The Doctrine and Covenants and Music
Yesterday I wrote about music—particularly singing—mentioned
in the Book of Mormon; I was surprised to also see that the Doctrine and Covenants
similarly references songs and singing in numerous places. The most well-known of course comes from the
section to Emma Smith when the Lord gave her this instruction: “And it shall be
given thee, also, to make a selection of sacred hymns, as it shall be given
thee, which is pleasing unto me, to be had in my church.” He then explained why such a selection of hymns
was important: “For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song
of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing
upon their heads” (D&C 25:12). The
Lord doesn’t just accept music as a form of worship—He delights in the music of
the righteous. And the fact that the
Lord gave this instruction only three months after the organization of the
Church tells us how important it was to Him: it came before most of the
priesthood organization, the keys to perform work for the dead, temples,
etc. That’s not to suggest that the
order of how the Restoration unfolded necessarily gives us some strict ranking
of relative importance, but surely the Lord thought that music was vitally important
to the Church to have placed this emphasis on a collection of hymns from the
very beginning.
Many
other verses in the Doctrine and Covenants confirm the importance of music for
our dispensation. The Lord declared in
one revelation, “And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered
out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion, singing with songs of
everlasting joy” (D&C 45:71). Music
will play—and certainly has played—a significant part in missionary work to gather
people to Zion. In the dedication of the
Kirtland Temple we have this revealed prayer to the Lord: “And help us by the
power of thy Spirit, that we may mingle our voices with those bright, shining
seraphs around thy throne, with acclamations of praise, singing Hosanna to God
and the Lamb!” (D&C 109:79) Like the
Book of Mormon this suggests that music will continue to be important to the faithful
even in the next world. Another
revelation gives the same message as the Lord prophesied a future day when “the
graves of the saints shall be opened; and they shall come forth and stand on
the right hand of the Lamb, when he shall stand upon Mount Zion, and upon the
holy city, the New Jerusalem; and they shall sing the song of the Lamb, day and
night forever and ever” (D&C 133:56).
In his letter to the Saints, the Prophet Joseph declared, “Let the earth
break forth into singing…. And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing
together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy!” (D&C 128:22-23) I’m not sure that the earth or heavenly
bodies can really sing, but music for Joseph was the best way to describe the extreme
joy of the gospel that we feel. In a
revelation to his successor, we have this injunction to show that joy with music
to the Lord: “If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with
dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving” (D&C 136:28). This is, as I see it, a commandment for us to
praise the Lord with song when we are joyful.
In President Joseph F. Smith’s vision of the dead he described the
righteous who had died who, like us, sing unto the Lord: “Their countenances
shone, and the radiance from the presence of the Lord rested upon them, and
they sang praises unto his holy name” (D&C 138:24). This seems to suggest that music is available
even to righteous disembodied spirits. The Doctrine and Covenants also contains the
lyrics to a song that the Lord has given us.
He said that the righteous will one day “see eye to eye, and shall lift
up their voice, and with the voice together sing this new song” (D&C
84:98). This “new song” is then revealed
in the subsequent four verses—I certainly look forward to the day when we have
music to accompany the powerful message of the words declaring “glory, and
honor, and power, and might, be ascribed to our God.” The Doctinre and Covenants, like the Book of
Mormon, confirms that music is an essential and powerful part of our worship of
the Lord today.
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