Distill as the Dews

Near the end of the revelation that Joseph Smith received in Liberty Jail, the Lord gave us this incredible invitation and promise: “Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven” (D&C 121:45). If we can develop charity for all and have virtue in our thoughts unceasingly, then we can stand before God with confidence, a promise which seems to indicate that eternal life has been achieved. This state of being is in contrast to the group who says in their wickedness, “We would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence. We must come forth and stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and in his might, majesty, and dominion, and acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all his judgments are just” (Alma 12:14-15). If we want to be able to stand without shirking before the Lord in our judgment day, then we need to have purified ourselves and loved all our fellowmen.

The second promise of this verse is also important and seems to indicate a great blessing we can receive far in advance of the judgment day: we can have the “doctrine of the priesthood distil upon [our] soul as the dews from heaven.”  This language appears to be taken from the song of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy: “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass” (Deuteronomy 32:2). So how exactly do the dews distill? Dew is water that forms due to condensation as temperatures change, especially in the morning hours.  To distill here could mean to condense, and the most common imagery is that of water condensing and appearing onto surfaces such as grass or plants.  From our perspective the dew comes gradually but also out of nowhere—it doesn’t visibly fall from the sky but appears out of the air.  Given this image, perhaps part of the message here about the “doctrine of the priesthood” and the “speech” of the Lord distilling upon us is that the knowledge that the Lord will pour out upon His Saints will in some cases come almost imperceptibly.  This is what happened to the Lamanites who were “baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not” (3 Nephi 9:20).  So as we strive to develop charity and fill our thoughts with virtue, the Lord may slowly help us understand His doctrine and hear His voice, such that we understand better the principles of the gospel without a single specific event giving us that knowledge.  To distill can also mean to purify, and that could apply here as well: as we refine ourselves the Lord will refine and purify the knowledge that is in us.  Through the Holy Ghost, He will gradually enlighten our minds and clarify our understanding so that our misperceptions about gospel truths are corrected. 

To have the knowledge from the Lord distill upon us then perhaps signifies that we are able to learn eternal truths that are never verbally told to us.  Like the morning dew, they simply appear at some time without us knowing how.  This seems to be the experience that Nephi had when he had his great vision of 1 Nephi 11.  In verse 11 he said that he wanted to “know the interpretation” of the tree that his father had seen.  He then observed the city of Nazareth and saw Mary holding the Savior in her arms.  Without any explanation from the angel who was guiding him other than that the baby was “the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father,” Nephi suddenly seemed to know the answer to the question the angel asked back to him: “Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?”  Nephi responded, “Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men” (1 Nephi 11:21-22).  The experience distilled that knowledge upon him without being explicitly told the answer to his question.  If we believe D&C 121:45, then our experience can be similar to Nephi’s: as we develop pure love and a pure mind, we can be taught the doctrines of the Lord through the quiet workings of His Spirit.