'New life' as an early Christian/temple theme (and major mantic symbol), part 3

My previous two posts (here and here) lay the foundation that 'new life' is an ancient doctrine re-taught by Christ and early Christians rather than invented by them at that time. Joseph Smith learned this through revelation. 'New life' doctrine is taught numerous times in the Book of Mormon.  We also find it in the Book of Moses, where Adam is taught the purpose of the Gospel:

59 That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory; (Moses 6)

This is supported by archaeological discoveries which came later. I'll outline a few ancient examples below.

The Damascus Document

This is a Jewish text discovered relatively intact in 1897 and then found in fragments among the dead sea scrolls in the 1940s.  This text is from the pre-Christian era and includes language that sounds surprisingly Christian, including talk of eternal life through God making atonement and "hidden things" revealed in connection to the covenant (also insinuating that all Israel had gone astray, perhaps by suppressing this teaching).  For example:

But with them that held fast to the commandments of God, who were left among them, God confirmed His covenant with Israel for ever, revealing unto them the hidden things in which all Israel erred: His holy Sabbaths and His glorious festivals, the testimony of His righteousness and the ways of His truth and the desires of His will which a man shall do and live by them. He opened before them and they digged a well of many waters, and he that despises them shall not live. But they wallowed in the transgression of man and in the ways of the unclean woman. And they said that it belongs to us. But God in the abundance of His wonder made atonement for their sins and forgave their transgression. And He built them a sure house in Israel, the like of which never arose beforetime and hitherto. They who hold fast to Him are for the life of eternity, and all glory of man is for them; as God confirmed it to them through Ezekiel, the prophet, saying: "The priests and the Levites and the sons of Zadok that kept the charge of His sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from them they shall bring near unto me fat and blood." (Damascus Document ch. 5, source here)

Notice the mention of the "sure house in Israel" connecting the concept of the Atonement for sin and eternal life.  This is a clear reference to the temple, where those sin offerings were to be made according to the law of Moses to point the mind forward to Christ. For me, this is clear evidence that branches of Jews maintained the original understanding of their religion and looked forward to Christ who would come and make atonement for sin, leading them to eternal life. 

Qumran Hymns

These hymns come from the same Jewish sect living in exile from Jerusalem in the centuries leading up to the time of Christ. Margaret Barker quotes the hymn known as QHXVIII: "Thou hast taught them thy marvelous mysteries ... that he may stand before thee with the everlasting host ... to be renewed with all the living and to rejoice together with them that know."  Multiple hymns "tell of someone raised to the everlasting height to be part of the congregation of the sons of heaven." (The Great High Priest, p. 26-27)

Conclusion

History is written by the winners.  This applies to doctrine as well.  It is important when we look at truth claims of the restoration to be wary of assuming the mainstream view of a doctrine is the correct or original version of that doctrine.  In light of the general human trend to drift from mantic to sophic, and in light of the evidence that indicates the original Israelite religion knew of the importance of the Messiah, we should be cautious in how we approach the topic.

'New life' as an early Christian/temple theme (and major mantic symbol), part 2

This is a continuation of my last post. In part 1, we looked at the ancient story of Cain and Abel and how the same lessons were taught by Jesus. To someone unfamiliar with the ancient symbols found in the Cain and Abel story, it might seem that Jesus was teaching radical new doctrine, when in actuality He was restoring the original understanding of the doctrines of the Israelite religion, which had been suppressed centuries earlier. Hundreds of years before Christ, Jacob preserved a wonderful summary of the original religion in Jacob 4:4-10. He wasn't the only one -- we'll get to some additional examples in the next few posts.

Grasping this idea can unfold new layers of meaning in very familiar verses, as we have already seen with Matthew.

As this concept clicked in my head, I understood the words of Paul on faith in a new light. Here is what Paul said about Abel as he spoke about what it means to have faith (I've included the KJV first followed by the same verses from the Expanded Bible, which offers some helpful notes and alternate translations):

3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. (Hebrews 11, KJV)

3 It is by faith we understand that the ·whole world [universe; cosmos; ages] was made by God’s ·command [word; Gen. 1] so what we see was ·made by something that cannot be seen [L not made from/by visible things].

