1/13/2018 - Section 77:1

January 13, 2018

Section 77:1

Book of Revelations, Sanctification the final?, Priorities, Fill the Measure of Our Creation, Key is Small only Unlocks the Path, Sea of Glass, End of the Earth?, Joseph Smith’s Translation of the Bible,

Before I even begin to study section 77, I was impressed as I read the section heading. Joseph is back to translating! He has so many to-do’s and demands, but he continually returns to the task the Lord has asked of him: to provide a more accurate translation of the Bible we use today.

This section was written as Joseph continued to work on the translation of the Scriptures. It was while he was working in the Book of Revelations that he read verses he did not understand, and so he enquired of the Lord. This section contains his answers.

The Smith and Sjodahl Commentary (p 478) states: “The Book of Revelation is one of the grandest books in sacred literature, and the Lord clearly designs that the Saints should become familiar with it. Else why this Revelation in the Doctrine and Covenants?  But it is not a complete interpretation of the book. It is a key. A key is a very small part of the house. It unlocks the door through which an entrance may be gain, but after the key has been turned, the searcher for treasure must find it for himself….The Lord has, in this Section, given His people a key to the book….As Champollion, by the key furnished in the brief test on the Rosetta stone, was able to open the secrets of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, so the Bible student should be able to read the Apocalypse with a better  understanding of it, by the aid of this key.”  Hmmmm—quite a challenge to us….

Verse 1 speaks of the earth “in its sanctified, immortal, and eternal state” as a sea of glass. As I read this verse, and the supporting paragraphs in the student manual, I was reminded that Joseph Smith once explained that we, in our mortal state, cannot even imagine the glories of heaven. Joseph’s explanation of this state of the earth’s history given to family and friends: “…that when the earth was sanctified and became like a sea of glass, it would be one great urim and thummim, and the Saints could look in it and see as they are seen” (History of the Church 5:279)   And then there is President Brigham Young’s 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 the Earth and see all the eternities of God.” (Journal of Discourses 8:200; see also D&C 88:17-20, 25-26; 130:6-9)

Is this what the scriptures mean when they say that the past, present and future are one with the Lord?

From the sources of the above quote of Brigham Young, I checked in D&C 88. V 18 states that our souls [spirit & body—I remember that definition of a soul and love to think of it in it’s use in an SOS] “must needs be sanctified from all unrighteousness, that it may be prepared for the celestial glory”. The scriptures speak of the earth having a spirit, and of animals having a spirit.  Then v 19 says that after the earth (and I put in ‘after we’) “hath filled the measure of its creation, it shall be crowned with glory, even with the presence of God the Father.” This helps me understand our role here and our transition into Heavenly Father’s kingdom. There is no way we can grow enough on our own. But when we have worked hard to truly ‘fill the measure of our creation’, then the Lord takes us from there. He sanctifies us. I am sure that Christ’s atonement has a great part in this process of ours.

V 25 & 26 say that because “the earth abideth the law of the celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law—Wherefore, it shall be sanctified; yea notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be quickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is quickened….”  It makes sense that we will follow a similar process if we also filleth the measure of OUR creation, and transgresseth not the law.