https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/14dennis?lang=eng Symbolism teaches deeper principles Jesus' parables taught through stories and symbols
When God the Father offered His Only Begotten Son as a sacrifice for us, Jesus Christ Himself became the highest symbol of our Father in Heaven’s undying love for each of us.[[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/14dennis?lang=eng#note7][7]] Jesus Christ became the Lamb of God.[[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/14dennis?lang=eng#note8][8]]
---++ God's Love for Those who Believe in Christ 16 ¶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/john/3?lang=eng&id=p16-p17#p16
---++ The Lamb of God and The Tree of Life as the Love of God
20 And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms. 21 And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw? 22 And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/11?lang=eng&id=p20-p22#p20
---++ The Hesed "Covenental Love" Relationship Each person on earth is a beloved son or daughter of God. When we choose to be part of a covenant, it enhances and deepens our relationship with Him. President Russell M. Nelson has taught that when we choose to make covenants with God, our relationship with Him can become much closer than it was before our covenant, and it enables Him to bless us with an extra measure of His mercy and love, a covenantal love referred to as hesed in the Hebrew language. The covenant path is all about our relationship with God—our hesed relationship with Him.
“Hesed is a term describing a covenant relationship in which both parties are bound to be loyal and faithful to each other. Because God has hesed for those who have covenanted with Him, He will continue to work with them and offer them opportunities to change. And should they stray, He will help them find their way back to Him,” just as He did time and time again with His covenant people in Old Testament times. “When we enter a covenant with God, we have made a covenant with Him who will always keep His word. He will do everything He can, without infringing on our agency, to help us keep ours” (Russell M. Nelson, “The Everlasting Covenant,” Liahona, Oct. 2022, 6, 11; see also Muhlestein, God Will Prevail, 9–12.) Hesed has no adequate English equivalent. Translators of the King James Version of the Bible must have struggled with how to render hesed in English. They often chose “lovingkindness.” This captures much but not all the meaning of hesed. Other translations were also rendered, such as “mercy” and “goodness.” Hesed is a unique term describing a covenant relationship in which both parties are bound to be loyal and faithful to each other. Because God has hesed for those who have covenanted with Him, He will love them. He will continue to work with them and offer them opportunities to change. He will forgive them when they repent. And should they stray, He will help them find their way back to Him. The covenant path is all about our relationship with God—our hesed relationship with Him. When we enter a covenant with God, we have made a covenant with Him who will always keep His word. He will do everything He can, without infringing on our agency, to help us keep ours. "Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;" (Deuteronomy 7:9.)
Our Father wants a deeper relationship with all His sons and daughters, but it is our choice. As we choose to draw nearer to Him through a covenant relationship, it allows Him to draw nearer to us and more fully bless us. Through a covenant relationship with God, our own lives can become a living symbol of our commitment to and deep love for our Father in Heaven, our _hesed_ for Him, and our desire to progress and eventually become like our Savior, being prepared to one day enter Their presence. ---+++ More on Hesed The Book of Lamentations [Sefer Echah] is one striking example when knowing the sounds, smells and feelings at the time of composition deepens the impact of certain passages we may be familiar with. Most Bible historians believe the prophet Jeremiah wrote the "book of laments" — actually it's a meditative poem of only a few pages. The setting and occasion for his writing are the invasion and destruction of Jerusalem by Babylonian armies in 586 BC(E). Jeremiah was a priest in the Jerusalem Temple (Jer 1:1), but he was now in exile in Babylon. He had witnessed brutal massacres of men, women and children. He heard their cries, smelled burning buildings and human bodies, and trembled with horror at seeing the House of God pillaged, pulled down and torched. He knew the Event was orchestrated by the God he worshiped. He knew it was all a judgment on a nation that had — except for a few — repudiated the holy God by their indifference and disobedience to His law. Even though the prophet understood the Why of the Event, it still pierced his soul. He nearly lost his faith in the God whom he had loved and trusted. Lamentations is the outpouring of his soul in the aftermath of Jerusalem's descent into ruin. It expresses the mind of a man who struggles to believe, when his present reality gave him ample reason to give up belief and faith. In chapter 3, Jeremiah prays to God: Remember my affliction and my wandering,
the wormwood and bitterness.
Surely my soul remembers,
And is bowed down within me. (Lam 3:19-20)
Then suddenly, his burdened, bi-polar soul turns around, as if true thoughts burst forth within him as sun through storm clouds:
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope. . .
The steadfast love of the LORD indeed never ceases,
For his compassions never fail.
They are renewed every morning — (vv. 21-23a)
His soul then shouts upward:
Great is Your faithfulness [emunah]! (v. 23b)
This passage has been set to music over the centuries, especially the last declaratory line. The Hebrew behind the phrase "steadfast love" is most striking here. It is the word hesed. It means a love that is based on covenant commitment. It is loyal or faithful love. It is the love that God, over and over, expressed to Israel his people. In fact, hesed is one of the "character definitions" of God's personal name: The LORD [YHVH], the LORD [YHVH] — a compassionate and gracious God,
Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and truth...
