Their Own Place

At the end of the allegory of the olive tree the Lord said this: “And when the time cometh that evil fruit shall again come into my vineyard, then will I cause the good and the bad to be gathered; and the good will I preserve unto myself, and the bad will I cast away into its own place” (Jacob 5:77).  In Jacob’s subsequent comments about the allegory he expanded on this idea of the bad fruit being cast “into its own place” when he said, “And how blessed are they who have labored diligently in his vineyard; and how cursed are they who shall be cast out into their own place! And the world shall be burned with fire” (Jacob 6:3).  It seems that what he is saying is that those who are wicked will not inherit the “mansions” of the Father (as Jesus would later teach) but rather they will get “their own place” as an eternal reward (John 14:2).  That phrase to me connotes a place the wicked are alone and where they get only what they have created for themselves.  We can choose to return to the Father to be with Him and all the righteous, or we can be left to inherit our own place alone. 

                The scriptures promise to the righteous both a place prepared for them and people to be with in the next life.  The Savior told the apostles, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).  In modern revelation He similarly promised: “In my Father’s house are many mansions, and I have prepared a place for you; and where my Father and I am, there ye shall be also” (D&C 98:18).  The Savior promises the righteous to both be with Him and the Father in the next life and to have a glorious place there with Them.  In another revelation He said, “For he who is faithful and wise in time is accounted worthy to inherit the mansions prepared for him of my Father” (D&C 72:4).  Another time He promised, “And if thou art faithful unto the end thou shalt have a crown of immortality, and eternal life in the mansions which I have prepared in the house of my Father” (D&C 81:6).  We will “receive a crown in the mansions of [the] Father” if in this life we will have an eye single to His glory and keep the commandments (D&C 59:1-2). 

                The parable of the rich man and Lazarus seems to highlight the difference between the righteous and the wicked in the next life.  Lazarus who was righteous was “carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom”, whereas the rich man could only look on at them in jealousy and cry out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue” (Luke 16:24).  Lazarus not only had a comfortable place to be but was in the company of others; the rich man on the other hand had only fire as his own place and, as far as the parable reveals, was completely alone.  The righteous in the next life are promised to have “that same sociality which exists among us here… coupled with eternal glory” whereas there is no promise of retaining friends or family for those who reject the Savior.  Those who have wanted to do it their own way in this life will get “their own place” in the next; those who “receive” Christ and His servants will inherit “all that [the] Father hath” (D&C 84:37-38).