Doctrine and Covenants 138
Historical Context
The immediate context of Doctrine and Covenants 138 is given in the first eleven verses of the section by President Joseph F. Smith himself. President Smith received a vision on October 3, 1918, the day before general conference. He had been in poor health for several months before the conference, and he was confined largely to his room, so many were shocked when he appeared at the conference the next day. He only spoke once in the conference, briefly saying:
I have been undergoing a siege of a very serious illness for the last five months. It would be impossible for me, on this occasion, to occupy sufficient time to express the desires of my heart and my feelings, as I would desire them to you . . . I will not, I dare not, attempt to enter upon many things that are resting upon my mind this morning. And I shall postpone until some future time, the Lord being willing, my attempt to tell you some of the things that are in my mind, and that dwell in my heart. I have not lived alone these five months. I have dwelt in the spirit of prayer, of supplication, of faith, and of determination; and I have had my communication with the Spirit of the Lord continually.
A combination of declining health, worry over world events, and a series of personal tragedies combined to create one of the most difficult and trying times of President Smith’s life. The revelation in Doctrine and Covenants 138 was received just thirty-eight days before the end of the most devastating war in history to that point. Estimates of military casualties in World War I are above thirty-nine million, with nine million dead. The war, longer and bloodier than anyone imagined, was drawing to an end. But in the wake of the Great War, another threat was rising. The influenza epidemic of 1918 would eventually cause more than double the number of deaths as the war. In the month of October 1918 alone, there would be more deaths than in any previous month in American history, largely due to the pandemic. One especially troublesome aspect of the pandemic was that this strain of influenza disproportionately affected people between the ages of twenty-five to thirty-four, those in the prime of their lives. Particularly in military installations and on troop ships, the number of dead was so high that corpses were stacked like cordwood in morgues. For instance, out of the 116,000 American servicemen who served in World War I, more than half died of the flu or resulting pneumonia.
In the midst of these worldwide challenges facing the Saints, President Smith suffered a heartbreaking series of personal tragedies in his own family. On January 23, 1918, President Smith’s oldest son, Hyrum Mack, died of complications of a ruptured appendix. Hyrum, also a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, was only forty-five years old. Upon hearing word of his son’s death, President Smith wrote in his journal, “My soul is rent asunder. My heart is broken, and it flutters for life! O my sweet son, my joy, my hope! . . . O God, help me!” Just before Doctrine and Covenants 138 was received, Hyrum Mack’s widow, Ida Bowman Smith, died of heart failure on September 24, just days after giving birth to a son, whom she named Hyrum after his departed father. Hyrum and Ida’s passing left their five young children as orphans.
Immediately after the 1918 October general conference, President Smith shared the October 3 vision with his son Joseph Fielding. Joseph Fielding Smith then recorded the vision while President Smith dictated it. The text of the vision was presented to the Quorum of the Twelve and the Presiding Patriarch of the Church on October 31 and unanimously accepted by them. President Smith passed away on November 19. The text of the vision was first published on November 30 in the Deseret Evening News with the title “Vision of the Redemption of the Dead.” It was also published in the Church’s magazine, The Improvement Era, in the December 1918 issue. The vision was well-known among the Saints but not included in the scriptural canon until 1976, when it, along with Doctrine and Covenants 137, was added to the Pearl of Great Price. On June 6, 1979, the First Presidency announced that the vision would be moved to the Doctrine and Covenants and numbered as section 138. It first appeared in the 1981 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants.
Revelation regarding the Spirit World, 1918 October 3.
Verse-by-Verse Commentary
D&C 138:1–10
1 On the third of October, in the year nineteen hundred and eighteen, I sat in my room pondering over the scriptures;
2 And reflecting upon the great atoning sacrifice that was made by the Son of God, for the redemption of the world;
3 And the great and wonderful love made manifest by the Father and the Son in the coming of the Redeemer into the world;
4 That through his atonement, and by obedience to the principles of the gospel, mankind might be saved.
5 While I was thus engaged, my mind reverted to the writings of the apostle Peter, to the primitive saints scattered abroad throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, and other parts of Asia, where the gospel had been preached after the crucifixion of the Lord.
