Somewhere in the land of Israel there’s a mountain. We don’t know exactly which
mountain it is and there’s all kinds of theories and speculations about which one it might be,
but this is Mount Hebron, which is the most likely spot where something happened called
the “Transfiguration”. The Transfiguration was an event that’s discussed in the Gospels of Matthew,
Mark, and Luke where Peter, James, and John were selected to go to the top of the mountain
alone with Jesus. When they arrived there, the Savior suddenly
became a bright, resplendent illuminating being. He was transfigured and Peter,
James, and John saw him meet with two other people, Moses, and Elijah.
The Joseph Smith Translation adds that John the Baptist was also present there. There’s not a lot
of information about what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration because it’s discussed so quickly,
but we believe that certain priesthood keys and authorities were given to Peter, James,
and John. They also heard the voice of God, the Father bearing witness that Jesus
Christ was the Savior. Now what does this have to do with the Doctrine & Covenants?
Surprisingly a lot of the information that we have about what happened on the Mount of
Transfiguration isn’t in the New Testament. It’s in Section 63 of the Doctrine and Covenants.
The Lord there explains that when the apostles were on the top of the Mount of Transfiguration
they were shown “the Earth [when it] shall be transfigured according to the pattern
which was shown unto mine apostles on upon the mount; of which account the fulness ye
have not yet received.” So not only did these apostles receive priesthood keys but they also
saw in a vision of what the earth would one day become. They saw not just a person transfigured,
but a vision of the whole world transfigured and turned into a higher state.
Now what does this have to do with Joseph Smith? This is a revelation that he receives after he
arrives back from his journey to Missouri coming back to Kirtland. He had noticed that there were
problems that had occurred in the Church and there had been disharmony and contention on the journey
home. The Church historian John Whitmer noted that, “The elders had returned to their homes in
Ohio, the churches needed much exhortation; in the absence of the elders many apostatized.”
Joseph Smith himself noted that, “In these infant days of the church, there was a great
anxiety to obtain the word of the Lord upon every subject that in any way concerned our salvation;
and as ‘the land of Zion’ was now the most important temporal object in view,
I inquired of the Lord for further information upon the gathering of the Saints and the purchase
of the land and other matters, and received the following [D&C 63].” Now transfiguration which
is mentioned in the middle then becomes a grand theme of this entire revelation.
Remember, the Lord is telling them about the Land of Zion and what it means to gather, but
he’s also worried about those saints that aren’t living in Zion and aren’t living the Gospel, so in
this revelation the Lord rebukes several people; we’ll call them those that won’t be transfigured,
and lists off several groups that will struggle to be transfigured when the great day comes.
The first group are sign seekers. The Savior says, “Behold, faith cometh not by signs, but signs
follow those that believe.” He wasn’t pleased with those that constantly needed signs to know
that the Gospel was true and in this case he may have been speaking to some very specific people.
There was a man traveling with Joseph Smith back from Missouri that had caused a lot of
contention on the journey named, Ezra Booth, who had caused a lot of contention on the journey
back from Missouri was converted through a sign. Specifically, he saw Joseph Smith heal the arm
of Elsa Johnson and this revelation may have as much as anything been addressing him specifically.
The Lord also mentions people that are “adulterers and adulteresses” and those who
have “turned away from others and that remained with you hereafter they shall be revealed.”
The Lord isn’t pleased with those that don’t keep their covenants or aren’t faithful to
the people around them and weirdly enough in the scriptures both Jesus and Joseph Smith
draw a connection between people that seek signs and people that are adulterers.
Later on, in his life when Joseph Smith was preaching to a group of people in Philadelphia,
he noted that he “was preaching when a quaker called for a sign. I told him to be still. After
a sermon he again called for a sign. I told the congregation the man was an adulterer,
that a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and that the Lord had said to me
in a Revelation that any man who wanted a sign was an adulterous person. ‘It is true’ cried one
‘for I caught him in the very act,’ which the man afterwards confessed when he was baptized.”
Now the third sin that the Lord addresses in this revelation is the desire to obtain things through
violence or bloodshed. It appears that there were some saints that felt like with the power
of God they could go in and destroy the people that were already living in the Land of Zion
which was Independence, Missouri. The Lord warned them specifically “Satan putteth it into your
hearts to anger against you and to the shedding of blood. Wherefore, the land of Zion shall not
be obtained but by purchase or by blood, otherwise there is no inheritance for you.”
He didn’t want them to obtain the land violently, he wanted them to obtain the land peacefully.
So, sign seeking, adultery, and violence were three things that could keep a person from being
transfigured but a major theme of the revelation is what it takes to become transfigured.
The Lord gives several key things that a person can do. He says in verse 20,
“Nevertheless, he that endureth in faith and doeth my will, the same shall overcome,
and shall receive an inheritance upon the earth when the day of transfiguration shall come.”
What’s going to happen on the day of transfiguration? The Lord gives a number
of blessings that are associated with this. That the old will live until an old age and then be
changed in the twinkling of an eye, or that the young will never know death, that the world that
we live in with all its wonder and splendor and beauty will be changed to be something
even more beautiful and even more wonderful than the things that we see all around us right now.
It’s not just that the Savior can be transfigured. The Savior always offers to us
the same blessings that the Father has given to him and one day if we’re faithful,
if we stay on the path and we avoid those sins that the Lord outlines here we can
live in a transfigured earth and be transfigured ourselves. It’s possible for us to transcend the
world around us and the petty angers, jealousies, problems, and sins that we sometimes wallow in;
to look to a higher place to travel up onto the mountain figuratively speaking and just
like Peter, James, and John not only see the Lord transfigured but be transfigured ourselves.