For After Much Tribulation Come The Blessings: Doing Our Time
A key doctrinal belief among Christians and especially among the LDS, is that we are sent to the earth to pass through much tribulation and that only after we “do our time” and endure the tribulation, can we expect to receive blessings. For many, the welcome hour of the tribulation ending and the realization of blessings, begins after death and grave when we cross the veil..
“For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.
“Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the bglory which shall follow after much tribulation.
Let’s feast upon this scripture and analyze in the light of the Holy Ghost:
“blessed is he that keepeth my commandments” What commandments? All of them that come forth from the mouth of God. How do we know what they are? They are all contained in the First and Second Great commandment upon which all other laws, covenants, promises and blessings hang.
“whether in life or in death” Jesus said at the time he raised Lazarus from the dead[1], that there are two types of people, those who have died and will be resurrected again and those who live and will never die, that is, they have overcome the world through Jesus and by being reborn and, like John the Beloved Revelator, will not die or cast their body into the grave. The vast majority fall into the first group, those who have died and either went to the grave or the cremator. The second group is a very small group who have found the strait gate and trod the narrow way that leadeth to life eternal and who have not tasted death. Both groups can keep the commandments and be blessed for them. However, those who keep the commandments unto life eternal and who never die, are even more blessed.
“and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.” Notice that the scripture starts a new sentence following a semi colon. I believe that this sentence is referring to the second group of people who have lived and not died, who have not tasted death. It is this second group that is faithful in tribulation and therefore, have a greater reward in the kingdom of heaven.
Now, the good part. What is tribulation? Tribulation comes from the word Tribulum, which was a farm instrument used to thrash wheat. It separated the wheat from the chaff and the tares from the wheat. It involved some pressure and distress along with some wind or breeze to blow away the chaff and other non-essentials. So, the word tribulation, which has come to mean suffering, affliction, pain, deprivation and other negative consequences, may not be the correct definition in all cases.
Tribulation can be different things for different people. I assert that tribulation for the first group, those who die but yet shall live again, tribulation can be the great suffering and affliction that we hear so much about. It is the suffering of the Jews in the concentration camps, it is the suffering of the Mormon handcart companies with frost bitten limbs, it is the suffering of the orphans who have lost their parents in a Tsunami or in a war, it is the suffering of a person with third degree burns over most of their body, it is the suffering of the parents who have a had a child abducted and unspeakable atrocities committed. Yes, it has the effect of separating the wheat from the chaff. It does create a stark choice, 1) I choose to endure my suffering and continue to believe in God and be grateful for my blessings, in spite of my intense suffering or 2) I choose to not believe that any loving God can exist and allow such suffering. Yes, it does teach patience and it does teach “long” suffering.
For the second group of people, tribulation is sought after. As noted in the scripture, “faithful in tribulation” signifies being faithful in a calling, faithful in service, faithful in keeping the commandments. To be faithful in tribulation is to be faithful in using the thrasher and voluntarily asking for the chaff and tares to be removed from us. If we choose to be humble, choose to learn suffering empathetically and choose to seek for the strait gate and narrow way, then the tribulum machine will be a joyous experience as we are cleansed of the false traditions (chaff) and the tares (the enemy) in our lives and liberated to be pure wheat.
For the second group of people, those who never die, tribulation is a blessing because it is an easy yoke and a light burden. It does not require the difficult yoke and heavy burden of the first group, those who die and have not found the strait gate and narrow way. There are two kinds of suffering: 1) the intense suffering of this world created by the enemy, even Satan and 2) the sorrow of seeing others suffer unnecessarily because they have dull hearts and refuse to hear with their ears and see with their eyes so that Jesus might heal them.[2]
“Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the bglory which shall follow after much tribulation.” What are the natural eyes? Those physical eyes that are so set upon the things of the world that they cannot see spiritual things and the design of God.
What is the glory? I heard a general authority say that all of the bountiful blessings and prosperity that Mormons enjoy today are part of that glory and the fruit that has been reaped by the descendents of the pioneers thanks to their “tribulation”. But, glory refers to the glory of God, even light, intelligence and truth. This intelligence, or light and truth, is manifested in his posterity for he has said that his work and glory is the immortality (not taste death) and eternal life (joy) of man. His glory is US! It is the glory that comes to those who have overcome the world and who have made their enemies their footstools, in this life.
“For after much tribulation come the blessings” The wheat thrashing machine requires hard work, sweat of the brow and it requires much thirsting and hungering for righteousness, to shake off our false traditions and beliefs. Blessings include everything promised by Jesus:
1. His miracles
2. Victory over death, no tasting of death, life everlasting.
3. Deliverance from our enemies.
4. Joy and happiness of an abundant life mixed with sorrow from seeing others suffer needlessly.
We should remember that the kingdom of heaven is within us. Greater blessings in the kingdom of heaven refers to the blessings received from voluntarily subjecting oneself to the tribulum and becoming cleansed and sanctified, the easy way.
[2] For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
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