Lesson 21 Abraham 3

Lesson 21: Abraham 3

I.The Lord teaches Abraham about the order of the stars (Ab 3:1-21)

---The world tells me I am great if … (answer in notebooks)

---Real qualities of greatness include …

---Share some answers

--- Abraham 3 contains the account of the Lord teaching Abraham about the stars, which helped Abraham understand the greatness of Jesus Christ and the importance of each of God’s children. Abraham received this revelation through the Urim and Thummim, an instrument given to seers to assist them in receiving revelation and translating languages.

---Look for what the Lord taught Abraham about true greatness as you study this revelation.

--- Abraham 3:1–3 aloud.

---What did Abraham learned about the stars and planets?

---drawing or inviting a student to draw on the board a simple illustration of what students describe.

---Which star is nearest to the throne of God?

---According to verse 3, what phrase did the Lord use to describe Kolob? (“The great one.”)

---Abraham 3:4–17 Abraham learned details about the planets and stars. For example, one day for Kolob is equivalent to 1,000 years on Earth (see verse 4). The Lord also showed Abraham His creations and promised Abraham that his posterity would be as numerous as the stars and sands. The Lord commanded Abraham to declare these truths in Egypt.

---“A Facsimile from the Book of Abraham, No. 2” was part of a collection of Egyptian papyri purchased from an antiquities dealer by some of the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio. The facsimile contains symbolic figures relating to the planets and stars and the Lord’s plan of salvation. Other than the explanations provided by the Prophet Joseph Smith, we have no additional revelation about the facsimile from modern prophets. God’s instruction about the comparative differences in stars was also meant to teach Abraham about the greatness of Jesus Christ and the differences between Him and God’s other spirit children.

---Abraham 3:18–19, 21 aloud.

---What did Abraham learned about the Lord Jesus Christ?

---Jesus Christ is the greatest and most intelligent of all Heavenly Father’s children.

---The word intelligent in verse 19: in the scriptures, the word intelligent often refers to the degree of light and truth an individual has received. We gain intelligence by obeying God’s commandments; thus, the more obedient we are, the greater our intelligence can be. (See D&C 93:28, 36.) Jesus Christ is nearest to and most like Heavenly Father because of the light and truth He has received through His perfect obedience.

---How can knowing that Jesus Christ is the most intelligent of all our Heavenly Father’s children help you exercise faith in Him?

II.The Lord shows Abraham the Council in Heaven (Ab 3:22-28)

---Think about a time they learned or discovered something new about themselves. (For example, they may have discovered a new talent or an interest in a particular hobby.)

--- Abraham 3:22–23 shows us that the Lord taught Abraham more about himself while showing him a vision of the Council in Heaven, which occurred before the earth was created.

---Abraham 3:22-23

---Who did Abraham see gathered together in heaven?

---In verse 22, the word intelligences refers to spirit children of God.

---What did Abraham learn about himself from this vision?

---What did Heavenly Father choose Abraham and other noble and great spirits to do on the earth? (Heavenly Father chose His noble and great children before they were born to become leaders in His kingdom on the earth.)

---True to the Faith:

“In the premortal spirit world, God appointed certain spirits to fulfill specific missions during their mortal lives. This is called foreordination. …

“The doctrine of foreordination applies to all members of the Church, not just to the Savior and His prophets. Before the creation of the earth, faithful women were given certain responsibilities and faithful men were foreordained to certain priesthood duties. Although you do not remember that time, you surely agreed to fulfill significant tasks in the service of your Father”

---How can knowing you were chosen in the premortal life to “fulfill significant tasks in the service of your [Heavenly] Father” influence your choices and actions in mortality?

---What might prevent someone in mortality from fulfilling the tasks God foreordained or chose him or her to do?

---How would you complete: “The test of life is …”

---The word prove in the following passage means to test.

--- Abraham 3:24–25 aloud.

---After reading Abraham 3:24–25, what would you say the test of life is?

---The test of life is to determine if we will do whatever God commands us.

---This test began in our premortal life, or our “first estate.” The scriptures refer to our premortal choice to follow Heavenly Father’s plan as keeping our first estate.

---Abraham 3:26 aloud.

---What blessing did Heavenly Father plan to give to those who kept their first estate? (They would be “added upon.”)

---What do you think it means to be “added upon”?

---What were the consequences for spirits who chose not to keep their first estate?

---What do you think it means to keep our second estate?

---If we do all that Heavenly Father commands us to do, then …

---Look at verse 26, how would you complete the statement on the board based on this verse?

---student finish the rest of the principle ….we will have glory added upon us forever.

---What do you think it means to have glory added upon us forever?

Read Abraham 3:27–28 aloud, and invite students to consider who the two spirits were who responded to Heavenly Father’s question concerning whom he should send.

---Who were the two spirits who responded to Heavenly Father’s question?

---How did Lucifer react when Jesus Christ was chosen?

