Doctrine and Covenants 27
Historical Context
In August of 1830, Newel and Sally Knight visited the home of Joseph and Emma Smith in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Emma and Sally had both been baptized, but because of the outbreak of persecution in the area during the summer of that year, neither had been confirmed a member of the Church. Joseph later wrote, “As neither his [Newel’s] wife nor mine had been as yet confirmed, it was proposed that we should confirm them, and partake together of the sacrament, before he and his wife should leave us.—In order to prepare for this; I set out to go to procure some wine for the occasion, but had gone only a short distance when I was met by a heavenly messenger, and received the following revelation.”
During this time, Joseph wrote the first paragraph—roughly consisting of verses 1–5, 14, and parts of verses 5, 15, and 18—of Doctrine and Covenants 27. This first part of the revelation was recorded in the manuscript revelation books and included in the 1833 Book of Commandments (Book of Commandments, 1833, 60, JSP). The rest of the revelation was written “in the September following.” This second part made its earliest appearance in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants when the two revelations were combined to create the current text in the Doctrine and Covenants. Section 27 is the last revelation that was received in Harmony, Pennsylvania, and recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. In September 1830 Joseph and Emma left their first home in Harmony, never to return.
See Historical Introduction, “Revelation, circa August 1830 [D&C 27],” p. 35, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 10, 2020, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-circa-august-1830-dc-27/1
Verse-by-Verse Commentary
Doctrine and Covenants 27:1–4
1 Listen to the voice of Jesus Christ, your Lord, your God, and your Redeemer, whose word is quick and powerful.
2 For, behold, I say unto you, that it mattereth not what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink when ye partake of the sacrament, if it so be that ye do it with an eye single to my glory—remembering unto the Father my body which was laid down for you, and my blood which was shed for the remission of your sins.
3 Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, that you shall not purchase wine neither strong drink of your enemies;
4 Wherefore, you shall partake of none except it is made new among you; yea, in this my Father’s kingdom which shall be built up on the earth.
This revelation allowed for substances other than wine or bread to be used as sacramental emblems in worship services in the Church. In February 1833, Joseph Smith received the revelation now known as the Word of Wisdom. In the revelation, the Lord taught “that inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or Strong drink among you behold it is not good, neither mete in the sight of your Father, only in assembling yourselves in your Sacraments before him, & behold this should be wine of your own make.” Sanctioned by the instructions given in this revelation, the practice among today’s Latter-day Saints is to use water instead of wine in their sacramental services. The teachings found in Doctrine and Covenants 27 opened the door for this change in practice.
However, the revelation did not condemn the use of wine; it only opened the door for other substances to be used instead. The Saints continued to use wine in the sacrament until the early twentieth century. After receiving this revelation, Joseph Smith noted, “In obedience to the above we prepared some wine of our own make and held our meeting. . . . We partook of the sacrament, after which we confirmed these two sisters [Emma Smith and Sally Knight] into the Church, and spent the evening in a glorious manner. The Spirit of the Lord was poured out upon us. We praised the God of Israel, and rejoiced exceedingly.”
Doctrine and Covenants 27:5–9
5 Behold, this is wisdom in me; wherefore, marvel not, for the hour cometh that I will drink of the fruit of the vine with you on the earth, and with Moroni, whom I have sent unto you to reveal the Book of Mormon, containing the fulness of my everlasting gospel, to whom I have committed the keys of the record of the stick of Ephraim;
6 And also with Elias, to whom I have committed the keys of bringing to pass the restoration of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began, concerning the last days;
7 And also John the son of Zacharias, which Zacharias he (Elias) visited and gave promise that he should have a son, and his name should be John, and he should be filled with the spirit of Elias;
8 Which John I have sent unto you, my servants, Joseph Smith, Jun., and Oliver Cowdery, to ordain you unto the first priesthood which you have received, that you might be called and ordained even as Aaron;
9 And also Elijah, unto whom I have committed the keys of the power of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, that the whole earth may not be smitten with a curse;
In these verses, the Lord renews a promise He made in the Gospels of Mark and Luke: that He will return and drink of the fruit of the vine with His faithful disciples “in the kingdom of God” after “the kingdom of God shall come” (Mark 14:25; Luke 22:18). He also provides a list of those who will be present with Him at this prophesied of day. This list of individuals is the most comprehensive register of the angels involved in the Restoration. Along with a second account Joseph Smith gave in Doctrine and Covenants 128:19–21, this list provides us with a view into the different prophets and apostles of past eras who participated in the opening of this last dispensation.
