Know How and What to Worship

In the middle of section 93 of the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord gave this explanation for the revelation: “I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fullness” (v19). Indeed it does show us what we worship, meaning that it reveals to us the progression and true nature of our Savior Jesus Christ. He “was in the beginning, before the world was” and He was the great Creator who “came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men. The worlds were made by him; men were made by him; all things were made by him, and through him, and of him” (v7-10). Thus before He came to earth He had great divine power, creating not just our world but multiple worlds. He had “glory” that John beheld and was “the Only Begotten of the Father” and  “full of grace and truth” (v11). In other words, He had glory and grace and truth and stood next to the Father in power before coming to this earth: “I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one—The Father because he gave me of his fulness” (v3-4). That is who we worship: the Savior who was given of the fullness of the Father and stands united with His Father in purpose and power and glory.

                In addition to revealing the grandeur of Jesus Christ in the premortal realm, this revelation also shows us “what” we worship by revealing details about His mortal progression. He was not what Christians have believed through the centuries, as Steven Harper explained, “absolutely human and absolutely divine at the same time”—rather, He condescended to come into mortality and experience the full effects of the mortal experience (see Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants). He “received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace; And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness; And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first” (v12-14). In other words, Christ gave up His high station in the premortal real to be born on earth and then grow “grace for grace” until He received of a fulness of His Father and ultimately could declare that He was “perfect” like His Father (but only after His resurrection). We don’t worship a Savior who knows nothing about life’s experiences; rather, He suffered “pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind” and took upon Him “the pains and the sicknesses” of His people. He experienced “death, that he may loose the bands of death” and took upon Himself our “infirmities” to “know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:11-12). That is who we worship: a God who can succor us because He fully experienced mortality and showed us the way to move from grace to grace and come back the Father. I love the way Paul put it: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:15-16).

                So how does section 93 also also reveal “how to worship”? The first verse surely gives the answer: “It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am.” We worship Him by forsaking our sins, calling on His name, obeying His voice, and keeping His commandments. He emphasized this last point several times in the revelation: “For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace” (v20). He said again, “And no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments. He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things” (v27-28). We worship by keeping His commandments and emulating Him, and He will give us light and truth and receive grace to grow until we can indeed “come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fullness.”