D&C 138:10-60
138:10-31 - President Smith now begins talking about what he saw when "the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great. He notes that there is an obvious divide between the "spirits of the jsut, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality... I beheld that they were filled with joy and gladness, and were rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance was at hand." They are waiting "the advent of the Son of God into the spirit world," they are waiting for the resurrection. While they are waiting "The Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful; and there he preached to them the everlasting godpel, the doctrine of the resurrection and the redemption of manking from the fall, and from individual sins on conditions of repentance." The Lord visited the righteous but he did not visit the wicked or those who had rejected the gospel in mortality, for "where these were, darkness reigned, but among the righteous there was peace." The righteous rejoiced, while the wicked were oblivious. President Smith wondered who it was that during the 3 days that Christ's body was in the tomb and His spirit in the spirit world that there was so much success with the gospel, where He spent three full years preaching the gospel in the mortal world and there were very few who listened. But the Spirit answered his question "and I previeved that the Lord went not in person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them; But behold, from among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothes with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and they was the gospel preached to the dead." Why wouldn't the Lord go to the wicked personally? Was it a lack of time? I doubt it, time is only measured unto man and if the Lord wanted to meet with every single spirit during that time it would have happened. There is still a measure of faith that needs to be practiced in the next life, this mortality is not the only time we need or develop faith, we needed it in our first estate, we need it in this estate and we will need it in the next one as well. If the Lord were to personally preach to every single spirit then at that time it would have negated some of the faith that would have been developed as spirits accepted the gospel based on the preaching of the righteous. It's like, "why doesn't the Lord appear to everyone personally now? Why doesn't he appear to everyone who has already accepted the gospel in this life? Why isn't he the only one doing to missionary work?" Because it's a process and during that procees we build faith and character and progress until we reach a full understanding, but the process doesn't begin with Jesus personally saying, "this is the gospel." The process there is similar to the process here, believers take the gospel to those who don't have it, and the Spirit builds their testimony.
138:32-37 - Who will be able to receive the gospel in the next life? "Thus was the gospel preached to those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets." Anyone has the opportunity to accept the gospel, usually at any time. The Lord had said that he forbids no one to come to Him, and we've learned that if we are not with Him, it is because we have chosen not to, not because he sent us away. What are the spirits taught in the next life, "These were taught faith in God, repentance from sin, vicarious baptism for the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands." They learn what we learn, the gospel is always the same everywhere for everyone. Who will be doing the preaching? The IM quotes President Wilford Woodruff as saying, "Evern Apostle, every Seventy, every Elder, etc. who has died in the faith, as soon as he passes to the other side of the veil, enters into the work of the ministry, and there is a thousand times more to preach to there than there is here... They have work on the other side of the veil; and they want men, and they call them." The IM also quotes President Joseph F. Smith saying that those "who have passed away in this dispensation... are preaching that same gospel that they lived and preached here, to those who are in darkness in the spirit world and who had not had the privilege before they went. The gospel must be preached to them. We are not perfect without them- they cannot be perfect without us." He notes that the same is true for the women, we will be spreading the gospel on the other side as well. There is a phrase that I don't really understand in verse 34 that says that the gospel is preached and accepted by those in the spirit world "in order to qualify themselves that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." I'm going to have to think about what that means. Does it mean that they will become saints in the spirit world in the same way that we are saints in this world? I'm not sure. President Smith concludes, "Thus was it made known that our Redeemer spent his time during his sojourn in the world of spirits, instructing and preparing the faithful spirits of the prophets who had testifed of him in the flesh; that they might carry the message of redemption unto all the dead, unto whom he could not go personally, because of their rebellion and transgression, that they through the minstration of his servants might alos hear his words." He addresses why he didn't see everyone personally, like we discussed earlier. Did he say it was a lack of time? No, he said it was because of their rebellion, which indicates to me that in order to maintain their full agency, he must keep his distance at this time.
