Tuesday, March 23, 2010

After Liberty Jail

Today I spent the morning checking out a few details about the Doctrine and Covenants. I wanted to know:

1. When did Joseph Smith start receiving revelations recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants? Answer: Summer of 1828.

2. How many revelations did he have each year that became scripture? See details below.

3. How many sections are not revelations given to Joseph? See details below.

4. When did Joseph stop having recorded revelations that were added to the Doctrine and Covenants? Answer: After July of 1843. He was martyred June 27, 1844

I discovered that almost all of the Doctrine and Covenants is comprised of revelations the Prophet Joseph Smith received before he spent five long months in Liberty Jail. Not all the sections in the Doctrine and Covenants are revelations given to Joseph Smith. I didn't know this until a recent honors Doctrine and Covenants class. Here are a few sections that are exceptions:

D&C 2; an extract from the words of the Angel Moroni to Joseph Smith
D&C 13; records the restoration of the Aaronic priesthood
D&C 102; minutes of a High Council meeting
D&C 109; Prayer offered at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple
D&C 113; Answers to questions given by Joseph Smith
D&C 121; Prayer and prophecies given by Joseph Smith while in Liberty Jail
D&C 123; Joseph Smith's instruction to the Saints in relation to persecution while in Liberty Jail
D&C 134; Declaration of belief

D&C sections 127-131 are epistles and instructions given by Joseph Smith in 1842 and 1843, during the Nauvoo years. Why did these sections become scripture?

The information below reveals that after Joseph Smith left Liberty jail in the spring of 1839, there were only four more revelations that were added to the Doctrine and Covenants; D&C 124, 125, 126, and 132. Liberty Jail changed Joseph. It burnished him, it was a refiners fire. The Joseph that entered the jail was not the same Joseph that emerged after a long winter of suffering. While confined, Joseph had time to evaluate everything. He caught the Lord's vision of how he needed to guide the struggling, persecuted church. After Liberty Jail Joseph no longer needed Sidney Rigdon to be his mouthpiece. After Liberty, Joseph taught through sermons more than revelations. While at Liberty Joseph finally realized that as a prophet, seer, and revelator, "Thus saith the Lord," and what he, Joseph, taught were the same thing, "Whether by mine own voice or the voice of my servants, it is the same." (D&C 1:38) This explains why Joseph's Nauvoo teachings became scripture. Emerging from a dreary Liberty Jail, back into the light, Joseph knew what had to be done. The Lord's people needed to be sanctified in order to become an exulted people. A temple had to be built, one that would be very different from the Kirtland Temple. He headed east to join the poverty stricken Saints and built Nauvoo.

Years Joseph received recorded Revelations that became scripture:
1828 D&C 3 & 10
1829 D&C 4-18 (D&C 10 given in 1828)
1830 D&C 19-37
1831 D&C 1, 38-72, 133
1832 D&C 73-88, 99
1833 D&C 89-101, 133 (D&C 99 given in 1832)
1834 D&C 103-106
1835 D&C 107 & 108
1836 D&C 110 & 111, 137
1837 D&C 112
1838 D&C 114-120
1839 D&C 122 (given while Joseph was still in Liberty Jail)
1841 D&C 124-126
1843 D&C 132

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