/ Doctrine & Covenants 76 / Commentary
Find helpful commentary on the verses below to better understand the message of this revelation.
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
The 1832 vision given to Joseph Smith is centered first and foremost on Jesus Christ and His Resurrection. The vision begins by proclaiming that Christ is the only Savior of mankind and the only source of salvation for men and women. The same emphasis is found throughout all of the revelations of the Restoration, which enlarge and enlighten our understanding of the role of Jesus Christ as our Savior.
When it comes to understanding the doctrinal content of the vision itself, it helps to reference a commentary of sorts that Joseph Smith provided through an exchange with W. W. Phelps almost a decade after the vision was given. Phelps published a poem in the Church newspaper the Times and Seasons entitled Vade Mecum (“Go With Me”). Phelps’s poem invited the Prophet to provide more details about the visions he saw of the eternal worlds. It read in part:
Go with me, will you go to the mansions above,
Where the bliss, and the knowledge, the light, and the love,
And the glory of God do eternally be?—
Death, the wages of sin, is not there. Go with me.[i]
In response to Vade Mecum another poem was published entitled “The Answer,” which is a poetic version of the vision. There is some debate over who authored “The Answer.”[ii] It is likely that W. W. Phelps composed the poem in collaboration with Joseph Smith, who signed his name at the end of “The Answer.” Because of Joseph Smith’s involvement, “The Answer” effectively functions as a commentary on the 1832 vision; in many places it clarifies and expands certain doctrinal points made in the vision. For example, verse 4 of section 76, which originally reads, “From eternity to eternity he is the same, and his years never fail,” was expanded to read:
His throne is the heavens, his life time is all
Of eternity now, and eternity then;
His union is power, and none stays his hand,—
The Alpha, Omega, for ever: Amen.[iii]
Throughout our exploration of the 1832 vision, we will refer back to Joseph Smith and W. W. Phelps’s collaboration to provide a clearer understanding of the doctrines taught in section 76.
[i] Poem from William W. Phelps, between 1 and 20 January 1843, p. 82, JSP.
[ii] See Bruce Van Orden, We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout: The Life and Times of W. W. Phelps, 2018, 394–95; Lawrence R. Flake, Three Degrees of Glory: Joseph Smith’s Insights on the Kingdoms of Heaven, 2000, 16–17.
[iii] Poem to William W. Phelps, between circa 1 and circa 15 February 1843, p. 82, JSP.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
In Joseph Smith’s time one of the definitions used for the word mystery was “any thing in the character or attributes of God, or in the economy of divine providence, which is not revealed to man.”[i] Near the beginning and end of the vision all men and women are invited to receive a testimony, and committed disciples are invited to receive their own revelation of the truths found within. Near the end of the vision Joseph and Sidney wrote that things they saw “are only to be seen and understood by the power of the Holy Spirit, which God bestows on those who love him, and purify themselves before him” (D&C 76:116).
This promise is extended to every person who chooses to qualify to know the mysteries of God. The poetic form of the vision makes this point even more clear:
From the council in Kolob, to time on the earth.
And for ages to come unto them I will show
My pleasure & will, what my kingdom will do:
Eternity’s wonders they truly shall know.[ii]
One very direct way God reveals His mysteries is by showing the different degrees of glory to those who qualify to make eternal covenants with God. In the ordinances of the temple endowment, which were fully revealed almost a decade after the 1832 vision was given, disciples who qualify for the blessings of the temple are also given a tour through the different degrees of glory and receive a broadened understanding of the work of God.
[i] “Mystery,” Webster’s 1828 Dictionary.
[ii] Poem to William W. Phelps, between circa 1 and circa 15 February 1843, 82, stanza 7, JSP.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
The vision found in Doctrine and Covenants 76 is in reality a series of visions in which Joseph and Sidney were taken on a guided tour of eternity. Along the way, in their vision of the Father and the Son they saw the highest potential of each man and woman personified (D&C 76:19–24). In the next vision they were shown the fall of Lucifer and the depths of depravity to which a son of God can fall (D&C 76:25–29). They then witnessed the terrible fate of those who came to earth but then chose to follow Satan into a state of perdition or ruin (D&C 76:30–38; 43–49). From the depths of perdition they then ascended into the celestial kingdom, seeing the fate of the righteous and valiant sons and daughters of God with their accompanying glory (D&C 76:50–70, 92–96). Joseph and Sidney then saw the terrestrial glory, filled with the honorable but not valiant people of the world (D&C 76:71–80). Finally, they saw a vision of the telestial glory, where those who were neither valiant nor honorable dwell (D&C 76:81–86).
