The Glory of the Lord

 The Scripture Citation Index (scriptures.byu.edu) caught me this morning (again.)

I was thinking about President Nelson's talk in General Conference last October when he quoted Isaiah 40:5, “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”

This morning, I'd been reading in Doctrine and Covenants section 29:9, a kinda scary verse. "I, the Lord of Hosts, will burn them up," He warns the "proud and those who do wickedly." The final phrase is "that wickedness shall not be upon the earth."

I never really thought about what that would look like, other than scary. 

But, after looking up that phrase from Isaiah in the Scripture Citation Index, and compiling multiple sources mentally, it seems that the Lord's very Being is the fiery cause.

Exodus 24:17 states: "And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel."

In other words, the appearance of the LORD is the fire. President Nelson suggested in his talk that, by contrast to what Doctrine & Covenants 29 warns, "That day will be full of joy for the righteous."

What makes the difference?

Immediately my mind goes to the chosen text from Handel's Messiah: "But who may abide the day of His coming?" Malachi 3:2. The remainder of that chapter in Malachi suggests several actions we can take:

* "return unto Me"

* bring tithes and offerings to the LORD's storehouse

* return to His ordinances

* keep His ordinances

* walk humbly before God

* don't make the mistake of calling the proud "happy"

* fear the LORD and speak often with those who also fear Him

* think upon His name

* have your name (by doing the above) written in the "book of remembrance"

* belong to Him, like a son or daughter, to be spared

* return and discern between the righteous and the wicked

* serve the LORD

All of these make me want to look them up on the Scripture Citation Index and dig even deeper--but they also give me a chance to examine whether I'm keeping His ordinances. 

Addictive Sites for Studying God's Word

 I may have unexpectedly come across two of the most addictive sites on the internet.

First is the Scripture Citation Index. https://scriptures.byu.edu/

This search engine allows for inputting a word or phrase, which the creators have indexed--taking from all the standard works, plus General Conference talks, plus the Journal of Discourses, plus the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. 

For a while now, I have been wanting to study better! And this could be just the tool! 

Today, for instance, I chose the word "name" because I have been curious about how the name of God has power, and how calling on His name works and what that might mean, and what it looks like, and why it's incredible that He would even reveal His name to us. 

I typed it into the search bar, selected "scriptures" (instead of talks) and it generated hundreds of usages in the scriptures of the word "name." So far, in a separate document, I've collected about twenty pages of relevant references--chunks of scripture that I can already feel patterns emerging and understanding beginning to dawn.

It's amazing to me! Years ago, I tried using the Topical Guide, as President Nelson suggested, to search up all the references to the Savior. It was a long process (close to nine months) in all, and it was life-changing. I loved the process, the light that came to me, the results of transformation in my life.

Since then, I have craved those same types of results, but I wasn't sure if the TG felt complete (it isn't--it can't be), and now there's an electronic version that makes it so quick and simple, and I can collect all the references for myself and my own use, all in a handy place. 

I'm loving this!

To go along with my search for the word "name" in the Scripture Citation Index (which is an app, too, in case you like to study on your phone, by the way), I found this great site called Abarim, where they have created a page of meanings and references for all the proper names in the Hebrew Bible. 

It's AMAZING. 

Here's the link for searching for all MALE names, but you can also search for female names, place names, and more. https://www.abarim-publications.com/NaLi/A-MaleBig.html

As I discover insights, I hope I can share them and maybe they'll be of value to someone at some point.