Temple Handbooks

Jacob's ladder, this ladder dream is the fulfillment of John chapter 1 mentioned in the last post. Christ bridges the gap of heaven and earth.
Genesis 28:10-19

A temple,  the place of heaven here on earth- is the prototype for life.  Handbooks to the temple are in our possession; prayer, the holy word, humility, worthiness, and the Savior- Jesus Christ.
Psalms 15:1-2 worthiness

In the scriptural handbook,  the book of Psalms- word gems therein,  and 3rd Nephi- of the children encircling the Savior enhance our understanding of the many symbols we can embrace.
3 Nephi 17:7-9

Temple Theme

This Christ moment expresses such a wonderful temple theme- 51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
John 1:

Word Repetition

In a 15 minute span I heard reference to or cited the name of Jesus 30 times- from the beginning of church to the end of the administration of the sacrament.

In the same meeting, From a sermon on the priesthood I heard referenced the word “priesthood” 35 times.  During the talk I also heard 35 times “God”. 

Counting words can be a very meaningful exercise. Repetition impresses important remembrance and obligation to your stewardship.

2 Nephi 33:

10 And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.

An Effort

A battle today in maintaining ones purity of thought- in the trenches of the front lines of mortality, we need to be engaged in full force strategies; we may have a favorite hymn- to know the words, now we need multiple favorite hymn lyrics.

verse 38- 39 Book of 2 Kings 17:

"But the Lord your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies."

Hymn 80, God of Our Fathers, verse 2

"The captains and the kings depart. Still stands thine ancient sacrifice, An humble and a contrite heart."

Bubble Up

Hebrew interpretation, Navi- provides great insight to the words of a prophet or prophetess in meaning, living in our times "to bubble up" or "put in our hearts"- "up unto everlasting life".  Additionally:

"These latter days are a time of great spiritual thirst. Many in the world are searching, often intensely, for a source of refreshment that will quench their yearning for meaning and direction in their lives. They crave a cool, satisfying drink of insight and knowledge that will soothe their parched souls. Their spirits cry out for life-sustaining experiences of peace and calm to nourish and enliven their withering hearts.

Indeed, “there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.”14 Let us work with all our heart, might, mind, and strength to show our thirsty brothers and sisters where they may find the living water of the gospel, that they may come to drink of the water that springs “up unto everlasting life.”

The Lord provides the living water that can quench the burning thirst of those whose lives are parched by a drought of truth. He expects us to supply to them the fulness of the gospel by giving them the scriptures and the words of the prophets and to bear personal testimony as to the truth of the restored gospel to alleviate their thirst. When they drink from the cup of gospel knowledge, their thirst is satisfied as they come to understand our Heavenly Father’s great plan of happiness.

As at Jacob’s well, so today the Lord Jesus Christ is the only source of living water. It will quench the thirst of those suffering from the drought of divine truth that so afflicts the world. The words of the Lord to ancient Israel spoken by the prophet Jeremiah describe the condition of many of God’s children in our own day: “My people … have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out … broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”15 Too many of our Heavenly Father’s children spend their precious lives carving out broken cisterns of worldly gain that cannot hold the living water that satisfies fully their natural thirst for everlasting truth." Joseph B. Wirthlin

A prophet/prophetess in our times can be a guide, a voice, or even an example to our times on how to muddle or meander through life, yet "bubbling up his word" can certainly help us to rise above...even better to see.

Audio

I highly recommend following scriptures on your smartphone; Just turn up the audio and enjoy. It is really an effective gospel study tool while doing chores around the house, running errands, or manual labor in the yard.  I have been so elevated with gospel inspiration via podcasts, apps, blogs, or even posts through scriptures, talks and articles.

Form Of Scriptural Interpretation

The Hebrew word פרדס (pardes, Strong's #6508) only appears three times in the Hebrew Bible. In the Young’s Literal Translation (YLT - I like the YLT but it is not as “literal” as it could be) this Hebrew word is translated as “paradise.”

 and a letter unto Asaph, keeper of the paradise that the king... (YLT, Nehemiah 2:8)

I made for me gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit. (YLT, Ecclesiastes 2:5)

Thy shoots a paradise of pomegranates, With precious fruits, (YLT, Song of Solomon 4:13)

What is a paradise? The American Heritage Dictionary provides the following definition, “A place of ideal beauty or loveliness.” While this is an appropriate definition for the English word “paradise,” let’s not forget that the Hebrews thought in concrete terms rather than in abstract ones like “beauty” and “loveliness.” A more Hebraic definition would be, “A place of ideal rest and sustenance.” Imagine yourself walking through the desert; you’re hot, tired and hungry. Then you come over a rise and see before you an orchard of fruit trees. You have just entered a “paradise,” a place where you can lay in the cool shade of the trees and eat the wet and sweet fruit from the trees. Most other translations translate the word pardes as an “orchard.” While this is the meaning of the word, the idea of a paradise (from a Hebraic perspective) better illustrates the true meaning of the word.

The word pardes is also an acronym for a very ancient form of Biblical interpretation. The word pardes is written with four letters, פ (P), ר (R), ד (D) and ס (S). We could then write this word as PaRDeS. Each of these letters represents one word, P’shat, Remez, D’rash and Sod. The word p’shat means “plain” and represents the plain simple meaning of the text. The word remez means “hint” and represents an implied meaning of the text which usually has a deeper meaning. The word d’rash means “searching” and represents the meaning of the text that must be found buried in the text. The word sod means “hidden” and represents a hidden meaning that is drawn out from the text. When using these four methods of Biblical interpretation it is important to remember that the first method, the p’shat, can never be removed or changed with one of the other methods.

When these methods of Biblical interpretation are applied to the Hebrew text, the text becomes a “paradise,” a place of rest and sustenance.

D'rash

Matthew 18:18 - "... Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" This is a verse that has been interpreted in numerous (incorrect) ways due to a lack of understanding that this a d'rash concerning decisions one makes in their personal "walk with God" (called your "halakha" in Hebrew/Judaism).

Hebrew interpretation can be applied to Lehi- his dream of the "Tree of Life", and the observation by participation of the revealed ordinances in the "House of the Lord".