(Exodus 34:6)
In Psalm 136 praise of God's steadfast love occurs 26 times, following the opening affirmation: "Give thanks to YHVH, for he is good . . ." For his hesed is everlasting. (vv. 1—26)
When Israel heard God's sacred Name (YHVH), they were to remember that He loved them forever — even if they descended into sin and darkness. Jeremiah reminded them as he spoke in God's voice: I have loved you with an everlasting love [ahavah olam],
Therefore I have drawn you with hesed. (Jer 31:3)
Jeremiah himself remembered this promise as he endured the tragedy and horror of the Fall of Jerusalem and Exile into pagan Babylon. For us, it's good to remember the context of the famous hymnic lines from Lamentations 3:22-23: The hesed of the LORD indeed never ceases,
For his compassions never fail.
They are renewed every morning —
Great is Your faithfulness!
These words were not uttered by a man living in relative comfortability in a Western culture, surrounded by ample sources of material and spiritual support. They came from a soul that was nearing despair for hope, in light of the searing suffering caused by the willful sins of his fellow humans.
If Jeremiah could rejoice — in spite of all this hardship — knowing that God's love is steadfast and God's compassions come like manna and dew every morning to those who wait for them then can a person living today experience the same? Are God's hesed and compassions only for those living 2,600 years ago? We need to know. The affirmation in John 1:14 that Yeshua was "full of grace and truth" alludes to the Hebrew words "steadfast love and truth" [hesed ve-emet] in Exodus 34:6. For in Greek the word "grace" [charis] is often used in place of the Hebrew hesed in the Greek Septuagint Bible. [*] Thus, the essence of God's Name recorded by Moses in Exodus and the promise to Jeremiah that God would love His people with everlasting love, meet in Yeshua. For in him, the Name of God finds full expression (John 17), and all "the promises of God are yes and amen" (2 Cor 1:20). In Yeshua, all Israel and all Nations can look upward in praise to God: faithful
streams
[*] In the Septuagint (LXX) the Greek words in Lamentations 3:22-23 are: It is the mercies [eleos] of the Lord
that he has not failed me,
because his compassions [oiktirmos] are not exhausted...
They are new every morning:
Great is your faithfulness [pistis].
In the NT the noun pistis is usually translated "faith" or "trust." At John 1:14 three modern Hebrew NT versions translate the phrase "grace and truth" with hesed ve-emet — "steadfast love and truth [or faithfulness]" (Salkinson, Delitzsch, Israel Bible Society, Aramaic Scriptures Research Society). ---++ Symbolism of Baptism and the Sacrament Baptism by immersion is the symbolic gate through which we enter into a covenant relationship with God. Being immersed in the water and coming up again is symbolic of the Savior’s death and Resurrection to new life.19 As we are baptized, we symbolically die and are born again into the family of Christ and show we are willing to take His name upon us. We ourselves embody that covenant symbolism. In the New Testament we read, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” With our baptism we symbolically put on Christ. The ordinance of the sacrament also points to the Savior. The bread and water are symbolic of Christ’s flesh and blood shed for us. The gift of His Atonement is symbolically offered to us each week when a priesthood holder, representing the Savior Himself, offers us the bread and water. As we perform the action of eating and drinking the emblems of His flesh and blood, Christ symbolically becomes a part of us. We again put on Christ as we make a new covenant each week. ---++ Temple Symbols ---+++ The Temple Garment

As part of the temple endowment, we are _authorized_ to wear the garment of the holy priesthood. It is both a sacred obligation and a sacred privilege.

In many religious traditions, special outer clothing is worn as a symbol of a person’s beliefs and commitment to God, and ceremonial clothing is often worn by those leading worship services. Those sacred vestments carry deep meaning for those who wear them. We read in scripture that in ancient times, sacred ceremonial clothing was also worn in conjunction with temple rituals.[[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/14dennis?lang=eng#note29][
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As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, those of us who have chosen to make covenants with God in the house of the Lord wear sacred ceremonial outer clothing during temple worship, symbolic of the clothing worn in ancient temple rituals. We also wear the garment of the holy priesthood, both during temple worship _and_ in our everyday lives.[[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/14dennis?lang=eng#note30][
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The garment of the holy priesthood is deeply symbolic and _also_ points to the Savior. When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit and had to leave the Garden of Eden, they were given coats of skins as a covering for them. It is likely that an animal was sacrificed to make those coats of skins—symbolic of the Savior’s own sacrifice for us. _Kaphar_ is the basic Hebrew word for atonement, and one of its meanings is “to cover.” Our temple garment reminds us that the Savior and the blessings of His Atonement cover us throughout our lives. As we put on the garment of the holy priesthood each day, that beautiful symbol becomes a part of us. There is deep and beautiful symbolic meaning in the garment of the holy priesthood and its relationship to Christ. I believe that my willingness to wear the holy garment becomes _my_ symbol to Him. It is my own personal sign to God, not a sign to others.[[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/14dennis?lang=eng#note39][
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