Evidence Sixty-one:
“Joseph Smith Gets All the Vital Little Things in the Story”©
Recently I added some new quotations to various files. One stood out that morning. Joseph Fielding Smith was explaining that when Jesus Christ appeared to the Nephite people in 3 Nephi, he had his leaders baptize the people and later after the Church was organized among them, they were rebaptized. The reason? President Smith explained that there are two purposes for baptism; to receive the forgiveness of sins and to become a member of the Lord’s Church. Their first baptism brought forgiveness of sin, but the church was not yet organized. So, when it was they were rebaptized.
President Smith went on to explain that a similar thing occurred in the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Aaronic Priesthood was restored to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by the ministration of the ancient prophet John the Baptist on 29 May 1829. Following his conferral of the priesthood on both men, they were commanded to be baptized by this authority. But, the Church was not yet organized. That took place almost a year later on 6 April 1830. As in The Book of Mormon, those who were baptized before the organization had to be baptized again to become members of the Church.
These stories are well known and the parallels are interesting from both a historical and theological perspective. However, it was not the history or the theology that caught my attention in President Smith’s remarks. It was a simple observation he made at the end of the recital that became a big insight to me. He said in reference to Joseph’s having those already baptized to be rebaptized after the Church was organized:
Suppose Joseph Smith had overlooked that. It is just a little thing, but how vital it is. You will find all through the ministry of Joseph Smith that all these little things are there: not a thing is overlooked that is vital to the story.(1)
“You will find all through the ministry of Joseph Smith that all these little things are there”! “Not a thing is overlooked that is vital to the story.” Though I had noticed that phenomena many times through my long teaching and study career, the formulation of that truth never reached a conscious and verbal level. When I read it in this statement, its truth was more than evident to me; reading it also impressed upon me the importance of the idea–nothing vital, no matter how small, is overlooked in the Restoration!
Indeed, I have to say that one of the enjoyable results of detailed study of the scriptures Joseph Smith produced and of his writings and teachings is the frequent discovery of innumerable details which, upon closer examination, prove to be of vital significance. If one were to go back and review the first sixty essays in this series, one would discover that many of the evidences which I have written about are in fact vital little things that have not been overlooked. However, I do not see this phenomena as a result of the watchful eye of a young genius-prophet. I attribute the vast majority of these things to the inspiration and revelation that was a near constant in his life. Instances of vital details included in the story can seemingly be multiplied infinitely. This idea also gives added dimension to the meaning of the "fullness of the Gospel."
Here is one simple example. In the Sermon on the Mount at Mt. 6:33 Jesus said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” This passage did not escape the eye of the Prophet. He rendered it this way in the JST: “Wherefore, seek not the things of this world but seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish his righteousness.” Concern for the kingdom of God as expressed in the Sermon on the Mount is consistent with a similar interest expressed in the Lord’s prayer found in the same sermon. In Mt. 6:10 the Savior teaches his disciples to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Doing the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven surely is seeking to establish the Lord’s righteousness.
One can seek the kingdom in several ways. First, one can seek for the kingdom, in the sense of desiring it to come. Second, one can look for it, try to find it, and become part of it when one does. Third, once one has found the kingdom and become a part of it, he can then seek to make the growth and welfare of the kingdom a priority. A final way, is to live in such a way that one is constantly seeking to be prepared and worthy to eventually inherit the kingdom of God in the Celestial Kingdom.
In the JST the emphasis is to seek first “to build up the kingdom of God.” That clarification in emphasis is one of those details that is vital to the story. Jesus brought the kingdom of God to the earth in the meridian of time. Once there, the emphasis is not on its coming, but on building it up. A little thing in some ways, perhaps. But isn’t it interesting that when you look at it carefully, the sequence is correct. Even in the little change of a word here and there note how many of them become vital to the story? Those things are evidence of inspiration to me.
One might think this insight of President Joseph Fielding Smith is a little insight, but to me it takes on greater and greater significance the more one thinks about it and gathers evidence of its truth. The fact that the Prophet Joseph gets all the details, the little things, the little vital things that need to be in the story, that he gets them in the story, is, to me, a very big thing and one of the reasons I believe he is a prophet of God.
What little things have you found that he has not overlooked, but which are part of the great story of the Restoration?
Let’s think together again, soon.
Notes:
1. Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1955, 2:336.
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