For the purpose of this post I will begin with an important side note which is this; many events prior to the restoration of the gospel, beginning as early as the renaissance, harrowed the ground hardened by centuries of apostasy and fertilized it in preparation for the divine sowing of seeds, the seeds of gospel truths.
Let me also begin by summarizing a few of the mile markers along the road to the restoration of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the reestablishment of His church upon the earth in these latter days.
- The visitation of God the father and His son Jesus Christ, in the spring of 1820, to a fifteen year old farm boy named Joseph Smith. The truths restored on that occasion included: 1) the corporeal nature of God the Father and His son Jesus Christ, that they are two distinct beings with tangible bodies. 2) The heavens were no longer closed, personal revelation comes following the exercise of faith and in response to sincere, heartfelt prayer. 3) The calling of prophets to administer God’s work on the earth.
- The return of sacred scripture and along with it a purer, more perfect knowledge of gospel principles, capped by visits of the angel Moroni and the subsequent entrusting of the Book of Mormon to Joseph Smith.
- The visit of John the Baptist to confer the priesthood of Aaron on Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.
- The visit of Peter, James and John to confer the Melchizedek priesthood and the re-establishment of Christ’s church upon the earth.
- The restoration of the keys of the priesthood pertaining to the gathering of Israel, temple ordinances and vicarious work for our ancestors.
This list is not intended to be all inclusive nor complete, but instead is meant to be illustrative of several important principles. First, the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in these later days, was carried out under the specific direction of God the Father and Jesus Christ. And second, the knowledge of gospel principles and truths was restored line upon line over a period of years.
One definition of the word restoration is to return something that existed previously but had been lost. This meaning not only works well for the restoration of the gospel, but also for the reestablishment of Christ’s church on the earth.
To me the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ is more than just a list of divinely coordinated events, beginning with the First Vision, which took place nearly two hundred years ago. I believe the restoration of the gospel also includes an ongoing, continuous line upon line and precept upon precept restoration of personal knowledge.
Ponder the significance of the gospel in your life and in the lives of your children and spouse. Now think back. What do you remember about life before you were born? My guess is nothing. In fact I’ll bet you can’t remember much about the first several years after your birth.
My point is this, you and I, each and everyone one of us, understood our Heavenly Father’s plan for the salvation and happiness of his children prior to our birth into mortality. We understood the atonement and Jesus Christ’s central role as the Savior for all mankind. And we even developed and exercised great faith in Him.
We learned a lot in the spiritual realm of the pre-existence, but additional knowledge was necessary. Knowledge and understanding that required a physical body and a fresh opportunity to develop even more faith. Only this time our faith was to be cultivated without our being directly in God’s presence (where we can’t see Him). But in reality we never have been, nor ever will be out of his presence. He is always watching over us. Furthermore we were to be given the opportunity to exercise and strengthen our faith, and prove or demonstrate this faith through obedience to God’s laws. To accomplish this a veil of forgetfulness was placed in our minds.
Elder Orson Hyde said,
“We have forgotten! … But our forgetfulness cannot alter the facts.”
So here we are imperfect, overcoming doubts, developing faith and at times struggling mightily with our challenges. Amidst these trials, from time to time each of us will experience feelings of déjà-vu, or a spark of inspiration that kindles a familiar flame.
Elder Joseph F. Smith observed how
“we often catch a spark from the awakened memories of the immortal soul, which lights up our whole being as with the glory of our former home.
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The scriptures are replete with examples of prophets and others who developed and then demonstrated their faith by their actions and their testimonies of Jesus Christ. Our mortal experience is the same. Still at times we are like ships on a stormy sea, tossed to and fro by the fierce winds of these latter days. We desire to know, or to know more deeply, more assuredly, but faith precedes knowledge. So we pray and we ask “how can I develop such great faith?” “Where can such faith be found?” “Where is the wellspring of this faith that I might draw upon it?”
Let me share a simple, but important truth. We already have the faith necessary to withstand all of this life’s turbulence and trials. The wellspring of our faith can be found deep within our hearts and souls. In the pre-existence you developed and exercised great faith in Jesus Christ and His promise to be our savior. It is He who is the source, “the author and finisher of [our] faith” (Hebrews 12:2). And that faith still resides within us, only it’s hidden by a veil in our minds. So rather than starting from scratch, what we are really doing is rediscovering and tapping into the fountain of faith we already have.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell described it this way,
“Thus, when we say ‘I know,’ that realization is rediscovery; we are actually saying ‘I know—again!’”
We can witness this as principles of the restoration unfold in a very personal way in our lives, and through our own unique and customized set of earthly experiences.
Throughout mortality we too must learn line upon line and precept upon precept. We may even come to realize that our journey hasn’t been all that different from the experience of Joseph Smith. After all, our personal paths also include faith, prayer, understanding our relationship to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, gaining a testimony of the Plan of Salvation, receiving the blessings of the Aaronic priesthood through participation in gospel ordinances including baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and partaking of the sacrament. And the receipt of blessings through the Melchizedek priesthood including temple ordinances.
This weekend we will once again have the privilege of receiving instruction, counsel and guidance from living prophets and apostles. Listen to the words that God has placed in their hearts and minds. See if you experience feelings of déjà-vu, or catch a spark from the awakened memories of your immortal soul.
Developing more faith and learning the gospel of Jesus Christ is a continuous and exciting journey. A straight and narrow way, a path which includes the restoration of the gospel on a very personal level and is marked by moments of rediscovery, where we are actually saying “‘I know—again!’”