Search These Commandments

 In a conference of the Church in the fall of 1831, it was decided that the revelations Joseph had already received needed to be published to the world. The title chosen for that book was the Book of Commandments. It was never finished because of the persecutions in Missouri that stopped the publication, and eventually in 1835 it was published but under the name of the Doctrine and Covenants. Though that name is what was used and is used today, I think it is important to note that the way in which the Lord described it in the 1831 preface, now Doctrine and Covenants 1, is consistent with the original name: “Behold, this is mine authority, and the authority of my servants, and my preface unto the book of my commandments, which I have given them to publish unto you” (v6). In fact, the word commandments is repeated seven times in the Lord’s revealed introduction to the book. We learn that Joseph and others were given commandments (v17-18,30) and that those who will keep the commandments will be forgiven (v43). Most importantly, the Lord gave His stamp of approval upon the revelations given to the Prophet Joseph: “Behold, I am God and have spoken it; these commandments are of me” (v24). His invitation to all of us is the same as He gave to the Nephites concerning the words of Isaiah: “Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful” (v37). We are commanded to search the commandments now recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants.

So what are we to search for? Verse 37 suggests at least three things: commandments, promises, and prophecies. There are many of these throughout the Doctrine and Covenants. For example, section 118 contains all three for the Twelve. In 1838 they were commanded to “continue to preach from that hour” and to do so “in all lowliness of heart, in meekness and humility, and long-suffering.” In doing so the Lord promised, “I, the Lord, give unto them a promise that I will provide for their families.” They were to “depart to go over the great waters, and there promulgate my gospel,” or in other words, to preach the gospel in England. They received this prophecy: “An effectual door shall be opened for them, from henceforth,” and certainly it was as they had great success in their mission which they did undertake. Verse 5 of this section reads like a commandment but ultimately became a prophecy that they sought to help fulfil: “Let them take leave of my saints in the city of Far West, on the twenty-sixth day of April next, on the building-spot of my house, saith the Lord.” In April of 1839 the Saints had been kicked out of Missouri and were mostly gathered in Illinois, but the apostles were determined to fulfill this commandment and did so by sneaking back into Far West in the middle of the night only to leave from there shortly after arriving. Surely their obedience led to the fulfilment of the Lord’s promise and prophecy that the door would be open to them: it was during this mission in which Wilford Woodruff “baptized hundreds of the United Brethren” and thousands in England joined the Church. Surely we would all do well to more earnestly search among the commandments that the Doctrine and Covenants contain and seek to follow them that the promises for us may be fulfilled.