The Lord’s Preface
Doctrine
and
Covenants
Section 1
Is winter over?
Wilford Woodruff
“I consider that the Doctrine
and Covenants, our
testament…
[it] contains a code of the most solemn, the
most godlike proclamations ever made to
the human family” (J.D., Vol. 22, p. 147).
Interesting Name
DOCTRINE
November 1,2 1831
D&C 67
4 And now I, the Lord, give unto you a testimony of the truth of these
commandments which are lying before you.
5 Your eyes have been upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and his
language you have known, and his imperfections you have
known; and you have sought in your hearts knowledge that you
might express beyond his language; this you also know.
6 Now, seek ye out of the Book of Commandments, even the least
that is among them, and appoint him that is the most wise among
you;
7 Or, if there be any among you that shall make one like unto it, then
ye are justified in saying that ye do not know that they are true;
8 But if ye cannot make one like unto it, ye are under condemnation
if ye do not bear record that they are true.
9 For ye know that there is no unrighteousness in them, and that
which is righteous cometh down from above, from the Father of
lights.
Jeffrey Holland
Whatever else it is, the Doctrine and
Covenants is a revelatory document,
revelations abounding, a promise of
prophetic utterance…
And why are these revelations given? To
tear down the graven images of our time, to reenthrone God as the Father to his children, reestablish
those covenants linking heaven and earth…
To that end the dispensation and its doctrines and these
compilations are dedicated. To that end the preface,
the first section, is committed. Surely it is one of the
great prefaces in the possession of mankind.
Purpose of these commandments
D&C 1: 17 Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come
upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith,
Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments;
18 And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these
things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was
written by the prophets
19 The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down
the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow
man, neither trust in the arm of flesh—
20 But that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord,
even the Savior of the world;
21 That faith also might increase in the earth;
22 That mine everlasting covenant might be established;
23 That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak
and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and
rulers.
24 Behold, I am God and have spoken it; these commandments are of me
The Lord’s Warning
D&C 1:36
And also the Lord shall have power over
his saints, and shall reign in their midst,
and shall come down in judgment upon
Idumea, or the world.
Warning?
Flavius Josephus
AFTER the death of Isaac, his sons divided their habitations respectively;
…Esau departed from the city of Hebron, and left it to his brother, and
dwelt in Seir, and ruled over Idumea.
He called the country by that name from himself, for he was named Adom;
which appellation he got on the following occasion:
—One day returning from the toil of hunting very hungry, (it was when he
was a child in age,) he lighted on his brother when he was getting ready
lentile-pottage for his dinner, which was of a very red color; on which
account he the more earnestly longed for it, and desired him to give him
some of it to eat: [and he]… resigned up to him his birthright…
Whence it came, that, on account of the redness of this pottage, he was, in
way of jest, by his contemporaries, called Adom, for the Hebrews call
what is red Adom; and this was the name given to the country; but the
Greeks gave it a more agreeable pronunciation, and named it Idumea.
Second part…
DOCTRINE
AND
COVENANTS
Question…
What “Covenants” do we
find in the D&C we don’t
find anywhere else?