How Do Later Revelations Clarify the Restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood?
Christ Restores the Authority to Confer the Holy Ghost — Part 3
Introduction
The events of 1829 and 1830 establish the basic sequence, but they do not provide the detailed account modern readers might wish Joseph and Oliver had written. The Lord supplied additional clarity over time. As Joseph prepared the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants in 1835, earlier revelations were expanded to preserve important details concerning priesthood ordination, apostolic authority, and the heavenly messengers sent to restore priesthood keys. Those later texts help answer more precisely what Peter, James, and John conferred upon Joseph and Oliver.
Newel and Elizabeth Whitney Home, Historic Kirtland, Ohio courtesy Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, churchofjesuschrist.org; Entryway and main living area of the Newel and Elizabeth Whitney Home, Historic Kirtland, Ohio. Photograph by Stephen Fluckiger.
· In 18351—the Lord amplifies his earlier August 1830 revelation about the sacrament to include in the scriptural record events related to the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood. The Prophet originally dictated Section 27 in August 1830 in the home of Newel and Sally Knight. They were preparing to administer the sacrament prior to the planned confirmation of Sister Knight and the Prophet’s wife, Emma. On his way “to purchase wine,” the revelation noted, an angel stopped him. The early manuscripts of the revelation and the 1833 Book of Commandments consist principally of the shorter instruction that it did not matter what the Saints ate or drank when partaking of the sacrament, provided they did so with an eye single to the glory of God.
The early record of the revelation also included the Lord’s explanation of the purpose of the sacrament—to remember “unto the father my Body which [was] laid down for you & my blood which was shed for you the Remission of your sins.” The Lord also spoke of the hour that would come “that I will drink of the fruit of the Vine with you on the Earth & with you all those whom my father hath given me out of the world.”2
In preparing the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, however, the Lord prompted Joseph to substantially expand the description of those with whom the Savior would “drink of the fruit of the Vine,” at, as it were, this future “Great Feast.”3 “Every faithful person in the whole history of the world, . . . who has so lived as to merit eternal life in the kingdom of the Father,” Elder McConkie wrote, “will be in attendance and will partake, with the Lord, of the sacrament” at this great meeting.4
The inspired expansion not only gives vivid details about this important future latter-day event, but evidences Joseph’s expanded understanding by 1835 of, and the Lord’s desire to create a clear record about, the context and importance of the resurrected beings who had or would yet visit the Prophet and confer upon him their dispensations, keys, and priesthood authority. The Lord seems to use the occasion of the preparation of Section 27 in a new compilation of the revelations to review with Joseph and each of us not only those whom He had by 1835 already sent to restore keys and powers of their priesthood, but others who He would soon send (for example, to the Kirtland Temple):
o “Moroni, whom I have sent unto you to reveal the book of Mormon, containing the fulness of my everlasting gospel; to whom I have committed the keys of the record of the stick of Ephraim;
o “Elias [who would appear in the Kirtland Temple], to whom I have committed the keys of bringing to pass the restoration of all things, or the restorer of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began, concerning the last days:
o “John the son of Zacharias, which Zacharias he (Elias)5 visited and gave promise that he should have a son, and his name should be John, and he should be filled with the spirit of Elias; [w]hich John I have sent unto you, my servants, Joseph Smith, jr. and Oliver Cowdery, to ordain you unto this first priesthood which you have received, that you might be called and ordained even as Aaron:6
o “Elijah [who would also appear in the Kirtland Temple], unto whom I have committed the keys of the power of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers, that the whole earth may not be smitten with a curse;7
o “Joseph, and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham your fathers; by whom the promises remain;8
o “Michael, or Adam, the father of all, the prince of all, the ancient of days;” also
o “Peter, and James, and John, whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles and especial witnesses of my name, and bear the keys of your ministry: and of the same things which I revealed unto them: unto whom I have committed the keys of my kingdom, and a dispensation of the gospel for the last times; and for the fulness of times, in the which I will gather together in one all things both which are in heaven and which are on earth.”9
In short, the Lord reviewed with Joseph on this occasion and expressly affirmed, first, that He sent John the Baptist “to ordain” Joseph and Oliver “unto [the] first,” or Aaronic, “priesthood;” and, second, that He had then sent Peter, and James and John, “by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles and especial witnesses of my name.”
