Stand Forever

This morning I listed to a talk titled Stand Forever that Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge gave at BYU several years ago and which my brother recommended to me. He introduced his remarks this way: “The prophet Daniel said that in the last days shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. The kingdom of God is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It will ‘stand for ever.’ The question is, Will you and I stand? Will you stand forever, or will you go away? And if you go, where will you go?” Many scriptures indeed invite us to stand with the Lord and His servants. For example, to Oliver Cowdery He said, “Therefore be diligent; stand by my servant Joseph, faithfully, in whatsoever difficult circumstances he may be for the word’s sake” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:18). To all of us He also said, “Wherefore, lift up your hearts and rejoice, and gird up your loins, and take upon you my whole armor, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, having done all, that ye may be able to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness” (Doctrine and Covenants 27:15-16). In another powerful encouragement He also said, “Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees” (Doctrine and Covenants 81:5). After describing the terrible wars of the last days, the said this to us in this dispensation: “Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord” (Doctrine and Covenants 87:8). In the Book of Mormon we learn that part of our covenant of baptism is “to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death” (Mosiah 18:9). The Lord promised that He will ease our burdens if we “stand as witnesses for [Him] hereafter” (Mosiah 24:14). The Lord’s kingdom will stand—it will never be destroyed—but we must decide if we individually will stand with it and His servants.  

                Recently I have struggled to literally stand as I have had some pain in my lower back. After far too many days shoveling snow this winter something happened and it became painful to stand up straight or bend over or lift heavy things. I would have just continued like that but my wife wisely insisted that I get it looked at. I did this yesterday and the experienced physical therapist was able to determine that my sacroiliac joint was out of place. She easily put it back and gave me exercises to get it feeling better. The pain has since subsided considerably and I expect it to soon be fully healed now that it is in the right place. If I hadn’t gone for help the pain likely would have lasted for a very long time, and I would have continued to struggle to stand physically. In a similar manner, we are only going to be able to stand spiritually with the Lord when we go to the right source for knowledge and confirmation and understanding. We must go to Him and to His words; we must seek revelation from the Fountain of all righteousness instead of getting lost in the endless opinions of the world. Elder Corbridge put it this way: “The Church of Jesus Christ is grounded on the rock of revelation, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We are the Church. You and I are the Church. We must be grounded on the rock of revelation, and although we may not know the answer to every question, we must know the answers to the primary questions. And if we do, the gates of hell shall not prevail against us and we will stand forever.” If we are to stand with the Lord we must be grounded in His truth. Isaiah wrote, “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isaiah 40:8). The word of God, at the foundation of the kingdom of God, will indeed stand forever and we will too if we make it our foundation instead of the philosophies of men that swirl around us in the mist of darkness.

Malachi asked this penetrating question about the Second Coming of the Savior: “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?” (Malachi 3:2) Ultimately we have to decide indeed if we will stand when He comes, and that will only happen if we humbly build our foundation on revelation through His Spirit and His word. Elder Corbridge concluded with this testimony and invitation: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on the earth. I know this by my experience—all of it. I know this by the evidence, and the evidence is overwhelming. I know it by study, and, most surely, I know it by the Spirit and power of the Holy Ghost. And with that I know everything I need to know to stand forever. May we stand on the rock of revelation, particularly in regard to the primary questions. If we do, we will stand forever and never go away.”