The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ was that event in history in which history itself finds true meaning. That is the affirmation and the content of our faith. Before Jesus came, Israel had been chosen by a special covenant to be a vehicle in and through which all nations of the earth were to be blessed. "In thee, and in thy seed . . ." began the words of covenant to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. To implement this covenant came the promise concerning Canaan, "Unto thy seed will I give this land." The Hebrew people were called into covenant to be stewards over a divine ideal, and Jesus Christ was the messenger of that covenant and the embodiment of that ideal in a single person-the kingdom of God in its individual mode. This covenant developed through two millenniums, and grew from an affair of tribal significance to one in which all nations were to see the meaning of their own history and the meaning of the total story of mankind. The mountain of the Lord's house is yet to be established in the topmost peak of historical development, to be seen by all and to teach all.

In the midst of the course of time came one in whom was resolved all the searching questions men asked and still ask about historical evil. Evil is so widespread a corruption of humanity that men cry aloud not only for a solution of the problem but for the abolition of evil. Proud men and mighty nations, making themselves the false centers of existence, do, by their pride, destroy the texture of fraternity and plunge each other into endless misery. Nations, like individuals, "Walk in their own way, after the image of their own God," and destruction in a babel of confusion will be the result. Against this men ask now, as they did in Jesus' day, Is there any authority over history which will overcome human sin and pride? What power can give any meaning to the lives of innocent victims of man's inhumanity to men? Jesus Christ has the answer; nay, indeed he is the answer to these millennial questions. In Him the arbiter of human life and destiny established a second covenant which applied to all in every nation who were capable of responding in faith to his revelation. His life was the disclosure of the power and love which shapes and guides human history. History cannot of itself find an adequate philosophy in which to apprehend its own true destiny and guide men to its fulfillment-it devours its own children; its freedom is simply the power of self-destruction. But when human history is related to God in Christ, meaning is found as in a great drama, where the plot, the characters, and the movement are in the grip and under the creative control of the dramatist. Only from beyond history will history receive any meaning, and Christ came from that beyond, for it is in his keeping.

History Dramatized in Christ

History has produced many philosophies of history. But history itself is no philosophy. It is more like a tragic drama in which the will of God is in conflict with the wills of men who seek to make themselves into gods. The philosophies of history are as mere idle words which have no essential relation to the divine will which is shaping the human story. What history actually means is displayed in the drama of Christ's historical experience. And it is a drama which we do not passively watch, but one in which we actually take our places and are ourselves swayed and fashioned in the process. In Jesus we see the rebellion of men overcome by the power of God which reveals his love-a love and power which reaches its full expression on Calvary. On the cross Jesus atoned for the pride and rebellion of men expressed in history by taking to himself the sin of man and changing its value so that when men are confronted by God in Christ they find redemption from their own past. In history, their human history was transformed, men were launched into a new dimension, and empires were overthrown, as was illustrated when the Roman soldier at the Crucifixion uttered his confession: "Truly this was the Son of God." In the life of Christ was offered a means of understanding time, so that all men may be delivered by the Divine Love from confusion and destruction which is so tragically entailed in history. The faith of the church, as we have already pointed out, is a clue to life's meaning, a clue which will, if apprehended, deliver men from fear. It assures men of God's love, and though "evil men and seducers" will wax worse and worse, though all "things shall be in commotion like the sea and the waves roaring," and men shall "tremble at the exhibition of divine power," yet they can, through faith, rejoice in the protection of divine grace.

Jesus Tell Forth Meaning in History

So, then, history is made luminous in Jesus, who came from beyond history, and who was lifted up from the earth to enable him to give understanding to men what history means. He occupies as Lord of Time. To learn of him is to be delivered from strife and fear, and be enabled to overcome the world. We have already seen that Jesus inherited a most wonderful religious tradition-a tradition which was derived from and sustained by the prophets and the fathers. This has been handed down and further explicated in these last days through the ministry of the nineteenth century prophets. Now we must return to the life of Jesus to see how he used his own and contemporary life and made it tell prophetically of those things which were to come.

Let us remember, however, that prophecy is much more than the foretelling of future events. It is the explication of the divine will and purpose. It contains predictive elements and they must not be minimized, but these are strictly subordinate to the ministry of God's own nature which is vouchsafed in every genuine prophetic experience. The future is secure only in the character of the eternal God. There is no continuing future without him. To convey his life, then, is to create a future for those who receive it, for without this divine life all history proceeds to oblivion.

