Casey Griffiths:
Not only was Enoch taken up into heaven, but Enoch built a city, a city of holiness called Zion, that was also taken up into heaven. There’s going to be an establishment of another holy city called Zion, and that’s going to inaugurate a thousand years of peace on the Earth, the Millennium.

Scott Woodward:
For God, it’s like this is the one continuous story that’s been developing from the very beginning, and now we’re at a really exciting part of the momentum of this story.

Casey Griffiths:
Question.

Scott Woodward:
The Lord is drawing on the same biblical types of archetypes of covenanting, Promised Land, and forever for you and your posterity.

Casey Griffiths:
We’re going to build holy cities, and we’re going to build sanctuaries, or in other words, temples.

Scott Woodward:
Maybe we should stop thinking about Zion as one city with one temple, and more as like a network of cities throughout the world.

Casey Griffiths:
It’s an amazing time to be alive.

Scott Woodward:
Excited to dive in today to Doctrine and Covenants 37 through 40, man. This is good stuff today. Really pivotal revelations in 37, 38, especially, that really changed the trajectory of the Church, wouldn’t you say?

Casey Griffiths:
Yes. When I teach my classes, this is the end of the beginnings era of the Church, kind of that early upstate New York, Pennsylvania. There’s not really a church, and everybody’s connecting together. And this is where we start really sort of growing as an organization and wind up in a location that’s going to be Church headquarters for the next seven or eight years, for probably the longest span of time that Joseph Smith led the Church. We’re heading to Ohio.

Scott Woodward:
Yeah. So we have four sections today, two section pairs. Our first pair is Sections 37, 38 that are both related to the first commandment to gather the Saints to one location, a cohesive Church, like you’re saying. And then our second pair of revelations is Doctrine and Covenants 39 and 40, which are both to and about a Methodist preacher named James Covel. So we’ll get to that. But let’s begin with our first pair, Sections 37, 38, and dive into the context. Do you want to take it away?

Casey Griffiths:
Section 37 and 38, like you said, are really paired together with each other. It’s hard to teach one without teaching the other because Section 37 is essentially the command to gather, and then Section 38 is the reason why they’re supposed to gather. So this is all part of the consequences of the Lamanite Mission, which we talked about in our last episode. Those four missionaries, Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, Peter Whitmer, and Ziba Peterson, are heading from upstate New York to the edge of the American frontier to preach to the Native Americans that are beyond the Western borders of the United States. But like we mentioned last week, God had different plans than them converting the Native Americans en masse at this time. Instead, they stop in Kirtland, Ohio, where they convert a minister named Sidney Rigdon. And within three weeks, 127 people have joined the Church. There’s more members of the Church in Ohio than there are in New York and Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania in one fell swoop, this happens. By the time Section 37 is received, the number of members in Ohio has actually grown to 300. And among them are these two prominent leaders that we sort of ended last week with, Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge.

Casey Griffiths:
I guess it wasn’t last week. We had Easter, which is, which is wonderful. But continuing the story, you’ll remember Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge travel to Fayette.

Scott Woodward:
Yeah, Sidney and Edward were a huge converts because of how many other people they influenced to also join the Church, right? I mean, this was just huge.

Casey Griffiths:
Sidney is a respected churchman. Like, he’s really experienced, and he knows what he’s doing. And Edward Partridge is just the sort of person that… It’s hard to find anybody that says anything bad about him. Like, he’s just a person of outstanding integrity. Joseph Smith connects with him immediately. They make their way to New York because they want to meet with Joseph Smith personally. Doctrine and Covenants 35 and 36 are given when they arrive there, 35 to Sidney Rigdon and 36 to Edward Partridge. But the big consequence that ties us into this section is that Sidney Rigdon is called to act as scribe on Joseph Smith’s project to translate the Bible. If you remember, up to this point, Oliver Cowdery has been Joseph Smith’s scribe. They’ve been Butch and Sundance working together to translate the Book of Mormon and then the earliest parts of the Bible, which today are in our scriptures as the Book of Moses. And that is actually a really big part of the backstory here, too, that Sidney stays, and for a major part of the month of December, he starts acting as scribe on Joseph Smith’s project to translate the Bible. And what are they translating? Well, as far as we can tell, they’re translating the chapters that are now Moses 6 and 7.

Casey Griffiths:
And these chapters, along with a few verses in Moses 8, add a lot of information about an ancient prophet named Enoch. In fact, Enoch is only mentioned in six verses of the King James version of the Old Testament. Guess how many verses they add to the story of Enoch here? You probably know this off the top of your head.

Scott Woodward:
116.

Casey Griffiths:
116 verses, right?

Scott Woodward:
Yeah.

Casey Griffiths:
So Enoch goes from being this guy who’s just listed in like the lineages to there’s a cryptic passage that said “Enoch walked with God, and Enoch was not, for God took him,” all of a sudden, we have this huge backstory that describes how not only was Enoch taken up into heaven, but Enoch built a city, a city of holiness called Zion, that was also taken up into heaven. And the verse that kind of describes this in the Book of Moses describes Enoch’s city as “a people that were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness, and there was no poor among them.” In fact, they become so righteous that not only is Enoch taken up into heaven, but the whole city is. And they were preserved to return to this earth together with the Lord at his Second Coming in the beginning of his Millennial reign. This is a big concept. They already in the Book of Mormon have these prophecies about a New Jerusalem that’s going to be built on the American continent. Now they have this additional information about Enoch’s city that existed anciently and a crucial covenant that God made with Enoch about the latter days.

Casey Griffiths:
Enoch saw, kind of apocalyptic passage in the verses that talk about Enoch, where he sees the ups and downs, he sees Noah’s time, he sees the Lord. This is one of the most moving passages in all of scripture, but he sees the Lord weeping over the wickedness of his people and realizes that the Lord has feelings, has emotions, is connected to these people. And then Enoch has made a promise that in the last days, God is going to “gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth; unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem.” That’s Moses 7:60–62. At some point, the Lord said that he and Enoch’s city, would come down and meet the latter-day elect who are gathered together in this holy city, the New Jerusalem. And then, according to the Book of Moses, for the space of a thousand years, the Earth shall rest. So these are all big apocalyptic themes. Like we mentioned earlier, the idea of a New Jerusalem on the American continent has really fired up the imagination of the early Saints.

Casey Griffiths:
They want to know where this is. They want to know where to build it. And a big part of the Mission to Lamanites isn’t just to take the gospel to the Native Americans. It’s to also help identify the location of where this city of Zion is going to be built.

Scott Woodward:
This is a familiar thread we’ve already talked about that was talked about just a couple of months ago in Doctrine and Covenants 29, right. This gathering, “you are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect,” he said in verse 7 of Section 29, to build ultimately a New Jerusalem in preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus. And this had all come about because new converts were inquiring about the Book of Mormon prophecies, right. And so what you’re telling us, Casey, is now there’s another prophecy layered on top of Section 29 and the Book of Mormon, which is this Enoch prophecy, this covenant God made with him, that is just a triple witness that this is going to happen. Gathering, New Jerusalem building, Second Coming.

Casey Griffiths:
Throughout the rest of the 19th century, the doctrine of gathering is sort of a key concept for Latter-day Saints. Typical was a convert who would join the Church in a place like Western Europe and immediately start to sort of wrap things up so that they could cross the ocean and travel to wherever Church headquarters was, whether that was Kirtland or Missouri or Nauvoo, or eventually Salt Lake City in the Intermountain West. The idea was that people would gather, and they gather from various locations. There’s a ghost town in Utah called Yosepa. That’s the Hawaiian word for Joseph. They came as a result of the doctrine of the gathering in the 19th century. But this concept, which becomes a hallmark of Latter-day Saints, does shift, and we’re going to talk about that as we go on. The first hint about this city that they’re going to be built has already been given in Section 28. The Lord said the city of Zion would be, quote, “on the borders by the Lamanites.” That’s Doctrine and Covenants 28:9, and that Oliver Cowdery was supposed to locate this as part of the Mission to the Lamanites. Now, in December, that prophecy is given in September.

