Saturday, June 23, 2018

The Sacrament and the Promise of God's Spirit (Moroni 4:3; 5:2)


Commenting on the promise that, by partaking of the emblems of the Sacrament (Eucharist/Lord’s Supper), we may have God’s Spirit to be with us, Fielding McConkie, Millet, and Top noted the following:

4:3 (5:2). That they may always have his Spirit to be with them] One’s faithfulness to the covenants made in baptism and renewed with worthy partaking of the sacrament binds the Lord to his part of the covenant agreement. He has promised that we may have the influence of the Holy Ghost as a constant companion. There are many significant spiritual fruits that come to us as the Lord fulfills this promise to us. The Holy Ghost is a sanctifier, and as a result we are forgiven of our sins and cleansed by the Holy Spirit through worthy partaking of the sacrament. “If we have done wrong; if there is a feeling in our souls that we would like to be forgiven,” Elder Melvin J. Ballard declared, “then the method to obtain forgiveness is not through rebaptism; it is not to make confession to man; but it is to repent of our sins, to go to those against whom we have sinned or transgressed and obtain their forgiveness, and the repair to the sacrament table where, if we have sincerely repented and put ourselves in proper condition, we shall be forgiven, and spiritual healing will come to our souls. It will really enter into our being.” (Improvement Era, October 1919, pp. 1026-27).

In addition to the cleansing from sin and the spiritual healing that comes by the Holy Ghost, having the Spirit with us yields other great blessings. If we are true to our covenants, the Spirit helps us to speak with power (see D&C 88:137), brings things to our remembrance (see John 14:26), gives us peace and joy (see Galatians 5:22), teaches and testifies of eternal truths (see John 14:26; Moroni 10:5), opens up revelations to our minds (see Alma 5:46), shows us all things that we should do (see 2 Nephi 32:5), strengthens body, mind and spirit (see Romans 8:26), comforts us in times of sorrow (see Acts 9:31), unfolds to us the mysteries of the kingdom (see 1 Nephi 10:19), and beings us many other spiritual blessings. Mortal minds cannot fully comprehend and words cannot fully explain what great things can come to us if we partake worthily of the sacrament and merit the Lord’s promise to have his Spirit with us always. (Joseph Fielding McConkie, Robert L. Millet, and Brent L. Top, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, volume 4: Third Nephi Through Moroni [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2007], 327)