D&C 76:81-119

76:81-90 - Now we get to the vision on telestial glory. DJR gives 2 requirements for receiving telestial glory, “ 1. They who received not the gospel of Christ… 2. They who deny not the Holy Ghost.” The IM gives an very graphic description saying, “Those who inherit the telestial glory will pass through hell.” And quotes Elder Bruce R. McConkie saying, “that part of the spirit world inhabited by wicked spirits who are awaiting the eventual day of their resurrection is called hell. Between their death and resurrection, these souls of the wicked are cast out into outer darkness, into the gloomy depression of sheol, into the hades of waiting wicked spirited, into hell. There they suffer the torments of the damned; there they welter in the vengeance of eternal life; there is found weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth; there the fiery indignation of the wrath of God is poured out upon the wicked. Hell will have an end. Viewing future events, John saw that ‘death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.’ Jacob taught that this escape from death and hell meant the bringing of the body out of the grace and the spirit out of hell. ‘And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death,’ he said, ‘shall deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other.’ It was in keeping with this principle for David to receive the promise: ‘Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.’ After their resurrection, the great majority of those who have suffered in hell will pass into the telestial kingdom; the balance, cursed as sons of perdition, will be consigned to partake of endless wo with the devil and his angels… Who will go to hell? This query is abundantly answered in the scriptures. Since those going to a telestial kingdom travel to their destination through the depths of hell and as a result of obedience to telestial law, it follows that all those who live a telestial law will go to hell.” This is really interesting, to me, it means that they will suffer for their own sins, because they refuse to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ, they will refuse his atonement, which means that they must feel the pain caused by their own sins, that truly is hell. DJR says this as well, “these people will be turned over to Satan to suffer for their own sins, because they were not willing to repent and allow Christ’s Atonement to pay for their sins… Elder Joseph Fielding Smith explained this. He said: ‘Into this kingdom will go all of those who have been unclean in their lives. See verses 98 to 112, in section 76. These people who enter there will be the unclean; the liars, sorcerers, adulterers, and those who have broken their covenants. Of these the Lord says: ‘These are they who are cast down to hell and suffer the wrath of Almighty God, until the fullness of times, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet, and shall have perfected his world.’ Yet these, after they have been punished for their sins and having been turned over to the torments of Satan, shall eventually come forth, after the millennium, to receive the telestial kingdom.’” I don’t understand this at all, why would someone know that pain is coming and reject the way to avoid it, so this doesn’t really make sense to me. But they aren’t going to suffer forever, they will just pay for their sins and then go to the telestial kingdom in the which “they glory of the telestial kingdom, which surpasses all understanding.” After the suffering, they will receive glory that we can’t even understand at this point in mortality. The IM teaches, “All who receive the telestial kingdom will have paid a price for this glory. The fact that after they pay this price they inherit a telestial glory is evidence of the Father’s love and mercy. Elder John A. Widtsoe wrote: ‘The (Doctrine and Covenants) explains clearly that the lowest glory to which man is assigned is so glorious as to be beyond the understanding of man. It is a doctrine fundamental in Mormonism that the meanest sinner, in the final judgment, will receive a glory which is beyond human understanding, which is so great that we are unable to describe it adequately. Those who do well will receive an even more glorious place. Those who dwell in the lower may look wistfully to the higher as we do here. The hell on the other side will be felt in some such way. The Gospel is a gospel of tremendous love. Love is at the bottom of it. The meanest child is loved so dearly that his reward will be beyond the understanding of mortal man.’ Only sons of perdition, who deny the truth and openly defy God, will be denied a kingdom of glory.” There are just a couple of points that I would like to make about the telestial glory, the first is that it is compared to “the glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon.” Just like some stars are bright and some stars are dim, DJR quotes Elder James E. Talmage as teaching, “There is another grade (telestial), differing from the higher orders as the stars differ from the brighter orbs of the firmament; this is for those who received not the testimony of Christ, but who, nevertheless, did not deny the Holy Spirit; who have led lives exempting them from the heaviest punishment (perdition), yet whose redemption will be delayed until the last resurrection. In the telestial world there are innumerable degrees comparable to the varying light of the stars. Yet all who receive of any one of these orders of glory are at last saved, and upon them Satan will finally have no claim.” This differing degrees of brightness is not mentioned in the other two kingdoms, so I don’t know what that means, because if it’s true for the telestial glory, then surely it’s true for the other kingdoms as well. But maybe it’s that there are basic requirements for entrance for the other kingdoms, so it’s an equal starting point and all can grow and learn at their own pace. The other point that I want to make is in verse 88, the Lord says, speaking of the telestial kingdom “for they shall be heirs of salvation.” DJR points out “with very few exceptions, the term ‘salvation,’ as used in the scriptures, means exaltation. One of the exceptions appears in verse 88, above. In this case, it means ‘salvation in telestial glory.’ Indeed, being free from Satan forever and being in a kingdom of glory that ‘surpasses all understanding’ is ‘salvation.’ But this salvation is as a star compared to the sun, as far as celestial glory is concerned.”

76:91-119 - The Lord continues pointing out some key differences between the three kingdoms, the celestial is “ where God, even the Father, reigns upon his throne forever and ever.” There’s an interesting phrase in verse 99, in which the Lord speaks of the telestial kingdom as those who “are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas.” DJR points out that all of these were faithful members of the Church, so what does that mean? DJR says, “Throughout the world’s history, there have been various sects and religions who have claimed to believe the Bible, in which the words of Christ and the prophets are taught. Yet their creeds and teachings vary greatly. Also, there have been a number of members of the true church who have broken away, up their own false church, and rejected the teachings of the living prophets. Thus, many in the telestial kingdom will be those who claimed to believe but who did not live according to the full gospel. In fact, many of these groups have engaged in bloody battles against each other and in wars of hatred and vicious verbal opposition. They are not followers of Christ and have rejected the full gospel of the Savior.” I think that this comes back to motivation and intention, I say that I’m a member of the church and am trying my best, but for whatever reason my best includes making serious mistakes, either due to mental illness or past circumstances that have jaded their views in life. That is vastly different than someone who says they believe in Christ, but then uses that as a cover and has no desire to repent or live His teachings. Interestingly, “the inhabitants of the telestial world, that they were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the san upon the seashore.” There are going to be so many people there, I don’t understand. The IM teaches, “we are not preaching the gospel with the idea of trying to save people in the terrestrial world. Ours is the salvation of exaltation. What we are trying to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ is to bring people back again, through the power of the priesthood and the ordinances of the Church, as sons and daughters of God, receiving a fullness of the Father’s kingdom. That is our endeavor.” Makes sense. The section is finished up saying, “they are only to be seen and understood by the power of the Holy Spirit, which God bestows on those who love him, and purify themselves before him.” To which the IM says, “The Prophet Joseph Smith wrote: ‘Could we read and comprehend all that has been written from the days of Adam, on the relation of man to God and angels in a future state, we should know very little about it. Reading the experience of others, or the revelation given to them, can never give us a comprehensive view of our condition and true relation to God. Knowledge of these things can only be obtained by experience through the ordinances of God set forth for that purpose. Could you gaze into heaven five minutes, you would know more than you would by reading all that ever was written on the subject.”