4 It was by faith that Abel offered God a ·better [more acceptable] sacrifice than Cain [Gen. 4:4–8]. God ·said he was pleased with [commended him for; bore testimony to] the gifts Abel offered and ·called Abel [commended him as; testified that he was] a ·good [righteous] man because of his faith. Abel died, but through his faith he is still speaking [12:24]. (Hebrews 11, Expanded Bible)

Faith led to Abel's more acceptable offering to God, an animal sacrifice in the manner taught to Adam by the angel (see Moses 5:5). Obedience to that ordinance (and an understanding of the doctrine of Christ underpinning that ordinance) allowed Abel to find life eternal (though he died, "through his faith he is still speaking"). From this we learn that true faith (as it was initially taught by angels) is centered on a belief that God is the Creator, that He knows best, and that we must constantly strive to hearken to His voice.

In the following chapter, Paul makes another reference to Abel's offering in direct comparison to Christ. All of this is given in the context of a description of God's church that is loaded with temple/covenant imagery:

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12, NRSV)

What happens to our faith when we begin to view the temple the place where we come to exercise our faith in God, the place where we can "come to Mount Zion ... and to innumerable angels in festal gathering"? What is being celebrated? That we have found new life in Christ, the "mediator of a new covenant" through His blood which was shed for us.

Faith begins with hope in a better world and that hope leads us to a new life in Christ. Everything we do as we follow Him is best thought of as a celebration of what He did for all mankind. To reiterate Jacob's words from the last post, "... we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us." (Jacob 4:4)

How can we know if these are new ideas or ancient ones?

The Book of Mormon provides a key to answering this question, but as I mentioned above, it is not the only place where these ancient understandings were recorded. Margaret Barker (a Methodist scholar of the Bible) has spent her life uncovering the most ancient understanding of Israelite temple worship and symbols.  She is an excellent resource on this topic. In the next post, I'll review some of the sources she cites to demonstrate that the concept of "new life" is an ancient doctrine of the first Israelite temple, not an early Christian invention.

'New life' as an early Christian/temple theme (and major mantic symbol), part 1

Stisa's last post reminded me of a few concepts I'd like to touch on as I continue to flesh out the "mantic versus sophic" battle of worldviews. The contest between the materialist/intellectual mindset and the 'heavenly order' mindset goes back to Cain and Abel. Abel "hearkened unto the voice of the Lord" whereas Cain "hearkened not," instead asking: "Who is the Lord that I should know him?" (See Moses 5:16-17.) 

On the surface, the differences between the brothers might have seemed trivial.  Able tended sheep. Cain tilled the ground. But there was a major difference beneath the surface.  Cain loved Satan more than God and obeyed Satan's commands.  God warned Cain against rejecting the "greater counsel which was had from God."  Cain, in response, grew angry. The following sequence of events results in Cain covenanting with Satan in exchange for worldly wealth and murdering his brother.

In this story, we see a pattern -- rejecting the word of God led Cain to "get gain" in this life but lose eternal life. (I mentioned the Hebrew connection between Cain and "get gain" in a previous post here.)  Abel, by contrast, lost his mortal life as a result of his faithfulness but found eternal life in the process. Abel honored the vision of a heavenly order by which all things must be done on earth.  Cain rejected this idea and sought to create for himself the things he desired on earth. Thus by valuing God's wisdom over his own life, Abel will never die, and by rejecting God's "greater counsel" in favor of worldly gain, Cain will never return to God's presence.

This is ancient wisdom told in the form of a simple story of two brothers, with the deeper wisdom tucked safely beneath the surface. This understanding of the need to find new life through Christ was also taught symbolically through ancient temple rituals. Stisa's post pointed out how the holy anointing oil is a temple symbol for light and life, and how Abinadi makes this same connection in Mosiah 16:8-9. He didn't choose those words randomly, either.  He is clearly preaching to these priests the things they have rejected by favoring the Law of Moses over the Doctrine of Christ.

Abinadi's experience is a nice analog to what must have been happening in Jerusalem following Josiah's temple "purge" around 621 AD. This was a battle of worldviews, and the original temple symbols which emphasized the Doctrine of Christ were suppressed.