In summary, the revelatory statements and actions summarized above demonstrate that the Lord provided repeated reminders to the Prophet Joseph and his associates of the messengers He had sent and the messages He had given them, preparing them to receive and constituting the restoration of the priesthood. These included, of course, his first vision in 1820, the appearance of the angel Moroni in 1823 (and repeatedly thereafter) and the divine tutoring enabled by the divinely powered seer stones that gave the Prophet a solid foundation in priesthood doctrine, ordinances (including temple ordinances) and governance; John the Baptist’s conferral of priesthood authority in May 1829 and Peter, James and John soon thereafter; the Lord’s own voice in Father Whitmer’s chamber in June 1829 and the ordinations that occurred pursuant thereto on April 6, 1830.
Other angels would restore “their dispensation[s], their rights, their keys, their honors, their majesty and glory, and the power of their priesthood” (D&C 128:21), including the essential keys restored by Moses, Elias and Elijah in the Kirtland Temple in 1836. The continuing flow of revelation and priesthood development—including the Articles and Covenants, now section 20; the June 1831 introduction of the office of high priest; the 1832 “revelation on priesthood,” now section 84; the 1835 “Instruction on Priesthood,” now section 107; and the teachings on priesthood power in section 121—would add further understanding and clarity.
These later revelations and retrospective accounts helped preserve and clarify events that Joseph and his associates had not recorded contemporaneously or in the detail that later members of the Church might wish. Joseph himself lamented the consequence of their “neglect[] to keep records.” As a result, he said, “we cannot [now] bear record to the church nor unto the world of the great and glorious manifestations that have been made to us with that degree of power and authority wh[i]ch we otherwise could if we had those decisions to publish abroad.”10
While perhaps we do not have as much detail as we would like, we can glean from the historical record the most important things the Lord did, and the Lord directed Peter, James and John to say and do:
First, the Lord repeatedly taught Joseph and Oliver through the Heaven-directed translation process and revelations as early as 1828 about the priesthood after the order of the Son of God; about Melchizedek, who received the office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of God; about ordination to this priesthood, which was without beginning of days or end of years; and about the necessity of priesthood authority to baptize and to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands;
Second, Christ sent Peter, and James, and John, who ordained and confirmed Joseph and Oliver to be apostles and especial witnesses of His name, and bear the keys of His kingdom and of a dispensation of the gospel for the last times. These apostolic ordinations occurred in the wilderness, between Harmony, Susquehanna County, and Colesville, Broome County, on the Susquehanna river, most likely in late May 1829, soon after Christ sent John the Baptist to restore the Aaronic Priesthood.
Lastly, the voice of the Lord came to Joseph and Oliver in Father Whitmer’s chamber commanding them to (i) assemble with those who had been or would be baptized;11 (ii) present themselves to those gathered for their sustaining vote as the Church’s spiritual teachers; (iii) administer the sacrament; (iv) ordain each other as elders in the Church and then ordain others as elders as directed by the Spirit; and finally (v) to attend to the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost for all those who had previously been baptized.
Conclusion
The later revelations do not replace the earlier events; they interpret and preserve them. They identify John the Baptist’s role in the restoration of the lesser priesthood and affirm that Peter, James, and John ordained and confirmed Joseph and Oliver as apostles, special witnesses, and bearers of the keys needed to establish Christ’s latter-day Church.
Notes
1. As the Lord enhanced the Prophet’s (and our) understanding of the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood by adding to Section 27 during the preparation of the 1835 (first edition) of the Doctrine and Covenants, He likewise guided Joseph Smith and his associates to add an insight about the importance of priesthood ordination to a March 1829 revelation. The revelation was received at the request of Martin Harris and later included in the Doctrine and Covenants as Section 5. The statements the Lord inspired the Prophet to add referred to future ordination(s) Joseph would receive: “For hereafter you [Joseph Smith] shall be ordained; (v. 6)” and “for ye are not yet ordained” (v. 17).
