Doctrine and Covenants 76

1

• Doctrine and Covenants 76
• Philo Dibble observed that Joseph wore black
  clothes, but at this time seemed to be dressed in
  an element of glorious white, and his face shone
  as if it were transparent, but I did not see the
  same glory attending Sidney. Joseph appeared as
  strong as a lion, but Sidney seemed as weak as
  water, and Joseph, noticing his condition smiled
  and said, Brother Sidney is not as used to it as
  I am (Philo Dibbles Narrative, 81).

2

• Nothing could be more pleasing to the saints
  upon the order of the kingdom of the Lord, than
  the light which burst upon the world through the
  foregoing vision. Every law, every commandment,
  every promise, every truth, and every point
  touching the destiny of man, from Genesis to
  Revelation, where the purity of the scriptures
  remain unsullied by the folly of men, go to show
  the perfection of the theory (of different
  degrees of glory in the future life) and
  witnesses the fact that the document is a
  transcript from the records of the eternal world.
  The sublimity of the ideas the purity of the
  language the scope for action the continued
  duration for completion, in order that the heirs
  of salvation may confess the Lord and bow the
  knee the rewards of faithfulness, and the
  punishments for sins, are so much beyond the
  narrow-mindedness of men, that every honest man
  is constrained to exclaim It came from God
  (Smith, HC, 1252-53).

3

• Initially, the revelation was not as well
  received by the Saints as would be supposed.
• Brigham Young explained,
• When God revealed to Joseph Smith and Sidney
  Rigdon that there was a place prepared for all,
  according to the light they had received and
  their rejection of evil and practice of good, it
  was a great trial to many, and some apostatized
  because God was not going to send to everlasting
  punishment heathens and infants, but had a place
  of salvation, in due time, for all and would
  bless the honest and virtuous and truthful,
  whether they ever belonged to any church or not
  (JD, 1642).

4

• The Prophets poetic response is perhaps the
  most authoritative and helpful commentary we have
  on this revelation.
• It is 78 verses and titled A Vision, written
  in February 1843.
• It was the Prophets response to a poem written
  by W.W. Phelps.
• An interesting verse from A Vision is the
  following
• From the council in Kolob, to time on the earth.
• And for ages to come unto them I will show
• My pleasure will, what my kingdom will do
• Eternitys wonders they truly shall know (Times
  and Seasons, 482).

5

• From this it would appear that the Grand Council
  in Heaven took place on Kolob, which we learn
  from the Book of Abraham is the planet nearest to
  the throne of God (Abraham 33 Facsimile 2,
  Explanation, figure 1).
• This stanza may suggest that Kolob was our place
  of residence during our pre-mortal estate.

6

• The Vision
• How? Translating the Bible, John 529
• Where? John Johnson Home, Hiram Ohio
• Section 76 of the DC in it sublimity and
  clearness in relation to the eternal destiny of
  the human family, has not been surpassed. It
  should be treasured by all members of the Church
  as a priceless heritage. It should strengthen
  their faith and be to them an incentive to seek
  the exaltation promised to all who are just and
  true. So plain and simple are its teachings that
  none should stumble or misunderstand (Joseph
  Fielding Smith, CHMR, 2 vols. Salt Lake City The
  Council of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of
  Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1953, 250).

7

• Joseph wrote
• I could explain a hundred fold more than I ever
  have of the glories of the kingdoms manifested to
  me in vision, were I permitted, and were the
  people prepared to receive them (HC, 5402).
• Could you gaze into heaven 5 minutes, you would
  know more than you would by reading all that was
  ever written on the subject (Joseph Smith, HC,
  650).

8

• The greatest revelation the Lord, Jesus Christ,
  has ever given to man, so far as record is made,
  was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith on the 16th
  of February, 1832, known as the 76th section of
  the book of Doctrine and Covenants, commonly
  called for years and still known as the Vision.
  I say, this to my mind is the climax of all
  wonderful revelations that have come from the
  Lord from the days of Father Adam until the
  present moment (Three Degrees of Glory Melvin J.
  Ballard, 3).

9

• Philo Dibble mentioned that he was there with
  others, (perhaps the 12) they felt the power but
  did not see the vision.