---Because Satan and his followers did not keep their first estate, they lost the opportunity to receive physical bodies, experience mortal life, and progress toward eternal glory.

---Complete the second sentence on the board from the beginning of class in your class notebooks (“Real qualities of greatness include …”).

---Explain to the class what they wrote.

---Testify that we can achieve real greatness as we draw closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through obedience to Their commandments.

Commentary and Background Information

Abraham 3:1. Urim and Thummim

A Urim and Thummim is “an instrument prepared of God to assist man in obtaining revelation from the Lord and in translating languages. [See Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8; Numbers 27:21; Deuteronomy 33:8; 1 Samuel 28:6; Ezra 2:63; Nehemiah 7:65; Joseph Smith—History 1:35.]

“Using a Urim and Thummim is the special prerogative of a seer, and it would seem reasonable that such instruments were used from the time of Adam” (Bible Dictionary, “Urim and Thummim”).

Some have wondered about how Abraham and the brother of Jared could both possess the Urim and Thummim while residing on two different continents. The scriptures teach that there is more than one Urim and Thummim (see Exodus 28:30; Mosiah 28:11–20; Ether 3:21–28; Abraham 3:1). Aaron, the high priest in Israel, carried a Urim and Thummim inside of a breastplate that was part of his priestly clothing. In the latter days, the Prophet Joseph Smith received the Urim and Thummim that had been given to the brother of Jared, which Moroni hid up along with the plates of the Book of Mormon (see Ether 3:21–28; D&C 17:1). A partial description of that instrument is recorded in Mosiah 28:13–14 and Joseph Smith—History 1:35. The Nephites referred to this instrument as “interpreters” (see Mosiah 8:13; 28:20; Alma 37:21; Ether 4:5).

The use of a Urim and Thummim by the Prophet Joseph Smith is a confirmation of his divine calling as a translator (particularly of the Book of Mormon) and a seer who, like Abraham, could receive revelations through a Urim and Thummim.

Abraham 3:19. Jesus Christ is “more intelligent than they all”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles testified that Jesus Christ is the greatest and most intelligent of God’s children:

“I testify that He is utterly incomparable in what He is, what He knows, what He has accomplished, and what He has experienced. Yet, movingly, He calls us His friends. (See John 15:15.) …

“In intelligence and performance, He far surpasses the individual and the composite capacities and achievements of all who have lived, live now, and will yet live! (See Abr. 3:19.)

“He rejoices in our genuine goodness and achievement, but any assessment of where we stand in relation to Him tells us that we do not stand at all! We kneel!” (“O, Divine Redeemer,” Ensign, Nov. 1981, 8).

Abraham 3:22. “Noble and great ones”

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught about foreordination:

“Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was. I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that Grand Council” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 511).

Adding to this understanding, President Joseph F. Smith saw in his vision of the spirit world that Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and “other choice spirits” were “reserved to come forth in the fulness of times to take part in laying the foundations of the great latter-day work” (D&C 138:53). President Smith “observed that they were also among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God” (D&C 138:55).

Abraham 3:24. “We will make an earth”

Jesus Christ created the heaven and the earth under the Father’s direction (see Moses 1:31–33; 2:1). Others were privileged to assist Him in the Creation, including Michael, or Adam.

Regarding this fact, President Joseph Fielding Smith taught:

“It is true that Adam helped to form this earth. He labored with our Savior Jesus Christ. I have a strong view or conviction that there were others also who assisted them. Perhaps Noah and Enoch; and why not Joseph Smith, and those who were appointed to be rulers before the earth was formed?” (Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [1954–56], 1:74–75).

Abraham 3:27. “Whom shall I send?”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles affirmed that it is “extremely important to get straight what happened in that premortal council. It was not an unstructured meeting, nor was it a discussion between plans, nor an idea-producing session, as to how to formulate the plan for salvation and carry it out. Our Father’s plan was known, and the actual question put was whom the Father should send to carry out the plan” (Deposition of a Disciple [1976], 11).

However, even though Heavenly Father asked “Whom shall I send?” it was not because He did not know whom to send to earth to be the Savior and Redeemer of mankind. He always knew whom He would send, as he explained: “My Beloved Son … was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning” (Moses 4:2; see also 1 Peter 1:20). Elder Maxwell testified that “Jesus, being sinless and being the Firstborn of the Eternal Father in the spirit world, was utterly and uniquely qualified to perform the Atonement. No one else was qualified in full conformance with the Father’s will” (One More Strain of Praise [1999], 42–43).

Yet if Heavenly Father always knew who would be the Savior, why did He ask, “Whom shall I send?” By asking this question, our Heavenly Father allowed His Firstborn Son to offer Himself “of his own voluntary will” (Leviticus 1:3). Through His submissive response, Jehovah established a perfect pattern for offering all future sacrifices, which were to be given with “real intent” (Moroni 7:6) and “not grudgingly” (2 Corinthians 9:7), just as He gave Himself (see D&C 34:3).