Lehi in Context Part 3

“Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. And I want you to know that God, in the last days, while certain individual are proclaiming His name, is not trifling with you or me.” (Joseph Smith April 7, 1844)

God is not trifling with you and me. He’s not messing around. This is for real. This life is NOT about becoming more “churchy” and climbing the church ranks. Lehi understood this. Nephi is not simply telling a story about his dad. He’s illustrating a map. The Book of Mormon is a map, showing the path to redemption. The path back into the presence of the Lord, in the flesh.

“Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.” Ether 3:13

The irony of the exalting path, is that it is not exalting at all. It is the opposite. Nephi spoke of the “path of the low valley” and the “plain road”. Likewise Christ taught “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”

Lehi makes a choice to be diminished. He elects a lower life station, a lower standard of living, a life of hardship, affliction and obscurity. Its no wonder his oldest sons thought he was crazy. His actions would have been so counter-culture that you and I both would have thought he was crazy.

Paul taught the Philippians:

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” 

Much could be discussed about the foregoing verse. At a minimum we should acknowledge that to the ancients who came to know God, first hand knowledge was purchased. Not with money but with sacrifice. In modern LDS culture, we often isolate the concept of “sacrifice” to mean spending time in church meetings, fulfilling our callings. This is a common misconception. They are not the same thing.

Returning to Lehi:

 “And the first came and stood before my father and gave unto him a book and bade him that he should read. And it came to pass that as he read he was filled with the spirit of the Lord, and he read saying, Wo, wo unto Jerusalem for I have seen thine abominations. Yea, many things did my father read concerning Jerusalem: that it should be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof, many should perish by the sword and many should be carried away captive into Babylon.” 

More bad news for Lehi. He has a lot of friends and family in Jerusalem. He is “awakening to an awful situation” .

“And it came to pass that when my father had read and saw many great and marvelous things he did exclaim many things unto the Lord…thou art merciful thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish. And after this manner was the language of my father in the praising of his God for his soul did rejoice and his whole heart was filled because of the things which he had seen, yea, which the Lord had shewn unto him.”

It’s important to consider that Lehi does not believe in a “trickle-down-from-the-top” religion. There seem to be a great many today who practice such a religion. They believe it is the duty of a certain small group of men at the top to receive orders from the Lord, and that the only remaining duty required of the common man is to “follow your priesthood leader”. It is not frequently taught this way, but it is frequently practiced this way. (But sometimes it’s even taught that way).

Lehi isn’t doing that. He’s been listening to Jeremiah and perhaps others preach. He believes there’s truth to their words. But he’s not satisfied with hearsay. He goes unto the Lord himself, and gets his own experiences. He’s not “trifling” with the Lord.