Doctrine and Covenants Week 20: D&C 88, 93

1) These are two of Joseph Smiths most sublime revelations. a) They explain the nature and purpose of mans existence, his eternal destiny, and how to achieve exaltation. b) They both expand on the New Testament writer Johns ideas and choice of words. 2) Background. a) After receiving two very dark and depressing revelationsone about the second coming and final judgment (D&C 86) and the other about the coming world wars (D&C 87)a council of ten high priests pleaded with Joseph Smith for additional understanding. i) On 27 December 1832, only two days after receiving section 87, Joseph recorded the first part of section 88,1 a message of comfort and light. (1) [SLIDE 2] When Joseph forwarded a copy of the Saints in Zion, he wrote:
I send you the olive leaf which we have plucked from the Tree of Paradise, the Lords message of peace to us; for though our brethren in Zion indulge in feelings towards us, which are not according to the requirements of the new covenant, yet, we have the satisfaction of knowing that the Lord approves of us, and has accepted us, and established His name in Kirtland for the salvation of the nations.2

b) D&C 93 was revealed five months later. i) It builds on sections 76 and 88, and provides insights into the nature of Christ and man. 3) [SLIDE 3] 88:34. The promise of the Comforter. a) The Holy Ghost is called the Comforter four times in the New Testament.3 i) This is an English translation of the Greek word (parakltos), meaning a counselor, advocate, intercessor, or helper.4 (1) The noun form stems from a Greek verb meaning to call alongside. (2) Jesus told his apostles at the last supper the he would go away, but that he would send a Comforter, that he may abide with you forever (John 16:7; 14:16). (a) This Comforter is the Holy Ghost (John 14:26), who both testifies of truth (John 15:26) and reveals truth (John 16:13). b) 88:4. The Comforter is the promiseof eternal life. i) We discussed the Holy Spirit of promise in lesson 16.5
The text of D&C 88 appears to be have been received at three separate occasions: 88:1126 was received 2728 December 1832, 88:127137 was received 3 January 1833, and 88:138141 was not published until the revelations inclusion in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants (as Section VII). 2 Joseph Smith to W.W. Phelps, 14 January 1833. History of the Church 1:316 (http://byustudies.byu.edu/hc/1/24.html#316). 3 See John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7. John also calls Jesus Christ the parakltos in 1 John 2:1 (translated advocate in the King James Bible). See New Testament lesson 17, pages 45 (https://sites.google.com/site/hwsarc/home/nt/week17). 4 This word has made its way into English as Paraclete. Although it is not frequently used am ong modern Latter-day Saints, it does have an entry in the LDS Bible Dictionary (http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/paraclete).
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ii) This verse reveals one other aspect of the Holy Ghosts mission: His presence in our lives is an indicator or promise that we are on the right track to inheriting the celestial kingdom. (1) The apostle Paul called the Holy Spirit of promise the earnest of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:1314; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5). (a) Earnest is a down paymenta pledge of God in good faith that he will give the balance of his promise in full at a future time. (b) The balance or fulfillment of his promise is that we will eventually receive the presence of the Second ComforterJesus Christ himselfand be exalted. (i) Joseph Smith:
[SLIDE 4] The other Comforter spoken of is a subject of great interest, and perhaps understood by few of this generation. After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the laying on of hands), which is the first Comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the Saints. [Quotes John 14:1618, 21, 23.] [SLIDE 5] Now what is this other Comforter? It is no more nor less that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and this is the sum and substance of the whole matter; that when any man obtains this last Comforter, he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him, or appear unto him from time to time, and even He will manifest the Father unto him, and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions of the heavens will be opened unto him, and the Lord will teach him face to face, and he may have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God; and this is the state and place the ancient Saints arrived at when they had such glorious visionsIsaiah, Ezekiel, John upon the Isle of Patmos, St. Paul in the three heavens, and all the Saints who held communion with the general assembly and Church of the First Born.6

