Revelation, , Geauga Co., OH, 1 June 1833. Featured version copied [likely between 6 June and 30 July 1833] in Revelation Book 2, pp. 59–60; handwriting of ; Revelations Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 2.
Coltrin, Zebedee. Diary and Notebook, 1832–1833. Zebedee Coltrin, Diaries, 1832–1834. CHL. MS 1443, fd. 2.
Historical Introduction
In late December 1832 and early January 1833, as part of a call to educate men for the ministry, a revelation instructed church members to organize a “” and to build a wherein individuals would learn the law and receive power that had been previously promised. The revelation further told them that they should “prepare evry needful [thing]” for the school and that the house should be “an house of prayer, an house of fasting, an house of faith, an house of Learning, an house of glory, an house of order an house of God.” During the early months of 1833, before construction on the house began, the first School of the Prophets, which involved just over a dozen church , met in , Ohio. On 11 January 1833, JS emphasized the urgency of building the house and holding the school in a letter to in , Missouri. JS stated, “You will see that the Lord commanded us in Kirtland to build an house of God, & establish a school for the Prophets, this is the word of the Lord to us, & we must— yea the Lord helping us we will obey, as on conditions of our obedience, he has promised us great things, yea even a visit from the heavens to honor us with his own presence.”
On 4 May, nearly four months after JS wrote about the urgent need to build the , a committee was formed to raise funds for the building’s construction. A unanimously voted that a committee, consisting of , , and , be formed to raise the money. Nearly a month later, neither this committee nor other church leaders had taken any steps toward constructing the building.
The revelation featured here, dictated on 1 June, stated that church leaders’ unresponsiveness to the call to build this religious structure would halt the growth and spiritual work of the church. The revelation also specified the building’s dimensions and directed the manner in which church members should construct it. Immediately following this revelation, a conference of discussed the revelation and began drafting construction plans. The conference appointed JS, , and —the —to serve as the planning committee, which was responsible for obtaining “a draft or construction of the inner court of the house.”
Likely in response to this revelation, the building committee, which still comprised , , and , prepared a circular for the members of the that same day, writing that they had been officially charged with soliciting subscriptions to establish a fund to build the . “Unless we fulfil this command vis establish an house,” they warned, “and prepare all things necessary whereby the Elders may gather into a school called the school of the prophets and receive that instruction that the Lord designs they should receive we may all dispare of obtaining the great blessing that God has promised to the faithful of the Church of Christ.” The circular reiterated the promise found in the 2 January 1831 revelation that God would endow individuals with “power from on high,” which they would gain from “that instruction that the Lord designs” in the School of the Prophets. The committee encouraged church members to “make evry possable exertion to aid temporally as well as spiritually in this great work that the Lord is bringing about and is about to accomplish.” The circular also called for church members to pay their subscriptions and to send the funds to by 1 September 1833. Hyrum Smith, Reynolds Cahoon, and others began construction on the multipurpose House of the Lord by 7 June 1833. The House of the Lord, completed in 1836, eventually served as both a school and a place of worship; it was the church’s first temple.
Verily thus saith the Lord unto you whom I love, and whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance in all things out of temptation and I have loved you therefore ye must needs be chast[e]ned and stand rebuked before my face. for ye have sinned against me a verry grievous sin in that ye have not considered the great commandment in all things that I have given unto you concerning the building of mine for the preparation wherewith I deign to prepare mine to prune my vineyard for the last time that I may bring to pass my strange act that I may pour out my spirit upon all flesh. But behold verily I say unto you there are many who have been among you whom I called but few of them are chosen. they who are not chosen have sinned a verry grievous sin in that they are walking in darkness at noon day, and for this cause I gave unto you a that you should call your that your fastings and your mourning might come up into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth which is by interpretation the creator of all things the first day the beginning and the end. Yea verily I say unto you I gave unto you a commandment that you should build an in the which house I design to those whom I have [p. 59]
See Hebrews 12:5–7. JS used similar language in a letter to Edward Partridge one month earlier. JS told Partridge, “The Lord loveth you, and also Zion, for he chasteneth whom he loveth, and scourgeth every son & daughter whom he receiveth, and he, will not suffer you to be confounded, and of this thing you may rest assured.” (Letter to Edward Partridge, 2 May 1833.)
This sentence reiterates an earlier message that asserted the School of the Prophets was necessary so that its members “may be prepared, in all things when I shall send you again, to magnify the calling, whereunto I have called you . . . that you may be perfected, in your ministry to go forth among the gentiles, for the last time.” (Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:80, 84].)
See Isaiah 28:21. According to Oliver Cowdery, the angel Moroni told JS that God had “chosen you as an instrument in his hand to bring to light that which shall perform his act, his strange act, and bring to pass a marvelous work and a wonder.” (Oliver Cowdery, “Letter IV,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Feb. 1835, 1:79.)
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.