Old becomes new

If the Doctrine of Christ was stripped from the temple a few decades before Lehi first saw his vision, many parts of the Book of Mormon suddenly make much more sense.  Nephi's obvious disdain for "the Jews" in Jerusalem (see 2 Nephi 25:2, for example) makes sense in this context -- they corrupted the holy temple.  Jacob's condemnation of the Jews for "looking beyond the mark" also makes sense (see Jacob 4:14).  Just prior to that verse, Jacob lays out in several verses what the ancient, original meaning of the Israelite religion is:

4 For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us.
5 Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name. And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him; and for this cause it is sanctified unto us for righteousness, even as it was accounted unto Abraham in the wilderness to be obedient unto the commands of God in offering up his son Isaac, which is a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son.
6 Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.
7 Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.
8 Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God.
9 For behold, by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure?
10 Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works. (Jacob 4)

This is the mantic worldview in a nutshell. That is the religion of Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. The "Old Testament religion" we think about and read about is a corrupted version of this, not the other way around.

Margaret Barker writes about the importance of establishing what came first in the context of the early Christians. Her words apply just as aptly to thinking about the ancient Israelite religion:

There is a tendency to classify according to the categories of a later age. What became the canonical texts are the norm, and all others, together with the ideas they represent have a lower status. Instead of asking how such 'strange' texts came to be written, we should be asking how they came to be excluded. (The Great High Priest, p. 26)

If the religious reformation is successful enough in suppressing older doctrines, these will appear to be completely new when they are restored. For example, consider the following words of Jesus:

24 ¶ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. (Matthew 16)

It seems Jesus was reiterating suppressed truth with these words (rather than breaking new ground). He is teaching the same lesson we can learn from the story of Cain and Abel. 

"Word", "thing" and Christ -- Part 3: A reversal

What fascinates me about the plan of salvation, is that it is so simple that we can teach it to small kids in a way that they can understand. But there is also so much depth to the doctrine that we can spend a lifetime learning about it and feel we are still only scratching the surface. The simple version is that we lived with our Heavenly Parents as spirits. God created an earth for us that we were sent to. Here we prepare to return to our Heavenly Parents and live with them again in celestial glory.

We can split this in two parts. The first part is the transition from immortality to mortality, the invisible to the visible. This is the pattern of creation as discussed in part 1 of this series. It also characterizes the coming of Christ to earth. Similarly, we all transition from the timelessness in the premortal existence as spirits to the mortal and fallen world with a body. But this is obviously just the first part of the plan. The second part is the same pattern in reverse. Christ conquered death and returned to immortality in a glorious resurrection. We can follow that path. This is the transition from the mortal and visible to the invisible and eternal. Part 1 of this series dealt with the first part of the plan of salvation. We looked at how the double meaning of the hebrew 'dbr' root, "word" and "thing", is manifest in the creation account. In part 2, we saw this pattern in Alma 32 and the journey towards the tree of life. It is actually a journey of the creation in reverse, completing the full cycle of the Plan of Salvation. There is beautiful symmetry in the plan that I hope to be able to demonstrate in this post.  

Lord Wilmore (the other blogger and my study companion on the other side of the Atlantic) discovered and shared another meaning of the Hebrew 'dbr' root with me. In the ancient temple, there was an inner sanctuary or "holy of holies". In Hebrew, this was called, 'debir', probably derived from the Hebrew word for speaking that we have discussed. The Holy of Holies in the temple was a place of speaking, where "the word" is found. This may seem like a strange name but it does make a lot of sense in this context and I will try to explain why I find this to be quite profound.

The creation has always been an important part of temple worship. The ancient temple was formed after the pattern of the creation account. According to scholar Margaret Barker:

The Temple was a model of the creation, and the liturgy of the temple preserved the creation. Genesis 1 was not an account of the historical process of creation, but a record of the great vision granted to Moses and others of how the world is made. In the six days when Moses was on Sinai, before the LORD called to him (Exod. 24.16), he saw the six days of creation, and was then told to replicate these when he built the tabernacle. A few ancient sources say that Moses saw the heavenly temple; but most assume that he saw the process of creation, and that the tabernacle represented this. Ancient material such as this is sometimes difficult to read, but the last section of Exodus 40, describing how Moses assembled the tabernacle, corresponds well to the days described in Genesis 1. (Source)

How did the tabernacle, or Solomon's temple that had a similar construct, model the creation? Barker gives some detail in her book, Temple Theology. The below table is copied directly from the book.