Casey Griffiths:
In December, we get this vision of Enoch where the same idea is reiterated, but now it’s given grounding in ancient history, that Enoch built a holy city called Zion, and that in a kind of, you know, chiasm, what happened at the beginning is going to happen at the end. There’s going to be an establishment of another holy city called Zion, and that’s going to inaugurate a thousand years of peace on the Earth, the Millennium. That’s the context for Section 37, because in John Whitmer’s history, John Whitmer is the Church historian. He says, After Joseph and Sidney had written this prophecy of Enoch, the Lord spoke to them again and gave further directions. And that’s Section 37.

Scott Woodward:
So there’s not some immediate question that somebody is posing in this section about, Should we go to the Ohio or anything like that? What’s interesting about the context you just shared, Casey, is that the ancient prophecy of gathering in order to build Zion, in order to prepare for the Millennium, was this biblical work that they were doing, and they had received this revelation of the prophecy of Enoch. And then the Lord says to them, right here in Section 37, You are not to “translate any more until ye shall go to the Ohio.” And the only reasoning he gives them for this move to Ohio is he says, quote, “Because of the enemy and for your sakes.” Whoever this unspecified enemy is, it’s, I mean, likely this is a reference primarily to the devil, he’s always the enemy. But secondarily to maybe those that the devil was stirring up at that time to persecute the New York Saints. But in verse 2, the Lord says, they are not yet to leave until, quote, “They have preached my gospel in that region and strengthen up the Church whithersoever it’s found.” But then he adds, “more especially in Colesville, because they pray unto me in faith.”

Scott Woodward:
And in obedience to these verses, actually, Joseph and Sidney will go out, and they’ll preach and prophesy wherever they go, especially they go to Colesville to strengthen the disciples there and to preach the gospel to those that are in that area. They’re going to follow this to the T. Then verse three, he says, I give a commandment unto the Church that they should assemble together at the Ohio in anticipation of the time that my servant, Oliver Calvary, shall return unto them. Remember Oliver, he’s on the Mission to the Lamanite still, and he is going to come back, but not all the way to New York. He’s going to return to Ohio, and the whole Church will meet him there. This, the Lord says, was his wisdom, and every man could choose for himself, whether they would comply or not. And that, Casey, is the end of Section 37. It’s just a short little four verses, heavy commandment with very light explanation. The only explanation as to why to gather to the Ohio is because of the enemy.

Casey Griffiths:
It’s kind of unsatisfying, right? Like, this isn’t a small request. The members of the Church in New York and Pennsylvania are being asked to sell their homes and give up pretty much everything that they have to gather to this new land. Section 37 is just the command to gather. If you want to know why the Lord is asking them to do this, you have to go to Section 38.

Scott Woodward:
Yeah. So imagine you’ve grown up in New York your whole life, right? You’re in Colesville or Palmyra or Fayette area. You’re part of one of those three groupings of the early Church members. Your whole life, you’ve lived there, and now you’re being asked to leave with very little explanation. This is not just where you’ve lived. This is where you and your parents and your grandparents. I mean, this is where your people are. And now the Lord says, time to leave. The aftermath of Section 37 is the context of Section 38, isn’t it?

Casey Griffiths:
That’s a good way to put it, actually. Section 37 is the context for Section 38. But let’s just dive into that context, too. So three days after Section 37 is received, the third conference of the Church was held. They didn’t hold conferences spaced out every six months back then, was one thing we should add. They held the conference when they felt like they needed to hold the conference. And so they hold another conference on January 2nd, 1831. One early Church member, Newel Knight, says, “It was at this conference that we were instructed as a people to begin the gathering of Israel. And a revelation was given to the prophet on this subject.” Joseph Smith announces that the Lord had commanded them to gather and move to the Ohio. And John Whitmer records, quite understandably, he says, “They desired to know somewhat more concerning this matter.” Hey, guys, everybody pack up your stuff. We’re moving to Ohio. It is completely understandable that the people that are at the conference would say, Question.

Scott Woodward:
If I may ask why.

Casey Griffiths:
A big request, right? The reality is, is Joseph Smith doesn’t know anything more than what’s said in Section 37, that the enemy has some design against them. So what John Whitmer records is, “Therefore, the seer inquired of the Lord in the presence of the the whole congregation, and thus came the word of the Lord.” That’s when Section 38 is given, this is the why behind the gathering.

Scott Woodward:
And John Whitmer says that Joseph received this revelation like right in front of the whole Church, like, that was there. It just like happens in the conference with a bunch of eyewitnesses, which I think is cool.

Casey Griffiths:
This is just one of those little things that sort of strengthens your faith in the Doctrine and Covenants that Joseph Smith didn’t spend a couple of weeks composing this. He spontaneously receives it while everybody is there. But it’s a very complicated and rich and layered revelation. There’s a lot to digest in Section 38.

Scott Woodward:
And Joseph is what, 26 years old?

Casey Griffiths:
He’s not super old or educated or experienced at this point in his life.

Scott Woodward:
So keep that in mind as we now dive into the content of Section 38, that this came in one pass through Joseph Smith in front of the congregation. He’s 26-year-old prophet. Here we go. One question I like to ask when I’m teaching this section to people is, As we read this, what in these verses would have convinced you, if you were part of that New York group in Colesville or Palmyra or Fayette, what in this section would have convinced you to leave New York for the Ohio, to permanently like uproot and gather to Ohio? So just kind of keep that in the back of your mind as we go. So in verses one through six, the introduces himself to the Church and sets the tone for the revelation. He says that he’s both the all-knowing, quote, “Great I am,” of the Exodus story, that might be relevant to where this is going, and “the same which has taken the Zion of Enoch into his own bosom.” A clear reference to the story so recently revealed in Moses 7. In fact, his language in verse 4 actually contains a paraphrase of Moses 7:39, when he says that, quote, “By virtue of the blood which I have spilled, have I pleaded before the Father for those who have believed in my name.”

Scott Woodward:
And then verse 5 is actually a paraphrase of Moses 7:57, if you’re reading real carefully here, when he says, quote, “The residue of the wicked have I kept in chains of darkness until the judgment of the great day which shall come at the end of the earth.” It’s really interesting to see the intertextual linkages between Moses 7, prophecy of Enoch language, and what the Lord explains here in Section 38. So deliberately, he’s, I think, pulling from the language of that which was just translated to help, I think, give context to why he’s asking them to leave. The God of Enoch and the God of the great Exodus story is asking them to now gather to leave, to make an exodus to a place where he’s going to teach them how to build Zion. So hopefully you’re catching these themes. They’re meant to, I think, be laid on here. Maybe thick is too strong. They’re not being laid on thick, but they’re being laid on deliberately so that hopefully you catch them as you read. An interlinking is happening here. Relevant to their question about why we need to gather. Now, in verses 7 to 10, the Lord directly addresses the congregation at the conference, assuring them that, quote, “My eyes are upon you, and I am in your midst, and ye cannot see me.