These statements are absent from the manuscript copied by Oliver Cowdery circa April 1829. “Doctrine and Covenants 5: Revelation, March 1829,” Joseph Smith’s Revelations, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/church-historians-press/jsp-revelations/dc-005-1829_03_01_000?lang=eng (the editorial numbering of verses to correspond to Section 5 passes directly from present verses 5 to 7). They likewise were absent in the revelation as published in chapter IV of the 1833 Book of Commandments. Book of Commandments, 1833, 10, JSPs, accessed October 14, 2026, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/book-of-commandments-1833/14.
It may be that these additions were recovered from another, no-longer-extant source. Alternatively, they may have been introduced through inspiration or Joseph’s recollection of the impressions he received at the time. In any event, to me they are one more evidence of the Church’s observation that Joseph Smith’s understanding of the restoration of the priesthood as one of the seminal events of the Restoration “developed over time and with the aid of continued revelation.” Thus, the importance of adding evidence that the Lord was tutoring the Prophet even at this early date in March 1829 that he and Oliver had not yet been, but would surely be, ordained.
2. Revelation, circa August 1830 [D&C 27], 35-36, JSP, accessed October 15, 2026, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-circa-august-1830-dc-27/2. Footnote a to the phrase “drink of the vine” in the Church’s online version of Doctrine and Covenants 27:5 refers to Mark 14:25 (where the Lord, while instituting the ordinance of the sacrament during the Last Supper states, “Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God”) and Luke 22:18 (“For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come”).
3. The Savior’s reminder to Joseph Smith and Saints of our day that in a future day he would sit down with His prophetic leaders “and also with all those whom my Father hath given me out of the world” (D&C 27:14) is an echo or allusion to the “Great Feast” that was celebrated in connection with the Feast of Tabernacles temple drama. See the discussions above in chapter 6, “Translation of King Benjamin’s Temple Text,” 61–76; chapter 7, “Translation of Alma’s Temple Text,” 80–94; and chapter 8, “Translation of the Book of Mormon’s Pinnacle Temple Text: 3 Nephi,” 96–119, especially 100–109. Chapter 8 summarizes LeGrand L. Baker and Stephen D. Ricks’s reconstruction of this eight-day covenant-renewal ceremony associated with Solomon’s temple, culminating on the eighth day in a “great feast” symbolizing the millennial reign, a return to Eden, restoration of the participants’ garments of light, and renewed access to the presence of God. Scholars have identified parallels to these ancient ceremonies in King Benjamin’s Great Assembly, Alma’s teachings concerning priesthood ordinances and entering the Lord’s rest, and the Savior’s ministry at the temple in Bountiful, where Christ Himself miraculously provided the bread and wine. These parallels should be understood as proposed ritual and literary correlations rather than as proof that each gathering employed an identical ceremonial form. See Baker and Ricks, Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, 18–20, 460–61, 628–43; Welch, “The Temple in the Book of Mormon,” 297–387.
4. McConkie, Promised Messiah, 595, as quoted in “Lesson 33: Doctrine and Covenants 27,” Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Seminary Teacher Manual (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2017). See also “Section 27: ‘When Ye Partake of the Sacrament,’” Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual: Religion 324 and 325 (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2001) (“The Savior . . . will partake of the sacrament in His Father’s kingdom ‘on the earth’ (D&C 27:5). . . . The Savior . . . reiterated in the revelation to Joseph Smith [what he had informed his apostles in Matthew 26:29 and Luke 22:18, that [He] promised to drink and eat with his prophets and saints, in his Father’s kingdom which shall be built up on the earth.”).
5. For a summary of the arguments, including by President Joseph Fielding Smith, equating the “Elias” referred to here—the same angel who visited Zacharias in the temple (D&C 27:6-7), who Luke identified as the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:19), whom Joseph Smith taught was the premortal Noah (D&C 27:6-7)—with the Elias who appeared in the Kirtland Temple to restore the keys of the “dispensation of Abraham,” see Fluckiger, Chapter 16, “The Spiritual Treasures from the Dispensation of the Gospel of Abraham,” 216–18. As noted in this discussion, other Church authority, including the Bible Dictionary, have left the identity of the Kirtland messenger unresolved.
