John Bytheway:               00:00:01             Welcome back to part two with Brother Michael Cottle, Genesis 6 to 11 and Moses 8.

Hank Smith:                      00:00:07             This talk is 20 years old now, Elder David Stone spoke about the Manhattan Temple. It’s only three paragraphs. Let me read this for you. He says, my involvement with the building of the Manhattan temple gave me the opportunity to be in the temple quite often. Prior to the dedication, it was wonderful to sit in the celestial room and be there in perfect silence without a single sound to be heard coming from the busy New York streets outside. And if you’ve ever been to New York City, it’s anything but quiet. How was it possible that the temple could be so reverently silent when the hustle and bustle of the metropolis was just a few yards away? The answer was in the construction of the temple. The temple was built within the walls of an existing building, and the inner walls of the temple were connected to the outer walls at only a very few junction points. That is how Zion, the temple, limited the effects of Babylon or the world outside. There may be a lesson here for us. We can create the real Zion among us by limiting the extent to which Babylon will influence our lives. Isn’t that what both of you have been saying is pitch within pitch without, I’m protecting my family and myself from allowing things into my life and home. Yet how often on my phone, on my tv do I just allow Babylon in and then I serve it tea and crumpets.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:01:37              Yeah. Offer a chair. Let it sit down, right?

Hank Smith:                      00:01:39             Yeah. We call it entertainment.

John Bytheway:               00:01:44             I was thinking of a mic drop type moment in the Bible Dictionary where it speaks of the home and it says, only the temple can compare in sacredness to the home. If you’ve ever thought of how unsettling it would be to show a sitcom in the chapel, but it’s not a big deal in your home. I mean, you think of things you would never wanna see in the chapel. Well, what if it’s really true? The home compares with the temple in sacredness. That’s like a whoa.

Hank Smith:                      00:02:18             If you wouldn’t show it in the temple, would you show it at home? Oh, John, you’re killing me. I might as well hide under my desk.

John Bytheway:               00:02:27             That’s a tough one. But I read the dictionary thought I, okay I’m not up to that standard right now, but it sure made me think. Yikes.

Hank Smith:                      00:02:38             Oh, why don’t I go crawl under a rock right now that is…

John Bytheway:               00:02:42             I mean, I’ll watch basketball games at home. That’s all right, isn’t it? Please tell me it’s alright guys.

Hank Smith:                      00:02:49             Pack your bags. We’re going on a guilt trip.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:02:52             Well, this idea gets even more exciting if you look back now in verse 15. This story is really not about Noah and abode. It’s about God and how he connects with his people. Now let me give you a little background. Again, I’m very new to this idea. I am not an expert, but there’s an a notion in the world called an axis Mundi, a connection point between heaven and earth. And it can come in the form of trees, it can come in the form of mountains, caves, buildings, temples it’s in almost every culture. It’s really an interesting thing. Almost every culture and every people, every land has a story of where there’s something divine connecting with earth. And then this story is how they come together and how they’re even rescued or saved. Here, I think you’re seeing a little bit of this high point. An ark here is gonna be lifted up. Water is a symbol for chaos. This ark is gonna be lifted up above the chaos and it’s a place to connect. We can look at that as a symbol for temple. So look in verse 15. John, why don’t you pick it up in Genesis six, verse 15. Read that, but look and see what are the similarities here you see with temple.

John Bytheway:               00:04:13             And this is the fashion which thou shalt make of it. The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits. The breadth of it 50 cubits and the height of it 30 cubits.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:04:24             I’m not really worried about size. You could pull up all kinds of images on the internet and see how it compares to the size of a blue whale and all those kind of things. But generally speaking, what is the shape of this object? This ark, if it’s a hundred, 300 cubits long, however you know, 17 inches, seven and a half inches a cubit. But that’s gonna be pretty long compared to the width only 50, kinda long and narrow. And then you’ve got the height is, you know, you got some height there. So just kind of a big rectangle. In other words.

Hank Smith:                      00:05:01             Yeah that’s what I was gonna say.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:05:02             This is the fashion of it. The Lord’s giving him some specific instructions on how to make this. When I read that, my mind goes to the instructions God has given Moses in creating the tabernacle. He gives some specific instructions. It’s kind of a rectangle. The general shape is pretty much the same as that tabernacle. Joseph Smith is given the fashion of the Kirtland temple. He sees it in that it’s the preliminary to the Star Wars hologram. He has that vision come over him almost. And he sees, and the church ought to get some money for all of that holographic stuff ’cause Joseph got it first. It’s the fashion of the temple. The Lord is giving him instructions on this temple. Verse 16, A window shalt thou make in the ark and in a cubit thou shalt finish it above and the door of the ark thou shalt set in the side thereof.

                                           00:05:51             with lower the second and third stories shalt thou make it. You used to climb levels in the temple. So I think there’s again this connection with temple that we ought to think about is some imagery here, symbol for it. And if nothing else, just be thinking of celestial, terrestrial and telestial. You’ve got different levels. But if we run with this as a temple in verse 17, behold I even I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh. Wherein is the breath of life from under the heaven and everything that is in the earth shall die. You got the flood of the water coming two words towards the end of that verse. That’s pretty inclusive. Everything that is in the earth is going to die. If you are not in the ark, then there’s not a lot of hope for you.

                                           00:06:52             There’s something about this covenant. Now we’re gonna see that phrase in is gonna be an important word, verse 18. But with thee will I establish my covenant and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons’ wives with thee and verse 19, and every living thing. All flesh, two of every sort thou shalt bring into the ark to keep them alive. I think alive spiritually. If we want to be spared the chaos, destruction of this world, this storm that’s raging, we’ve gotta go in into this ark or this covenant, the temple covenants. Again, it’s not the checklist of just going, it’s not a matter of just going to the temple, but it’s doing with our heart. Going into this ark as a symbol.