At the end of the vision, each of the three degrees of glory is further explained and insight is given into how they are governed and administered (D&C 76:87–113). The vision then closes by reiterating the promise made at its opening, that all those who qualify can see and understand the same things that Joseph and Sidney saw (D&C 76:114–119). This panoramic view of the afterlife came from the two men pondering the meaning of John 5:29. All of this knowledge grew from a sincere question of the soul asked about a single verse of scripture.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
The first vision Joseph and Sidney received was of the Father, with the Son standing at His right hand. It is worth noting that this was the first time Joseph Smith recorded a vision he had of the Father and the Son. The first written account of Joseph’s earliest vision of them, which took place in 1820, was written down in the summer of 1832, several months after this vision is recorded. The beautiful and profound testimony in section 76 of the living Christ remains one of the most frequently shared and emphasized testimonies of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. It forms a significant portion of “The Living Christ,” another testimony published by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 2000.[i]
This vision also adds to our understanding of the infinite nature of Christ’s Atonement. It was revealed to Joseph Smith in 1830 that Jesus Christ, under the direction of the Father, created “worlds without number” (Moses 1:29–35). Here it is revealed that Christ is not only the Creator of those worlds but also their Redeemer. The revelation states that through Christ the “worlds” are and were created and that “the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” (D&C 76:24). The poetic version of the vision is even clearer on this point, stating that
By him, of him, and through him, the worlds were all made,
Even all that career in the heavens so broad,
Whose inhabitants, too, from the first to the last,
Are sav’d by the very same Saviour of ours;
And, of course, are begotten God’s daughters and sons,
By the very same truths, and the very same pow’rs.[ii]
This stanza of the poem suggests that not only is the Savior the same on the other worlds but the “very same truths, and the very same pow’rs”—meaning the priesthood, the ordinances, and the covenants—are the same on the other worlds. Undoubtedly, the other worlds have their own witnesses of Jesus Christ, but the gospel, the good news of Christ, is universal throughout all the worlds.
[i] See “The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles,” 2000.
[ii] Poem to William W. Phelps, between circa 1 and circa 15 February 1843, p. 83, stanzas 19–20, JSP.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
The vision is a study in contrasts: The vision of the Father and the Son demonstrates the highest ideal that men and women can aspire to, the perfected Son of God. The next vision illustrates the depravities that God’s children can descend to by showing the fall of Lucifer. The names used to refer to Satan in this passage are instructive as to what happened to him. The name Lucifer means the “shining one”[i] (Isaiah 14:12). He is here described as “an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son whom the Father loved” (D&C 76:25). After his fall, he was called Perdition, a Latin term that in Joseph Smith’s time meant “entire loss or ruin; utter destruction.”[ii] We do not know what kind of authority Lucifer held when he was in the presence of God, nor do we know the precise meaning of “a son of the morning” (D&C 76:26). The poetic version of the vision refers to him being “thrust down to woe from his Godified state.”[iii]
One of the great contributions of latter-day revelation is to shed more light on the origins and works of Satan. Joseph Smith had earlier learned while translating the book of Genesis that Satan is a son of God who rebelled against God (Moses 4:1–4). According to this revelation, Satan sought to destroy the agency of humankind and literally became Satan, a term meaning in Hebrew “to oppose, obstruct, or accuse,” or in Greek just simply “adversary.”[iv] Further information was given about Satan a few years later when Joseph Smith translated the book of Abraham, in which we learn that when God chose Jesus Christ as the central figure of the plan, Satan “was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him” (Abraham 3:28).
While it is not pleasant to discuss Satan or his aims, the amount of space he is given in the vision suggests that it is important that we know about him. After the celestial glory, which is described in twenty-nine verses of the vision, the fall of Satan and the sons of perdition are given more attention than any other group. Around seventeen verses of the vision center on these souls confirmed as perdition.
[i] The Jewish Study Bible, 2014, 794.
[ii] “Perdition,” Webster’s 1828 Dictionary.
[iii] Poem to William W. Phelps, between circa 1 and circa 15 February 1843, p. 83, stanza 21, JSP.
[iv] “Satan,” Lexham Bible Dictionary.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
Following a vision of the original son of perdition, another vision opens to reveal the fate of those who kept their first estate, but after coming to earth become sons of perdition. The sin against the Holy Ghost, which Alma speaks of as an “unpardonable” sin (Alma 39:6), is explained in greatest detail here. The text explains that these individuals deny not only the witness of the Holy Ghost but also the witness of the Son, “having crucified him unto themselves and put him to an open shame” (D&C 76:35). The terrible fate of the sons of perdition rests upon the great knowledge that has been bestowed upon them and upon the responsibility that comes from having a sure witness of the truth, and then denying it.
