In his roles as a prophet, seer, revelator, and translator, and as the head of the final dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith was privileged to be the recipient of over seventy documented visions.[1] These included visions of various types, namely: (1) a “visitation” vision—a vision in which he was in the actual presence of Deity or angelic beings; (2) a mind vision—a vision in which his mind and understanding was opened to see heavenly beings and events; and (3) a vision he received by means of the Nephite interpreters/spectacles, or by means of a seer stone, both of which were referred to as the “Urim and Thummim.” He also received visions in the form of dreams, and he was known to have also had visionary appearances of Satan, but neither God the Father nor Jesus Christ was seen or observed in either of these two other types of spiritual manifestations. The primary focus of this essay is to document and examine all known experiences in which Joseph Smith saw in vision God the Father and Jesus Christ, either separately or together.

1. Vision of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and Angels (First Vision)

Type: Visitation vision

Date: Spring 1820

Location: Manchester, New York

Occasion: Joseph Smith sought both forgiveness for his sins and divine understanding

Witnesses: None

The vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ to Joseph Smith, early in the spring of 1820, was the inaugural event of the latter-day restoration and one of the greatest and most significant theophanies in the history of humankind. Its doctrinal underpinnings are the foundation of many of the principles and teachings taught and embraced by the Church. Furthermore, his vision in the Sacred Grove is perhaps the most well-known, well-documented, and often-recounted of the Prophet’s visionary experiences. Latter-day Saints everywhere, both young and old of every nationality and ethnic background, are generally familiar with many of the aspects and features of Joseph Smith’s vision of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ in the spring of 1820.

Joseph Smith prepared four accounts of the First Vision (1832, 1835, 1838, 1842). In addition, Orson Pratt, Orson Hyde, Levi Richards, and Alexander Neibaur, each of whom were members of the Church and contemporaries of the Prophet, heard him speak and provided accounts about what he said about his vision. In August 1843, David Nye White, a non–Latter-day Saint reporter, interviewed Joseph Smith. His report appeared in the Pittsburgh Gazette the following month (September 15, 1843). Together these sources provide rich and vivid details of the theophany.

2. Vision of Jesus Christ (possibly)

Type: Vision of Jesus Christ received by means of the Urim and Thummim (the seer stone)

Date: April 1829

Location: Harmony, Pennsylvania

Occasion: Revelation received by Joseph Smith on behalf of Oliver Cowdery (D&C 6)

Witness: Oliver Cowdery

As early as 1822, Joseph Smith began to receive visions by means of a seer stone.[2] Later, in 1827, he received the plates containing the Book of Mormon, along with the Nephite interpreters. It was by means of these two instruments—the Nephite interpreters and the seer stone—that he was able to translate the Book of Mormon. However, these instruments also aided him in the receipt of other early revelations included in the Doctrine and Covenants (see the headings to sections 6, 7, 11, 14, and 17).[3] They also served as mediums by which the Prophet was able to receive visions and other visionary communications.

As noted above, the text comprising Doctrine and Covenants section 6 was received by Joseph Smith through the Urim and Thummim, but in all likelihood just the seer stone was used, which in April 1829 was the instrument Joseph Smith was using to translate the Book of Mormon.[4] A significant and revealing passage in the closing verses of the revelation reads, “Look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not: behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet: be faithful; keep my commandments, and ye shall inherit the kingdom of heaven: Amen.”[5] It should be noted that the earliest text of the revelation states it was directed to Oliver Cowdery who was specifically told to behold the Savior’s wounds in his side, hands, and feet. In Webster’s 1828 dictionary, the definition of behold is given as follows: “To fix the eyes upon; to see with attention; to observe with care.”[6] Given the meaning of behold as defined by Webster, in the process of seeing and recording the words of the revelation as given in the seer stone, there is a possibility that both Joseph and Oliver also had a visionary experience in which they saw the resurrected Lord, who showed them his mortal wounds.

3. Vision of Jesus Christ

Type: Visitation

Date: Mid–late May 1831

Location: Possibly Joseph and Emma Smith’s home on the Isaac Morley farm property near Kirtland, Ohio.

Occasion: Meeting of a small group of Latter-day Saints

Witnesses: Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith family members, Martin Harris, and Keziah Rollins and her children, including Mary Elizabeth Rollins

In 1905 Mary Elizabeth Rollins recounted an occasion when the resurrected Jesus was present among a small group of Saints, but apparently was seen only by Joseph Smith. This occurred on the Morley farm property about a mile east of Kirtland, Ohio, shortly after the arrival of Lucy Mack Smith and most of the extended Smith family from New York in mid-May 1831.[7] Speaking of the Smiths, Mary, who would have been twelve years old at the time, wrote: “They were all there, . . . the whole Smith family, from the old gentleman and his wife to all the sons and daughters.” While the Rollins family was conversing with the Smiths in Joseph and Emma’s home, Joseph and Martin Harris came into the room. “There are enough here to hold a little meeting,” the Prophet remarked, whereupon a board was put across two chairs to make seats. They sang and prayed, after which Joseph got up and began to speak.“All at once his countenance changed and he stood mute,” Mary recounted. “Those who looked at him . . . said there was a search light within him, over every part of his body. I never saw anything like it on the earth. I could not take my eyes off of him. He got so white that anyone who saw him would have thought he was transparent. I . . . thought I could almost see the bones through the flesh.” The Prophet stood silent for several minutes before he asked those present if they knew who had been in their midst. Martin Harris told them it was the Savior, to which the Prophet responded that God had revealed that truth to Martin. He then said, “Brothers and Sisters, . . . the Savior has been here this night and I want to tell you to remember it. There is a vail over your eyes for you could not endure to look upon Him.”[8]

4. Vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ

Type: Mind vision

Date: June 3, 1831

Location: Isaac Morley’s schoolhouse, near Kirtland, Ohio

Occasion: Conference of the Church, elders meeting

Witnesses: Several elders of the Church

On June 3, 1831, during the first day of a four-day conference held in a schoolhouse on the hill just above the Isaac Morley farmhouse about a mile east of Kirtland, Joseph Smith received another singular vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ. During the previous month, Church members from the New York branches had relocated to the Kirtland area. On this day the elders were assembled for a conference called for by revelation (Doctrine and Covenants 44). John Whitmer, who had been appointed Church recorder and historian in March, reported that during the first day of the conference, “the Spirit of the Lord fell upon Joseph in an unusual manner.” Whitmer said Joseph gave many prophecies at this time, particularly about the Second Coming and also how some would suffer martyrdom for the sake of the religion of Jesus Christ.[9] In a similar vein, Levi Hancock, a recent Kirtland convert, said the Prophet foretold that some of those present “must die for the testimony of this work.”[10] After Joseph prophesied for some time, the heavens opened and the Prophet saw “the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the Father.”[11] Hancock said that Joseph exclaimed, “I now see God, and Jesus Christ at his right hand,” then added, “Let them kill me, I should not feel death as I am now.”[12] While the meaning of such an exclamation is not entirely clear, given that Joseph had just prophesied that some would be latter-day martyrs, he may have learned or understood from his vision that he would be one of those who would “seal the testimony of Jesus with their blood.”[13]

5. Vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ in Heaven, numerous angels, and the kingdoms of glory

Type: Mind vision

Date: February 16, 1832

Location: John Johnson home, Hiram, Ohio

Occasion: Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were engaged in translating the book of John in the New Testament

Witnesses: Shared vision with Sidney Rigdon—others present felt the spiritual power during the manifestation

On February 16, 1832, while engaged in translating the book of John in the Bible, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon experienced a vision of the Father and the Son, now canonized as part of Doctrine and Covenants 76. Discussions of this revelatory vision often focus on the degrees of glory and their attendant qualifications and requirements. However, the climax of the text is the vivid and striking description of God the Father and Jesus Christ in all their glory, majesty, and power, surrounded by holy angels. The manifestation led Joseph and Sidney to write: “the Lord touched the eyes of our understanding and they were opened and the glory of the lord shone round about and we beheld the glory of the son on the right hand of the Father and received of his fulness and saw the holy Angels and they who are sanctified before his throne worshiping God and the lamb for ever and ever.” So powerful was the vision of what they both saw and heard that they chose to bear testimony of the Savior, declaring, “he lives for we saw him, even on the right hand of God & we heard the voice bearing reccord that he is the only begotten of the Father that by him and through him and of him the worlds are made and were created and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.”[14]

6. Vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ

Type: Visitation and mind vision

Date: March 18, 1833

Location: Newel K. Whitney store, northeast corner upstairs room, Kirtland, Ohio

Occasion: Meeting of the members attending the School of the Prophets

Witnesses: Shared vision with several elders who were present

On March 18, 1833, God the Father and Jesus Christ made brief appearances to several elders during a meeting of the School of the Prophets held in the northeast corner room on the second floor of the Newel K. Whitney store in Kirtland, Ohio.[15] On March 8, ten days earlier, Joseph Smith received a revelation appointing Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams to be ordained counselors to him in the presidency of the Church.[16] It was on this occasion (March 18), during a meeting with some twenty members of the school, that Rigdon and Williams expressed a desire to receive their ordinations so the presidency could be officially organized. Following their ordinations, the Prophet exhorted the members of the school to be faithful and diligent, promising them that “the pure in heart . . . should see a heavenly vision.” After being engaged in prayer for a short time “the promise was verified to many present, having the eyes of their understanding opened so as to behold many things,” wrote Frederick G. Williams. He continued, “Many of the brethren saw a heavenly vision of the Saviour and concourses of angels and many other things.”[17]

Two eyewitnesses later left a dramatic description of their experience on this occasion. The first comes from Zebedee Coltrin, who recounted his experience in the Salt Lake School of the Prophets fifty years later in 1883: “At one of these meetings after the organization of the school, . . . when we were all together, Joseph having given instructions, and while engaged in silent prayer, kneeling, with our hands uplifted each one praying in silence, no one whispered above his breath, a personage walked through the room from East to west, and Joseph asked if we saw him, I saw him and suppose the others did, and Joseph answered that is Jesus, the Son of God, our elder brother.”[18] Coltrin said that immediately following this visionary experience, another personage passed through the room “surrounded as with a flame of fire” whom Joseph identified as “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He continued, “I saw His hands, His legs, his feet, his eyes, nose, mouth, head and body in the shape and form of a perfect man. . . . His appearance was so grand and overwhelming that it seemed I should melt down in His presence, and the sensation was so powerful that it thrilled through my whole system and I felt it in the marrow of my bones.”[19] On another occasion, Coltrin stated that as the Father passed through the room, the “glory and brightness was so great . . . that had it continued much longer, I believe it would have consumed us.”[20] At the end of this vision, the Prophet told those present who were privileged to see the manifestation that “you have seen both the Father and the Son, and know that They exist and that They are two separate Personages.”[21]

The second testimony of this vision comes from John Murdock:

During the winter that I boarded with Bro. Joseph . . . we had a number of prayer meetings, in the Prophet’s Chamber. . . . In one of those meetings the Prophet told us if we could humble ourselves before God, and exercise strong faith, we should see the face of the Lord. And about midday the visions of my mind were opened, and the eyes of my understanding were enlightened, and I saw the form of a man, most lovely, the visage of his face was sound and fair as the sun. His hair a bright silver grey, curled in most majestic form, His eyes a keen penetrating blue, and the skin of his neck a most beautiful white and he was covered from the neck to the feet with a loose garment, pure white: Whiter than any garment I have ever before seen. His countenance was most penetrating, and yet most lovely; And while I was endeavoring to comprehend the whole personage from head to feet it slipped from me, and the vision was closed up. But it left on my mind the impression of love, for months, that I never before felt to that degree.[22]

7. Vision of Jesus Christ appearing to Adam and his posterity at Adam-ondi-Ahman

Type: Mind vision

Date: December 18, 1833

Location: Printing office, Kirtland, Ohio

Event: Blessing meeting of members of Joseph Smith’s family

Witnesses: Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Sr., Lucy Mack Smith, and other Smith family members