6 I opened the Bible and read the third and fourth chapters of the first epistle of Peter, and as I read I was greatly impressed, more than I had ever been before, with the following passages:
7 “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
8 “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
9 “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” (1 Peter 3:18–20.)
10 “For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1 Peter 4:6.)
In the midst of the global and personal tragedies that Joseph F. Smith was grappling with, he turned to the scriptures for solace. President Smith’s statement that “I was greatly impressed, more than I had ever been before, with the following passages” (D&C 138:6) hints that he may have read through these passages many times before. But this time the Holy Spirit used this passage to show President Smith his own vision of the world of spirits. The statements made in 1 Peter 3:18–20 and 4:6 raise the possibility of an expanded view of Jesus Christ’s mission, a message that brought hope not only for a resurrection for all mankind but for eternal salvation for all people, regardless of their background.
President Smith’s vision highlights the labors of Jesus Christ in the days after His death but before His resurrection. Peter writes that Christ was “put to death in the flesh,” meaning He had given up His body, “but quickened by the Spirit,” indicating that His spirit was still living, or “quickened” (1 Peter 3:18). This phase of the mission of Christ is as vital to understanding His saving work as the Savior’s suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross, His death, and His resurrection. Outside of the writings of Peter, Doctrine and Covenants 138 provides more understanding of this phase of the Savior’s mission than any other text we currently have in our possession.
Joseph Smith, Joseph F. Smith’s uncle, also pondered over the meaning of Peter’s statements about the “spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:18–20). In a discourse published in the Times and Seasons in 1842, he taught,
Peter also in speaking concerning our Savior says, that “he went and preached unto spirits in prison, which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah.” 1 Pet. iii, 19, 20. Here then we have an account of our Savior preaching in prison; to spirits that had been imprisoned from the days of Noah; and what did he preach to them? that they were to stay there? certainly not; let his own declaration testify; “he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised”—Luke iv, 18, Isaiah has it;—“To bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness from the prison house.” Is. xlii, 7 It is very evident from this that he not only went to preach to them, but to deliver, or bring them out of the prison house.”
D&C 138:11–15
11 As I pondered over these things which are written, the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great.
12 And there were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality;
13 And who had offered sacrifice in the similitude of the great sacrifice of the Son of God, and had suffered tribulation in their Redeemer’s name.
14 All these had departed the mortal life, firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection, through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
15 I beheld that they were filled with joy and gladness, and were rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance was at hand.
Similar to the revelation found in Doctrine and Covenants 76, section 138 is based on a series of visions rather than a single vision. The first vision, seen by President Joseph F. Smith, was of the “hosts of the dead, both small and great” (D&C 138:11). The place seen in vision by President Smith was not a kingdom of glory, to which men and women are sent after they are resurrected, but the postmortal spirit world. In a discourse given in June 1843, Joseph Smith taught about the postmortal spirit world, saying, “There has been also much said about the word Hell, and the sectarian world have preached much about it, but what is hell?, it is another modern term; it is taken from Hades the Greek or Sheol, the (Hebrew), & the true signification is a world of spirits, Hades, Sheol, paradise, spirits in prison is all one, it is a world of spirits, the righteous and the wicked all go to the same world of spirits.”
President Brigham Young taught that the world of spirits surrounds us, but it is only discernible through spiritual eyes:
When the spirits leave their bodies, . . . they are prepared then to see, hear and understand spiritual things . . . Can you see spirits in this room? No. Suppose the Lord should touch your eyes that you might see, could you then see the spirits? Yes, as plainly as you now see bodies, as did the servant of [Elisha] [see 2 Kings 6:16–17]. If the Lord would permit it, and it was his will that it should be done, you could see the spirits that have departed from this world, as plainly as you now see bodies with your natural eyes.
