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Viewpoint: Every needful thing

Although Joseph Smith grew to manhood in a region dotted with village churches, building such meetinghouses for the young Church of Christ was never his objective. Instead he envisioned temples, first the house of the Lord in Kirtland and later others. For him, the communities of the Saints must be organized around the sacred space of a house of God that, with God's blessings and power, would orient their world and bridge the gulf between earth and heaven.

Photo by Tom Smart

The Kirtland Temple in Ohio, which is no longer owned by the Church, was dedicated March 27 and 31, 1836, by Church President Joseph Smith.

We don't know if he glimpsed a temple in the New York revelation that reiterated the commandment to go to the Ohio for "there you shall be endowed with power from on high" (Doctrine and Covenants 38:32). But clearly he envisioned such a place in late December 1832 when the revelations spoke of "a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God" (Doctrine and Covenants 88:119). It would be a holy house for a dedicated, even consecrated fellowship of ordained brethren — not until Nauvoo (and thereafter) would the sisters share fully in the experience — "that your incomings ... your outgoings ... that all your salutations may be in the name of the Lord, with uplifted hands unto the Most High" (Doctrine and Covenants 88:120). Only in His house would the Saints experience more fully the power and glory of God.

Bringing such a vision to life would require years of sacrifice and labor — and of pointed reminders of the necessity, the primacy of building the house despite competing priorities. Came the word of the Lord on the first day of June, 1833: "I gave unto you a commandment that you should build a house, in the which house I design to endow those whom I have chosen with power from on high," and in which house they could hold an essential solemn assembly. The revelation contained instruction that "it be built after the manner which I shall show," and a promise, that "if you keep my commandments you shall have power to build it" (Doctrine and Covenants 95:7-8, 11, 14).

That June, soon after the revelation, New York resident Brigham Young arrived in Kirtland in time to hear Joseph Smith address the gathered elders on the importance of building Kirtland as a community of Saints and the house of the Lord as the centerpiece. So inspired was he by the grand plan Joseph unveiled that day that forever after "the Kingdom of God or nothing upon this earth" was his motto (Ronald K. Esplin, The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, dissertation, pp. 97-99). He and Heber Kimball were among those who soon thereafter moved their families to Kirtland to push forward the work. The Prophet's brother Hyrum, meanwhile, also caught the vision. Shovel in hand, he walked to the temple site and began digging a foundation.

Violence in Missouri in 1833 and the subsequent Camp of Israel (later known as Zion's Camp), which trekked from Ohio to Missouri in 1834 to aid the Missouri Saints, delayed progress on the Kirtland Temple, but by 1835 dozens of fully engaged workmen pushed construction toward a spring 1836 completion. When members of the Quorum of the Twelve returned to Kirtland in late September 1835 from their first mission as a newly organized quorum, they marveled at the progress — and joined in to push it along.

The house was to be not only a place for the Saints to gather, a Latter-day Saint version of a community meetinghouse, but a place to experience the glory of God and to endow the Saints with power from on high. Not only must the building be prepared, so must the people. The glory of the house depended on fellowship and brotherhood, which in turn required a unity and harmony that was missing in Kirtland in the fall 1835. Joseph Smith's fall 1835 diary describes in detail the jealousies and misunderstandings, especially between the newly organized Quorum of the Twelve and the First Presidency, that overshadowed the fellowship and shared purpose requisite to receiving the blessings of heaven. As early as a council in late September 1835, Joseph hoped that "all things were settled satisfactorily" (The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals 1, p. 66), but not until well into the new year would full resolution allow peace and unity to prevail.

As the time approached to begin religious activities that would lead up to the dedication and use of the nearly finished house of the Lord, Kirtland Church leaders, including the Quorum of the Twelve, finally resolved all difficulties. On Saturday, Jan. 16, after each listened to the complaints and concerns of the other, the Presidency and the Twelve covenanted to trust and uphold one another. They then "took each other by the hand in confirmation of our covenant and [there] was perfect unison of feeling ... and our hearts overflowed with blessings."

Instead of preaching, Sunday meeting was devoted to the Presidency and Twelve "speaking each in their turn" and "the Lord poured out his spirit upon us, and the brethren began to confess their faults one to the other and the congregation were soon overwhelmed in tears and some of our hearts were too big for utterance" (JSP: Journals 1, pp. 156-61). In the words of Heber C. Kimball, these meetings "of humiliation, repentance, and confessing of sins, were truly the beginning of good days to us, and they continued through the endowment" (Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball (1888), p. 100). Such experiences prepared the way for the unforgettable experiences of late March and early April 1836 when, on three grand occasions, the Saints glimpsed the promised glories of God in the house of the Lord. On Sunday, March 27, more than nine hundred men and women crowded into the house of the Lord to sustain the Presidency and Twelve as prophets and seers, to hear Joseph the Prophet read the grand dedicatory prayer (Doctrine and Covenants 109), and to partake of the Lord's Supper. Some reported seeing angels in the house.

Two days later, Tuesday, March 29, Joseph and the presidencies of Ohio and Missouri retreated to the house of the Lord to spend the afternoon and evening in preparation for the Solemn Assembly of all priesthood holders the next day. "The Holy Spirit rested down upon us and we continued in the Lord's house all night prophesying and giving glory to God" (JSP: Journals 1, pp. 212-213). The purpose of the Solemn Assembly of 30 March was to empower the men who would carry the banner of the restored gospel to the world. After some 300 men experienced with the Prophet the instruction and ceremonies and blessings of that day, he announced "that were now at liberty ... to go forth and build up the kingdom of God." In response to his invitation that they "tarry all night and worship before the Lord in his house," they "continued exhorting, prophesying and speaking in tongues until 5 o clock in the morning — the Saviour made his appearance to some, while angels administered to others, and it was a [Pentecost] and [endowment] indeed, long to be remembered" (JSP: Journals 1, pp. 215-16).

Great as were the glories of the Solemn Assembly, the greatest — a vision reserved to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery alone as they knelt at the pulpit behind drawn veils — was yet to come. On Sunday, April 3, "They saw the Lord standing upon the breast work of the pulpit before them" proclaiming "behold I have accepted this house and my name shall be here; and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy, in this house." After Moses also appeared, and Elias, "another great and glorious vision" burst upon them as Elijah stood before them — each, bringing keys and powers (JSP: Journals 1, pp. 219, 222).

These glorious visions ended the Kirtland diary of Joseph Smith but they did not end what Eliza R. Snow called the "many extraordinary manifestations" of God's power associated with the house of the Lord and the "abiding holy heavenly influence" that continued around the house for weeks after these events (JSP: Journals 1, p. 223). The sacrifice of the Saints in building a house of the Lord in their poverty had been gloriously rewarded.

Ronald K. Esplin is managing editor of the Joseph Smith Papers, a project of the Church History Department; he is a member of the Willow Creek 6th Ward, Sandy Utah Willow Creek Stake.