All prophetic religions, like all true disciples, are marked by a kind of narrowness, for strait is the gate and narrow the way that leads to eternal life. But the charge is a false one that the followers of the prophets would exclude all the rest of mankind from their little circle of the elect. Of all the Christian religions in the world today, the only prophetic one, that of the Latter-day Saints, is that one which alone provides salvation for all the human race, living and dead. It alone has been taught by prophets that it is absolutely wrong to think of God as limiting his blessings and manifestations to but one small portion of his human family: all creatures, we are taught, were meant by God to have joy in the sphere in which they were created, and in every age and in all parts of the world men have been given all the joy and all the glory that they have been willing to receive. One of the most wonderful chapters in the history of the restored Church has been that which tells of the innumerable miracles and manifestations, visions and revelations by which the way has been opened up for the missionaries everywhere. The recipients of some of the most marvelous of these dispensations were what the Victorian world chose to call savages, living in the wilderness or on the islands of the sea, yet God had filled their whole lives with blessings. It was so in the ancient church. Cornelius, the Ethiopian, the righteous jailer and his family, the “great company of priests . . . obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7 [Acts 4:1]), all these and many more were so near to the gospel that they recognized it instantly on sight— God had never deserted them but poured out his Spirit on them even in their pre-Christian days. Yet when they heard the gospel, they joyfully accepted it. Because God had remembered them, they did not conclude that they needed no more. It was precisely because they were searchers for more light that God had blessed them as richly as he did: “To those that have shall be given,” said the Lord, not, “to those that have there is no further need.”
The Narrow Door; Lament over Jerusalem
Somebody on the road asks the only question that matters to a bystander (how many get in?) and gets no number back, only a door, and a warning that it will not stand open for ever. Then Pharisees arrive with a rumour that Herod means to kill him, and he answers with a schedule: today, tomorrow, and the third day. And in that very hour he weeps over the city that will not be gathered.
Note. The Joseph Smith Translation makes the householder of the parable the Lord of the kingdom, changes the refusal at the door from “I know you not” to “I will not receive you,” dates the third day to his death, and stops to say that he wept.
? How to read this edition
The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
22And he went through the cities and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23And there said one unto him, Lord, are there few only that be saved? And he answered him and said, 24Strive to enter in at the strait gate, for I say unto you, many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able, for the Lord shall not always strive with man. 25Therefore, when once the master of the house Lord of the kingdom is risen up and has shut to the door the door of the kingdom, then you shall stand outside and knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord open unto us. And he But the Lord shall answer and say unto you, I know you not from where you are I will not receive you, for you know not from where you are. 26Then shall you begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in your presence, and you have taught in our streets. 27But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not you know not from where you are; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity. 28There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth among you when you shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you are thrust out. 29And truly I say unto you, They shall come from the east and the west, and from the north and the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. 30And behold, there are last who shall be first, and there are first who shall be last and shall be saved therein.
31The same day And as he was thus teaching, there came to him certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get out and depart from here, for Herod will kill you. 32And he said unto them, Go and tell that fox Herod: Behold, I cast out devils and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. 33Nevertheless, I must walk today and tomorrow and the day following the third day, for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. This he spoke signifying of his death.
34And in this very hour, he began to weep over Jerusalem, saying, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone them who are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen her brood under her wings, and you would not. 35Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. And truly I say unto you, you shall not see know me until you have received from the hand of the Lord a just recompense for all your sins, until the time come when you shall say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Who Will Not Be Received, and Who Is Not Afraid
God Will Not Receive Them
Preaching on baptism at the Nauvoo grove, a sermon interrupted by a child’s corpse laid before him, Joseph Smith came to the question of who gets in. Richard C. Galbraith’s Scriptural Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith keys the passage to Luke 13:24. The wording is worth noticing: not that God will not know them, but that he will not receive them, which is exactly what the Joseph Smith Translation puts in the Lord’s mouth at verse 25 and nowhere else in the Bible. (Woodruff’s own notes, in the Scribal accounts, read “God will not receive those.”)
