Doctrine and Covenants 89-92
“A Principle with Promise”
August 18 - August 24
scripture
quote
Be Counseled by the Lord's Chosen Prophet
<p>...[S]tudying ancient and modern scripture connects us to God. The Lord cautioned Church members to “beware how they hold [the prophets] lest they are accounted as a light thing, and are brought under condemnation thereby, and stumble and fall” (D&C 90:5). To avoid this sobering condemnation, we should diligently read the scriptures as well as Church magazines and websites that enable us to “be counseled in an intimate and personal way by [the Lord’s] chosen prophet.</p>
Anthony D. Perkins, “Beware Concerning Yourselves”, October 2012 General Conference
commentaries
Section 90: Context
<p>There is nothing in the historical records to tell us what problem(s) section 90 resolved—nothing but the revelation itself.<a id="_ftnref1" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a> In such cases it is extra important to read it carefully. It is full of financial instructions. It is safe to conclude that Joseph was concerned about the expensive commands the Lord had given to buy land in Missouri, establish a storehouse, print the revelations, and gather Israel to Zion.</p> <p>The revelation was given, at least in part, to answer Joseph’s prayers for forgiveness, mentioned in verse 1, which also says that prayers of Joseph’s brethren that have reached the Lord’s ears. It seems that those brethren were Sidney Rigdon, who had been serving as Joseph’s counselor, and Frederick Williams, who just a few weeks earlier received a revelation through Joseph that he was “called to be a Councillor & scribe unto my Servent Joseph.”<a id="_ftnref2" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn2">[2]</a> The Lord refers “again” to these “brethren” by name in verse 6.</p> <p>Section 90 blesses those who bear the keys of the kingdom, the authority to exercise the priesthood to govern the church of Jesus Christ. It grants them the oracles—the revelations to govern the Church—and commands the Saints not to take them lightly.</p> <p>The revelation takes the next step in forming what section 81 called the “Presidency of the High Priesthood,” or what became known by 1835 as the First Presidency.<a id="_ftnref3" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn3">[3]</a> The Lord forgives Sidney Rigdon and Frederick Williams and makes them equal with Joseph in holding the keys of the kingdom. Verse 9 nevertheless clarifies that Joseph presides over his counselors, who preside over the earth and are commanded by the Lord to spread the gospel and gather Israel in anticipation of His coming.</p> <p>Beginning in verse 13, the Lord gives the Presidency their day-to-day duties: to finish revising the Old Testament, to preside over the Church and the School of the Prophets (see section 88), to receive revelations as needed, to study and learn all they can, and to preside over and set the Church in order.</p> <p>Verses 13 through the end include the kind of revelation needed to set the Church in order. Here the Lord micromanages his affairs with specific instructions about a variety of people, property, and finances. Joseph and his counselors are reproved for their pride and directed to be better. The Church is to provide a home for Frederick Williams, who had consecrated his farm to obey the same revelation that called him to be a counselor to Joseph. Joseph’s parents are to live on Frederick’s farm, Sidney to remain where he lives, and the bishop to find an agent both faithful and wealthy enough to help pay the Church’s debts.</p> <p>The Lord refers to the United Firm’s covenant (section 82) in verse 24, which is itself a covenant. In verse 25 he counsels Joseph’s father to conserve his financial resources by not assuming responsibility for more people than he can afford in his advancing years. Vienna Jacques, a converted Bostonian who had gathered with the Saints and consecrated her considerable wealth, is promised an inheritance in Zion for her faithfulness.</p> <p>Not so with William McLellin, whom the Lord rebukes after he forsook two mission calls and circumvented the law of consecration to purchase two lots on Main Street in Independence, Missouri (see sections 66, 75, and 85).<a id="_ftnref4" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn4">[4]</a> The Lord also reproved Church leaders in Zion who were badgering Joseph to come to Missouri to live.</p> <p>Ten days after the revelation, a council of high priests convened. Joseph ordained Sidney Rigdon and Frederick Williams “by the laying on of hands to be equal with him in holding the Keys of the Kingdom and also to the Presidency of the high Priesthood.”<a id="_ftnref5" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn5">[5]</a></p> <p>The pressures of building Zion weighed on Joseph. One can hear subtextually that Joseph did not know how to resolve some pressing problems, but the Lord did. He coached Joseph how to cope, strategize, delegate, prepare, and press forward. The revelation reassured Joseph that the keys were his forever and he would receive revelations as needed. Section 90 treated Joseph’s anxiety, uncertainty, and stress. Zion “shall not be removed out of her place. I, the Lord, have spoken it” (D&C 90:37). If the Lord was so cool and confident in Zion, Joseph could be too. He would need that reassurance. Things in Zion were about to get much worse.</p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn1" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> “<a href="https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-8-march-1833-dc-90/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Revelation, 8 March 1833 [D&C 90]</a>,” p. [1], The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed October 9, 2020.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn2" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> Revelation 5 January 1834 [1833], Frederick G. Williams Papers, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn3" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref3">[3]</a> “<a href="https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-15-march-1832-dc-81/2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Revelation, 15 March 1832 [D&C 81]</a>,” p. 18, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed October 9, 2020.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn4" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref4">[4]</a> William McLellin to relatives, August 4, 1832, typescript, Community of Christ Archives, Independence, Missouri.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn5" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref5">[5]</a> “<a href="https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/minutes-18-march-1833/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Minutes, 18 March 1833</a>,” p. 16, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed October 9, 2020; “<a href="https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/license-for-frederick-g-williams-20-march-1833/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">License for Frederick G. Williams, 20 March 1833</a>,” p. [1], The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed October 9, 2020.</p> </div>