10

• Interesting Sequence
• The Son of God, v. 1-24
• Satan and his followers, v. 25-49
• Celestial Kingdom, v. 50-70, 92-96
• Terrestrial Kingdom, v. 71-80, 91, 97
• Telestial Kingdom, v. 81-90, 98-112
• Light darkness light!
• Choose Ye this Day!
• We have much to lose!

11

• Interesting facts about the revelation
• When it was first given, the elders were
  forbidden to talk about it!
• It blew away Brigham Young and others
  doctrinally!
• Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were told what to
  write and what not to write.
• It is the only place in the standard works where
  this information is taught.
• Joseph wrote a poem called A Vision (1843, 78
  verses long).

12

• Doctrine and Covenants 761
• O ye heavens
• Genesis 2810-19, I Cor. 15, 2 Cor. 10, John
  142, etc.

13

• Doctrine and Covenants 7622-23
• And now, after the many testimonies which have
  been given of him.
• And now as pertaining to this perfect atonement,
  wrought by the shedding of the blood of God --- I
  testify that it took place in Gethsemane and at
  Golgotha, and as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I
  testify that he is the Son of the Living God and
  was crucified for the sins of the world. He is
  our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of
  myself independent of any other person.

14

• I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I
  shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his
  feet and shall wet his feet with my tears.
• But I shall not know any better then than I know
  now that he is Gods Almighty Son, that he is our
  Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in
  and through his atoning blood and in no other way
  (Bruce R. McConkie, C.R. April 6th, 1985).
• (Elder Bruce R. McConkie died 13 days later on
  April 19th, 1985).

15
Doctrine and Covenants 7624 Creator of
Worlds Without Number Elder Bruce R. McConkie
has written Now our Lords jurisdiction and
power extend far beyond the limits of this one
small earth on which we dwell. He is, under the
Father, the creator of worlds without number
(Moses 133). And through the power of his
atonement the inhabitants of these worlds, the
revelation says, are begotten sons and daughters
unto God, which means that the atonement of
Christ, being literally and truly infinite,
applies to an infinite number of earth (Mormon
Doctrine, 65).
16

• Doctrine and Covenants 7626
• Perdition
• Perdition means utter loss or destruction.
• Lucifer means light bearer or shining one
  or early-born spirit Child of our Father
  (J.S., Teachings, 161).

17

• Doctrine Covenants 7629
• He maketh war with the saints of God, and
  encompasseth them round about.
• On November 1, 1857, Elder George Albert Smith
  delivered a memorable discourse, which included
  this old Chinese fable
• A man traveling through the country came to a
  large city, very rich and splendid he looked at
  it and said to his guide, This must be a very
  righteous people, for I can only see but one
  little devil in this great city. The guide
  replied, You do not understand, sir. This city
  is so perfectly given up to wickedness that it
  requires but one devil to keep them all in
  subjection.

18

• Traveling on a little farther, he came to a
  rugged path and saw an old man trying to get up
  the hill side, surrounded by seven great, big,
  coarse-looking devils. Why, says the traveler,
  this must be a tremendously wicked old man! See
  how many devils there are around him! This,
  replied the guide, is the only righteous man in
  the country and there are seven of the biggest
  devils trying to turn him out of his path, and
  they all cannot do it.
• After relating the fable, Elder Smith added that
  the devil has the world so perfectly at his
  disposal that it requires few devils to keep it
  in subjection and that the whole legion of devils
  has nothing to do but look after the Mormons and
  stir up the hearts of the children of men to
  destroy them --- to put them out of existence
  (JD, 5364).

19

• Doctrine and Covenants 7631
• Sons of Perdition
• They must deny the truth, having a sure
  knowledge of it, and then defy or war against it
  (v. 35).
• These unite themselves with the legions of the
  devil who warred against God and Christ in the
  councils of heaven. For such a sin there is no
  forgiveness in this world or the world to come
  (Teachings, 358).
• Receive the absolute knowledge of the divinity
  of Christ, and then deny the new and everlasting
  covenant by which he was sanctified, calling it
  an unholy thing, and doing despite to the Spirit
  of grace (Teachings, 128).

