Holy Week - Saturday - Spirit World, Underworld - Condescension

Jesus again condescended to Hades/Spirit World/Underworld to organize the teaching of the gospel. Holy week is a week of the "greatest among us" lowering Himself to be the "least among us." This is the love of God, and it produces the Light of Christ.

Raw Transcript

all right it is Saturday of Holy Week in
our short video series here got one more
day after this and today is the day
we're going to talk about the we'll call
it the underworld in the ancient near
east this is what they refer to it as
the underworld this is uh the spirit
prison and and paradise as as Latter-day
Saints call it many call it hell um and
and the scriptures especially the New
Testament calls it hell um it's the
underworld and it's it's uh this is
something that has existed in myths
throughout all of the ancient near east
and really pretty much all of the world
but the ancient near east is very
specific and we need to look at that
with a little bit of truth i think
there's some truth in these myths if we
understand diffusion we understand that
Adam first had the truth that was given
to him and then it spread out through
the different families the children the
generations that existed there and and
then you get some diffusion you know I
go to Egypt a lot and see what's going
on over there they've got the temple
ceremony there it's very similar to what
we do very similar to what we do but
there's some corruption in it because
they don't have all the truth they don't
have the authority um and and things
start to fall apart a little bit and
this is the way it is with with all
civilizations you know Jesus even in his
resurrected form returned and said that
he was head out of the sheep well that's
not just the Lammonites and Nephites
right he has other sheep besides that
that he would he may have gone to all of
the world there is teachings there that
uh are diffused right they they come out
and they diffuse and they fall apart and
they get go fall into apostasy but
there's elements of truth in those and
you see this in the ancient near east
with the accounts of the local gods that
are overcome by the adversary they
die they go to an underworld right and
then they they they restore order and
chaos there and then in many cases they
resurrect and and come back and are uh
glorified as the new king really right
it's often times the king or one of the
gods that is representing u this
myth and this is all going back to a a
single truth probably a temple ceremony
a a temple drama that was given by the
patriarchs the ancient patriarchs all
the way going back to Adam and Enoch and
and uh Noah and
Abraham right all the way back uh and
and even Joseph right of of of Egypt and
so these ancient myths give a parallel
to kind of what's already happening they
tell a similar story to what's going on
with Jesus you can look at in Mesopot
Mesopotamia you've got Deusi right who
descends into the netherworld another
term for this restores fertility or life
right and and there's a death and
resurrection theme going on here you've
got Osiris that I talk a lot about here
on this channel uh and the myth of
Osiris what happens there he's murdered
uh by an evil brother and he uh is
restored and and resurrects and uh is
now the god of the underworld so to
speak or the god of of those beyond the
veil and um this is similar to Christ
being you know victorious over death
you've got Baal of of the Canaanites and
he descends to M which is death or hell
and returns with some help and he's got
a victory then over over death and chaos
he restores order the ancient Israelites
used to do this in their in their
ancient temple drama right where the
king would die he's killed by the
adversary it might even be one of their
enemies like the Amalachites or whoever
they're fighting or it's Satan himself
and he dies and he goes down below and
he is he's gone for three days and he
comes back in his regalia and he he
restores everything he's resurrected
back to glory this is uh something a
story that's been told over and over and
over again even among the Israelites the
ancient Israelites ishtar is the same
right this goddess descends into the
underworld returns and so you've got a a
descent this is important to understand
you've got a descent or a
condescension and then a resurrection or
or a return up and and this is exactly
what we're talking about and what's
interesting here is you've heard me talk
about condescension during this series
this is something I I I talk a lot about
because we need to understand this
condescension this condescension is from
heaven down to earth it is uh in 1 Nephi
11 it is it is God coming down to earth
jesus coming down to earth being born of
Mary being baptized going down into the
waters condescending down below all and
then coming back up same type of thing
condescension and resurrection or
condescension and a
return and um and then you've got
Gethsemane where he lowers himself below
all mankind like Atlas holding up the
earth and you have of course uh the
cross and and the suffering that he goes
