The Banquet of Truth

I have written about this many times, but it keeps coming back to my mind and out through my fingertips. Revelation, all revelation, begins first in every person as our conscience, and as we obey and give heed, it grows. Throughout our lives most revelation is quiet, still and requires faith to obey. But, it does not remain small when we consistently obey. The content, and power and brightness of the light increases until it becomes a powerful revealer of truth in our lives. In time, as a result of continued obedience, probably over years of righteous discipleship, the doctrine of the priesthood begins to distill upon our souls as the dews from heaven. But, if we are high centered upon small obedience, like being kind, or studying scripture, or attending to our church callings, then it cannot become the conduit of truth and prophecy that we must have to claim the greater things.

Revelation is kind of like a fruit tree with a single delicious fruit. When we pick that fruit and eat it, two appear to replace it. When we eat those two, four replace them, and on and on. Each time it is more challenging to eat the additional fruit, but when we do partake and consume faithfully and forever, the tree soon becomes pregnant with life-giving truth.

I have been waiting and hoping to write about the temple and the endowment. But I doubt that it will ever become an appropriate subject to Un-Blog. It isn’t that any one of you isn’t prepared for it – it is that this is an open forum, and could be viewed by someone who is a spiritual ardvark (bless their heart) before whom we do not want to cast these precious pearls.

Instead, I want to complete the thought above which is that even this most sacred subject can and will be the subject for illuminating revelation. Revelation is the right way to decipher the symbolism and metaphor that is so much a part of that sacred ceremony. Perhaps it is the only way to really understand it, and then to embrace, believe and receive the promised blessings. But, without such an understanding, without knowing what you are being promised, it is probably impossible to claim them. Revelation isn’t just to fill in the blanks, it is essential and indispensible to claiming every blessing, especially those of the temple.

A few years after the last millennium began, our second-oldest daughter was married in the temple. As I sat there looking at her all dressed in white, full of the Spirit, completely in love and happy, I began to think about her life. Even after the ceremony began, I continued to marvel and rejoice in her. It wasn’t the right thing to do, and I was only listening to things with partial attention. Suddenly, I heard a voice by my left ear. I actually turned my head to see who it was, but I was sitting on the aisle. The voice commented on what had just occurred, then asked “why did he say that?” Then, without waiting for me to formulate an answer, it said, “this is because . . .” and explained in an economy of words, the answer to the question. This occurred at nearly every phrase or scene change, and finally ceased to narrate as I sat down in the final room.

When it was finished, my view of everything about that experience was changed. My view of mortality was changed. I said to myself, “The temple ceremony could only have come from the mind of God”. It seemed so clear, yet so buried in symbolism and ceremony as ancient as God Himself, as to obscure the meaning in plain sight. It wasn’t until I had this experience that I could see even a fraction of it.

My point is merely this – there is so much more, so much truth, so much power and promise and greater privilege available to us than we can even comprehend – and it all is made known at Christ’s banquet of truth, to which we invite ourselves by small obediences, day after day, after day.

Brother John