KnoWhy #787 | April 8, 2025
How Did Saints in Kirtland Testify of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection?
Post contributed by
Scripture Central
“And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father.” Doctrine and Covenants 76:22–23
The Know
The New Testament records that shortly after His Resurrection, Jesus visited His disciples and showed them that He was alive again. According to the Apostle Paul, Peter, the Twelve Apostles, James the brother of Jesus, and a group of five hundred people had also seen and borne testimony that Jesus Christ was resurrected (see 1 Corinthians 15:5–8). This is in addition to Paul himself, who was visited by the resurrected Lord multiple times throughout his ministry.1 Similarly, when Jesus Christ visited the Nephites, “about two thousand and five hundred souls” saw, heard, and touched the resurrected Jesus (3 Nephi 17:25).
The eyewitness accounts of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection became a vital part of the early Christian message because these individuals offered firsthand testimony that Jesus was indeed the Christ and had miraculously been resurrected.2 This is one of the central tenets of Christian belief. As the Prophet Joseph Smith would testify, “The fundamental principles of our religion is the testimony of the apostles and prophets concerning Jesus Christ, ‘that he died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended up into heaven;’ and all other things are only appendages to these, which pertain to our religion.”3
In addition to the individuals that were witness to the resurrected Christ described in the Bible and Book of Mormon, multiple individuals in the restored Church of Jesus Christ have seen or spoken with the resurrected Savior. Latter-day Saints are familiar with the First Vision, when God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph, but this was only the first of many miraculous manifestations in this dispensation. Indeed, Alexander L. Baugh has identified eleven documented visions of the Father and Son that Joseph received throughout his life. These visions or manifestations were occasionally received in the presence of other individuals who likewise saw what Joseph saw or witnessed the effect the vision had on the Prophet.4
Some of these visions have even been recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. One powerful manifestation occurred when Joseph and Sidney Rigdon were working on Joseph’s inspired translation of the Bible in Hiram, Ohio, during February 1832. They beheld in sweeping vision God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and the three degrees of glory. Of this experience, Joseph and Sidney testified, “This is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:22–23). While Joseph and Sidney alone saw the vision, others were present in the room and “felt the spiritual power during the manifestation.”5
Yet another example came shortly after the Kirtland Temple was dedicated as Joseph and Oliver Cowdery prayed together on April 3, 1836. Joseph recorded, “We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber. His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:2–3). In the Kirtland Temple, Joseph had also previously received a vision of the resurrected Jesus Christ and the celestial kingdom that is now canonized as Doctrine and Covenants 137.
George Q. Cannon once reported that in addition to the Prophet, “hundreds of others . . . have beheld in vision and otherwise, glorious personages,” including the Son of God, “in these last days.”6 Of these hundreds of witnesses, Karl Ricks Anderson has identified twenty-three from Kirtland who had testified that they saw or heard the Savior, with eleven of these witnesses identifiable by name.7 Many of these experiences were also closely connected to significant events in the organization of the Church.
For instance, in June 1831 at a Church conference, Joseph first ordained certain individuals to be high priests.8 During this conference held on Isaac Morley’s farm, Joseph, Lyman Wight, and Harvey Whitlock all saw the Savior. According to John Whitmer, after Lyman Wight was ordained a high priest, “he prophecied, concerning the coming of Christ,” and “he saw the hevans opened, and the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the Father.”9 After Satan attempted to interrupt the meeting by binding Harvey Whitlock, Joseph cast Satan out. Upon being freed, Harvey Whitlock “bore record of the opening of the heavens and of the coming of the Son of Man, precisely as Lyman Wight had done.”10 Joseph Smith is recorded as having seen the same vision.11
On March 18, 1833, the First Presidency was organized in a meeting of the School of the Prophets, and many present reported seeing visions of both the Father and the Son. After Joseph ordained Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams as his counselors, “many of the brethren saw a heavenly vision of the Savior.”12 Of these, John Murdock individually reported that he “beheld the face of the Lord according to the promise and prayer of the Prophet.”13 Zebedee Coltrin similarly reported that he and others saw not only Jesus at this event but also God the Father:
While engaged in silent prayer, kneeling, with our hands uplifted each one praying in silence, no one whispered above his breath, a personage walked through the room from East to west, and Joseph asked if we saw him. I saw him and suppose the others did, and Joseph answered, that is Jesus, the Son of God, our elder brother. . . . Another person came through; He was surrounded as with a flame of fire. . . . The Prophet Joseph said this was the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I saw Him.14
In what could be described as a Pentecostal season, multiple people likewise reported seeing visions of the Savior in close connection to the completion of the Kirtland Temple.15 All of these visions collectively bear witness that Jesus Christ, though once dead, has been resurrected, just as the Bible and Book of Mormon testify.
