In the book,“All Things New” by Fiona and Terryl Givens we read:
“The First Vision is generally heralded as the opening of the dispensation in which all things are renewed. What is the greatest lesson we can take from young Joseph’s experience? Let us propose something quite simple and elemental and infinitely transformative. Joseph said that he was motivated to turn to God by reading a passage in James: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5) In another place and time, Enos was brought to his knees by remembering his father’s words about “eternal life” and the “joy of the saints” (Enos 1:3). He was enticed by God’s love not driven by God’s wrath. Joseph, however, inherited a different world, as his words reveal. He did not set off immediately for the grove. He hints how his reservations were overcome, in language that is highly suggestive of what had held him back. It was only after long consideration that God might “not upbraid” him that he decided that he “might venture.” In the language of that day, Joseph hoped that God might not “reprove [him] with severity,” or “reproach [him].” And that he might, with confidence, “risk. . .danger.”15
Joseph’s initial trepidation to seek God calls to mind a pattern that goes back centuries. Martin Luther, his biographer writes, had a “crushing sense of worthlessness and fear of damnation”16 He felt “a righteous God’s fury against his sin,” writes another historian.17 The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, and thousands of his contemporaries, were driven to prayer by fear, anxiety and guilt. Joseph found spiritual basis for a more hopeful approach to deity. And what was the greatest truth that Joseph learned from in the Sacred Grove? Perhaps it wasn’t anything about God’s form, the state of the world, or what church to join. Here are the Lord’s own words: “Joseph, my son, thy sins are forgiven thee. Go thy way and walk in my statures, and keep my commandments. Behold, I am the Lord of glory. I was crucified for the world, that all those who believe on my name may have eternal life.” And Joseph’s response? “My soul was filled with love, and for many days I could rejoice with great joy.”18 Joseph had rediscovered the God of absolute love—a God who waits to embrace, not to condemn.
Life is hard, and demanding, and perilous. No one knows this more than He who experienced all our pain and all our sorrow. Joseph said an absolute precondition for a faith capable of exalting the human family is a correct knowledge of God’s attributes. That spring morning, Joseph learned the most important of God’s attributes. As Joseph would later teach, God is “merciful, and gracious, slow to anger, long suffering, and full of goodness. . . . Those who know their weakness and liability to sin, would be in constant doubt of salvation, if it were not for the idea which they have of the . . . character of God. . . .an idea of these facts does away with doubt, and makes faith exceedingly strong.”19 In simple language, the Lord himself tried to assuage the myriad doubts He knew would afflict us all: “I came not to judge the world, but to heal the world” (John 12:47).20
To the extent that judgment plays a role in our future lives, Eugene England captured its Restoration import: “Judgment” will be simply our complete self-knowledge and our consequent acceptance of the best opportunities and environment for further progress that we are able and willing to accept from a perfectly loving God.“21 An eighteenth century Christian, John “Salvation” Murray, described what happened when he started viewing God not as a God of wrath and judgment but as a God whose love was universal: “I regarded my friends with increasing affection, and I conceived, if I had an opportunity of conversing with the whole world, the whole world would be convinced.” Murray’s wife shared the renewed outlook: “When I contrast my days of ignorance with those on which the Son of Righteousness hath dawned, I am wrapt in pleasure.”22 ~Fiona Givens and Terryl Givens, All Things New (Faith Matters Publishing: Meridian, ID 83642, 2020)p.167-69.
