Toward the tail end of the Jaredites’ existence, the Lord made a final plea to His children through His prophet, Ether. What was the Lord’s concluding message that moved Ether so that “he could not be restrained because of the Spirit of the Lord which was in him” and that compelled him to “cry from the morning, even until the going down of the sun?” (Ether 12:2-3). It was that they should “believe in God unto repentance lest they should be destroyed,” “by faith all things are fulfilled,” and that “whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God” (v. 4). Sadly, they didn’t listen, they didn’t believe, and they didn’t survive. Thankfully, God has made their sad story available to us that we may listen, learn, and live.
Moroni takes a break from sharing the final chapters of the story of Ether and the Jaredites to “show” us “that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen” (v. 6). I find it interesting that the first two examples from the Nephite history that Moroni uses to show us the power of faith in the Savior were of Alma, Amulek, Nephi, and Lehi’s experiences in prison.
Alma and Amulek
Feeling hunger and facing death, each pair of prophets received God’s help to exercise faith in Christ by obtaining power to pray to Him. After being violently assaulted and mocked by many of Ammonihah’s leaders, lawyers, and teachers, Mormon tells us that God manifested His “power …upon Alma and Amulek” (Alma 14:25). Enveloped in His power, Alma cried out to Him “O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ, even unto deliverance” (v. 26). Heavenly Father responded to their faith by answering this prayer that “caused the prison to tumble to the earth” (Ether 12:13). Everyone in there, except for Alma and Amulek died.
Nephi and Lehi
As Aminidab, a Nephite dissenter, led a Lamanite army to execute Nephi and Lehi, they saw them “encircled about with a pillar of fire” (Helaman 5:24). When Nephi and Lehi realized the fire didn’t burn them, Mormon tells us that “their hearts did take courage” (ibid.) Observing them from afar because of fear of the pillar of fire that surrounded their prisoners, a cloud of darkness that hovered over them, and a mild, yet powerful heavenly voice that nearly toppled the prison, Aminadab explained to those who were with him that—
You must repent, and cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have faith in Christ, who was taught unto you by Alma, and Amulek, and Zeezrom; and when ye shall do this, the cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you.” (Helaman 5:41).
After listening to Aminidab, they prayed and repented. As a direct answer to their petitions and penitence, God dispersed the cloud of darkness. What happens next has to be one the of most amazing and miraculous experiences recorded in the scriptures. Finding the dark cloud now gone, Aminadab and his army saw that they were surrounded by the same pillar of fire that encircled Nephi and Lehi. In this state, God filled them with “unspeakable” joy, fire, and the Holy Ghost. They also heard the voice of the Father speak to them “Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved, who was from the foundation of the world.” (v. 47) To cap all of this, “they saw the heavens open; and angels came down out of heaven and ministered unto them” (v. 48).
What I’m completely awestruck about is not just what happened but who this happened to. As a reminder, Mormon told us that among the people who Nephi and Lehi were teaching “they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good, therefore they were ripening for destruction” and that “they were a stiffnecked people, insomuch that they could not be governed by the law nor justice, save it were to their destruction” (v. 2-3). The nearly three hundred who came into the prison that day to slay Nephi and Lehi could have faced the same fatal fate as the Ammonihah captors. Yet, their exercise of faith in the Savior shown to us through their prayers and repentance opened the windows of heaven to them.
Our Heavenly Father Waits to Hear From Us
I believe one reason that the Lord inspired Moroni to choose these experiences is to show us that when we choose to come to Him in prayer, regardless of our situation, He willingly hears and gladly answers us. He knows that sometimes our hope and despair, joy and misery, and even life and death hang in the balance. He anxiously waits to hear from us so He can weigh in on our troubles.
Why do we have to pray to God before getting His help? We don’t merit anything of ourselves because we all sin. Sin shuts us out not only from entering into His presence in the next life, but also from receiving His blessings in this one. When we pray to Him in the name of His Son, we allow the Savior who is also our Advocate before the Father to plead our case and apply His atoning blood on our behalf. Our Heavenly Father happily accepts His pleas and answers our prayers.
We may think that it’s easy to believe that God would answer His prophets. Of course. Why not! However, would He really help you? Would He really help me, especially if some or many of the choices we’ve made were not right in His eyes? His treatment of Aminidab and his brethren validates what He said through the prophet Ezekiel—
As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live (Ezekiel 33:11)
The Savior taught that “I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10).
He understands that because of what has happened to us and what we may have done in the past, it may not be easy to believe that there is a loving God who wants to help us. This may prevent us from praying to Him. He gets it. He will make it easy and simple for us to find Him if we’re willing to try.
Moses and the Brass Serpent
Three months after God freed the children of Israel from Egypt, they came to the “wilderness of Sinai” (Exodus 19:1). He told Moses to tell the people—
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine (v. 4-5).