Joseph Smith explained in greater detail why the penalties placed upon the sons of perdition are so severe:
All sins shall be forgiven except the sin against the Holy Ghost; for Jesus will save all except the sons of perdition. What must a man do to commit the unpardonable sin? he must receive the Holy Ghost, have the heavens opened unto him, and know God, and then sin against him: after a man has sinned against the Holy Ghost there is no repentance for him; he has got to say that the sun does not shine while he sees it—he has got to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens have been opened unto him, and to deny the plan of salvation with his eyes open to the truth of it; and from that time he begins to be an enemy. This is the case with many apostates of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When a man begins to be an enemy to this work, he hunts me—he seeks to kill me, and never ceases to thirst for my blood. He gets the spirit of the Devil—the same spirit that they had who crucified the Lord of life—the same spirit that sins against the Holy Ghost. You cannot save such persons—you cannot bring them to repentance; they make open war like the Devil and awful is the consequence.”
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
What is the ultimate fate of the sons of perdition? This passage of the vision confirms that they are “the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power; Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord” (D&C 76:37–39). However, even sons of perdition receive blessings because of the atoning work of Jesus Christ. Paul and Alma both teach that the Resurrection is universal for all of God’s children who kept their first estate and came to earth (1 Corinthians 15:22; Alma 11:41–45). A later revelation to Joseph Smith also confirmed that the sons of perdition will be resurrected (D&C 88:102). The poetic version of these verses of Doctrine and Covenants 76 reads,
They are they, who must groan through the great second death,
And are not redeemed in the time of the Lord;
While all the rest are, through the triumph of Christ,
Made partakers of grace, by the power of his word.[i]
“All the rest” described in the poem consist of the celestial, terrestrial, or telestial beings who are redeemed from the second death, or spiritual death. All except the sons of perdition will return to the presence of God, even if it is only a temporary return. Samuel the Lamanite proclaimed,
For behold, he surely must die that salvation may come; yea, it behooveth him and becometh expedient that he dieth, to bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, that thereby men may be brought into the presence of the Lord. Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the resurrection, and redeemeth all mankind from the first death—that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the fall of Adam being cut off from the presence of the Lord, are considered as dead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual. But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord. (Helaman 14:15–17)
[i] Poem to William W. Phelps, between circa 1 and circa 15 February 1843, p. 83, stanza 31, JSP.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
The next vision presented is of the celestial people brought forth in the First Resurrection. Apparently, only part of what Joseph and Sidney learned about the celestial kingdom is revealed in this vision. Joseph Smith later said, “I could explain a hundred-fold more than I ever have, of the glories of the Kingdoms manifested to me in the vision, were I permitted, and were the people prepared to receive it, the Lord deals with this people as a tender parent with a child, communicating light and intelligence and the knowledge of his ways, as they can hear it.”[i]
Many of the truths we now know about the celestial kingdom were revealed to the Prophet in subsequent revelations and were shared in his discourses. A primary example of this came when Joseph Smith revealed that in the celestial kingdom there are “three heavens or degrees; and in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]” (D&C 131:1–2). The only knowledge given thus far about the inhabitants of the lower degrees within the celestial kingdom is that they act as ministering angels to those who have obtained the fulness of the Father (D&C 132:15–19).
[i] JS History, vol. D-1, p. 1556, JSP.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
The introductory text to the earliest copy of the vision declares that one of the vision’s primary concerns is “the church of the Firstborn.”[i] These verses provide the clearest description of what is required to enter into the Church of the Firstborn and the blessings given its members. The Church of the Firstborn is not the same organization as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but rather a community of those who overcome all things and are “made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant” (D&C 76:69). The poetic version of the vision describes this community as follows:
They’re priests of the order of Melchisedek,
Like Jesus, (from whom is this highest reward,)
Receiving a fulness of glory and light;
As written: They’re Gods; even sons of the Lord.
So all things are theirs; yea, of life, or of death;
Yea, whether things now, or to come, all are theirs,
And they are the Savior’s, and he is the Lord’s,
Having overcome all, as eternity’s heirs.[ii]
These heirs of eternity become so by entering into the ordinances and covenants of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The ordinance of baptism is given here as the gate to the celestial kingdom. This is consistent with what Joseph and Sidney would have known in 1832. Ordinances given later, such as the endowment and sealing ceremonies, unlocked more of the doors of eternity. The completion of ordinances alone, however, does not bring an assurance of salvation. A later revelation to Joseph Smith clarifies that “all covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise . . . are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead” (D&C 132:7). Only righteous living can bring the seal of the Holy Spirit, making these ordinances truly meaningful in time and eternity.