Hank Smith:                      00:07:45             John Bytheway, you know how many times on this show I have read something and then someone shows me like Mike, I will never see the ark the same ever Mike. It’s like hidden in plain sight. The ark is a perfect archetype here of the temple. Bring your family in right?

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:08:08             You’ve gotta have your family. Yeah, you gotta save your family. You want ’em saved, you gotta get ’em in. Everything that’s in is gonna be saved.

Hank Smith:                      00:08:16             It’s even the same shape. John, tell me that you haven’t seen that. Tell me I’m not the only one.

John Bytheway:               00:08:23             I have never seen that before. I absolutely love it. Come with your wife, come with your sons’ wives. Come with your family. Be alive in the temple.

Hank Smith:                      00:08:33             Establish my covenant.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:08:35             That’d be a great meme. You should make that and put that out and put that as a meme there. I love it.

John Bytheway:               00:08:42             Hank we have a guest coming in a few weeks, Dave Hadlock. And he showed me once that the word profane, like profanity, the etymology, it comes from profanus. Look it up on your phone. It will say that means outside the temple.

Hank Smith:                      00:08:59             Really. Profane space. Yeah, I’ve heard that.

John Bytheway:               00:09:03             I love that connection. Yeah, that’s the world out there that’s going to die. Come in this temple, make cov-, bring your family and be alive. It’s so good.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:09:15             You think of that profane space. I love that word. That’s really interesting, you just jogging my mind here. But Israel, the culture was that everything at the center was the most sacred. And the further you go out, it becomes more and less and less sacred or more profane. And Leviticus is filled with, there’s this sacred space that God’s trying to create and the closer we get to that center is where he is. So there, the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle was that sacred spot where God would come and dwell and sit on the mercy seat and meet with the high priest. That was the most sacred. In our temples today that would be the celestial room. In our own homes, it’s interesting, someone comes to my home I don’t just invite them into the most sacred places of our home. We keep ’em in the family room and in the kitchen maybe if they’re, they we’ll let ’em see a little bit of our kitchen. But they have to be really intimate to be able to go into the more sacred places. I’ve got to know them really well. And I think our father in heaven’s the same. He wants people that know him in order to come into his sacred place. I love that. Thanks John for highlighting that.

Hank Smith:                      00:10:31             Both of you have blown my mind here.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:10:34             It gets me excited, but I don’t think of these things, other people teach me. Verse 20 again, that phrase, every sort shall come unto thee, if we’re gonna come unto Christ, come unto him, we’ve gotta come into this space that’s protected, that’s got the seal on the pitch within and without that’s gonna protect us. So again, you’re just seeing that language all over it. And then verse 22, all that God commanded Noah to do, he was doing all of it. He’s trying to do everything God is asking him. Jump over to chapter seven. Scroll down to verse seven. And again, we’re just gonna hit this quickly. Noah went in and his sons went in into the ark or into the temple. Verse nine they went in and verse 12, you got the 40 days and 40 nights I think of other times where there’s 40, the Savior’s out fasting for 40 days.

                                           00:11:33             I don’t know what 40 means other than it’s a symbol of cleansing, sanctification, consecration perhaps. I think there’s something happening there with that 40 days. But then in verse 13, they, the very last three lines, they’re into the ark. Verse 15, they went in, verse 16 they went in and the very end, they shut him in. I just see this over and over, this idea of people going into something that is such an important part of the protection and the strength that we need to make it through the chaos. We’ve gotta go in. Verse 17, the flood was on the earth and upon the earth the waters increased and bear up the ark and it was lifted up above the earth. So you got that image, this connection that God is lifting them up above the world. I love again the symbol temples that is the mountain of the Lord is lifted up above the world. And that’s the ark here. In Garden of Eden it was the garden, it was above. And the the rivers flowed down from that garden. That was the connecting point. For Noah it’s the ark. And for us it’s the temples. Hank you wanna read verse 18?

Hank Smith:                      00:12:51             And the waters prevailed and were increased greatly upon the earth. And the ark went upon the face of the waters.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:12:59             People that are struggling where it says the waters are prevailing and greatly increased. Whether it’s from sin or just the heartache that comes in life. People are gonna be bombarded. They feel like these worldly influences or destructive powers or addictions and sorrows and pains that are prevailing in their life. And you’ve highlighted a little bit Hank for me, almost six years ago, my own son passed away in a terrible car accident. And he was with his girlfriend who we love and his mission companion and roommate were with him. Talk about having some prevailing chaos in a life. And it’s hard and it feels like the waves of the world are just coming down. I remember when we first heard it, we just wept. It’s hard. It’s painful. And there’s others that have probably gone through even harder circumstances. But for us in our own situation. It’s painful.

                                           00:14:07             You feel that heaviness. We just had 1st of January, my sister had a daughter that passed away. It just ripped your heart out. There’s things in life are hard and difficult. Even though you’re in the ark doesn’t save you from some of the hardship. You’re gonna have the waves beating upon you. The protection that comes is coming from Jesus Christ. There’s no other way to escape it. It’s prevailing upon many. And I know many of your listeners are probably experiencing pain and sorrow and heartache where the waters are prevailing. There’s an interesting verse in section 38 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Verse 11. The language is very similar. Section 38 verse 11, for all flesh is corrupted before me. And the powers of darkness prevail upon the earth among the children of men in the presence of all the hosts of heaven. Instead of water prevailing, it’s the darkness that’s prevailing and resting upon people and weighing them down some because of their own mistakes that it’s causing them to feel the pain and the sorrow and the suffering of unrepentant sin.