At the funeral of Jedediah M. Grant, a member of the First Presidency, Heber C. Kimball related a vision shared by President Grant on his deathbed:
He said to me, brother Heber, I have been into the spirit world two nights in succession, and, of all the dreads that ever came across me, the worst was to have to again return to my body, though I had to do it. But O, says he, the order and government that were there! When in the spirit world, I saw the order of righteous men and women; beheld them organized in their several grades, and there appeared to be no obstruction to my vision; I could see every man and woman in their grade and order. I looked to see whether there was any disorder there, but there was none; neither could I see any death nor any darkness, disorder or confusion. He said that the people he there saw were organized in family capacities; and when he looked at them he saw grade after grade, and all were organized and in perfect harmony. He would mention one item after another and say, “Why, it is just as brother Brigham says it is; it is just as he has told us many a time.”
D&C 138:16–24
16 They were assembled awaiting the advent of the Son of God into the spirit world, to declare their redemption from the bands of death.
17 Their sleeping dust was to be restored unto its perfect frame, bone to his bone, and the sinews and the flesh upon them, the spirit and the body to be united never again to be divided, that they might receive a fulness of joy.
18 While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful;
19 And there he preached to them the everlasting gospel, the doctrine of the resurrection and the redemption of mankind from the fall, and from individual sins on conditions of repentance.
20 But unto the wicked he did not go, and among the ungodly and the unrepentant who had defiled themselves while in the flesh, his voice was not raised;
21 Neither did the rebellious who rejected the testimonies and the warnings of the ancient prophets behold his presence, nor look upon his face.
22 Where these were, darkness reigned, but among the righteous there was peace;
23 And the saints rejoiced in their redemption, and bowed the knee and acknowledged the Son of God as their Redeemer and Deliverer from death and the chains of hell.
24 Their countenances shone, and the radiance from the presence of the Lord rested upon them, and they sang praises unto his holy name.
President’s Smith’s vision was not only of another place (the world of spirits) but of another time as well. He saw that the spirits of the righteous “were assembled awaiting the advent of the Son of God into the spirit world, to declare their redemption from the bands of death” (D&C 138:16). The day that President Smith saw was the day that the Savior was on the cross dying. While the Savior’s death was a time of grief and sorrow for his disciples on earth, His disciples in the spirit world were “rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance,” and “among the righteous there was peace” (D&C 138:18, 22). The ministry of Jesus Christ in Palestine touched hearts and minds in a small corner of the world, but Christ’s ministry in the spirit world began a work that would eventually reach into every culture, country, and climate.
Though Joseph Smith taught that “the righteous and the wicked all go to the same world of spirits,” on this occasion the righteous congregated to a single place to witness the advent of the Savior into the spirit world. This part of the vision is in harmony with Joseph Smith’s teaching that the “same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there” (D&C 130:2). While both righteous and wicked spirits go to the same place, the righteous and the wicked tend to congregate in separate spaces. Whether this separation is by choice or by design in the world of spirits is not known. What this passage does make clear is, on this occasion, the spirits of the righteous looked upon the Savior’s coming with joy while the wicked remained in darkness and did not behold the Savior during his sojourn into the spirit world (D&C 138:20–22). According to President Smith’s vision, among the group of righteous Saints who greeted Christ were Adam and Eve, along with “many of her faithful daughters,” and many of the Lord’s faithful servants who arrived in the spirit world before the Savior (D&C 138:38–52).
D&C 138:25–31
25 I marveled, for I understood that the Savior spent about three years in his ministry among the Jews and those of the house of Israel, endeavoring to teach them the everlasting gospel and call them unto repentance;
26 And yet, notwithstanding his mighty works, and miracles, and proclamation of the truth, in great power and authority, there were but few who hearkened to his voice, and rejoiced in his presence, and received salvation at his hands.