[i] Vision, 16 February 1832 [D&C 76], p. 1, JSP.
[ii] Poem to William W. Phelps, between circa 1 and circa 15 February 1843, p. 83, stanza 45–46, JSP.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
The next vision opened is of the terrestrial glory. In the terrestrial world are the honorable men and women of the earth who never accepted the fulness of the gospel. Those who “died without law” (D&C 76:72) seem to be non-Christians who never had a chance to hear the gospel, or law, in this life. However, this statement needs some clarification: only non-Christians who never heard the gospel in this life and then reject it in the next life are bound for the terrestrial kingdom. A later revelation given to Joseph Smith clarifies that “all who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God” (D&C 137:7).
In a similar fashion, the revelation makes a distinction between receiving the full knowledge of the gospel and receiving a more general testimony of Jesus Christ (see D&C 76:82). The spirits in the terrestrial kingdom are those who received the testimony of Jesus after death but chose to reject the ordinances and covenants that would allow entrance into the celestial kingdom. This decision indicates that even if they knew about Jesus Christ during their mortal lives, the inhabitants of the terrestrial kingdom never fully received a testimony or were not valiant in their testimony of the Savior. The poetic version of the vision explains this idea further:
They receiv’d not the truth of the Savior at first;
But did, when they heard it in prison, again.
Not valiant for truth, they obtain’d not the crown,
But are of that glory that’s typ’d by the moon;
They are they, that come into the presence of Christ,
But not to the fulness of God, on his throne.[i]
Though the root word of terrestrial is the Latin terra, meaning “earth,” the terrestrial kingdom is considered to be more like the earth in its Edenic or paradisiacal state, similar to the way Paul described Adam as “earthy” in his created state (1 Corinthians 15:45, 47). During the millennium after the Savior’s return, the earth will be elevated to a terrestrial, or paradisiacal state (Article of Faith 10). Taking this information into account, it is more correct to call the terrestrial kingdom a heaven than it is to call it a purgatory or a hell. After all, the inhabitants of the terrestrial kingdom enjoy the presence of the Son, a considerable blessing on any plane of existence (D&C 76:77).
[i] Poem to William W. Phelps, between circa 1 and circa 15 February 1843, p. 83, stanzas 56–57, JSP.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
The next vision consists of the telestial glory. The word telestial appears in scripture only in the Doctrine and Covenants, though Joseph Smith placed it into his translation of the Bible (see Joseph Smith Translation, 1 Corinthians 15:40). The word itself was new to the English language when the vision was given, and even today it is defined in one dictionary as “the lowest of three Mormon degrees or kingdoms of glory attainable in heaven.”[i] It is possible that the word is derived from the Greek prefix tele, which means “at a distance.” This prefix is often used in words like telephone, which means “a faraway voice,” or television, which means “distant viewing.” We do not know if this is the correct etymology of the word, though the connotation is that the telestial glory is distant from God.[ii]
The telestial glory consists of those “who received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus” (D&C 76:82). Those in the telestial kingdom refuse to even accept a basic testimony of Jesus. The poetic version of the vision further explains:
These are they that receiv’d not the gospel of Christ,
Or evidence, either, that he ever was;
As the stars are all diff’rent in glory and light,
So differs the glory of these by the laws.[iii]
While it is true that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ (Philippians 2:9–11; D&C 76:11), this is not the same thing as every person gaining a testimony of Jesus. Telestial beings accept Christ only out of a practical recognition of power, not a confession of the power of Christ to save them.
While telestial beings are “thrust down to hell,” it is comforting to know that hell is not a permanent state (see commentary for D&C 19:4–12). Eventually, death and hell will give up those whom they hold captive (2 Nephi 9:12; Revelation 20:13). The inhabitants of the telestial kingdom will not be redeemed until the Second Resurrection (D&C 76:85), but they will be redeemed. A loving God has no interest in the eternal torment of His children. Punishment is meted out only to the degree that it will be required for their reformation and cleansing to “inherit” a degree of “salvation” and glory.
[i] “Telestial,” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/telestial%20glory, accessed February 26, 2021.
[ii] Stephen E. Robinson and H. Dean Garrett, A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, 4 vols., 2001, 2:318.
[iii] Poem to William W. Phelps, between circa 1 and circa 15 February 1843, p. 83, stanza 59, JSP.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
One of the vision’s grand themes is the mercy of God. These verses state that even the glory of the telestial kingdom, the lowest and furthest from God, surpasses all understanding. The world we live in is often spoken of as telestial. Imagine this world, with all of its beauty and wonder, with no war, famine, hunger, disease, poverty, or death. And this is the place where those “who are liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers” (D&C 76:103) are destined to dwell!
