry of angels. They need to descend to reach us with their ministry (see Mosiah 27:11 and 3 Nephi 17:24, for instance). When the high priest in the ancient temple had been in the Holy of Holies symbolizing the celestial realm, he went out again to serve the people and symbolically atone for their sins again the next year. Similarly, Nephi, the Brother of Jared, Moses and others went down from those mountains to fulfill their mission on a telestion earth and teach others. Christ has been seen descending out of heaven too on several occasions, see 1 Nephi 1:9, 1 Nephi 11:7 and 3 Nephi 11:8. He even descended below all things (D&C 88:6).
With this as backdrop, we will take a closer look at the Brother of Jared, because there is a lot of play on this theme in his story.
First of all, and this is something I have posted about before, the name, "Jared", in Hebrew means "descend" or "go down". As we often see in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, there are puns on his name in the text. In the Book of Ether, the story of the Brother of Jared figuratively starts with him symbolically coming down from the Tower of Babel (Ether 1:33). Then he goes down into the valley (1:42, 2:1, 2:4), falls down before the Lord (3:6), goes down out of the mount (4:1, 6:2), bows down in the promised land (6:12) and goes down to the grave (6:19, 6:21). The interesting part is that the Brother of Jared obviously has his own name, it's through the use of his brother's name that the word-play is working.
Keeping in mind that Christ descended below all things and other similarities, it makes sense to view the Brother of Jared as a type of Christ. But in addition to the puns on his name (or rather his brother's name), there is an intricate play on this theme in the story of the Brother of Jared on the mount.
We know the story. He is on the mountain with the stones and offers a humble prayer.
...we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are before thee; because of the our have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee... (Ether 3:2)
Again, in verse 6
And the was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the brother of Jared before the Lord, for he was struck with .
This is one of those puns. If you translate "Jared", you read that "go down fell down". The Brother of Jared humbles himself as advised in that verse in Luke. After this, the Lord tells him to arise (verse 7) and brings him back into his presence (verse 13). "he that humbleth himself shall be exalted". But as mentioned, he doesn't stay on that mountain but goes down again. He has a mission to fulfill, just like Christ went down to fulfill his mission. This is specified in Ether 4:1
And the Lord commanded the brother of Jared to go down out of the from the presence of the Lord, and the things which he had seen; and they were forbidden to come unto the children of men after that he should be lifted up upon the cross
So there is another pun when the Lord commands the brother of "Go down" to go down. But the theme continues. He is commanded to write what he saw. But it is "forbidden to come unto the children of men" until after Christ is "lifted up" on the cross. We are not told why, but the Brother of Jared undoubtedly saw wonderful things pertaining to exaltation on that mountain, which is only made possible through Christ being "lifted up".
