For no man has seen God at any time in the flesh, except quickened by the Spirit of God. (D&C 67:11)
What does it mean to be quickened?
I’ve always known that it had something to do with our bodies being changed into a better, or higher, state. But I’d never really considered the logistics of that until recently. So what if we can put it into scientific sorts of terms?
In D&C 131:7-8 There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.
If all spirit is matter, then it should follow the known rules of matter. So, just for fun, let’s compare spirit to water.
What happens when you change the temperature of water? If you cool it down, the molecules move slower. If you heat it up, the molecules move faster, or quicker.
Say you live in the telestial world, like earth, and your spirit is at the telestial level of progression as well. A telestial spirit would be rather slow moving, perhaps like ice. The Terrestrial world and spirits would be like water, and the Celestial world and its spirits world be like vapor.
Your spirit will always be made up of the same spiritual matter, but as we draw closer to God who lives in everlasting burnings, we have to be brought up to snuff so that we can survive the temperature (glory) where he dwells.
The Lord spoke to moses out of a burning bush. A pillar of fire was used for Him to speak with Joseph Smith. Alma the younger, when he fell asleep for three days, gave this account:
Nevertheless, after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God. (Mosaic 27:28)
Was he truly removed from the burning? Or was the matter of his spirit quickened by his repentance and the Lord’s mercy so that he could bear the heat? I can’t say for sure, but I think the question is certainly worth asking.
Therefore, O Lord, deliver thy people from the calamity of the wicked; enable thy servants to seal up the law, and bind up the testimony, that they may be prepared against the day of burning. (D&C 109:46)
The Lord isn’t going to burn the world because he’s vengeful and mean. It’s not a punishment, it’s a natural consequence. When the Lord returns, so too will his glory. His glory is very fast-moving. Of all the quickened beings, he’s the quickenedest. 🙂 Or to use scientific terms, his temperature is the highest.
JSH 1:37 For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
The righteous will survive the day of burning and the wicked won’t. But that’s not because the Lord has laser precision aim and only strikes the wicked, it’s because the righteous will have spirits that have been quickened to the point where they are the same state of matter as those that the Lord sends to do the burning.
Now, I think that when JSH refers to “they that come shall burn them,” the “they” is likely the seraphim, which (as I understand it) is the highest level of angel. They’re also known as the fiery ones. There’s a description of the seraphim at the beginning of Isaiah 6 when Isaiah sees the Lord sitting on His thrown, with the seraphim behind him. It’s interesting what happens next.
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. (Isaiah 6:5-8)
When he encounters this vision of God, he’s undone, horrified by his own uncleanness before the Lord and His glory. Then one of the Seraphim takes a live coal in his hand (he can hold a red-hot coal without hurting himself because he’s obtained that level of glory) and touches Isaiah’s lips with it as a sort of purifying ordinance. This is so affective that when the Lord asks “whom shall I sent?” Isaiah, who had previously been cowering before the Lord because of all his iniquity, speaks up and says, “send me.” That’s quite the turn-around, but that’s what the Lord can do if we repent and allow our spiritual matter to be purified. Often, we see examples in the scriptures of those who are quickened for a short time in order to bear the presence of the Lord. Whether or not that purification lasts, I don’t know. I would imagine it is dependent on the person and situation.
What about us? What can we do to repent of our iniquity like Isaiah, repent nigh unto death like Alma, or overcome the darkness like the one that seized Joseph when he first attempted to pray? Everyone’s answer will be different because we all have our own iniquities and unbelief to shed. We have to approach the Lord asking, “What lack I yet?” and we must be willing to act when He answers. Then perhaps our spiritual matter will be quickened just a bit.
My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word. (Psalm 119:25)