When the heavenly Voice had finished the recital of the calamities that had befallen the land and its inhabitants, the Speaker commenced an appeal to those who yet lived, and revealed to them Who He was.
“Behold, I Am Jesus Christ the Son of God”
With great power the Voice declared: "I am Jesus Christ the Son of God," thereby witnessing to all who heard that the owner thereof was high in the Councils of Heaven, and had unquestioned authority to declare its blessings. "I created the heavens and the earth, and all that in them are," the Voice again declared; so we ask, "Why should not the elements from which they are made obey His will?")15 All things obey His will. The infirmities of the flesh, the imposts life lays, the burdens carried to the grave, are often blessings coming from Him to us in disguise, and that in healing these afflictions the Lord rebukes the destroyer, and places the repentant sinner beyond the power of evil. "That," the Prophet Joseph Smith said, "is Eternal Life." "If ye will come unto Me ye shall have Eternal Life." (v. 14)
I was with the Father from the beginning. Jesus Christ, the Son o:f God, alone, is the Only-Begotten of the Father, but He also was the First born to God in the World of Spirits. That was the beginning of which Christ speaks in verse 15. He was with His Father in all the works accomplished by His Father. The grand Creation was done under His Father's supervision.
I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. This is not a difficult passage. It means that the desire of one, is the desire of the other; Their purpose is the same, to bring about the Salvation and Eternal Life of man. Their aim, that for which They strive, is mutual. No dissensions, no disagreement in opinion, no discord between Them; They are alike in manner, form, and degree.
Christ, Himself, when He ministered to the Nephites in the Land Bountiful, chose Twelve Disciples to minister for Him after He was gone, and the prayer He offered to His Father in Heaven, thanking Him for them, is a full and complete explanation of the sentiment He expressed in this verse (15): "Father, thou hast given them the Holy Ghost because they believe in Me; and Thou seest that they believe in Me because Thou hearest them, and they pray unto Me; and they pray unto Me because I am with them. And now Father, I pray unto Thee for them, and also for all those who shall believe their words, that they may believe in Me, that I may be in them as Thou, Father, art in Me, that we may be one." (III Nephi 19:22-23)
Shortly before Christ left the Nephites in the care of the Twelve He had chosen, He granted to each of them the desire of his heart. To three of them whose desire was the same as what His beloved Disciple, John, desired when He ministered among the Jews.
We may get a fuller and freer understanding of the sentiment spoken by Jesus, "In Me hath the Father glorified His Name," when we remember that all evil came into the world through the Transgression of Adam. Through him all men became "carnal, sensual, and devilish.")
'Therefore, as they had become carnal, sensual, and devilish, by nature, this probationary state became a state for them to prepare; it became a preparatory state." (Alma 41:11) All mortal men "are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; they are without God in this world, and they have gone contrary to the nature of God; therefore, they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness." (Ibid.)
Evil things are unclean things; evil thoughts are unclean thoughts. No unclean thing can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.)
"And He doth not dwell in unholy temples; neither can filthiness or anything which is unclean be received into the Kingdom of God...." (Alma 7:21)
"And I say unto you again that He cannot save them in their sins; For I cannot deny His word, and He hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the Kingdom of Heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the Kingdom of Heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins." (Alma 11:37)
"And no unclean thing can enter into His Kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into His rest save it be those who have washed their garments in My blood, because of their Faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end." (III Nephi 27:19)20 Heaven is that place where God and the angels dwell, and where God is, no evil may come. As we have noted, mankind in his carnal state is the victim of evil; his joys are of the flesh, and his pleasures, sensual. Many of his hopes are of the devil, devilish. Death itself is of the devil. But even at death man cannot return to that place where he once was, or where his Father lives. The Father and His children are parted-separated. This is where the Plan of Salvation is best understood; this is where it may be said that the Way has been prepared and the Pathway marked out whereby a return to that ineffable Home may be attained by mortals. The Father and His children must be reunited. The Father's glory is the Salvation and Exaltation of His children. A reconciliation between them must be had. That reconciliation has been accomplished by Him Who is King of kings and Lord of lords. A return to his Father's House is the reward of the repentant sinner who endures to the end; and that reward is through Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God, the Great Mediator between God and man. "In Me hath the Father glorified His Name." (v. 15)
And here, let us not forget that we, too, may glorify the Name of our Father by serving Him as did Christ by His serving His Father's children, and by us diligently keeping His commandments. To serve God means among many other things a constant sacrifice on our part of all selfish longings. To minister to the needs of His children is but a "thank-offering" to God for the blessings we receive from Him; in serving others we put to their highest use the things He has entrusted to our care. We thus become His servants; we do His will. In all ages God's servants served His children. It is good to remember that none were ever overcome who put their trust in the Great Father of us all by ministering to His children, our fellows. The service we render to God is measured by the same rod, and in the same terms with which we serve one another. We should always keep in our minds, that to serve Him in perfect freedom, and to worship Him is life's greatest happiness and its true satisfaction. King Benjamin, one of the great Prophet-Kings of the Nephites, said: "In my days of service to you...I have only been in the service of God." In serving God's children we may become poorer in the things of the world, but we will be richer in heavenly treasures; and always remember, "Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble (turmoil) therewith." (Proverbs 15:16)
In the Gospel Plan no lessons are more boldly proclaimed than the lesson of service. The conclusion is not to be escaped that we serve God best by sharing with the needy the gifts we constantly receive from His bounteous hands, by showing compassion for the distressed, by upholding the falling, by loosing the bound. Truly, we can ennoble our lives no more graciously than by serving God with deeds of loving-kindness to our fellowmen. Yes, indeed, we can glorify the Name of our Father in thus doing.
In reading the magnificent and profound sentiments expressed by the Voice as they are recorded in Verse 15, we feel constrained to repeat the fervent prayer offered by the Jews of this day:
"May the time not be distant, O God, when Thy Name shall be worshiped in all the earth, when unbelief shall disappear and error be no more. We fervently pray that the day may come when all men shall invoke Thy name, when corruption and evil shall give way to purity and goodness, when superstition shall no longer enslave the mind, nor idolatry blind the eye, when all inhabitants of the earth shall know that to Thee alone every knee must bend and every tongue give homage. O may all created in Thine image recognize that they are brethren, so that, one in spirit and one in fellowship, they may be forever united before Thee. Then shall Thy Kingdom be established on earth and the word of Thine ancient seer be fulfilled: 'The Lord will reign for ever and ever.'"
Truly, the wonderful gift bought for us on Calvary's Hill inspires us to greater deeds of love and helpfulness to our fellow men, and we ourselves pray: "O Heavenly Father, put into our hearts the love and fear of Thee, that we may consecrate our lives to Thy service and glorify Thy Name in the eyes of all men."
In ending our discussion of Verse 15, may we do so by repeating the last verse of the 65th Section of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants: "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."