Calling and Election
Made Sure
Analyzing the scriptures, we discover that the thesis statement--which apparently
summarizes the entire message of all holy writ--is "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand." (Matt. 4:17; 3:1,2; Alma 9:25; D&C 42:7; TPJS, p.
292.) Though this statement infers a warning to the wicked, it also seems to be an
invitation to the righteous. The apex of Nephite history was the appearance of Jesus
Christ to those people and the reign of peace that followed. Likewise, all of the prophets
through the ages attest that the climax of the House of Israel's history will be the
Second Coming and the millennial reign. In the same way, our aim, individually, is to
receive the Second Comforter (the Savior himself) and to have our calling and election
made sure. Could we not say, therefore, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand,
not only for the nations of the earth, but for every individual? "Come unto me all ye
ends of the earth..." is our Savior's supplication. (2 Ne. 26:25.)
Peter urged, "Wherefore...give diligence to make your calling and election
sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." (2 Pet
1:10.) Elder Marion G. Romney explained that to have one's calling and election
made sure means that "one must receive a divine witness that he will inherit eternal
life."(1) Apparently,
having one's calling and election made sure and receiving the Second Comforter are closely
associated. The following statement by the prophet Joseph Smith spells out this
relationship. He said,
"After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is
baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the laying on of
hands), which is the first Comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God,
hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord
will soon say unto him, `Son, thou shalt be exalted.' When the Lord has thoroughly proved
him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will
find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the
other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the Saints, as is recorded in the testimony
of St. John....
"Now what is this other Comforter? It is no more nor less than the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and this is the sum and the substance of the whole matter; that
when any man obtains this last Comforter, he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to
attend him, or appear unto him from time to time, and even He will manifest the Father
unto him, and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions of the heavens will
be opened unto him, and the Lord will teach him face to face, and he may have a perfect
knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God; and this is the state and place the
ancient Saints arrived at when they had such glorious visions--Isaiah, Ezekiel, John upon
the Isle of Patmos, St. Paul in the three heavens, and all the Saints who held communion
with the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn."(2)
Endnotes:
1. CR, Oct. 1965, p. 20.
2. TPJS, Deseret Book Co. 1979, pp. 150,151.
