3 Nephi 21

Verses 1-29: A Sign and a Marvelous Work

What does this teach me about the atonement?

The theme I discovered in the last chapter continues:

He really is the gardener.  He does everything possible to protect and preserve those strains of life who will let Him, and to minimize the proliferation of those who would destroy the seedlings who reach for Him.  

In this metaphor, the atonement could be compared to the sunlight and the rain and the gardener's skilled and caring hand: it's what allows us to grow into something beautiful.

He goes more into detail about the restoration here: about how His servant Joseph Smith will bring forth His teachings to the gentiles, who will then share them with the Native Americans: the Lamanite and Nephite descendants.  This is the sign He mentions that will show that our Lord and Savior is preparing for His greatest family reunion.  I am one of the gentiles mentioned here who gets to see the Lord's power and be numbered among the house of Israel. I feel the warmth of the Spirit very strongly as I consider the Savior calling His servant Joseph to see to a new flock.  He loves us so much, and Joseph Smith was and is a good man.

This chapter can be summed up by the following verse:

28 Yea, and then shall the work commence, with the Father among all nations in preparing the way whereby his people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance.

He wants to gather us to our heavenly home as well.  It is such an elegantly beautiful plan: heaven is not heaven if the people in it have not been transformed to have heavenly thoughts, feelings and behaviors.  Heavenly people have learned to conform to the true, the loving and the beautiful, by the atonement's power, and let it change them.  They have learned, through covenant making and keeping, enabled by grace, to be whole, true, integrated, dependable and faithful- and most importantly, they are bursting with love. Conversely, If people have participated with Satan in deceiving themselves and adopting hurtful and destructive patterns, heaven can't be heaven for them or those around them.  That's why repentance is vital, and the atonement's best gift.

Lesson for me?

What changes would Heavenly Father and the Savior have me make in my life this very moment?

Believe in this work. Don't harden your heart. And on a second reading, this stood out, from verse 4: "they should be established in this land, and be set up as a free people".

This leads me to want to make sure that my info is updated so that I'm all set up to vote.  It is God's will for us to be a free people. So I need to participate in preserving freedom. 

(I wrote this before Election Day, but too late to update my address info and make it out to vote 🙁.)