During a message on Love from the Sunday pulpit, an instructive thought flashed through my mind. I immediately turned to Fascimile 3 in the Pearl of Great Price to continue the lesson. The initial thought impressed that each figure depicted my hoped-for path of ultimate salvation. Without detracting from Joseph Smith’s explanation or proffering some intended wide-spread application, I’ll share how the Spirit “likened” Facsimile 3 to me.
To understand what I learned, I share the applicable portions from the explanation of Facsimile 3 found in the Pearl of Great Price.
Fig. 1. Abraham sitting upon Pharaoh’s throne, by the politeness of the king, with a crown upon his head, representing the Priesthood, as emblematical of the grand Presidency in Heaven; with the scepter of justice and judgment in his hand.
Fig. 2. King Pharaoh….
Fig. 4. Prince of Pharaoh, King of Egypt….
Fig. 5. Shulem, one of the king’s principal waiters….
Fig. 6. Olimlah, a slave….
Reading the figures right-to-left, as hieroglyphics are, yields Slave, Principal Waiter, Prince of Pharoah, Abraham, King Pharoah.
My lesson defined them as Slave, Servant, Son, Heir, Father.
Slave
A slave lives without the freedom to act. Satan based his preexistent platform on denying our agency and subjecting our wills to his. His followers are slaves to their master in misery. Sometimes our choices lead to enslavement too.
Addiction is a condition in which we surrender part of our power of choice. When we do that we give the devil power over us. The prophet Nephi described where this leads: the devil says, “There is no hell,” and, “I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance” (2 Nephi 28:22). `Elder Dallin H. Oaks
From then Elder Russell M. Nelson:
Addictions enslave both the body and the spirit.
The Book of Mormon often warns of being bound by Satan’s enslaving chains.
Ye have become to the spirit of the devil, and he doth you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked. Alma 34:35
and
O that ye would awake; awake from a deep , yea, even from the sleep of , and shake off the awful by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal of misery and woe. 2 Nephi 1:13
Jesus Christ taught that our choices result in a consequential level of light.
The light of the body is the : therefore when thine eye is , thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of .
Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. Luke 11:34-35
Born into a fallen world, we are also in bondage to conditions of mortality until we burst the fetters of time through Christ’s grace.
Servant
A servant acts with agency and chooses who to serve.
No servant can serve two : for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Luke 16:13.
A servant of God acts with divine purpose.
And this shall be unto nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.
And the of God shall go forth, saying with a loud voice: Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come;
And him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the of waters. Doctrine and Covenants 133:37-39
A servant of God hopes for an expected reward.
God bless you. I pray for you, that there may be peace and love in your homes, that you may be prospered in your honest endeavors, and that when the time comes you may stand before the Lord and receive his welcome: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” ~President Gordon B. Hinckley
Son
Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be born again to see the kingdom of God (John 3:3.) When we are born again, we become the sons and daughters of God.
And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are through faith on his name; therefore, ye are of him and have become his and his daughters.
And under this head ye are made , and there is other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives.
And it shall come to pass that whosoever doeth this shall be found at the right hand of God, for he shall know the name by which he is called; for he shall be called by the name of Christ. Mosiah 5:7-9
Paul taught the Galatians the progression from servant to son to joint-heir of God through Christ.
But when the fulness of the time was come, God forth his , of a , made under the law,
To them that were under the law, that we might receive the of sons.
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Wherefore thou art no more a , but a ; and if a son, then an of God through Christ. Galatians 4:4-7
Heir
Jesus Christ is the righteous Heir of all the Father has. Yet He willingly offers to share His kingdom with the children of God.
The Spirit itself beareth with our , that we are the of God:
And if children, then heirs; of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we with him, that we may be also glorified together.
For I reckon that the of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the which shall be revealed .
For the of the waiteth for the of the sons of God. Romans 8:16-19
How amazing! How sublime are the eternal promises God makes to His children!
These are the most glorious promises given to men. There neither is nor can be anything as wondrous and great. And so the Lord uses the most powerful and emphatic language known to the human tongue to show their importance and immutability. That is to say, the Lord swears with an oath in his own name, because he can swear by no greater, that everyone who keeps the covenant made in connection with the Melchizedek Priesthood shall inherit, receive, and possess all things in his everlasting kingdom, and shall be a joint-heir with that Lord who is his Only Begotten.
God swore with an oath that Christ would be exalted, and he swears anew, at the time each of us receives the Melchizedek Priesthood, that we will have a like exaltation if we are true and faithful in all things.
Speaking messianically of the Lord Jesus, David said, “The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalms 110:4.)
And Paul, after quoting this messianic word, this eternal oath sworn by God himself, said that Christ was “called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.” (Hebrews 5:10.) ~Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Father
Jesus told His followers that He only did what He “seeth the Father do” (John 5:19.) The Father’s working to bring to pass “the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39) includes being exalted as He is!
You and I—what helpless creatures are we! Such limited power we have, and how little can we control the wind and the waves and the storms! We remember the numerous scriptures which, concentrated in a single line, were said by a former prophet, Lorenzo Snow: “As man is, God once was; and as God is, man may become.” This is a power available to us as we reach perfection and receive the experience and power to create, to organize, to control native elements. How limited we are now! ~President Spencer W. Kimball
Becoming like Him doesn’t happen in a day.
The Lord taught, “Ye are not able to abide the presence of God now … ; wherefore, continue in patience until ye are perfected.”
We need not be dismayed if our earnest efforts toward perfection now seem so arduous and endless. Perfection is pending. It can come in full only after the Resurrection and only through the Lord. It awaits all who love him and keep his commandments. It includes thrones, kingdoms, principalities, powers, and dominions. It is the end for which we are to endure. It is the eternal perfection that God has in store for each of us. ~Elder Russell M. Nelson
The Lord Himself promised that
…they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the forever and ever.
Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be , because they have , and the angels are subject unto them. Doctrine and Covenants 132:19-20
Likening Facsimile 3 to Me
I’ve been fascinated by the facsimiles since I learned to read the scriptures. I’ve studied Facsimile 3 before. I’ve pondered Egyptian scholars’ explanation for it. I’ve read and reread modern revelation about it. But in that moment in Sacrament meeting, the Holy Ghost gave me a clearer view in likening Facsimile 3 to me than I’d had before and I loved the lesson.
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