D&C Contexts by Steven C. Harper
“The Promise of Diligence”
<p>The most quoted verse in D&C 90 is “Search diligently, pray always and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenants wherewith ye have covenanted one with another” (D&C 90:24). The verse is a call to diligence with the promise that all of life’s experiences will work together for good.</p> <p>Take, for example, the life of Robert Gardner Jr., who journeyed across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. On the day of his arrival in October 1847, he recorded, “I unyoked my oxen and sat down on my broken wagon tongue, and said I could not go another day’s journey.” Yet as his life went on, he was asked to perform other journeys and went. After serving a mission in Canada, he—</p> <blockquote> <p>returned to his family, and through hard work and diligence once again established himself and began to prosper.</p> <p>Just a few years later Brother Gardner was entertaining some friends at his farm in Millcreek in the Salt Lake Valley. One remarked, “I am glad to see you so well recovered from being broke. You are nearly as well off as you were before you lost your property and went on your mission.”</p> <p>Robert’s history records: “My reply was; ‘Yes I was well off once and it all went off, and I am almost afraid of another [mission] call.’ Sure enough, a few hours later some of my neighbors, who had been to a meeting in Salt Lake City called in and told me that my name was amongst a number of names who were called today to go south on a mission to make a new settlement and raise cotton. We were to start right away.” He records, <em>“I looked and spit, took off my hat and scratched [my head] and thought and said; ‘All right.</em>’”<a id="_ftnref1" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a></p> </blockquote> <p>That is diligence. It is continuing on in faith, confident that in due time of the Lord “all things work together for our good” (D&C 90:24).</p> <p>President Dieter F. Uchtdorf in his April 2010 general conference address told of a study that showed the long-term effects of waiting:</p> <blockquote> <p>In the 1960s, a professor at Stanford University began a modest experiment testing the willpower of four-year-old children. He placed before them a large marshmallow and then told them they could eat it right away or, if they waited for 15 minutes, they could have two marshmallows.</p> <p>He then left the children alone and watched what happened behind a two-way mirror. Some of the children ate the marshmallow immediately; some could wait only a few minutes before giving in to temptation. Only 30 percent were able to wait. ...</p> <p>As time went on, he kept track of the children and began to notice an interesting correlation: the children who could not wait struggled later in life and had more behavioral problems, while those who waited tended to be more positive and better motivated, have higher grades and incomes, and have healthier relationships.</p> <p>What started as a simple experiment with children and marshmallows became a landmark study suggesting that the ability to wait—to be patient—was a key character trait that might predict later success in life.<a id="_ftnref2" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn2">[2]</a></p> </blockquote> <p>Diligence coupled with patience, waiting upon the Lord, is a prescription for a happy life. The Prophet Joseph learned this lesson as the pressures of building Zion weighed heavily upon him. This revelation reassured him that the keys were his forever and he would receive revelations as needed, and that no matter his concerns, Zion “shall not be removed out of her place” (D&C 90:37).</p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn1" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> Robert Gardner Jr., “Self History and Journal,” 35, in Steven E. Snow, “Go On with Our Lives,” <em>Ensign</em>, May 2009.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn2" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Continue in Patience,” <em>Ensign</em>, May 2010.</p> </div>
Insights and Stories of the Doctrine and Covenants by Susan Easton Black
Commentary on D&C 90:1–5
<p>It is common in revelations for the Lord to recognize the human nature of His servants by forgiving them of their sins (D&C 90:1). The Lord also asserted Joseph Smith’s leadership in these verses by affirming that the “keys of this kingdom shall never be taken from you” (D&C 90:3). These words offer an interesting comparison to earlier declarations of the Lord. In an 1830 revelation the Lord said of Joseph Smith, “I have given him the keys of the mysteries, and the revelations which are sealed, until I shall appoint unto them another in his stead” (D&C 28:7). In a revelation given a few months after the 1830 revelation, Joseph was told he held “the keys of the mystery of those things which have been sealed”—but only “if he abide in me, and if not, another will I plant in his stead” (D&C 35:18). In a February 1831 revelation Joseph was appointed to receive commandments and revelations for the Church, but with the same condition as the previous revelation: “if he abide in me” (D&C 43:3). Finally, in a revelation given in September 1831, Joseph was told he held the “keys of the mysteries of the kingdom . . . inasmuch as he obeyeth mine ordinances” (D&C 65:5).</p> <p>In contrast to these earlier revelations, the Lord sets no conditions on Joseph in verses 1–5, indicating His increased trust in Joseph Smith fulfilling the role of prophet, seer, and revelator. Later the Lord gave Joseph an even greater assurance of trust when He declared, “Verily I seal upon you your exaltation, and prepare a throne for you in the kingdom of my Father, with Abraham your father” (D&C 132:49). By comparing the verses in these revelations, it appears that even Joseph Smith went through a period of probation and testing as he grew into his prophetic calling. However, as indicated in section 90, he still holds the keys of this dispensation and acts as the presiding figure over all the prophets and apostles, and other servants called in the last days.</p>
Doctrine and Covenants Minute by Casey Paul Griffiths