(ii) Much of sections 88 and 93 are about how to receive that promise in full.7 1. Specifically, the promise of the Second Comforter was to prepare the Saints in Kirtland to see the Savior after the temple was dedicated (101:23). iii) [SLIDE 6] In summary, three stages can be identified: (1) The receipt of the First Comforter, or Holy Ghost, after baptism. (2) The receipt of the Holy Spirit of promise, inwardly ratifying the ordinances one accepts and signifying Gods approval of the life one is leading.
See notes to lesson 16, page 9 (https://sites.google.com/site/hwsarc/home/dc/week16). Joseph Smith, instruction to the Twelve Apostles at Commerce, Illinois, 27 June 1839. HC 3:38081 (http://byustudies.byu.edu/hc/3/26.html#380); Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith 15051; Words of Joseph Smith 5. 7 See, for example, D&C 88:68; 93:1.
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(3) The receipt of the Second Comforter, or personal manifestation of Jesus Christ. 4) [SLIDE 7] 88:513. The light of Christ. a) The light of Christ is not a person, and it has no body, spiritual or physical. It refers to the spiritual power that emanates from God to fill the immensity of space and enlightens every man, woman, and child.8 b) 88:1213. The light of Christ is a creative power that originates with and emanates from the Father and has been given in its fulness to the Son. i) This power fills the universe, imposes laws or principles,9 and brings order out of chaos.
From time to time one hears the claim that God obeys laws. However, these are not the physical laws of our present world, but spiritual principles like love, justice, mercy, and so forth. God imposes physical laws and interrupts their operations with the application of higher laws entirely at his own free will. God does not obey the universe; the universe obeys him.10

ii) There is not a particle of space that is not under the influence of God through the light of Christ. c) It is the foundation of the laws of natureall things that exist throughout the universe and behave in an orderly fashion: i) Light, truth, power, energy, force, motion, heat, life, spirit,11 and law are all aspects or dimensions of the light of Christ. (1) This is how Christ can be said to be in the sun, and the light of the sun, and other heavenly bodies (88:710): It is the light of Christ that causes stars to form from unorganized matter, and their nuclear chain reactions to begin and sustain themselves.12 (2) The fundamental forces of nature are all manifestations of the light of Christ. d) The light of Christ is also the basis for all enlightenment, understanding, instinct, and intelligence.13 i) All truth and learningsecular or religiouscomes from the light of Christ, which enlighteneth your eyes[and] quickeneth your understandings (88:11). (1) Just as we perceive the physical world because of the visible light spectrum, we can perceive the spiritual world because of the light of Christ. ii) Through the light of Christ the truths of science have been revealed to one extent or another to individuals like Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, Marie Curie, and Albert Einstein. (1) It is by the light of Christ that we understand the nature of the universe.
Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New York, New York: Macmillan, 1992), s.v. Light of Christ, 2:835 (http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Light_of_Christ). 9 See D&C 88:2126, 3642. 10 Stephen E. Robinson and H. Dean Garrett, A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2004), 3:10304. 11 See D&C 84:45. 12 In Colossians 1:17, Paul declares that through Christ all things consist, that is to say endure, or are held together. Compare D&C 88:41. 13 See John 1:9; D&C 84:46; 93:2.
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iii) Through the light of Christ the truths of religion have been revealed to one extent or another to many individuals throughout time. (1) [SLIDE 8] The First Presidency has issued this statement:
The great religious leaders of the world such as Mohammed, Confucius, and the Reformers, as well as philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and others, received a portion of Gods light. Moral truths were given to them by God to enlighten whole nations and to bring a higher level of understanding to individuals. . Consistent with these truths, we believe that God has given and will give to all people sufficient knowledge to help them on their way to eternal salvation, either in this life or in the life to come.14