                                           00:15:29             Others, it may be abuse, it may be a sorrow of losing a child or a loved one. It may be a marriage that’s not working out or no marriage at all. And the sorrow and pain that come. I have a lot of young single adults that are in sorrow and pain ’cause that darkness that comes ’cause it just doesn’t feel like they can progress further. They’re struggling and my heart goes out to ’em. I feel for them. I’ve not ever been a real compassionate person, but I’m learning now to be more compassionate and how to show compassion. But there it is, it’s there. It’s working on people and it’s there. It’s prevailing upon them. So you feel it. I think people feel it. And our day probably as much as ever. Some people compare our day with Noah’s day. And I think there’s a lot of similars. I don’t know which one’s worse. I think it’s certainly, it’s the darkness that’s prevailing on the earth now and it’s rampant out there.

Hank Smith:                      00:16:31             Oh, Mike, I had Jacob and his wonderful girlfriend in my class.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:16:38             You’re a big part of their relationship.

Hank Smith:                      00:16:40             I told Jacob, you need to ask her out. And he said, do you think? I said, oh you do. When I heard what happened, like all of everyone who loves you and your family, we were in shock. Now what you’re showing here is the temple. The temple is where, what’d you say? What’d you call it? This connection with heaven. John. I’ve said this before, I’m not personally not someone who goes to the cemetery. For me personally if I want to connect, I go to the ark. I go to the temple.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:17:18             We had a neat experience. It was right during COVID, so it was miserable time for everybody. We had some friends that allowed us, got us in touch with the temple president in Provo. And they were doing cleaning and other work on the temple. It wasn’t open. But he allowed us to come in, my wife and I. And we were able to go in and just sit in the celestial room and just be there. It was a wonderful help in our healing. To me, one of the things that really has helped me get through is I go to the temple and I’m passing through that veil. The thought I’m coming through and I’m so excited because I’m expecting to see Jake or Brielle or Tanner in that celestial room. And it hasn’t happened yet, but I’m looking for it. Every single time I go through, there’s an excitement.

                                           00:18:07             Let’s hurry up. I want to get through this veil ’cause I wanna see, and I’m confident and assured that someday I’ll get that opportunity where I’ll pass through the veil and see him standing there and we’re gonna embrace and it’s gonna be beautiful and fun. That idea gets me through those dark days ’cause it still crashes down in waves. I’m learning that you can live with grief and joy all in the same time. It doesn’t ever really go away. It’s always there. But the hope and the assurance, that’s the faith. The assurance is that someday we’re gonna see ’em. We’re gonna be there. And that ark, that temple is gonna preserve us and protect us because of Jesus Christ.

John Bytheway:               00:18:50             Some people look at religion as a crutch for weak people. I like to think of Paul. No, it’s a sword and you have to lean on it sometimes. Look at what you’ve been through and look at the joy that you’ve shared with us. Because you know something, you have a full expectation of one day coming through that veil and seeing your boy. And that’s what makes me think that’s not weakness. That is power. The gospel is power to get through these floods when the waters feel like they’re prevailing.

Hank Smith:                      00:19:32             I like what you said there, John. It’s not a hope. Even though hope is strong, it’s an expectation. It’s in the plan. Oh man, I’m sorry I don’t get this way often.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:19:45             Well I’ve had many emotional nights and still do and still will. There’s pain. Verse 19. You see the whole heavens were covered. That’s what it feels like. It just feels like everything’s covered. It’s black. Some people wanna just sleep ’cause they’re just so discouraged. Some people can’t sleep ’cause they’re so discouraged. Grief is a very unique personal thing. It’s not something you can really share with anybody. They don’t know what it’s like until you experience it. And I think it’s for everybody, whatever form it comes in, it’s hard. It’s black, it’s dark and it you feel covered or you feel swallowed. Joseph Smith describes, you know, that he felt like he was gonna be swallowed up, consumed when he had that visit of the adversary. And that’s how it feels like. It’s almost to abandon yourself to utter ruin and total despair. The only hope is to cry out. Sometimes the word prayer becomes overused. We just don’t think about praying words like you cry out, you plead with God, with every fiber, every ounce of strength you have. God save me. I need you. And that’s what gets you through because there’s just nothing else. I don’t know how people do it without that assurance. I really don’t. It would completely swallow somebody up.

John Bytheway:               00:21:13             Nephi and Lehi, sons of Helaman are in prison. Just this, you reminded me of this. The people, the others in the prison. What shall we do? Listen to this question. What shall we do that this cloud of darkness may be removed from overshadowing us? Aminadab said unto them, this is someone who was a member of the church but had dissented. He knew what to do. I hope that gives a lot of people a lot of hope who have loved ones that maybe are somewhere else right now. Aminadab said, you must repent and cry unto the voice even until you shall have faith in Christ which was taught unto you by Alma and Amulek and Zeezrom. When ye shall do this, this cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you. Repentance and faith in Christ. Have we heard that before? That kind of faith becomes that expectation. Those clouds can disperse a little bit, hopefully, on some days. I mean I have no idea what you and your family have experienced. The answer seems to be the same.

Hank Smith:                      00:22:27             Mike, I just need to say out loud that as we’re talking about this, Jennifer is in our hearts too, your sweet wife.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:22:34             There’s something about a mother’s love for a child. Nothing can really compare. The only thing is the Savior. That’s why the Savior connects with mothers so much is that they know a little bit they’ve given of their blood for their child and then the Savior has done the same. That would be the only connection. It’s a grief only mothers that know.

