Jesus the Christ - James E. Talmage

 Referring to ancient prophecies, Elder Talmage reminded us of a request made by Enoch - 

"...I ask thee if thou wilt not come again on the earth.

60 And the Lord said unto Enoch: As I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfil the oath which I have made unto you concerning the children of Noah..." (Moses 7:59–60)

Jesus the Christ - James E. Talmage

 Elder Talmage wrote that when Moroni came, he - 

“He first quoted part of the third chapter of Malachi, and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as it reads in our books, he quoted it thus: “For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch."

Talmage, James E.. Jesus the Christ with Live Index (p. 326). Deseret Book Company. Kindle Edition. 

How were the wicked burned?  We read

"...for the presence of the Lord shall be as the melting fire that burneth..."  (Doctrine and Covenants 133:41)

Jesus the Christ - Elder James E. Talmage

 As Elder Talmage quoted the testimony of Joseph Smith, I was touched by the Prophets testimony - 

“However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision. I have thought since, that I felt much like Paul, when he made his defense before King Agrippa, and related the account of the vision he had when he saw a light, and heard a voice; but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others said he was mad; and he was ridiculed and reviled. But all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision, he knew he had, and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise; and though they should persecute him unto death, yet he knew, and would know to his latest breath, that he had both seen a light, and heard a voice speaking unto him, and all the world could not make him think or believe otherwise. 

“So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision, and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it, at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation."

Talmage, James E.. Jesus the Christ with Live Index (p. 325). Deseret Book Company. Kindle Edition. 

Jesus the Christ - James E. Talmage

 As the Nephites remained in darkness following the great destruction following the Savior's death, a voice was heard saying - 

“Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name.”

James E. Talmage then commented - 

"The Lord commanded that the people should no longer serve Him with bloody sacrifices and burnt offerings; for the law of Moses was fulfilled; and thenceforth the only acceptable sacrifice would be the broken heart and the contrite spirit; and such should never be rejected. The humble and repentant the Lord would receive as His own. “Behold,” He said, “for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved.”"

It appears to me that at this point in time, the Savior has been resurrected saying "I have taken it up again".

Just my thoughts.

Jesus the Christ - James E. Talmage

 Quoting  Elder James E. Talmage (also in scripture) concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ - 

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the Twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”  (Talmage, James E.. Jesus the Christ with Live Index (p. 304). Deseret Book Company. Kindle Edition. )

Jesus the Christ - James E. Talmage

 Talmage wrote of the crucifixion -

"At the ninth hour, or about three in the afternoon, a loud voice, surpassing the most anguished cry of physical suffering issued from the central cross, rending the dreadful darkness. It was the voice of the Christ: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” What mind of man can fathom the significance of that awful cry? It seems, that in addition to the fearful suffering incident to crucifixion, the agony of Gethsemane had recurred, intensified beyond human power to endure. In that bitterest hour the dying Christ was alone, alone in most terrible reality. That the supreme sacrifice of the Son might be consummated in all its fulness, the Father seems to have withdrawn the support of His immediate Presence, leaving to the Savior of men the glory of complete victory over the forces of sin and death..."

Talmage, James E.. Jesus the Christ with Live Index (p. 282). Deseret Book Company. Kindle Edition. 

In my mind, the agony of the Savior on the cross may have been as long as that in Gethsemane.

Jesus The Christ - James E. Talmage

 Just for my own reference, James E. Talmage suggested - 

"...The man so forced to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, bearing the cross upon which the Savior of the world was to consummate His glorious mission, was Simon, a native of Cyrene. From Mark’s statement that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus we infer that the two sons were known to the evangelist’s readers as members of the early Church, and there is some indication that the household of Simon the Cyrenian came to be numbered with the believers."

Talmage, James E.. Jesus the Christ with Live Index (p. 279). Deseret Book Company. Kindle Edition. 

