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The Promised Kingdom of God is a narration of the restoration of the Lord's Church to the earth in the latter-days. Read it here at no cost to you."Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price." 2 Nephi 9:50 Read here online the entire book without cost |
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Chapter 1: Foretelling the Kingdom
Foretelling the Kingdom “Beware therefore, lest
that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers,
and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in
no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.” (Acts 13:40-41.)
“I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I
shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven
image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.”
(Isaiah 48:5) The
later-day Kingdom of God was promised of the Lord, and foretold by many of the
prophets. Nearly every event in the Restored Kingdom can be found in the annuals
of the scriptures. It appears that the prophets would ask about several time
periods. First about there own time, second they would ask, “When shall the day
of the Lord come? When shall the blood of the Righteous be shed, that all they
that mourn may be sanctified and have eternal life?” (Moses 7:45) They would
then view the events of the life, suffering, crucifixion and resurrection of the
Lord. Last of all the
question would be asked: “When shall the earth rest?” (Moses 7:58) Then would be
viewed the events of the last days leading up to the return of the Lord to reign
on earth. Peter spoke of this “restitution” or restoration “of all things,”
before the second advent of the Savior, “which God hath spoken by the mouth of
all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:21) Did all the
holy prophets see and speak of this latter-day restoration? Although numerous,
if not all, the prophets viewed and were aware of these events of the last days,
they were restricted by the Lord as to what could be recorded, as Nephi wrote:
“I, Nephi, am forbidden that I should write the remainder of the things which I
saw and heard; wherefore the things which I have written sufficeth me; and I
have written but a small part of the things which I saw.” (1 Nephi 14:28) First in
this latter day vineyard would be the calling of a prophet to establish the
Lord’s purpose, for we see the Lord’s disappointment in the religious world
recorded by Isaiah: “The earth
also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed
the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.” (Isaiah 24:5) With the calling
of a prophet, the Lord could define the laws, institute correct ordinance, and
again establish a covenant with His people. The promise given of the Lord is
that in the “latter days” “the God of heaven (would) set up a kingdom” as well
as informing us that “the kingdom shall not be left to other people” (Daniel
2:28, 44) The Lord has continued to ensue the pattern He has observed through
the ages, as Amos recorded: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He
revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7) Why Joseph
Smith? The question has been asked. A great amount of evidence supplies the
answer, “because he was chosen before he was born.” “Before I formed thee in
the belly I knew thee;” the Lord declared to Jeremiah, “and before thou camest
forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the
nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5.) In a book,
The Messianic Idea In Israel, is found support that Joseph Smith was
selected and ordained to this station in the Kingdom of God before his birth.
Dr. Klausner from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem writes one entire chapter
(chapter 9) about a latter-day prophet, a descendant of Joseph of old, the title
of the chapter is “Messiah ben Joseph and the battle of Gog and Magog.” In this
chapter he is trying to make sense of the traditions passed down from the Jews
about this latter day son of Joseph who would be called “Taeb,” meaning the
restorer,
“… sources regarded primarily as a prophet who
will restore everywhere the true Law to its former validity and convert all
peoples… but it is most interesting that his existence and his violent death are
considered as matters known to all.” (The Messianic Idea In Israel by
Joseph Klausner, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Literature and Jewish
History in the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. translated from the third Hebrew
edition by W. F. Stinespring, Ph.D. professor of Old Testament, Duke University.
The Macmillan Company, New York, 1955
p. 483) It is
fascinating that while these traditions exist in the Talmud, which
contains thousands of years of commentary on the Old Testament, Jewish
scholars are unsure where this tradition originated, for these prophecies are
missing from the Old Testament. In his book, Dr. Klausner is attempting
to give some answers about the source of these traditions. Perhaps the
origin of these traditions came from the Brass Plates that were taken from
Jerusalem about 600 BC by Lehi and his family. In the Brass Plates are recorded
the genealogy of the descendents of Joseph the son of Jacob, (1 Ne. 5:14-16) as
well as the writings of other prophets, such as Zenos, who were descendents of
Joseph, and in the linage of Lehi the first prophet of the Book of Mormon.
(3 Ne. 10:16) We find recorded in the Book of Mormon the
prophecy of Joseph of old as he predicted the calling of a latter day prophet.
