From: CRE Publication Council
From: Becky Stayton
From: Paul Gage
From: Sarah English
From: Dwight & Pam Burford
Open enrollment is a term familiar to most people with health insurance policies. During a specified window of time, the insured are given an opportunity to select their coverage plan for the coming term. By analogy, it may be said that we are living in an open enrollment period, one in which we are choosing our care coverage for eternity. Please allow me to explain.
As with other open enrollment periods, this earthly life affords us the opportunity to choose certain aspects of care that affect the unending part of our lives, that of our eternal existence. Specifically, it determines our on-going relationship with God and the level of glory that we may expect to receive from Him on a never-ending basis.
Stated another way, this life affords us the opportunity to choose our eternal reward and the corresponding bounds and conditions of our habitation in eternity.
Matthew 16:30 – For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
Matthew 25:35-37 – Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Colossians 3:23-25 – And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done; and there is no respect of persons.
It is, therefore, very important to recognize just how limited this life is in scope and duration. God did not intend for it to last forever. Rather, He gave it to us so we could make specific choices about our future beyond this life.
Psalm 95:6-9 – Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness; when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
Hebrews 3:7-19 – … exhort one another daily, while it is called Today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin … For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end …”
Hebrews 4:7 – Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Hebrews 9:27 – … it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment …
This limited period of time called Today is referred to in the Book of Mormon as a probationary state and the days of your probation. It is a portion of time that God has set in place for us to prepare to meet Him before He ushers us on into eternity.
Alma 9:41 – Therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state, which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead.
I Nephi 3:33-36 – Therefore remember, O man, for all thy doings thou shalt be brought into judgment. Wherefore, if ye have sought to do wickedly in the days of your probation, then ye are found unclean before the judgment seat of God; And no unclean thing can dwell with God; wherefore ye must be cast off for ever. And the Holy Ghost giveth authority that I should speak these things and deny them not.
The term probation makes it clear that our decisions and actions during this special window of time have serious, long-term consequences. Certain conditions, called the conditions of repentance, define this preparatory state and its outcome. Briefly comprehended, those individuals who repent and come to Jesus Christ will obtain mercy and grace, while those who rebel against Him will be judged without mercy.
Alma 19:94 – Therefore, according to justice, the plan of redemption could not be brought about, only, on conditions of repentance of men in this probationary state; yea, this preparatory state; for except it were for these conditions, mercy could not take effect except it should destroy the work of justice.
We would do well, then, to heed the call to be wise in the days of our probation!
Mormon 4:94 – Be wise in the days of your probation; strip yourselves of all uncleanness; ask not, that ye may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God.
What exactly are the options being presented to us in this life, in this time of open enrollment? And what are the possible outcomes of the choices we make, either good or evil? According to the closing chapter of the Bible, our eternal reward will be directly connected to one of four final conditions to which we may be restored, that of being: 1) unjust, 2) filthy, 3) righteous, or 4) holy.
Revelation 22:11,12 – He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be.
The redeeming work of Christ has made these four final estates possible and available to all mankind on an individual basis. Without His atonement and intercession for us, one judgment – the original judgment – would have remained in place on humanity forever, which was death and eternal separation from God.
Romans 5:12-14 – Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned … For I say, that through the offense, death reigned over all.
II Nephi 6:11-18 – For as death has passed upon all men, to fulfill the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; And the fall came by reason of transgression; And because man became fallen, they were cut off from the presence of the Lord; Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement; Save it should be an infinite atonement, this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man, must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have lain down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.
In the Nephite record, these four eternal conditions made available to us in Christ are listed as: 1) unhappy, 2) filthy, 3) righteous, and 4) happy.
Mormon 4:74 – And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy, shall be filthy still, and he that is righteous, shall be righteous still; he that is happy, shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy, shall be unhappy still.
Paul likened three of these final conditions or estates to three glories that differ in their measure of light. In this comparison, those who are holy shine like the sun, those who are righteous shine like the moon, and those who are unjust shine like stars.
I Corinthians 15:41-44 – There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
What about those who inherit the fourth estate, that of the filthy? The Lord saves everyone except for these. They are they who suffer the second death with the devil and his angels in an eternal estate that is without glory, one that is devoid of light and truth.
Isaiah 5:14 – Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
I Corinthians 6:17 – If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
II Nephi 6:36-40 – And it shall come to pass, that when all men shall have passed from this first death unto life, insomuch as they have become immortal, they must appear before the judgment seat of the Holy One of Israel; and then cometh the judgment; and then must they be judged according to the holy judgment of God … they who are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be filthy still; wherefore, they who are filthy are the devil and his angels; and they shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them; and their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flames ascendeth up for ever and ever; and has no end.
Jesus testified that He is coming again for the very purpose of granting these four rewards of glory to their respective recipients. What exactly is the reward He is bringing with Him? It is the glory of His Father.
Sadly, not everyone will receive the fullness of His Father’s glory. Some individuals will receive just a portion of His glory while others will receive none of His glory, i.e. they will receive none of His light and truth.
Although all people were created in God’s image and likeness, not everyone is willing to abide in the glory of God. Therefore, Jesus is prepared to give two lesser measures of glory (intelligence) to certain individuals, while He will give no glory to those who defile and dishonor and altogether reject the gift of His Father’s glory.
In terms of the present analogy of comparing our probationary state to an open enrollment period (think insurance plan options), the four eternal estates of light – or lack thereof in the case of the fourth estate – described by Paul may be represented as four basic plan options:
Plan A: Glory like that of the sun (the glory of the day)
Plan B: Glory like that of the moon (the greater of the two night glories)
Plan C: Glory like that of the stars (the lesser of the two night glories)
Plan D: No glory
Described in terms provided in latter day revelation, the benefits of each plan may be briefly summarized as:
Plan A: Receives the fullness of the Father
Plan B: Receives the presence of the Son, but not the fullness of the Father
Plan C: Remains eternally separated from the Father and Son as servants
Plan D: Receives judgment without any measure of grace or mercy
Amazingly and to the glory of Jesus Christ, He has paid the premiums for each plan of glory completely and endlessly!
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Blessings,
Dwight Burford
