THE ALLEGORY OF THE OLIVE TREEBook of Mormon Gospel Doctrine Lesson 13

Jacob 5-7

OVERVIEW➤ Jacob 5 tells the story of the Children of Israel being scattered and then gathered again at

the last day.

➤ Looking beyond the mark

➤ We can spend hours identifying each symbol

➤ Vineyard: World

➤ Master: Christ

➤ Tame/Natural Olive Tree: Covenant People

➤ Wild Olive Tree: Gentiles

➤ Servants: Prophets and those called to serve

➤ We can spend hours laying out the timeline it represents (see next slide)

➤ We only have 40 min. We need to focus on what Jacob wanted to teach us. What is the message to you?

➤ You are valuable to the Lord. You have great potential. He will go to great pains to cultivate you even when you don’t produce good fruitd

INTRODUCTION➤ Jacob 4:14

➤ Jacob tells of the Jews being a stiff-necked and corrupt

➤ Why?

➤ Despised words of plainness

➤ Killed the prophets (shut out revelation)

➤ Sought for things they could not understand (without leadership)

➤ Looked beyond the mark

➤ Jacob 4:17-18

➤ The allegory of the Olive Tree is Jacob’s answer to this paradox

➤ Written by Zenos: OT prophet between Moses & Elijah (from Brass Plates)

➤ Jacob had likely never seen an olive tree. This was recounted purely from his study of the scriptures.

1. Hard to kill. If top is destroyed, new shoots grow. Some are over 2,000 years old.

2. Farmers graft in valuable shoots to increase production quality. Similar to a cherished vine.

3. They need cultivation: pruning, digging, dunging, transplanting to new spots of land, burning what doesn’t produce

EVIDENCE OF HIS LOVE

➤ Jacob 5:3-9

➤ We are the trees. His goal is fruit

➤ vs 5: Prune: Painful cuts that change the direction of growth

➤ ATOT: Clear direction to have kids right after my promotion

➤ vs 5: Dig: Turning the soil around the roots

➤ ATOT: Moving every time we got comfortable in a new home

➤ vs5: Nourish/Dung: Adding fertilizer to the fresh soil (what is it made of?)

➤ ATOT: Giving me obstacles, like Jason traveling, that made me stronger

➤ vs 7: Graft: Adding fresh new perspectives to help me gain understanding

➤ ATOT: Every place we lived I had new callings and new friendships that added to my testimony

➤ vs 7 & 9: Burn: Cutting me off from past mistakes

➤ When you are in struggle, ask yourself which of these stages you are in.

HOW DOES HE CULTIVATE US?

➤ Jacob 5:11-12

➤ He gives us leaders who are asked to ‘watch and nourish’ in his stead.

➤ Jacob 5:15

➤ He labors with his servants.

➤ Jacob 5:14, 20-23

➤ He understands the soil in which we are planted and adjusts his care to our needs.

➤ Jacob 5:30-32, 36-37

➤ He helps us see true fruit

➤ ATOT: My promotion had so little value compared to having kids but I couldn’t see that clearly then.

HOW DOES HE FEEL WHEN WE REJECT HIS CULTIVATION?

➤ Jacob 5:46, 41, 47

➤ He grieves for us.

➤ He doesn’t regret his work. He is mournful at the loss.

➤ What causes us to reject his message?

➤ Jacob 5:48

➤ The branches (what is visible to others) overwhelmed the strength of the roots.

➤ ATOT: Blogging life - taking pictures of my tidy home while shoving kids and mess outside of the frame. Being scared for real people to come to my house.

➤ What does this teach us about testimony?

➤ Jacob 5:66

➤ The goal is to be balanced, grounded

JACOB’S RECAP➤ Jacob 6:3-6

➤ His warnings to us (this is Jacob, not Zenos, speaking)

➤ Jacob 6:8

➤ Reject is an active word. It’s not apathy, it’s a conscious choice

➤ 4 Steps of active rejection

➤ Reject the words

➤ Deny their power

➤ Quench the Holy Spirit

➤ Mock (“I never felt anything and those who do are crazy”)

➤ Jacob 6:11-13

➤ His final plea. Be wise!

