“This Is My Work and My
Glory”
Lesson 1 - Moses 1
This lesson will help
remind us that we are children of Our Heavenly Father, free agents who can
exercise agency to resist the temptations presented by Satan, and that Our
Heavenly Father has made it His work and His glory to save and exalt us as we
merit either immortality or exaltation.
Background:
In the Old Testament, we find accounts of God’s dealings with the
children of the covenant from the Creation of this world until about four
hundred years prior to the birth of the Savior. As we study these scriptures,
we will find examples of faith and obedience contrasted with accounts of
disbelief, disobedience, direct opposition to God’s plans and commandments, and
the consequences of each. Prophecies
are a major focus of the Old Testament as the Messiah’s coming is foretold and
His Atonement, Second Coming, and Millennial reign are depicted by the prophets
of old.
While we study the Old Testament, we will include the books
of Moses and Abraham from the Pearl of Great Price because they help clarify
and expand the teachings of Genesis. Specifically, Moses is extracted from
Joseph Smith’s translation of the Bible.
The Book of Abraham came to us as Joseph translated ancient Egyptian
papyri.
As Moses experienced the events in Moses 1:1-7 under
the influence of the Holy Ghost, he learned some things about himself as he
spoke with God face to face. Moses was
informed that he is a son of God (verse 4) and was created in the similitude of
the Father’s Only Begotten Son, the Savior (verse 6). Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught: “Consider the power of the idea taught in
our beloved song ‘I Am a Child of God.’ …Here is the answer to one of
life’s great questions, ‘Who am I?’ I am a child of God with a spirit lineage
to heavenly parents. That parentage
defines our eternal potential. That
powerful idea is a potent antidepressant. It can strengthen each of us to make
righteous choices and to seek the best that is within is. Establish in the mind
of a…person the powerful idea that he or she is a child of God, and you have
given self-respect and motivation to move against the problems of life” (Ensign, Nov. 1995,
25)
When God called Moses his
“son” and told him that he shared important characteristics with the Savior, He
instilled confidence and a sense of worth in Moses. We can apply that principle as parents by giving our children a
sense of worth as a valued member of our family and a treasured son or daughter
in a strong family line of worthwhile ancestors. We strengthen our marriages when we convey a proper sense of
individual worth to a beloved spouse.
Our friendships are strengthened when we show love and confidence in the
brothers and sisters of our extended family. If we fail to convey a sense of
worth to those around us and a genuine respect for them, we do great harm to
those relationships.
Moses 1:9 recounts that Moses was “left unto himself”.
It is a fact of our existence
here in the telestial world that we will endure times when we will be left unto
ourselves. Such times are characterized
by a feeling that we are alone, without the Spirit, in the “mists of darkness” (in the
words of the Book of Mormon), or in the lone and dreary world beset by
temptations, trials, and continual problems.
Are we ever really alone and solely on our own—abandoned by Our Father
and Our Savior? According to Moses 1:15, the Spirit did not entirely
leave Moses, nor are we entirely abandoned to telestial influences. When we do experience the feeling of being “left unto [ourselves]”,
we should realize that (1) this condition may or may NOT be the product
of wrongdoing on our part, (2) as expressed in verse 15, God does not leave us
entirely alone, and (3) we can use such experiences to develop personal
strength and endurance, increase the strength, depth and intensity of our
testimony—proving our devotion to Heavenly Father by facing trails and
tribulations with faith, applying the principles of the gospel to guide our
decisions and actions, praying sincerely and humbly for courage and spiritual
strength to endure and succeed in our righteous endeavors, and increasing our
faith by realizing that God does and will sustain us even in the “mists of darkness” and we
can endure to the end if we desire to do so with all our heart, might, mind,
and strength.
After experiencing an awakening of his potential while in
the presence of God, Moses experienced a different perspective in Moses 1:10. He realized that while his potential as a
son of God and a follower of the Savior was immeasurable, he also realized that
without God, he was “nothing”. Relatively speaking, this is true because we are so
powerless and impotent when compared to God, but we overcome our weaknesses as
we develop our Godlike potential through gaining knowledge and practicing
obedience.
Moses 1:12.
When Satan confronted Moses, he challenged his divine potential by
calling him a “son
of man” (not a son of God), and commanding Moses to worship
him. Satan wants us all to doubt or
forget that we are the offspring of Heavenly parents because that helps him
convince us to follow him and his evil designs.
Moses1:13. The response of Moses shows that his testimony of divine origin
enabled him to resist Satan’s challenge.
Moses 1:16, 18, 20, 21. In each verse, Moses commands Satan to depart, demonstrating that
we will be challenged repeatedly and must repeatedly choose to follow Christ
and deny Satan any victory. We must endure to the end.
Moses 1:18, 20, 21.
Here we see that the key to conquering Satan is in calling on our Father
to strengthen us in times of trial and temptation. Our daily prayers should give us strength and support our resolve
to resist daily temptation. In addition, we must resolve to stay away from
known temptations, study the scriptures, be honest each day, incorporate
service and righteous activities into our day, and associate with those who
strengthen us with their good examples and uplifting thoughts.
Beholding the glory of God again after his successful
confrontation with Satan, Moses was given another vision of the earth and its
inhabitants. In Moses 1:30, we
see that Moses had two questions about (1) why the things he saw were so, and
(2) by what they were made. In Moses
1:31-32, 39, God answers his questions.
Moses is told that God made these things for his own purpose and that He
made them through His Son, the Only Begotten.
He further states that his work and glory is “to bring to pass the
immortality and eternal life of man”.
Moses 1:35. Although numberless worlds have been created, Moses was given
absolute assurance that all the creations are numbered unto God, and “…they are mine and I
know them”. As
Latter-day Saints, we should have developed a testimony, because of our
personal experiences, that Our Heavenly Father and Our Savior, Jesus Christ,
know and love us personally as the individual children that we are. We have all
had experiences that have taught us that they are aware of our needs and that
they intervene on our behalf, bless us, and demonstrate their love for us.
Concerning
Moses 1:39, Elder James E. Faust said: “There is a distinction between
immortality, or eternal existence, and eternal life, which is to have a place
in the presence of God. Through the grace of Jesus Christ, immortality comes to
all…, just or unjust, righteous or wicked.
However, eternal life is ‘the greatest of all the gifts of God’ (D&C
14:7). We obtain this great gift, according to the Lord, ‘if you keep my
commandments and endure to the end.’ If we so endure, the promise is, ‘you
shall have eternal life’ (D&C 14:7)” (Ensign, Nov. 1988, 12).
If we are to achieve eternal life and assist Our Heavenly
Father in his work and his glory, we need to understand the plan of salvation
and how we play a part in it. That is
why this knowledge was given to Moses and is given to us in the scriptures. President Gordon B. Hinckley said: “We are here to assist
our Father in His work and His glory, ‘to bring to pass the immortality and
eternal life of man’ (Moses 1:39). Your
obligation is as serious in your sphere of responsibility as is my obligation
in my sphere. No calling in this church
is small or of little consequence. All of us in the pursuit of our duty touch
the lives of others. To each of us in our respective responsibilities the Lord
has said: …’In doing these things thou wilt do the greatest good unto thy
fellow beings, and wilt promote the glory of him who is your Lord’ (D&C
81:4)” (Ensign,
May 1995, 71).
These
lessons can be found on the Internet at www.neumanninstitute.org