Doctrine and Covenants 110
Historical Context
On Easter Sunday, April 3, 1836, Joseph Smith and other members of the Church presidency returned to the Kirtland Temple for a sacrament service. The presidency assisted in administering the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to a congregation assembled in the lower court, referred to as the “house of worship.” After the sacrament, the temple’s curtains, then referred to as veils, were lowered, dividing the room into four areas. Stephen Post, who was present at the meeting, later recalled that the presidency went to the pulpits for “the confirmation and blessing of the children.” Later in the meeting, more veils were lowered, separating the west stand into its own enclosure and dividing them into four levels. Joseph and Oliver Cowdery “retired to the pulpit,” apparently the highest pew, the place intended for the presidency of the high priesthood, and bowed in prayer.
Shortly after they prayed, Joseph and Oliver saw a vision of Jesus Christ. This vision was followed by ones of Moses, Elias, and Elijah. These three biblical prophets bestowed priesthood keys on Joseph and Oliver. Joseph and Oliver shared their experience with some of their friends almost immediately after it happened. W. W. Phelps wrote to his wife Sally on the same day, writing, “On Sunday, April 3, the twelve held a meeting and administered the sacrament. It was a glorious time. The curtains were dropped in the afternoon, and there was a manifestation of the Lord to Brother Joseph and Oliver, [by] which they [learned] thus the great and terrible day of the Lord as mentioned by Malachi was near, even at the doors.”
Shortly after the Prophet’s experience, one of the Prophet’s scribes, Warren A. Cowdery (the brother of Oliver Cowdery) recorded the event in Joseph Smith’s journal. Though it was written in Joseph’s journal, the experience was recorded in third-person language rather than the journal’s more common first-person language. It is possible that Warren wrote from an earlier text, no longer available to us, or from speaking personally with Joseph and Oliver. The account was first published in the Deseret News on November 6, 1852. It was added to the Doctrine and Covenants in 1876 under the direction of Brigham Young. When this account was added to the Doctrine and Covenants, the language was changed to first-person, and it has remained so in every published version since.
See “Historical Introduction,” Visions, 3 April 1836 [D&C 110].
Verse-by-Verse Commentary
D&C 110:1–6
1 The veil was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding were opened.
2 We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber.
3 His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying:
4 I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father.
5 Behold, your sins are forgiven you; you are clean before me; therefore, lift up your heads and rejoice.
6 Let the hearts of your brethren rejoice, and let the hearts of all my people rejoice, who have, with their might, built this house to my name.
Section 110 is the most detailed account we have of an appearance of the Savior in the Kirtland temple. Other historical accounts document several more visions of the Savior in the Kirtland Temple, and many of these accounts also speak of Heavenly Father appearing alongside the Son. Several of these experiences occurred in a meeting held on January 21, 1836, in Joseph Smith’s office on the top story of the Kirtland Temple. During this meeting Joseph saw a series of visions, beginning with a vision of the Father and the Son in the celestial kingdom along with Adam, Abraham, his own father and mother, and his older brother Alvin (D&C 137). Joseph also saw a vision of the Twelve in his time ministering in a foreign land “with their clothes tattered and their feet swollen, with their eyes cast downward, and Jesus standing in their midst, but they did not behold him.” Joseph added, “the Savior looked upon them and wept.”
As this vision of the Twelve continued, Joseph later wrote, “I finally saw the Twelve in the celestial kingdom of God. I also beheld the redemption of Zion, and many things which the tongue of man cannot describe in full. Many of my brethren who received this ordinance with me saw glorious visions also, angels ministered unto them, as well as myself, and the power of the highest rested upon us; the house was filled with the glory of God, and we shouted hosanna to God and the Lamb.” Later in the same meeting after they were joined by the high councilors of the Kirtland and the Missouri stakes, “the vision of heaven . . . was opened to these [the councilors] also, some of them saw the face of the Savior.”
In another meeting held on January 28, 1836, several of those present saw visions of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith recorded, “Pres. [Zebedee Coltrin,] one of the seven[,] saw the Savior extended before him as upon the cross and [a] little after crowned with a glory upon his head above the brightness of the sun.” Harrison Burgess, another participant in the January 28 meeting, later wrote, “I beheld the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum Smith and Roger Orton enveloped in the light: Joseph exclaimed aloud, ‘I beheld the Savior, the Son of God.’ Hyrum said, ‘I behold the angels of heaven.’”
The appearance of the Savior documented in Doctrine and Covenants 110 was a culmination of months of spiritual outpourings associated with the Kirtland Temple. While the April 3, 1836, appearance of the Savior is the most specific and doctrinally important of His visitations, we must remember that during the time of the temple dedication many members of the Church saw and witnessed divine beings from beyond the veil.
D&C 110:7–10
7 For behold, I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here; and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house.
8 Yea, I will appear unto my servants, and speak unto them with mine own voice, if my people will keep my commandments, and do not pollute this holy house.
9 Yea the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servants have been endowed in this house.
10 And the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands; and this is the beginning of the blessing which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people. Even so. Amen.
The Lord promised that the Kirtland Temple would be a place of spiritual manifestations as long as the house was not polluted. In addition to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, many of the Saints saw and witnessed the appearance of heavenly beings in the temple. George A. Smith recorded, “On the first day of the dedication, President Frederick G. Williams, one of the Council of the Prophet, and who occupied the upper pulpit, bore testimony that the Savior, dressed in his vesture without seam, came into the stand and accepted of the dedication of the house, that he saw him, and gave a description of his clothing and all things pertaining to it.”