The benevolence shown in the vision was a stumbling block for some of the early Saints. Brigham Young later recalled, “When God revealed to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon that there was a place prepared for all, according to the light they had received and their rejection of evil and practice of good, it was a great trial to many, and some apostatized because God was not going to send to everlasting punishment heathens and infants, but had a place of salvation, in due time, for all, and would bless the honest and virtuous and truthful, whether they ever belonged to any church or not. It was a new doctrine to this generation, and many stumbled at it.”[i] Brigham’s brother Joseph was even more blunt is his assessment of the vision, declaring, “When I came to read the visions of the different glories of the eternal world, and of the sufferings of the wicked, I could not believe it at the first. Why the Lord was going to save everybody[!]”[ii]
[i] Journal of Discourses, 16:42.
[ii] Deseret News, March 18, 1857, 11.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
The vision boldly proclaims that those who become part of the Church of the Firstborn will receive a fulness of the Savior’s grace and become His “equal in power, and in might, and in dominion” (D&C 76:95), becoming “joint-heirs with Jesus Christ” (Romans 8:17). In an 1844 discourse Joseph Smith exhorted the Saints, saying,
You have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be Kings and Priests to God . . . heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. What is it? to inherit the same power, the same glory, and the same exaltation, until you arrive at the station of a God, and ascend the throne of eternal power the same as those who have gone before. What did Jesus do? Why I do the things I saw my Father do, when worlds came rolling into existence. My Father worked out his kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same, and when I get my kingdom I shall present it to my Father, so that he may obtain kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt Him in glory. He will then take a higher exaltation, and I will take his place, and thereby become exalted myself.[i]
[i] JS History, vol. E-1, p. 1971, JSP.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
The description of the vision returns here to the glory of the telestial. This portion of the vision highlights the emptiness of a life lived in opposition to God. It points out that the telestial “suffer the wrath of God on earth” (D&C 76:104; emphasis added), confirming Alma’s teaching that “wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10). It also points out the sad truth that many who are outwardly religious are among the most involved in sin. The poetic version of the vision reads:
These are they that came out for Apollos and Paul;
For Cephas and Jesus, in all kinds of hope;
For Enoch and Moses, and Peter, and John;
For Luther and Calvin, and even the Pope.
For they never received the gospel of Christ,
Nor the prophetic spirit that came from the Lord;
Nor the covenant neither, which Jacob once had;
They went their own way, and they have their reward.[i]
This is not to say that those who find Christ through Apollos, Paul, Luther, Calvin, or the Pope are not true Christians. The warning is that those who glorify mortal messengers but do not build their faith on Jesus Christ are building on a sandy foundation (Helaman 5:12). Devotion to a single person, ideology, or philosophy outside of the gospel of Jesus Christ does not bring salvation.
[i] Poem to William W. Phelps, between circa 1 and circa 15 February 1843, p. 83, stanza 70–71, JSP.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
The vision states that the inhabitants of the telestial world are “as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven” (D&C 76:109) and that “where God and Christ dwell they cannot come” (D&C 76:112). In light of this phrase, the question is often asked, “Is there eventual advancement from one glory to another? Could a person who is sent to the telestial kingdom progress over time to the terrestrial kingdom and then on to the celestial?” Differing opinions have been held by different leaders of the Church, but it can be hazardous to set one Church leader against another. The question became so nettlesome in the twentieth century that Joseph L. Anderson, a secretary to the First Presidency, provided this standard response to the question: “The brethren direct me to say that the Church has never announced a definite doctrine upon this point. Some of the brethren have held the view that it was possible in the course of progression to advance from one glory to another, invoking the principle of eternal progression; others of the brethren have taken the opposite view. But as stated, the Church has never announced a definite doctrine on this point.”[i]
Does this mean that a person who goes to the celestial glory is cut off from their loved ones who do not achieve the same glory? A celestial being is not cut off from any place in the universe. Can a celestial being visit a telestial kingdom? The Father and the Son, both resurrected celestial beings, visit our earth, a telestial kingdom, with great frequency. The best way for people to ensure that they will never be cut off from the presence of their loved ones is to strive to achieve celestial glory. One of the blessings of celestial glory is the power to visit and minister to any person in any part of the universe.