Scott Woodward:
“But the day soon cometh that ye shall see me, and know that I am, for the veil of darkness shall soon be rent,” he promises. “And he that is not purified shall not abide the day.” A reference to the Second Coming. “Wherefore they are to gird up their loins and be prepared,” he says, “knowing that the kingdom is theirs and the enemy shall not overcome. They are clean, but not all. Yet there is none else with whom I am well pleased,” the Lord says. And then explaining further in verses 11 and 12, the Lord gives his diagnosis of world conditions in 1831 saying, quote, “For all flesh is corrupted before me, and the powers of darkness prevail upon the earth among the children of men in the presence of all the hosts of heaven.” Now, in Enoch’s vision, back in Moses 7, Enoch had seen something strikingly similar. He saw that, quote, “The power of Satan was upon all the face of the earth, and he saw angels descending out of heaven, and he heard a loud voice saying: Wo, wo be unto the inhabitants of the earth.” And then he also saw this really chilling image of Satan holding a big chain in his hand “and veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness,” it says.

Scott Woodward:
“And he looked up,” the devil did, “and laughed, and his angels rejoiced.” And this is when Enoch looks over and sees the God of heaven weeping. So now in Section 38, world conditions are being described similarly, and the Lord says, quote, “All eternity is pained.” Hence, “the angels of heaven,” he says, “are waiting the divine command to reap down the earth, to remove wickedness from its surface,” because in their time, the Lord says, “the enemy is combined,” suggesting that evil was then organizing. In verse 13, the Lord gives a relevant but chilling example of such evil when he says that there were men at that time, plotting “in secret chambers, to bring to pass even your destruction in process of time.” In Section 37, where he said, Because of the enemy, that’s why I’m asking you to leave. Apparently, this is an elaboration on that. There are people plotting to take the lives of some of these Church members or at least bring about their destruction, which sounds like, you know, you could interpret that how you want. But we never find out anything about what plots were being laid or anything like that because most of the Saints are going to be obedient and leave here.

Scott Woodward:
And so it’s interesting to kind of speculate what that might have been. I don’t know. Do you have any speculation on what secret plots in dark chambers were being concocted to bring about the destruction of the Saints there?

Casey Griffiths:
I don’t. It would be awesome to get into conspiracy theories here, but they’ve already had dark plots concocted against them, right. The manuscript of the Book of Mormon’s been taken. Joseph Smith has been indicted multiple times and dragged from court to court. Who knows what was going on behind the scenes? And that is apparently a significant motivation. It’s let’s change the setting and see if that can calm down. In fact, that’s what happens several times throughout the early Church is that they move to a different place to escape persecution. So there was serious persecution going on. Whether or not there was a conspiracy, I don’t have evidence to say yea or nay.

Scott Woodward:
But the Lord, with his all-seeingness, is giving them a heads up that there are people plotting against them at that time. Not to freak them out, he says. He goes on and says, You are to be strong from henceforth and to fear not, because the kingdom is yours. “And for your salvation, I give unto you a commandment.” Referring back to the commandment, Section 37. “For I have heard your prayers, and the poor have complained before me, and the rich have I made, and all flesh is mine, and I am no respecter of persons, and I have made the earth rich, and behold, it is my footstool, wherefore, again, will I stand upon it.” What’s the Lord saying here? It appears that the Lord’s command for these Saints, many of whom were poor, to gather to Ohio, was intended at least in part, Casey, right, to help the poor rise above their poverty. Recall that one of the key distinctions of Enoch’s Zion, that they just learned about in Moses 7:18, was that they had no poor among them. And so this command to gather to Ohio appears to be connected in some way to creating that Zion ideal.

Scott Woodward:
And we’re going to find out that that’s exactly what happens, right? When they get to the Ohio, the Lord will give a law called the law of consecration of property. And we’re going to learn all about his plan to eliminate poverty. So I don’t want to get too ahead of the story here, but we’re starting to see the little hints of that here. And it’s all connected to building up this Zion ideal that they had just learned about in the Enoch prophecy. The Lord goes on to explain further, “And I hold forth and deign to give unto you greater riches, even a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey, upon which there shall be no curse when the Lord cometh.” Clear reference to the Promised Land of the Exodus story, right? And so remember, he had introduced himself at the beginning of this section as the great I am and as the God of Enoch, and he’s kind of weaving both of these themes back and forth. In fact, let’s just think about the Exodus story for just a second here. The Israelite slaves, right, the Lord declared that he would deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and bring them up onto a land flowing with milk and honey, that that would be their promised land, the land of their inheritance, the land of Canaan.

Scott Woodward:
You can look for those references, I think, at Numbers 34, Deuteronomy 26, this land of milk and honey language. Well, right here, Casey, the Lord is unmistakably announcing that he plans on doing a similar thing in the modern era. He is at that very moment beginning the gathering of a modern version of Israel, starting with this little small group of New York Saints with every intention of leading them, even the very poorest among them, to a land of promise, to a land of prosperity. And he says, “I will give unto you for the land of your inheritance, if you seek it with all your hearts, and this shall be my covenant with you,” he continues, “ye shall have it for the land of your inheritance, and for the inheritance of your children, forever, while the earth shall stand, and ye shall possess it again in eternity, no more to pass away.” Wow. Remember that the Lord promised Abraham, that he would have the land of Canaan, and his seed would have the land of Canaan there, not just in this life, but forever, in the resurrection and beyond. The Lord is drawing on the same biblical types of archetype types of covenanting, Promised Land and forever for you and your posterity.

Casey Griffiths:
I think the Lord likes exoduses. I think he sees… I don’t want to use the word road trip because that doesn’t quite describe as epic as this is, but how people are often forged through the journeys that they have to make, right. And this is the first of several exoduses that happen to the early Saints. And you’re doing a beautiful job here just pointing out one salient thing that we sometimes overlook about the early Church, which is we usually frame them in terms of saying they’re trying to restore the New Testament church, but they’re just as in tune with the Old Testament. And it’s more common, especially in this phase of the Restoration, for them to refer to themselves as Israel, modern Israel, which is an Old Testament idea, than to refer to themselves as the Saints of the last days. There’s a little bit of both in the DNA of the Latter-day Saint religion, but this is very much a call to perform an exodus, which is going to do exactly what the ancient Exodus did, which is forge them into a people.

Scott Woodward:
100%. And it is pulling in all the themes of the richest covenants that God has ever made with people, right. The Abrahamic covenant, the covenant with the house of Israel at Mount Sinai, the covenant with David, actually in the next verse. Listen to this. He says, “In time, when ye shall have no king nor ruler, for I will be your king and watch over you.” Now, that’s a subtle reference, but in 2 Samuel 7, the Lord promised David that his posterity would reign over the house of Israel forever and ever. And we find out later that that means one of his posterity. When the angel announces to Mary in Luke 1, that she’s going to have a baby, he says, you’ll recall the language I’m paraphrasing, but he says, That child will be called the son of the Highest, and he will sit on the throne of his father, David, and he will rule the house of Israel forever. And so again, a very rich Old Testament theme that reaches its climax at Jesus. Luke 1 takes us there. And then after his ascension to heaven, we know that the story is not over after his resurrection, right. And so now comes the era of the Restoration, and we’re getting all these themes being pulled back together.

Scott Woodward:
We get a people now, a modern Israel, who are being promised the same kinds of promises and being really woven into the promises of the Old Testament, with the capstone being that Christ, the son of David, will come and rule over all of them. He will be the King. And so amen. This is Old Testament woven through the New Testament, now coming to a head in the era of the Restoration. And it’s all, I mean, I think we put arbitrary lines between old and new and Restoration. But for God, it’s like this is the one continuous story that’s been developing from the very beginning. And now we’re at a really exciting part of the momentum of this story in the early days of the Restoration. It’s a unified story that’s leading to a climactic ending where God and his people rest on this Earth and rule and reign the sanctified world together. And so anyway, this is one piece of that really big, epic story. So yes, road trip would be a little inadequate, Casey, to describe what’s happening here.

