"The" Will of the Father Part 3

"No man can come unto me, except he doeth the will of my Father who hath sent me. And this is the will of him who hath sent me, that ye receive the Son; for the Father beareth record of him; and he who receiveth the testimony, and doeth the will of him who sent me, I will raise up in the resurrection of the just." (JST John 6: 44)

The will of the Father is that you "receive" the Son. Until you do the will of the Father, which is that you "receive" the Son, you may not enter into the Kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 7: 21-23) Understanding clearly what it means to "receive" the Son, then becomes the hinge point of our striving for redemption from the fall and entry into the Kingdom of heaven. We must know in what manner the Son is to be "received." And we must learn how, or by what process in our mortal lives, we are to "receive" Him.

A part of the process of "receiving" the Son is described in the verse from John which is cited above. This verse was translated by the prophet Joseph Smith and can be found in the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible (JST). We ought to take notice in the verse cited, there are a couple of different things mentioned. The first is the phrase "for the Father beareth record of him;"  The record that is born to us by the Father of the Son, is the testimony we are to receive from the Father. This is one witness in a series of witnesses called "the doctrine of Christ." When Christ visited the Nephite people at Bountiful He declared to them: (3Nephi 11: 32)

"And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me; and I bear record of the Father, and the Father beareth record of me, and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me; and I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me."

So, the Father will bear record to us of the Son. However, that testimony to us from the Father, of the Son, must be followed by something more. That is why the next phrase in the verse from John above suggests we must not only receive the testimony that comes from the witness of the record born by the Father, we must then continue and also do the "will of the Father" which has already been defined as "receiving" the Son, "and he who receiveth the testimony, AND doeth the will of him who sent me, I will raise up..." In other words, the testimony we receive in our hearts and our minds of the divinity of The Lord Jesus Christ from the Father is necessary and wonderful, it does not however constitute "receiving" the Son. Joseph Smith explained it this way:

"Jesus was the Son of God yet he says we have a more sure word of Prophecy where unto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light shining in a dark place. Now wherein could they have a more sure word of prophecy than to hear the voice of God saying this is my Beloved Son &C Now for the Secret & grand Key though they might hear the voice of God & know that Jesus was the Son of God this would be no evidence that their election & Calling & election was made shure that they had part with Christ & was a Joint heir with him, they then would want that more sure word of Prophecy that they were sealed in the heavens & had the promise of eternal live in the Kingdom of God then having this promise sealed unto them it was as an anchor to the Soul Sure & Steadfast though the thunders might roll & lightnings flash & earthquakes Bellow & war gather thick around yet this hope & knowledge would support the soul in evry hour of trail trouble & tribulationThen Knowledge through our Lord & savior Jesus Christ is the grand Key that unlocks the glories &misteries of the Kingdom of heaven… (May 14, 1843 Wilford Woodruff Journal)

The record of heaven to your heart and mind that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the Living God according to Joseph Smith is "no evidence that (your) election & Calling & election was made shure that (you) had part with Christ & was a Joint heir with him."  The evidence that one is a joint heir in the Kingdom of heaven comes not by the testimony born to our hearts and minds by the record of heaven; as John said, "he who receiveth the testimony, AND doeth the will of him who sent me, I will raise up..." (JST John 6: 44) It is in doing the will of the Father, which is to "receive" the Son, where assurance of heirship in the Kingdom of heaven is given to a person. Because, as Joseph aptly assures us:

"Then Knowledge through our Lord & savior Jesus Christ is the grand Key that unlocks the glories &misteries of the Kingdom of heaven"

That knowledge only comes through and from The Lord Jesus Christ when we "receive" Him in this world. (D&C 132: 22-23)

In the next post we will continue to explore the meaning and truth about "The will of he Father" which is that you "receive" the Son.