Cross This Great Water

One of the themes of the story of the Jaredites is that they had to cross many waters in their journey to the promised land. Moroni recorded this about the start of their journey: “And it came to pass that they did travel in the wilderness, and did build barges, in which they did cross many waters, being directed continually by the hand of the Lord.” Once they reached the great sea, the brother of Jared wondered about having to cross it in darkness. He prayed, “Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness?” The Lord said to him, “And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come” (Ether 2:6, 22, 25). With that invitation, the brother of Jared did molten out stones and take them to the Lord in fervent prayer: “O Lord, look upon me in pity, and turn away thine anger from this thy people, and suffer not that they shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness;… Touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea” (Ether 3:3-4). He was focused on being able to cross the sea with light, and the Lord answered his prayer in an incredible way. Moroni summarized, “And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in darkness, to give light unto men, women, and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness” (Ether 6:3). After they successfully made their miraculous journey across the waters, future generations continued to remember how the Lord had helped them cross the ocean. An early king, Shule, “remembered the great things that the Lord had done for his fathers in bringing them across the great deep into the promised land” (Ether 7:27). Even the wicked daughter of Jared remembered how her fathers had brought scriptures “across the great deep” (Ether 8:9). Moroni also highlighted how a later righteous king “remembered what the Lord had done in bringing Jared and his brother across the deep” (Ether 10:10). The fact that these Jaredites were able to cross the ocean was a miracle remembered for generations and highlighted the great goodness of the Lord in bringing them to the promised land.

                There is one more use of the word cross in this story of the Jaredites. When the brother of Jared was on the mountain, the Savior gave him this remarkable vision: “He showed unto the brother of Jared all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth.” He saw everyone who would ever come upon the earth, and surely a main part of that vision was the time when the Savior would “glorify [His] name in the flesh” (Ether 3:21, 25). Having seen everyone who ever had or would live, he must have witnessed the ministry of Christ and seen Jesus be lifted up on the cross and die for the sins of the world. Moroni alluded to the fact that the brother of Jared knew specifically about this event when he wrote just after, “And the Lord commanded the brother of Jared to go down out of the mount from the presence of the Lord, and write the things which he had seen; and they were forbidden to come unto the children of men until after that he should be lifted up upon the cross” (Ether 4:1). So, the brother of Jared sealed up his record of this great vision, knowing it would not come forth until after Jesus died on the cross. The brother of Jared went to the mountain because he wanted light to cross the sea, and while there he gained not only that but also a witness of the Savior being lifted up upon the cross. I think it is fitting that this word was used in this story with both meanings, and I believe there is a connection between them. We can cross our figurative “great deep” in mortality only because of the strength and light and that comes from the Savior’s atonement on the cross. When Jesus hung from the cross, there was great darkness in the land: “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour” (Matthew 27:45). In the Americas, there was also darkness: “And it came to pass that there was thick darkness upon all the face of the land” (3 Nephi 8:20). The Light of the World was killed on the cross, symbolized dramatically by darkness across the land. But because He did, we all can have light in our journey across mortality. The Savior who triumphed on the cross will “lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven” (Helaman 3:29-30).