Lydia Knight also recorded Williams’s account of the Savior’s appearance, writing, “F. G. Williams arose and testified that while the prayer was being offered, a personage came in and sat down between Father Smith and himself and remained there during the prayer. He described his clothing and appearance. Joseph said that the personage was Jesus, as the dress described was that of our Savior, it being in some respects different to the clothing of the angels.”
Unfortunately, the Kirtland Temple was polluted when it was taken over by apostates the year following its dedication. For years afterward the temple fell into disrepair and became a shell of its former glory. Today it is owned by the Community of Christ and acts as a shared space of sacredness for all faiths linked to the Restoration. The fame of the Kirtland Temple continues to spread as more and more temples are constructed around the world. These temples utilize the priesthood keys given in the Kirtland Temple, fulfilling the Savior’s words that the 1836 visions were only the “beginning of the blessing which shall be apoured out upon the heads of my people” (D&C 110:10).
D&C 110:11
11 After this vision closed, the heavens were again opened unto us; and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north.
After the vision of the Savior closed, another vision opened, and Moses, the great gatherer of ancient Israel, appeared. Moses bestowed the “keys of the gathering of Israel” (D&C 110:11), empowering the leaders of the Church to oversee the return of Israel in the latter days. Moses’s appearance in Kirtland parallels the New Testament event on the Mount of Transfiguration, in which Moses bestowed the same keys on Peter, James, and John (Matthew 17:1–3). Moses himself prophesied of a latter-day gathering of Israel when he declared, “That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee” (Deuteronomy 30:3–4).
Moses, along with Elijah, did not die; he was taken up into heaven as a translated being (see Alma 45:19; 2 Kings 2:11–12). By retaining their physical bodies, these two prophets were able to pass on their priesthood keys to Peter, James, and John. By the time Moses, Elias, and Elijah appeared in the Kirtland Temple, they were translated beings (see D&C 133:55; 138:41, 45, 51).
Much emphasis is often placed on the phrasing here that the lost tribes of Israel will be led “from the land of the north” (D&C 110:11). This phrase also appears in the writings of several other prophets (Jeremiah 3:12; Zechariah 2:6; Ether 13:11). While it is possible that these references to “the north” are literal, it is more likely that “the north” is a symbolic reference to a return from sin and idolatry. The enemies of Israel often attacked from the north. When captives from Israel were taken away, they were carried into the north. In this sense, a return from the north means a return to the true heritage and covenants of the house of Israel. Thus, the remnants of the house of Israel are not physically lost. Instead, they are spiritually lost and must be taught of their true identity and the covenants the Lord made with their ancestors. Moses bestowed the keys to gather Israel not only physically but also spiritually (see 2 Nephi 9:1–2).
D&C 110:12
12 After this, Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed.
We do not know the identity of the Elias who appeared in the Kirtland Temple. In Greek the name Elias is a version of the name Elijah, though Joseph Smith was certainly aware of this similarity. The name Elias appears with some frequency throughout the Doctrine and Covenants. In Doctrine and Covenants 27, Elias (whom Joseph Smith later identified as the Angel Gabriel) is said to hold “the keys of bringing to pass the restoration of all things” (D&C 27:6). In Doctrine and Covenants 77, verses 9 and 14, John the Revelator is identified as an Elias who is commanded to “gather the tribes of Israel” (D&C 77:14).
The name Elias is clearly a title used by different people. Because section 110 describes Elias as an angelic being who “committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham” (D&C 110:12), it is possible that this visitor was Abraham, Melchizedek, or some other prophet from that time period. It is also possible that this angel was “a man called Elias who apparently lived in the mortality in the days of Abraham,” a man whom we have no more specific information about. Whatever our conclusion, the identity of this messenger is not as important as the powers he bestowed on Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. The “gospel of Abraham” is the same gospel that was given to Adam and every prophet down to the present. It includes the power to create eternal families, as indicated when Elias told Joseph and Oliver that “in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed” (D&C 110:12).
D&C 110:13–16
13 After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said:
14 Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi—testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come—
15 To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse—
16 Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.
The final vision recorded in section 110 was of Elijah, the fiery 9th century BC prophet of Israel (see 1 Kings 17 to 2 Kings 2). The day Joseph and Oliver saw Elijah (April 3, 1836) fell not only on Easter but also during the Jewish Passover that year. For thousands of years, Jews and Christians have pondered the meaning of the cryptic prophecy given to Malachi in which the Lord declared, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:5–6). Elijah’s appearance in the Kirtland Temple during the Passover week came in fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy. This fact was acknowledged by Elijah himself when he spoke to Joseph and Oliver during the vision (D&C 110:14–16).
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “the spirit, power, and calling of Elijah is that ye have power to hold the keys of the revelations[,] ordinances, oracles, powers, and endowments of the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood and of the kingdom of God on the Earth and to receive, obtain[,] and perform all the ordinances belonging to the kingdom of God, even unto the sealing of the hearts of the fathers unto the children & the hearts of the children unto the fathers[,] even those who are in heaven.” The restoration of this sealing power is part of the work of the last dispensation of the gospel.
After the visitation of Elijah, the power to perform vicarious ordinances for the dead rested with Joseph, Oliver, and the leadership of the Church. Providing the ordinances of salvation to both the living and the dead became a vital part of the work of the last days. In the words of Moroni, if this work could not be brought to pass, “the whole earth would be utterly wasted” (D&C 2:3). The sealing power operates not only in work for the dead but in all the work of the Church. Joseph Smith taught, “the Spirit of Elias is a forerunner[,] same as John the Baptist—the Spirit of Elijah is the sealing power—to seal the hearts of the Fathers to the children—and the children to the Parents—as Paul declared that the Saints of the last days could not be perfect without them—neither can they be perfect without us.”
Footnotes