20

• He has got to say the sun does not shine while
  he sees it he has got to deny Jesus Christ when
  the heavens have been opened unto him, and to
  deny the plan of salvation with his eyes open to
  the truth of it and from that time he begins to
  be an enemy. This is the case with many apostates
  of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
  Saints.
• When a man begins to be an enemy to this work,
  he hunts me, he seeks to kill me, and never
  ceases to thirst for my blood. He gets the spirit
  of the devil the same spirit that they had who
  crucified the Lord of Life the same spirit that
  sins against the Holy Ghost (Teachings 358).

21

• Doctrine and Covenants 7631-35, 48
• Sons of Perdition
• The sins unto death may be thought of as
  somewhat difficult to define and limit with
  precision. From the words of Joseph Smith quoted
  we note many apostates of The Church of Jesus
  Christ of Latter-day Saints will fall into this
  category. We cannot definitely identify them
  individually since it is impossible for us to
  know the extent of their knowledge, the depth of
  their enlightenment, and the sureness of their
  testimonies before their fall

22

• The sin against the Holy Ghost requires such
  knowledge that it is manifestly impossible for
  the rank and file to commit such a sin.
• Comparatively few Church members will commit
  murder wherein they shed innocent blood, and we
  hope only few will deny the Holy Ghost (Miracles
  of Forgiveness, President Kimball, 122-123).

23

• Doctrine and Covenants 7631
• Five things that qualify one to be a S.O.P.
• Know my Power
• Be made partakers thereof
• Overcome by the devil
• Deny the truth
• Defy my power
• A spirit cant qualify in the Spirit World!

24

• Joseph Smith wrote (DC 7648)
• Say to the brothers Hulet and to all others, that
  the Lord never authorized them to say that the
  devil, his angels, or the sons of perdition,
  should ever be restored for their state of
  destiny was not revealed to man, is not revealed,
  nor ever shall be revealed, save to those who are
  made partakers thereof consequently those who
  teach this doctrine have not received it of the
  Spirit of the Lord.We, therefore, command this
  doctrine be taught no more in Zion (TPJS 24).

25

• Doctrine and Covenants 7653
• Sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise
• All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations,
  oaths, vows, performances, connections,
  associations, or expectations that we desire to
  have in a future world must be approved by the
  Holy Ghost (DC 1327).

26

• Doctrine and Covenants 7654
• Church of the Firstborn
• The inner circle of faithful saints who are
  heirs of exaltation and the fullness of the
  Fathers kingdom (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine,
  139).
• Doctrine and Covenants 7663
• When Christ Returns
• He will bring with him all who have lived upon
  the earth who are worthy of celestial glory
  (JS-Matt 11).

27

• Doctrine and Covenants 7667
• An innumerable company of angels
• It is a false notion, one not worthy of the
  gospel of Jesus Christ, that only a few of Gods
  children will be saved in the Kingdom of God. In
  his vision of the dead, President Joseph F. Smith
  saw an innumerable company of the spirits of the
  just, who had been faithful in the testimony of
  Jesus while they lived in mortality (DC
  13812).
• John 142 was not suggesting that there were
  various degrees of glory, at that moment he was
  speaking to the twelve. He was giving them the
  assurance that there was room for them and as
  many has would believe on their word in his
  Fathers kingdom.

28

• Doctrine and Covenants 7679
• Not Valiant in the Testimony of Jesus Christ
• This is a gospel of individual work. I wish our
  Latter-day Saints would become more valiant. As I
  read the seventy-sixth section of the DC, the
  great vision given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, I
  remember that the Lord says to that terrestrial
  degree of glory may go those who are not valiant
  in the testimony, which means that many of us who
  have received baptism by proper authority, many
  who have received other ordinances, even temple
  blessings, will not reach the celestial kingdom
  of glory unless we live the commandments and are
  valiant.

29

• What is being valiant?...
• There are many people in this Church today who
  think they live, but they are dead to the
  spiritual things. And I believe even many who are
  making the pretenses of being active are also
  spiritually dead. Their service is much of the
  letter and less of the spirit (Spencer W.
  Kimball, C.R., April, 1951, 104-05).

