Doctrine and Covenants 33
Historical Introduction
The revelation in section 33 was given to Ezra Thayer and Northrop Sweet in early October 1830, shortly after both were baptized into the Church. In 1862 Ezra wrote that before this revelation was given he saw a vision in which “a man came and brought me a roll of paper and presented it to me, and also a trumpet and told me to blow it. I told him that I never blowed any in my life. He said you can blow it, try it. I put it in my mouth and blowed on it, and it made the most beautiful sound that I ever heard. The roll of paper was the revelation on me and Northrop Sweet.” Ezra later said that the man he saw in vision was Oliver Cowdery.
Both Ezra Thayer and Northrop Sweet were baptized by Parley P. Pratt in October 1830 before this revelation was given. Ezra was so enthusiastic about his new faith that he gathered a large group of people to hear Joseph Smith preach. He later recorded that the meeting filled his barn “and some could not get in” and that Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, John Whitmer, Peter Whitmer Jr., Parley P. Pratt, and Ziba Peterson all preached the gospel “with great power.” Northrop Sweet stayed in the Church for just under a year. He moved with other Church members to Ohio, where he was ordained an elder in June 1831, but he left the Church shortly afterward. He now holds the distinction of founding the first known sect to break off from the Church. The group, headed by Sweet, was known as “The Pure Church of Christ” and dissolved soon after its creation.
Historical Introduction, Revelation, October 1830–B [D&C 33]
Verse-by-Verse Commentary
D&C 33:1–6
1 Behold, I say unto you, my servants Ezra and Northrop, open ye your ears and hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, whose word is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow, soul and spirit; and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
2 For verily, verily, I say unto you that ye are called to lift up your voices as with the sound of a trump, to declare my gospel unto a crooked and perverse generation.
3 For behold, the field is white already to harvest; and it is the eleventh hour, and the last time that I shall call laborers into my vineyard.
4 And my vineyard has become corrupted every whit; and there is none which doeth good save it be a few; and they err in many instances because of priestcrafts, all having corrupt minds.
5 And verily, verily, I say unto you, that this church have I established and called forth out of the wilderness.
6 And even so will I gather mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, even as many as will believe in me, and hearken unto my voice.
The Lord’s revelation to Ezra Thayer and Northrop Sweet contains several important statements about the current dispensation and its importance in the overall plan of salvation. The Lord refers to the time of the Restoration as the “eleventh hour” (D&C 33:3), a reference to the parable of the laborers found in Matthew 20:1–16. During the time in which the Savior lived, the first hour of the day was designated to begin at sunrise, or around six o’clock in the morning. The eleventh hour came at 5:00 p.m., near the end of the workday. In the parable, the Lord of the vineyard, who represents the Savior, finds a group of laborers still idle during the eleventh hour and recruits them to work in the vineyard. Even the laborers who work only during the last hour of the day received the same wages as those who labored all day.
By referencing this parable, the Lord communicates to these two disciples the urgency that must accompany the work of the last days. Only a few years after this revelation, the Church began to be called the Church of the Latter-day Saints, before it received its full and final name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (D&C 115:4). The Lord directly tells Ezra and Northrop that this is the last time He will call laborers into the vineyard, marking the time of the Restoration as the last great period of harvest before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The Lord has wisely withheld precise information about when the end times will occur; He is simply reminding his servants that it is soon and there is little time for hesitation.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland emphasized this point when he expounded on the parable of the laborer in an April 2012 general conference talk. Knowing that the time is getting late, as explained in this revelation and others, Elder Holland pleaded, “If you have made covenants, keep them. If you haven’t made them, make them. If you have made them and broken them, repent and repair them. It is never too late so long as the Master of the vineyard says there is time. Please listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit telling you right now, this very moment, that you should accept the atoning gift of the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy the fellowship of His labor. Don’t delay. It’s getting late.”
D&C 33:7–11
7 Yea, verily, verily, I say unto you, that the field is white already to harvest; wherefore, thrust in your sickles, and reap with all your might, mind, and strength.
8 Open your mouths and they shall be filled, and you shall become even as Nephi of old, who journeyed from Jerusalem in the wilderness.