iv) [SLIDE 9] Mormon taught that the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil, and that it is this light that persuade[s men] to believe in Christ (Moroni 7:16). (1) This means that what we call conscience is the light of Christ prompting us to do the right, honorable, just, and fair thing. (2) As we embrace the truths of the light of Christ, we move toward that light, and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day (50:24; cf. 88:4950, 68, 107). (a) If we reject the light and embrace the devil, that portion that we have received is taken away until [we] know nothing concerning [Gods] mysteries (Alma 12:11). This is the plan of Satan (93:39). (3) The light of Christ allows us enough enlightenment to exercise our agency. In this manner every person who has ever lived will be fairly judged by the extent of light and knowledge they received and how they responded to them. 5) [SLIDE 10] 93:34, 78, 1114, 17. The nature of God the Son. a) From these verses we learn the following truths about Jesus Christ: i) 93:3, 17. He and the Father have relationship of mutual indwelling, and are one. (1) All too often Latter-day Saints have defined themselves by what we do not believe. In this case, our rejection of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity has lead us to almost exclusively emphasize the separateness of the Godhead. (2) Although we reject the Trinitarian notion of one being three persons,15 and believe that the members of Godhead are separate beings, we affirm that the members of the Godhead are perfectly united and are one God, because the scripturesancient and moderndeclare that they are. 16
14 Statement of the First Presidency Regarding Gods Love for All Mankind, 15 February 1978. The text of this proclamation is available in I Have a Question, Ensign, January 1988 (http://www.lds.org/ensign/1988/01/i-have-aquestion). 15 This popular Christian explanation was canonized at the First Council of Nicaea ( A.D. 325), where the Son was declared to be of one substance [ / hypostasis] with the Father. Neither this declaration nor the word trinity can be found in the Bible itself. 16 See, for example, the Testimony of the Three Witnesses; 2 Nephi 31:21; Mosiah 15:1 4; Alma 11:44; 3 Nephi 11:27, 36; 20:35; 28:10; Mormon 7:7; D&C 20:28; 50:43.

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(a) They are perfectly one in purpose, in intent, in will, and in mind. Therefore, to know the mind, heart, and personality of one member of the Godhead is to know the mind, heart, and personality of all three.17 (b) The Father has fully shared his power, will, and personality with the Son, and the Son has voluntarily accepted it, obeyed it, and conformed to it. In doing so the Son has, in a sense, become the Father.18 (c) Although we teach the truth about the physical separateness of the Godhead, we must be careful not to separate them in any other sense, for they are in each other in a way difficult for us as mortals to fully appreciate. ii) 93:4, 14. Jesus can be called the Father because he has the fulness of God the Father, and can be called the Son because he was made mortal and, for a time, did not have that fulness. (1) Jesus is called the Father in a number of places in modern scripture.19 (2) One way in which he is the Father is because God the Father has given him all power, might, and dominion, making Christ equal with himself. (a) This concept was explained by Abinadi in Mosiah 15:14. (3) He is also the Son, not just because he is the offspring of God the Father, but also because he was God, but condescended to come to earth, give up his full godhood for a time, and be scourged and crucified for the sins of the world.20 iii) 93:7. Jesus was in the beginning, before the world was. (1) This passage affirms that Jesus was already glorified with the Father before the creation of the world. (2) The phrase in the beginning alludes to Genesis 1:1. iv) 93:8. He was (and is) the Word, even the messenger of salvation. (1) This passage paraphrases John 1:1. (2) The Greek word translated the Word in John 1 is (logos). To the ancient Greeks, logos was a philosophical concept that expressed the divine or cosmic will, mind, plan, or wisdom. (a) In his Gospel, John borrowed this idea and applied it to Christ: Jesus is the perfect expression of the Fathers will. v) During his mortal life, Jesus did not receive the fulness of Gods glory and truth21 at first, but received grace for graceone blessing adding to and replacing another until he had a fulness of them (93:1113). (1) This fulness of the Fathers glory and truth was given to him later in his life, beginning with his baptism (93:15) and culminating in his resurrection. (2) This corresponds with the teaching in Hebrews 5:89 that Christ learned he obedience by the things which he suffered and was thus made perfect.
See John 14:79. See Mormon 9:12; Ether 3:14 19 See, for example, 2 Nephi 25:12; Mosiah 3:8; Helaman 14:12; Ether 4:12. 20 1 Nephi 11:2633. 21 The fulness is identified 93:6, 16 as the glory of God, and in 93:26 as truth.
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6) [SLIDE 11] 93:1920, 2937. The nature and state of the soul of man. a) From these verses we learn the following truths about ourselves: i) 93:1920. Just as Jesus received, grace for grace, a fulness of the glory and truth of the Father and became one with him, so can we receive grace for grace until we have a fulness and are one with them. (1) Jesus asked for this great blessing at the last supper on behalf of his apostles and all who believed their testimony (John 17:2023), and then later on behalf of the Nephite believers (3 Nephi 19:23).
We worship God by emulating him and following his course. As Jesus kept the Fathers will and was glorified, so we can imitate Jesus course of action, keep his will, and be glorified in him. Just as imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so also it is the truest form of worship. Ultimately, the highest and truest form of worship is to become like the One we worship.22

