I was impressed that Jacob had identified 3 layers of spiritual protection or 3 sources of spiritual strength that gave them unshaken faith: 1) they searched/studied/knew their scriptures; 2) they received revelations; 3) they had the spirit of prophecy/Spirit of the Lord with them.
I immediately thought of President Nelson's warning to us in the April 2018 Conference. I found the May 2018 Ensign and found the quote I was thinking of: Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again. We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this Church in majesty and glory. But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.
President Nelson has repeatedly encouraged members of the Church to study the scriptures; he is pouring out revelations from the Lord upon us at an accelerated rate, including this one describing what we can expect in the future preceding the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ and yet, he warns that in addition to these powerful influences, each of us personally will need the Holy Ghost [Spirit of the Lord] to be with us or we cannot survive spiritually (our faith will not be unshaken)!
Then I turned to the Come Follow Me lesson for the week and studied the section that discusses the incident described in Luke 4:16-32. Jesus was in his hometown of Nazareth. He stood in the synagogue and read a scripture from Isaiah (61:1-2) that prophecied of the Messiah, then he declared to the congregation, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
The people he was speaking to knew the scriptures. They knew that He was claiming to be the Messiah. Right before their eyes stood the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer of the World and by His testimony, He was revealing Himself to them. But they did not have the Spirit of the Lord in their hearts and they rejected His witness. Instead of receiving Him, they became angered and sought to kill Him!
The Come Follow Me manual asks, "...Is there anything that might prevent you from fully accepting Christ as your personal Savior?
I believe that President Nelson has given each of us an answer to that question--if we do not have the Spirit of the Lord with us, or in other words, the constant influence of the Holy Ghost, in spite of the prophecies in the scriptures and the wondrous revelations from Heaven, we will not recognize Christ when He comes into our lives.
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Incidentally, the scripture in Isaiah that Jesus read in the synagogue begins with the words: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..."
John 3:34 teaches: For he whom God hath sent [Christ] speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The JST version of that scripture adds an important clarification: ...For God giveth him not the Spirit by measure, for he dwelleth in him, even the fulness.
In other words, God did not measure out to Jesus a certain amount of the Spirit, rather, He gave Him all, the fulness of the Spirit--the fulness of His influence, His power, His strength, His gifts. Therefore, we can know that the words He spake were the words of God.
If Christ needed the Spirit in His life, how much more do we need it in our lives?
In the very next paragraph after his words quoted above, President Nelson admonishes us: My beloved brothers and sisters, I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation. Let this Easter Sunday be a defining moment in your life. Choose to do the spiritual work required to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and hear the voice of the Spirit more frequently and more clearly. May we faithfully follow this admonition from our President and Prophet.
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