Have you struggled with understanding the Doctrine and Covenants? As a collection of separate and diverse texts, it can be rather daunting to study. After all, it is the only one of the standard works that does not tell its own story.

Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants addresses this challenge in a creative new way. Rather than giving a verse-by-verse commentary, author Steven C. Harper takes readers on a guided tour through the revelations. Drawing on the earliest manuscripts of those revelations, he provides historically grounded insights into why each revelation was given, what it means, and why it matters.

Chapters on every section of the Doctrine and Covenants begin by delving into the historical record to recreate the question or problem each revelation was given to resolve and end by showing readers the outcomes for individuals and the Church.

Families and scholars alike will relish the depth and accessibility of Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants. It is an invaluable addition to any gospel library and a fascinating resource for anyone who wishes to become more closely acquainted with this marvelous book of scripture.

Download a printable 8x10 pdf map.

Download a smaller map to fit inside scriptures. Great for each member of the family to have their own copy to refer to all year or could be used as a handout for classroom use.

ORIGIN

“When I was about 17 years,” Joseph Smith said, “I had another vision of angels; in the night season, after I had retired to bed; I had not been asleep, but was meditating on my past life and experience. I was well aware I had not kept the commandments, and I repented heartily for all my sins and transgressions, and humbled myself before him, whose eye surveys all things at a glance. All at once the room was illuminated above the brightness of the sun; an Angel appeared before me.” He introduced himself as Moroni, saying,“I am a Messenger sent from God.” He said that God had vital work for Joseph to do. There was a sacred book written on golden plates, buried in a nearby hillside. “He explained many of the prophecies to me,” Joseph said, including “Malachi 4th chapter.” Moroni appeared three times that night and again the next day, emphasizing and expounding the same message contained in Doctrine and Covenants 2. There was something vital in that message, something Joseph needed to know.1

CONTENT

When Joseph wrote his history in 1839, he recorded the words Moroni spoke regarding Malachi’s prophecy of Elijah, also written in Doctrine and Covenants 2, noting the “little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles.” Moroni “quoted the fifth verse thus, ‘Behold I will reveal unto you the Priesthood by the hand of Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.’ He also quoted the next verse differently. ‘And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to their fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to the fathers, if it were not so the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.’”2

Malachi foretold that Elijah, the Old Testament prophet, would return to the earth on a mission to unite the hearts of the first Israelites, with whom God had made covenants, with the hearts of their descendants, to whom Malachi wrote. The prophecy as recorded in the Old Testament is vague. All a Bible reader can surmise is that the Lord would send Elijah some time before the Second Coming. To do what? Moroni makes the prophecy directly relevant to Joseph and specifies that Elijah will reveal priesthood powerful enough to unite families forever.

OUTCOMES

Young Joseph sought forgiveness of personal sins, but in Doctrine and Covenants 2 an angel told him he had a role in fulfilling ancient prophecy, adding that “if it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted.” Moroni’s words obviously made a deep impression on the teenaged seer. Whether Joseph understood them all that night is not clear, but they remained in his mind and heart until he witnessed their fulfillment nearly thirteen years later when Elijah fulfilled the prophecy by bringing to Joseph the priesthood keys needed to seal families together (see D&C 110). Joseph was called to receive and use those priesthood keys. He was to give every willing soul, living and dead, full access to the atonement of Jesus Christ and assist the Savior in offering eternal life. Elder Russell M. Nelson taught that “eternal life, made possible by the Atonement, is the supreme purpose of the Creation. To phrase that statement in its negative form, if families were not sealed in holy temples, the whole earth would be utterly wasted.”3 In Doctrine and Covenants 2, Moroni told Joseph Smith that his job was to save the earth.