"Lord, to whom shall we go?" Charting the Course of the Church from Here to the Second Coming: Part 22

Do Glass Houses Need Windows?

I want to suggest something. 

What if the "windows of heaven" were not something physically above us in the sky? 

If I said, "Point to the windows of heaven," where would your fingers be pointing?

Is it possible that there is a window within each of us looking into heaven?

Jesus said:

   Behold, 
   the kingdom of God
   is within you.

(Luke 17:21)

Joseph Smith altered the verse a little bit:

   Behold,
   the kingdom of God
   has already come unto you.

(JST Luke 17:21)

So where is this kingdom?  Where can we find it?  Well, it's not here. 

What?!  Jesus said:

   My kingdom
   is not of this world . . . 
   My kingdom
   [is] not from hence.

(John 18:36)

Okay, so Jesus's kingdom is not here.  Not "from here."  

   So where is His kingdom?

A Three Nephite Story

After Jesus appeared to the Nephites and called 12 disciples, he granted them a wish. 

   Jesus spake unto his disciples,
   one by one, saying unto them:
   What is it that ye desire of me,
   after that I am gone to the Father?

   And they all spake, save it were three,
   saying: We desire that after we have lived
   unto the age of man, that our ministry,
   wherein thou hast called us, may have an end,
   that we may speedily come unto thee
   in thy kingdom.

(3 Nephi 28:1-2)

Well, right away we notice that the Nephite disciples don't want to stay here on earth. 

Why? 

Because this is not Jesus's kingdom.

So why, then, do we keep referring to the Church as the Lord's kingdom?

   Church = Here
   Christ's Kingdom = Not Here

Simple enough. Jesus told the Nine:

   Blessed are ye
   because ye desired this thing of me;
   therefore, after that ye
   are seventy and two years old
   ye shall come unto me
   in my kingdom;
   and with me
   ye shall find rest.

(3 Nephi 28:3)

Wonderful!  But the story isn't over. 

There were Three Nephites who had a different desire.

   Jesus turned himself unto the three,
   and said unto them: What will ye
   that I should do unto you, when I am gone
   unto the Father?

(3 Nephi 28:4)

You know what they asked for: to remain on earth (i.e., NOT Christ's kingdom) in order to bring souls unto him.

And Jesus said to them:

   More blessed are ye,
   [now I am feeling bad for the Nine]
   for ye shall never taste of death . . .
   but when I shall come in my glory
   ye shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye
   from mortality to immortality;
   and then shall ye be blessed
   in the kingdom of my Father.

(3 Nephi 28:7-8)

Waaaaaait a minute.  There's another kingdom?

There's a separate kingdom of the Father?  Don't Christ and the Father share a duplex?  How can they each have their own kingdoms?

Jesus continued:

   For ye have desired
   that ye might bring
   the souls of men unto me,
   while the world shall stand.

   And for this cause
   ye shall have fulness of joy;
   and ye shall sit down
   in the kingdom of my Father.

(3 Nephi 28:9-10)

Hmmm.  So I see three different kingdoms here.

   1.  The kingdom of this "world" (telestial)

   2.  The kingdom of Christ (terrestrial)
  
   3.  The kingdom of the Father (celestial)

What is a "kingdom?"

We usually think of a kingdom as a place. 

Well, that's one place to start (see, I made a pun).

But in addition to the space the kingdom occupies, kingdoms are also distinguished by spiritual laws (see, D&C 88:36) and times.

   And again, verily I say unto you,
   God hath given a law unto all things,
   by which they move in their times
   and their seasons;

   And their courses are fixed,
   even the courses of the heavens
   and the earth . . .

   And they give light to each other
   in their times and in their seasons,
   in their minutes, in their hours, in their days,
   in their weeks, in their months, in their years
   — all these are one year with God,
   but not with man.

(D&C 88:42-44)

There's a lot to unpack there.  But for our purposes today, we understand that a kingdom is something defined by:

   1.  Space; 
   2.  Law; and
   3.  Times

When we study D&C 76 in Sunday School (on the degrees of glory) we usually focus on Nos. 1 and 2.  

In other words, there's a place that people go to who keep Christ's law called a Celestial Kingdom.

​   But we always forget about time, don't we?

I suppose it's good to think about where we're going, but have we considered when?

Joseph Smith to the Rescue

If you're wondering why any of this matters, consider these words by Joseph Smith:

   Is not the reckoning of God’s time,
   angel’s time, prophet’s time, and man’s time,
   according to the planet on which they reside?

   I answer, Yes.

   But they reside in the presence of God,
   (1) on a globe like a sea of glass and fire,
   [here's the space]
   (2) where all things for their glory are manifest,
   [here's the law, or degree of glory]
   (3)  past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord.
   [here's the "times"]

(D&C 130:4-7)

   The place where God resides
   is a great Urim and Thummim.

(D&C 130:8)

Okay, I know this is gonna sound looney, but considering what we've just read, is a Urim and Thummim in a celestialized state a . . . time machine?

I can hear you laughing.  But this is what Joseph says next:

   This earth,
   in its sanctified and immortal state,
   will be made like unto crystal
   and will be a Urim and Thummim
   to the inhabitants who dwell thereon,
   whereby all things pertaining
   to an inferior kingdom,
   or all kingdoms of a lower order,
   will be manifest to those who dwell on it;
   and this earth will be Christ’s.

(D&C 130:9)

So this earth, notice, will be Christ's.  Does it say it will be his kingdom, or will the earth become just one of his dominions?  

​   Then the white stone
   mentioned in Revelation 2:17,
   will become a Urim and Thummim
   to each individual who receives one,
   whereby things pertaining to a higher order
   of kingdoms will be made known.

(D&C 130:10)

Several thoughts here: the white stone does not start out as a Urim and Thummim.  No, it "will become" over time.  Not at the beginning, not all at once.

Also, those who dwell on this earth in its glorified state will still need to progress. 

This stone will give us glimpses of "a higher order of kingdoms."  But we will, with Christ's help, be moving on, as Joseph said, "from exaltation to exaltation."

In summary, there's a lot that lies ahead of us.  "Enduring to the end" does not just mean this world, but on and on, worlds without end, until we can sit, as the Three Nephites, in the kingdom of our Father, "to go no more out."

   The Lord hath said
   he dwelleth not in unholy temples,
   but in the hearts of the righteous
   doth he dwell;

   yea, and he has also said
   that the righteous shall sit down
   in his kingdom, to go no more out;
   but their garments should be made white
   through the blood of the Lamb.

(Alma 34:36)

We have a kind of Urim and Thummim right now.  Our hearts. 

Our hearts are a window into the heavens, through which we can perceive "things pertaining to a higher order of kingdoms."

   Christ dwells within us, so what do we have to fear?