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah. A road trip you come back from, right? They’re being asked to embark into the wilderness and give up everything that they have. And that is a sacrifice that does bring forth the blessings of heaven that really causes them to receive a rich flood of revelation. More of the Doctrine and Covenants is received in Ohio than any other place that Joseph Smith lived. So they do get blessings for doing this, but it’s a big sacrifice to ask of the early Saints.

Scott Woodward:
Remember back in Enoch’s, vision in Moses 7, the Lord referred to himself there as, quote, “Messiah, the King of Zion.” This just taps back into that Old Testament theme, drawing from the King David prophecies.So now here in Section 38, think about this. The King of Zion is inviting these New York Saints to hear my voice and follow me, and you shall be a free people. More Exodus language as well, isn’t it? Of come to freedom, escape the enemy. The day is approaching, he promises, that “ye shall have no laws but my laws when I come, for I am your lawgiver, and what can stay my hand?” In the meantime, he says, in verses 23 through 27, you are to focus on your efforts on becoming more Zion-like. Or his language, he says here is, you are to “teach one another,” which is key to becoming of one mind, get unified in the doctrine, “and let every man esteem his brother as himself,” which is key to becoming of one heart, right, as you treat one another the way that you’d want to be treated here. And then to, quote, “Practice virtue and wholeness before me,” he says, which is key dwelling in righteousness.

Scott Woodward:
And then to emphasize the second point, he says, and maybe the second one is the most difficult to master, right, the let everyone esteem his brother as himself. So he repeats it. He says, ” Again, I say unto you,” emphasis on this point, “let every man esteem his brother as himself.” And then he follows this up with a little parable in the form of a question, “For what man among you having twelve sons and is no respecter of them, and they serve him obediently, and he says unto the one: Be thou clothed in robes and sit thou here? And to the other: Be thou clothed in rags and sit thou there — And looketh upon his sons and sayeth I am just?” As you’re thinking upon this parable, Jesus says, “This parable is even as I am.” He is like the Father with twelve sons who are symbolic, I think, of the twelve tribes of Israel, don’t you think, Casey?

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah.

Scott Woodward:
He is, as he mentioned back in verse 16, no respecter of persons. That is, he does not arbitrarily reward some people and not others. Rather, all those who serve him obediently can expect to be clothed upon with robes and not rags.

Scott Woodward:
That is, the riches and the royalty rather than the poverty and the obscurity that he’s talking about here, which is, I think, another reference to what the Lord was describing back in verses 18 and 20 about how he intends to bestow upon this modern Israel group greater riches than any of them now have, even a land of promise, while they’ll thrive forever, even in eternity. And so he concludes in verse 27 here, “I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one, ye are not mine.” Another important underscoring of the Zion theme. United hearts, united minds, united in righteousness, united in taking care of the poor. And then verse 28, he returns to the warning he first raised back in verse 13 about the enemy in the secret chambers who seeks your lives. He says, While it’s true that you hear of wars in far away countries, you know not the hearts of men in your own land. He’s telling them these things because of their prayers, he says, Wherefore treasure up wisdom in your bosoms, lest the wickedness of men reveal these things unto you. A likely reference to the wars he was just talking about. But he promises, If you are prepared, you shall not fear.

Scott Woodward:
So all of that leads up to what I think, Casey, is the key verse in this whole section. I think the big reveal. So far, it’s pretty hard to miss. The theme is, I want to help you become like a Zion people. I want you, as modern Israel, to become a gathered people so I can start building proto-kingdom of God on earth in preparation for the King to come. But do you want to drop us into verse 32 here, Casey, where the Lord, I think, gives the most clear explanation of why he’s asking them to gather?

Casey Griffiths:
All right. So in verse 32, this is kind of the heart of the whole revelation. This is the two most essential whys behind the gathering. He says, once you get there, the Lord promises, quote, “I will give unto you my law, and there you shall be endowed with power from on high.” That idea of a law, which is probably Section 42, the law of the Church as it’s popularly known, which contains the law of consecration. And this is also one of the earliest times we hear the word endowed. An endowment or being endowed with power or something like that is another one of those phrases that’s going to pop up consistently in the Doctrine and Covenants. And it’s interesting that they don’t know what the endowment is going to be, right? There’s several places after this where something amazing will happen, like the conference at the Morley Farm in June 1831, where they have this spiritual outpouring and people are saying, That’s the endowment, right? That’s what the Lord promised us, right? But the Lord keeps saying, No, you know, do this and you’ll receive receive the endowment, or we can’t do this until the elders are endowed with power from on high. A lot of this is linked back to the temple.

Casey Griffiths:
But at this point, we’re using our modern understanding of the gospel to project back onto them rather than seeing it the way they would have seen it, which is they don’t know what the endowment is or what the law is. This is all future stuff to come for them.

Scott Woodward:
Back to that original question of like, you know, what would have motivated you to uproot your family at this time and actually make the sacrifice to go to the Ohio? Like, I think verse 32 is a pretty big contender as to what might motivate people to do that, right?

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah. And the Lord sets it up that way. He says, “From thence,” meaning from the Ohio, “certain among them shall go forth among all the nations to assist in the great work the Lord has laid up in store. For Israel shall be saved,” he tells them, “and I will lead them whithersoever I will, and no power shall stay my hand.” So here are the purposes of the gathering kind of in full. So first, the New York Saints are supposed to gather to Ohio to escape their increasingly hostile environment. It’s just getting bad out there being caused by their enemies who are secretly plotting their destruction. Second, they’re supposed to gather to Ohio to become a Zion people to prepare for Christ’s return. And this is going to happen over time once their divine king and lawgiver there gives unto them his law and endows them with power from on high. Those two reasons back there. Third, the Lord is going to send some of his empowered servants throughout the world to help save Israel among all nations. We should point out, Ohio is where the first international missions of the Church are launched from. Missionaries are sent up to Canada, if that counts as being international.

Casey Griffiths:
I think it does. And Heber C. Kimball is asked to lead the first mission to the British Isles, which is going to have huge consequences for the Church down the road, too. All of this is for preparation. It’s to get them ready for the Lord to return and to rule over Israel as the King of Zion. So little steps here leading to big consequences down the road.

Scott Woodward:
Yeah. And then he just wraps this section up in verses 34 to 42 with some practical instructions for these New York Saints to begin the process of gathering. So some of them, I’m sure, had questions about, so, is he asking us to sell our homes? Is he asking us to like never come back? And here’s what the Lord says. He says, Certain men among you are to be appointed by the voice of the Church to look after the poor and needy on this trip and to help send them forth to Ohio, as well as to govern the affairs regarding the property of this Church. Those who own farms, he says, to sell them, or simply leave them, or rent them out as seemeth them good. He says, Those are the options you could sell, you can just leave, or you could rent them, whatever. You get to manage that however you want. Then the Lord reminds them not to cling too tightly to their current property and possessions, since, quote, “When men are endowed with power from on high and sent forth, all these things shall be gathered unto the bosom of the Church. And if ye seek riches, which it is the will of the Father to give unto you, ye shall be the richest of all people, for ye shall have the riches of eternity.” Wait, okay.

Scott Woodward:
So is he talking about money? Is he talking about eternal life? Maybe some of both. Don’t know. But then he warns, “But beware of pride, lest you become as the Nephites of old.” He then commands every Church officer and member in New York to generally do all they can to, quote, “prepare and accomplish the things which I’ve commanded.” And in terms of preaching, there should be a voice of warning, everyone to his neighbor in mildness and meekness. Then he concludes by saying, Go ye out from among the wicked, save yourselves, and be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. So in summary, as we step back and consider the whole of this D&C 38 revelation, it is at once remarkable and instructive how strongly the themes of both Enoch’s Zion and ancient Israel’s of this story are like woven together. And just as Enoch gathered his people out from among their enemies to one city where they became a unified Zion people and where the Lord eventually dwelt among them. So now the God of Enoch, as he introduced himself earlier in the section, is now calling this group to gather out from among their enemies to one place where they could learn to be one and to qualify for the king of Zion to come and dwell among them like he did with Enoch’s people.

