David Butler - Redeemer: Who He Is and Who He Will Always Be

I used to think I didnt get starstruck very easily. You know those videos where celebrities surprise one of their fans at home, and the person is in the doorway covering his or her mouth in a muffled scream, too excited to breathe? I used to think, Get control of yourself! It is just a person! Another human. My goodness! Once I saw Mike Tyson in the Las Vegas airport. He was a super famous boxer back in the day. We passed each other in the terminal and I threw out an Oh hey, Mike, and then kept walking. He shot back with a Whats up, buddy, and we both went our separate ways. No screaming. No hand over my mouth. No whispered Oh my gosh, its Mike Tyson. Just, Hey, Mike. Then, Whats up, buddy. And thats it. Just how I like it.

Then I realized something. Ive just never met the right person. I dont even like Mike Tyson that much. I had his video game on Nintendo and beat him every time. So of course it wasnt that big of a deal. But as I started thinking about it, I could easily and quickly make a list of people that even the possibility of ever meeting in real life makes my heart start to beat a little faster. I am fairly certain now that there are people that would cause me to scream like a little girl if I met them. I am getting sweaty palms thinking about it. I dont dare mention their names here, but I am going to write them down somewhere as future goals and try to will it into reality.

I have always wondered what my reaction and feeling will be like when I meet Jesus again. It wont be for the first time, but because of the veil, I dont remember it. So it might feel like it is.

There is a dream story at the beginning of the Book of Mormon that symbolically plays out the scenario of meeting Jesus. (Youre probably super familiar with it, but if not, you can read more about it in 1 Nephi 8.) The father-prophet Lehi had a vision he shared with his family one morning of a tree known as the tree of life. In the dream, there was a long, windy path that led to this spectacular tree. The path was crowded with people of every kind who were making their way toward the tree. As you would expect in any great story, it was a treacherous path. There was a gulf of filthiness that some fell into, a mist of darkness that swallowed up some others, and what Ive always pictured as a dazzling casino-like building that was filled with people who laughed and mocked and lured away those who walked toward the tree. For those safety-first people out there, happily, there was also a firm, strong, and steady metal rod that travelers could cling to if they wanted to make it to the tree without falling into a gulf. And those who did make it got the experience of a lifetime to eat the fruit from the tree. That does not sound like it is bucket list material at first, but this was not just any fruit you can pick up in the produce section of the grocery store. This was fruit that was described as the best of the best. Pure above all that is pure , delicious above all that is delicious , precious above all that was ever precious , and that had the power to fill a soul to overflowing with joy. Strawberries probably come the closest, but this was fruit that represented a kind of feeling and experience that nothing else in this world can offer. Better than Hawaiian vacations, better than fat bank accounts, and better than a million billion followers on Instagram. It takes the gold medal every time. And if you made a pie out of itgame over.

The tree, we find out, represents Jesus. And the fruit represents those matchless and priceless gifts that come through and of and because of Himgifts that He offers so willingly to any and all.

The story represents each of our individual journeys toward Him. Some of the folks in Lehis dream, for whatever reason, never even start on the path to the tree, and there are others who leave or fall off along the way. But, interestingly, the group who makes it to the treethose who hold tight to the rod, walk the path, and finally arrivesplit into two separate groups. One group stays and relishes in the presence of the tree and devours the fruit in some sort of spectacular heavenly picnic. The other group gets there and tastes the fruit, and then, hearing the mocking yells from the building, in eat-and-run style, they leave in shame. I have always been so puzzled by that second group. How could they walk away?? And what made the first group want to stay? What is the difference between these folks?

One day while reading the dream again, I noticed something I hadnt before. Here is a side-by-side comparison of those two groups. I want you to picture it in your mind (remember it is a vision, so it is meant to be seen). Play it out like a movie in your head and see what you notice about the difference between the two.