Your Father Who is in Heaven

In his recent talk in general conference, Elder Rubén V. Alliaud emphasized the foundational gospel truth that we are literal sons and daughters of God. He taught, “We believe that God the Father ‘is an exalted man’ with a glorified ‘body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; [and] the Son also.’ Thus, every time we talk about the nature of God, in some way, somehow, we are also talking about our own nature. And this is true not only because we all were made ‘in [His] image, after [His] likeness,’ but also because, as the Psalmist recorded, God said, ‘Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.’ This is for us a precious doctrine now recovered with the advent of the Restoration. In summary, it is nothing more or less than what our missionaries teach as the first lesson, first paragraph, first line: ‘God is our Heavenly Father, and we are His children.’” He highlighted how Satan always tries to minimize or combat this truth, and we see that in the temptations of the Savior. Elder Alliaud commented, “Satan’s ultimate temptation may have had less to do with those three specific provocations and more to do with tempting Jesus Christ to question His divine nature. At least twice, the enticement was preceded by the challenging accusation from Satan: ‘If thou be the Son of God’—if you really believe it, then do this or that.” He then highlighted how before the Savior fasted and was tempted, He was baptized and was reminded of His divine parentage: “And when He had come out of the water, there came ‘a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” The adversary’s primary goal in tempting the Savior may have been to try to discredit the fact that He was the Son of God.

                We learn from the account of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price that Satan likewise wants to discredit the fact that we are children of God. Whereas the Lord called him, “Moses, my son,” the adversary called him, “Moses, son of man.” Moses responded by holding onto the truth he had just learned: “For behold, I am a son of God” (Moses 1:6, 12-13). Similarly, we must understand our true identity in order to combat the temptations and lies of the adversary. Elder Alliaud put it this way: “Every time we are taught about our divine nature and destiny, the adversary of all righteousness tempts us to call them into question. How different our decisions would be if we really knew who we really are.” We must not let anyone or anything convince us that we are not children of God, for knowing that puts everything else that we do in mortality in proper perspective. We have a Father in Heaven who created our spirits and wants to bring us home to Him again.

                I have wondered why this fundamental truth of the gospel—that we are spirit children of our Father in Heaven—is not more clearly taught in the Book of Mormon. And yet, as I pondered it this morning, the teaching is all over if we consider the fact that it teaches us to turn to the Father in prayer and worship. For example, Jacob wrote, “Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name” (Jacob 4:5). King Benjamin taught the people about their heavenly Father in these words, “I say unto you, that there are not any among you, except it be your little children that have not been taught concerning these things, but what knoweth that ye are eternally indebted to your heavenly Father, to render to him all that you have and are” (Mosiah 2:34). Moroni gave us the sacrament prayers which encourage us to turn in the name of Jesus to our Eternal Father: “They did kneel down with the church, and pray to the Father in the name of Christ, saying: O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it” (Moroni 4:2-3). All of these encourage us to turn to a divine Father—who else could He be if not our own Father?  When the Savior was among the people, made this relationship more clear: “Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven…. For, if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you; But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses…. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (3 Nephi 12:16, 13:14-15, 14:11) He wanted them to know that He was their Father, and the Savior taught the people to look to the Father: “Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand” (3 Nephi 17:3). He also taught, “Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name; And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you. Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name” (3 Nephi 18:19-21). He wanted them and us to pray to the Father in His name.

                All of these references in the Book of Mormon, and many others, encourage us to look to our Father which is in Heaven. They all witness that we have a divine Father and suggest that we are indeed His offspring in some way. So, in that sense, the Book of Mormon is a powerful witness of this basic tenant of the restoration: we are children of God.