Lehi, Nephi and the shekinah -- Part 4 ("Stretch out the curtains of your dwelling place")

After having been asked about Isaiah 54 in the context of my recent series on the Shekinah, I found enough material to make two additional posts. Here are the previous parts 1, 2 and 3. 

The setting of Isaiah 54 is the latter-day gathering of Israel. It starts out with the imagery of the woman/wife, representing Israel, who was rejected in her youth because of unfaithfulness (see verse 6). 

Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. (Isaiah 54:1)

The remarriage with Jehovah symbolizes the renewal of the covenant with "children" as a covenant blessing denoting the gathering of Israel. In verse 2 an expansion occurs to make room for all the covenant children. There is beautiful poetic parallelism here that is a bit lost in the KJV. A more direct translation reads something like this

A) Enlarge the site of your tent, 
B) stretch out the curtains of your dwelling place

Here, tent is translated from "ohel", basically the conventional word for tent. Dwelling place (habitations in the KJV) is translated from "mishkan", the word I have discussed in this series that also means tent/tabernacle and comes from the root, shakan (dwell), from which Shekinah is derived. Since this word often seems to imply a divine presence, I think we can read this poetic parallelism to describe two steps in the context of the latter-day gathering of Israel:

• A) Make room for a covenant people
• B) Make room for God to dwell among them

We find a similar description in the Book of Revelation. In Revelation 19:7-9 we read

7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

John the Revelator uses the wife imagery of Isaiah. There is a marriage supper at the onset of the millennium and the righteous covenant people are invited. This imagery continues in Revelation 21, adding the tent/dwelling symbolism that we also saw in Isaiah:

2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

There is quite a bit to unpack here. The tabernacle of God and him dwelling with his people fits Isaiah 54 and the Hebrew Shekinah concept very well, even though Revelation is written in Greek. The Greek word, skene, is both the noun translated into tabernacle and verb (skenoo) translated into dwell. Just like the similar Hebrew, "mishkan", skene/skenoo also frequently implies the divine presence. Examples of this is found in the Letter to the Hebrews

A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle (skene), which the Lord pitched, and not man. (Hebrews 8:2)

But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle (skene), not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building (Hebrews 9:11)

So what happens in the parallel prophecy of Isaiah and vision of John is that the covenant people is restored in a grand marriage feast in an expanding tent where God dwells among them. I believe this is the grand feast that Lord Wilmore has written about that occurs when the "fruitful" Ephraim has been restored to Israel and to the fulness of the gospel.

I also think that Isaiah's prophecy of enlarging the tent marks a difference between the old and new covenant people. In part 3, I wrote about the Tsadiks (the Righteous/Holy Ones), like Abraham, Moses and Lehi, who lived in tents as strangers and pilgrims on the earth, isolated from the wicked world but enwrapped in the Shekinah glory. Enlarging and stretching out the tent in Isaiah 54:2 signifies not only the increasing number of Israelites gathered in, but the fact that latter-day Israel is not characterized by the sole, isolated Tsadiks any longer. Instead, Israel becomes a grand kingdom of priests and priestesses, where the ever expanding tent enwraps us all in God's glory. Notice in Revelation 19:8 that was quoted, how the bride is wearing fine linen representing "the righteousness of saints". The saints at the feast are all Tsadiks. Temples and stakes of Zion are flooding the earth and all covenant people can enter in all the way to the Holy of Holies and partake of the feast. This is in fact a fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, a Jewish festival that I will discuss in the next post.

A marriage of heaven and earth

A Jewish rabbi states:

The purpose of the Jewish people—the objective of all Jewish history—is the marriage of heaven and earth. While many spiritual seekers and virtually all religions seek to escape the confines of the flesh and climb heavenward, the Jew is charged with a far more profound calling: first create peace, then build a bridge, and finally marry heaven and earth. (Source)

I have heard similar sentiments from the Jewish community, for instance Mt Sinai being a marriage of heaven and earth. I would not accept every word from a Jewish rabbi by default, since they don't share my views on Christ as the Messiah or the restored gospel. But they have insight into ancient Hebrew language and culture that is our heritage and I find this quote interesting and fitting within a Latter-Day Saint framework. 

The Bible opens and closes with a marriage. After the creation of man (Adam), God gives him a help meet and commands the two to be one flesh. In Revelation 19:7, "the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready". In Revelation 21:9, an angel shows John "the bride, the Lamb's wife". The emphasis here from my side is not the fact that Revelation happens to be the last book in the New Testament (it was probably not the New Testament book written last), but the events described in these chapters mark the ending of the history of the telestial earth, just like Adam and Eve marked the beginning. 

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. The first marriage united humans with each other. Together we make our way back toward heaven. The last marriage unites heaven and earth (humans and God). This happens when the wife of the Lamb (Zion) has made herself ready.

I have posted about heaven and earth before but never really noticed D&C 65. It is a hidden gem fitting squarely into the concept of a marriage between heaven and earth in the latter days.