Several important scriptural connections are made in the revelation. Moroni is identified as one of the attendees at this meeting with the Savior, and the Book of Mormon is directly identified as the stick of Ephraim, the sacred record of the descendants of the patriarch Joseph. This record was seen in vision by the Prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37:15–28). A second visitor is identified as Elias. The 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants adds to this figure the title of “the restorer of all things.” Elias is a title used to identify several different prophets. The Elias in these verses is the angel who visited Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, and informed Zacharias that he and his wife Elisabeth would have a son. At the time, the angel called himself Gabriel (Luke 1:5–19). Later in his life, Joseph Smith identified Gabriel as the ancient prophet Noah.
An angel identified as Elias also appeared in the Kirtland Temple and gave Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery “the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham” (D&C 110:12). Further adding to the confusion is the fact that Elias is the Greek form of the name Elijah, and in some instances in the New Testament, Elias does directly refer to the prophet Elijah (Luke 4:25–26; James 5:17; Matthew 17:1–4). At the same time, Elias is used as a title for a forerunner (JST Matthew 11:13–15; 17:10–14). But because no single angel brought back all of the keys of this dispensation, Elias can be used as a general term to describe all of the angels of the Restoration. The Lord’s words in the New Testament support this usage of the term; in the Joseph Smith Translation of Matthew 17:13–14, the Savior asked, “Who is Elias?” and answered, “Behold this is Elias, whom I send to prepare the way before me.”
John the Baptist, who previously appeared to Joseph and Oliver Cowdery, is mentioned in these verses as well. The Joseph Smith Translation of John 1:20–28 associates John the Baptist with the title of Elias and discusses the concept of multiple individuals holding the title. The passage explains that John “denied not that he was Elias; but confessed, saying, I am not the Christ. And they asked him; How then art thou Elias? And he said, I am not that Elias who was to restore all things.” The Savior also identified John the Baptist as an Elias (Matthew 17:10–13). In Doctrine and Covenants 27:9, the Lord also distinctly refers to Elijah, marking him as a different person than Elias.
Doctrine and Covenants 27:10–11
10 And also with Joseph and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, your fathers, by whom the promises remain;
11 And also with Michael, or Adam, the father of all, the prince of all, the ancient of days;
In verses 10 and 11, the Lord identifies more of those who will drink of the fruit of the vine with Him, including the patriarchs Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. The Lord also identifies Adam as the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:13, 22) and as Michael, the archangel who led the forces of righteousness during the War in Heaven (Revelation 12:7–9). The visitation of Moroni and the identification of Michael with a mortal, Adam, mark the beginning of the revelation to Joseph Smith that angels can be human messengers, or humans in different stages of eternal progression. Joseph would later teach that angels could be “resurrected personages, having bodies of flesh and bone” and other types of being existed in heaven such as “the spirits of just men made perfect, they who are not resurrected, but inherit the same glory” (D&C 129:1–3). For example, Abraham, mentioned in verse 10, is later spoken of as having “received all things,” and the Lord declares that Abraham “hath entered into his exaltation and sitteth upon his throne” (D&C 132:29).