The Why
In the Kirtland Temple, the Savior promised Joseph and Oliver, “I will appear unto my servants, and speak unto them with mine own voice, if my people will keep my commandments, and do not pollute this holy house” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:8). Before and after this promise was given, the Savior had abundantly opened the heavens for multiple individuals. As Karl Ricks Anderson observed, “In Kirtland the very heavens thundered many additional witnesses of Christ’s visions and voice. . . . The story of Kirtland is in reality a story of Christ. Christ and Kirtland can never be separated.”16
While these types of visions and manifestations were abundant in Kirtland, they have continued to be given to others, especially the prophets and apostles in subsequent years. Lorenzo Snow, for instance, once told his granddaughter that the Savior had appeared to him in the Salt Lake Temple to instruct him to reorganize the First Presidency following the death of Wilford Woodruff.17 Orson F. Whitney also reported receiving a dream witnessing the Savior’s experiences in Gethsemane, Calvary, and the Garden Tomb before he could speak with the Savior himself. He reported, “I shall never forget the kind and gentle manner in which He stooped and raised me up and embraced me. It was so vivid, so real that I felt the very warmth of His bosom against which I rested.”18 Elder David B. Haight also reported that once, after being rushed to the hospital due to a health concern, he fell unconscious but witnessed “a panoramic view” of the life of Christ. Throughout this experience, he “was conscious of being in a holy presence and atmosphere.”19
Just as Jesus Christ appeared to the Saints of His Church in ancient times, He has appeared to Saints in this dispensation as well, further strengthening the scriptural witness reported by the angels at the tomb: “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24:5–6).
Alexander L. Baugh, “Joseph Smith’s Multiple Visions of the Father and the Son,” in Joseph Smith as a Visionary: Heavenly Manifestations in the Latter Days (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Deseret Book, 2024).
Steven C. Harper, “‘A Pentecost and Endowment Indeed’: Six Eyewitness Accounts of the Kirtland Temple Experience,” in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844, ed. John W. Welch, 2nd ed. (Brigham Young University Press; Deseret Book, 2017), 351–93.
Karl Ricks Anderson, The Savior in Kirtland: Personal Accounts of Divine Manifestations (Deseret Book, 2012).
- 1. See Acts 22:17–21; 23:11; 26:16–18; 1 Corinthians 9:1. For more on the appearance on the road to Damascus (which may have included seeing Jesus based on the description of this event in Acts 26:16–18), see Scripture Central, “Why Are There Different Accounts of Paul’s Conversion? (Acts 26:13–14),” KnoWhy 682 (August 1, 2023).
- 2. For more on the reliability of the eyewitness accounts of the Resurrection, see Scripture Central, “Why Are the Gospel Accounts of the Resurrection Credible? (Luke 24:5–6),” KnoWhy 665 (April 4, 2023).
- 3. “Questions and Answers, 8 May 1838,” p. 44, The Joseph Smith Papers.
- 4. For an analysis of these eleven visions, see generally Alexander L. Baugh, “Joseph Smith’s Multiple Visions of the Father and the Son,” in Joseph Smith as a Visionary: Heavenly Manifestations in the Latter Days, ed. Alonzo L. Gaskill et al. (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Deseret Book, 2024), 109–28. Many of these accounts are also discussed in LeGrand R. Curtis Jr., “The Joseph Smith Papers Project’s Elucidation of the Visionary and Visitation Experiences of Joseph Smith,” in Gaskill et al., Joseph Smith as a Visionary, 1–16.
- 5. Baugh, “Joseph Smith’s Multiple Visions,” 113.
- 6. George Q. Cannon, “Kind of God the Saints Believe in, etc.,” in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854–86), 25:158.
