Mormon 2:15 has an interesting phrase that I haven’t found written in this way in other scriptures. Mormon says, “the day of grace was passed with them.” I want to dissect what that means.
The context is important for us to consider in order to understand what Mormon is trying to tell us. He describes a very dismal scene. He says, “the land was filled with robbers and with Lamanites; and notwithstanding the great destruction which hung over my people, they did not repent of their evil doings; therefore there was blood and carnage spread throughout all the face of the land, both on the part of the Nephites and also on the part of the Lamanites; and it was one complete revolution throughout all the face of the land” (Mormon 2:8).
“11 Thus there began to be a mourning and a lamentation in all the land because of these things, and more especially among the people of Nephi.
12 And it came to pass that when I, Mormon, saw their lamentation and their mourning and their sorrow before the Lord, my heart did begin to rejoice within me, knowing the mercies and the long-suffering of the Lord, therefore supposing that he would be merciful unto them that they would again become a righteous people.
13 But behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin.
14 And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die. Nevertheless they would struggle with the sword for their lives.
15 And it came to pass that my sorrow did return unto me again, and I saw that the day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually; for I saw thousands of them hewn down in open rebellion against their God, and heaped up as dung upon the face of the land. And thus three hundred and forty and four years had passed away” (Mormon 2:11-15).
I had an experience over the past couple weeks that I believe illustrates what Mormon is sharing. I have a full landscape construction job with a retired couple. They had a landscape plan prepared for them by a landscape architect. I met with them and they decided to use our services to do their excavation, sprinklers, hardscapes and softscapes. Though they had contracted with me, they had one additional request. They had a son that had recently sold his sprinkler business in Oregon (we live in Idaho) and they wanted to see if he could come do their sprinkler system. They said he was very good at what he did. I was fine with that except that sprinklers are one of the first things we do and so I’d need him to come right away. They spoke with him and he couldn’t come right away but he would be willing to help me design the system. They asked if I could draw out the sprinkler plan and send it to him to see what he thought of it. So, I sent over a quick sketch of the layout. After that they asked if I could call him. On a Tuesday evening I called him and we spoke on the phone for 40 minutes. After the first minute or so in the conversation, it became clear to me that he really knew sprinklers inside and out. He understood hydrodynamics to a degree well beyond what I understood. He offered to come help me with the system. I thought that would be good to learn from him but it would be expensive to get him here. He was now living in Colorado. Wednesday morning I was thinking about it and I decided to take him up on his offer and fly him here to teach us for 2 days and then fly him home. He cleared his schedule and got a flight for that evening. Thursday and Friday we all sat and listened to him open up the principles of hydrodynamics that we hadn’t known to this degree before. We felt the influence of light and truth, the Holy Ghost, flowing into us giving us new ideas and new understanding. At this point I saw a gap in my previous sprinkler installation practices and what I was learning. I decided I needed to make the jump and start installing in the new way I was now learning.
As I thought about this experience, I realized it was a perfect example of Ether 12:27. The Lord had revealed unto me my weakness. He had shed light on our errors and now was inviting us to live a higher law, to do things more as He would do them. I thought about the previous 3 years and the grace He had given me. He knew we were doing the best we could with the leap of faith in starting a new landscape business and had given us a grace period to learn the ropes of the trade. But, there comes a time where one must truly learn and do all that is required to become as He is. Knowledge and competence must rise to meet integrity and work ethic or visa versa. I feel like I was integritous and worked hard for my customers but it was only to the level of knowledge and competence that I then had. Once the light exposed the gap between my old level of competence and full competence, it would no longer be integritous to continue to install systems the way I had previously done them. If I am to be a child of the light, then I must act on that new knowledge.
It takes time to change from old habits to new habits. If Father knows I’m sincerely trying to change to meet the new expectations I have for myself, then He extends a grace period. This grace is what sustains me as I stumble through trying to live the higher law He has exposed me to. After sometime though, He expects me to do it right, to live the higher law, and if I have reverted to my old ways, that are now mediocre, there will come a time where He doesn’t extend this grace period any longer and will allow justice to take place. If I do correct my errors, then I’m able to use this grace period to provide space for me to change (repent) and then have His mercy extended to me. This happens over and over for all of us as we go from “grace to grace” (see Doctrine and Covenants 93:13).
This is where I understand that grace, mercy and justice meet. The demand of justice is perfection. We have been commanded by Father to be perfect (see 3 Nephi 27:27). The whole purpose of our existence is to learn to become as He is and thus enjoy a fulness of light, truth and glory as He enjoys it. But this takes time. So, He gives us a grace period to learn heaven. As we stumble we also overcome. Each level of darkness we leave and exchange for light allows Him to extend mercy to us as He redeems us from our previous sins. Eventually the full measure of His mercy can be extended to us as we completely repent. Justice is met because of His sacrifice for our sins and because He suffered justice, He can extend mercy. The time it takes to overcome sin is that grace period He extends. If we never do change, then “the day of grace is passed” (Mormon 2:15).
I think a telephone bill is a good way to view grace, mercy and justice. The bill is due at some point. If you want the privilege of having a phone and all the blessings it provides then one must pay the bill. Justice demands that the bill is paid for the privilege of phone use. But, sometimes a person may not have the money to pay the bill or they forget. One time I forgot to pay the bill and I noticed that they extended a week’s grace period for me to meet the demand of justice. So, I sent the money in and they allowed me to keep using my phone, even though I had missed the due date. Justice, the full amount on the invoice, had been met. The phone company could now give me mercy as they had suffered not having the money at the time they demanded it. They gave a grace period for me to come up with the money. If I hadn’t come up with the money in their grace period, they could allow justice to take its course and cancel the phone service and not allow the phone to work anymore.
So, as we go through life we will notice the Lord working with us, shedding the light of truth on our errors, we will have the choice to either step into the light and make the changes necessary to become like Him or we can slink back into the dark and be content with mediocrity and thus, dam our growth. We can live by His grace as we diligently seek Him and struggle to change, or we will suffer the full demands of justice.
Oh how beautiful it is and oh how wonderful it is that Jesus was willing to suffer for my sins and give me a day of probation, a mortal experience, where I can learn to love Him and the fulness of light. I’m grateful for His patience with me as He gives me grace, or room to grow, and then He allows justice to eventually take full sway, whether unto life or death, depending upon where I have chosen to live in the eternities.
I love Jesus Christ. I love my Father and Mother in heaven. I pray for strength to follow the light into Their eternal presence, only made possible through the mercy of Jesus Christ, which is His to give.
I believe the day of the gentiles is being fulfilled and the day of grace is coming to a close. I pray that we will all have the strength to transition to the terrestrial state with the earth as it moves to its terrestrial sphere and then I pray we will have the faith to move to the celestial state with the earth also, that we may enjoy a fulness of joy. We must truly be cleansed by fire that we may withstand the day when the earth is cleansed by fire. Praise be to God and the Lamb!