138:38-60 - Interestingly, President Smith lists some of the people that he sees being organized, there's Adam, "and our glorious Mother Eve, with many of her faithful daughters who had lived through the ages and worshiped the true and living God." Am I offended that some of the notable women weren't mentioned here? No, I think that it's possible that if he were to list some of the women that he saw that we'd be familiar with, maybe Mary Magdelene or Mary, Jesus's mother, it might take some of the focus off of the work and put it on them, and that's simply because women weren't mentioned heavily in ancient scriptures and he doesn't want to put a major focus on them now. Offensive? Not at all. There's also Abel, Seth, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Elias, Malachi, Elijah... "All these and many more, even the prophets who dwelt among the Nephites and testifed of the coming of the Song of God, Mingled in the vast assembly and waited for their deliverance." Another interesting point is that the "dead had looked upon the long abscence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage." As much we "hate" our bodies, it's interesting to think that without them we feel like in bondage. Finally, in the vision he sees "that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead. The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the hosue of God." It's an interesting concept to me, that there are different types of spirituality in people. But the IM says, "The prophet Abraham was told that he was one of the noble and great spirits who was ordained in the premortal life to be a leader in God's kingdom while in mortality. President Joseph F. Smith was shown that many choice servants of this dispensation were also among those noble spirits. The Lord held them in the spirits world where they were taught and prepared to come forth and lay the foundations of His latter-day work. The Prophet Joseph Smith once said that 'every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpsoe in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was."
138:32-37 - Who will be able to receive the gospel in the next life? "Thus was the gospel preached to those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets." Anyone has the opportunity to accept the gospel, usually at any time. The Lord had said that he forbids no one to come to Him, and we've learned that if we are not with Him, it is because we have chosen not to, not because he sent us away. What are the spirits taught in the next life, "These were taught faith in God, repentance from sin, vicarious baptism for the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands." They learn what we learn, the gospel is always the same everywhere for everyone. Who will be doing the preaching? The IM quotes President Wilford Woodruff as saying, "Evern Apostle, every Seventy, every Elder, etc. who has died in the faith, as soon as he passes to the other side of the veil, enters into the work of the ministry, and there is a thousand times more to preach to there than there is here... They have work on the other side of the veil; and they want men, and they call them." The IM also quotes President Joseph F. Smith saying that those "who have passed away in this dispensation... are preaching that same gospel that they lived and preached here, to those who are in darkness in the spirit world and who had not had the privilege before they went. The gospel must be preached to them. We are not perfect without them- they cannot be perfect without us." He notes that the same is true for the women, we will be spreading the gospel on the other side as well. There is a phrase that I don't really understand in verse 34 that says that the gospel is preached and accepted by those in the spirit world "in order to qualify themselves that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." I'm going to have to think about what that means. Does it mean that they will become saints in the spirit world in the same way that we are saints in this world? I'm not sure. President Smith concludes, "Thus was it made known that our Redeemer spent his time during his sojourn in the world of spirits, instructing and preparing the faithful spirits of the prophets who had testifed of him in the flesh; that they might carry the message of redemption unto all the dead, unto whom he could not go personally, because of their rebellion and transgression, that they through the minstration of his servants might alos hear his words." He addresses why he didn't see everyone personally, like we discussed earlier. Did he say it was a lack of time? No, he said it was because of their rebellion, which indicates to me that in order to maintain their full agency, he must keep his distance at this time.
138:38-60 - Interestingly, President Smith lists some of the people that he sees being organized, there's Adam, "and our glorious Mother Eve, with many of her faithful daughters who had lived through the ages and worshiped the true and living God." Am I offended that some of the notable women weren't mentioned here? No, I think that it's possible that if he were to list some of the women that he saw that we'd be familiar with, maybe Mary Magdelene or Mary, Jesus's mother, it might take some of the focus off of the work and put it on them, and that's simply because women weren't mentioned heavily in ancient scriptures and he doesn't want to put a major focus on them now. Offensive? Not at all. There's also Abel, Seth, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Elias, Malachi, Elijah... "All these and many more, even the prophets who dwelt among the Nephites and testifed of the coming of the Song of God, Mingled in the vast assembly and waited for their deliverance." Another interesting point is that the "dead had looked upon the long abscence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage." As much we "hate" our bodies, it's interesting to think that without them we feel like in bondage. Finally, in the vision he sees "that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead. The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the hosue of God." It's an interesting concept to me, that there are different types of spirituality in people. But the IM says, "The prophet Abraham was told that he was one of the noble and great spirits who was ordained in the premortal life to be a leader in God's kingdom while in mortality. President Joseph F. Smith was shown that many choice servants of this dispensation were also among those noble spirits. The Lord held them in the spirits world where they were taught and prepared to come forth and lay the foundations of His latter-day work. The Prophet Joseph Smith once said that 'every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpsoe in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was."
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