Doctrine and Covenants 94-97

<p>Section 94 may make more sense after you have studied sections 95, 96, and 97, because it was actually revealed right after section 97, though for many years it was misdated and thus misplaced. It makes the most sense when it is read as an extension of section 97.<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1" title="" class="see-footnote">[1]</a> It addresses similar concerns as section 97 and says that the Lord had already revealed the pattern for the House of the Lord in Kirtland, which he did in section 95.</p> <p>In section 97 the Lord required the Saints in Missouri to build a temple. In section 94 he commands the Saints in Ohio to build a stake to Zion, beginning with another temple in Ohio, as commanded in section 88 and again in section 95. The Lord calls for the construction of an office for the First Presidency next to the temple in Kirtland, Ohio. He specifies its design and the conditions on which he will abide there. On the next lot south the Lord wants a printing office, perhaps to replace the Church’s press destroyed by a mob just a few days earlier in Missouri (unbeknownst to Joseph). The members of the Church’s building committee—Hyrum Smith, Reynolds Cahoon, and Jared Carter—are appointed lots or “inheritances” near the building sites. Verse 16 is not in the early manuscripts. Joseph probably added it as clarification before the revelation was published in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants. </p> <p>In the letter to Missouri Church leaders that included section 94, the First Presidency explained that the Saints in Zion should build similar buildings for meetings and printing the scriptures.<a href="#_ftn2" id="_ftnref2" title="" class="see-footnote">[2]</a> But the Saints in Zion were already being forced from their land and homes, and Saints in Kirtland struggled to muster enough resources to build the temple. They eventually scaled down the instructions in section 94, built one building instead of two, and used it as a printing office, a school, and office space for the First Presidency. </p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a> “<a href="https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-2-august-1833-b-dc-94/1" target="_blank">Revelation, 2 August 1833–B [D&amp;C 94]</a>,” p. 64, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 9, 2020. </p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref2" id="_ftn2" title="" class="footnote-label">[2]</a> “<a href="https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-church-leaders-in-jackson-county-missouri-6-august-1833/1" target="_blank">Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, Missouri, 6 August 1833</a>,” p. [1], The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 9, 2020.</p> </div>

<p>In the summer of 1833, the construction of the temple in Kirtland, Ohio, was beginning to gain momentum. Around this time, Church leaders in Kirtland also sent architectural plans to Church members in Zion to build another house of the Lord in Independence, Missouri. Along with these plans, they sent along the plat for the city of Zion.<a id="_ftnref1" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a> The temple was located at the center of the city of Zion&mdash;just as it was in Kirtland. The Lord refers to Kirtland in this revelation as &ldquo;the city of the stake of Zion&rdquo; (D&amp;C 94:2).</p> <p>Framing this revelation in his history, Joseph Smith wrote, &ldquo;A conference of high priests assembled in Kirtland, to take into consideration the necessity of building a school-house, for the accommodation of the elders, who should come together to receive instruction preparatory for their missions and ministry, according to a revelation on that subject, given March 8^th^. 1833 [D&amp;C 90].&rdquo;<a id="_ftnref2" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn2">[2]</a> This revelation instructed Church leaders to lay out a plan for building Kirtland up to be &ldquo;the city of the stake of Zion.&rdquo; It also gave instructions to build two additional buildings: a house for the presidency and a house for the printing of the scriptures (D&amp;C 94:3, 10). A third building designated in an earlier revelation (D&amp;C 88:119) was intended to serve as a home to the &ldquo;school of the prophets&rdquo; (D&amp;C 90:7) and became the Kirtland Temple, where the Savior, as well as Moses, Elias, and Elijah, appeared to give priesthood keys to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery (D&amp;C 110).</p> <p>This revelation was incorrectly dated to May 6, 1833, when it was first given a date in the 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. From the evidence that is available, this section appears to have been received on the same day as section 97. When the revelation was originally recorded in <em>Revelation Book 2</em>, it was given its own heading and date, recorded as &ldquo;Kirtland 2^nd August 1833.&rdquo;<a id="_ftnref3" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn3">[3]</a> However, when it was later recorded into <em>Revelation Book 1</em>, it was included as part of a letter written to Church leaders in Jackson County that is dated August 6, 1833.<a id="_ftnref4" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn4">[4]</a> When the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants was published, this revelation was apparently mistakenly inserted after Doctrine and Covenants 93 with a heading that read &ldquo;revelation given the same date.&rdquo; This wording gave the impression that the revelation was received on May 6, 1833, the same date that section 93 was received.<a id="_ftnref5" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn5">[5]</a> This mistake in the revelation&rsquo;s date continued until the 2013 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, when historians from the Joseph Smith Papers were able to correct the date.</p> <p>See &ldquo;Historical Introduction,&rdquo; Revelation, 2 August 1833&ndash;B [D&amp;C 94].</p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn1" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> See Plan of the House of the Lord, between 1 and 25 June 1833, JSP; and Plat of the City of Zion, circa Early June&ndash;25 June 1833, JSP.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn2" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> JS History, vol. A-1, p. 291, JSP. The Prophet&rsquo;s history, written several years after this revelation was given, gives the incorrect date for this revelation as May 6, 1833. According to available evidence, the revelation was most likely received later that summer on August 2, 1833.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn3" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref3">[3]</a> Revelation Book 2, p. 64, JSP.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn4" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref4">[4]</a> Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, Missouri, 6 August 1833, JSP.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn5" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref5">[5]</a> Doctrine and Covenants, 1835, p. 213, JSP.</p> </div>

