AT HIS FEET

What a privilege it has been to sit at the Savior's feet this week.

I am humbled and amazed as I read 3 Nephi ( for the BYU-I Book of Mormon class I am taking) about the things Christ said and did in 3 Nephi when he visited the people.

Last week, in Chapter 17, Jesus noticed that the people were weak and could not understand all he was teaching. He asked them to go home and ponder and pray and prepare for him to teach them the next day. I began to wonder what I would do if I were commanded to go pray and prepare for a meeting with Jesus.

When the multitude gather again and he returns (3 Nephi 19:16), after administering the sacrament miraculously (3 Nephi 20:6), Jesus begins to expound the scriptures to them and teach about the prophecies and covenants that are fulfilled by his birth and death, and those yet to be fulfilled - particularly the gathering of Israel and the words of Isaiah. 

I love Isaiah. It is the greatest testimony of Jesus Christ, and the plan our loving Father. What a tremendous composite of Isaiah's teachings 3 Nephi 20 is, as the Savior himself quotes them. Nephi tried to teach from Isaiah (1st and 2nd Nephi) but now we hear Isaiah's teachings from the mouth of Jesus Christ. And then Jesus quotes an entire chapter of Isaiah almost verbatim (see 3 Nephi 22, compare Isaiah 54) and commands us, as did Nephi, to "... search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah." 

But I digress, in my enthusiasm I am getting ahead of myself. THAT starts next week's reading where the Savior continues to expound the scriptures for several more chapters. Maybe I need to 'go home', ponder and prepare for another in depth meeting with the Savior. Maybe it will bless my understanding if I read some of the words of Isaiah (and other prophets he quotes). 

My heart and mind are full of astonishment at how much I do not know. I have never before realized this simple thing - that Jesus taught from the prophecies of Isaiah and expounded them at great length.

 How could I, someone that loves Isaiah not notice that before? How could I, someone that worships Jesus Christ never realize there are whole chapters in the Book of Mormon where he expounds the scriptures (3 Nephi 20-28) and plainly teaches what to expect in the future?

How could I miss all that when I have read all these scriptures so many times? I want to do better. I want to hear the prophets and follow their instructions. I want to meet with the Savior. 

He promises I can.

He promises we all can. 

John 14:1-4

1 Let not your heart be troubled:
   ye believe in God, believe also in me.

 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions:
    if it were not so, I would have told you.
    I go to prepare a place for you.

 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you,
    I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
    that where I am, there ye may be also.

 4 And whither I go ye know,
     and the way ye know.