Day	Temple/tabernacle feature	Meaning
1	Holy of holies	The throne of God, the hidden heart of creation, the source of life
2	The veil	The web of matter that conceals the throne of God from human perception
3	The table for the bread	The vegetation of the earth, wine and incense
4	The seven branched lamp	The sun, the moon and five known planets
5	The altar of burnt offering	The symbolism is no longer clear because the text of Exodus 40 differs in the Greek and the Hebrew. It is probable that the altar represented non-human creatures
6	The high priest	The human as the high priest of creation

In addition, there are lots of other elements in the story about building the tabernacle that echoes the creation. The following is obtained from this source.

• The tabernacle instructions (Exodus 25-31) are given in six segments, each beginning with “Yahweh said to Moses” (25:1; 30:11, 17, 22, 34; 31:1). “Speaking” these six “creative” words to Moses parallels the six creative words of Genesis 1 (vv. 3, 6, 9, 14, 20, 22).
• The seventh creative word in Exodus 31:12 introduces the Sabbath command. As in Genesis 1, we see a seven-fold creative act culminating in rest.
• In Exodus 39:32 we read that the work was “completed.” This is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis 2:2 to refer to the completion of God’s creative work.
• In Exodus 39:43 we read that Moses “inspected the work and saw” that they had completed the work according to plan. Likewise in Genesis 1 God inspects his creative work and “sees” (same Hebrew word) that it was good.
• Just as Moses “blessed” the people after completing the work (Exodus 39:43), God “blessed” (same Hebrew word) his creation in Genesis 1:22, 28; 2:3.
• In Exodus 40:33 we read that Moses “finished the work,” which parallels how God “finished his work” (same Hebrew vocabulary) on the seventh day (Genesis 2:2).

Later, when the tabernacle was replaced by the Temple of Solomon, the same structure was used. The most important ritual in the tabernacle and temple was on the Day of Atonement. The high priest would walk through the temple all the way into the Holy of Holies. Since the temple is the creation in reverse, the high priest on this journey would symbolically peel back layers of the material creation until he passed through the veil and entered the divine presence in the eternal and invisible realm. When the high priest had entered into the Holy of Holies, he would speak and utter the name of God, Yahweh, the name that was so sacred that it could not be uttered any other place or time. The Holy of Holies was therefore 'debir' in Hebrew, a place of speaking, and a model of the beginning of creation when God spoke and the world came into existence. "In the beginning was the Word". This word was in fact Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament. When "the Word" became flesh, it followed the pattern of creation. But when his flesh was sacrificed and Christ went all the way through the veil into the Holy of Holies in his role as high priest, as the Epistle to the Hebrews describes, he went back to "dabar" (the word). 

In a blog post a while ago, I described how the atonement literally and symbolically reverses the fall. The following is from this post:

Acts 5:30:

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree

1st Corinthians 15:22:

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive

The atonement is the reversal of the fall! The fall came about when Adam took the fruit from the tree. The atonement came about when the firstfruit of God was hanged on the tree. The fall was figuratively a fall to the ground, to the carnal and the captivity of the devil. The atonement enabled mankind to rise, to "cultivate the ground", i.e. to become master of the carnal instead of subject to it. It enables us to eat fruit instead of dust.

The story of the fall immediately follows the creation account. Seeing how the temple or covenant path is a creation in reverse adds to this symmetry. We have a chiastic structure looking something like this:

A. Creation: Word becoming matter

          B. Fall: Introducing physical and spiritual death

          B’. Atonement: Conquering physical and spiritual death

A’. Temple/covenant path: Passing through the material creation back to “the word”

I find much beauty in symbolism and symmetry, and am overwhelmed by the beauty and depth of God's great plan for us. Thanks to Lord Wilmore for pointing me to the interesting relation between the Hebrew 'dbr' root and the temple. 

Jesus' clothing and the temple

Learning about ancient temple practice and theology, I tend to view things through that lens these days. I wrote previously about the veil and its symbolism. The veil in the first temple was woven from four different colors representing the four elements, which the visible world was thought to consist of. It concealed the glory of God and represented matter, the visible creation. The vestment of the high priest was made of the exact same fabric and represented incarnation. Even though they look differently today, some may notice the similarities that exist between the veil and sacred clothing.

Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered through the veil into the holy of holies. Before he did that, he took off his vestment and changed to a special white linen garment that was only to be worn in the holy of holies. This was the clothing of angels. He did not wear the colored vestment anymore representing incarnation, because he passed into the eternal realms. In the first temple period, the high priest who did all this was also king, representing the Messiah.

Considering all this, I find striking parallels to Jesus' transition through the veil on his "Day of Atonement". The letter to the Hebrews argues that Jesus was a true high priest after the order of Melchizedek, the first priest-king in the ancient temple tradition. In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 27, we see evidence of that.

35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
36 And sitting down they watched him there;
37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Jesus, the king and high priest was about to complete the atonement. He was stripped of his garment, just like the high priest in the temple took off the vestment. The greek word used here in Matthew is 'himation' meaning an outer garment. Jesus had a name or title written over his head. Similarly, the high priest in the temple wore a golden seal on his forehead with the sacred name written on it.

Some verses later, we read

50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent

Here is the transition. Jesus leaves the mortal world and the veil rends to let him through into the holy of holies. Even though his body is lifeless at this point, it will soon come to life again in the first case of a glorious resurrection beyond the veil. To prepare his body for that, Joseph from Arimathæa takes his body and wraps it in fine linen.

59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth

The greek word here is 'sindoni'. This is fine bleached linen, comparable to the garment that the high priest in the temple wore inside the holy of holies on the Day of Atonement. The clothing-temple symbolism doesn't end there. In her book, "Temple Theology", Margaret Barker explains

Most remarkable of all is the description found in 2 Enoch, where Enoch the high priest figure has ascended through the heavens to stand before the throne. The Lord summons Michael to remove Enoch's earthly clothing - the symbol of his mortal body - and to dress him in the garments of glory - the symbol of the resurrection body.

When Jesus appears to the Nephites after his resurrection and ascension into heaven, we read

And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them. (3 Nephi 11:8)

This white robe reminds us of the garment of glory that Enoch received that represented the resurrection, especially a few chapters later when his garments are described as shiny white.

And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his countenance did smile upon them, and the light of his countenance did shine upon them, and behold they were as white as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus; and behold the whiteness thereof did exceed all the whiteness, yea, even there could be nothing upon earth so white as the whiteness thereof. (3 Nephi 19:25)

"There could be nothing upon the earth so white" indicates a heavenly condition beyond the veil. Both the countenance and garments of Jesus had this whiteness and it infected the disciples that he "smiled upon". I just learned from this blog that this verse in fact was the fulfillment of the so-called priestly blessing ("birkat kohanim") that we read in Numbers 6:23-27

23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,
24 The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
25 The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
27 And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

This was to be done by the sons of Aaron, the priests in the tabernacle/temple. In 3 Nephi, Jesus was now the priest-king who had passed through the veil, resurrected and dressed in the white garment of glory. He came to his people to give them this blessing and His name, the name that high priests in the temple traditionally had worn. Figuratively, his disciples became temple priests too and were allowed to enter with Jesus into the holy of holies.

Ancient temple theology in the Book of Mormon

In my last post, I wrote about the veil and its symbolism. Learning more about the first temple and associated theology from Margaret Barker's Book, "Temple theology", I find it remarkable how well it matches temple imagery in the Book of Mormon. I mentioned in my last post that the first temple mirrored the creation account. This is one aspect of the creation-covenant connection that Lord Wilmore (the other blogger for those who are new to this blog) has posted extensively about. I also mentioned that the veil reflected the second day of creation. The holy of holies or the inner sanctuary of the temple, reflected the first day of creation. According to Barker

In the second temple, it was empty, yet the mystical and apocalyptic texts from that period were set in a richly furnished holy place, a place of fire where the great Holy One was enthroned before countless angels.

This can be seen in the Book of Enoch. In chapter 14, Enoch, a high priestly figure, has a vision

the vision caused me to fly and lifted me upward, and bore me into heaven

Here he enters into a heavenly temple 

And its floor was of fire, and above it were lightnings and the path ¹⁸ of the stars, and its ceiling also was flaming fire. And I looked and saw therein a lofty throne: its appearance was as crystal, and the wheels thereof as the shining sun, and there was the vision of ¹⁹ cherubim. And from underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire so that I could not look ²⁰ thereon. And the Great Glory sat thereon, and His raiment shone more brightly than the sun and ²¹ was whiter than any snow.