Scott Woodward:
And just as ancient Israel, theme number 2, was gathered out of a wicked Egypt down to Sinai to receive God’s law, which would empower them in preparation to both bless all the nations as Abraham’s seed and to inherit their promised land. So now the great I am was calling this little tiny pocket of modern Israel to be gathered out of the wicked areas of New York, over to the Ohio to receive his law. Right, that’s kind of the Sinai moment. And to be endowed with power in preparation to then go out and bless the nations of the earth in preparation to inherit their promised land. These themes are not accidental.

Casey Griffiths:
It’s amazing how the idea of a Zionic people, of a people that are one, is linked to the idea of an exodus. A shared hardship, a shared journey, is often a good way to unite people and bring them together. I mean, just look at the modern Jewish people. They still conduct Passover, which is largely a reminder of the beginning of their Exodus. And all of the great symbols that God gives them come during their Exodus to remind them, Hey, remember when you were in the wilderness and I fed you and I taught you, and I led you. The Lord’s creating a new exodus here. And how much of the Book of Mormon is linked to this idea that Lehi and his family go through an exodus, and that sets up the conditions for the entire rest of the book, where there’s these struggles between these fraternal groups, these groups that are linked to each other by lineage, but still go back to the events of their exodus as what brings them together. In a similar fashion, I would say the same thing happens in the Church today, right? A lot of times when you connect with somebody at church, it’s when you hear their conversion story, which is their essential story of their exodus from the world.

Casey Griffiths:
That could be, I went on a mission and it really changed my life, or it could be, I read the Book of Mormon and decided to join the Church, but everybody’s going through some kind of shared journey, and that’s what kind of connects us and makes us one. I got a big one that I want to bring up, which is why don’t we do this anymore? In the 19th century, the gathering really was a signature doctrine of the Church, and that was that you would sell your stuff and your home and gather to wherever the Saints were, wherever that was, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, or Salt Lake City, you were supposed to go there. And it’s that way throughout Joseph Smith’s life. I even saw an ethnographic map of the United States a couple of weeks ago. And Utah, Idaho, and that little area right there, Northern Arizona, parts of New Mexico, has this British descent. Because in the 19th century, we were very successful among the working class peoples of Great Britain, and many of them gathered to the United States. And to this day, the Intermountain West is still sort of filled with people who were descended from these immigrants. So the controversy would be, why did we stop doing this and when did that happen?

Casey Griffiths:
Like, when did the major shift change?

Scott Woodward:
So today, when we speak of gathering, we talk about it a little more metaphorically. Missionaries, you go out there to gather Israel. And what we mean is, baptize people and then have them, like, stay where they’re at and participate in their ward. So the gathering of Israel back in Joseph’s day, you’re saying, and on up into the Utah era was very much literal. Like, people who heard the gospel in England were actually being asked to come to America and to be with God’s people there, and they would actually, like, get on boats and do that. Whereas today, we don’t do that. That’s a great question, Casey. So why don’t we do that? Do you have a good answer for us?

Casey Griffiths:
I think so, yeah. So the first thing is, if we’re talking about gathering, in the 19th century, gathering was linked to the idea of building cities, the city of Zion, and building temples. For instance, this is a quote many of our listeners will be familiar with, but Joseph Smith gave a discourse where he said, “What was the object of gathering the people of God in any age of the world? The main object was to build unto the Lord a house, whereby he could reveal unto his people the ordinances of his house and the glories of his kingdom, and teach the people the way of salvation.” So it makes sense that in the early Church, they needed to gather people together so that they would have enough, frankly, manpower to build a temple and to receive instruction. And so all throughout Joseph Smith’s presidency, his leadership of the Church, gathering is a central idea, and everybody talks about it. And it does provide this unique cohesion to the early Latter-day Saints, and that a lot of them are immigrants. And even if they’re still from the United States, they’ve given up their land and their money in New York or Georgia or wherever and gathered to where the Saints were.

Casey Griffiths:
And this continues after Joseph Smith’s death. In 1845, Church leaders issue a general proclamation where they write, quote, “The Lord has commanded us to gather together his Saints on the continent,” meaning North America, and build up holy cities and sanctuaries.” And so, yeah, even after Joseph Smith’s death, that’s the plan. We’re going to gather here, we’re going to build holy cities, and we’re going to build sanctuaries, or in other words, temples. The problem is, and this goes on throughout the 19th century, there’s dramatic examples. Just to the south of where I’m sitting right now, there’s a monument of the Icelandic people that gathered to Utah Valley, settled in around Spanish Fork. I mentioned Yosepa. We did an entire Restoration Revealed episode where we visit Yosepa and talk about how many of the faithful Latter-day Saints converted in the Hawaiian Islands gather to the Skull Valley in Utah. I can’t think of a bigger contrast. And yet you go to the Skull Valley and there’s these headstones there. The cemetery is the only thing that’s left of Yosepa, that have Hawaiian names and state where they were born in Hawaii and they were buried in the Skull Valley. That’s sort of beautiful in my mind.

Casey Griffiths:
But the gathering, as it accelerates, does have some drawbacks. It became really, really hard to build up the Church in other countries if everybody was just gathering to the United States. So around the end of the 1800s, they actually have intense discussions about this. It starts under Lorenzo Snow. It continues under Joseph F. Smith and Heber J. Grant. Lorenzo Snow gathers together. We have records of a meeting where he gathers together the First Presidency and Twelve and discusses the gathering. And George Q. Cannon, who’s the first counselor in the First Presidency, brought up some of the problems. He said, There are problems with those who come here, and then who come here, meaning come to the Intermountain West, who fail to secure employment and return to their homes. And George Q. Cannon then says, They either apostatize or to a great extent, they neutralize the efforts of our missionaries laboring in those regions. So people that came here and couldn’t find proper work and housing would go home, and most would apostatize, and that would really hurt missionary work. And another apostle in the meeting, this is Matthias Cowley, says that when converts don’t gather, it’s actually a net positive because in many cases, they build meetinghouses, they raise up the Church, and then they become well-seasoned in the faith.

Casey Griffiths:
So there’s a lot of Church members in the Intermountain West. The Church members that didn’t gather, usually became really experienced and really skilled, and that helped build up communities where they are. So these early discussions are starting to note, well, if we ever want to become a global faith, take the gospel to all nations, maybe we need to change the gathering. The other thing is, is the gathering was centered around the idea of coming to where a temple is. So you’re coming to Utah because there’s temples here. There’s holy cities and sanctuaries. In 1906, Joseph F. Smith, who you remember has a unique background, he serves his mission in Hawaii. So the colony, Yosepa isn’t named after Joseph Smith. Yosepa is the Hawaiian word for Joseph, but the Yosepa is Joseph F Smith, who’s the missionary who converted a lot of these people and becomes President of the Church. Joseph F. Smith was also the first President of the Church to visit Europe. He goes there while he’s President of the Church. And while he’s there, he issues a prophecy in a conference held in Bern, Switzerland. He says, The time will come when this land, meaning Europe, will be dotted with temples, where you can go and redeem your dead.

