D&C 124:49-145

124:49-54 - There is a really comforting and important insight that the Lord gives in verse 49 that I think will help us get some perspective. The Lord says, “verily, verily, I say unto you, that when I give a commandment to any of the sons of men to do a work unto my name, and those sons of men go with all their might and with all they have to perform that work, and cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them and hinder them from performing that work, behold, it behooveth me to require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offerings.” So this begs the question, why would the Lord command his people to do something that he knows won’t be able to get finished? For their spiritual progression. And what does this verse mean in the context that nothing can stop the work of the Lord? When I think about that question it seems to me to be the same answer, the Lord knows what’s going to happen, he makes arrangements, he makes it so that his work will go forward, but he still commands his people to do things to give them the opportunity to obey and grow spiritually, to give those who oppose his work the opportunity to show their opposition. This must have been comforting to the saints who felt like they had failed in Missouri. I believe that if I had lived during that time I would have felt very spiritually unsettled, but the Lord says that he accepts their offering and that must have been comforting. The Lord says that “I accepted the offerings of those whom I commanded to build up a city and a house unto my name, in Jackson county, Missouri, and were hindered by their enemies.” He promises “judgment, wrath, and indignation, wailing, and anguish, and gnashing of teeth upon their heads, unto the third and fourth generation, so long as they repent not, and hate me.” I think about this in terms of the civil war, this happened in the late 1830’s so by the time the civil war came around it was probably fought by the sons of those who expelled the saints, and then the slaughter was awful, so the grandchildren of those who expelled the saints were affected because their fathers were either dead or had terrible PTSD, so that’s 3 generations affected.

124:55-83 - Joseph Smith has really had kind of a rough time temporally and as far as I know the time in Nauvoo was the only time in his adult life where he had a house of his own, and that’s because the Lord gave the command that the Nauvoo house should be built and “let my servant Joseph and his house have place therein, from generation to generation.” Again, this begs the question, why would the Lord command that the Nauvoo House should be for JS’s family for generations if He knew that the saints would head west in a few years? Maybe it’s because the Lord knew that Emma wouldn’t end up going with the saints west and wanted to make sure that she was provided for, maybe, who knows. The Lord calls George Miller, Lyman Wight, John Snider, and Peter Haws to be a quorum “and appoint one of them to be a president over their quorum for the purpose of building that house.” Now the Lord goes into stock in the house and who should receive stock and how much it should cost, I don’t really understand a whole lot about that and how it pertains to JS living there, so I’m going to skip that part.