When Barker argues that Enoch's vision reflects ancient temple practice, it's very natural to conclude the same for Lehi

8 And being thus overcome with the Spirit, he was carried away in a vision, even that he saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God.
9 And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon-day.
10 And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament. (1 Nephi 1)

The context is also interesting. Lehi was a prophet living in Jerusalem born in the mid-7th BC century, a few decades prior to the deuteronomic reform. I will not go into that in detail here, but this article provides more context. The main point is that Lehi probably came from the high priestly first temple tradition that Barker writes about. Consequently, it is reasonable to assume that the Nephite temples and theology corresponded to the high priestly theology associated with the first temple. In 2 Nephi 5:16, Nephi built a temple and wrote that he "did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon".

With this background, I came to the surprising realization of a possible temple setting for King Lamoni's story. I touched upon this in a previous post with the heaven-earth theme but without making the temple connection. Since the holy of holies reflects the first day of creation, the creation of "heaven and earth", we naturally associate it with the "heaven" part and the light that was created on the first day.

To recap briefly, in Alma 18, Ammon makes an allusion to the creation account when he asks King Lamoni if he believes in God who "created all things which are in heaven and in the earth". Lamoni responds that he only knows the earth but is not familiar with heaven. In a temple context, the veil has blocked Lamoni's view of the holy of holies. He has not walked the covenant path through the temple that ultimately will allow him to enter, as I describe in the previous post that I linked to.

But this all changes at his conversion. In Alma 19:6, we read:

Now, this was what Ammon desired, for he knew that king Lamoni was under the power of God; he knew that the dark veil of unbelief was being cast away from his mind, and the light which did light up his mind, which was the light of the glory of God, which was a marvelous light of his goodness—yea, this light had infused such joy into his soul, the cloud of darkness having been dispelled, and that the light of everlasting life was lit up in his soul, yea, he knew that this had overcome his natural frame, and he was carried away in God

This seems like a temple setting. King Lamoni, who knew nothing about heaven (holy of holies) because of the veil, had the veil cast away from his mind. It permitted him to see the light that was created on the first day and that the holy of holies in Nephite temples would represent. Notice also the "glory of God" that was the name Enoch used in his temple vision quoted above. In my previous post, I also quoted Barker's statement about "those who passed beyond the veil [who] found themselves outside time". This is the "light of everlasting life" that was lit up in Lamoni's soul. "Carried away" is another covenant/temple marker as Lord Wilmore explains in this post.

My guess is that an "endowed" Nephite reading this, would immediately recognize the temple allusions here as the author probably intended. Who knows, perhaps Lamoni, the king and first Lamanite convert, went on to become a high priest in a temple in the land of Jershon?

The meaning of the veil

Growing up in the church, we learn about the veil as something that we pass through on our journey from the pre-mortal existence to mortal life. Similarly, we read about ancient temples where a veil separated the holy of holies, God's presence, from the rest of the temple. This is familiar also to a latter-day saint who has been through the modern temple. Until recently, I didn't think much about the fact that this concept is quite unique in latter-day saint theology. At least to my knowledge, this kind of symbolism is not used in other christian churches.

I am currently reading Margaret Barker's very interesting book called "Temple theology", where she explains the meaning and theology connected to the first temple of Solomon and also argues that the early Christian theology to a large degree was based on it. She describes the meaning of the veil in this temple. According to her research, the veil represented

the web of matter that conceals the throne of God from human perception

When making the portable proto-temple in the wilderness, Moses was instructed:

And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount. (Exodus 25:40)

Barker uses extra-biblical sources as evidence that the creation account was revealed to Moses on the mountain (which fits nicely with the Pearl of Great Price) and that the temple was built after the pattern of the creation account. Just as God created "heaven and earth", the temple had the holy of holies with the throne of God (heaven) and a veil separating it from "earth". The veil represented the second day of creation when the firmament was made to separate the waters above (heaven) from below (earth).

In Barker's words:

Those who passed beyond the veil found themselves outside time.

Passing through the veil was thus a transition from earth to heaven and from time to timelessness or infinity, from mortality to eternal glory. This symbolism is very recognizable to a latter-day saint.