6. See the preceding chapter, “Christ Restores the Authority to Baptize,” especially the sections “Joseph and Oliver Learn the Need for and Authority Required to Baptize,” “After Translating 3 Nephi, Joseph and Oliver Pray about ‘Baptism for the Remission of Sins,’” and “What Are the ‘Keys of the Ministering of Angels?’” See also Oliver Cowdery to William W. Phelps, September 7, 1834, Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate 1 (October 1834): 14–16; Joseph Smith, History, 1838–1856, Volume A-1, 17–18; and Cannon et al., “The Earliest Accounts of the Restoration of the Priesthood,” 228–46.
7. See Fluckiger, Drawing Upon the Spiritual Treasures of the Temple, chapter 17, “The Spiritual Treasures We Receive from the Mission and Keys of Elijah,” 237–49, especially 247–48 (tracing Elijah’s possession and exercise of the sealing power in ancient Israel, his translated state, his ministry with Moses at the Mount of Transfiguration, and his April 3, 1836 appearance to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple). Compare Doctrine and Covenants 2:1–3; 110:13–16; 128:17–18; and Malachi 4:5–6.
8. The JSP editors cross reference the Savior’s reference to the great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, “your [referring to Joseph Smith and, by inference, Later-day Saints generally] fathers, by whom the promises [of the Abrahamic Covenant] remain, to “Genesis chap. 17; 22:15–18; chap. 24; 26:1–4; 28:14; 35:9–13; 48:34; Psalm 105:9; Galatians 3:16; and “The Book of Abraham,” Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1842, 3:705–706 [Abraham 2:6–11].” Revelation, circa August 1835 [D&C 27], p. 180 note 10, JSP, accessed October 15, 2026, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-circa-august-1835-dc-27/2. See also Fluckiger, Drawing Upon the Spiritual Treasures of the Temple, chapter 16, “The Spiritual Treasures from the Dispensation of the Gospel of Abraham,” 216–29, for a discussion of Abraham and the covenant renewed with his posterity, including members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Appendix 2, “Promises Made and Ordinances Given to Abraham Were Renewed with Isaac and Jacob,” 305–18, for a discussion of the renewal of the Abrahamic Covenant with Isaac and Jacob; and the briefer discussions of Joseph of Egypt and his posterity at 63–64 and 144–46.
9. Revelation, circa August 1835 [D&C 27], 180, JSP, accessed October 15, 2026, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-circa-august-1835-dc-27/2.
10. Record of the Twelve, 14 February–28 August 1835, 1-2, JSP, accessed October 16, 2026, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/record-of-the-twelve-14-february-28-august-1835/8.
11. MacKay and Dirkmaat recount how the Lord, as early as March 1829, began telling Joseph Smith that He “would soon establish his church.” After their baptisms, Joseph and Oliver “began talking about how they could establish a church.” Revelations received after they moved to Fayette “continued to encourage them to take steps in the process of establishing a church.” However, the JSP editors add, “Joseph later explained that during their efforts to establish a church in the summer of 1829, the Lord revealed to him that the church would not be established until 6 April 1830.” From Darkness to Light, 145-48. As explained by the JSP editors:
[Such 6 April organizational] meeting had been anticipated by JS and his followers for over a year, in part because JS’s revelations had foretold the establishment of a church. A March 1829 revelation to Martin Harris, for example, prophesied that a church would be established after three witnesses testified that they had seen the gold plates and after the words found on the plates were “sent forth.” Another JS revelation in spring 1829 confirmed that a church would be established, even as the texts translated from the gold plates prompted JS and Oliver Cowdery to consider questions foundational to a church organization and described how Christ established his church in ancient America. By June [1829], a revelation commanded Cowdery to “build up my church,” and he subsequently drafted a text, which he titled “A commandment from God unto Oliver how he should build up his Church & the manner thereof.” [The Articles of the Church of Christ referred to in note 39 above.] The document reads as though it was intended for immediate implementation.
JS, however, later reported that he was directed to delay the establishment of the Church of Christ. His history explained that a revelation “pointed out to us the precise day upon which, according to his will and commandment, we should proceed to organize his Church once again, here upon the earth.” Apparently once a separate June 1829 text, it was incorporated as part of “Articles and Covenants,” a foundational document outlining the governing beliefs, principles, and offices of the church.
Revelation, 6 April 1830 [D&C 21], “Historical Introduction,” 28, JSP, accessed October 16, 2026, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-6-april-1830-dc-21/1 (emphasis added), citing JS History, vol. A-1, 29; see also Historical Introduction to Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20].
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