ii) 93:21, 29a. As Jesus was in the beginning with the Father, so too was man in the beginning with God. (1) This is the first revelation of this dispensation to clearly and directly indicate that men and women had a premortal existence.23 (2) This passage and the information in Abraham 3:2228 remain the only revealed, canonized statements about our premortal state. iii) 93:29b. Intelligencealso known as the light of truthwas not and cannot be created or made. (1) [SLIDE 12] Joseph Smith:
The spirit of man is not a created being; it existed from eternity, and will exist to eternity. Anything created cannot be eternal; and earth, water, etc., [all these] had their existence in an elementary state, from eternity.24

(2) [SLIDE 13] And in the King Follett Discourse, he taught:

So I must come to what I wish to speak ofthe resurrection of the deadthe soulthe immortal spiritthe mind of man. Where did it come from? All doctors of divinity say that God created it in the beginning, but it is not so. . We say that God Himself is a self-existent God. Who told you so? Its correct enough, but how did it get into your heads? Who told you that man did not exist in like manner upon the same principle? Man existed in spirit; the mind of manthe intelligent partis as immortal as, and is coequal25 with, God Himself.
Robinson and Garrett, Commentary 3:183. Earlier passages (including some mentioned in previous lessons) could be interpreted to mean that men and women existed in premortality, but none of them directly state it as does D&C 93:29a. See, for example, Alma 13:19; Moses 4:14; D&C 49:17; 76:25. 24 HC 3:387 (http://byustudies.byu.edu/hc/3/27.html#387); TPJS 158; WJS 9. The dating of this discourse is difficult to identify; it was given in the summer of 1839, sometime before 8 August (see WJS 17, note 1.) 25 Three separate accounts of King Follett Discoursethose made by Willard Richards, Wilford Woodruff, and William Claytonall report that Joseph said coequal with God. The version published in the History of the Church puts [co-eternal] in brackets after this, followed by this explanatory footnote from B.H. Roberts: It is obvious that the word co-equal should have been written co-eternal, for we know the doctrines of the Church as revealed to, and taught by, the Prophet, teach us definitely that God comprehendeth all
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. [SLIDE 14] Is it logical to say that a spirit is immortal and yet have a beginning? Because if a spirit of man had a beginning, it will have an end, but it does not have a beginning or end. . Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self existent principle. It is a spirit from age to age and there is no creation about it.26

(3) [SLIDE 15] Its important to note here that Joseph Smith used the terms intelligence, spirit, and mind interchangeably to refer to a native intelligence that existed in us from all eternity.
The modern Church custom often uses the term intelligences for our state before spirit birth, and spirits for our state after spirit birth. However, the scriptures and the statements of the Prophet Joseph Smith do not support this distinction. From Abraham 3:2223, which contains the only occurrence of the word intelligences as a plural noun in scripture, it is clear that spirit children (souls or spirits) are meant. Similarly, Joseph Smith sometimes used the term spirit to refer to the native state in which we existed before our spirit birth. Modern Saints should avoid becoming too technical in their use of these terms that are only broadly defined by the prophets or the scriptures.27