Hank Smith:                      00:22:58             Yeah. Mike, I did not know that you were gonna turn Noah’s ark, a story I’ve loved into a celestial story of get to the temple. Get to the temple. I wanna combine two of the lessons you’ve given us so far. Let me go back to President Oaks from October of 2025. He talks about the family proclamation. He says The Church of Jesus Christ is sometimes known as a family-centered church. It is. Our relationship to God and the purpose of our mortal life are explained in terms of the family. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan of our heavenly Father for the benefit of his spirit children. We can truly say that the gospel plan was first taught to us in the council of an eternal family. It is implemented through mortal families and its intended destiny is to exalt the children of God in eternal families.

                                           00:23:51             He goes on a little bit further. He talks about the duty of parents to do meaningful things together. He talks about recreation. John loves that, and it says families should remember ancestors which will lead to the temple. Some may say we have no time for that. To find time to do what is truly worthwhile many parents will find they can turn their family on if they will all turn their technology off. Parents, remember what your children really want for dinner is you. He finishes, I testify of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Only Begotten Son of God, our Eternal Father. He invites us to follow the covenant path that leads to a heavenly family reunion. The kind you were talking about, Mike, the sealing power of the priesthood directed by the keys restored in the Kirtland temple bring families together for eternity. They are currently being exercised in a growing number of temples of the Lord throughout the world. This is real. Let us be part of it. Mike, I will never see Noah’s ark the same ever again. It’s a temple lesson.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:25:13             Yeah, temple.

John Bytheway:               00:25:16             It’s a big vessel.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:25:18              Yeah. That’s why we started with that idea of the vessel. He is saving us with these opportunities and and more than ever in the history of the world, we’re dotting the world with these temples so that all the human family can be saved. What a beautiful time to live now when temples just, it’s just skyrocketed in the last 10, 15, 20 years really. President Hinckley had a great start but boy with President Nelson, I think it’s just gonna continue with President Oaks. It’s just trying to save the human family with these temples. President Nelson did say this in 2020 of April of the talk, Go Forward With Faith. He says, because Jesus Christ is at the center of everything we do in the temple as you think more about the temple, you’ll be thinking more about him. I love this idea, temple, it really is Jesus Christ.

John Bytheway:               00:26:13             I’ve wrote temple next to verse 16 of Genesis six and ever since you’ve been going, I’m seeing how he’s talking about the animals. Two by two. We talk about the creation story in the temple. We go through it. Hank, you talked about recreation. Well this is a recreation. We talked about that four or five years ago, whenever it was that this story is like a beginning again. It’s like the earth is being baptized almost. And it’s this recreation story again with all the animals and the water of chaos in creation is here again. This is a good day. This is cool.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:26:53             I love that insight. That’s great. I often think about why do we hear the creation story so many times we have it in Genesis, we have it in Moses, we have it in Abraham. We have it scattered all throughout the Book of Mormon and talking about the creation story. And then we get to the temple every time we do an endowment, we’re getting that creation story over and over. Something about that. God is trying to teach us about this creation. And I have to think that the creation wasn’t something that was done and finished and completed. The creation is an ongoing, I am still being created in His image every single day. The more I can turn to him, the more my creation is fulfilling. I’m fulfilling the measure of my creation. But it’s a continual story. A new beginning, a new creation. Every day as I repent, renewing those covenants and especially as I get to the temple, there’s a new creation for me and I can become better every time. I love that.

Hank Smith:                      00:27:57             Mike we have listeners who maybe aren’t those who can or do attend the temple. There’s something in my heart today that almost wants to reach out through your phone, however you’re listening and say, please try this. Please come into this ark. Come into the temple. Do everything you can to get there. I know when I’m feeling the Holy Ghost because almost all of my body wants to get up right now and drive to the temple and take my family in there and be in there in that safety from these terrible waters and storms that are prevailing on the earth. They really are.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:28:39             If we go back into Genesis seven, the phrases are just highlighting this chaos. In verse 20 the waters are prevailing and the mountains are covered. So again, you’re seeing that covered idea. Verse 21, all flesh died that moved upon the earth, foul, every creeping thing, in verse 23, every living substance was destroyed upon the ground. And then in the very end of verse 23, and Noah only remained alive and they that were with him in the ark. Again, that message that this is our safety, God is trying to help us understand the only safety we have is really in the covenants and ordinances that we find in the temple as they are connecting us with Jesus Christ. That’s the only way to save us.

Hank Smith:                      00:29:33             I think there’s a return to Eden here. We’re gonna wipe out everything we did. Now the waters are gonna separate again like they once did. We’re gonna separate the water and the land and we’re gonna put life back on the earth. A new life like baptism, like you said, John.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:29:52             It is. It was the baptism. This, the fire’s coming later, but that’s that re-creation. I love the connection now for just some fun just ’cause I think this is exciting. Go with me over in the book of Mosiah. Mosiah three, just some words here that really start to jump out at me. So Mosiah three verse five, pay attention to how the author here, that king Benjamin is speaking about Jesus Christ, how they describe him here. For behold the time cometh and is not far distant when with power the Lord omnipotent who reigneth, who was and is from all eternity to all eternity shall come down from heaven among the children of men and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay and shall go forth amongst the men working mighty miracles such as healing the sick and raising the dead, causing the lame to walk and the blind to receive their sight.

                                           00:30:50             The deaf to hear and curing all manner of diseases. But if you notice how they describe him, he called them a tabernacle of clay. It may not literally have anything to do with, but to me, he’s trying to get us to think of tabernacles or temples. He calls them this tabernacle of clay. That Jesus Christ is that tabernacle of clay. He is the tabernacle. It’s not just an edifice over there, he is in Hebrews, Paul teaches that the Savior is the veil. You can get that. But now I want you to see that he is the entire temple. Really. It adds even more color to it. Jump down to verse 17. And there’s two words here I want you to see. Moreover, I say unto you that there shall be no other name given, nor any other way, nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men. Only in and through the name of Christ the Lord omnipotent.

                                           00:31:59             The Lord is trying to teach us something here that I think connects back to the Genesis. As you saw how many times he went in, he went in, into, in the temple. We’ve gotta go in and through. And that’s not just in that chapter alone. You’ve got that same wording in Mosiah 16 verse 13. And now ought ye not to tremble and repent of your sins? And remember that only in and through Christ ye can be saved. Again that language in and through Alma 38 verse nine. This is Alma teaching his son Shiblon. Now my son, I’ve told you this that you may learn wisdom, that you may learn of me that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold he is the life and the light of the world. That is the story of temples. That’s the story of Noah. That it’s only in and through Noah. You gotta come in and stay in and maybe covered complete with that pitch if you wanna be saved. And it’s the same message in the Book of Mormon. It’s only in and through temples is just Jesus Christ. He is the temple. He is the saving portion.

John Bytheway:               00:33:27             Christ is the veil. We go in and through. I love it.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:33:32             Yeah. In and through. There’s just no other way. The plea is for all of us to come in and Noah’s out preaching for 120 years telling them to come in. They refused. They wouldn’t hearken. They wouldn’t listen. But that’s the same message of prophets today. Come in, go to the temple. You just read the statement from President Oaks. President Nelson had the same. It’s the prophets have come to the temple, but it’s not about going and just sitting through, sitting there dressed in clothing that sometimes may be a little bit odd. It’s, that’s not the point. It’s with our hearts. We gotta connect to the Savior in the process. It’s that process of connecting with him, seeing him in the temple, learning about him in the temple.

Hank Smith:                      00:34:22             You go through the temple, but the temple needs to go through you, right? Needs to be part of the way you think and the way you are. Isaiah said, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord. We’ll learn of his ways. What does he say? I will beat our swords into plows. That’s a change. If you’re gonna change a sword into a plow that tells me the temple’s gonna change me. I might go in ready to fight and be aggressive like a sword. And I’m gonna come out ready to feed. I need to be changed by the temple.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:34:57             Changed by the temple. John the Baptist uses the phrase, repent. Repent ye. Make his path straight. Prepare you the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. That pathway straight is we’ve gotta remove all the obstacles that are keeping us from coming to Christ, whatever that might be. We’ve gotta remove those obstacles to make that path a straight and narrow path, which really is the pathway of covenants, the pathway through the temple. That’s that Old Testament tabernacle. It was a straight path from the door, the gateway, all the way into that center place. It was a straight and narrow path. There’s just no other way. This is the way back to our father in heaven. That is the plan that he has for us.

Hank Smith:                      00:35:46             Man. Wow. I’m blown away here. This is great, Mike. This has been absolutely fantastic. What do you wanna do next?

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:35:59             The story’s not any, we’re gonna continue, but I wanna go back to Genesis ’cause there’s just a little word and a verse that we didn’t touch that I think is really fun to see. Go back to Genesis six and look at verse 16. And I think a lot of you have already seen this footnote, but I love the footnote 16A is Hebrew for tsohar. I don’t know how you pronounce it, but some rabbis believed that it was a precious stone that shown in the ark. I love that little thought, that idea. And certainly we ought to be thinking of the brother of Jared. And when brother of Jared’s pleading, praying with God, what are we gonna do to get air? How are we gonna guide the ship and how are we gonna get light? And he tells him two of the answers, cut a hole on top and the bottom and you’ll get the air.

                                           00:36:49             And then I’m gonna guide you and direct you. I’ll be your steering. But the light, you gotta figure that out on your own. I just think there’s a beautiful principle. Perhaps brother of Jared just needed to go back and read the Old Testament a little bit and see that account from Noah and pick up that there’s something about God touching the stones. So I love that connection. But there may be another one as well. That word is translated 24 different times in the Bible and it often will be translated as noontime or noontide, midday, noonday, light of the sun, are some of the other descriptions of that phrase. And so I don’t know if there’s another way to look at that, but I think when I think of those kinds of definitions, I think Joseph Smith describing that brightness of the sun, brighter than the noonday sun, I think is a beautiful connection.

                                           00:37:54             One Nephi chapter one verse nine, Lehi has a vision, and it came to pass that he, in verse nine. He saw one descending out of the midst of heaven and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon day. And then there’s another verse, Isaiah four, verse four through six. Well, I’m just gonna read them. And when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, I think when you think of wash here, the world is being washed from the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. The Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud and a smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for upon all the glory shall be a defense. And there shall be a tabernacle for the shadow in the daytime, from the heat and for a place of refuge and for a covert from the storm and from rain. That’s the temple to me. These windows, this ark, this temple is that refuge, the covert from the storm highlighting that message that what we’ve already been talking about, if we want protection and safety, a refuge, we’ve gotta get to those temples. We’ve gotta get to that ark, that vessel of salvation as a way to save us. I love that insight from those verses.

Hank Smith:                      00:39:30             I remember Elder Holland saying there really is a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ himself. I can see that here in the temple. This light in the temple.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:39:42             Yeah. He is the answer for all of it.

Hank Smith:                      00:39:47             If someone can heal something as devastating as what you and Jennifer have been through, there’s only one being who can heal that, who can actually heal that wound and sanctify it, consecrate it.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:40:01             People are so good. And we were so supported, family and friends that were so wonderful to us and they did everything they could and they were amazing. And yet there really isn’t anything that can bring that solace. There’s nothing that brings the peace. You know, I know the doctrines, I know the principles, but that still doesn’t take the pain away. That doesn’t take the heartache and the sorrow. There’s only one that allows you to feel hope and feel joy even in the midst of that grief and sorrow that you’re experiencing. And so for your listeners, whatever the trouble, the trial, the trauma that they’re experiencing life, there really is only one. It’s only in and through Jesus Christ. There’s no other name under heaven where salvation can come, that hope and safety, only in and through Christ.

Hank Smith:                      00:40:58             Man, I didn’t expect to be on an emotional rollercoaster here, Mike. What do we do next? Are we gonna move into chapter eight?

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:41:08             In chapter eight unless there’s something that you wanna really talk about. It’s the deliverance side of it. It’s coming out and, you know, maybe just a quick little thought. It is people that you know in verse one, the waters were assuaged. And I don’t know if that’s how you can it, but it means subsided. So the flood is ending. And we’ve talked about the new creation. Jared Halverson talks about the creation, fall and atonement as a pattern for things. Bruce Hafen talks about having a simple faith and going through complexity. Then you go back into the simpleness, but now it’s more informed and all of those, I love them all as depictions of how we get through. And I think there, you’re seeing that in chapter eight. You go through that chaos of life. You have some trauma, you have some heartache. You learn something that maybe that unsettles you and you’re having to wrestle. But if you stick in, stay in that covenant, stay in the ark, there’s something beautiful that comes out after. And Noah comes out after the floods recede and there’s some peace that comes. But now it’s more informed. He’s had some experience. He can trust even more in God’s divine help. And he will save you. He will get you through. That’s a part of that message of chapter eight that comes. Is there anything else that you like in verse eight?

Hank Smith:                      00:42:41             In this chapter, you see the creation narrative repeated. I think we learned that four years ago, John, God’s breath on the earth, then the land, then humans, animals, multiply, replenish the earth. And Noah is here building an altar and sacrificing. The repetition of the creation story.

John Bytheway:               00:43:05             And in chapter nine, the exact same words be fruitful, multiply. In verse seven it’s start over, in verse one and verse seven, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. So re-creation.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:43:20             Yeah, that born again, being new again. And we can do that every day. That re-creation’s part of that covenant, that’s establishing that covenant again. And in chapter nine, verse 12, you see this connection. God said, this is the token of the covenant. Again, token being an outward manifestation or a sign that he’s really done something. He’s really made a promise with us that covenant. And so that token and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations, I do set my bow in the cloud. That’s the sign this rainbow. But this rainbow isn’t one that just started with Noah. The covenant’s coming back to Enoch. And so we need to think about Enoch in this story. This is a renewal of the covenant with Enoch. The end result is that we’re gonna be able to connect back with God again. That’s the whole plan is we come down to this earth, we go through the chaos.

                                           00:44:25             And if we are covered with Christ, then we’re gonna have that beautiful end scene where we’re able to come back into his presence, be saved and rescued, delivered from that monster of the sea, the world, the monster of sin and death and be saved and rescued. That token, that rainbow is that sign that it’s gonna work. We can trust him. There’s evidence, faith is evidence, assurance, and then action. And every time you receive a little evidence that increases your assurance, then you can take more action. We can trust. And so you’ve got this account of Noah is a beautiful piece of evidence for us. I think it’s Paul that describes it as a cloud of witnesses. He’s one of these witnesses for us. They give us the evidence that we can trust. We can trust him that he’s gonna pull through. Even though the world you’re in might be looking like it’s just totally bleak that all you’re seeing is the darkness still it’s prevailing.

                                           00:45:31             But if you’ll hold on, I think of Sarah and Abraham. Sarah was pleading, crying for 60 years that she could be delivered from her torment of not having a child, not being a mother. This is that prayer she’s offering every day. You know, I can imagine her saying something like, father in heaven, you know, you’ve promised me to be a covenant wife here, but please bless me with a child. And it didn’t happen. It didn’t happen, didn’t happen. There’s something beautiful. And just staying in Jesus Christ is the perfect example of that. In the garden of Gethsemane, he’s pleading with God three different times. God take away, remove this cup if thou be willing, remove the cup, three times. This is the perfect Son. Three times he doesn’t get a response yet. He says, okay, I’ll finish, I’ll complete. Sometimes we get a little bit impatient.

                                           00:46:32             I’m suffering. I haven’t got the job I want or I haven’t got the relationship, please. And, and man, it hasn’t happened yet and it’s been a year maybe or six months and it still hasn’t happened. But I think, hold on. There’s something in the process he wants to see that we’re gonna still trust him even when it looks bleak. I think CS Lewis, he wrote The Screwtape Letters in that story. It’s counterintuitive a little bit, but it’s a devil training an apprentice devil how to attempt and torment and get the human. He says to the apprentice devil, he says, our cause is never more in jeopardy. Meaning that Satan’s cause is never more in jeopardy than when a human looking around on a universe and sees no evidence of God and still obeys. That’s that darkness, the prevailing darkness in the world that if we can just hold on when we’re in that darkness.

                                           00:47:31             John, you pointed out in Helaman five and the prison scene with Nephi and Lehi and they’re swallowed up in darkness. Well, they’re in the light, but all the others are swallowed in darkness. The only respite was they could call out on the name of Jesus, plead to him. And that’s the only safety that they’re gonna have in those heartaches in the moment. My prayers the last five years, often it’s been an amazing thing where I’m feeling pretty dark and heavy at nighttime and I just pray Father in heaven help me and strengthen me. And it’s a pleading, it’s not a, it’s not push the tape recorder type of prayer. Please bless me that I can be there tomorrow. That I can be healthy and strong. Bless the food, that nourish and strengthen my body and all those types of prayers that we just, the words just roll off our tongue ’cause we’ve said ’em so much.

                                           00:48:19             But really pleading with God, God save me. There’s nothing else that can help me right now. I need the saving power of Jesus Christ. And then the next morning I can wake up and my struggle’s there, but I can get up and I can put on a smiling face and go through my day. I still feel the pain, but I can get through. And there’s also some joy and some peace. That’s been an experience almost daily for me that I am so grateful for a God that helps me in the time of need. And it’s just the only thing I can do is pray. There’s just nothing else. Just pray.

Hank Smith:                      00:49:00             Mike, thank you for this. John a couple weeks ago we were talking about how Abraham in Abraham chapter one says, I was seeking the blessings of the fathers. He must have had this account. Here’s God speaking to Noah, saying, I will establish my covenant with you like I did with your father Enoch. This has been going on awhile and somehow Abraham knows about it.

John Bytheway:               00:49:22             God seems to work by covenants when Abraham’s thinking of the fathers. Who’s he talking about? Well, he’s talking about the people we’re reading about right now. And God desiring to make covenants with them as well. Good point.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:49:38             And Noah and Abraham aren’t very far off in genealogy as far as timing. I think he would’ve been really aware of who Noah is. Abraham. And so yeah, that is a father that he’s gonna hold onto.

Hank Smith:                      00:49:51             Yeah.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:49:52             Now we’re gonna jump and see this story in chapter 11, the counterfeit of the ark one, two, and three. Let’s pick it up there. John, you wanna read those three verses for us?

John Bytheway:               00:50:04             Yes. And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there and they said one to another, go to let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and slime had they for mortar.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:50:27             Notice the difference here between the ark and what it was covered with and what’s happening here. They’re building this tower. They’re trying to get to heaven, but they’re wanting to do it their way instead of God’s covenant pathway. They’re trying to do it their own way. They’re using the slime to create instead of pitch, trying to create their own way in verse four. And they said, go to let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven. Let us make us a name lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. They don’t wanna succumb to God’s will and plan. We’re gonna do it differently. We’re doing our own thing. Doctrine and Covenants section one verse 16. They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness. So this is Joseph Smith and his preparatory, it is the prep work to the Doctrine and Covenants.

                                           00:51:28             And so he writes, the Lord said, tell him they seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness. But every man walketh in his own way after the image of his own God, whose image is in the likeness of the world and whose substance is that of an idol which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall, but they’re walking in their own way instead of walking in the path of God. They’re walking in their own way trying to go around doing it different than the way God has intended it. The result is destruction. It’s gonna happen again. They’re gonna be cut off from God, cut off from his presence. And we’re gonna have to have new beginnings again as pick up.

Hank Smith:                      00:52:11             John as we’ve covered these first, you know, lessons of the Old Testament. I can hear the Lord going how many times do we have to do the same thing over and over, cleanse the earth. We’ve got it back again. Okay. And now tower. Yeah, let’s do it our way. I wonder how many times I have to learn that lesson too.

John Bytheway:               00:52:38             Yeah.

Hank Smith:                      00:52:39             Lord’s like, how many times do you have to try it your way before we figure out that’s not gonna work? Who is it John that says let’s consider your ways. That’s towards the end of the Old Testament somewhere. Let’s consider your ways, your ways is like putting a bag with holes. Like that’s what your way seemed like to me. No, let’s consider my way the one that actually works.

John Bytheway:               00:53:03             No, no, no. We don’t wanna do that. I love this idea of Babel as kind of a counterfeit temple. Let’s get Nimrod. He’s a really good hunter. We’ll go hunt down God. Hank I seem to remember that Babel means God’s gate. It’s a counterfeit, but it’s an Acadian word. Here we are trying to do it our way right after. Never saw this until today. Right after the ark, the real way, the temple. Here comes the counterfeit temple.

Hank Smith:                      00:53:39             By the way, for those of us who know and love the Book of Mormon, this is where the book of Ether plugs in.

John Bytheway:               00:53:46             Jared and his brother are down there somewhere.

Hank Smith:                      00:53:47             Right. Mike, before we let you go, I just wanna ask you a few questions. You grew up the son of a seminary and institute teacher, right?

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:54:00             Yes.

Hank Smith:                      00:54:01             Here you are a seminary and institute teacher. We have listeners who struggle with their faith, you know, for one reason or another or going through a faith crisis. Here’s someone who you have a lot of experience, yet you’ve seen some dark days. Can you speak to them? What would you encourage them to do?

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:54:23             Faith is an interesting word. And sometimes I’m not really sure I really understand what it means. I prefer the word trust. I’m persuaded based on my experiences that I can trust God. I’ve explained, you know, one really heart-wrenching experience that we’ve had in our family. It pulls me closer to him ’cause I can trust him. I know the peace and the solace that he can bring. Some people write off faith as naivity or something that only the gullible believe in. And yet, faith is a confidence and assurance that God’s gonna do what he says. And as I read the scriptures, that’s just strengthened. As I listen to general conference and listen to President Oaks, now I’m just reassured I’m surrounded by these clouds of witnesses. Everyone around me starting in my own home, you know, that’s where it started. My parents were so good to help teach me.

                                           00:55:29             But some homes that aren’t like that, you have to find it as you study the scriptures. That’s the real reason we have scriptures is that we can learn about God, learn what his character is like, not just learn a story about someone that was born 2000 years ago. It’s to learn about Jesus Christ. Every story is about him. We’re learning about his character, his role, his attributes. Chad Webb, the administrative seminary in I&S, that has been a focus that he’s encouraged us to highlight in scriptures. Story of Noah isn’t really about Noah, it’s about God and how he saves his children. Nephi, it’s not a story about Nephi getting brass plates. It’s about how God delivers Nephi. Joseph of Egypt. It’s not about Joseph, it’s about how God saves this family. As I study the scriptures, I see the evidence and then I practice. I still struggle.