30

• Doctrine and Covenants 7689
• Surpasses all Understanding
• Regarding surpassing all understanding A
  rather common notion in connection with this
  verse is that Joseph Smith had taught that if we
  knew what the Telestial Kingdom was like, we
  would commit suicide to get there. What the
  Prophet said was not in reference to the
  Telestial Kingdom, but to life behind the veil,
  which may mean a number of things. The Prophets
  statement, (Charles Walker quoting Wilford
  Woodruff quoting Joseph Smith as follows)

31

• Brother Woodruff spoke He referred to a saying
  of Joseph Smith which he heard him utter (like
  this)
• That if the people knew what was behind the
  veil, they would try by every means to commit
  suicide that they might get there, but the Lord
  in his wisdom had implanted the fear of death in
  every person that they might cling to life and
  thus accomplish the designs of their creator
  (Diary of Charles Lowell Walker, ed. By A. Karl
  Larson).

32

• Doctrine and Covenants 7694-95
• Celestial Kingdom
• What did Jesus do?
• Why I do the things I saw my Father do when
  worlds came rolling into existence. My Father
  worked out his kingdom with fear and trembling,
  and I must do the same and when I get my
  kingdom, I shall present it to my Father, so that
  he may obtain kingdom upon kingdom, and it will
  exalt him in glory. He will then take a higher
  exaltation, and I will take his place, and
  thereby become exalted myself. So that Jesus
  treads in the tracks of his Father, and inherits
  what God did before and God is thus glorified
  and exalted in the salvation and exaltation of
  all his children (Teachings, 347-48).

33

• Doctrine and Covenants 76109
• Telestial Innumerable as the Stars
• Most of the adult people who have lived from
  the day of Adam to the present time will go to
  the Telestial Kingdom. The inhabitants of this
  lower kingdom of glory will be as innumerable as
  the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the
  sand upon the seashore (Bruce R. McConkie,
  Mormon Doctrine, 778).

34

• Doctrine and Covenants 76115
• Dont write
• He commanded that they should not write.

35

• WE DONT HAVE TO BE PERFECT RIGHT NOW!!
• Bruce R. McConkie
• Id like to append to them the fact and this is
  a true gospel verity that everyone in the Church
  who is on the straight and narrow path, who is
  striving and struggling and desiring to do what
  is right, though is far from perfect in this
  life if he passes out of this life while hes on
  the straight and narrow, hes going to go on to
  eternal reward in his Fathers kingdom.

36

• We dont need to get a complex or get a feeling
  that you have to be perfect to be saved. You
  dont. theres only been one perfect person, and
  thats the Lord Jesus, but in order to be saved
  in the Kingdom of God and in order to pass the
  test of mortality, what you have to do is get on
  the straight and narrow path thus charting a
  course leading to eternal life then, being on
  that path, pass out of this life in full
  fellowship. Im not saying that you dont have to
  keep the commandments. Im saying you dont have
  to be perfect to be saved. If you did, no one
  would be saved. The way it operates is this you
  get on the path thats named the straight and
  narrow. You do it by entering the gate of
  repentance and baptism. The straight and narrow
  path leads from the gate of repentance and
  baptism, a very great distance, to a reward
  thats called eternal life.

37

• If youre on that path and pressing forward, and
  you die, youll never get off the path. There is
  no such thing as falling off the straight and
  narrow path in the life to come, and the reason
  is that this life is the time that is given to
  men to prepare for eternity. Now is the time and
  the day of your salvation, so if youre working
  zealously in this life though you havent fully
  overcome the world and you havent done all your
  hoped you might do youre still going to be
  saved. You dont have to do what Jacob said, Go
  beyond the mark. You dont have to live a life
  thats truer than true. You dont have to have
  excessive zeal that becomes fanatical and becomes
  unbalancing.

38

• What you have to do is stay in the mainstream of
  the Church and live as upright and decent people
  live in the Church keeping the commandments,
  paying your tithing, serving in the organizations
  of the Church, loving the Lord, staying on the
  straight and narrow path. If youre on that path
  when death comes because this is the time and
  the day appointed, this the probationary estate
  youll never fall off from it, and, for all
  practical purposes, your calling and election is
  made sure (The Probationary Test of Mortality,
  Address given at University of Utah, Jan 10,
  1982, 11).

39

• Three Degrees of Glory
• Celestial Kingdom DC 7650-70, 92-96
• Determining Conditions
• As a minimum requirement, all those inheriting
  this kingdom will have
• Received the testimony of Jesus (v. 51)
• Received baptism (v. 51)
• Received the Holy Ghost (v. 52)
• Kept the commandments (v. 52)
• Overcome by faith (v. 53)
• Been sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise (v.
  53)