Every Kingdom Is Given a Law

In the Olive Leaf revelation, the Lord declared, “And there are many kingdoms; for there is no space in the which there is no kingdom; and there is no kingdom in which there is no space, either a greater or a lesser kingdom. And unto every kingdom is given a law; and unto every law there are certain bounds also and conditions” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:37-38). Another section adds, “When we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (Doctrine and Covenants 130:21). President Nelson quoted these verses in the second chapter of his recent book The Heart of the Matter and told how they changed his thinking as a young researcher in the medical field. He recounted, “My young research-focused mind exploded with possibilities. ‘Surely,’ I thought, ‘there must be laws, or truths, that govern the beating heart.’ If we could discover those laws and then ‘obey’ them, the results would be positive. It was the very idea that absolute truths, or divine laws, exist—and that following them would produce desirable results—that gave me new hope about discovering ways to repair a defective heart.” He did just that and discovered truths about the heart and how to operate on it that enabled life-saving procedures. In his case the “kingdom” was the heart and the human body, and he helped discover the laws of that kingdom.

President Nelson suggested that there are laws that govern different aspects of life, and as we learn those and adhere to them we gain power and confidence. He remarked, “Absolute truths are completely reliable, even incontrovertible. They do not change. This means that procedures and practices based on divine laws will work every time. If they didn’t, we would be afraid to climb into an airplane. How would we know if the airplane would fly this time? But today, tens of thousands of passengers around the world board thousands of flights a day because we know there are divine laws that, when obeyed, give an airplane lift. These laws of aerodynamics allow a plane to take off, fly, and land safely. Neither doctors nor pilots have the power to change the laws that govern their professions, but their understanding and utilization of those laws save lives every day.” I had never considered before that every time we enter an airplane, we are putting trust in the laws of aerodynamics that have been discovered over centuries, but that is exactly what we are doing. While this idea that there are fundamental laws to be learned and obeyed is important to many secular fields, it is also central to the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we learn to put that same trust in the laws of God, letting them govern our lives, we obtain the promised blessings and security that He offers us.  

                President Nelson commented, “But absolute truths never change. Gravity is an absolute truth. Gravity never varies. The fact that the earth is round is an absolute truth. The fact that the sum of the three angles of any triangle is always 180 degrees is an absolute truth. The fact that we were each born of a woman and that we will each eventually die are absolute truths.” I’d have to add on the triangle point, “assuming Euclidean geometry,” and then yes, that always holds. But the point is that there are certain truths that we can always trust in, and having studied mathematics I have certainly depended on that time and time again. What matters most is that if we choose to follow God’s laws, He is bound to bless us: “I give unto you directions how you may act before me, that it may turn to you for your salvation. I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise” (Doctrine and Covenants 82:9-10). And so, we must learn to trust in the commandments He gives us—whether that is in keeping the law of tithing or honoring the Sabbath or in keeping ourselves morally clean. We can be as sure as we are stepping into an airplane that in striving to follow His law, He will bless us.