To Joseph of old the Lord declared: “…a seer will I raise up out of the fruit
of thy loins; and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto the
seed of thy loins—and not to the bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord,
but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among
them.” He then told of
the writing and coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the joining with
the Bible “…unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of
contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing
them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the
knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.” Joseph Smith was
seen as one of little education or standing: “And out of weakness he shall be
made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto
the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. And thus prophesied
Joseph, saying: Behold, that seer will the Lord bless; and they that seek to
destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise, which I have obtained of the
Lord, of the fruit of my loins, shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the
fulfilling of this promise;” Notice that
Joseph Smith was known by name and that his fathers name was also known; “And
his name shall be called after me (Joseph of old); and it shall be after the
name of his father. And he shall be like unto me; for the thing, which the Lord
shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people
unto salvation. Yea, thus prophesied Joseph: I am sure of this thing, even as I
am sure of the promise of Moses; for the Lord hath said unto me, I will preserve
thy seed forever.” (2 Nephi 3:7 - 16) Joseph’s
grandfather was aware that one of his descendents would be used by the Lord to
do a great work:
“Upon one occasion, before the Prophet's birth,
Asael Smith had a premonition that one of his descendants should be a great
teacher and leader of men. To quote his words, as they are remembered and
recorded by one who knew him and heard him speak: ‘It has been borne in upon my
soul that one of my descendants will promulgate a work to revolutionize the
world of religious faith.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Church History and Modern
Revelation, 1: 4.) Joseph later wrote
of his grandfather: “My grandfather, Asael Smith, long ago predicted
that there would be a prophet raised up in his family, and my grandmother was
fully satisfied that it was fulfilled in me. My grandfather Asael died in East
Stockholm, St. Lawrence county, New York, after having received the Book of
Mormon, and read it nearly through; and he declared that I was the very Prophet
that he had long known would come in his family.” (DHC 2: 443.) William Tyndale must have had some premonition of
the restoration and the importance of his translation of the Bible; “Once, while
disputing with a learned man, he said, ‘If God spare my life, ere many years I
will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the scripture than
thou dost” (Quoted in S. Michael Wilcox, Fire in the Bones: William
Tyndale—Martyr, Father of the English Bible (2004), 47. Robert D. Hales
October 2005 Conference
Report)
Wilford
Woodruff also had communicated to him of this restoration by an old friend that enlightened him
concerning religion:
“At a very early age, Wilford Woodruff was
imbued with religious sentiments, but never allied himself with any of the
various sects. He received much information from Robert Mason, who resided at
Simsbury, Connecticut, and was called ‘The old Prophet Mason.’ He taught that no
man had authority to administer in the things of God without revelation from
God; that the modern religious societies were without that authority; that the
time would come when the true Church would be established, with all its gifts
and graces and manifestations, and that the same blessings enjoyed in the early
Christian Church could be obtained in this age through faith. This led the
youthful Wilford to hold aloof from the churches of the day, and to desire and
pray for the coming of an Apostle or other inspired man to show the way of life.
For three years previous to receiving the everlasting Gospel, he was impressed
with the conviction that God was about to set up his Church and Kingdom on earth
in the last days and for the last time. Thus he was prepared to receive the
truth when it was presented to him by the Elders.” (Wilford Woodruff. by
Franklin D. Richards, the Church Historian., Improvement Era,
1898,
Vol. I. September, 1898. No. 11. )
Wilford
Woodruff wrote in his journal of one incident of his friend:
“The people called this man, the Old Prophet
Mason. He frequently came to my father's house when I was a boy, and taught me
and my brothers those principles; and I believed him.
This prophet prayed a great deal, and he had
dreams and visions and the Lord showed him many things, by visions, which were
to come to pass in the last days. I will here relate one vision, which he related to
me. The last time I ever saw him, he said: ‘I was laboring in my field at
mid-day when I was enwrapped in a vision. I was placed in the midst of a vast
forest of fruit trees: I was very hungry, and walked a long way through the
orchard, searching for fruit to eat; but I could not find any in the whole
orchard, and I wept because I could find no fruit. While I stood gazing at the
orchard, and wondering why there was no fruit, the trees began to fall to the
ground upon every side of me, until there was not one tree standing in the whole
orchard; and while I was marveling at the scene, I saw young sprouts start up
from the roots of the trees which had fallen, and they opened into young,
thrifty trees before my eyes. They budded, blossomed, and bore fruit until the
trees were loaded with the finest fruit I ever beheld, and I rejoiced to see so
much fine fruit. I stepped up to a tree and picked my hands full of fruit, and
marveled at its beauty, and as I was about to taste of it the vision closed, and
I found myself in the field in the same place I was at the commencement of the
vision.