Because Adam is mentioned as one who will be present at this future meeting of the drinking of the fruit of the vine, this appearance is often connected with another revelation given to Joseph in 1838. While visiting a Church settlement at Spring Hill, Missouri, Joseph prophesied that the area was “named by the mouth of [the] Lord and was called Adam Ondi Awmen [Adam-ondi-Ahman], because said he it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit as spoken of by Daniel the Prophet.”
Doctrine and Covenants 27:12
12 And also with Peter, and James, and John, whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles, and especial witnesses of my name, and bear the keys of your ministry and of the same things which I revealed unto them;
This passage is the scriptural companion to Doctrine and Covenants 13, which describes John the Baptist bestowing on Joseph and Oliver the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood. At some time before this revelation (D&C 27) was given, the Lord sent the ancient Apostles Peter, James, and John to ordain and confirm Joseph and Oliver as Apostles and to commit priesthood keys into their hands. We do not know the exact time or circumstances of the appearance of Peter, James, and John, nor is there an official account of their appearance. But the keys bestowed by these three Apostles contained the power to organize that which was necessary to bring about the “dispensation of the fulness of times,” which the Apostle Paul himself taught would “gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth” (Ephesians 1:10).
During His mortal ministry Jesus launched his kingdom on the earth—the kingdom which would eventually consume all of the kingdoms of this world and “stand for ever” (Daniel 2:44). Before his death he gave to Peter, James, and John what He called “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16:19; D&C 7:7). From the Lord’s explanation in this section it is evident that these kingdom keys conferred during the initial kingdom inauguration phase of Jesus’s mortal ministry were conspicuously connected to, and in some sense preparatory for, the consummation of His kingdom during his millennial reign. The Lord later explained that under the direction of Joseph Smith and all those who would subsequently hold these keys, the gospel would “roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands” that Christ’s “kingdom may go forth upon the earth, that the inhabitants thereof may receive it” in preparation for Jesus’s return in “the brightness of his glory, to meet the kingdom of God which is set up on the earth” (D&C 65:2, 5). And in Christ’s kingdom, the Lord is explaining here in vs. 13, all things “which are in heaven, and which are on earth” will ultimately be gathered together “in one.”
The Apostle Erastus Snow likewise taught, “This Priesthood conferred upon them by those three messengers embraces within it all offices of the Priesthood from the highest to the lowest. As has been often taught us that the keys of the presidency of this Apostleship represent the highest authority conferred upon man in the flesh. And by virtue of these keys of Priesthood the Prophet Joseph from time to time proceeded to ordain and set in order the Priesthood in its various quorums as we see it today in the Church.”
Doctrine and Covenants 27:14–18
14 And also with all those whom my Father hath given me out of the world.
15 Wherefore, lift up your hearts and rejoice, and gird up your loins, and take upon you my whole armor, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, having done all, that ye may be able to stand.
16 Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, which I have sent mine angels to commit unto you;
17 Taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked;
18 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of my Spirit, which I will pour out upon you, and my word which I reveal unto you, and be agreed as touching all things whatsoever ye ask of me, and be faithful until I come, and ye shall be caught up, that where I am ye shall be also. Amen.
These verses reveal that along with the collection of prophets and apostles from past dispensations, the last group of people given to drink of the fruit of the vine includes every Saint whom the Father has given to the Savior from “out of the world” (verse 14). Simply put, every worthy person who has given their life to the Savior —those living and those who have already passed beyond the veil—will be granted the privilege of drinking of the fruit of the vine with Jesus Christ. This event, which will almost certainly occur as one of the grand events associated with the Second Coming of Christ the king, will include as invited guests all who have overcome the world and become part of the kingdom of God on earth.
Recognizing the obstacles and dangers between here and our reunion with Him, the Lord also reiterates a teaching of the Apostle Paul: to put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:12–18). To this counsel the Lord adds the admonition to “be agreed as touching all things whatsoever ye ask of me,” thus tasking the Saints with finding unity in their prayers and their aims.
Footnotes