Finally, as we accept that we simply do not know the answer to the question of advancement between the kingdoms, it is perhaps best to trust in God’s mercy. One of the vision’s great messages is the scope of God’s plan for His sons and daughters and the lengths to which He will go to extend mercy to all of them. Lorenzo Snow captured the grand mercy of this doctrine when he said,
God loves his offspring, the human family. His design is not simply to furnish happiness to the few here, called Latter-day Saints. The plan and scheme that he is now carrying out is for universal salvation; not only for the salvation of the Latter-day Saints, but for the salvation of every man and woman on the face of the earth, for those also in the spirit world, and for those who may hereafter come upon the face of the earth. It is for the salvation of every son and daughter of Adam. They are the offspring of the Almighty, he loves them all and his plans are for the salvation of the whole, and he will bring all up into that position in which they will be as happy and as comfortable as they are willing to be.
[i] Joseph L. Anderson, Secretary of the First Presidency, in a 1952 letter; and again in 1965.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Casey Paul Griffiths (LDS Scholar)
While others may have struggled to accept the vision’s tenets, Joseph Smith recognized its wonder and power. When he recorded it in his later history he offered this assessment of the vision:
Nothing could be more pleasing to the Saint, upon the order of the kingdom of the Lord, than the light which burst upon the world, through the foregoing vision. Every law, every commandment, every promise, every truth, and every point, touching the destiny of man, from Genesis to Revelation, where the purity of either remains unsullied from the wisdom of men, goes to shew the perfection of the theory, and witnesses the fact that that document is a transcript from the Records of the eternal world. The sublimity of the ideas; the purity of the language; the scope for action; the continued duration for completion, in order that the heirs of salvation, may confess the Lord and bow the knee; The rewards for faithfulness and the punishments for sins, are so much beyond the narrow mindedness of men, that every honest man is constrained to exclaim; It came from God.[i]
The vision forms the backbone of the Latter-day Saint understanding of the Resurrection and the eternal destiny of the sons and daughters of God. The vision emphasizes the centrality of Jesus Christ in our salvation and the expansive nature of the ways in which Christ offers salvation to all. The result is an assurance of better things to come. Brigham Young summarized its value when he said, “You cannot find a compass on earth that points so directly, as the Gospel plan of salvation. It has a place for everything, and puts everything in its place.”[ii]
[i] JS History, vol. A-1, p. 192, JSP.
[ii] Journal of Discourses, 3:96.
(Doctrine and Covenants Minute)
Supplemental Study Aid—The Poetic Version of the Vision
Vade Mecum, (translated,) Go With Me.
Go with me, will you go to the saints that have died,—
To the next, better world, where the righteous reside;
Where the angels and spirits in harmony be
In the joys of a vast paradise? Go with me.
Go with me where the truth and the virtues prevail;
Where the union is one, and the years never fail;
Not a heart can conceive, nor a nat’ral eye see
What the Lord has prepar’d for the just. Go with me.
Go with me where there is no destruction or war;
Neither tyrants, or sland’rers, or nations ajar;
Where the system is perfect, and happiness free,
And the life is eternal with God. Go with me.
Go with me, will you go to the mansions above,
Where the bliss, and the knowledge, the light, and the love,
And the glory of God do eternally be?—
Death, the wages of sin, is not there. Go with me.
Nauvoo, January, 1843.[i]
to William W. Phelps, esq.
A Vision.
Where the virtue’s the value, and life the reward;
But before I return to my former estate
I must fulfil the mission I had from the Lord.
And rejoice ye inhabitants truly again;
For the Lord he is God, and his life never ends,
And besides him there ne’er was a Saviour of men.
The extent of his doings, there’s none can unveil;
His purposes fail not; from age unto age
He still is the same, and his years never fail.
Of eternity now, and eternity then;
His union is power, and none stays his hand,—
The Alpha, Omega, for ever: Amen.
I am merciful, gracious, and good unto those
That fear me, and live for the life that’s to come;
My delight is to honor the saints with repose;
Eternal’s their glory, and great their reward;
I’ll surely reveal all my myst’ries to them,—
The great hidden myst’ries in my kingdom stor’d—
And for ages to come unto them I will show
My pleasure & will, what my kingdom will do:
Eternity’s wonders they truly shall know.
Yea, things of the vast generations to rise;
For their wisdom and glory shall be very great,
And their pure understanding extend to the skies:
And the nice understanding of prudent ones fail!
For the light of my spirit shall light mine elect,
And the truth is so mighty ‘t will ever prevail.
The sanctified pleasures when earth is renew’d,
What the eye hath not seen, nor the ear hath yet heard;
Nor the heart of the natural man ever hath view’d.
And the eyes of the inner man truly did see
Eternity sketch’d in a vision from God,
Of what was, and now is, and yet is to be.
Before the world was, or a system had run,—
Through Jesus the Maker and Savior of all;
The only begotten, (Messiah) his son.
