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It is so rare that someone’s dream can make it into a journal of the Interpreter Foundation that I found the rendition quite instructive.
We know so little about that long-past and now forgotten meeting in which we all had a part, –if in it, we at the very least were only to cast our vote, still we were a part of it by that individual participation– that any additional information tends to illuminate our minds that much more.
I don’t know if Elder Christensen’s dream was based on fact as a revelatory experience or not, but indeed, it doesn’t matter much, because regardless, it remains possible if not probable. It seems to me that it is probable that each of us had momentary twinges of doubt and our Savior sought to assuage them, but still we had to vote based upon our faith and trust in Him.
On the other hand, it also appears to me to be obvious that if one-third of the host of Heaven refused to follow Jesus Christ, then that means that indeed they lacked faith and trust in Him, perhaps exactly as Elder Christensen’s dream indicated.
So it is that this unusual experience does indeed shed light on that meeting now veiled and forgotten from our minds. Like so many events which occur to form our everyday lives, I marvel at the initial intrinsic simplicity of that long-past “meeting” and the grandiose repercussions of its aftermath.
This dream takes place in the realm where I have often wandered in my own dreams. I have often tried to connect the knowledge received concerning the plan of salvation with the council in heaven when our Savior was introduced. Does this explain the establishment of our Savior’s calling?
The idea of one eternal round brings to mind the purpose of all the sacred ordinances from baptism through the temple and sacrament table. That is, we are to take upon us the name of the Savior; to be born again, to become Saviors on mount Zion.
The purpose of the Lord showing Abraham the creations, and all the scriptures nudge me to consider that our Savior had been there (here) before us.
The idea that our Savior had already received these blessings and had been glorified by the gift of a Savior leads to the establishment of the great love which exists between our Savior and the Father.
A comparison of the Father’s introduction at the baptism of John with the introduction in Third Nephi, shows that our Savior glorified the name of the Father in and through his sacrifice and atonement.
The Father was already glorified.
This would give reason for our faith. Not only did our Savior step forward and say, “Send me”, but he was different than any of us because he had already been baptized, washed and anointed and received his endowment and sealing in the name of his Savior, the Father of his eternal salvation.
Haven’t these things already been expressed by Joseph Smith?
The Savior’s atoning sacrifice becomes fully effective in our lives only when we know him and trust him and obey him. He came to earth and made his tremendous sacrifice knowing that it would only become fully effective when we each make the small sacrifice of inviting our brothers and sisters to fully come to Christ. He was taking the risk of OUR failure. He had great faith in US.
Thank you so much Brother Christensen for this wonderful article. I have already read it with my wife and share it with many family members and friends. Thanks for your testimony and your willingness to share a personal experience that has already blessed my life.
Not a dream, just pondering the pre-existence I have felt the same as I have tried to figure out why any of our brothers and sisters would have followed Lucifer — and that was it! Somehow he had convinced them that Christ would fail in His mission on Earth. Our faith in Christ began there and must continue here. All of our Father-in-Heaven’s children who have been born into mortality began their journey with faith in Christ. May we be able to bring them all to their senses before that great and terrible day is my prayer!
Elder Christensen’s wonderful testimony brought to mind Revelation 12:10 wherein Satan is given the title, “the accuser of our brethren,” because in the pre-mortal realm, “he accused them before our God day and night.” The question has to be asked, “Of what could Satan possibly accuse the brethren in our pre-earth state?” Of sin? Of course not. But Elder Christensen’s expressed quandary, “what’s going to happen if the Savior comes down to Earth, and he doesn’t live a perfect life?” gives a possible answer.
I believe that very question is the most likely accusation of the adversary: “What if he can’t do it? What if he can’t live a perfect life? All he has to do is make one tiny mistake: lose his temper and slap a pharisee, for example, and the whole plan is destroyed. Are you willing to take that risk?” He could have made similar accusations about others of the brethren: Noah’s inability to build the ark, Moses’ failure to stand up to Pharaoh, or Joseph Smith’s inability to stand up against the mob. Any of them, however, could conceivably have been replaced, but not the Savior. His was an all or nothing calling. Everything hung on him, as the “Nail in the Sure Place” (Isaiah 22:23).
Two thoughts grow out of this idea. First, that every person who elected to come to this earth was taking an amazing risk. The Savior’s possible failure would have resulted in irreversible exposure to both physical and spiritual death (see 2 Nephi 9:8-9). What great faith each and every one of us must have had in God, his plan, and our Savior. That tells us something profound about each mortal soul.
Second, what an amazing individual the Firstborn of the Father must have been to have earned such a level of trust from us! To have put such trust in any other of Heavenly Father’s children would clearly have been disastrous. But Christ’s character and attributes were such that we could see him accomplishing such a feat as to live a life worthy of being offered up as “a sinless sacrifice for guilt, a dying world to save.” Truly he must have been, even in his pre-mortal state, “full of grace and truth!” (2 Nephi 2:6).
Thank-you, Elder Christensen for your inspiring thoughts.
Thank you brother Christensen for your testimony. Yes, He did all that He promised He would do. I am eternally grateful for His willingness and worthiness to be the Savior of mankind.
Amen and amen. He did do it, and glory be to God.
Merry Christmas!
I’ve been a huge fan of both Clayton Christensen and John Wright ever since I was a kid in their ward back in the 1970s. Even then, 40 years ago, I knew there was something special about them, and that intuition has been borne out handsomely since.
This brief essay by Clay brought forcefully to my mind the final verse of one of my favorite Christmas songs, “In the Bleak Midwinter”:
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man, I would do my part —
Yet what can I give Him? Give, give my heart.
That phrase — what can I give Him, poor as I am? — is often on my mind, especially at Christmastime. There is so little I’m capable of giving to my Savior, in virtually every sense. But I can give Him what I have, which is my heart and my will. Doing so is tough, of course, because I’m a willful and selfish and vulgar man. So I’m deeply grateful for the Christmas season and the opportunity it gives me to redouble my efforts at making that gift to Him.
Thank you, Rick, you have described how I feel so often, and how my 7 year old son feels. He told me he wants to give Jesus a gift, after much reflection he looked at me with sadness and said, “I don’t know what to give Him, nothing I have is good enough.” This is good FHE fodder.
Happy New Year!
I really liked this. Revelation 12:11 seems appropriate. “And they overcame him (the dragon) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their own lives unto the death.” In the preexistence we overcame the dragon by the blood of the Lamb which had not yet been shed. We’ve been practicing faith for a long time.