Heb 5:11-6:20Persevere; God’s Faithfulness

Outline•Faith as courage / adventure /

more•Spiritual maturity (and lack

thereof)•Dangers of Apostasy•Faithfulness of God

The Kirtland Temple Dedication and Sidney

Rigdon’s SpeechPresdt Rigdon then read the 18, 19, and 20, verses of the 8th Chapter

of Mathew and preached more particularly from the 20th verse.—his prayer and address were very forcible and sublime, and well adapted to the occasion. He spoke two hours and a half in his usual, forcible and logical manner. At one time in the course of his remarks he was rather pathetic, than otherwise, which drew tears from many eyes. He was then taking a retrospective view of the toils, privations and anxieties of those who had labored upon the walls of the house to erect them. And added, there were those who had wet them with their tears, in the silent shades of night, while they were praying to the God of Heaven, to protect them, and stay the unhallowed hands of ruthless spoilers, who had uttered a prophecy when the foundation was laid, that the walls would never be reared. This was only a short digression from the main thread of his discourse, which he soon resumed.

The speaker assumed as a postulate, what we presume no one was disposed to deny, (viz:) that in the days of the Savior there were Synagogues, where the Jews worshipped God, and in addition to them, the splendid Temple at Jerusalem. Yet, when on a certain occasion, one proposed to follow him whithersoever he went, He though heir of all things cried out like one in the bitterness of his soul in abject poverty, The Foxes have holes, and etc.— This, said the speaker, was evidence to his mind, that the Most High did not put his name there, and that he did not accept the worship of those who payed their vows and adorations there. This was evident from the fact that they would not receive him, but thrust him from them, saying, away with him, crucify him! crucify him! It was therefore abundantly evident that his spirit did not dwell in them. They were the degenerate sons of noble sires: but they had long since slain the Prophets and Seers through whom the Lord revealed himself to the children of men. They were not led by revelation, This, said the speaker, was the grand difficulty among them. Their unbelief in present revelation. He further remarked, that, their unbelief in present revelation was the means of dividing that generation into the various sects and parties that existed.

They were sincere worshipers, but their worship was not required of them, nor was it acceptable to God.—The Redeemer himself who knew the hearts of all men, called them a generation of vipers. It was proof positive to his mind, that there being Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians and Essens, and all differing from each other, that they were led by the precepts and commandments of men. Each had something peculiar to himself, but all agreed in one point, (viz:) to oppose the Redeemer. So that we discover he could with the utmost propriety, exclaim, notwithstanding their synagogue and Temple worship. The foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. He took occasion here to remark that such diversity of sentiment ever had, and ever would obtain when people were not led by present revelation. This brought him to the inevitable conclusion that the various sects of the present day, from their manifesting the same spirit, rested under the same condemnation with those who were coeval with the Savior. He admitted there were many houses: many sufficiently great, built for the worship of God, but not one except this, on the face of the whole earth, that was built by divine revelation, and were it not for this, the dear Redeemer might in this day of science, this day of intelligence, this day of religion, say to those who would follow him, The foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Here his whole soul appeared to be fired with his subject. Arguments, strong and conclusive seemed almost to vie with each other for utterance. Indeed, there was no sophistry in his reasoning, no plausible hypothesis on which the whole rested, but on the contrary plain scripture facts. Therefore his deductions and inferences were logical and conclusive.

The comparison drawn between the different religious sects of ancient and modern times, was perfectly natural, and simple yet it was done in that confident, masterly manner, accompanied with those incontrovertable proofs of his position, that was directly calculated to cheer and gladden the hearts of the Saints, but to draw down the indignation of the sectarian world upon him and we have no doubt, had our speaker uttered the same sentiments, with the same proof of their correctness, had there been those present that we might name, his voice would doubtless have been drowned as was that of the ancient apostle in the Athenian Temple, when his auditors cried incessantly for about two hours "Great is Diana of the Ephesians."

But to conclude, we can truly say no one unacquainted with the manner of delivery and style of our speaker can, from reading form any adequate idea of the powerful effect he is capable of producing in the minds of his hearers: And to say on this occasion he showed himself master of his subject and did well, would be doing him injustice; to say he acquitted himself with honor or did very well, would be detracting from his real merit; and to say that he did exceeding well; would be only halting praise. (March 1836, Messenger and Advocate, 2:275-6)

Burdens, Suffering...

•Elder Clayton’s October 2009 Conf talk lists three reasons for burdens:

In a general sense, our burdens come from three sources. Some burdens are the natural product of the conditions of the world in which we live. Illness, physical disability, hurricanes, and earthquakes come from time to time through no fault of our own. We can prepare for these risks and sometimes we can predict them, but in the natural pattern of life we will all confront some of these challenges.

