Walking in Darkness at Noon-Day

In the Lord’s revelation in which He chastened the saints for not building the temple as He had commanded, He gave this interesting metaphor for what they were doing. He said, “They who are not chosen have sinned a very grievous sin, in that they are walking in darkness at noon-day.” What does it mean to walk in darkness at noon-day? How does one do that? It would mean either that you close or cover your eyes so that you cannot see or that something has covered the sun so that its light cannot be seen. The implication of the chastisement is that it was their choice to do so, so I believe the former description is likely what the Savior meant: to walk in darkness at noon-day means that we willingly fail to use the light that is readily available to us. One who closes his eyes and walks around outside in the sunlight, or one who puts a covering over her eyes and tries to walk while the sun shines is how I see someone literally doing this. Of course this is symbolic, and so what were the people actually doing? They had the light the Lord was readily sending to them—instructions on building a temple—but they refused to open their eyes and do as commanded. The Lord further clarified, "If you keep not my commandments, the love of the Father shall not continue with you, therefore you shall walk in darkness” (Doctrine and Covenants 95:6,12). They had a commandment before their eyes but they refused to see it and therefore they were walking in darkness.

                I believe that we can certainly apply this principle generally to ourselves in our day: any time that we have a commandment from the Lord and know what He wants us to do, and don’t do it, we are closing our eyes to light that He would give us. The Lord said to Nephi, “And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments” (1 Nephi 17:13). When we keep the commandments, He gives us light, and so we fail to receive His light when we break His commandments. Perhaps we can also apply the teaching here specifically to the temple. The Lord has commanded us in our day to participate in temple and family history work, and that can be a great source of light for us. So great is the darkness if we do not this great work that Moroni paraphrased Malachi’s words this way: “And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming” (Doctrine and Covenants 2:2-3). If we do not the temple and family history work the Lord has commanded us, turning our hearts to our fathers and providing them the saving and sealing ordinances of the temple, then the whole earth’s purpose will not have been met. I believe that is a major way that we walk in darkness at noon-day even today: we have easy access to the Lord’s house with a myriad of methods that we can easily participate in family history work and yet we often close our eyes and walk without those great blessings in our lives.

                Soon after this revelation where the Lord encouraged the saints to build the temple in Kirtland, chaos erupted in Zion and the people there were driven out of their homes. In the revelation addressing some of what happened, the Lord gave this counsel: “Therefore, renounce war and proclaim peace, and seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children; And again, the hearts of the Jews unto the prophets, and the prophets unto the Jews; lest I come and smite the whole earth with a curse, and all flesh be consumed before me” (Doctrine and Covenants 98:16-17). As Sherilyn Farnes put it in this podcast, the Lord’s instruction was to seek for peace with their enemies and do family history. So powerful is the work of turning the hearts of the children to the fathers and the fathers to the children—accomplished through the work of temples and family history—that it is part of the solution to even the most difficult problems. It is a powerful way to bring light and peace to our lives. We must not close our eyes to it and walk in darkness but rather do as the Prophet Joseph encouraged regarding this work of salvation, “Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause?” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:22)