Summary of sections.
People close to Joseph started asking for revelations on their behalf.
I don't believe Joseph Smith had ever met the Whitmers, but Oliver Cowdery knew them and was corresponding with David about the developments of the translation. Joseph asked the Whitmers if they could reside with them to finish the translation work. Most of the translation happened in their home. They became familiar with it's teachings before anyone else. David, John & Peter were keen to tell the world about it. The church was organised in their home. Many of the Whitmers became witnesses of the Book of Mormon.
D&C 14: For David Whitmer. A great an marvellous work is about to come forth & the field is white and ready to harvest. Reap while the day lasts, that he may treasure up for his soul everlasting salvation. Pray & ask for the Holy Ghost, and you will receive it so that you may be a witness of this work & declare repentance to the people. If you do this you will be blessed.
D&C 15: For John Whitmer. The thing which will be of most worth to you will be to declare repentance to the people, that they may be saved and you can rest with them in the kingdom.
D&C 16: For Peter Whitmer Jr. Basically same text as section 15.
D&C 17: For Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer & Martin Harris. This is like a preparatory revelation. If you have faith you will see the plates & all the other artefacts, but once you see them you will testify of them.
There are a few prominent messages here.
1. These are missionary focused sections. They highlight why we teach and the impact it has on our lives. We tell the world about these things in order convince people of the error of their ways, turn them more fully towards the Saviour, which is done through repentance. Whenever we teach, the underlying message is, change your ways, re-align your will with the will of God and repent.
2. Also, the teaching of the word has the power to save not just those we teach, but is basically major brownie points for us when we get to the judgement bar.
3. The field is white and ready to harvest. Would have been a bit of a waste to bring this marvellous work forth when the field is not ready. Is the field still ready today? Yes. I think a lot of people don't realise how much they and the world need it. I think one of the hardest parts of this work is helping others see that.
Three things on interest to me, not just in the reading but in all the additional texts.
1. The Whitmer Miracles
2. The importance of additional witnesses
3. The weight of responsibility of such a calling to be a witness
1. The Whitmer Miracles
Some stories of the witnesses are well known, but here is a little extract of one I learned this week. Joseph and Oliver were struggling to translate in Harmony where Joseph & Emma lived, near her parents. Presecution was intensifying. Oliver had previously met a man called David Whitmer and the maintained correspondence since and Oliver had written to David a few times while they were translating some of the early parts of the plates. Oliver wrote to David explaining that it was the lords will that David and the family host them to enable the translation to progress.
I get the impression David hadn't communicated much, if at all, with the rest of the family about his correspondence with Oliver and the happenings of the plates and translation work. So when David approached his father, his father, quite rightly pointed out before they entertain guests they needed to plough the fields and prepare the crops. David know this was days of work, so he prayed for a way in which he could help.
Soon after, one morning David came to the field to get to work when he & his father noticed that most of the ploughing had already been done. He never found out by who, but it had such an impact on the family that David was able to send for Joseph and Oliver right away. They became great supporters of the work.
In the last letter, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery requested that Whitmer come to Harmony and help the two men move to the Whitmer home. “I had some 20 acres to plow,” Whitmer wrote, “so I concluded I would finish plowing and then go.” However, when he got up the next morning, he found that between five and seven acres of his land had been plowed during the night. When asked who plowed the fields, Whitmer answered, “I do not know, I cannot tell you, all I know is it was plowed. … It was a testimony to me that I did not have any business to put off going after Joseph. I hitched up my team and … started for Pennsylvania.”
In addition to the ploughing there were a couple of other miracles, like additional energy enabling David to complete seeding in a fraction of the time and 3 mysterious men coming to help fertilise the fields. But I never read about these through official church sources.
Later, it is unofficially recorded that babe Whitmer also beheld the plates.
2. The Importance of Additional Witnesses
Have you ever felt alone about an important truth, some people believe you, but most don't? Imagine how Joseph felt. This was one of the most important truths the world had known, but he was commanded to be the only witness until otherwise told.
Once the three witnesses had had the experience they had, in seeing the plates from the angel, among other things, how much relief must Joseph have felt. Now he was not alone.
I do wonder why the delay, but I also conclude, it's not particularly important. There are more important questions to consider for this Sunday school lesson.
One good question is, how many witnesses of the Book of Mormon are there? It's a trick question. Are you a witness of the Book of Mormon? Are you prepared to stand by it and declare it the word of God? Have you had a personal witness of the Book of Mormon?
3. Responsibility
We read in D&C 82:3 (which we will study in June) unto whom much is given, much is required. You might be grateful you have not been shown the plates by an angel, for if you have you would be expected to make it your life work to ensure you testify of such with all that you encounter. For Oliver, David & Martin, it is widely reported that each of them struggled with the responsibility/burden and they fell away from the church for a while. But none of them denied their witness.
It is interesting, because in the reading that I did, it effectively says each if them teased or pestered Joseph asking multiple times, it it me? While I'm sure they were sufficiently humble, to have been blessed with such a gift, there were effectively asking for this. Thus, the phrase, be careful what you wish for comes to mind again.
The difference between these men & Joseph's is that Joseph did not ask to be a witness, or a prophet, he just wanted to know the truth.
How does this apply to us?
While you may not have seen the plates, and you may be grateful of that, you have still had a witness to some degree or another and thus a responsibility, to some degree or another, to add your name to the millions of others throughout the world that the book is true.
I'll finish with with this interesting thought.
If we are all witnesses of the book of mormon, wouldn't it be interesting if we had a live, maybe online, additional title page that we could all sign. An online declaration that you could add your name to. I googled it, I wondered if anyone had set anything up. I didn't find specifically what I was looking for, but I did find a lot of social media where people are testifying all over the world on a daily basis adding their witnesses. When was the last time you did such?
Anyhow, there is something better pretty much all of us have done, than sign a witness statement or post on social media. It is the reason the missionaries since before it was published use the Book of Mormon to teach. If you gain a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, what does it mean?
Book of Mormon is True = Joseph Smith had the Gift of God to Translate it & the church that he established must also be True = It is the only true & living church on the Earth = If you are going to join a church, it needs to be this one.
We have been baptised into His church, we are numbered among those of our our fellow saints. We invite others to be part of this work, which brings us back to sections 14, 15 & 16 which are about Missionary work, crying repentance and inviting all to join His church. This is the thing which will be of most worth to you.
https://youtu.be/IZHsYATJNFA
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