things, and all things are before him, and all things are round about him, and he is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things; and all things are by him, and of him, even God, for ever and ever. (D. & C. Sec. 88:41.) Moreover in the Book of Abraham we read that the Lord said to Abraham; These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they: I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all. (Abraham 3:19.) HC 6:310, fn. 5 (http://byustudies.byu.edu/hc/6/15.html#fn-5). I will leave it up to the reader to decide for himself if B.H. Roberts was right. 26 Joseph Smith, King Follett Discourse, 7 April 1844. Stan Larson, The King Follett Discourse: A Newly Amalgamated Text, BYU Studies 18/2 (Winter 1978), 20304, italics removed (https://byustudies.byu.edu/showtitle.aspx?title=5321). Larsons version of this discourse is a synthesis of all the accounts that were made by those present at the time. Compare WJS 34062; HC 6:31012 (http://byustudies.byu.edu/hc/6/15.html#310); TPJS 35254. 27 Robinson and Garrett, Commentary 3:188, italics in the original. The notion that the entire universe is filled with intelligences that are organized into animals, plants, rocks, and other matter originated with Orson Pratt: As eternity was filled as it were with particles of intelligence who had there Agency, two of these particles in process of time might have joined their interest together[,] exchanged ideas[, and] found by persueing this course that they gained [double?] strength to what one particle of intelligence would have[,] & afterwards were joined by other particles & continued untill they formed A combination or body through a long process. Yet they had power over other intelligences in consequence of their combination, organization[,] & strength[.] And in process of time[,] this being[,] body[,] or God[,] seeing the Advantage of such an organization[,] desires company[,] or A companion[,] And Having some experiance goes to work & organizes other beings by prevailing [on] intelligences to come to gether & [in the hope that they] may form sumthing better than at the first. And After trails of this kind[,] & the most perfect way sought[, a]ught it was found [that]the most expeditious & best way to recieve there formations or bodies[,] either spiritual or temporal[, was] through a womb. Scott G. Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruffs Journal (Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 9 vols., 198385), 3:21618, original spelling and Kenneys editorial insertions retained; quoted in Gary James Bergera, Conflict In the Quorum: Orson Pratt, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith (Signature Books, 2002), 90. More recently this theory has been popularized by W. Cleon Skousen; see Why Was the Atonement Necessary?, appendix to The First 2,000 Years (Bookcraft, 1953), 35262. 2013, Mike Parker http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

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Intelligence, however defined, is not created or made; it is coeternal with God. Some LDS leaders have interpreted this to mean that intelligent beingscalled intelligencesexisted before and after they were given spirit bodies in the premortal existence. Others have interpreted it to mean that intelligent beings were organized as spirits out of eternal intelligent matter, that they did not exist as individuals before they were organized as spirit beings in the premortal existence. The Church has taken no official position on this issue.28

(4) 93:36a. The glory of God is intelligence. (a) When we use our agency to obey God, we are blessed with additional glory, light, and intelligence through the Spirit. iv) 93:33a. Man is spirit. (1) As noted before, Joseph Smith used spirit, intelligence, and mind interchangeably. God and his children are all spirit in the sense that each of us has a unique, individual intelligence that can learn and increase in glory.29 v) 93:33b. Spirit and element [physical body] must be inseparably connected to receive a fulness of joy. (1) Another one of the unique doctrines of the Restoration is that we will obtain glorious, resurrected bodies that are like Gods exalted body, and that is essential to our exaltation. (2) 88:15. The spirit and the body together make up mans soul. (3) 88:1820. The intent and purpose of the creation of our souls was so that we might fill the measure of our creation, inherit the celestial kingdom, and enjoy the presence of God the Father. 7) [SLIDE 16] 88:2224, 2932, 35. Abiding the conditions of the law. a) These verses indicate that: i) The kingdom of glory we inherit is entirely conditional upon which law we are willing to abide (remain or continue in). (1) The law by which we attempt to govern ourselves here in mortality, even though we succeed at it only imperfectly, determines the glory we will ultimately receive in the resurrection. ii) 88:2931. We will each receivea fulness of the glory of the kingdom that we inherit. iii) 88:32. We will only receive that which we were willing to enjoy. (1) I take this to mean that we will be comfortable dwelling in the degree of glory that we receive. People to want to be celestial will enjoy the presence of other celestial people. Putting a telestial person in the presence of celestial people would be hell for that person; likewise placing a celestial person among telestial people.