Discourse, 20 March 1842, Nauvoo, Illinois · reported by Wilford Woodruff (History of the Church 4:553–557; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 197–201) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Also recorded in Wilford Woodruff’s journal; as published in the Times and Seasons.
God has set many signs on the earth, as well as in the heavens; for instance, the oak of the forest, the fruit of the tree, the herb of the field, all bear a sign that seed hath been planted there; for it is a decree of the Lord that every tree, plant, and herb bearing seed should bring forth of its kind, and cannot come forth after any other law or principle.
Upon the same principle do I contend that baptism is a sign ordained of God, for the believer in Christ to take upon himself in order to enter into the kingdom of God, “for except ye are born of water and of the Spirit ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of God,” said the Savior. It is a sign and a commandment which God has set for man to enter into His kingdom. Those who seek to enter in any other way will seek in vain; for God will not receive them, neither will the angels acknowledge their works as accepted, for they have not obeyed the ordinances, nor attended to the signs which God ordained for the salvation of man, to prepare him for, and give him a title to, a celestial glory; and God had decreed that all who will not obey His voice shall not escape the damnation of hell. What is the damnation of hell? To go with that society who have not obeyed His commands.
Baptism is a sign to God, to angels, and to heaven that we do the will of God, and there is no other way beneath the heavens whereby God hath ordained for man to come to Him to be saved, and enter into the Kingdom of God, except faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, and any other course is in vain; then you have the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost.
It mattereth not whether we live long or short on the earth after we come to a knowledge of these principles and obey them unto the end. I know that all men will be damned if they do not come in the way which He hath opened, and this is the way marked out by the word of the Lord.
Go Ye and Tell That Fox
Five months later, with John C. Bennett’s campaign at its height and Missouri writs out for him, Joseph Smith addressed the Female Relief Society while in hiding, and took verse 32 as his own answer to a governor who wanted him dead. Notice which text he quotes: the King James “that fox,” not the reading his own revision had already put in its place, “Go ye and tell Herod.”
Discourse, 31 August 1842, Grove, Nauvoo, Illinois · minutes kept by Eliza R. Snow, Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book (History of the Church 5:139–141; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 257–260) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Also recorded in the minutes as taken at the time; the Relief Society minute book.
God has enabled me to keep out of their hands. I have warred a good warfare, insomuch as I have outgeneralled or whipped out all Bennett’s corrupt host.
My feelings at the present time are that, inasmuch as the Lord Almighty has preserved me until today, He will continue to preserve me, by the united faith and prayers of the Saints, until I have fully accomplished my mission in this life, and so firmly established the dispensation of the fullness of the priesthood in the last days, that all the powers of earth and hell can never prevail against it.
This constant persecution reminds me of the words of the Savior, when He said to the Pharisees, “Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.” I suspect that my Heavenly Father has decreed that the Missourians shall not get me into their power; if they do, it will be because I do not keep out of their way.
I shall triumph over my enemies: I have begun to triumph over them at home, and I shall do it abroad. All those that rise up against me will surely feel the weight of their iniquity upon their own heads.
Although I do wrong, I do not the wrongs that I am charged with doing; the wrong that I do is through the frailty of human nature, like other men. No man lives without fault. Do you think that even Jesus, if He were here, would be without fault in your eyes? His enemies said all manner of evil against Him — they all watched for iniquity in Him.
Weeping, Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth
Verse 28 says what waits outside the shut door: “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth among you when you shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob… and you are thrust out.” Opening a conference sermon on the beasts of Revelation in April 1843, Joseph Smith said what that anguish is: not flames but suspense, the doubt of the wicked who do not know. The History’s text is given; switch to “Scribal accounts” for William Clayton’s two records and Willard Richards’s notes. Clayton’s notes taken at the time have only “wailing”; his fuller report and the History have the whole phrase.
