A Bright Recollection

Holiday greetings from Utah!  This last Friday I flew back to Utah, leaving behind the ice and cold of Texas for the snow and cold of Utah.  I love being at home with family and friends and particularly being able to partake of the Christmas spirit.  It seems that it is hard for me to get into the Christmas Spirit away from those I love, but at home around those I love, it is so much easier to feel the spirit of the holiday.

Rafael, "The Disputation of the Sacrament"

This past week I had a thought as I was reading the scriptures that really stood out to me.  I was reading in Alma 11 as Amulek answered the probing questions offered by Zeezrom concerning the gospel.  Zeezrom had criticized Amulek for stating that the Savior could not save us in our sins, and in response Amulek proceeded to teach Zeezrom about the atonement and the meaning of the Savior's offering in our behalf.  Amulek then taught Zeezrom about the resurrection and the final judgment, telling him, "The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt" (Alma 11:43).

What surprised me about Amulek's words was the inclusive "we" with regards to the "bright recollection of all our guilt."  His words reminded me of Jacob's similar words to the Nephites in 2 Nephi 9, saying, that at the resurrection, "we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness."  Like Alma, Jacob used the inclusive "we" and "our".  He then went on to state that "the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness" (2 Ne 9:14).

Why didn't Amulek and Jacob say that it would only be the wicked who would have such a recollection?  Surely the righteous will be pure at the time of the final judgment, yet the words "we" and "our" include everyone, the righteous as well as the wicked.

I offer this as my non-authorized opinion.  I believe they said "we" because all of us when we are brought to stand before our Father and His Son again, will be overwhelmed by the understanding of just how true the requirement of perfection really is, and just how imperfect and unworthy we are on our own.  I believe that in that setting "every knee shall bow" because it will be absolutely certain that God is God and that He and His Son are far greater than even the best and most righteous among us.  I believe that we will see with perfect clarity that upon our own merits, we do not belong in His perfect kingdom.

But then will come a sacred and special moment prophesied of by the Lord, saying, "Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him--Saying:  Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life" (D&C 45:3-5).  In that holy moment, having first been pricked by the sense of their own unworthiness, the Atonement will take on a reality that it had never before enjoyed in the hearts and minds of the righteous.  They [hopefully the pronoun will be we] will understand as never before that they have been made clean by the offering of God's perfect Son and that they have been healed, sanctified, and saved by that same offering.  Then will they have a "perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness."

At times the Lord shows us our weakness and imperfection in order to remind us to rely upon His great mercy and power.  This is not meant to put us down or make us feel bad or elevate Himself.  Rather, it is an admission of the absolute necessity of our being wrought upon and changed by the power of His atonement.  There is simply no other way!  And in a coming day, we will understand that truth with a clarity and perfection that will remain with us for all the eternities to come.  The "bright recollection of all our guilt" will enable and be superseded by a perfect knowledge of the goodness, mercy, and grace of Jesus Christ by which we are saved.

Brett