Essential Principles of Section 3

After Joseph gave the 116 pages to Martin Harris, “Moroni appeared to Joseph and took the interpreters from him.”  It is as if the Lord was telling him that if he would not follow the revelation he received—namely to not let Martin Harris take the pages—then his gift of translation and revelation would be taken away.  He still had the plates, but after Martin Harris lost the 116 pages, Joseph returned to Harmony in the summer of 1828 and “Moroni appeared to him again and took the plates away.”  So at this point Joseph had neither the interpreters, the plates, or the manuscript, and this was a very difficult time for him.  The Saints book records, “Weighed down with guilt and regret, he went to his knees, confessed his sins, and pleaded for forgiveness. He reflected on where he had gone wrong and what he could do better if the Lord let him translate again.”  It is in that context that on a day in July 1828, when Joseph was walking outside, Moroni appeared to him again with a message.  “The angel handed him the interpreters, and Joseph saw a divine message in them: ‘The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught.’”  This was where he received the revelation we now know as Doctrine and Covenants 3, and “it was the first time he had ever recorded the Lord’s word to him.”  The first section that we have today in the Doctrine and Covenants came later in 1831, and the 2^nd contained a rephrasing of Malachi from Moroni, but section 3 is the first revelation written down from the Lord in this dispensation to his prophet and a powerful witness of essential gospel truths. 

It is fitting in my mind that section 3 is the first revelation from the Lord, and though it was to Joseph specifically, it contains key principles of the gospel for all of us.  First, the Lord reminded Joseph the importance of obedience to the commandments of God: “How strict were your commandments…. And behold, how oft you have transgressed the commandments and the laws of God, and have gone on in the persuasions of men” (v5-6).  That is the test of mortality—to see if we “will do all things whatsoever the Lord [our] God shall command [us]” (Abraham 3:25).  The Lord would later tell Joseph’s brother Hyrum that it was his work in mortality: “Behold, this is your work, to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and strength” (Doctrine and Covenants 11:20).  To keep the commandments of the Lord is the great work of mortality.  And to do that, we must come to trust the Lord more than man.  The Savior told Joseph next in the revelation: “You should not have feared man more than God…. You should have been faithful; and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary; and he would have been with you in every time of trouble” (v7-8).  Joseph learned from this experience that he must trust the Lord and not follow the counsel of men that went against the Lord’s.  He also learned of the mercy of God and the great blessing of repentance.  Despite what he first thought, all was not lost when he broke the commandments—he could repent: “But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work” (v10).  That is one of the key messages of the Restoration, that no matter what we have done we can today choose to repent and start keeping the commandments of the Lord.  God will be merciful to the truly repentant.  And, most importantly, Joseph learned of the key purpose of the Restoration to spread the knowledge of the Savior, through whom this repentance is made possible: “My work shall go forth, for inasmuch as the knowledge of a Savior has come unto the world, through the testimony of the Jews, even so shall the knowledge of a Savior come unto my people” (v16).  The Book of Mormon came forth so that the Lamanites and all of us “might know the promises of the Lord, and that they may believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be glorified through faith in his name, and that through their repentance they might be saved” (v20).  Section 3 of the Doctrine and Covenants teaches us the foundational principles of the gospel and invites all of us to repent, keep the commandments, and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation.