1 Nephi 12

I'm going to get a little theoretical here, potentially stepping beyond the bounds of established church doctrine. So feel free to ignore/disagree with me. I was asking myself one time how the Lord would judge all people in a single day. Now of course I understand that "day" could merely be referring to a period of time, but I was still very much impressed with the idea that every soul that has ever lived on this earth will have a period of judgment where he will be held accountable for his actions during his mortal life. That's still amazing to think about in terms of it's scope. There are a lot of people that have lived on this earth. I imagined a long line of people all waiting to see the Lord. But then I came across this scripture.

1 Nephi 12: 9-10

And he said unto me: Thou rememberest the twelve apostles of the Lamb? Behold they are they who shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel; wherefore, the twelve ministers of thy seed shall be judged of them; for ye are the house of Israel.

And these twelve ministers whom thou beholdest shall judge thy seed. And, behold, they are righteous forever; for because of their faith in the Lamb of God their garments are made white in his blood.

This scripture states that the Twelve tribes of Israel will be judged by the twelve apostles of Jesus. And also that the 12 ministers chosen by Jesus from the people of Nephi will judge the people of Nephi, but that they will be judged by the twelve apostles because they are of the house of Israel. This creates a whole new picture of the judgment. I imagined that possibly we will be judged by our current twelve apostles. This led me to develop the theory that we in fact will be judged by our bishops or stake presidents, the same way that we are judged by them to see if we are worthy to enter the temple. Bishops are called to be judges in Israel after all (Doctrine and Covenants 107:72.) The Doctrine and Covenants also teaches us:

Doctrine and Covenants 1:38

What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.

So, yes, I'm making the argument here that whether we are actually judged by the Lord, or we are judged by his servants it is the same. So my picture of the judgment here looks something like this. We are judged by our bishops and stake presidents who have been judged by the twelve apostles that gave them their calling who have been judged by Jesus. OK but what about the scripture that says "he employeth no servant there" I thought about that and I wasn't sure how to reconcile it with the scripture from 1 Nephi 12 (quoted above) so I actually took the time to find the scripture.

2 Nephi 9:41

O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name.

To me (and hopefully I'm not just saying this to back up my "point" because that's really not what this blog is about) the gate referred to in this scripture seems to not be an actual gate that we will stand before to be judged, but a metaphorical gate that we must pass through to get onto the path of righteousness (Similar metaphors have been made for baptism). So I would interpret this scripture as saying that Christ is the only person we can come to for salvation, that we cannot go to any of his servants or to any other person because it is only through Christ that we can be saved.

I'd be interested in hearing any thoughts.