So... back to the numbers... ;-)
This chapter - chapter 7 - begins with an exposition of the four angels in the four corners of the earth. This phrase - the four corners of the earth - has always been interesting to me. The earth, of course, is a spheroid and therefore has no corners. But if you could lay the earth flat, as in a map, then there would be four corners. Yet, if the four corners were wrapped appropriately around the globe again, the four corners would meet and the angels would all be at the same place, probably somewhere in Tibet. But I digress. Everyone knows what is meant by the four corners. I'm just being silly....
They have the four winds, which Joseph Smith explained (in D&C 77:9) represents the everlasting gospel. Thus, the gospel will go forward, rushing like the wind and covering everything.
Next we have a detailed explanation of the 144,000 who are sealed in their foreheads, 12,000 of each tribe. Except Dan. Dan does not have any representatives in this group. I wonder why that is.... Seems a fairly glaring omission. Manasseh gets 12,000, and Joseph (perhaps meaning Ephraim, by extension) does, too. But no Dan. Hmmm....
Again, one should not get too hung up on these very large numbers. Verse 9 and subsequent verses seem to indicate that there are too many who enjoy the rest of the Lord. The exact quote follows (starting in verse 14):
...These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
I love these verses. They are full of such hope and redemption. We, as a people and as individuals, are often required to pass through much tribulation. But perhaps in doing so we find ourselves washed and cleansed in the blood of the Lamb. And perhaps the rest of the Lord is all the sweeter because of what we've been through, as the sweet waters are to the one who has gone through the furnace of affliction.
Regardless, God will wipe away all our tears.
I think at that point the tears will be tears of joy and peace and gratitude, rather than of sorrow and grief and pain.
Just hang in there. The reward awaits.
This chapter - chapter 7 - begins with an exposition of the four angels in the four corners of the earth. This phrase - the four corners of the earth - has always been interesting to me. The earth, of course, is a spheroid and therefore has no corners. But if you could lay the earth flat, as in a map, then there would be four corners. Yet, if the four corners were wrapped appropriately around the globe again, the four corners would meet and the angels would all be at the same place, probably somewhere in Tibet. But I digress. Everyone knows what is meant by the four corners. I'm just being silly....
They have the four winds, which Joseph Smith explained (in D&C 77:9) represents the everlasting gospel. Thus, the gospel will go forward, rushing like the wind and covering everything.
Next we have a detailed explanation of the 144,000 who are sealed in their foreheads, 12,000 of each tribe. Except Dan. Dan does not have any representatives in this group. I wonder why that is.... Seems a fairly glaring omission. Manasseh gets 12,000, and Joseph (perhaps meaning Ephraim, by extension) does, too. But no Dan. Hmmm....
Again, one should not get too hung up on these very large numbers. Verse 9 and subsequent verses seem to indicate that there are too many who enjoy the rest of the Lord. The exact quote follows (starting in verse 14):
...These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
I love these verses. They are full of such hope and redemption. We, as a people and as individuals, are often required to pass through much tribulation. But perhaps in doing so we find ourselves washed and cleansed in the blood of the Lamb. And perhaps the rest of the Lord is all the sweeter because of what we've been through, as the sweet waters are to the one who has gone through the furnace of affliction.
Regardless, God will wipe away all our tears.
I think at that point the tears will be tears of joy and peace and gratitude, rather than of sorrow and grief and pain.
Just hang in there. The reward awaits.
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