Comforter

The New Testament is a wonder. It gives so many promises, which is amazing since it is in itself a fulfillment of so many promises.

One of the greatest promises it makes is to send us a Comforter. Jesus says this to his Apostles on his last night of mortal life.

"Comforter" has a lot of significance for us in modern times. With all the stress and dissonance in modern life, one thinks of a comforter as a counselor or a friend in times of need, a shoulder to cry on. Another meaning for it is a warm blanket one keeps folded until needed.

Comfort fills a need, but the most interesting thing about the Comforter that Christ mentioned is that it fills a need that most people don't realize they have, though so many are aching for it. It is the need for a connection to God.

The Comforter is actually the Holy Ghost, and it was os important that it be given to the early Church upon Christ's Ascension because it would allow the Church to grow and aid member's souls through revelation and assurance. In the 1st Century, both Jews and Christians were harassed and murdered. Members of the Church today don't usually encounter that problem, but the significance and need for the gift of the Holy Ghost is just as important. Satan's efforts to confuse and destroy are even more forceful than the efforts of the Jewish Sanhedrin and the Roman Empire to destroy the Primitive Church.

The gifts of the Spirit are vast and endowed with force by God's grace when the gift of the Holy Ghost is given by confirmation. This gift is immeasurable, and unending.

John's Insights

I guess I should say, "My Insights", though I would not have acquired what I have learned from John's Gospel if he had not written it.

Here are a few favorite spots of mine:

Many go to great lengths to question Jesus' divinity, where in the first chapter of John, he is mentioned as having a special relationship with God in 4 different ways:

1:1,14 - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

1:4-9 - "That was the true Light, which lighteth cevery man that cometh into the world."

1:29,36 - "And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!"

1:34 - "And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God."

Jesus is the Word

Jesus is the Light

Jesus is the Lamb of God

Jesus is the Son of God

What's more, Jesus' own testimony that he is God's Son appears in almost every chapter:

2:16 "And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise."

3:13-18, 35-36 (Check it out)

4:25-26 "The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all

things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he."

5:17-31 (Read it)

That's all I'm giving you. You'll have to look for his words in chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and the rest.

No other book among the Four Gospels is so thick with these divine confirmations.

I'm glad we were able to study it this semester.

I know that the Bible and the testimony of John are true and I thank God with all thanksgiving for them.

MOA

Here's the link to the artwork exhibited in Types and Shadows at the BYU Museum of Art. It's a fabulous exhibit of religious artwork.

For our New Testament class, we made a field trip to the MOA to see the new Types and Shadows: Intimations of Divinity exhibit. It was enlightening! All of the pieces carried deep meaning, shadows of sometimes clear, sometimes elusive truths and figures.

I'll try to include some of my favorite selections on this post so you can get a glimpse of the variety of visual effects

employed in these beautiful pieces of artwork.

The first one is done by Young, called "Man of Sorrows". We noted the stark contrast between his clearly clean, unbroken body and physical constitution, while showing in his face a deeply penetrating grief. Christ bore our sins and weakness in his cross, and yet he remains perfect and unstained.

Here on the right is Poynter's "The Prodigal's Return". It shows the remorse in a lost son after wasting his father's years and fortune, begging for forgiveness, while also showing clearly how hurriedly a very loving father embraces and supports that son without reserve. There is no grudge, no hate, no coldness from God if we are sincere in our repentance.

This last one is Job, poor Job, who lost everything, but was faithful and humble all the way through, though his friends also went against him through his hardest trials. This view of his sorrows perfectly matches aspects of Christ's suffering, where his friends also did not stand by him.

This visit was enlightening, refreshing, and inspiring. I love art in all its forms, and I pray that we can all enjoy it more and more.

Hymns

We had a fabulous experience last night. We saw two free concerts put on by the BYU School of Music. The first was a graduate recital for a franch horn player, who played with piano and a string quartet. The second was a longer, more bodacious composition recital for a faculty organist. He composed pieces for the oboe, for 8 flutes, and for the piano and violin, but most impressive was that that he played himself on the organ. One of those sections was a series of choral preludes, variations on the arrangements of "Sabbath Day", "The Lord My Pasture Will Prepare", and "Come, Thou Glorious Day of Promise" after we sang as an audience the first verse from each. It was beautiful. Christian hymns abound with symbolism, praise and doctrinal teaching about the Savior and his Gospel.

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell;

20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

This hymn is from Colossians 1:15-20. I didn't know until it was recently taught in my New Testament class that early Christian hymns are quoted in some sections of the New Testament. This one in particular speaks of Christ's qualities: in the spitting image of His Father, the first creation of the Father, the Head of His Church, the first resurrected, the Savior of the world through the shedding of His own blood on the cross for the redemption of all creation.

So much is taught in our hymns, so much good. Check out LDS hymns at www.lds.org/churchmusic/ . Check it out!

Matthew's insights

The book of Matthew writes heavily on the completion of prophecy through Jesus' works. It also includes heavy use of Jesus prophesying of his own future.

Among these prophecies are some important ones concerning his own death:

MAT 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

MAT 17:22 And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men:

MAT 17:23 And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.

MAT 20:18 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death,

MAT 20:19 And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.

He wanted his disciples to understand the importance of his sacrifice, and the necessity of it, and that he would be resurrected after effecting the Atonement.