27 But his ministry among those who were dead was limited to the brief time intervening between the crucifixion and his resurrection;
28 And I wondered at the words of Peter—wherein he said that the Son of God preached unto the spirits in prison, who sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah—and how it was possible for him to preach to those spirits and perform the necessary labor among them in so short a time.
29 And as I wondered, my eyes were opened, and my understanding quickened, and I perceived that the Lord went not in person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them;
30 But behold, from among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead.
31 And the chosen messengers went forth to declare the acceptable day of the Lord and proclaim liberty to the captives who were bound, even unto all who would repent of their sins and receive the gospel.
There were aspects of the Savior’s great act of the Atonement that only He was capable of accomplishing. King Benjamin taught, “He shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people” (Mosiah 3:7). A well-beloved hymn eloquently states the truth that “there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin, He only could unlock the gates of heav’n and let us in.” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught, “[Jesus Christ] was apparently the only one sufficiently humble and willing in the premortal council to be foreordained to that service.” Only Christ was qualified to suffer in Gethsemane and on the cross for our sins, sufferings, and infirmities.
There are other aspects of the Savior’s Atonement, however, that He actively invites His disciples—the living and the dead—to participate in as His co-laborers. The scriptures also speak of “saviors on Mount Zion” (Obadiah 1:21; Mosiah 15:15-18; D&C 76:66). In his vision, Joseph F. Smith was shown that “the Lord went not in person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them” (D&C 138:29). Instead, the Lord “organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead” (D&C 138:30). The Lord appointed His covenant disciples in the spirit world to carry on His work. His time in the spirit world was “limited to the brief time intervening between the crucifixion and his resurrection” (D&C 138:27). The Savior instead spent His limited time in the spirit world organizing the spirits of the righteous into a great army of missionaries, commissioned and sent forth to teach the gospel. This missionary force included some of the most venerable and powerful preachers of the gospel ever to walk the earth (D&C 138:38–49).
D&C 138:32–37
32 Thus was the gospel preached to those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets.
33 These were taught faith in God, repentance from sin, vicarious baptism for the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands,
34 And all other principles of the gospel that were necessary for them to know in order to qualify themselves that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
35 And so it was made known among the dead, both small and great, the unrighteous as well as the faithful, that redemption had been wrought through the sacrifice of the Son of God upon the cross.
36 Thus was it made known that our Redeemer spent his time during his sojourn in the world of spirits, instructing and preparing the faithful spirits of the prophets who had testified of him in the flesh;
37 That they might carry the message of redemption unto all the dead, unto whom he could not go personally, because of their rebellion and transgression, that they through the ministration of his servants might also hear his words.
The ordinances and principles of the gospel are the same for the living and the dead. The primary difference in the way the gospel is taught in mortality and in the spirit world is the way the ordinances of the gospel are carried out. For those who have laid down their mortal bodies, a living person acts as proxy in making covenants. The covenants themselves may be accepted or rejected by the deceased, just as they are here on earth. The act of performing a proxy baptism only opens the door to salvation for a departed soul; that soul must choose to enter through the door themselves.
On a separate occasion, President Joseph F. Smith taught, “The same principles that apply to the living apply also to the dead. . . . And so we are baptized for those that are dead. The living cannot be made perfect without the dead, nor the dead be made perfect without the living. There has got to be a welding together and a joining together of parents and children and children and parents until the whole chain of God’s family shall be welded together into one chain, and they shall all become the family of God and His Christ.” Baptism for the remission of sins was instituted in the time of Adam (Moses 6:64–66); however Joseph Fielding Smith explains that vicarious baptism for the dead was only available after the Savior completed His visit to the spirit world,
There was no baptism for the dead before the days of the Son of God and until after he had risen from the dead, because he was the first who declared the gospel unto the dead. No one else preached unto the dead until Christ went to them and opened the doors, and from that time for the elders of Israel, who have passed away, have had the privilege of going to the spirit world and declaring the message of salvation.
