Doctrine and Covenants Commentary - Section 35

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
SECTION 35 Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon, at or near Fayette, New York, December 1830. HC 1:128-131. At this time the Prophet was engaged almost daily in making a translation of the Bible. The translation was begun as early as June 1830, and both Oliver Cowdery and John Whitmer had served as scribes. Since they had now been called to other duties, Sidney Rigdon was called by divine appointment to serve as the Prophet's scribe in this work (verse 20). AS a preface to his record of this revelation the Prophet wrote: "In December Sidney Rigdon cam [from Ohio] to inquire of the Lord, and with him came Edward Partridge. . . . Shortly after the arrival of these two brethren, thus spake the Lord."
1—2, How men may become sons of God; 3—7, Sidney Rigdon is called to baptize and confer the Holy Ghost; 8—12, Signs and miracles are wrought by faith; 13—16, The Lord's servants shall thrash the nations by the power of the Spirit; 17—19, Joseph Smith holds the keys of the mysteries; 20—21, The elect shall abide the day of the Lord's coming; 22—27, Israel shall be saved.
1 LISTEN to the voice of the ^aLord your God, even ^bAlpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, whose ^ccourse is one ^deternal round, the ^esame today as yesterday, and forever. 2 I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was ^acrucified for the sins of the world, even as many as will ^bbelieve on my name, that they may become the ^csons of God, even ^done in ^eme as I am ^fone in the Father, as the Father in one in me, that we may be one.
3 Behold, verily, verily, I say unto my servant Sidney, I have looked upon thee and thy works. I have ^aheard thy prayers, and prepared thee for a greater work. 4 Thou art blessed, for thou shalt do great things. Behold thou wast sent forth, even as ^aJohn, to prepare the way before me, and before ^bElijah which should come, and thou knewest it not.
5 Thou didst baptize by water unto repentance, but they ^areceived not the Holy Ghost; 6 But I give thee a commandment, that thou shalt ^abaptize by water, and they shall receive the ^bHoly Ghost by the laying on of ^chands, even as the apostles of old. 7 And it shall come to pass that there shall be a great work in the land, even among the ^aGentiles, for their ^bfolly and their abominations shall be made manifest in the eyes of all people.
8 For I am God, and mine arm is not ^ashortened; and I will show ^bmiracles, ^csigns, and wonders, unto all those who ^dbelieve on my name. 9 And whoso shall ask it in my name in ^afaith, they shall ^bcast out ^cdevils; they shall heal the ^dsick; they shall cause the blind to receive their ^esight, and the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, and the lame to walk.
10 And the time ^aspeedily cometh that great things are to be shown forth unto the children of men; 11 But ^awithout faith shall not anything be shown forth except ^bdesolations upon ^cBabylon, the same which has made ^dall nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her ^efornication. 12 And there are ^anone that doeth good except those who are ready to ^breceive the fullness of my gospel, which I have sent forth unto this generation.
13 Wherefore, I call upon the ^aweak things of the world, those who are ^bunlearned and despised, to thrash the ^cnations by the power of my ^dSpirit; 14 And their arm shall be my arm, and I will be their ^ashield and their buckler; I will gird up their loins, and they shall fight manfully for me; and their ^benemies shall be under their feet; and I will let ^cfall the ^dsword in their behalf, and by the ^efire of my indignation will I preserve them.
15 And the ^apoor and the ^bmeek shall have the gospel preached unto them, and they shall be ^clooking forth for the time of my coming, for it is ^dnigh at hand— 16 And they shall learn the parable of the ^afig-tree, for even now already summer is nigh.
17 And I have sent forth the ^afulness of my gospel by the hand of my servant Joseph; and in weakness I have blessed him; 18 And I have given unto him the ^akeys of the mystery of those things which have been ^bsealed, even which where from the ^cfoundation of the world, and the things which shall come from this time to the time of my coming, if he ^dabide in me, and if not, ^eanother will I plant in his stead. 19 Wherefore, watch over him that his faith fail not, and it shall be given by the ^aComforter, the ^bHoly Ghost, that knoweth all things.
20 And a commandment I give unto thee—that thou shalt ^awrite for him; and the ^bscriptures shall be given, even as they are in mine own bosom^a, to the salvation of mine own ^celect; 21 For they will hear my ^avoice, and shall ^asee me, and shall not be ^casleep, and shall ^dabide the day of my ^ecoming; for they shall be ^fpurified, even as I am pure.	20^a even as they are in mine own bosom Often it is taught that Joseph Smiths inspired version of the Bible and other scriptures are corrections to such as they were originally written and have now become altared and or lost. To a degree it is true that the meaning and intent of the scriptures have been improved upon restoring many such things, but even further, the light of these inspired writings are given more importance as they are as they were intented from the very bosom of the Lord, which even in their original text from an earlier writer may not have grasp that full intent and meaning. Thus Joseph's inspired version need not comply with all the ancient text. The real test is in that they do comply with what was in the Lord's own bosom concerning them.
22 And now I say unto you, ^atarry with him, and he shall journey with you; forsake him not, and surely these things shall be fulfilled. 23 And ^ainasmuch as ye do not write, behold, it shall be ^bgiven unto him to prophesy; and thou shalt preach my gospel and call on ^cthe holy prophets to prove his words^a, as they shall be given him.	23^a call on the holy prophets to prove his words Often it is set forth that a prophet's word will or ought to be 'couched' in the prior words of the prophets before. Yet when the living prophet's words are reflective of that which is in the Lord's own bosom, that perspective is somewhat altered in that the holy prophets are to be called upon to prove the 'new word' and not for the 'new word' to seen to comply to such as they are. That is a very interesting change of perspective while still containing the intent of both but to the setting forth the new word as primary and the other in the roll of but support to the new.
24 ^aKeep all the commandments and covenants by which ye are bound; and I will cause the heavens to ^bshake for your ^cgood, and ^dSatan shall tremble and ^eZion shall ^frejoice upon the hills and ^fflourish; 25 And ^aIsrael shall be ^bsaved in mine own due time; and by the ^ckeys which I have given shall they be led, and no more be confounded at all.
26 ^aLift up your hearts and be glad, your ^bredemption draweth nigh. 27 Fear not, little ^aflock, the ^bkingdom is yours until I come. Behold, I ^ccome quickly. Even so. Amen.