through from Pilate and the Romans where
he is scorged and beaten and mocked uh
the the purple robe the staff and the
thorny crown that is given to him uh of
course the the the crucifixion itself
and then there's triumph over all of
this but before that triumph comes he
goes off into the underworld he goes off
into what we call
paradise and he organizes the missionary
work uh to teach to the other side of
the underworld which
is spirit prison right jesus doesn't go
to spirit prison he goes to paradise and
he speaks to those that were righteous
and he
organizes this work so that we are now
able to go in this is paves the way for
the ordinances for the dead that we do
in the temple before that we that could
not happen and so this is a very
important part of this holy week this
holy week a part of this is more temple
work right it's all it's all focused on
the temple
and so we see this happening here where
there's there's a uh again the adversary
overcomes the god or overcomes Jesus
right and when I say overcome I mean he
kills him and then and then there is a
work in the underworld and then there is
a return and a triumph this is a very
very common theme that is happening here
we see this in in the scriptures and and
I want to cover a couple of these things
here a couple of these scriptures that I
think are really
important to look at here if we first
look at uh we're going to look
at section 138 no section
88 and this is what we get here um and
this is very interesting okay this is uh
given in 1833 I believe let's take a
look if we've got that 1832 1833 end of
1832 beginning of 1833 this is a couple
years
before he even gets the mummies and the
papyrie from Chandler right and
purchases those that become the book of
Abraham and the book of
Joseph so this is a couple years before
this but what we have here is something
again very interesting about
condescension here's verse 6 in in
section 88 it is he that ascended up on
high as also he descended below all
things so the spirit world here that he
goes to is another part of this
condescension it's another part of love
that goes to those that have already
passed on right he below descended below
all things in that he comprehended all
things that he might be in all things
and through all things the light of
truth
so he has to condescend below all and
there's all these this condescension the
the fulfillment of all righteousness
that that Jesus talks about to John the
Baptist when he says I have to be
baptized of you the fulfillment of all
righteousness is not just obedience and
check a list it's this condescension he
has to go through all of this
condescension this lowering of himself
below all things so that he can be above
all things and be the light of truth and
this light of truth and I come back to
the book of Abraham here again in
chapter three where we get the the
collab and the olablish and the cocaim
and the light and the revolutions and
this hierarchal structure this cosmo uh
uh this this hierarchal structure of the
cosmos and then of the spirits and he is
the greatest of them all right why is he
the greatest of them all because he
descends below
all the greatest among you shall be the
least among you as we talked about with
the last supper so very interesting here
right this this creates the light of
truth this is part of the light of truth
which is done through love in verse 7
which truth shineth this is the light of
Christ so this light of Christ is
produced through this love this order is
produced through this love right as also
he is in the sun and the light of the
sun he is in the moon and is the light
of the moon and also the light of the
stars and the earth also and the light
which shineth which giveth you light is
through him who enlightenth your eyes
which is the same light that quickenth
your understandings so that whole
hierarchal structure that we had in uh
in chapter three of Abraham right is is
all about the greatest of them all who
was the one who descended below
all and again the spirit world here is
another part of this condescension that
we get in this holy week that that that
happens here and that is the love of God
this is exactly what the angelic host
with Nephi is explaining about the tree
of life that love of God when you
partake of that fruit is about his
condescension
it's exactly what the angelico says it's
about his
condescension okay so again I want to
read chapter verse six again here he
that ascended up on high as also he
descended below all
things so the work for the temple that
we do is because of
Jesus descending below all things and
descending below into Hades or hell or
paradise um those are all the same thing
in in different myths and and
terminology the underworld right to to
uh condescend with love to organize
things for the temple work that would be
carried out later on okay um I think
this is an very important thing to
understand about the holy week it's
based on this condescension and it is
based on this uh
um uh the temple it's f all focused on
the temple here okay so I want to go