28 Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New York, New York: Macmillan, 1992), s.v. Intelligence, 2:692 (http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Intelligence); Intelligences, 2:69293 (http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Intelligences). 29 Abraham 3:19 explains that spirits are graded, one being more intelligent than the other, and that the Lord God is more intelligent than they all.

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(2) The sons of perdition, being unwilling to yield to God and repent, cannot be saved because they refuse to be saved (88:35). 8) [SLIDE 17] Instructions to the Saints in Kirtland. a) Although the following commandments were given specifically to the members of the Church in Kirtland, they still have general application to us today. i) There are many items of instruction in sections 88 and 93, Ive chosen three. b) 88:7880, 118. The importance of education. i) 88:80. The purpose and ultimate goal of education is not to make money or impress the world, but to be more effective in spreading the gospel and building the kingdom. (1) We dont believe in education for educations sake. ii) 88:78. Note that we are commanded not just to learn spiritual things in church settings, but science, history, current events, politics, geography and other secular studies. (1) The result of this commandment is that active Latter-day Saints are more likely to have college experience than the general population.30 (2) Contrary to the societal norm, among Latter-day Saints more education generally leads to higher rates of church activity.31 c) 88:119120. The commandment to build a temple in Kirtland. i) Note that the commandment is not to build a building, but to establish a house of God. (1) The use of the word establish indicates that they were to do more than start a construction projectthey were to set it on a firm foundation, temporally and spiritually. The building was to be well-constructed, but, more importantly, the people were to be prepared to receive its blessings. (2) The temple is not the meetinghouse of God, nor the office of God, nor the school of Godalthough it served all of those purposes. It is the house of God, a place where God will dwell with his children as an exalted family. (a) In that sense being in the temple is a foreshadowing of what it will be like in the celestial kingdom. d) 88:7475, 121, 123125. Purification in preparation to see the Lord in the temple.

30 In Japan, Latter-day Saints are more than twice as likely as the national population to have college experience. In Britain, Church members are only slightly above the national average in educational experience. In Mexico, where the comparison standard is postprimary rather than college experience, Church members exceed that national rate by a factor of two. The percentage with postsecondary education is higher among Canadian Saints than the national population. Lessrepresentative samples also show above-average LDS educational attainment in some African countries. Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New York, New York: Macmillan, 1992), s.v. Vital Statistics, 4:1534 (http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Vital_Statistics). 31 A survey of American religions found that rates of weekly church attendance are very similar for people of all educational levels (grade school, 43%; high school, 39%; college, 43%), while studies of Mormons found a high positive correlation between education levels and religiosity (grade school, 34% of males; high school, 43% of males; college, 71% of males). Stan L. Albrecht, The Consequential Dimension of Mormon Religiosity, in Latter-day Saint Social Life: Social Research on the LDS Church and its Members (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1998), 253 92 (http://rsc.byu.edu/archived/latter-day-saint-social-life-social-research-lds-church-and-its-members/8-consequentialdim).

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i) In all ages the Lord has commanded his people to purify themselves in preparation for great spiritual events.32 (1) This preparation includes both physical cleanliness and spiritual purification. (a) Although physical cleanliness is socially polite, the point of it is to ritually, symbolically represent spiritual cleansing. ii) In preparation for the building of the Kirtland Temple, the Lord commanded the Saints to do the following: (1) 88:7475. Cleanse your hands and your feet before methat I may testify unto your Fatherthat you are clean from the blood of this wicked generation. (a) 88:138139. This commandment is identified as the ordinance of the washing of feet. (b) Anciently, a laver (wash basin) was placed in front of the door of the tabernacle or temple, and priests were required to wash their hands and feet before offering sacrifices and other ordinances (Exodus 30:1721). (c) At the last supper, Jesus took a new, fuller meaning of this practice by himself washing the disciples feet as an act of humility and service, rather than allowing them to wash their own feet (John 13:117). He then told them:
Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one anothers feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. (John 13:1315.)