<p>Christ intends the city of Zion, which was planned for Jackson County, Missouri, to be the eventual seat of the Church in the latter days. However, this revelation and others demonstrate that Christ also wanted the Saints to build additional cities before the Second Coming. The instructions sent to the Saints in Missouri even specified that after the first city of Zion was finished, they should &ldquo;lay off another in the same way and so fill up the world in these last days and let every man live in the City for this is the City of Zion.&rdquo;<a id="_ftnref1" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a> The Lord refers to Kirtland as &ldquo;the city of the stake of Zion&rdquo; (D&amp;C 94:1). In a revelation given several years later, the Lord declared that the Saints would gather &ldquo;together upon the land of Zion, and upon her stakes,&rdquo; which act &ldquo;for a defense, and refuge from the storm&rdquo; (D&amp;C 115:6).</p> <p>At the center of the city of Zion, the Saints planned to build a complex of twenty-four temples, each dedicated to different offices of the priesthood.<a id="_ftnref2" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn2">[2]</a> In the heart of Kirtland, a smaller complex was to be built. Next to the Kirtland Temple, which is referred to in verse 1 simply as &ldquo;my house,&rdquo; the Saints were commanded to build a house for the First Presidency. This house was to be similar in size to the Kirtland Temple (see D&amp;C 95:15) and would have functioned as an administrative center in which the presidency of the Church could labor. At the time this revelation was given, the presidency of the high priesthood, later called the First Presidency, were the only general officers of the Church. The offices of Apostle, Seventy, Presiding Bishopric, and others were revealed later (see D&amp;C 107). The command to build this structure reflects the priorities of the Lord. Next to His own house, a place that would provide the means for his prophets to carry out their work was also of great importance.</p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn1" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> Letterbook 1, p. 40, JSP.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn2" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> See Plat of the City of Zion, circa Early June&ndash;25 June 1833, JSP.</p> </div>

<p>These verses set the pattern of dedicating all Church buildings, whether they are temples, chapels, schools, or any other manner of structure, &ldquo;according to the order of the priesthood&rdquo; (D&amp;C 94:6). Later, when the cornerstones for the Nauvoo Temple were put into place, Joseph Smith explained in more detail what the &ldquo;order of the priesthood&rdquo; meant in regard to laying out the foundation of temples:</p> <blockquote> <p>If the strict order of the Priesthood, were carried out in the building of Temples. The first stone will be laid at the South East Corner by the First Presidency of the Church; the South West Corner should be laid next, the Third or N.W. Corner next, and the fourth or N.E. corner the last. The first presidency should lay the S.E. Corner stone, and dictate who are the proper persons to lay the other Corner Stones. If a Temple is built at a distance, and the First Presidency are not present, then the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are the persons to dictate the order for that Temple; and in the absence of the Twelve Apostles, then the Presidency of the Stake, will lay the South East Corner Stone; the Melchisedeck [<em>sic</em>] Priesthood laying the Corner Stones at the East side of the Temple; and the Lesser Priesthood, those on the West side.<a id="_ftnref1" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a></p> </blockquote> <p>Rather than reading too much into the meaning of these details, we can simply note the importance of temples and the need to involve prophets and apostles in every phase of their creation. Every temple is dedicated and rededicated under the direction of the First Presidency and the Twelve. In our time of temple building, the rapid growth in the number of temples means that at times the First Presidency delegates the responsibility of dedicating temples to members of the Quorum of the Twelve. For instance, from 1998 to 2000 more temples were dedicated than in the previous 167 years. In an unprecedented event on November 14, 1999, President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Halifax Nova Scotia Temple on the same day that President Boyd K. Packer dedicated the Regina Saskatchewan Temple.<a id="_ftnref2" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn2">[2]</a> In all cases, the structures built by the Church, whatever their purpose, are dedicated to the work of the Lord.</p> <p>Even a home can be considered a sacred space that is in need of dedicating. In the Church handbook published in 2020, dedicating a home was listed as a priesthood ordinance. The handbook states, &ldquo;Church members may have their homes dedicated by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood. Homes do not need to be owned or free of debt to be dedicated. Unlike Church buildings, homes are not consecrated to the Lord.&rdquo;<a id="_ftnref3" title="" href="#_ftn3">[3]</a> If there is no Melchizedek Priesthood holder in the home, a family can also invite a close friend, relative, or ministering brother to perform the dedication.</p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn1" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> JS History, vol. C-1, p. 1186, JSP.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn2" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> Temple Chronology accessed April 21, 2021, <a href="https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/temples/chronology/">https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/temples/chronology/</a>.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn3" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref3">[3]</a> <em>General Handbook</em>, 18.15.</p> </div>