“I then knelt upon the ground, and prayed unto
the Lord, and asked Him, in the name of Jesus Christ, to show me the meaning of
the vision. The Lord said unto me: ‘This is the interpretation of the vision:
the great trees of the forest represented the generation of men in which you
live. There is no church of Christ, or kingdom of God upon the earth in your
generation. There is no fruit of the church of Christ upon the earth. There is
no man ordained of God to administer in any of the ordinances of the gospel of
salvation upon the earth in this day and generation. But, in the next
generation, I the Lord will set up my kingdom and my church upon the earth, and
the fruits of the kingdom and church of Christ, such as have followed the
prophets, apostles and saints in every dispensation, shall again be found in all
their fullness upon the earth. You will live to see the day, and handle the
fruit; but will never partake of it in the flesh.'
“When the old prophet had finished relating the
vision and interpretation, he said to me, calling me by my Christian name: ‘I
shall never partake of this fruit in the flesh; but you will, and you will
become a conspicuous actor in that kingdom.’ He then turned and left me. These
were the last words he ever spoke to me upon the earth.
“This was a very striking circumstance, as I had
spent many hours and days, during twenty years, with this old Father Mason, and
he had never named this vision to me before. But at the beginning of this last
conversation he told me that he felt impelled by the Spirit of the Lord to
relate it to me.
He had the vision about the year 1800, and he
related it to me in 1830—the same spring that the Church was organized.
“This vision, with his other teachings to me,
made a great impression upon my mind, and I prayed a great deal to the Lord to
lead me by His Spirit, and prepare me for His church when it did come.
In 1832, I left Connecticut, and traveled with
my eldest brother to Oswego County, New York; and in the winter of 1833, I saw,
for the first time in my life, an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. He preached in a schoolhouse near where I lived. I attended
the meeting, and the Spirit of the Lord bore record to me that what I heard was
true. I invited the Elder to my house, and next day I, with my eldest brother,
went down into the water and was baptized. “We were the first two baptized in
Oswego County, New York.
“When I was baptized I thought of what the old
prophet had said to me.
“In the spring of 1834, I went to Kirtland, saw
the Prophet Joseph Smith, and went with him, and with more than two hundred
others in Zion's Camp, up to Missouri. When I arrived, at my journey's end, I
took the first opportunity and wrote a long letter to Father Mason, and told him
I had found the church of Christ that he had told me about. I told him about its
organization and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon; that the Church had
Prophets, Apostles, and all the gifts and blessings in it, and that the true
fruit of the kingdom and church of Christ were manifest among the Saints as the
Lord had shown him in the vision. He received my letter and read it over many
times, and handled it as he had handled the fruit in the vision; but he was very
aged, and soon died. He did not live to see any Elder to administer the
ordinances of the gospel unto him.”
(Wilford Woodruff, Leaves from My Journal [Salt Lake City: Juvenile
Instructor Office, 1881], 8.) The name of
Joseph Smith is both highly esteemed and rejected throughout the entire world,
fulfilling the words which Moroni spoke in the year 1823 informing Joseph:
“…that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and
evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good
and evil spoken of among all people.” (JS-History 1:33) While this latter
day Kingdom of God would be considered “a marvelous work and wonder” among those
who embrace it, yet there would be those who would oppose the Lord’s work of
which Isaiah spoke: “Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the
LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who
knoweth us? Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the
potter's clay:” With
Joseph’s meager education and rural background it is evident that the work did
not originate from him, “for shall the work say of him that made it, he made me
not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, he had no
understanding?” (Isaiah 29:14-16.) While among the
descendants of Lehi, the Lord taught: “For in that day, for my sake shall the
Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them; and
there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man shall
declare it unto them.” The Savior then spoke of the Prophet Joseph: “But behold,
the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him,
although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will
show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.” Jesus
then gave warning to those who reject His work: “Therefore it shall come to pass
that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the
Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him
power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even
as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the
covenant.” (3 Nephi 21:9-11.) |
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