D&C 138:38–52
38 Among the great and mighty ones who were assembled in this vast congregation of the righteous were Father Adam, the Ancient of Days and father of all,
39 And our glorious Mother Eve, with many of her faithful daughters who had lived through the ages and worshiped the true and living God.
40 Abel, the first martyr, was there, and his brother Seth, one of the mighty ones, who was in the express image of his father, Adam.
41 Noah, who gave warning of the flood; Shem, the great high priest; Abraham, the father of the faithful; Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, the great law-giver of Israel;
42 And Isaiah, who declared by prophecy that the Redeemer was anointed to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that were bound, were also there.
43 Moreover, Ezekiel, who was shown in vision the great valley of dry bones, which were to be clothed upon with flesh, to come forth again in the resurrection of the dead, living souls;
44 Daniel, who foresaw and foretold the establishment of the kingdom of God in the latter days, never again to be destroyed nor given to other people;
45 Elias, who was with Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration;
46 And Malachi, the prophet who testified of the coming of Elijah—of whom also Moroni spake to the Prophet Joseph Smith, declaring that he should come before the ushering in of the great and dreadful day of the Lord—were also there.
47 The Prophet Elijah was to plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to their fathers,
48 Foreshadowing the great work to be done in the temples of the Lord in the dispensation of the fulness of times, for the redemption of the dead, and the sealing of the children to their parents, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse and utterly wasted at his coming.
49 All these and many more, even the prophets who dwelt among the Nephites and testified of the coming of the Son of God, mingled in the vast assembly and waited for their deliverance,
50 For the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage.
51 These the Lord taught, and gave them power to come forth, after his resurrection from the dead, to enter into his Father’s kingdom, there to be crowned with immortality and eternal life,
52 And continue thenceforth their labor as had been promised by the Lord, and be partakers of all blessings which were held in reserve for them that love him.
While section 138 is certainly not the last addition to the Doctrine and Covenants in our time, verses 38–52 serve as a moving coda to the entire scriptural canon. President Joseph F. Smith was shown again familiar scriptural figures, beginning with Adam and Eve. Redeemed from their fallen state (Moses 5:9–11), the Mother and Father of all mankind stood among their righteous posterity (D&C 138:38–39). After all their struggles and sacrifice, it is wonderful to know that the story of their family continues on in glorious fashion. Listed just behind Adam and Eve are “many of [Eve’s] faithful daughters who lived through the ages and worshiped the true and living God” (D&C 138:39). Though they are not mentioned by name, this group undoubtedly included Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, Rachel, Deborah, Hannah, Ruth, Esther, and many other righteous women from the millennia before Jesus Christ.
Abel, the first son of Adam and Eve, who was murdered by Cain, was seen alongside Seth, the heir to the priesthood of the first family (D&C 107:42–43). Shem, a son of Noah identified as a “great high priest,” was also in the group (D&C 138:41). Prophets from the Old Testament, from Abraham to Malachi, rejoiced among the multitude to see the Redeemer arrive in the spirit world. The Prophet Elias, whose precise identity remains unknown but is likely John the Baptist, who appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1–4, see also JST Matthew 17:10-14).
President Smith also notes the presence of “the prophets who dwelt among the Nephites and testified of the coming of the Son of God” (D&C 138:49). Surely Lehi, Nephi, Jacob, Enos, King Benjamin, Alma the Elder, Alma the Younger, and Helaman joined the congregation of the righteous in the spirit world. The Prophet Abinadi, condemned to a tragic death on earth, returned triumphantly to the spirit world to preach anew to the spirits there. The sons of Mosiah, among the finest missionaries of any dispensation, received a new call, this time to preach among the congregations of the wicked in the spirit world. President Smith notes that these righteous souls “looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage” (D&C 138:50). However, these mighty men and women knew that before they were reunited with their physical bodies, they must join in the great rescue of the spirits who remained in bondage to sin. The Savior organized the greatest group of missionaries seen on either side of the veil for the mission to spirit prison.
