Book of Mormon Commentary CofC - Odessa, Missouri Community ...

Book of Mormon Commentary
3 Nephi Chapter 13
All but three answered, "We desire that after we have lived unto the age of man, that our ministry
wherein thou hast called us, may have an end, that we may speedily come unto thee, in thy
kingdom" (13). Jesus blessed them for this desire, and promised that when they "are seventy and
two years old," they shall come and find rest (14).
Then he turned to the other three and asked, "What will ye that I should do unto you?" They
hesitated to ask him for their desire. "Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing
which John, my beloved, ...desired of me" (17).
When Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, were working on the Book of Mormon, they discussed
John 21:20-24, and wondered if John the Beloved tarried on the earth. They presented the matter
to the Lord. A revelation was received through the Urim and Thummim, which is Section Seven.
John asked for "power over death, that I may live and bring souls unto thee" .(D. and C. 7: 1b).
His desire was granted.
Jesus said to the three Nephite disciples, "Ye shall never taste of death, but ye shall live to behold
all the doings of the Father" (18). Since life becomes a burden to so many after seventy-two years
of living, the disciples may have wondered whether Jesus was really granting them a blessing.
Perhaps the three disciples were also wondering, for Jesus said to them: (1) "Ye shall never endure
the pains of death." (2) "Ye shall not have pain while ye shall dwell in the flesh," (3) "neither
sorrow, save it be for the sins of the world," and (4) "When I shall come in my glory, ye shall be
changed in the twinkling of an eye, from mortality to immortality" (19, 20).
Jesus explained his reason for granting this unusual request, "Ye have desired that ye might bring
the souls of men unto me, while the world shall stand" (21). "You shall be even as I am, and I am
even as the Father" (22) .Doubtless this means that their bodies are immortal, for they were not to
taste death (51). Yet the change was not complete (19, 27). Not all of the questions have been
made clear, such as, Do they need food as we do? Do they get tired? and where do they dwell?
The things which the Father has not revealed are not for us to know.
The Lord long ago said, "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which
are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever" (Deut. 29:29).
3 Ne 13:24 And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words, he touched every one of them
with his finger, save it were the three who were to tarry, and then he departed.
Once before Jesus touched the disciples, but then it was with his hand to confer upon them the
Holy Ghost (8:70, 71). The record says, "The heavens were opened, and they were caught up;"
The antecedent of "they" is not clear. Since the three were excluded from the touch, it is most
likely that they were the ones who were caught up and "saw and heard unspeakable things" (25,
49). Since these were to tarry and minister to men on earth for centuries, they would need a
stronger testimony to sustain them than the nine who were to die at about the age of seventy-two
(14). Paul wrote of "a man in Christ" [likely himself] who was "caught up to the third heaven" (II
Cor. 12:2). He was not sure whether in this experience he was in the body or out of it.
Mormon makes a similar statement concerning the persons "caught up." But it seemed to the three
that it was "like a transfiguration," in which "they were changed from this body of flesh, into an
immortal state, that they could behold, the thing!" of God" (27, 29). After this experience they
went "forth upon the face of the land, and did minister unto all the people, uniting as many to the
church as would believe in their preaching ; baptizing them" (29).