Casey Griffiths:
And then he further declares the temples would be built in diverse countries of the world. And this is the first indication that we’re not going to continue to gather people to the temple. We’re going to take the temples to the people. And Joseph F. Smith, no coincidence, is also the prophet who announces the first temples built outside of the Intermountain Western United States. Temple in Cardston, Alberta, Canada, and Laie, Hawaii. Both temples still there, both key structures in the international expansion of Latter-day Saints.

Scott Woodward:
Yeah, so I think you’re pointing out something really crucial here. If you want to understand the gathering, follow the temples. The very first gathering that happens in our day is to Ohio. Guess what we build? The temple, the first temple there. And then the Lord commands the Saints to go to Missouri to build up the New Jerusalem there, the actual New Jerusalem temple there. Then we go to Nauvoo. And what do they announce there in January of 1841? A temple will be built there. And so therefore, what are the missionaries saying to everybody out in the mission field? Gather to Nauvoo. Why? Because that’s where the temple is. Then we leave the temple, we go west, we go to Utah. It’s going to take a couple of decades, but eventually we get another temple. And so the call to all of Israel, modern Israel is, Come to the temple. Follow the temples. And then you are underscoring a really important shift, which is, how about we take the temples to the people and help them build up pockets of Zion throughout the world. Maybe we should stop thinking about Zion as one city with one temple and more as like a network of cities throughout the world.

Scott Woodward:
Kind of Isaiah’s original imagery of Zion as a tent with stakes all over the place that are holding up this big tent, right. Maybe what God did with one group of people, Enoch’s people, in that one city that he called Zion, he is now going to do with a lot of people in a lot of cities all around the world in preparation for the Second Coming. Because when the King returns, he’s not coming to just rule over one city. He’s going to be the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords over the entire Earth. And so it seems like that little pivot you’re talking about is super key to starting to understand how the preparation for the millennial reign of Jesus is, like, structurally being, like, spread throughout the world. There’s pockets of Zion, there’s stakes of Zion, there’s temples that are now dotting the earth in order to accomplish what was accomplished in one city in Enoch’s day.

Casey Griffiths:
My read is this is the plan from the beginning. The title page of the Book of Mormon says, one of the purposes of the Book of Mormon is the convincing of Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, manifesting himself to all nations. So a big function of the Restoration is to internationalize the story. But the idea behind this gathering is, let’s create multiple gathering places. What if we had a Jerusalem here and here and here? Why can’t we have a Jerusalem in Australia or Korea or North America or South America? So you can see this thread in the writings of the leaders of the Church. So 1906, key date, Joseph F. Smith makes this prophecy, We’re going to build temples in Europe. In fact, he says, The land will be dotted with temples. The year after, there’s an editorial published in the Millennial Star, which is the Church’s newspaper in Europe that reads as follows, The Church to which we belong is not using any influence to persuade its members or others to emigrate, but desires many of them still stay and build up the work abroad. So now in an official Church newspaper, they’re telling them, We’re not encouraging people to immigrate.

Casey Griffiths:
We want you to stay there. Now, a lot of people still immigrated, and a lot of people do. I know a lot of people that have gathered to Utah, or the Intermountain West, from various places around the world. That is wonderful. It’s just not a commandment or Church policy any longer, right? They even send an epistle to the Saints in the Netherlands the same year that says, The policy of the Church is not to entice or encourage people to leave their native lands, but to remain faithful and true in allegiance to their governments and to be good citizens. Because that was another concern, too, was Latter-day Saints are just draining away the vitality of these countries by causing people to immigrate to North America. Well, within a couple of years, we’ve got the Laie temple built and the Cardston, Alberta, Canada, built, two, I think of the most important temples in the Church because they just send this clear signal, Temples are coming to the people. In 1921, another editorial in the Millennial Star, literally reads, the title is Stay Where You Are. And it doesn’t criticize anybody who chooses to immigrate, but it does say this, The council of the General Authorities to the yet ungathered Saints is not to flock to Zionward under existing conditions, but to remain in the countries where they now dwell and honor the laws of those countries.

Casey Griffiths:
Those who have homes and employment, especially, should stay and help build up the Lord’s work, strengthening the hands of the elders and other missionaries laboring among them. So now they’re just saying, yes, if we want to take the gospel to the nations, we need you to stay. And it’s within the next couple of decades, you can see where temples are built. The very place that Joseph F. Smith issues that prophecy about temples dotting the land, Bern, Switzerland, is where the first temple in mainland Europe is built. Around the same time, a temple is built in London. And today, it’s common place in a general conference for temples to be announced all over the place, not just in Utah, where there’s a lot of temples right now, but around the world, more and more people are gaining access to these temples. So the idea of gathering progresses until… One last quote, in the 1970s, Spencer W. Kimball puts this all together for us. He says, “In the early days of the Church, we used to preach for the people to come to Utah as the gathering process, largely because it was the only place in the whole world where there was a temple.”

Casey Griffiths:
But then he says, “It’s no longer necessary that we bring all the people to Salt Lake City, and so the gathering is taking place. Korea is the gathering place for Koreans. Australia is the gathering place for Australians, Brazil for the Brazilians, and England for the English.” All places where Spencer W. Kimball built temples. So the doctrine of the gathering evolves and changes, and we see the long-term effects of this. Last date, in February 1996, the Church announced that there were more members living outside the United States than inside the United States. That is a dramatic change in less than a century after the doctrine of the gathering really shifts. And today, you know, I think it’s accurate to say that Latter-day Saints are a global people. There’s hardly a major city on earth that doesn’t have a congregation of Latter-day Saints. And we’re getting to the point where most Latter-day Saints are not making the temple a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It’s something where they’re within a couple hours of a temple, hopefully, and can visit multiple times over the span of their lives.

Scott Woodward:
Yeah. I remember when President Hinckley announced we’re going to start doing small temples, I mean, that just proliferated temple building, and now there’s over 300 that are either announced, built, operational, under construction. We have over 360 or something. I can’t remember. It always changes every General Conference. But a lot, like this is dotting the Earth with pockets of Zion to do the Enoch project to prepare people for the Lord to come and dwell in our midst.

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah, and a holy city, a sacred sanctuary all over the Earth. It’s an amazing time to be alive just to see that. I remember visiting Kiribati in 2018 and thinking, They’ll never get a temple there. They’re very remote. And some of the people I talked to there, it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. They’d save all their money so that they could go to Fiji and spend a week there being sealed and endowed and then going to the temple as much as if they could. I remember about a year after I got back, they announced a temple in Kiribati, and that is astounding. That is going to be such a blessing to the good people that live there.

Scott Woodward:
Here is a quote from Newel Knight, who was there. He said, in the aftermath of Section 38 being received, quote, “Having returned home from conference in obedience to the commandment which had been given, I, together with the Colesville Branch, began to make preparations to go to Ohio. As might be expected, we were obliged to make great sacrifices of our property. Having made the best arrangements we could for the journey, we bade adieu to all we held dear on this earth. And in the early part of April, we started for our destination.” That’s typical of not just the Colesville Saints, but also those in Fayette and those in Palmyra. Each of them will have group leaders. Those group leaders will take them along the Erie Canal, and they will head. April and May is when this will mostly happen, and they will gather, most of them, most of them gather to the Ohio. John Whitmer says, Some of them didn’t. Some of them, he says, would not receive the above as the word of the Lord. But they said that Joseph had invented it himself to deceive the people, that in the end he might get gain.

Scott Woodward:
And then John says, This is because their hearts were not right in the sight of the Lord, for they wanted to serve God and man. I guess there was a minority that wouldn’t accept this, but most of them do. Most of the Saints leave. They come to the Ohio in April and May. But it’s important to note, Joseph Smith did not wait. In the latter part of that very month, January, Joseph and Emma, who was, by the way, in her last trimester of pregnancy with twins, obediently made the journey from New York to Kirtland, Ohio, with Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge in tow. And over the next several months, like I said, especially in April and May of that year, most of the New York Saints will follow. Gathering of Israel had thus officially begun in our era, and the promised blessings of the Lord to these Saints for doing so would soon follow over the next months and years.