Discourse, 8 April 1843, general conference, Nauvoo · History, 1838–1856, vol. D-1, p. 1522 (History of the Church 5:339; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 287–288); reported by William Clayton and Willard Richards · Joseph Smith Papers ↗If we get puffed up by thinking that we have much knowledge, we are apt to get a contentious spirit, and correct knowledge is necessary to cast out that spirit. The evil of being puffed up with correct (though useless) knowledge, is not so great as the evil of contention. Knowledge does away with darkness, suspense and doubt; for these cannot exist where knowledge is. There is no pain so awful as that of suspense: this is the punishment of the wicked; their doubt, anxiety, and suspense, cause weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.
In knowledge there is power. God has more power than all other beings, because he has greater knowledge; and hence he knows how to subject all other beings to him: He has power over all.
A Strait Gate and a Table from Four Directions
The question in verse 23 is the oldest objection there is to a revealed religion: if the gate is that narrow, what about everybody else? Nibley took the objection seriously enough to concede the narrowness and then deny the conclusion, which is what the passage itself does, answering a question about the few with a table filled from the east and the west and the north and the south.
There is nothing narrow, arbitrary, or ungenerous in revealed religion. In the end all the human race will hear the fulness of the everlasting gospel. But meantime, all things must be taught in order, and milk must come before meat. The Lord must work through his established Church, which must unfailingly be under the guidance of his servants, the prophets.
Verses 31–33. This is the historical part, something of an established pattern of recurrent events where the temple is concerned. The Saints do not enjoy a glory of the eternities cheaply; theirs is a heavy yoke to bear. This comes almost as a relief when we realize that we too are required to exert to the utmost in participating. When the building of the Provo Temple was turned over to contractors who put up signs banning all but company employees from the building site, many Latter-day Saints who remembered the building of other temples felt cheated. Since the most ancient times the building of the temple has been a work in which all, from king to peasant, joyfully participated. This could lead to riotous confusion unless the work was skillfully coordinated and directed, which it was. It was precisely the exercise demanded and inspired by the building of temples which produced the planning and discipline that gave us all the world’s great civilizations. The prompt and eager oversubscribing of money to the building of every temple shows how everyone yearns to be part of the action.
Verse 34. “As all men sin forgive the transgressions of thy people.” The history of the temple at Jerusalem was one of recurrent sinning and forgiving. It was while he was gazing at the temple that Jesus remarked to the apostles, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, . . . how often would I have gathered [you] . . . as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! ” (Matthew 23:37 [Matt. 10:36]). Again we have no real cause to complain; we know where we have fallen short. These sad conditions merely emphasize the vast importance of the issues at stake.
Verse 35. To carry us over we receive “anointing . . . sealed . . . with power from on high.” Without that power we have nothing, as we clearly see when we try to put on our own show, such as Church films of various kinds, including much sentimental kitsch with professional, non-LDS actors waxing emotional about situations that they have never experienced. Illustrations in study manuals, tear-jerking stories, photographs of sacred ordinances suffused with frosted light to make them spiritual—do we need all this rhetorical and theatrical Hollywood and Disneyland if we have the real thing? The most impressive temple sessions I have attended have been at Manti, where elderly farm people put on a far more intelligent display than the slick professionals. Do we take the real thing seriously enough?
Nibley reads the lament as spoken in front of the building it is about, which is what makes “your house is left unto you desolate” a sentence on a place and not only on a people.
Two Temple Words in One Speech
Two of this passage’s hardest words are temple words. “The third day I shall be perfected” uses a verb about completion, not about improvement, and the Joseph Smith Translation tells us plainly what it means by adding “this he spake, signifying of his death.” And “your house is left unto you desolate” is the vocabulary Isaiah used for a temple whose Lady had been taken away, a desolation his oracle promised would end.
