Repentance and Revelation

One of the lessons from the First Vision is that repentance is a key to revelation from the Lord. In addition to looking for the truth, Joseph was seeking forgiveness when he prayed to the Lord on that spring morning in 1820. In the 1832 account of the First Vision he wrote, “My mind became exceedingly distressed, for I became convicted of my sins…. Therefore, I cried unto the Lord for mercy, for there was none else to whom I could go and obtain mercy. And the Lord heard my cry in the wilderness…. I was filled with the spirit of God, and the Lord opened the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord. And he spake unto me, saying, ‘Joseph, my son, thy sins are forgiven thee.’” It was as Joseph sought and obtained forgiveness from the Lord that he also received the revelation he sought about which church to join. Repentance was a precursor to his revelation.

                We see the same principle with the visit of angel Moroni 3½ years later. Joseph recorded, “I often felt condemned for my weakness and imperfections; when, on the evening of the above-mentioned twenty-first of September, after I had retired to my bed for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and follies, and also for a manifestation to me, that I might know of my state and standing before him” (JSH 1:29). It was as he thus repented and sought forgiveness from the Lord that Moroni came and delivered a revelation to him that would change his life forever. The Lord did not force either revelation upon Joseph; rather, he waited until Joseph came to him in a spirit of repentance and humility to give unto him the greater revelations He was waiting to give him. I believe this is how the Lord usually works—He waits for us to come to Him in a spirit of repentance rather than forcing revelation upon us when we are not seeking Him. This is consistent with how one of His invitations to us reads: “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” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:63). As we draw near to Him in prayer and seek Him diligently through repentance, He will then draw near to us and cause us to receive His revelations. As He stated to the church of the Laodiceans, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” He is ready to come in unto us, but He usually waits until we symbolically open the door to Him. Surely there is no better way to do so than by humble repentance as Joseph’s example showed.

                Perhaps the most dramatic example in the scriptures of this principle is the story of the father of King Lamoni. After hearing the word taught to him by Aaron, he pled with God for both revelation and forgiveness of his sins: “O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day.” He sought to know God and was willing to give away all his sins to have that greatest of all revelations. As he thus repented the revelation came so powerfully that he “was struck as if he were dead” and ultimately “his whole household were converted unto the Lord” (Alma 22:18,23). Again it was sincere repentance that brought to him the revelation he sought, and surely it will be the same for each of us. As we humbly seek to receive a forgiveness of our sins before the Lord, we will receive not only that but in the process we will also come to know Him and the messages He has for us.