Joseph Smith — Prophet of the Restoration

Posted by on

Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration

Joseph Smith was a prophet of God—just like Moses, Isaiah, and Peter.


Before I headed to Ukraine to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I spent about three months in one of the Church’s missionary training centers (MTCs). There I began to learn, among other things, how to be a missionary, how to teach effectively, and how to speak Russian.


As missionaries we serve in pairs, as directed by the Savior in the New Testament,1 often called “companions.” At one point during my time at the MTC, my companion and I were practicing teaching our own teacher about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. My companion and I had prepared our lesson together, and it was my turn to relate the story of Joseph Smith and his search for truth.


Joseph Smith was a boy in the early 1800s in America. He grew up in a very religious family at a time of intense religious interest. While he had a firm belief in Jesus Christ and felt he should join a church and follow the Savior’s example and be baptized, he was unsure exactly which baptism to follow and which church to join. He wanted earnestly to do what God asked, but was confused by the contradictory teachings of the various Christian denominations.


At length he came to the conclusion that he must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else he must do as the scriptures direct, that is, ask of God.2


Joseph Smith's first vision God Jesus Christ
So he went into a grove of trees to pray and, in his own words, this is what happened:

I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. . . .


When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!3


God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ appeared to the boy Joseph in that grove of trees. It is one of the most singularly important and miraculous events in the entirety of human history.


I had taught this lesson in the MTC before. I had spent weeks memorizing Joseph’s own words describing his first vision, both in English and in Russian. We were practice teaching someone who already had a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Spirit did not need to convert them. This could easily have been a rote experience, marred by my mediocre teaching skills.


But in this instance, when I relayed the words of Joseph Smith about seeing God the Father and the Savior Jesus Christ, an indescribably powerful feeling came over me, stronger than I had ever felt in my life up to that point. I had felt the Holy Ghost to one degree or another many times before. I had heard the story of Joseph Smith countless times before. But never before had both come together so clearly and so powerfully as they did in that moment as the Spirit testified to me that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and called him to be a prophet. I had never doubted Joseph’s prophetic call nor his first vision. But in that moment I knew as I still know, that God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and that they called him to restore the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, never to be lost from the earth again.


Anyone familiar with the scriptures, especially the Old Testament, is familiar with the concept of prophets and miracles. Indeed, for me the main takeaway from the Old Testament is that the Lord works through prophets to perform miracles and bless God’s children. The Lord established this pattern from the very beginning:

  • He spoke with Adam
  • He told Noah to build an ark
  • He made a covenant with Abraham
  • He commanded Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt to the promised land
  • He gave Aaron sacred garments and holy ordinances
  • He commanded Solomon to build a temple
  • He called John the Baptist to prepare the people for His first coming
  • And so on.

And all of His prophets taught faith in Jehovah, the Messiah, or Jesus Christ; repentance; and the importance of covenants. This pattern is supported in the Book of Mormon as well.


We also learn in the scriptures that the Lord does not change.4 He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.5


We learn that: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”6


Does He do nothing anymore? I testify that He does. He continues to work through prophets because He loves us as much as He loved those in ancient Egypt, Canaan, Jerusalem, and the ancient Americas. He loves us and He leads us in these latter days before His Second Coming. He calls prophets and He began again in these latter days by calling Joseph Smith to be His prophet.


The holy scriptures teach that “Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it.”7


Through Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ restored the fulness of His gospel in these latter days. Because of Joseph Smith and his immense personal sacrifice we have almost everything that we have today:

Families can be together forever

One of Joseph Smith’s successors, our late prophet President Russell M. Nelson taught:

"In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”18


We have the gift of the Holy Ghost today thanks to the prophet Joseph Smith.


Dear reader, please do not misunderstand my message. Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith,19 the Savior of the world,20 our advocate with the father.21 He suffered in Gethsemane and died on Calvary’s cross, so that, through His grace and our faith, we might return to the presence of our Father in Heaven.


What Joseph Smith did was be a tool in the Lord’s hands, helping make the blessings of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice available to us.


We cannot survive spiritually with a partial testimony of part of the gospel of Jesus Christ.22 We must have a full testimony of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.


And to have a testimony of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we must have a testimony of the divinity of Joseph Smith’s prophetic call. He was the prophet through which God gave us the fulness of His gospel in these latter days.


I add my testimony to the millions of others and say:


Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!

Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer.

Blessed to open the last dispensation,

Kings shall extol him, and nations revere.23


Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Dallin H. Oaks is his successor and the prophet of God on the earth today. Jesus Christ speaks through His living prophet because He loves us.


Brothers and sisters, let us believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and let us believe that He will yet reveal through His living prophets many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God.24


Jeremy



Footnotes

  1. see Mark 6:7; Luke 10:1
  2. Joseph Smith -- History 1:13
  3. Joseph Smith – History 1:16,17
  4. see Malachi 3:6
  5. Hebrews 13:8; Mormon 9:9; Moroni 10:19
  6. Amos 3:7
  7. D&C 135:3 (italics added)
  8. see Doctrine and Covenants 13
  9. see Doctrine and Covenants 27:12-13; 84; 107; 110
  10. see Doctrine and Covenants 18:26-33
  11. see Doctrine and Covenants 107:25, 34, 38
  12. see Doctrine and Covenants 72; 107:68–76
  13. see Doctrine and Covenants 115:4
  14. see Doctrine and Covenants 18:15–16; Matthew 28:19-20
  15. see Doctrine and Covenants 20:73–74
  16. see Doctrine and Covenants 95:8
  17. see Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-4; 138:47-48
  18. Russell M. Nelson, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for our Lives,” GC, Apr 2018
  19. Moroni 6:4
  20. Doctrine and Covenants 43:34
  21. Doctrine and Covenants 110:4
  22. see Ephesians 4:14
  23. “Praise to the Man,” Hymns, 27
  24. Articles of Faith 1:9

Comments

Post a Comment