Casey Griffiths:
I’ll just add this, too. The narrative of Exodus still resonates in the Church today. Who hasn’t pulled hand carts, right, or talked about the pioneers and their sacrifices?

Scott Woodward:
All right, Casey, let’s head over to our next set of twin revelations, Sections 39 and 40, which, by the way, these sections are to the same person or about the same person. Fun fact, James Covel, who these sections are to and about, is the only person mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants that has two sections back to back devoted to him. We don’t know very much about the guy, so what do we know? What should we know? What’s the background to Sections 39 and 40?

Casey Griffiths:
Three days after the conference that’s held in January, Joseph Smith gives this revelation on behalf of James Covel, who is a Protestant minister. We don’t know for sure who this person is, but there’s been some interesting research in the last little while that’s helped us probably hone in closer on the identity of this recipient. First of all, the earliest copy of the revelation, his name is only listed as James. In the Book of Commandments, it comes out in 1833, it’s James C. And then in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, it’s James Covill, spelled C-O-V-I-L-L. It’s that way until the 2013 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, where the name is changed to James Covel, C-O-V-E-L, which you’ll see in your current Doctrine and Covenants. And so we want to credit Christopher Jones, who’s done some good research on this. Part of the confusion was, is that in one of the earlier histories, James Covel was listed as someone who’d been a Baptist minister for 40 years, but we don’t think that matches the person that we’re talking about, okay? John Whitmer wrote that the revelation was given at Fayette, which makes it unlikely. There was a Baptist minister named James Covel, by the way, during this time, but he probably wasn’t the right age and probably wasn’t in the right area, and so he’s probably not the recipient of this revelation.

Casey Griffiths:
Christopher Jones found out was that the most likely recipient of the revelation is James Covel, spelled the way it is right now, who was an elder in the Methodist Church from Canadice, New York. He lives about 20 miles away from Canandaigua, New York, where Joseph Smith and several other Church leaders preach at a meeting at Ezra Thayre’s Barn. We talked a little bit about this in a previous episode. And Ezra Thayre remembered that they promised that they would meet at a Methodist meeting house, but the trustees would not agree. That might be what brings James Covel into this story. So in December 1830, another missionary from the Church, possibly Joseph Smith or Sidney Rigdon, preaches a discourse in Canandaigua to an assembly of 300 people, and that’s probably where they connect with James Covel. It’s possible that Covel attended that meeting, and then he goes to Fayette, and then this revelation was received. In fact, we found in an index, an early index to the earliest copy of this revelation, that he was described as a Methodist priest. So that makes him fit the other James Covel feel a little bit better. What we do know about the recipient of this revelation is that he began the process of converting to the gospel and demonstrated faith in Joseph Smith.

Casey Griffiths:
And if he was a Methodist minister, like the sources point to, it’s possible we’ve got another Sidney Rigdon here. And so Joseph Smith is more than willing to do exactly what he did for Sidney Rigdon, which is receive a revelation on his behalf, calling him to the work. And that’s Section 39.

Scott Woodward:
So when you say we might have another Sidney Rigdon on our hands, what do you mean?

Casey Griffiths:
He’s a Methodist minister. He’s an experienced churchman. He probably knows the scriptures well, has leadership capabilities. He’s a potential, like I said, leader in the Church, because it seems like if it’s the James Covel we’re thinking it is, he’s already a leader in the Methodist Church.

Scott Woodward:
That’s a really interesting way to study this, is you study Sections 39 and 40, in contrast with Section 35 that was given to Sidney Rigdon just a couple of months earlier. And it’s an interesting foil, right, to kind of see side by side these two really influential preachers. One goes one way, the way Sidney went, and one goes a different way. He invites James to “listen to the voice of him who’s from all eternity to all eternity, the great I am.” Uses some New Testament phrases about being the light and the life of the world. “The same which came in the meridian of time unto my own and my own received me not, but to as many as received me, gave I power to become my sons.” What he explains next, I think, is the most clear description of what it means to receive Jesus. When the New Testament says, like in John 1:12, “Those who receive me, to them give I power to become my sons,” that he’s riffing off of here, it doesn’t really explain what it means to receive him. We’re going to have debates back and forth about whether ordinances are necessary or not.

Scott Woodward:
Is it just about the conviction of faith? Is it sola fide? Or is baptism necessary? Because of some of the ambiguities in the New Testament, we’re going to have some controversies in Christianity over what it means to receive Jesus. But right here, he just says it’s so plain. And by the way, some Methodists argued about the baptism and how to do it right and its necessity and all those things. And so this would have maybe hit James in a particular way. Listen to this. “To as many as received me, gave I power to become my sons, and even so will I give unto as many as will receive me, power to become my sons. And verily, verily, I say unto you,” here it is, “he that receiveth my gospel, receiveth me, and he that receiveth not my gospel, receiveth not me. And this is my gospel.” Now, here he goes. “Repentance and baptism by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which showeth all things, and teacheth the peaceable things of the kingdom.” Boom. Like, that’s how you receive Jesus. You receive his gospel. What does that mean?

Scott Woodward:
Repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost.

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah. And again, it fits in with these nice revelations, like Section 34, the Orson Pratt revelation, that we’re already children of God, but we’re becoming the sons and daughters of Christ. And that’s a narrative in the Book of Mormon, too. What does King Benjamin, what name does he give to his people? The sons and daughters of Christ, because they’ve left phase one, which is just understanding you and everybody else as a child of God, and it turned into a covenantal relationship phase two, which is now I’m becoming the son or daughter of Jesus Christ.

Scott Woodward:
Yeah, and so to this really biblically-literate mind, the Lord gives them a little gift here of clarity. It’s just like, this is how you do it, James. This is so controversial among so many different sects of Christianity. The Lord just cuts through it like a hot knife through butter. This is how you become my sons. Exactly. And then the Lord starts getting personal with James. Do you want to pick it up in verse seven?

Casey Griffiths:
So he’s speaking directly to him. He’s introduced the theology. Now we’re talking about the individual. “I say unto you, my servant James, I’ve looked upon thy works, and I know thee, and verily I say unto thee, thine heart is now right before me at this time, and behold, I have bestowed great blessings upon thy head. Nevertheless, thou hast seen great sorrow, for thou hast rejected me many times because of the pride and the cares of the world.” In other words, both the promise, “your heart is right before me,” and the peril are laid out here where the Lord saying, But you have rejected me many times. Going back to this idea that James Covel is a man of great potential, but he also has a past where he has turned away from God. And that’s foreshadowing a little bit of what we’re going to see in Section 40 here.

Scott Woodward:
Yeah, notice what he commands him to do in verse 10, “Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on my name, and you shall receive my Spirit.” Right, he wants James to become one of the sons of Christ here, “and you shall receive my Spirit and a blessing so great as you have never known. And if you do this, I have prepared thee for a greater work.” An exact phrase match to what he said to Sidney Rigdon in Section 35. I have prepared thee for a greater work. “Thou shalt preach the fullness of my gospel, which I have sent forth in these last days, the covenant, which I have sent forth to recover my people, which are of the house of Israel.” James, you have so many gifts. I have prepared thee to help gather modern Israel by preaching the fullness of my gospel, which the covenant, the everlasting covenant, which I’ve sent forth to recover Israel. If you’ll do this, James, verse 12, “It shall come to pass, the power shall rest upon thee. Thou shalt have great faith, and I will be with thee, and I’ll go before your face. You are called to labor in my vineyard, and to build up my church, and to bring forth Zion, that it may rejoice upon the hills and flourish.

