During the Sunday morning session of General Conference, President Thomas Monson quoted a verse from William Wordsworth’s Ode, Intimations of Immortality.
"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting. The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, and cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come from God who is our home. Heaven lies about us in our infancy!"
I love this poem because it speaks so beautifully of a heavenly realm where we first lived with Heavenly Father. It speaks of the importance and beauty of each spirit coming to the earth. It causes me to wonder about the mystery and beauty of life before we came to earth and about the heavenly realm which will receive us when we pass through the veil and leave our physical body.
A short time before Christ was betrayed and crucified, an event occurred which again makes me consider the beauty of heavenly realms. The scripture which describes this event is one that is touching to me. The event is the transfiguration of Christ and we find an account of this in Luke 9, beginning in verse 28.
One early evening, shortly before his betrayal and crucifiction, Christ ascended a mountain to pray. Elder David B. Haight wrote that on this evening, the Savior went up the mountain to commune with His Father and to prepare for His coming death. Perhaps Jesus was seeking to feel the heavenly calm which communion with His Father would bring. Perhaps he was aware that He would be supported in the coming hour by other ministrations not of this earth. Did he understand that certain keys would be passed to his disciples? He took with Him Peter, James and John.
As He prayed, His countenance was altered and his raiment became white and glistening with a light which needed no aid from the sun or the moon or the stars. Verse 30 reads: And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory and (this is the phrase I especially love) “Spake to him of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Think of it… two men, prophets from long ago, were sent from that ethereal world to visit with Jesus and comfort him as he prepared for the brutal last week of his life. I wonder, did Jesus know them in the pre-existence. Had they know this moment would come? At this moment in Jesus’s life, were all those who had been to earth and those yet to come aware of what Christ was about to do. Were we aware? What I love to consider, is that at this most difficult time in Christ’s life, comforters were arranged for him. Men he would know.
Elder Haight wrote, “ Though difficult for us to understand, Jesus himself must have been strengthened and sustained by Moses and Elijah to prepare Him for the suffering and agony ahead for Him in working out the infinite and eternal atonement of all mankind. An angel from heaven would again in a few days strengthen Him when He would sweat great drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane.”
Verse 32 reads…Peter, James and John were heavy with sleep, and when they awakened, they saw Christ and his glory and the two men that stood with him. Peter, so overwhelmed with what he witnessed, and anxious to prolong the visit, said..”Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee and one for Moses, and one for Elias, not knowing what he said.”.. While Peter was speaking, in verse 34..”there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying. This is my beloved Son; hear him.
Elder Haight wrote:
The three apostles fell prostrate and hid their faces. How long it was before Jesus came to them and touched them is not clear from the account; but when they raised their eyes, it was all over. The bright cloud had vanished. The gleams of light, the shining countenances had passed away; they were alone with Jesus. Now only the light from the stars was on the mountain slopes.
Peter, James, and John—they alone beheld the glory and majesty of the transfigured Jesus and received the keys of the kingdom.
Vs 35.”And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen.
From Elder Height: The three chosen apostles were taught of His coming death and also His resurrection, teachings that would strengthen each of them in the eventful days ahead.
Testifying of this later, John said, “We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father” ; The apostle Peter, speaking of this personal experience, wrote: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
“For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
“And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.” (2Peter 1:16-18)
President Monson, speaking in General conference, asked this question.
In this fast-paced life, do we ever pause for moments of meditation—even thoughts of timeless truths? Timeless truths. Angels visit ancient prophets. Ancient prophets come to comfort Christ. When we consider and ponder those ethereal worlds and the beings who reside there, we understand that this is a living gospel. It comes as no surprise then that Peter,known as the rock, and James and John, known as “the sons of thunder.” would appear not so long ago to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey.
Our gospel is a living gospel. What is important to remember is that while we work through our own challenges while here on earth, help and comfort is offered to us. We too can feel the warmth and love coming from the Savior, even in times of tragedy. We only need ask. I personally testify of this in the name of Jesus Christ.
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