2 Nephi 9 - How Great the Wisdom and the Love

As I read this chapter this morning, I was impressed at the lines I’ve underlined previously.  I’m always intrigued when I see songs of the hymns laced with scripture.  I think this chapter is particularly filled with such lines. The hymn that came to mind mostly was “How Great the Wisdom and the Love”, one of our sacrament hymns.

Verse 8 – “O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace!”  Were it not for Christ’s mercy and grace, all of us would go to the grave and be subject to the devil eternally. We would be devils and shut out from the presence of God.  Ugh! What a horrible thought.  

Verse 10 – “O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster [Satan], death and hell. . .”  Because of the good of our God, he knew we would sin and he prepared a way for us to be forgiven and move forward with our lives when we do. I for one am so grateful for this blessing in my life.  I WAS miserable!  It was a horrible existence I had created, and I haven’t forgotten for a day in my life what a blessing my own rescue has been.

Verse 13 – “O how great the plan of our God!”  Have you ever given thought to what happens after we die and why?  We will be reunited with our bodies once again. They will be whole and complete.  We will be reunited with those we love.  Why?  Because of God’s great plan of redemption.  We will have a perfect knowledge of our guilt, uncleanness, and nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, righteousness and be clothed with purity!  This is one reason why the sacrament is such a critical ordinance and repeated weekly.  We must repent of those things which keep us from our Heavenly Father.  They occur daily, minute by minute.  The Sacrament gives us opportunity to be freed from those sins and try harder the coming week.

Verse 17 – “O the greatness and the justice of our God!”  God is just.  If we repent, we “inherit the kingdom of God . . . and our joy will be full. . .” What does it mean to have our joy full? John 16:20 says “. . . your sorrow shall be turned into joy. . .”  My sorrow is that my children don’t believe.  3 John 1:4 says “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”  Well, that would do it for me.  2 Nephi 25 says that “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.”  God intended that his children might have joy.  That was why we were created.  

Verse 19 – “O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel!”  He delivers us from the devil, death and hell.

Verse 20 – “O how great the holiness of our God!”  He knows our pains, sorrows, joys and knows how to succor us when we are sorrowful because he has been there.  He has suffered anything we could suffer for this very purpose: so that he might know how to help us when we are in need of help.  Why would he do that?  V22 – “So that the resurrection might pass upon all men . . . at the judgment day.”  Because he loves us!  How does that happen?  What will qualify us for that greatness?  It’s rather simple and covered in v23 and boiled down in the 4^thArticle of Faith.  “We believe that the first principles and ordinance of the gospel are first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

And there you have it – a rather simple plan given to us by the greatness of our God, our Savior and Redeemer.  What a blessing!  No wonder Jacob started each of these verses with “O how great. . .”  We are so blessed.  We are blessed to know of these things.  We are blessed to be given opportunity each week to re-qualify as we partake of the sacrament.  We are blessed to have ministers who will gently call us back into the fold when we have strayed.  We are blessed to have parents and grandparents praying daily – several times daily – that we will return to His fold.  

I am so grateful that was the case with me.  My parents literally prayed me back.  It was remembering their prayers that gave me the courage to even try.  Somehow, in spite of my lifestyle at the time, I thought about this.  The gentle nudging in so many different ways turned me around and I have felt nothing but joy and love since that time.  Oh, yes, there have been tough times, but nothing that could over ride the joy of the gospel in my life.  I’ve kept my eye on the ball (so to speak) every day since.  And it is glorious!  And way too long to describe in this already rather long post.  

O How Great the Wisdom and the Love that filled the courts on high and sent the Savior from above to suffer, bleed and die! (See Hymn #195)