Moses was, like others, a great prophet. But all were a "similitude" of a greater prophet, Jesus Christ. To him who is the spirit of prophecy we address all those questions about creation and the human story and find him adequate to meet our deepest need. Where he does not answer our questions, he gives us the power of faith. When we cannot trace the "moving finger of the eternal," Jesus gives us the power to trust him. So we proceed to think about the relation of Jesus to human nature and destiny.

Jesus and History

We have said that the coincidence of mind and event which constitutes prophecy need not be contemporary. The Spirit which is above all has all in its grasp and is able to revivify past events with interpretative genius. Such a recall Jesus evinced when he said, concerning the end, "As it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man." What occasioned such a prediction? Christ had foretold his own death after the experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. He had predicted the fall of Jerusalem. He had spoken about the coming end of the age. Doubtless the disciples began to be perplexed as they sensed that Jesus was moving to the climax of his life. It was to answer their threefold query that Jesus gave his apocalyptic discourse on the Mount of Olives recorded in the synoptic Gospels, and enlarged upon in the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 45.

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be which thou hast said concerning the destruction of the temple, and the Jews; and what is the sign of thy coming; and of the end of the world? (or the destruction of the wicked, which is the end of the world.) -Matthew 24: 4, I.V.

To help explicate the signs of his second advent this episode of Noah and his ark was used. Jesus looked "forward into the past." In doing so, he showed himself the Master of history. He used what had taken place in time past to reveal what was to be in time to come. His insight told forth the meaning of history.

Does history repeat itself? Yes-and no. Eternal principles do not change. The eternal theme which those principles guard and guide does not change either. So history always repeats itself. Yet there are variations based on the contingent factors grounded in man's freedom. In this regard history is like a symphony. It has unity-a certain self-consistent impact on the listener and yet dissonances and harmonies strange and alien may be heard within the framework of the composition. The presence of such strange and apparently alien dissonances and rhythms are not in themselves significant; but the treatment they receive, how they are resolved, reveals the Master, makes the unit, makes a symphony. Any musician who knows Beethoven will recognize this principle very easily. It is amply illustrated in the fourth movement of the Eroica, where a simple theme is expanded to limitless proportions which exercise the full resources of the orchestra adequately, and in which fugue, dissonance, and syncopation are beautifully intertwined.

The Master of History

So with history. The Master is at work. The theme has been chosen. The counter themes and subordinate melodies and dissonances have come into the composition, but every part is under the control of the composer. Those who share his mind by sympathetic appreciation can see recurring time and again this master theme, and so have confidence that it will eventually absorb and subdue to itself every ugly sound resolving all to a final state of peace and blessedness.

The eternal theme as clearly sounded in the day of Noah. The divine intention was then shown forth, expressed in world-wide events of significance to every living thing. Because God is God, and changes not, the theme remains constant, and in the end will prevail in world-wide events which will then, as of old, have significance for every living creature.

What is history? Is it merely a wild and irregular scene of successiveness having no value? Or is it the instrument through which God reveals himself, as the orchestra reveals the composer of a symphony? Certainly it is the latter. The Master is not simply at work in history to save what he can from it. He himself uses all that men do to make it testify of him. It is very important that we recognize this supreme principle even with regard to our own personal history. God wills to save men, not alone to preserve values. Men are what they do. So then, history itself is the vehicle through which the glory of God is to be shown forth. In Jesus it makes sense. His use of the story of the flood illustrates the sense in which past events may be made to tell of the future.

As it was-so shall it be! In Noah's day people were wholly devoted to sensualism-eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, buying and selling, planting and building. What was the result? They know not! Knowledge of the eternal purpose is withheld from such a world. Is this not true today? Perhaps the theme of sensualism is very much embellished in our time, but who will deny that it is dominant? "Eat, drink, be merry"-"It's later than you think." "Get all you can while you can; no one knows what tomorrow holds!" But such philosophy is false-because some do know what tomorrow holds. They who have the testimony of Jesus know what tomorrow holds.