                                           00:56:28             And as I’m practicing and trying, there’s some assurance that comes that brings peace, that brings comfort, solace. And I can keep going and I can keep putting one foot in front of the other. But I hold on to the scriptures, the words of the prophets that helps me be anchored to God. Temples is another way. President Nelson really talked about the anchoring to the temple. And Elder Bednar also talked about it being anchored to Christ. To me I have to hold on. And if my faith is such that I’m struggling with the church, well then maybe I can just hold onto Jesus Christ for right now, and I hold onto him. Then I can start learning and understanding a little bit more about prophets or church history. You know, those are matters that I can wrestle with, but I hold on to Christ as the foundation.

                                           00:57:22             He’s first. In the Book of Revelation, chapter 22 is kind of a one word prayer in Revelation 22, verse 17. I think Mike Wilcox teaches this, but I love it. The spirit and the bride say, come, that’s my prayer almost every day is father in heaven come, send thy Son, come, come to me in my hour. Literally, I want him to come. That is my prayer. And when I go to the temple, it’s come manifest thyself to me here as I’m studying my scriptures come as I go to bed at night, father come visit me. That pleading, come. And then the response is maybe even more impactful in verse 20. He which testify of these things. So the writer, the Lord here, he says, surely I come quickly. That’s been my experience when I’ve pled with the Lord with all of my heart. Father, where art thou, that’s Joseph Smith in the Carthage jail.

                                           00:58:32             He’s pleading God where art thou? Where’s the pavilion that covers the hiding place? I’ve asked that question numerous times. I think God’s okay with my asking because then he responds with I’m here. Whether it’s the comfort I get in the morning that I can get up and move forward, or it’s the students and my interaction with them in my classes, the assurance I get or with my family and the love and support I feel from them. My own children and my wife and the love that I feel from and for them, there’s some comfort that comes and God blesses me with those. And it gives me the assurance that my course life is pleasing and I can keep going, keep holding on the way. And that helps me get through those difficult times.

Hank Smith:                      00:59:21             Get into the temple and feel that you can have your own little ark. You can have your own little ark experience of being safe from the prevailing waves outside.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        00:59:34             God doesn’t just use one way to teach us about Jesus Christ. He is so intent. He’s in Elder Kearon said, relentless pursuit of us. And he’s gonna try every way to maximize every opportunity to save all of his children. He involves all of our senses, our touch, our taste, our hearing, our smell, our sight. He uses all of these things to help us experience that communion with God. When we go to the temple or even when we go to our sacrament meetings or you know, I think we ought to be going and looking, how does the sight affect us? When the sacrament service are we looking up and seeing that table? And how does it remind us of Jesus Christ? Some of my most sacred moments are when I’m singing sacrament hymns and they’re not usually my favorite hymn. There’s a lot of other hymn, but the ones that move me in moments when I can’t predict it.

                                           01:00:38             But boy, it’s usually those sacrament hymns that’s compelling me to remember Jesus Christ. And it’s where I’m really being sincere and genuine. It’s a real intent where God has my heart for that moment. We go through the motions of our temple worship or we go through the motions of our sacrament services and the covenants and ordinances. And maybe we were just doing it to go do it. You know, I’m going to check it off that I’ve done it this month. Or I went to church this week and, but we’re, you know, scrolling on Facebook or checking the scores for the football games and we’re not really investing with all of our soul in those experiences where God’s trying to teach us with the sight, with the touch, the tabernacle. I can imagine it was such a tactile touching experience. They’re seeing the sacrifice being offered.

                                           01:01:40             They’re seeing the blood. It’s on the white vessels of the priests. They’re smelling the sweet savor. It was all around. And sometimes we may miss some of that just to be more intentional about those moments that we’re really paying attention, watching and learning about Jesus Christ, letting him, what do we see in this experience that teaches me about him? Because in the end, that’s where the peace is gonna come. That’s where the solace, where the saving grace of God can be manifest in our life. And it’s in that moment. It begins the moment you pray for it. That healing power of the Savior starts on us when we just ask for that help. But then as we go in and through ordinances and covenants, particularly the temple, he saves us. And I bear witness of that, testify that it’s true. He is saving me, creating me in His image now.

Hank Smith:                      01:02:41             What a day. What a day. Mike, please thank Jennifer. Since we did talk about Jacob’s accident, we do wanna extend our love to the Hatch family and the Davies family as well. We want to acknowledge their grief and who they are, and let them know that we love them.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        01:03:00             Absolutely. Thank you. They are some of our choicest friends we’re, bonds in the crucible of life that we’ve been dealt. There’s a friendship there that we just love those two. They’ve truly been saints for us.

Hank Smith:                      01:03:15             Yeah, you’ve been a saint to us today. I have learned so much. My scriptures are covered in notes, and I have every desire to go to the temple. I’m pretty sure that’s a great day.

Bro. Michael Cottle:        01:03:27             Great days and great memories. I love it. Thank you.

Hank Smith:                      01:03:29             The Lord is good to us. With that, we want to thank Dr. Mike Cottle for being with us today. It’s been fantastic. We, of course, want to thank our executive producer Shannon Sorensen, our sponsors David and Verla Sorensen, and every episode we remember our founder. That’s a reunion we’re all looking forward to, Steve Sorensen. We hope you’ll join us next week. The answer to the Tower of Babel is the House of Israel. We’re gonna look at the beginnings there on followHIM. Thank you for joining us on today’s episode. Do you or someone you know speak Spanish, Portuguese, or French? You can now watch and listen to our podcast in those languages. Links are in the description below. Today’s show notes and transcript are on our website. Follow him.co. That’s follow him.co. Of course, none of this could happen without our incredible production crew. David Perry, Lisa Spice, Will Stoughton, Krystal Roberts, Ariel Cuadra, Heather Barlow, Amelia Kabwika, Sydney Smith and Annabelle Sorensen.