SHEREM’S FALSE TEACHINGS

➤ Jacob was wrapping up - ready to pass the torch to Enos

➤ Jacob 7:1-4, Sherem seeks him out

➤ Who was he? An outsider but someone who knew their language. First anti-Christ in Book of Mormon.

➤ What did he preach? Flattery. Why is this risky?

➤ Jacob 7:5, What is his goal in confronting Jacob?

➤ How did Jacob gain this solid testimony?

➤ Jacob 4:6, scripture study, prayer, faith

➤ Jacob 7:7, Sherem plays the ‘I know the original way to be righteous’ card.

➤ Jacob 7:8, What is the response? The only way the Lord had room to ‘pour in’ was if Jacob didn’t rely on his own wisdom

SHEREM LOSES IN PUBLIC AND SCRAMBLES

➤ Jacob 7:9-12, Jacob doesn’t tout his fabulous rebuttals, he simply recounts his testimony of the scriptures and their message of Christ’s mission. ➤ What do missionary’s teach today? The same message.

➤ Jacob 7:13, Why does he ask for a sign?

➤ Joseph Smith: How does a disposition to seek after signs relate to seeking after carnal pleasures? Men and women who have given themselves up to their lusts, who desire that which will satiate the flesh, who have exhausted their passions in their search for the sensual – these seek for spiritual sensations; these demand proof! Unable to recognize and acknowledge eternal certainties, they turn to that realm they have come to understand – the fanciful and the physical. Those who worship at the altar of appetite, whose thresholds for gratification are ever rising, thus demand something extraordinary to establish the truthfulness of a claim, a claim, ironically, that is verified by the quiet and unobtrusive whisperings of the Spirit. Spiritual blindness (as evidenced by Sherem) and the spirit of adultery are common companions. (DCBM, 2:88)

“ When The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints was first founded, you could see persons rise up and ask, 'What sign will you show us that we may be able to believe?' I recollect a Campbellite preacher who came to Joseph Smith, I think his name was Hayden. He came in and made himself known to Joseph, and said that he had come a considerable distance to be convinced of the truth. 'Why,' said he, 'Mr. Smith, I want to know the truth, and when I am convinced, I will spend all my talents and time in defending and spreading the doctrines of your religion, and I will give you to understand that to convince me is equivalent to convincing all my society, amounting to several hundreds.' Well, Joseph commenced laying before him the coming forth of the work, and the first principles of the Gospel, when Mr. Hayden exclaimed, 'O this is not the evidence I want, the evidence that I wish to have is a notable miracle; I want to see some powerful manifestation of the power of God, I want to see a notable miracle performed; and if you perform such a one, then I will believe with all my heart and soul, and will exert all my power and all my extensive influence to convince others; and if you will not perform a miracle of this kind, then I am your worst and bitterest enemy.' 'Well,' said Joseph, 'what will you have done? Will you be struck blind, or dumb? Will you be paralyzed, or will you have one hand withered? Take your choice, choose which you please, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ it shall be done' 'That is not the kind of miracle I want,' said the preacher. 'Then, sir,' replied Joseph, 'I can perform none; I am not going to bring any trouble upon any body else, sir, to convince you'" (JD 2:326)

SHEREM’S SIGN

➤ Jacob 7:15-20, Why doesn’t he have peace now?

➤ Deathbed signs and confessions don’t save.

➤ Jacob 7:21-23

➤ Why is Jacob rejoicing? They are studying the scriptures.

➤ It will have a longer impact than hearing Sherem’s confession.

➤ Conclusion

➤ What are we waiting for? What fruits are we lacking?

➤ When we are pruned, what will we do? Will we accept nourishment or will we harden our hearts?