John 2

 As the illegal trial of the Sanhedrin was taking place and false accusers came forth saying the Savior said that He could destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, the truth is He said - 

"...Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  (John 2:19)

John clearly states that He explained - 

"...he spake of the temple of his body."  (John 2:21)

Jesus the Christ - Talmage

 Of Gethsemane, Elder Talmage wrote - 

Christ’s agony in the garden is unfathomable by the finite mind, both as to intensity and cause. The thought that He suffered through fear of death is untenable. Death to Him was preliminary to resurrection and triumphal return to the Father from whom He had come, and to a state of glory even beyond what He had before possessed; and, moreover, it was within His power to lay down His life voluntarily.  He struggled and groaned under a burden such as no other being who has lived on earth might even conceive as possible. It was not physical pain, nor mental anguish alone, that caused Him to suffer such torture as to produce an extrusion of blood from every pore; but a spiritual agony of soul such as only God was capable of experiencing. No other man, however great his powers of physical or mental endurance, could have suffered so; for his human organism would have succumbed, and syncope would have produced unconsciousness and welcome oblivion. In that hour of anguish Christ met and overcame all the horrors that Satan, “the prince of this world” could inflict. The frightful struggle incident to the temptations immediately following the Lord’s baptism was surpassed and overshadowed by this supreme contest with the powers of evil.   

In some manner, actual and terribly real though to man incomprehensible, the Savior took upon Himself the burden of the sins of mankind from Adam to the end of the world. Modern revelation assists us to a partial understanding of the awful experience. In March 1830, the glorified Lord, Jesus Christ, thus spake: “For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent, but if they would not repent, they must suffer even as I, which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit: and would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink—nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.”

Talmage, James E.. Jesus the Christ with Live Index (pp. 260-261). Deseret Book Company. Kindle Edition. 

John 6

 Most of the gospel writers focus on the miracle of Jesus walking on the water after John writes the - 

"...the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.

19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs (about 4 miles which is half way)..."  (John 6:18–19)

...but John mentions a significant and great miracle immediately after as he writes - 

"....they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went."  (John 6:21)

Figure that out!

John 5

 As Jesus peacefully confronted the Pharisees that desired to kill Him, He said - 

"...The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."  (John 5:19)

There are some that argue that this statement suggests that the Father was a "Christ" in His progression.  David Ridges argues - 

"Occasionally, members of the Church use verse 19 above to suggest that Heavenly Father was the Savior of the world upon which He grew up. Their reasoning is: Since Jesus said that He does nothing but what He sees the Father do, and since Jesus is our Savior, the Father had to have been the Savior on the world upon which He grew up as a mortal. Of course it is possible that the Father was the Savior on His world, but to use this verse to “prove” it is not sound thinking. Brigham Young said, “The Savior told his disciples as he saw the Father do, so does he, and as Joseph Smith saw Jesus do, so did Joseph do, and as I saw Joseph do, so do I also.” (Taken from remarks which appear to have been given at the dedication of the Seventies Hall in Nauvoo, late December, 1844. See BYU Studies, Winter 1978, Volume 18, No. 2, pp. 177–78.) Joseph Smith was not crucified. Brigham Young was not martyred in Carthage Jail. From that same volume of BYU Studies, p. 176, Joseph Smith says, “For the Savior says, the work that my Father did, do I also,…He took himself…a body and then laid down his life that he might take it up again,…We then also took bodies to lay them down, to take them up again.” 

The point of verse 19, above, is that Jesus was, in all things, in perfect harmony with the Father’s will."

Ridges, David J.. The New Testament Made Easier, Part 1 (The Gospel Studies Series) . Cedar Fort, Inc. Kindle Edition. 

Mark 6

 As the Savior was about to feed the five thousand - 

"...he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.

40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties."  (Mark 6:39–40)

To me, He was teaching that organization in groups was an essential part of ministering.  He organized them.  They did not choose how and where they wanted to be ministered to.  We see that today in wards, stakes, and so forth.

Matthew 14

 As Jesus is walking in a crowd to the home of Jairus, we read that a woman that had suffered bleeding for many years just touched his garment and was healed.  This obviously is a popular New Testament story.   But we also read that that in the land of Gennesaret that when they learned Jesus was there - 

"they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased;

36 And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole."   (Matthew 14:35–36)

We generally do not hear much of this event.

Luke 13

 As the Pharisees insincere suggest that Jesus leave town due to Herod wanting to kill Him, the Savior responds - 

"...Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected."  (Luke 13:32)

Those words, "one the third day I shall be perfected" teaches that even though we may be sinless, resurection is part of becoming perfect.

Luke 8

 This Sunday I am teaching my Primary class on the Savior's calming of the storm. It is interesting that different gospel writers suggest different statements during the event.  Matthew was probably there, but Luke would have been told by a witness where he writes - 

"...they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish."  (Luke 8:24)

and - 

"...Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm."  (Luke 8:24)