I have previously written about the heaven-earth pairing in the scriptures. See here and here. I didn't mention the veil in those posts, but the idea of bringing heaven and earth together is very relevant in this context since the veil separates the two. We sometimes talk about the veil being thin in certain circumstances. There are also examples in the scriptures where the veil can be rent. When Christ died on the cross, the following happened: 

And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent (Matthew 27:51)

The heaven-earth posts I linked explain that the heaven earth connection is typically made in conjunction with creation, atonement, restoration or covenant making in general. The rent veil brings heaven and earth together. In this example from Matthew, Christ's atonement opened the way for man into the holy of holies, God's presence.

With all this background, I will finally turn to the Book of Mormon, more specifically, the story of the Brother of Jared. His interaction with the Lord after he brings the sixteen stones to the mountain is very interesting in a temple context.

• In Ether 3:6, the Lord "stretched forth his hand" and the veil was removed enough for the brother of Jared to see his finger
• An interaction follows where the Lord asks some questions and the brother of Jared answers
• Then in verse 13, the brother of Jared was "brought back into [the Lord's] presence"

The brother of Jared had passed through the veil and found himself in the holy of holies or the celestial sphere, God's presence. Notice how verse 25 describes the timelessness, where both past and future are right in front of him

And when the Lord had said these words, he showed unto the brother of Jared all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth.

Compare with D&C 130:7

But they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord.

Moroni explains how this way through the veil is available to us and that the brother of Jared shows a pattern to follow. 

And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad. (Ether 12:19)

Behold, when ye shall rend that veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of wickedness, and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind, then shall the great and marvelous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world from you—yea... then shall my revelations which I have caused to be written by my servant John be unfolded in the eyes of all the people. (Ether 4:15-16)

Notice also how the heaven-earth pairing appears in Moroni's comments to this story about the brother of Jared.

And in that day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are... And at my command the heavens are opened and are shut; and at my word the earth shall shake (Ether 4:7-9)

Summary

• In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. He also separated them. The veil in the temple, ancient and modern and the use of this word in the scriptures, symbolizes this separation.
• The intention was not to keep them separate. Rending the veil and unifying heaven and earth is the goal. But we first need to learn to see with the "eye of faith" and walk the covenant path
• The story of the brother of Jared and the temple shows a pattern for how we can pass through the veil

 

 

Past, Present, and Future as a Temple symbol

I'm studying Margaret Barker's theory that the best way to understand the worldview of the early Christians is to understand the first Temple's High Priestly tradition.

One key feature of this tradition is the idea of hidden knowledge or wisdom.  This is a major component of Barker's Temple Theology.  Sometimes this is referred to as 'gnosis' which is a Greek term for knowledge of spiritual mysteries. Barker goes into great detail as to what these early Christians considered this vital knowledge to be.  Consider this quote from Clement:

If we then assert that Christ himself is Wisdom, and that it was His working that showed itself in the prophets, ... then it follows that the gnosis which is the knowledge and apprehension of this present, future and past which is sure and reliable, as being imparted and revealed by the Son of God, is Wisdom.

Barker points out a few key features of Clement's definition of this 'gnosis.'  First, it is revealed by Jesus Christ, not the result of intellectual reasoning. This knowledge is divinely imparted, not deduced. Second, it is knowledge of things past, present, and future, which is sure and reliable.

Both aspects are fascinating and I can think of several relevant passages in the Book of Mormon.  I'll feature the "revealed" nature of this knowledge in later posts.  In this post, I'd like to point out that the Book of Mormon contains several curious past/present/future references.  I've noticed these for many years and haven't been able to fully understand why there are there.  Here is one such example:

14 And these are they who have published peace, who have brought good tidings of good, who have published salvation; and said unto Zion: Thy God reigneth!
15 And O how beautiful upon the mountains were their feet!
16 And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that are still publishing peace!
17 And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who shall hereafter publish peace, yea, from this time henceforth and forever!
18 And behold, I say unto you, this is not all. For O how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that is the founder of peace, yea, even the Lord, who has redeemed his people; yea, him who has granted salvation unto his people;
19 For were it not for the redemption which he hath made for his people, which was prepared from the foundation of the world, I say unto you, were it not for this, all mankind must have perished. (Mosiah 15)

Notice the pattern here, in a discussion of "good tidings" -- past, present, future, CHRIST, plan of salvation "prepared from the foundation of the world."

I'll outline more examples in a future post, too. 

This has clear temple relevance.