D&C 138:53–56
53 The Prophet Joseph Smith, and my father, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and other choice spirits who were reserved to come forth in the fulness of times to take part in laying the foundations of the great latter-day work,
54 Including the building of the temples and the performance of ordinances therein for the redemption of the dead, were also in the spirit world.
55 I observed that they were also among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God.
56 Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.
In Doctrine and Covenants 138:53–56, the vision shifts in time to show the spirit world in Joseph F. Smith’s own time. There, he beheld Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, and the other Presidents of the Church Joseph F. Smith had served under. We have no doubt that, like the Old Testament prophets, many of the faithful women of this dispensation—including Emma Smith, Lucy Mack Smith, Mary Fielding Smith, Mary Ann Angel Young, Leonora Taylor, Phebe Woodruff, and other righteous women—labor alongside their companions in the spirit world.
There is an added level of poignance to this portion of the vision, since Joseph F. Smith lost his father, Hyrum Smith, when he was only five years old. President Smith once recorded in his journal that thinking of his childhood in Nauvoo invoked “sacred memories of the past, made doubly and at the same time Dear and dreadful, by the Sacred resting place of my Fathers Dust, and the Dreadful Scenes that once, (and to my memory Clear as day) brought gloom and Horror upon the honest world and filled 10 thousand Hearts with grief and woe!”
In his vision just weeks before the end of his mortal life, President Smith saw his father once again, alongside his uncle, the two martyred testators of this dispensation (D&C 135:5). In President Smith’s great vision, all of the great prophets of ancient and modern times united with one purpose: to bring salvation to the dead by preaching the gospel to them by building temples of the Lord for their work. With the end of his time on earth so near, President Smith’s vision of great prophets and missionaries assured him that though one phase of his labor was about to come to a close, an entirely new phase was about to begin.
Even before Doctrine and Covenants 138 was received, President Smith expressed his conviction that the mission of earthly prophets does not end with death. He taught on a separate occasion:
This gospel revealed to the Prophet Joseph is already being preached to the spirits in prison, to those who have passed away from this stage of action into the spirit world without the knowledge of the gospel. Joseph Smith is preaching that gospel to them. So is Hyrum Smith. So is Brigham Young, and so are all the faithful apostles that lived in this dispensation under the administration of the Prophet Joseph. They are there, having carried with them from here the holy Priesthood that they received under authority, and which was conferred upon them in the flesh; they are preaching the gospel to the spirits in prison; for Christ, when his body lay in the tomb, went to proclaim liberty to the captives and opened the prison doors to them that were bound. Not only are these engaged in that work but hundreds and thousands of others; the elders that have died in the mission field have not finished their missions, but they are continuing them in the spirit world.
D&C 138:57–60
57 I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead.
58 The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God,
59 And after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their works, for they are heirs of salvation.
60 Thus was the vision of the redemption of the dead revealed to me, and I bear record, and I know that this record is true, through the blessing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, even so. Amen.
We do not know if the last few verses of President Smith’s vision (D&C 138:57–60) constitute a separate vision or a continuation of his vision of the “noble and great ones” sent to earth in the last days (D&C 138:55). It is possible that the last part of the vision, in which he “beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption” (D&C 138:57), was a reference to his own departed son Hyrum Mack Smith, who had passed away only months earlier. It is also likely that he beheld the faithful women of this dispensation, including Hyrum Mack’s wife, Ida Bowman Smith, who died only weeks before President Smith’s vision. His son and daughter-in-law were reunited in death and continue their work together, joining the spirits who died before them who are preaching beyond the veil.
President Smith’s vision filled in a vital part of the plan of salvation. Just as the vision of the three degrees of glory (D&C 76) explained the final destination of all men and women, Joseph F. Smith’s 1918 vision taught that righteous men and women can expect to continue their labors in preaching the gospel in the next life. In mortality and in the world of spirits, peace for the righteous comes in knowing they are on the path to exaltation and eternal life. But the labors of the righteous continue, as they go on in the work of God, committed to assisting in the great work and glory “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).
Footnotes