And the record I bear is the fulness,—yea even
The truth of the gospel of Jesus—the Christ,
With whom I convers’d, in the vision of heav’n.
Which the Lord in his grace had appointed to me,
I came to the gospel recorded by John,
Chapter fifth and the twenty ninth verse, which you’ll see.
Which was given as follows:
Speaking of the resurrection of the dead,—
Concerning those who shall hear the voice of the son of man—
And shall come forth:—
They who have done good in the resurrection of the just.
And they who have done evil in the resurrection of the unjust.
For it came unto me by the spirit direct:—
And while I did meditate what it all meant,
The Lord touch’d the eyes of my own intellect:—
And the glory of God shone around where I was;
And there was the Son, at the Father’s right hand,
In a fulness of glory, and holy applause.
And sanctified beings from worlds that have been,
In holiness worshipping God and the Lamb,
Forever and ever, amen and amen!
By witnesses truly, by whom he was known,
This is mine, last of all, that he lives; yea he lives!
And sits at the right hand of God, on his throne.
He’s the Saviour, and only begotten of God—
By him, of him, and through him, the worlds were all made,
Even all that career in the heavens so broad,
Are sav’d by the very same Saviour of ours;
And, of course, are begotten God’s daughters and sons,
By the very same truths, and the very same pow’rs.
For an angel of light, in authority great,
Rebell’d against Jesus, and sought for his pow’r,
But was thrust down to woe from his Godified state.
That Lucifer, son of the morning had fell!
Yea, is fallen! is fall’n, and become, Oh, alas!
The son of Perdition; the devil of hell!
The commandment was: write ye the vision all out;
For Satan, old serpent, the devil’s for war,—
And yet will encompass the saints round about.
(Overcome by the devil, in warfare and fight,)
In hell-fire, and vengeance, the doom of the damn’d;
For the Lord said, the vision is further: so write.
Who know of my power and partake of the same;
And suffer themselves, that they be overcome
By the power of Satan; despising my name:—
They are they—of the world, or of men, most forlorn,
The Sons of Perdition, of whom, ah! I say,
‘T were better for them had they never been born!
Doom’d to suffer his wrath, in the regions of woe,
Through the terrific night of eternity’s round,
With the devil and all of his angels below:
In this world, alas! nor the world that’s to come;
For they have denied the spirit of God,
After having receiv’d it: and mis’ry’s their doom.
And crucify him to themselves, as they do,
And openly put him to shame in their flesh,
By gospel they cannot repentance renew.
Which burneth with brimstone, yet never consumes,
And dwell with the devil, and angels of his,
While eternity goes and eternity comes.
And are not redeemed in the time of the Lord;
While all the rest are, through the triumph of Christ,
Made partakers of grace, by the power of his word.
The past, and the present, and what is to be;
And this is the gospel—glad tidings to all,
Which the voice from the heavens bore record to me:
To lay down his life for his friends and his foes,
And bear away sin as a mission of love;
And sanctify earth for a blessed repose.
And sanctify them by his own precious blood;
And purify earth for the Sabbath of rest,
By the agent of fire, as it was by the flood.
Even all that he gave in the regions abroad,
Save the Sons of Perdition: They’re lost; ever lost,
And can never return to the presence of God.
36 They are they, who must reign with the devil in hell,
In eternity now, and eternity then,
Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quench’d;—
And the punishment still, is eternal. Amen.
But the end, or the place where the torment began,
Save to them who are made to partake of the same,
Was never, nor will be, revealed unto man.
And straightway he closes the scene that was shown:
So the width, or the depth, or the misery thereof,
Save to those that partake, is forever unknown.
And the voice said to me, write the vision: for lo!
‘Tis the end of the scene of the sufferings of those,
Who remain filthy still in their anguish and woe.
Where virtue’s the value, above all that’s pric’d—
Of the truth of the gospel concerning the just,
That rise in the first resurrection of Christ.
And then were baptis’d, as a man always was,
Who ask’d and receiv’d a remission of sin,
And honored the kingdom by keeping its laws.
And keeping the whole of his holy commands,
They received the gift of the spirit of truth,
By the ordinance truly of laying on hands.
Being tried in their life-time, as purified gold,
And seal’d by the spirit of promise, to life,
By men called of God, as was Aaron of old.
And unto whose hands he committeth all things;
For they hold the keys of the kingdom of heav’n,
And reign with the Savior, as priests, and as kings.
Like Jesus, (from whom is this highest reward,)
Receiving a fulness of glory and light;
As written: They’re Gods; even sons of the Lord.
Yea, whether things now, or to come, all are theirs,
And they are the Savior’s, and he is the Lord’s,
Having overcome all, as eternity’s heirs.