9 Yea, open your mouths and spare not, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your backs, for lo, I am with you.
10 Yea, open your mouths and they shall be filled, saying: Repent, repent, and prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;
11 Yea, repent and be baptized, every one of you, for a remission of your sins; yea, be baptized even by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost.
Just as the Lord admonished these two young missionaries to open their mouths and share the gospel, Ezra Thayer had been touched when he heard a missionary—Hyrum Smith—bear witness of the Book of Mormon. Before he joined the Church, Ezra had initially been skeptical and angry over several of his relatives investigating the new book of scripture. Despite his misgivings, Ezra traveled with his brother from their home in Auburn, New York, to the Smith farm near Palmyra, a distance of about twelve miles. They arrived to find a large crowd surrounding the Smith home, and Hyrum Smith speaking to the group.
Ezra’s heart was touched when he heard Hyrum share his testimony. He later said, “Every word touched me to the inmost soul. I thought every word was pointed to me. . . . The tears rolled down my cheeks, I was very proud and stubborn. There were many there who knew me. . . . I sat until I recovered myself before I dare look up.” When the meeting ended, Hyrum handed him a copy of the Book of Mormon. “I then opened the book, and I received a shock with such exquisite joy that no pen can write and no tongue can express,” he remembered. Ezra purchased the book for fourteen shillings, and, “I opened it again and I felt a double portion of the Spirit, that I did not know whether I was in the world or not. I felt as though I was truly in heaven.” When Martin Harris, who was also in attendance, shared his testimony of the book, Ezra told him that “he need not tell me that, for I knew that it is true as well as he.”
D&C 33:12–18
12 Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and remember that they shall have faith in me or they can in nowise be saved;
13 And upon this rock I will build my church; yea, upon this rock ye are built, and if ye continue, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you.
14 And ye shall remember the church articles and covenants to keep them.
15 And whoso having faith you shall confirm in my church, by the laying on of the hands, and I will bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost upon them.
16 And the Book of Mormon and the holy scriptures are given of me for your instruction; and the power of my Spirit quickeneth all things.
17 Wherefore, be faithful, praying always, having your lamps trimmed and burning, and oil with you, that you may be ready at the coming of the Bridegroom—
18 For behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, that I come quickly. Even so. Amen.
The Lord’s counsel is particularly poignant here considering the eventual fate of Ezra Thayer and Northrop Sweet. The Lord counseled both men to build upon the rock of revelation, specifically asking them to stay true to the Articles and Covenants (D&C 20), the Book of Mormon, and the holy scriptures. Within a year of the revelation, however, Northrop was caught up in the first schism noted in the history of the Church. He followed a man named Wycam Clark who claimed to have received divine revelation that he was supposed to be the prophet of the Church. Clark’s small group, who called themselves The Pure Church of Christ, claimed that “they could carry the whole world with them by preaching ‘Mormon’ principles.” Apparently, the group held only two or three meetings before it dissolved. Apostle George A. Smith later commented that “the society would never have been known to the world, had not a few of us remembered the circumstances and told of it. . . . [It was] composed of six members . . . but that was the extent of the growth of this early schism.”
Ezra Thayer stayed in the Church for over a decade but during that time experienced a number of challenges. He failed to fill a mission that he had been called to serve with Thomas B. Marsh (see D&C 52:22). He was later reproved by the Lord, who declared, “My servant Ezra must repent of his pride, and of his selfishness,” a reference to Ezra’s struggles to live the law of consecration (D&C 56:5, 8–10). Ezra later served on the high council at Adam-ondi-Ahman and then as a member of the Council of Fifty, an advisory group for Joseph Smith’s campaign for president. After the death of Joseph Smith, he chose not to follow the Twelve and affiliated with James J. Strang’s movement for a time. He was rebaptized in 1854 but failed to stay in the Church and instead joined the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1860. Jonathan Crosby, a missionary who stopped in Rochester, New York, where Ezra was living in 1842, later wrote that Ezra “treated us well, but was dead spiritually.”
Footnotes