There have been confident claims that all the symbols on the codices are known elsewhere and so are no more than crude copies made by forgers. But the most complex pattern that appears several times and seems to have been the main symbol of whatever the codices represent, has not been found elsewhere. This is the wide, seven-branched menorah, beneath which are two willow branches forming a shallow arc, and between the branches and the lamp six Palaeo-Hebrew letters which are forms of Mtb kly although the first letter may be a, meaning ‘he[or I] shall walk in uprightness’, ylk/ ’lk btm. The ‘in uprightness’ is clear, and gives the context. To the left of the menorah is a fruiting almond branch, the sign of the true priesthood. Aaron and his sons were high priests because Aaron’s rod had produced first almond blossoms and then fruit when it was left in the holy of holies. This was a sign from the LORD that he and his house had been chosen as the high priests (Numbers 17.1-12).
The Hebrew tm is the root of tāmam / tam, which is the verb ‘to be complete, to be finished’ and of tom, which is the noun ‘completeness, integrity’. It was the ideal of the ancient Wisdom teachers, who spoke of ‘walking in completeness/integrity’, e.g. Proverbs 10.9: ‘he who walks in completeness/integrity’ will walk securely’. The words in italics are the words on the codices. But in the context of the menorah, the willow branches and the almond rod with fruit, Psalm 101 is a better explanation of why these words are part of the symbol.
Psalm 101 is the Davidic king’s declaration that he will rule with completeness/integrity. He sings to the LORD of loving kindness and justice, which are also the themes of Jesus’ teaching in St John’s Gospel. ‘I will act prudently in the way of completeness/integrity, I will walk with completeness/integrity of heart in the midst of my house’, says the king. ‘He who walks in the way of completeness/integrity shall be my servant’ (Psalm 101.2, 6). The Greek equivalent of these words is the verb teleioō, usually translated ‘complete’, and teleiotēs, ‘perfection’. St Paul taught the Christians to put on ‘loving kindness, the bond of perfection’ (Colossians 3.14) a reference to the same ideas, and according to St John, Jesus’s last words when he was dying were ‘I have completed/ made perfect’, the same word (John 19.30 [John 10:14]). St John gives as Jesus’ final words the Greek equivalent of the letters around the menorah on the codices.
This loss of understanding, spiritual blindness, became an important theme in the New Testament. Jesus quoted these words of Isaiah when he explained to his disciples why some people did not understand what he was saying: This is why I speak to them in parables. Because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah...’ (Matt.13.13- 14 [Matt. 7:2]). What these people did not understand was the secret of the kingdom of God (Mark 4.11-12 [Mark 2:13], Luke 8.10 [Luke 6:3]). John concluded the first section of his Gospel with a reflection on these words. The Jews could not believe, he concluded, and then paraphrased Isaiah’s words: ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and turn for me to heal them’ (John 12.40 [John 8:4]). Paul, when he was under house arrest in Rome, reflected on why he had had so little success with the Jews there. He too quoted these words of Isaiah (Acts 28.26-27 [Acts 13:12]).
Isaiah then asked the LORD how long this punishment would last, and was told: Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is ruined and desolate, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land (Isa.6.11-12 [Isa. 2:2]). It is a picture of total desolation. The last line, however, can be read in a very different way: Until the Forsaken One is great again in the midst of the land. Another oracle in Isaiah, given by one of his disciples some two centuries later, took up these words about the Lady and her land and assured her that her time of humiliation was over: You shall no longer be termed ‘Forsaken’, And your land shall no more be termed ‘Desolate’, But you shall be called ‘My delight is in her‘ [Hephzibah], And your land ‘Married’; For as a young man marries a virgin, So shall your sons marry you, And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you. (Isa.62.4-5 [Isa. 24:1]). Isaiah’s warning to the people was that their land would be desolate and empty until the Lady was restored and made great again. She must have been restored after the time of Isaiah , because king Josiah removed her again and burned her tree symbol a century later, and shortly after that, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians and the people were scattered.
Some of them fled to Egypt, where they complained to the prophet Jeremiah that the disaster had been caused by abandoning the Lady. They called her the Queen of heaven.
Barker’s papers are hosted only as PDFs on her own site; “The Lady Known to Isaiah” is not among the files published there, so it carries no link.