But give God the glory for all that he hath;
For the righteous will walk in the presence of God,
While the wicked are trod under foot in his wrath.
And of Jesus, forever, from earth’s second birth—
For when he comes down in the splendor of heav’n,
All these he’ll bring with him, to reign on the earth.
When the trump of the first resurrection shall sound;
These are they that come up to Mount Zion, in life,
Where the blessings and gifts of the spirit abound.
To the numberless courses of angels above:
To the city of God; e’en the holiest of all,
And the home of the blessed, the fountain of love:
And gen’ral assembly of ancient renown’d,
Whose names are all kept in the archives of heav’n,
As chosen and faithful, and fit to be crown’d.
Whose bodies celestial are mention’d by Paul,
Where the sun is the typical glory thereof,
And God, and his Christ, are the true judge of all.
In the order and glory of Jesus, go on;
‘Twas not as the church of the first born of God,
But shone in its place, as the moon to the sun.
The heathen of ages that never had hope,
And those of the region and shadow of death,
The spirits in prison, that light has brought up.
And taught them the gospel, with powers afresh;
And then were the living baptiz’d for their dead,
That they might be judg’d as if men in the flesh.
Who were blinded and dup’d by the cunning of men:
They receiv’d not the truth of the Savior at first;
But did, when they heard it in prison, again.
But are of that glory that’s typ’d by the moon;
They are they, that come into the presence of Christ,
But not to the fulness of God, on his throne.
The lesser, or starry world, next in its place.
For the leaven must leaven three measures of meal,
And every knee bow that is subject to grace.
Or evidence, either, that he ever was;
As the stars are all diff’rent in glory and light,
So differs the glory of these by the laws.
But are thrust down to hell, with the devil, for sins,
As hypocrites, liars, whoremongers, and thieves,
And stay ‘till the last resurrection begins.
Shall have trodden the wine press, in fury alone,
And overcome all by the pow’r of his might:
He conquers to conquer, and save all his own.
From Christ, in eternity’s world, where they are,
The terrestrial sends them the Comforter, though;
And minist’ring angels, to happify there.
By ministers from the terrestrial one,
As terrestrial is, from the celestial throne;
And the great, greater, greatest, seem’s stars, moon, and sun.
The telestial glory, dominion and bliss,
Surpassing the great understanding of men,—
Unknown, save reveal’d, in a world vain as this.
Which excels the telestial in glory and light,
In splendor, and knowledge, and wisdom, and joy,
In blessings, and graces, dominion and might.
Which is the most excellent kingdom that is,—
Where God, e’en the Father, in harmony reigns;
Almighty, supreme, and eternal, in bliss.
And they see as they’re seen, and they know as they’re known;
Being equal in power, dominion and might,
With a fulness of glory and grace, round his throne.
The glory terrestr’al is one like the moon;
The glory telestial is one like the stars,
And all harmonize like the parts of a tune.
So the telestial region, is mingled in bliss;
From least unto greatest, and greatest to least,
The reward is exactly as promis’d in this.
For Cephas and Jesus, in all kinds of hope;
For Enoch and Moses, and Peter, and John;
For Luther and Calvin, and even the Pope.
Nor the prophetic spirit that came from the Lord;
Nor the covenant neither, which Jacob once had;
They went their own way, and they have their reward.
That wilt not be gather’d with saints here below,
To be caught up to Jesus, and meet in the cloud:—
In darkness they worshipp’d; to darkness they go.
That glutted their passion by meanness or worth;
All liars, adulterers, sorc’rers, and proud;
And suffer, as promis’d, God’s wrath on the earth.
‘Till Christ shall have trodden all enemies down,
And perfected his work, in the fulness of times:
And is crown’d on his throne with his glorious crown.
As the stars of the skies, or the sands of the sea;—
The voice of Jehovah echo’d far and wide,
Ev’ry tongue shall confess, and they all bow the knee.
And receive a reward in the mansions prepar’d;
For his judgments are just, and his works never end,
As his prophets and servants have always declar’d.
Unlawful to utter, I dare not declare;
They surpass all the wisdom and greatness of men,
And only are seen, as has Paul, where they are.
Is blooming in heaven, and blasting in hell;
Is leaving on earth, and a budding in space:—
I will go, I will go, with you, brother, farewell.
JOSEPH SMITH.
Nauvoo, Feb. 1843.[ii]
[i] Poem from William W. Phelps, between 1 and 20 January 1843, pp. 81–82, JSP.
[ii] Poem to William W. Phelps, between circa 1 and circa 15 February 1843, pp. 83–85, JSP.
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