Another Comforter

On December 27, 1832, the Lord gave a revelation to Joseph Smith and nine other men assembled with him (Joseph Smith Sr., Sidney Rigdon, Orson Hyde, Hyrum Smith, Samuel H. Smith, Newel K. Whitney, Frederick G. Williams, Ezra Thayer, and John Murdock) that would later become Doctrine and Covenants 88. To these ten men he said this: “Wherefore, I now send upon you another Comforter, even upon you my friends, that it may abide in your hearts, even the Holy Spirit of promise; which other Comforter is the same that I promised unto my disciples, as is recorded in the testimony of John. This Comforter is the promise which I give unto you of eternal life, even the glory of the celestial kingdom; Which glory is that of the church of the Firstborn, even of God, the holiest of all, through Jesus Christ his Son” (v3-5). The passage He was referring to from John is this one: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:16-17). These are the only two places in scripture where “another Comforter” is spoken of. Given the way that the Lord Himself connected the two passages, I believe they must denote the same thing. So, what is this other Comforter referring to?

The Prophet Joseph gave us the clearest idea of what this other Comforter is, and there appear to be two facets to it. He taught, “There are two Comforters spoken of. One is the Holy Ghost, the same as given on the day of Pentecost, and that all Saints receive after faith, repentance, and baptism. This first Comforter or Holy Ghost has no other effect than pure intelligence, … expanding the mind, enlightening the understanding, and storing the intellect with present knowledge.… The other Comforter spoken of is a subject of great interest, and perhaps understood by few of this generation. After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the laying on of hands), which is the first Comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the Saints, as is recorded in the testimony of St. John, in the 14th chapter, from the 12th to the 27th verses.” So, according to this statement, this other Comforter is connected with having one’s calling and election made sure. In other words, it is the promise of eternal life as affirmed in Doctrine and Covenants 88:4. That is the first part of this other Comforter.   

Joseph continued and gave us a second part of this other Comforter. He said, “Now what is this other Comforter? It is no more nor less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and this is the sum and substance of the whole matter; that when any man obtains this last Comforter, he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him, or appear unto him from time to time, and even He will manifest the Father unto him, and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions of the heavens will be opened unto him, and the Lord will teach him face to face, and he may have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God; and this is the state and place the ancient Saints arrived at when they had such glorious visions—Isaiah, Ezekiel, John upon the Isle of Patmos, St. Paul in the three heavens, and all the Saints who held communion with the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn.” So, this other Comforter is also the privilege of having a personal visit of the Savior. It is to be in His presence, which to me is consistent with Doctrine and Covenants 88:5 in which we learn that those given this Comforter will be part of the “church of the Firstborn, even of God, the holiest of all, through Jesus Christ his Son.” This article details times when the Savior was seen or heard by Saints in Kirtland, and it includes Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, John Murdock, Frederick G. Williams, and Newel K. Whitney (all among those ten men to whom this promise was given). One such event occurred less than three months after Doctrine and Covenants 88 was given when on March 18, 1833, the minutes of the school of the prophets records that “Bro Joseph after which many of the brethren saw a heavenly vision of the saviour and concourses of angel.” Among those present were both Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams. To me this suggests that indeed the second facet to this other Comforter—meaning a personal visit from the Savior—was fulfilled.

As for the promise of eternal life, does that mean that all ten of these men were guaranteed salvation in the celestial kingdom? It would seem so to me, even though some (particularly Sidney Rigdon and Ezra Thayer) departed this life outside the faith from what I understand. But I’m certainly in no place to judge anyone, and if the Lord gave them a promise of “eternal life, even the glory of the celestial kingdom” then I believe He meant what He said. Whatever their particular circumstances were, perhaps the message for the rest of us from this revelation is that the Lord wants to give this same promise to all of us. He wants each of us to continue our path to eternal life with the first Comforter, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, as we seek out the second Comforter, a promise of eternal life and the very presence of the Savior Jesus Christ. Later in the revelation the Savior also told them and all of us this: “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” All of us can seek to draw near unto Him, and His promise is that we eventually will find Him and that “the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:63, 68).