Gather in one all things in Christ

The heading is from Ephesians 1:10

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him

I wrote yesterday that there was a gathering of scriptures along with the gathering of Israel. But there is a lot more to be gathered. We live in the dispensation of the fulness of times, which means that there is a gathering of "all things in Christ". 

I have reflected on something my mission president said. He had studied a great deal of Hebrew and explained how the Hebrew word for father, 'aba', entails the plan of salvation. As some readers may know, the Hebrew language does not have separate numbers. Rather, they use the letters so that a=1, b=2, etc. In this way, there is a connection between words and numbers in Hebrew. Jews find meaning in this. But in the case of ABA/1-2-1, the meaning is perhaps more clear for Latter-Day Saints than anyone. The plan of salvation starts with one big family in a premortal existence. Then we enter into a world of opposites, the world of 2's. Light-darkness, good-evil, body-spirit, health-sickness, etc. Our goal is to return to the oneness, a unity with the Father. The pattern is 1-2-1.

We see this pattern a lot: The separation (death) and reunification of body and spirit (resurrection). The separation (sin) and the reunification of man and God (forgiveness). One represented by the tree of knowledge, the other by the tree of life. The scattering and gathering of Israel follows this pattern too and the tree symbolism is often used here as well. 

God himself lives in a perfect unity in the Godhead. He wants us to become like Him. That is why the end goal is always to gather and unite, so we see this recurring pattern. There are numerous examples in the scriptures, I will just give an example from Christ's visit to the Nephites. One of the first things he tells them is

And there shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been (1 Nephi 11:28)

One of his purposes when visiting the Nephites is ending the division and creating unity. In 3 Nephi 28:10, Jesus explains to his disciples that this unity characterizes relationships in the kingdom of God

And for this cause ye shall have fulness of joy; and ye shall sit down in the kingdom of my Father; yea, your joy shall be full, even as the Father hath given me fulness of joy; and ye shall be even as I am, and I am even as the Father; and the Father and I are one

After Christ's visit, his purpose has been achieved in that there is a gathering of Nephites and Lamanites into one people.

There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God. (4 Nephi 1:17)

This serves as a type of the gathering of Israel where different peoples and a former split Israelite nation will one day become one people or "one fold" with "one shepherd". As mentioned before, there is a physical and a spiritual gathering. In other words, physically gathering in one place is not enough. To gather "all things in Christ" also involves priesthood keys, knowledge, doctrine, covenants, etc. as well as each individual in that gathered group coming unto Christ and offering their whole souls unto Him (Omni 1:26). 

The purpose and goal of gathering on earth is to prepare us to become "heirs to the kingdom of God" where there is perfect unity.

The fulness of the Gentiles

Lord Wilmore's post on the "Fulness of the gospel" reminded me of research I did some months ago resulting in a very interesting find. It all started when I read a comment from a Jewish rabbi on the Book of Mormon. Commenting the expression, "multitudes of people" in 1 Nephi 12:1, he notes

Multitudes of people: What is most fascinating about this expression is that in Genesis 48:19 when the same promise is given to the tribe of Joseph through Ephraim the Hebrew reads מלא הגוים (meloh hagoyim). The word meloh can mean multitude but it can also mean fullness. And the word goyim can mean peoples but it can also mean gentiles. So this expression could read “fullness of the gentiles”. This cannot be a coincidence. In chapter 10 Nephi mentions the fullness of the revelation of the gentiles as a condition to happen before the regathering of Israel. It is likely that Nephi makes a connection between their own descendants and the fullness of the revelation that would happen in the times before the regathering of Israel.

After reading this, I went down the rabbit hole. One thing I did was searching and even asking other Jews online about "meloh hagoyim" and got confirmed that "fulness of the Gentiles" is a correct translation. "meloh" comes from the Hebrew verb "to fill" which for instance is used in the creation story where the fish were commanded to "fill" the waters. "goy" means nation and "im" indicates plural. "ha" is the definite article. But there is not a separate word for "Gentiles" in Hebrew. So when they talk about "the nations" (hagoyim), implying not themselves included, the Israelites would mean the other nations, the Gentiles.

I also found that "fulness of the Gentiles" is an expression used twice in the Book of Mormon and one time in the New Testament (Romans 11:25). Interestingly, this expression is used in Romans when Paul uses the allegory of an olive tree with natural (Israel) and wild (Gentiles) branches. This same allegory is used in 1 Nephi 10. In verse 14, that Lord Wilmore also referenced in his post, we read:

14 And after the house of Israel should be scattered they should be gathered together again; or, in fine, after the Gentiles had received the fulness of the Gospel, the natural branches of the olive tree, or the remnants of the house of Israel, should be grafted in, or come to the knowledge of the true Messiah, their Lord and their Redeemer.

After Nephi has had a vision described in 1 Nephi 11-14, he finds his brothers arguing about what their father was talking about in chapter 10, and chapter 15 picks up on that again as Nephi starts to explain. 1 Nephi 15:13

13 And now, the thing which our father meaneth concerning the grafting in of the natural branches through the fulness of the Gentiles, is, that in the latter days, when our seed shall have dwindled in unbelief, yea, for the space of many years, and many generations after the Messiah shall be manifested in body unto the children of men, then shall the fulness of the gospel of the Messiah come unto the Gentiles, and from the Gentiles unto the remnant of our seed

This could also be a post on internal consistency, but we will focus on the message for now, which is profound: The fulness of the Gentiles means that the fulness of the gospel shall come to the Gentiles in the latter days and that the Gentiles shall be the instrument in bringing back the remnant of the House of Israel to the knowledge of the true Messiah and the covenant with Him.

So if we read the more correct translation of Genesis 48:19, we realize that Ephraim received a promise in his patriarchical blessing that he would bring about the "fulness of the Gentiles". How? When Gentiles like myself living in this "fulness of times" (Ephesians 1:10) enter into the covenant, we become part of the House of Israel and usually learn from our patriarchical blessings that we are of the tribe of Ephraim. Then we help gather the remnant of the house of Israel "in one...in Christ" (Ephesians 1:10 again), back to the covenants with Him.

As Lord Wilmore states in his post, the temple has a vital role in this. For instance, we accomplish the fulness of the Gentiles through the threefold mission of the church: perfecting the saints, proclaiming the gospel and redeeming the dead. Each of these is linked to the three priesthood keys that were restored to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey in the Kirtland Temple in D&C 110. The sealing keys are exercised in the temple, helping to bring "together in one all things in Christ". We live in exciting times, a time that Ephraim, Paul, Lehi and Nephi knew about and looked forward to!

The Savior himself declared in 3 Nephi 16:4

through the fulness of the Gentiles, the remnant of their seed, who shall be scattered forth upon the face of the earth because of their unbelief, may be brought in, or may be brought to a knowledge of me, their Redeemer.