1 Hearken, and lo, a voice as of one sent down from on high, who is mighty and powerful, whose going forth is unto the ends of the earth, yea, whose voice is unto men—Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

2 The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth.

3 Yea, a voice crying—Prepare ye the way of the Lord, prepare ye the supper of the Lamb, make ready for the Bridegroom.

4 Pray unto the Lord, call upon his holy name, make known his wonderful works among the people.

5 Call upon the Lord, that his kingdom may go forth upon the earth, that the inhabitants thereof may receive it, and be prepared for the days to come, in the which the Son of Man shall come down in heaven, clothed in the brightness of his glory, to meet the kingdom of God which is set up on the earth.

6 Wherefore, may the kingdom of God go forth, that the kingdom of heaven may come, that thou, O God, mayest be glorified in heaven so on earth, that thine enemies may be subdued; for thine is the honor, power and glory, forever and ever. Amen.

This marriage happens at the second coming. Many Christians have tried to speculate when the second coming of Christ will occur. The answer is given in this section: When we have made ready for the Bridegroom. We don't know the time of that of course, but it seems to be up to us. When Zion is "married" in unity, according to the heavenly pattern of unity, we are "prepared for the days to come". A prerequisite for "the kingdom of heaven [to] come" is that the kingdom of God on earth goes forth and we are ready to meet Him.

The charge of the Jews to "create peace" and "build a bridge" is a good description of our charge as modern day Israelites to help "the gospel roll forth", build Zion and establish the kingdom of God on earth to prepare the way of the Lord.

What does it mean to be "carried away in the Spirit"? -- Part 2

As I commented in part 1, Nephi's vision started by him being caught away in the Spirit. This is also how he closes the account of his visionary experience.

And now I make an end of speaking concerning the things which I saw while I was carried away in the Spirit (1 Nephi 14:30)

Interestingly, while Nephi is carried away in the Spirit he sees others carried away in the Spirit. In verse 15, Nephi sees the virgin Mary. She is carried away in the Spirit in verse 19 and when he sees her again she carries a child in her arms. In verse 29, he sees the 12 Apostles following Jesus. They are also carried away in the Spirit until they reappear some time after Christ's death.

As we can see, this is a dominant theme in Nephi's vision. We find it other places in the scriptures too. In the Bible, this expression is mentioned only a few times. We saw one example of Paul being caught up to Heaven in part 1. Philip is caught away by the Spirit in Acts 8. Ezekiel 40:2 is the closest we get in the Old Testament, I think. It reads

In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain

But this theme is the most prevalent in the Book of Revelation. He starts off his vision with

On the Lord's day I was in the Spirit (Revelation 1:10)

Also, twice more in Revelations, John describes himself being carried away in the Spirit; in 21:10 and 17:3. Not surprisingly perhaps, because there are several connections between Nephi's and John's visions. There is some common language, like "nations, kindreds, tongues and people" and the whore sitting on many waters (see Revelation 17:1 and 1 Nephi 14:11) and of course the fact that John is explicitly mentioned in the end of Nephi's account (1 Nephi 14:27).

In the Book of Moses, we find it too. In part 1, I mentioned Adam. Also, in Moses 1:1

The words of God, which he spake unto Moses at a time when Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high mountain

I see a recurring theme in many of these accounts. Perhaps it goes without saying that they are typical precedents for Heavenly manifestations. But they seem to be very special, personal and sacred events involving the presence of the glorified divine that requires a transformation of the body to endure as discussed in Part 1. In fact, they are so sacred that they are often forbidden to talk or write about it.

Nephi is forbidden to record everything he saw (1 Nephi 14:28). Mary, who he sees carried away in the Spirit, has become the mother of the Savior when he sees her again. Definitely a sacred experience we know little about. One thing we know is that Joseph was not the father! The other "carried away" he sees is the 12 Apostles. This one is more difficult for me to understand. But one thing that comes to mind is that the Mount of Transfiguration fits the pattern. They experience sacred things, saw Christ's glory and probably much more than what is recorded. And again, they are forbidden to speak about it. The 3 disciples in 3 Nephi, who were "caught up into heaven" also follow the same pattern:

And it was forbidden them that they should utter; neither was it given unto them power that they could utter the things which they saw and heard (3 Nephi 28:14)

A final example is Joseph Smith. Although we don't see the language "caught up/carried away" used, we learn about his first vision and read that "many other things did he [Christ] say unto me, which I cannot write at this time." Don Bradley's research shows that "caught up" would be a very fitting term here.

Conclusions

• Even though I still don't understand the metaphysics, "caught/carried up/away in/by (the Spirit)" are expressions that seem to signify going through a transformation to be able to endure the presence of the divine and being physically lifted or at least guided to a "higher" place, like a mountain or even heaven.
• The expression is typically used in connection with very profound, sacred and personal experiences. These are often forbidden to write down or talk about.
• This theme is particularly prevalent in Nephi's vision and John's revelation, making up just one of several connections between the two.