What is it like to hear the voice of the Lord? How does personal revelation work for you?
Does it work the same for every single person? Some of these things are learned and taught to
us in sections 6–9 of the Doctrine and Covenants, which are the most detailed sections we
have about how the translation process of the Book of Mormon worked. So let’s understand the timeline
really fast. These revelations were received mostly in the spring of 1829. In the summer before, Joseph
Smith and Martin Harris had lost the manuscript of the Book of Mormon, and Joseph was so discouraged
that over the next couple months, he only engaged in translation sporadically with a number of
different scribes, including Emma Smith. Joseph was praying for someone to come along and assist and
help him, and that person, Oliver Cowdery, arrives in April of 1829. When Oliver arrives, Joseph and
Oliver almost immediately begin the translation process, and less than three months later they will
have produced the entire over-500-page manuscript of the Book of Mormon. But how did their process work?
And what was the revelation like that led us to receive the Book of Mormon? Sometimes when
we conceptualize or imagine what translation was like, we see Joseph sitting with the plates and
Oliver at the opposite side of the table. And that may have been how translation worked on some days
in some ways, but the process itself is much more complicated. Part of the historical problem here, is
that the two people that know the most about translation both die young: Joseph and Oliver.
Before they die, they’re only able to record a few statements about how the translation process actually worked.
One thing Joseph Smith wanted everybody to know, is that there were plates.
He wrote in his history an extensive description of the plate saying, “These records were engraven on
plates which had the appearance of gold, each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long and not
quite so thick as common tin. They were filled with engravings, and Egyptian characters and bound
together in a volume, as the leaves of a book with three rings running through the whole. The volume
was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters
on the unsealed part were small, and beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of
antiquity and its construction and much skill in the art of engraving. With the records was found
a curious instrument which the ancients called ‘Urim and Thummim,’ which consisted of two transparent stones
set in the rim of a bow fastened to a breastplate.” Joseph Smith then concludes, “Through the medium of
the Urim and Thummim, I translated the record by the gift, and power of God.” Near the end of his
life, Oliver country recorded about the translation process. When he was interviewed he said, “I wrote
with my own pen the entire Book of Mormon (save a few pages) as it fell from the lips of the prophet
[Joseph Smith]. As he translated [it] by the gift and power of God, by [the] means of the Urim and Thummim,…
or as it is called by that book ‘Holy Interpreters.’ I beheld with my eyes. And handled with my hands
the gold plates from which it was translated. I also beheld the Interpreters. That book is true.”
Other people also witnessed translation. For instance, Emma Smith acted as scribe part of the time.
As persecution increased in Emma Smith’s hometown, Joseph and Oliver eventually decided
to relocate to Fayette, New York, and to stay with a family called the Whitmers, who were friends
with Oliver Cowdery. Several of the Whitmers were involved in the translation process, most chiefly
John Whitmer, Christian Whitmer, and David Whitmer. David Whitmer later described
the translation process as follows. He said, “Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into
a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light;
and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling
parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear
, and under it was the interpretation in English.” Now, this seems to favor a tight
translation, as though the Lord was giving Joseph exactly the words that he wanted him to record
in order to produce the text of the Book of Mormon. David later said, “Brother Joseph would read off the
English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated
to brother Joseph to see if it was correct, it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation
would appear.” This seems to say that the text of the Book of Mormon comes directly from
God. Other people testify to the same thing. For instance, near the end of her life, Emma Smith
was interviewed by her son Joseph III. When he asked her about the Book of Mormon, she said,
“My belief is that the Book of Mormon is of divine authenticity—I have not the slightest doubt of it.
I am satisfied that no man could have dictated the writing the manuscripts unless he was inspired;
for when acting as his scribe, your father would dictate to me hour after hour; and when returning
after meals, or after interruptions, he could at once begin where he left off, without either seeing
the manuscript or having any portion of it read to him. This was a usual thing for him to do.
It would have been improbable that a learned man could do this; and, for one so ignorant and unlearned
as he was, it was simply impossible.” All along the way as this translation process is happening,
Oliver Cowdery is being introduced to the gospel, and taught the basic principles of revelation.
Section 6, section 8, and section 9 are all revelations given to Oliver, specifically to
teach him how revelation works. Section 6 is given to Oliver shortly after he arrives in
Harmony, Pennsylvania, and Oliver sought his own revelation to know what his part in the work was.
One of the things introduced in section 6 is the idea that we can receive a revelation
and not know that we received a revelation. Oliver is told that the Lord had already spoken
peace to his mind when he prayed, and that that was the answer that he received. The Lord had talked
to him, but Oliver just hadn’t recognized it. In section 8, Oliver decides that he wants to do
what Joseph Smith is doing. He wants to be the translator and Joseph the scribe. Joseph has no
problem with this. He just decides to ask the Lord, and the Lord also says that this is okay with him.
In section 8, Oliver is told that he can receive revelation both in his heart and in his mind, and
in other ways. That the Lord will speak to him, and that he has gifts, and that he’ll be able
to use these gifts to bring forth the record. So Oliver is set and ready to go to translate,
but it appears that when he attempted to translate, he failed. This is because in section 9 of the Doctrine
and Covenants, the Lord acknowledges that Oliver was only able to translate a few words because he
didn’t follow the right procedures. The Lord tells Oliver, “you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right,
and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.
But if it be not right…you shall have a stupor of thought…” (D&C 9:8–9). Oliver attempted
to translate, but because he hadn’t put in the necessary preparation, he wasn’t able to receive
the revelation that he needed. Likewise, when we want to receive revelation from God, it’s important
that we do work, that we put in the effort to find out what things are right and to reason things
out in our mind, and then seek confirmation from the Lord as to what the correct thing is to do.
The Lord wants to speak to all of us, and one message from these sections is that everybody can
receive revelation. Sometimes we receive revelation without knowing we’ve received revelation.
We have the potential to receive it, but if we don’t put in the work, the Lord can’t speak to us,
and speak to us as freely and fluidly as he would like to. Joseph Smith, talking about the process of
revelation, later on said, “A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit
of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you
sudden strokes of ideas.” He continues, “Those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit
of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow
into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.” Now, revelation can come in
as monumental a project as translating the Book of Mormon, but the Lord also wants to give you
revelation about the everyday events of your life, about the concerns and worries that you
have. But understanding revelation is a process. Learning revelation is a process
and coming to hear and understand the voice of the Lord is something that we grow into,
not something that we’re automatically able to do. The Lord will speak to us and lead us and guide us
along the way, but we have to do our part, and do the research necessary to find the answers so
the Lord can direct us into the paths that we’re supposed to go to. Just like Joseph Smith and
Oliver Cowdery, miraculous revelations can come to us. And while you might not bring forth a new
book of scripture, the Lord is anxious to tell you exactly what you want to know, and exactly
how to do what you need to do. If we’re patient, if we are studious, if we work hard, and if we do
the things that the Lord asks us to do, he will speak to us, and give us guidance, just like he spoke to
Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. And the proof of that is the book that you’re studying, the record
that you have in your lap: the Doctrine and Covenants or the Book of Mormon. All these things came to
prophets through revelation, and just like the Lord spoke to prophets, the Lord will speak to you.
you