Scott Woodward:
“Behold, verily, I say unto you, you are not called to go into the eastern countries,” the eastern United States, “but you are called to go to the Ohio.” Join my people in the Ohio. “And inasmuch as my people shall assemble themselves at the Ohio, I have kept in store a blessing such as is not known among the children of men, and it shall be poured forth upon their heads.” He’s talking about the endowment he promised them. “And from thence shall men go forth into all nations,” as he mentioned in Section 38. “Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you that the people in Ohio call upon me in much faith, thinking I will stay my hand in judgment upon the nations, but I cannot deny my word. Wherefore, lay to with your might and call faithful laborers into my vineyard, that it may be pruned for the last time. And inasmuch as they repent and receive the fullness of my gospel, and become sanctified, I will stay my hand.” That’s the only way. James, I I need you. I need you to go forth, verse 20, “baptizing with water, preparing the way before my face for the time of my coming.”

Scott Woodward:
Like, this is what he needs James to do. He needs James to use the gifts that God has blessed him with to help gather Israel in preparation for the Second Coming. By the way, James had told Joseph Smith that he had covenanted with God before this section was received. He said, I covenant with God that whatever revelation you give me, Joseph, I covenant that I will obey. Now, Casey, we’ve seen this is the Lord’s will for James. So how does it go?

Casey Griffiths:
Now we flip to Section 40, right? Which these two sections, just like Section 37 and 38, should always be paired with each other. Less than a day after Section 39 is given, James Covel leaves Fayette, New York, where he was meeting with Joseph Smith, and he never returns. And Joseph Smith just makes a notation in his history where he says, “As James Covel rejected the word of the Lord and returned to his former principles and people, the Lord gave me and Sidney Rigdon the following revelation explaining why he obeyed not the word.” If you’re flipping the page, you can see that Section 40 is very short, three little verses, “Verily I say to you, the heart of my servant, James Covel, was right before me, for he covenanted with me that he would obey my word. And he received the word with gladness, but straightaway Satan tempted him, and the fear of persecution and the cares of the world caused him to reject the word. Wherefore he broke my covenant, and it remaineth with me to do with him as seemeth good.” As far as we can tell, James Covel never joins the Church, disobeys the Lord’s commandments to gather with the Saints to the Ohio.

Casey Griffiths:
He stays behind, and if he’s the James Covel that we think he is, he dies in February 1850 in New York City.

Scott Woodward:
So interesting that Section 39, verse 8, the Lord said, “Your heart is now right before me at this time.” And less than 24 hours later, the Lord says in Section 40, verse 1, “The heart of my servant, James Covel, was right before me.” How quickly we can change. How fickle is the heart of man. He covenanted, he covenanted that he would obey my word, and then he got my word, and now he’s gone. Satan tempted him. Fear of persecution. Think about that. If I join this people, I’m going to be on the receiving end of a lot of persecution and the cares of the world. It’s possible he’s thinking like Sidney Rigdon and his wife, Phebe, talked about, if we join this Church, we’re going to lose our income stream. Our income stream is preaching and people pay us to preach. And James certainly has that same income coming for him. So the cares of the world caused him to reject the word. It’s possible that because joining this Church would mean giving up his pay, he decided not to do it. So “wherefore he broke my covenant,” the Lord says, and so “it remaineth with me to do with him as seemeth me good.”

Scott Woodward:
It’s hard to not think about what might have been. We might have had another Sidney Rigdon on our hands, like you said, and this could have been just a great contribution to the kingdom. I wonder how many James Covels are out there in our history, Casey. Out there today, people who have felt it, have even covenanted with God, I will do whatever you say. And then Satan tempts them and fear of persecution and cares of the world, cause them to reject the word. Obviously, God can do his own work, and it’s going to get done one way or another. It is a tragedy when people like James who are full of so much potential and the ability to do so much good in the Kingdom of God turn and go another way. So this is one of those kind of sad, melancholy sections.

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah. And even though James doesn’t accept the gospel, I think it’s kind of hopeful that the Lord says, “It remaineth for me to do with him as seemeth be good.” So I’m not giving up on the guy. It’s ambiguous. And again, we don’t give up on people. Even when they’re dead, we don’t give up on people. So I can’t say for sure that James Covel never accepted the gospel, you know. Maybe he did on the other side of the veil. But the evidence we have right now is that if this is the James Covel we think it is, he never accepted it in his lifetime, which doesn’t mean he won’t, but is sort of sad.

Scott Woodward:
I’m just going to quote Steve Harper. Our friend Steve Harper has, I think he’s underscored a really great controversy here. He said, “Some have cited Sections 39 and 40 as evidence that Joseph Smith was a fraud.” How so? Steve says, “They contend that these sections prove that Joseph’s God did not even know that James Covel would not obey. That conclusion,” Steve says, “depends on a particular conception of God that is not evident in Joseph’s revelations.” Let’s pause for a second. Just think about the controversy. So why would God go through everything he went through in Section 39, laying out these promises and the potential and the possibility in this call if he just knew that James was going to not accept it? Like, why go through the effort? A, does God not know the future? B, if he does know the future, then why lay it out like that, right? So I could see where some might think that this is a problem with Joseph’s God. Steve goes on, “The Lord who spoke through Joseph Smith does function in that agency-robbing way. Joseph’s revelation is distinguished between the sovereignty of God and the agency of individuals.” As we’ll see in Section 93, it’s laid out really clear.

Scott Woodward:
“Joseph truly taught that God sees the secret springs of human action,” quoting from Joseph Smith now, “and he knows the hearts of all living. But,” Steve says, “it did not follow for Joseph that God caused bad behavior.” Quoting Joseph, quote, “I believe that God foreknew everything, but did not foreordain everything,” Joseph said and taught profoundly. “I deny,” Joseph Smith continuing, “that foreordain and foreknow is the same thing.” In other words, Steve explains, God did not make James Covel break his covenant. Rather, the Lord gave James power to make and keep his covenant and the agency to decide whether to make and keep it for himself. Revelation gives us knowledge of God’s will. It makes us free to choose. Section 40 explains that James Covel made and broke his covenant of his own free will. It’s a more significant revelation than one might assume based on its brevity. That’s pretty profound, Steve. Anything you want to say about that, Casey?

Casey Griffiths:
Amen to everything there. It’s completely consistent with the God depicted in the doctrine of covenants, which is not somebody who forces people or overrules an individual’s agency, but that invites, offers, but allows people to make their own choices, too. It’s sad. I’m sad that James Covel didn’t go on to become one of the great figures of the Restoration. Today, we barely know who he is, but it his choice in God honors agency is one of the big lessons found throughout the revelations in the doctrine of covenants.

Scott Woodward:
Yeah. He gives us full opportunity to make and keep covenants or to break and reject covenants. That’s entirely up to us. If we’re in, he will work with us and through us to do his beautiful work. If we’re out, then he honors that, too. Like you said, he’ll probably continue to come after us, even into the spirit world, to invite us to repent, to be baptized, receive the spirit, so that we can become the full children of Christ and become heirs of the coming kingdom. But sobering stuff and insightful, as Steve is saying, into how God works. It’s insightful into how he honors us and gives us opportunity to choose him and honors our decisions either way as to what we’re going to do about that. Well, that wraps up our discussion from sections 37 to 40. Great discussion, Casey. Thank you. We will see you next week in the Ohio.

Casey Griffiths:
In the Ohio. New phase of church history, the Ohio and Missouri periods, which is where some big stuff happens. We’ll see you next time, Scott. Thanks for all your work. See you then.