The 138th chapter of the Doctrine and Covenants documents a vision given to the Prophet Joseph F. Smith in 1918. In his vision the Prophet saw Christ’s visit to the spirit world and His ministry among the faithful and noble spirits. Verses 38-49 relate some of the spirits he saw waiting for the arrival of the Savior among them, it says:
38 Among the great and mighty ones who were assembled in this vast congregation of the righteous were Father Adan, the Ancient of Days and father of all,
I love the image of our glorious Mother Eve receiving the Savior as He visits the spirit world with hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of her daughters standing behind her, ready and excited to receive the fullness of the gospel. Women who, even though we don’t have their names, lived lives that put them on the same standing before God as the men who were in the congregation, great and righteous men like: Adam, Abel, Seth, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Elias, Malachi, Elijah and the prophets of the Book of Mormon (D&C 138: 40-49) .
How I would love to get a glimpse of those women, to learn their names, to know their stories and to hear their testimonies of the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m sure that women like Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Leah, Deborah, Huldah, Sariah, and Nephi’s wife were among these noble women, as well as so many other faithful women whose names and stories we don’t have. These were women who had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ before he came to earth; whose testimonies were built upon the promise of the coming of the Savior. I can only imagine their joy, after waiting hundreds of years, to finally see the Redeemer they had heard prophesied of for so long.
It brings me great joy to imagine all those great women receiving and listening to Christ preach of the restored gospel. I look forward to the time when Christ will come for the second time and Eve will once again stand before God with ALL her faithful daughters and present them to the Savior. That will be one meeting I hope I get to be a part of!
There's a new book out at Deseret Book called "Women of the Old Testament" that I'm excited to read.
That book is by the professor I took "Women in the scriptures" from at BYU, Camille Fronk. I think that she is going to try to put out a book on women in the scriptures each year to correspond with what the church is studying in Sunday School. I am REALLY excited to see the finished work of the Old Testament one. Part of our class work was helping with doing research on the different women– I did Deborah. So I am excited to see that chapter– I think she even said that our names would be mentioned somewhere– COOL!
If you read it let me know what you think!
Wonderful post!
Bekah
Wonderful post!
Bekah