D&C 77:1-15

77:1 - The first question is “What is the sea of glass spoken of by John, 4th chapter, and 6th verse of the Revelation? A. It is the earth, in its sanctified, immortal, and eternal state.” The IM teaches, “The following incident from the history of the Prophet Joseph Smith amplified this verse: ‘While at dinner, I remarked to my family and friends present, that when the earth was sanctified and became like a sea of glass, it would be one great urim and thummim, and the Stains could look in it and see as they are seen.’ President Brigham Young gave the following insight: ‘This Earth will become a celestial body- be like a sea of glass, or like a Urim and Thummim; and when you wish to know anything, you can look in this Earth and see all the eternities of God.’” It’s cool to know that we can know all things through this medium, even if I didn’t understand it. 77:2-4 - The next several verses deal with the “four beasts, spoken of in the same verse?” I don’t understand much at all. I’m not going to go over the answers by the Lord and stick to the explanations, try to understand a little bit better. The IM teaches, “John saw four individual beats in the presence of God giving ‘glory and honor and thanks’ to him. Though they were actual beasts that were saved in their sphere, they figuratively represent classes of being (man, beasts, creeping things, fowls) that would have happiness in eternity- ‘enjoyment of eternal felicity.’ In a discourse during a Church conference in Nauvoo on Saturday, 8 April 1843, Joseph Smith explained John’s description of the beasts he saw in heaven and compared John’s references to beasts with those made by the ancient prophets. The explanation resulted that the four beasts represented different phases of the kingdom of God on earth. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that the Lord would not use ‘the figure of a creature of the brute creation to represent that which is much more noble, glorious and important- the glories and majesty of His kingdom.’ God would not take ‘a lesser figure to represent a greater.’ Part of the confusion is that two different uses of the word beast are found in Revelation, and Joseph commented on both in this sermon. In places where John refers to actual creatures that are in heaven, the Greek word is zoon, which is translated ‘a living creature.’ Where John uses beast as a symbol of the degenerate kingdoms of the world or the kingdom of Satan, the Greek word therion, translated as ‘a wild beast,’ is used. Thus zoon refers to actual creatures seen in heaven; therion is used as a symbolic concept. The Prophet Joseph explained the significance of both: ‘When God made use of the figure of a beast in visions to the prophets He did it to represent those kingdoms which had degenerated and become corrupt, savage and beast-like in their dispositions, even the degenerate kingdoms of the wicked world; but He never made use of the figure of a beast nor any of the brute kind to represent His kingdom… There is a grand difference and distinction between the visions and figures spoken of by the ancient prophets, and those spoken of in the revelations of John… There is a grand distinction between the actual meaning of the prophets and the present translation. The prophets do not declare that they saw a beast or beasts, but that they saw the image or figure of a beast. The translation should have been rendered ‘image’ instead of ‘beast,’ in every instance where beasts are mentioned by the prophets. But John saw the actual beast in heaven, showing to John that beasts did actually exist there, and not to represent figures of things on the earth… John saw curious lookins beasts in heaven; he saw every creature that was in heaven, -all the beasts, fowls and fish in heaven,- actually there, giving glory to God. How do you prove it?... I suppose John saw beings there of a thousand forms, that had been saved from ten thousand times ten thousand earths like this,- strange beasts of which we have no conception: all might be seen in heaven. The grand secret was to show John what there was in heaven. John learned that God glorified Himself by saving all that His hands had made, whether beasts, fowls, fishes or men; and H will glorify Himself with them.’” I remember talking to my kids about the concept of there being animals in heaven, and when I said that I thought that there were, my kids looked at me like I was crazy, “mom, of course there are animals in heaven,” which makes sense because many people, especially my kids love animals, and their existences won’t be complete without having animals around them, and especially having the animals that they knew and loved in this lifetime with them. Interestingly, the Lord says that the ”eyes and wings” that the beasts had as “light and knowledge, that is, they are full of knowledge; and their wings are a representation of power, to move, to act, etc. DJR has some interesting insight into why wings are a symbol of power, saying, “Have you ever wondered why many pictures of angels show them with wings? Verse 4, above, helps us understand that symbolism. In ancient times, the fastest creatures were birds. With their wings, they were able to get from one place to another very quickly. Since angels are able to instantly be wherever they are needed, it was logical for artists to picture them with wings, representing their ability to ‘move, to act’ as needed in carrying out the work of God.” This makes a lot of sense, because as I think about it, if I picture an angel in my mind, what are the purpose of their wings? To move fast and powerfully. 77:5-15 - The question is “what are we to understand by the four and twenty elders, spoken of by John?” The IM says “John’s day was one of great persecution and martyrdom for the saints. The Church leaders to whom John was writing were experiencing immense difficulties. In their dire circumstances they received the assurance that by faithfully enduring the trials placed upon them they would yet be exalted in the presence of God, ‘clothes in white raiment’ with ‘crowns’ on their heads. How comforting it would be to them, and what a great source of strength for them, to receive this message from John.” I don’t understand very much of this at all, so I’m just going to copy and paste the remainder or the IM’s explanations of this and move on to the next section.