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).