into section 138 now remember this is
Joseph F smith he gets this through
vision uh very important this revelation
comes through vision it is so many of
these revelations come through vision
whether it's Lehi Joseph Smith Joseph F
smith here the nephew of Joseph Smith he
says here and and and reflecting upon
the great atoning sacrifice the
condescension of God right that was made
by the son of God that's the right title
in the right place son of God means
condescension for the redemption of the
world and the great and wonderful love
here's the love again made manifest by
the father and the son in the coming of
the redeemer into the world right that
condescension is love that through his
atonement and by obedience to the
principles of the gospel mankind might
be saved now this is an important thing
I'm just going to bring up because
of the way the culture is going in the
church right now and that is the
redeeming sacrifice of Jesus Christ does
not give us
exaltation okay there are two sides of
the coin and we are getting more and
more focused on just that one side well
Jesus loves me god the father loves me
and that's all that
matters but that's not true that's only
one side of the coin the other side of
the coin is do you love God and do you
obey the commandments and and and that's
how you show that you love God by
obeying the commandments if you love me
obey my commandments right put on the
character of God and that's exactly what
Joseph F smith says here in verse four
that through his atonement and by
obedience to the principles of the
gospel so it's
two-sided mankind might be saved okay
he's talking about exaltation here and
while I was thus engaged my mind
reverted to the writings of the Apostle
Peter to the primitive saints scattered
abroad throughout Pontis Galatia
Capidoshia and other parts of Asia where
the gospel had been preached after the
crucifixion of the Lord it talks about
the third and fourth chapters of Peter
now let's go over there i want to go to
the third chapter of Peter here and
focus in now Peter is great first Peter
is all about a hierarchal structure it's
it's it's all about this concept of DBR
that I've that I've talked about uh it's
very very good right and he goes right
in here and talks about things that are
very related to what Jesus has done
verse 14 if ye suffer for righteousness
sake happy are
ye if you condescend right for it is
better if the will of God be so that ye
suffer for welloing than for evildoing
for Christ also hath suffered once hath
once suffered for sins the just for the
unjust and get this about the spirit
world that he might bring us to God
being put to death in the flesh but
quickened by the
spirit by which also he went and
preached unto the spirits in prison
that's in the New
Testament okay so here right in the
right proper context of condescension
and
love you you have Jesus here by Peter
talking about him being going to the
spirit prison when he is put to death in
the flesh now in section 138 we learn
that Jesus does not go to the spirit
world to the to the spirit prison he
goes to paradise right right what we
call we still call it spirit world but
he goes to those that are righteous and
organizes the uh uh the the teaching of
the gospel the missionary work and maybe
beyond that all of the works of the
gospel so that they can go to the spirit
prison and teach so he's creating order
and structure and the gospel and
bringing light and truth to all mankind
even to the dead and so we get these
again parallels of the ancient near east
and and different myths that we have in
here there is some truth with these
these things it's not just a bunch of
paganism yes it's corrupted yes we
preach against it because it's corrupted
but understand that there was truth
there there there was originally truth
and they're borrowing this from truth
and then and then there's the
philosophies of men and corruption and
power that that gets involved in this
but you know the whole themes here with
Christ going down into the spirit world
you've got divine descent liberation
from death and chaos and sin uh a
restoration of order that he's bringing
to the spirit world and then of course
he's going to have a return to triumph
as he gets resurrected this is this is
the story this is the mythology
so Jesus in his condescension in his
love produces the light that helps us
see the way that that the truth and this
love that he has is combined and and and
cannot be separated from truth they're
one and the same the Holy Week is about
his yes he's the king entering in but he
is also the least among us in the sense
that he is the one that will lower
himself below all mankind
he will
condescend and him going to the spirit
world here is all fulfillment of that
story of that account around the world
really where he will restore order and
triumph over all through his
resurrection giving us the
opportunity not the
guarantee giving us the opportunity to
love him to obey the commandments to put
on the character of God and return with
him as a joint joint heir with our
father in heaven i'll talk to you
tomorrow