Prophetic Voices in History

In the midst of such a generation, a prophet was commissioned to preach repentance and build a way of salvation. The ancient world was left without excuse when the ark of safety was finished. The hour of judgment came and the wicked were destroyed. The preaching was completed in the building, the warning justified in the preparation of the way of escape. So today these great and significant world-wide elements move in the midst of the present world disorder toward the hour of judgment "which is to come." The prophetic ministry has been inaugurated in Joseph Smith. The preaching has gone forward and is now going forward into all the world, and the way of escape-the ark of safety, Zion-is being prepared. When the "door is shut" and not before then, will the deluge of God's judgment rain down upon the armies of "Babylon."

The Apostle Peter referred to this same historical situation.

For Christ also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, that he might bring us to God. For which cause also, he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; some of whom were disobedient in the days of Noah, while the long-suffering of God waited, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save, (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. -I Peter 3: 18-21, I.V.

A significant symbol is here to be noted. The eight who were saved in the ark were baptized in the same element which cleansed the earth and destroyed the wicked. Those who refused to be baptized were drowned. A similar consequence will prevail in our day. Righteousness and truth are to sweep the earth "as with a flood," to gather to the city of Zion those who are to be saved, while those who will not be obedient must be destroyed in the fire unquenchable with which the elements and man are to be baptized. "He that is tithed shall not be burned." The heavens and the earth are to come together and the sons of God be tried "so as by fire." What the fire does not cleanse it will utterly destroy. As it was in the days of Noah, when the agency of destruction-water-was the means of salvation: So shall it be when Christ returns. They who are not saved by the baptism of fire, will be destroyed in the fiery flood: "He" (Christ) "shall not only baptize you with water, but with fire, and the Holy Ghost" (Mark 1: 6, I.V.).

Into the ark was gathered all that was necessary to perpetuate the purpose of God and restore to a purified earth the means by which his eternal creative fiat could find continuing expression. So Noah is known as the Elias who was and is to restore all things, or the Restorer of all things. More will be said to explicate this later. Already, in our day, we have experienced some of the power of his continuing ministry, and, as we shall see, we may expect to feel more keenly as the time goes by the impact of his priesthood. But now we point out that he restored all things in a temporal way, and those with him were saved with a temporal salvation. This same theme of Restoration recurs in our day, the latter day, but greatly expanded. Into the Zion of safety will be gathered all the necessary elements, both spiritual and temporal, to perpetuate the divine purpose. In the days of Noah, God demonstrated he was able to do his "own work." So in these days prior to the coming of the Son of man He will gather together all things in one "To a place which I shall prepare, an holy city." All things essential to a full and complete salvation-both temporal and spiritual-will eventually be gathered in Zion, and then cometh the hour of God's judgment. The wicked will be destroyed and the creative work of the Father will go forward.

So Jesus looked forward into the past, and we may look backward into the future.

Our Day in History

This bit of history used by Jesus in this way illustrates how those who are blessed by his Spirit may themselves use history. The word "Babylon" is itself a further illustration. In the Lord's preface this language is used to denominate our age, and identify the process of apostasy.

Wherefore the voice of the Lord is unto the ends of the earth, that all that will hear may hear; prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh; and the anger of the Lord is kindled, and his sword is bathed in heaven, and it shall fall upon the inhabitants of the earth; and the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people; for they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant; they seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall. -Doctrine and Covenants 1: 3.

Not only Babylon but "Babylon the great" would fall. In the plain of Shinar long ago, men sought to get to heaven by building a tower, a tower which accorded with their own vain imaginings. So today we think to get to heaven by building a tower so massive that all can dwell in it-a tower of materialism. And, has not our language been confounded, and is not confusion the result? Has not this confusion brought commotion? This present life has been, in our Western world, made so luxurious that we seldom think of any other life. The extension of our physical senses has served to make great shadows of fear in our minds and our hearts fail us. Only those who, as did the brother of Jared, call on the name of the Lord find the blessed fraternity of a common language in the church.

By the testimony of Jesus the shape of things to come was dramatized by Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah. What God and Christ were to enact in mutual love and sacrifice to save men was seen by the "father of the faithful" and Isaac in the intensity of their sacrificial drama. The father journeying in complete understanding as to what awaited the son, and the son in obedience to the father following in trust, and the life of the son preserved by divine intervention-all pointed to Calvary and Easter. In the glory of their preview of history their seed was chosen to explicate the divine purpose. So every faithful man, in the discharge of divine command, rejoices to see the coming of Christ.

The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Under the enlightenment of that testimony history takes on meaning, because it lifts men above the course of time-extends their view and at the same time gives meaning to what they see.