(d) [SLIDE 18] The first practice of the ordinance of washing of feet in this dispensation occurred on 23 January 1833. Joseph Smith described it:
We again assembled in conference; when, after much speaking, singing, praying, and praising God, all in tongues, we proceeded to the washing of feet (according to the practice recorded in the 13th chapter of Johns Gospel), as commanded of the Lord. Each Elder washed his own feet first, after which I girded myself with a towel and washed the feet of all of them, wiping them with the towel with which I was girded. Among the number, my father presented himself, but before I washed his feet, I asked of him a fathers blessing, which he granted by laying his hands upon my head, in the name of Jesus Christ, and declaring that I should continue in the Priests office until Christ comes. At the close of the scene, Brother Frederick G. Williams, being moved upon by the Holy Ghost, washed my feet in token of his fixed determination to be with me in suffering, or in journeying, in life or in death, and to be continually on my right hand; in which I accepted him in the name of the Lord.33

(i) [SLIDE 19] This was memorialized in song in the fourth verse of The Spirit of God:

32 33

See, for example, Exodus 19:315; 3 Nephi 17:3. HC 1:323 (http://byustudies.byu.edu/hc/1/25.html#323). http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

2013, Mike Parker

Hurricane Utah Adult Religion Class

Doctrine and Covenants Sections 88, 93

Week 20, Page 11

Well wash and be washd, and with oil be anointed Withal not omitting the washing of feet: For he that receiveth his PENNY appointed,34 Must surely be clean at the harvest of wheat.35

(e) This ordinance continues today in certain ordinances and settings,36 most notably among the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. (2) [SLIDE 20] 88:121. Cease from all your light speeches, from all laughter. (a) This does not mean that we should be solemn all the time, but in appropriate circumstances. (i) 88:69. We are to cast awayexcess laughter in our daily lives. (ii) 59:15. We are to have notmuch laughter on the Lords day. (iii) 88:121. We are to refrain from all laughter in sacred places and during sacred ordinances. (b) This commandment is specifically directed toward temple worship, where laughter is inappropriate under any circumstance. (i) Light-heartedness is appropriate; light-mindedness is not.37 (3) [SLIDE 21] 88:121, 123125. Cease fromall your lustful desires, from all your pride and light-mindedness, and from all your wicked doings. See that ye love one another; cease to be covetous; learn to impart one to another as the gospel requires. Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated. And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace. (a) This passage perfectly encapsulates the ideal qualities of the Lords people who are prepared for his coming. 9) [SLIDE 22] Next week: a) D&C 89: the Word of Wisdom.

34 The phrase PENNY appointed is a reference to the parable of the laborer in the vineyard (Matthew 20:116). In this parable, laborers who start working during the eleventh hourat the end of the w0rk dayreceive the same payment as the laborers who have been working from the very beginning of the day. 35 Collection of Sacred Hymns (1835), #90 (http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/collection-of-sacred-hymns1835?p=123). The fourth and fifth verses of the original hymn have been omitted from more recent hymnals. 36 Joseph Smith connected the ordinance of washing of feet with being sealed up unto eternal life (HC 1:323). It remains a part of the higher temple ordinance known as the second anointing. See David John Buerger, The Fulness of the Priesthood: The Second Anointing in Latter-day Saint Theology and Practice, Dialogue 16/1 (Spring 1983), 1416, 3031 (http://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V16N01_12.pdf). 37 See also Diana L. Mahony and Marla D. Corson, Light-Mindedness versus Lightheartedness: Conflicting Conceptions of Laughter among Latter-day Saints, BYU Studies 42/2 (2003), 11529 (https://byustudies.byu.edu/showtitle.aspx?title=6834).

2013, Mike Parker

http://bit.ly/ldsarc

For personal use only. Not a Church publication.