- 7. Karl Ricks Anderson, The Savior in Kirtland: Personal Accounts of Divine Manifestations (Deseret Book, 2012), 134. Those identifiable by name (listed on pp. 134–137) include Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Harvey Whitlock, John Murdock, Zebedee Coltrin, Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, David Whitmer, Newel K. Whitney, and Warren S. Snow.
- 8. For a discussion on how the restoration of this office fits into the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood as a whole, see Scripture Central, “How Was the Melchizedek Priesthood Restored? (Joseph Smith—History 1:72),” KnoWhy 778 (February 11, 2025).
- 9. “John Whitmer, History, 1831–circa 1847,” p. 28, The Joseph Smith Papers.
- 10. Philo Dibble, “Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” Juvenile Instructor 27 (May 15, 1892): 303, as cited in Anderson, Savior in Kirtland, 175.
- 11. For discussions regarding this vision, see Baugh, “Joseph Smith’s Multiple Visions,” 112–13; Damon Bahr and Thomas Aardema, Historic Kirtland: Guide for Travel and Study (Cedar Fort, 2023), 153–58; Karl Ricks Anderson, Joseph Smith’s Kirtland: Eyewitness Accounts (Deseret Book, 1989), 107–8, 174–75.
- 12. “Minutes, 18 March 1833,” p. 17, The Joseph Smith Papers.
- 13. Regarding the appearance of the Savior, Murdock reported, “The visage of his face was sound and fair as the sun, His hair, a bright silver gray, curled in most majestic form, His eyes, a keen penetrating blue, and the skin of his neck a most beautiful white, and He was covered from the neck to the feet with a loose garment, pure white, whiter than any garment I have ever seen before. His countenance was most penetrating, and yet most lovely!” Cited in Anderson, Savior in Kirtland, 179–80.
- 14. Zebedee Coltrin, remarks, Salt Lake City School of the Prophets, minutes, October 3, 1883, 59, CR 390 5, folder 1, Church History Library, Salt Lake City. Coltrin continued his description of the Father as follows: “I did not discover His clothing for He was surrounded as with a flame of fire, which was so brilliant that I could not discover anything else but His person. I saw His hands, His legs, his feet, his eyes, nose, mouth, head and body in the shape and form of a perfect man. He sat in a chair as a man would sit in a chair, but His appearance was so grand and overwhelming that it seemed I should melt down in His presence, and the sensation was so powerful that it thrilled through my whole system and I felt it in the marrow of my bones. The Prophet Joseph said: Brethren, now you are prepared to be the Apostles of Jesus Christ, for you have seen both the Father and the Son, and know that They exist and that They are two separate Personages.” For a further discussion on this vision, see Baugh, “Joseph Smith’s Multiple Visions,” 114–15; Anderson, Savior in Kirtland, 177–83; Anderson, Joseph Smith’s Kirtland, 109–10.
- 15. For an analysis of these visions, see Steven C. Harper, “‘A Pentecost and Endowment Indeed’: Six Eyewitness Accounts of the Kirtland Temple Experience,” in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844, ed. John W. Welch, 2nd ed. (Brigham Young University Press; Deseret Book, 2017), 351–93; Scripture Central, “Why Is the ‘Pentecostal’ Season in Kirtland Believable? (Doctrine and Covenants 110:1),” KnoWhy 619 (October 5, 2021).
- 16. Anderson, Savior in Kirtland, 4.
- 17. This experience has been reprinted in “A Visit from the Savior,” Ensign, September 2015. Lorenzo’s granddaughter reported, “Grandpa told what a glorious personage the Savior is and described His hands, feet, countenance, and beautiful white robes, all of which were of such a glory of whiteness and brightness that he could hardly gaze upon Him. Then he came another step nearer and put his right hand on my head and said: ‘Now, Granddaughter, I want you to remember that this is the testimony of your grandfather, that he told you with his own lips that he actually saw the Savior, here in the temple, and talked with Him face to face.’”
- 18. Reprinted in Orson F. Whitney, “The Divinity of Jesus Christ,” Ensign, December 2003.
- 19. David B. Haight, “The Sacrament—and the Sacrifice,” October 1989 general conference.