124:84-129 - This section seems to be a lot about warnings for specific people, verse 84 warns Almon Babbitt that “there are many things with which I am not pleased.” And the IM says “The Lord reprimanded Almon Babbitt for trying to circumvent the authority of the Prophet and for his greed, which the Lord likened to setting up a golden calf. Apparently, as Smith and Sjodahl recorded, Almon babbitt’s ‘chief ambition was to make money, and… he advised the Saints to leave Nauvoo, contrary to the counsel of the Church leaders. Perhaps he was interested in the sale of land elsewhere. At all events, when the Saints left Nauvoo, he was appointed one of the real estate agents in whose hands the abandonded property was left, to be disposed of on the best terms obtainable. How he discharged this duty, we may infer form the following statement of Heber C. Kimball: ‘My house was sold at 1,700, intended to be used to help to gather the Saints; but Almon W. Babbitt put it in his pocket, I suppose.’” Brutal. William Law is also called to preach and is promised blessings, but again, he rebelled and the IM tells us “Even his appointment in the First Presidency could not save him from falling. When he lost the Spirit of God he became one of the most bitter enemies of the Church.” Hyrum Smith is called to be the patriarch of the Church and he is to take the place of Oliver Cowdery. I heard once that if he had not apostatized, it would have been the privilege of Oliver Cowdery to be martyred along with the Prophet Joseph Smith at the jail in Carthage. I thought “privilege?” But really, in the eternal perspective, that makes sense. I always wondered why it was Hyrum Smith that was murdered at the same time, why the two brothers when there were so many other men involved at the same time, but it wasn’t just because they were brothers, but it was because Hyrum was called to take Oliver’s place and Hyrum was faithful in his call. The IM has a really interesting perspective on Hyrum taking Oliver’s place saying, “Joseph Smith Sr., the Prophet’s father, was the first patriarch to the Church in this dispensation. He was succeeded as patriarch by his son Hyrum. In addition, Hyrum served as second elder in the Church. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, after citing Doctrine and Covenants 124;94, said: ‘This was a special blessing given to Hyrum Smith, and in accepting it he took the place of Oliver Cowdery, upon whom these keys had previously been bestowed. It should be remembered that whenever the Lord revealed Priesthood and the keys of priesthood from the heavens, Oliver Cowdery stood with Joseph Smith in the presence of the heavenly messengers, and was a recipient, as well as Joseph Smith, of all this authority. They held it conjointly, Joseph Smith as the ‘first’ and Oliver Cowdery as the ‘second’ Elder of the Church. Thus the law pertaining to witnesses was fully established, for there were two witnesses standing with authority, keys and presidency, at the head of this the greatest of all dispensations. When through transgression Oliver Cowdery lost this wonderful and exalted blessing, Hyrum Smith was chosen by revelation of the Lord to take his place, the Lord calling him in these words: (D&C 124:94-95). And thus, according to promise, the Lord opened to the vision of Hyrum Smith and showed to him those things which were necessary to qualify him for this exalted position, and upon him were conferred by Joseph Smith all the keys and authorities by which he, Hyrum Smith, was able to act in concert with his younger brother as a prophet, seer and revelator, and president of the Church, ‘as well as my servant Joseph.’” The IM later talks about how Hyrum Smith was called as a patriarch and also a “prophet, seer and revelator” and discusses how some people have confused the wording in this specific call to mean that patriarch is higher than the Prophet. The IM explains, “Hyrum Smith was appointed ‘to be a patriarch’ to the Church, whereas Joseph Smith was appointed to be the ‘presiding elder over all my Church.’ The wording of Hyrum’s appointment (see D&C 124:124) has caused some to mistakenly maintain that the office of Patriarch to the Church exceeds that of the President of the Church. After the death of Joseph and Hyrum, their younger brother William Smith, was called to the office of Patriarch. Later some people claimed that this appointment gave him supremacy over Brigham Young and the other members of the Quorum of the Twelve.”

124:130-145 – There’s a really awesome statement in verse 130 that I should have put together with the part yesterday, but the Lord says “David Patten I have taken unto myself; behold, his priesthood no man taketh from him, but verily I say unto you, another may be appointed unto the same calling.” The IM says, “Elder David W. Patten was dead, but as President John Taylor stated: ‘His being dead made no difference in regard to his priesthood. He held it just the same in the heavens as on the earth… If the priesthood administers in time and in eternity, and if quorums of this kind are organized upon the earth, and this priesthood is not taken away, but continued with them in the heavens, we do not wish, I think, to break up the order of the priesthood upon the earth; and it would seem to be necessary that these principles of perpetuity, or continuity should be held sacred among us.’” Another excellent focus on the eternal perspective. The Lord reorganizes the high council, the Quorum of the Twelve and other Church offices, and tells them “that you should fill all these offices and approve of those names which I have mentioned, or else disapprove of them at my general conference.” The IM makes a very interesting commentary here, and it was familiar to me because we just dealt with this last year with the passing and then calling of 3 new apostles at general conference, so what the IM says is interesting, “The presentation of a new President of the Church (a reorganization of the First Presidency) follows the pattern of a solemn assembly. This pattern was first used in Kirtland, Ohio, on 27 March 1836. The manner of conducting solemn assemblies was given to the Church ‘be revelation, the order of things as it existed in former days, away back in the dispensation before the flood- the dispensation of the antediluvian Patriarchs and their order of government.’ In the reorganization of the First Presidency after the death of the President Brigham Young, President John Taylor was sustained by vote, ‘those votes being taken first in their quorum capacity, each quorum having voted affirmatively, then by the vote of the Presidents of the several quorums united, afterwards by the vote of the quorums and people combines, men and women.’ In exercising the privilege to sustain or to refuse to sustain their officers, members of the Church are acting in accordance with the principle of common consent.”