Weeping/mourning/sadness becomes joy through Jesus Christ

Here is a very short note showing an intriguing connection between the New Testament and the Book of Mormon.

Here are Christ's words from John 16:

20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

And here are Mormon's words from 3 Nephi 10:

10 And the earth did cleave together again, that it stood; and the mourning, and the weeping, and the wailing of the people who were spared alive did cease; and their mourning was turned into joy, and their lamentations into the praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord Jesus Christ, their Redeemer.

This is really interesting to me. I can't help but assume that but accounts are based off of an earlier scripture. I looked for some possible candidates, though we may not have it in our current scriptures. Here are some possibilities:

5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. (Psalm 30)

2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. (Isaiah 61) 

13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. (Jeremiah 31) 

"...that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified."

 3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. (Isaiah 61)

In my last post, I hinted that the words "glory" and "glorify" were on my mind and would be the subject of additional posts.  This post will introduce an important Hebrew word often translated to "glory" or glorify":

paar: to beautify, glorify (פָאַר)

The terms in yellow above are both derived from 'paar.' In other translations, "beauty" is translated as "crown" -- referring to the headdress of temple priests. In other words, God offers Zion glory "that he might be glorified."

Although He is already perfect, each time one of His children fully embraces the gift He offers them, God is glorified.

Christ is the gift offered by the Father to His children, to prepare the way and show the way:

5 ¶ In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people (Isaiah 28)

Examples from scripture

Here is a sampling of scriptures which use the term "glorify" in this context.

1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. (John 17)

7 Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him. ...

10 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.

11 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning. (3 Nephi 11)

8 But because of the faith of men he has shown himself unto the world, and glorified the name of the Father, and prepared a way that thereby others might be partakers of the heavenly gift, that they might hope for those things which they have not seen. (Ether 12)

3 Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—

4 Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;

5 Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life. (Doctrine & Covenants 45)

"Trees of Righteousness"

This is a very unique phrase ("ele hassedeq") that reminds me of a speculative post written by Stisa in which he discussed the linguistic similarity between the word for tree ("elah") and the name of God the Father ("El"). In this verse we find the same symbolism with profound doctrinal implications.

"The planting of the Lord"

The title of this post quotes the end of Isaiah 61:3, which I find very interesting. I'm reminded of Alma-2's famous sermon in Alma 32, in which he teaches the people the process of growing a tree of life within their hearts. Notice that the culmination of the process includes partaking of the fruit of the tree of life and being "filled":

42 And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst. (Alma 32)

"Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life?"

In my last post, I pointed out an example of wordplay centered on Mormon 8:39.

Moroni's piercing question in that verse serves as the title of this post.  

"Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life?"

By asking why one chooses to be clothed in "that which hath no life," he implies the opposite is possible -- we can be clothed with something which has life. In this question, I see a deep connection to the temple. 

More wordplay 

I'd like to build on some themes I first presented in this post.  Please take the time to review it before proceeding if you'd like more detail. Here's a summary:

• God's glory is intimately connected with the robes of His righteousness. (In fact, "glory" and "robe" come from the same Hebrew root.) 
• To stand before Him naked is synonymous with being unprepared and filthy. 
• We are told that those who experience this will have "a flame of unquenchable fire" kindled upon them, a symbol of damnation of their eternal progress. (See Mormon 9:5.) 
• To stand before Him clothed and worthy has everything to do with Jesus Christ. 
• When Moroni contrasts the nakedness of the unworthy with God's "glory" and Christ's "holiness," he is connecting Christ's power with the garment with which we should adorn ourselves.

Glory as a garment

Many scriptures make reference to this clothing.

10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61)

33 O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness! (2 Nephi 4)

 

31 And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled. (Moroni 10)

More about that final example in the next post. Moroni's exhortation in Mormon 9:1-6 indicates that a key component of our preparation for the judgment day involves being clothed in a garment that represents our commitment to Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us.

Connections between the garment and Joseph in Egypt

I've pointed out many times on this blog that I believe the temple covenant was central to the Nephites and part of the covenant involved wearing a long garment. Just as Joseph of Egypt wore an ornate robe symbolizing the favor he found with his father, the Nephites -- descendants of that same Joseph -- wore a similar garment. Captain Moroni wore a coat that symbolized his covenant with God, and the men he recruited to fight for their freedom also wore garments they rent in token of their covenant. This garment was directly connected to their covenants and "tak[ing] upon [them] the name of Christ."  See Alma 46:11, 18-21.

The concept of sacred clothing dates all the way back to Adam and Eve and has intimate connections to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. See Moses 4:27 and Moses 5:5-8.

The importance of wearing this garment is hinted at repeatedly in the Book of Mormon.  As I've pointed out many times before, wearing such a garment would be rather conspicuous in the tropical climate of Mesoamerica. Likewise, removing the garment would not only violate the covenant but would also allow a person to fit in among non-Nephite neighbors. (As an aside, this would also explain why "nakedness" and "filthiness" would be connected to each other in Nephite culture, and why those two terms might also be connected to a skin of darkness, which would surely come upon anyone living in that climate who did not cover themselves.) 

I can imagine tremendous pressure to fit in by removing the garment, especially as Nephite culture came under attack and other cultures rose to political dominance.

Might this explain why Moroni, the last surviving Nephite, had to flee instead of finding a way to live among the people who overthrew his people?

2 For behold, their wars are exceedingly fierce among themselves; and because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ.
3 And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ; wherefore, I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life. (Moroni 1)

Is it possible the Lamanites demanded any Nephite they found to remove their garment or die? If true, it adds a new layer of meaning to adorning one's self with that which hath life!

Conclusion

I'll make one final point to end this post, which I will explore in the next post:

In addition to everything else going on in in Mormon 8, Moroni subtly and repeatedly quotes the prophecy of Joseph in Egypt found in 2 Nephi 3.  I find this detail incredibly compelling, connecting two big concepts (the latter-day work through a modern-day Joseph and the fulfillment of God's ancient promise to gather Israel) directly to the biblical figure who is best known for his ornate robe. This connection underscores the significance of latter-day temples and the covenants associated with temple worship. To quote Moroni, these covenants prepare us to: 

...cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps [we] may be found spotless, pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day. (Mormon 9:6)