I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage (Exodus 20:2).
To prepare the people for the blessings He had for them, the Lord gave them ten commandments to keep. The first three were—
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them (Exodus 20:3-5).
Sometime later the children of Israel complained to Moses that they had it better in Egypt because of their current lack of food and water. As a result, the Lord sent fiery serpents as a punishment. (Numbers 21:4-6) Many died from their bites. The remainder pled to Moses to pray to God that He would take away the serpents. He prayed for them. God’s answer was ironic and interesting.
Instead of removing the serpents as Moses had prayed for, He commanded him to “make..a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole” so “that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live” (Numbers 21:8). The scriptures tell us that “Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and…that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived” (v. 9).
What I find ironic and interesting about this is that this seemingly breaks the second commandment about “graven images” and the third of “bowing down” to them. Why would He do this? I believe one of the reasons He did it was because He loved them and didn’t want to destroy them. He knew that they lacked faith in Him and that He needed to do something that would not only make it easy for them to believe but also allowed them to be healed.
Remember, this is the same group, after Moses went up the mountain to the Lord, that convinced Aaron to forge a golden calf that they ended up worshipping. Making and looking at graven images was not something they had a hard time doing. They may have picked up these idolatrous tendencies among the Egyptians. Perhaps, its these practices that led the Lord to allow them to fall into bondage in the first place and for Him to prioritize the second and third commandments.
With this in mind, the Lord may have felt that the easiest way for them to believe in Him in that moment was by creating something that would remind them of Him so that they could believe sufficiently to be healed. His only requirement of them was to look at the graven image of the fiery serpent. They didn’t even need to know or understand its true meaning before receiving the healing blessing.
In our lives, God will touch us in small, yet simple ways to show us that He is there and that we can believe in Him. It could be a conversation with loving friends or family. It could be listening to a song, watching a movie, or reading a social media post that on the surface are not spiritual or religious in nature. Yet, they touch a chord in us that remind us of Him. His hope is that by feeling and thinking about Him in those moments that we will turn to Him. If we do, He will turn to us.
Todd Sylvester’s Story
Todd Sylvester, a member of the Church, shared his story about his past struggles with addiction and suicidal thoughts. While sitting at a school cafeteria and contemplating ending his life, he overhead two girls in a nearby table talking about fasting and prayer. He approached them and asked them about it. One of the girl’s told him it was something she did when she needed help. Touched by what he heard he went home and knelt down and prayed for the first time in his life.
He promised the Lord that he would fast for 24 hours. He just wanted God to show Himself to him. For the first time in eight years, he didn’t use drugs. Also, his desire to end his life disappeared. Despite the Lord manifesting Himself to him through these two blessings, Todd disappointingly didn’t recognize that the Lord had answered his prayer.
A month from that initial prayer and fasting, a friend he hadn’t talked with in many years asked to meet with him. When they saw each other, his friend said, “Todd I had a strong impression from God to call you. God impressed me to tell you that He needs you on His side today.” At the moment, Todd knew that God was there and knew him. Through the help of loving friends, ward members, neighbors, and priesthood leaders, the prison walls of drugs and despair that kept him down for so long “tumbled to the earth” and he found “hope for a better world.”
The Savior and The Promise
The Savior’s last moments on this earth were spent innocently suffering on a cross as a criminal between two actual criminals. One of the convicted thieves mockingly said to Him, “If thou be Christ, save thyself and us” (Luke 23:39). Though Jesus didn’t respond, the other rebuked him—
Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. (v. 40-41)
In what is both a bold and humble act considering the circumstances, the man with childlike faith, asked Jesus, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (v. 42).
One could excuse Jesus if He didn’t respond to this request, especially right away. The suffering in Gethsemane, the smiting in Caiphas’ court, the scourging in Pilate’s place, and the crucifixion on Calvary all took a fatal toll on His physical body. Undoubtedly, He was hanging on to this life by a thread. Who was this man asking for this at this moment anyways? A convicted felon whose life was marred by a series of bad choices that carefully led him to the cross.
Jesus, who understood not only what this man had done, but also how he came there, heard his plea and accepted his faith unto repentance. As one of the last acts of healing and mercy as a mortal man, He lovingly and immediately answered him by promising “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (v. 43).
One of the definitions for “paradise” is a “place of happiness.” Of course, God not only has a plan of happiness, but He also has a “place of happiness” that He has prepared for all of us. The promise of hope and happiness the Savior made to the penitent man on the cross is the same one He makes to you, to me, and to everyone if we will have faith in Him by praying to the Father in His name and repenting of our sins. By doing these things, we will obtain a “surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God.” This is my hope and prayer for you and me.