Other burdens are imposed on us by the misconduct of others. Abuse and addictions can make home anything but a heaven on earth for innocent family members. Sin, incorrect traditions, repression, and crime scatter burdened victims along the pathways of life. Even less-serious misdeeds such as gossip and unkindness can cause others genuine suffering.

Our own mistakes and shortcomings produce many of our problems and can place heavy burdens on our own shoulders. The most onerous burden we impose upon ourselves is the burden of sin. We have all known the remorse and pain which inevitably follow our failure to keep the commandments. -- “That Your Burdens May Be Light,” October 2009

Faith, Suffering, Learning•Mathein Pathein

To learn is to suffer / to suffer is to learn.•Greeks saw mental, physical, and moral

learning all tied together, and all requiring strenuous exertion

•Examples: -pain of losing a loved one versus never risking relationship-physical exercise versus couch potato

•Growth is good, but it frequently is painful. We quickly understand this physically; same is true emotionally and spiritually and mentally.

Faith as...•More than belief (see 11:6)•More than hope (see 11:1)•More than endurance (see 10:39)•It is “hearing” meaning listening to and

obeying the call of God. •Courage to move to a new, larger, and

potentially more frightening world•This “hearing/obeying” is exactly what Christ

did: See 3 Ne 11:10-11. This is the core of the Gospel.

Faith, Suffering, Learning, Christology...

Here is the distinctive way in which the author of Hebrews brings together his remarkably high Christology (Jesus is the “preexistent” Son of God) and remarkable emphasis on Jesus’ humanity (Jesus is like us in every respect, apart from sin). He understands Jesus precisely as growing into his stature as Son through the process of obedient faith, through a process of creative suffering. As human, Jesus progressively entered into the immensity of God’s presence, even within himself, as he responded to the call of God in his temporal existence. The moment of death, which to outward appearance is the ultimate closure to human possibility, was therefore in the case of Jesus the ultimate opening to the presence of God, an exaltation to the right hand of the throne of glory. Since for Hebrews Jesus is the pioneer as well as the perfecter of such obedient faith (12:2), he has shown the path toward maturity also for all those “sons being led to glory” (2:14)

-LT Johnson, Hebrews, p151-2

Willingness to hear•Milk before meat•1 Cor 3:2-3•Not just ideas, but moral capacity!•Alma 12:9-11•Case example: D&C 2, 110, 138•Further possibility: D&C 89

Exhortation to persevere, with an

example...•JST versus modern footnotes on 6:1

Heb. 6:1 ¶ Therefore we must progress beyond the elementary instructions about Christ and move on to maturity, not laying this foundation again: repentance from dead works and faith in God, Heb. 6:2 teaching about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. Heb. 6:3 And this is what we intend to do, if God permits.

NET: Translators note: Greek “Therefore leaving behind.” The implication is not of abandoning this elementary information, but of building on it.

v 4-6 Neutral GroundDaniel Tyler recalled: “Soon after the Prophet’s arrival in Commerce (afterwards

Nauvoo) from Missouri prison, Brother Isaac Behunin and myself made him a visit at his residence. His persecutions were the topic of conversation. He repeated many false, inconsistent and contradictory statements made by apostates, frightened members of the Church and outsiders. He also told how most of the officials who would fain have taken his life, when he was arrested, turned in his favor on forming his acquaintance. He laid the burden of the blame on false brethren. …

“When the Prophet had ended telling how he had been treated, Brother Behunin remarked: ‘If I should leave this Church I would not do as those men have done: I would go to some remote place where Mormonism had never been heard of, settle down, and no one would ever learn that I knew anything about it.’

“The great Seer immediately replied: ‘Brother Behunin, you don’t know what you would do. No doubt these men once thought as you do. Before you joined this Church you stood on neutral ground. When the gospel was preached, good and evil were set before you. You could choose either or neither. There were two opposite masters inviting you to serve them. When you joined this Church you enlisted to serve God. When you did that you left the neutral ground, and you never can get back on to it. Should you forsake the Master you enlisted to serve, it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his servant.’ ”--“Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” Juvenile Instructor, Aug. 15, 1892, pp. 491–92; as quoted in Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, p324

Abraham & Swearing•Oaths: 1 Ne 4:30-37

•6:14 -- quote from Genesis 22:17• Why did God need to reassure Abraham?

• Two oaths that included a “no changes” promise: Ps 110:4, Isa 45:23

• “Patiently” -- how long between the promise of offspring and fulfillment? (Hint: Genesis 12:3-4, 21:5)

•Swearing by something greater•Hebrews does not re-quote Ps 110:4, this is

implied (and has been quoted already) -- this is the oath that God makes to Jesus

6:19-20 -- multiple metaphors

•Hope as an anchor -- unique to scripture, cited in Ether 12:4

•Holy of Holies as presence of God•Forerunner -- of a race, of a

military campaign. Word used only here in NT.