New Eyes and A New Mouth

As I’ve looked at scriptures that speak about the beginning of different prophets’ ministries, there seems to be a theme with some of them that the Lord gives them a new mouth and new eyes.  As His authorized servants, God needs them to see as He would see and speak as He would speak.  And so in some of these accounts we see that symbolically He gave them new mouths and eyes.  Christ declared of His servants during His ministry, “He that heareth you heareth me,” and in our dispensation He said, “Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (Luke 10:16, D&C 1:38).  So He must ensure that His servants see the world and speak to the world in the way that He would.  

                I found three scripture stories that show prophets whose call to the ministry had something to do with the mouth.  When Isaiah had his vision of the Lord, he was concerned about his “unclean lips” and unworthiness before the Lord.  He recorded, “Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged” (Isaiah 6:6-7).  The angel touching his mouth symbolized his purification and call to speak to the people the words of the Lord.  Jeremiah had a similar experience.  When he was called his felt similarly inadequate saying, “Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child” (Jeremiah 1:6).  The Lord responded telling him that he would speak the words given to him, and Jeremiah recorded, “The Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth.  And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth” (Jeremiah 1:9).  He would from then on speak the Lord’s words.  In the Book of Mormon Alma’s conversion experience and start of his ministry also involved his mouth but in a slightly different way.  After the angel stopped him and rebuked him, “he became dumb, that he could not open his mouth.”  The people gathered together and began “to pray to the Lord their God that he would open the mouth of Alma, that he might speak.”  After two days Alma finally received strength from the Lord, “and he stood up and began to speak unto them” (Mosiah 27:19, 22-23).  He lost the ability to speak his own words, and the Lord gave him a new mouth to speak with a new tongue.  That was beginning of his long service to the people, and he never really stopped speaking the words of the Lord after that moment.               

                Two other stories in the scriptures show how prophets similarly received new eyes at the beginning of their ministry.  Like Jeremiah, Enoch was concerned about his youth and inability to speak to the people.  He said to the Lord, “Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight ,and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?”  The Lord commanded him to open his mouth, promised him great power, and then said, “Anoint thine eyes with clay, and wash them, and thou shalt see. And he did so.”  This seems to have been symbolic of receiving new eyes, for after this “he beheld also things which were not visible to the natural eye” (Moses 6:31, 35-36).  Enoch could now see as God saw.  Another story of a prophet receiving new eyes is that of Saul.  After his encounter and rebuke from the Lord “he was three days without sight.”  The Lord instructed Ananias to help Saul, and “putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales” (Acts 9:9, 17-18).  Saul needed new eyes in order to see that Jesus was indeed the fulfillment of the Law of Moses and the center point of all of the scriptures that he knew so well.  With these new eyes Saul then became one of the greatest missionaries for the Lord.

                These experiences I don’t think are limited just to prophets, though, and surely there is application for all disciples in these stories.  We must each be born again and learn to see with eyes that perceive the spiritual and speak the words that are inspired by the Holy Ghost.  As Elder Renlund put it, we must be able to see “through God’s eyes” in order to fulfill our covenant responsibilities, just as the prophets of old had to have new eyes and mouths to fulfill theirs (see here).