Dear Family and Friends,
Well I am glad that I
didn't complain too much about our snow storm here, because you got it way
worse. Haha I am sorry to hear about that! Every time it snows here though I
get to shovel like seven or so walks to do service for others so yeah I enjoy
that.
So this week I studied a
bit on Manna and Bread, and am making connections between several scriptural
references to the Bread of life, even Jesus Christ.
We first read of the
account in Exodus of the children of Israel who were two million strong, who
stood in great need of sustenance. They then came across this unknown substance
in the desert. They called it manna because that translated means "what is
it" for they knew not what it was. There is no explanation as to the
natural product of this heaven sent food; nothing known to man can answer the
requirements of this strange food.
The children of Israel
were commanded to gather enough for themselves, taking no more than needed, and
those that took never lacked and never gained more than necessary. They had to
gather it early, for if they didn't, worms would grow from it and it would
stink, and if left in the hot sun, would melt. However on the day before the
sabbath, they were to prepare their meals and gather twice as much manna for
the proceeding day, and sure enough it was blessed because they were keeping
the commandments of the Lord; it did not breed worms or stink after they left
it out over the day before sabbath.
The manna was used by God
to teach lessons for spiritual instruction as well as physical sustenance.
Israel was told that with the failure of other food (‘suffered thee to
hunger’), His provision of manna was to ‘make thee know that man doth not live
by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord
doth man live’ [Deuteronomy 8:3,16]. God used the provision of manna on six
days and not the seventh to teach Israel obedience, and convicted them of
disobedience [see Exodus 16:19,20, 25–30]. Jesus Christ uses the manna,
God-given ‘bread from heaven’, as a type of Himself, the true bread of life,
and contrasts the shadow with the substance: ‘your fathers did eat manna in the
wilderness, and are dead’ [John 6:49], but He could say, ‘I am the bread of
life … which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live
for ever’ [John 6:35, 51; 26–59].
Paul’s statement in 1
Corinthians 10:1–4 makes clear what the Lord was seeking to teach Israel
regarding Christ when He provided both manna and water for them. Elder Bruce R.
McConkie’s commentary on Paul’s statement is very enlightening:
“Christ is the bread
which came down from heaven, the Bread of Life, the spiritual manna, of which
men must eat to gain salvation. (John 6:31–58.) He is the spiritual drink, the
living water, the water of life, which if men drink they shall never thirst
more. (John 4:6–15.)”
The “hidden manna”
mentioned by John in Revelation 2:17 was explained by Elder McConkie
as being “the bread of life, the good word of God, the doctrines of Him who is
the Bread of Life--all of which is hidden from the carnal mind. Those who eat
thereof shall never hunger more; eternal life is their eventual inheritance.”
(Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3:451.)
The prophet Nephi tell us
how we can sustain our soul through the "bread of life" and connects
that spiritual and physical hunger we must have concerning the importance of
modern day revelation and scripture both ancient and modern:
3 Angels speak by the
power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore,
I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of
Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. (2 Nephi 32)
Angels declare to us
through the veil and by the power of the Holy Ghost as to the truth of these
things we read in the scriptures, which are the words of Christ. We must feast,
or consume plentifully, of the scriptures and receive guidance as to all things
we should do, such as seeking eternal life through the Great Mediator, Jesus
Christ and obtaining Christ–like attributes.
As we learn from the
experience of the Israelites, we too must see ourselves as spiritually and
physically in need of our Fathers divine help, however we must work now while
it is day, because the night cometh where no man can work (John 9:4)(Alma
34:33). We cannot let the graciously given bread go to waste because we would
not rise to the call of the prophet.
We must "work out
[our] salvation with fear before God" (Alma 34:37). Yes "...It is by
grace that we are saved, after all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23). Christ
expects us to work! Even from the beginning of mankind, we see that Adam and
Eve worked physically for their supplication and sustenance. The Lord told them
that "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread,"
(Genesis 3:19) stating the physical and spiritual work we must do to
become reconciled to Christ through the Atonement. We must work for our
salvation; we must work now and not procrastinate!
We must be humble enough
to abide by his commandments and laws, and by and by, we shall inherit eternal
life in His presence; a blessing which even the most imaginable of us could not
even begin to fathom.
We partake of bread every
week in remembrance of our Lord and Savior, specifically to His sacrifice of
the Atonement. We know that bread to be our spiritual life–blood, and the
constant reminder of the covenants we made before God, angels and His representatives.
We also are reminded by the sacramental bread of the resurrection of our bodies
and spirits, wherein we will lifted up to meet our Heavenly Father
again."And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15). The Israelites were shown and
reminded of that sacrifice we remember today by the ordinance or sacrament when
they looked to that ensign Moses held up for their healing and remembrance of
whom hey must look towards to live.
"The ordinance of
the sacrament has been called “one of the most holy and sacred ordinances in
the Church.” It needs to become more holy and sacred to each of us. Jesus
Christ Himself instituted the ordinance to remind us what He did to redeem us
and to teach us how we may avail ourselves of His Redemption and thereby live
with God again."
"With torn and
broken bread, we signify that we remember the physical body of Jesus Christ--a
body that was buffeted with pains, afflictions, and temptations of every kind,
a body that bore a burden of anguish sufficient to bleed at every pore, a body
whose flesh was torn and whose heart was broken in crucifixion. We signify our
belief that while that same body was laid to rest in death, it was raised again
to life from the grave, never again to know disease, decay, or death. And in
taking the bread to ourselves, we acknowledge that, like Christ’s mortal body,
our bodies will be released from the bonds of death, rise triumphantly from the
grave, and be restored to our eternal spirits."
"With a small cup of
water, we signify that we remember the blood Jesus spilled and the spiritual
suffering He endured for all mankind. We remember the agony that caused great drops
of blood to fall in Gethsemane. We remember the bruising and scourging He
endured at the hands of His captors. We remember the blood He spilled from His
hands, feet, and side while at Calvary. And we remember His personal reflection
on His suffering: “How sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how
hard to bear you know not.” In taking the water to ourselves, we acknowledge
that His blood and suffering atoned for our sins and that He will remit our
sins as we embrace and accept the principles and ordinances of His
gospel." ("The Sacrament and the Atonement" - Elder James J.
Hamula, Oct. 2014 General Conference)
Now with the Children of
Israel, Christ's example, and how we remember Him in our sacraments we offer
every week, keep in mind those thoughts as you read the following scripture
where Christ proclaims His divinity in being the author of our salvation.
51 I am the living bread
which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for
ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the
life of the world.
52 The Jews therefore
strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
53 Then Jesus said unto
them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
54 Whoso eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last
day.
55 For my flesh is meat
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56 He that eateth my
flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father
hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall
live by me.
58 This is that bread
which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead:
he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. (John 6)
I know Christ lives. I
know that He was foreordained to be our Savior and has done everything for us
to return to our Father in Heaven and be perfected in Him. I know we must work
while we are here in these wonderful bodies we've been given to learn how to
live in Heaven again. I know that as we look to Christ in everything we do, in
the good and the bad, we will be raised up to suffer our trials and afflictions
with patience with a firm and steadfast hope of eternal life to come as we obey
His commandments and fulfill our spiritual reservoirs by reading the scriptures
and listening to the prophet.
I hope ya'll have a great
week and look for the miracles that are woven into our everyday by our Loving
Heavenly Father!
Love Elder Patterson
Raining and the sprinklers are on... that is kind of funny! :)
There is so much construction and landscaping happening in our area and I am so excited to get back into these machines when I get home!