On December 18, 1833, in a private setting in Kirtland, Ohio, Joseph Smith pronounced spiritual blessings on several individuals, including Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Sr., Lucy Mack Smith, and his brothers Hyrum, Samuel, and William.[23] Sometime between September 15 and 28, 1835, Oliver Cowdery recorded an expanded version of the blessings given in 1833, noting they were “given by vision and the spirit of prophecy, on the 18th of December 1833, and written by my own hand at the time; and I know them to be cor[r]ect and according to the mind of the Lord.” Cowdery then described the blessing given by Joseph Smith upon his father in these words: “Thus spake the Seer, and these are the words which fell from his lips while the visions of the Almighty were open to his view.” Among the visions the Prophet saw while blessing Father Smith was the premortal Jehovah appearing at a council meeting of the ancient patriarchs Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, and all of Adam’s righteous posterity at Adam-ondi-Ahman, three years previous to Adam’s death. “The Lord appeared unto them,” the Prophet declared, and “administered comfort unto Adam.”[24] Significantly, the passage in Joseph Smith Sr.’s blessing about the premortal Jesus Christ appearing to Adam and his posterity is given almost verbatim in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants (3:28, or 107:53–57 in the current edition). In July 1839, during a meeting with the Twelve and the Seventy, Joseph Smith briefly recounted the vision again. “I saw Adam in the valley of Ah-dam ondi-ahman,” he said. “The Lord appeared in their midst. & he (Adam) blessed them all.”[25]

8. Three separate visions of God the Father and Jesus Christ: (1) God the Father and Jesus Christ in the celestial kingdom and the heirs of that kingdom; (2) Jesus Christ standing above the Twelve Apostles (then living) in foreign lands; and (3) members of the Twelve (then living) in the celestial kingdom with Jesus Christ and God the Father

Type: Mind vision

Date: January 21–22, 1836

Location: Kirtland House of the Lord, third-floor attic room, west end, Kirtland, Ohio

Event: Anointing meeting

Witnesses: Numerous individuals, perhaps thirty or more

On January 21, 1836, the sacred ordinances of washing with water and anointing with oil were administered by Joseph Smith for the first time. Around three o’clock in the afternoon, the Prophet met with several close associates in the second story of the printing office located west of the Kirtland House of the Lord, where they washed their bodies with “pure water,” after which they were “perfumed with a sweet smelling oderous wash.”[26] Later, in the early evening, the First Presidency, the Kirtland bishopric and high council, the Missouri presidency, bishopric, and high council, and other quorum leaders and officers assembled in the third-story of the yet-unfinished and undedicated House of the Lord where they were each ceremonially anointed with consecrated (holy) oil.[27]

During these sacred evening ceremonies, and in the presence of many others, Joseph Smith received a series of visions in succession. In the first of these he saw a futuristic vision of the celestial kingdom and “the bla[z]ing throne of God, whereon was seated the Father and the Son” and those who became heirs of that kingdom. Among that number were Adam (Michael) and Abraham, but also Joseph’s own father and mother (who were still alive) and his deceased brother, Alvin, who had died thirteen years earlier, before the gospel and priesthood had been restored. During this visionary manifestation, Joseph Smith learned that all those who have died without a knowledge of the gospel and who would have received it had they had the opportunity will be heirs of the celestial kingdom, as well as little children who die before the age of accountability.[28] It is this portion of the vision that has been canonized as Doctrine and Covenants 137.[29]

After that vision closed, another opened in which the Prophet observed William E. McLellin preaching in the South and Brigham Young preaching in a desert place. Joseph then saw the Twelve Apostles standing together in a foreign land. They were “much fatiegued,” he recorded. “Their clothes tattered and feet swolen, with their eyes cast downward, and Jesus standing in their midst, and they did not behold him, . . . the Saviour looked upon them and wept.” Finally, Joseph saw that the Twelve had success­fully accomplished their work on earth and had entered the celes­tial city, where the Savior embraced and kissed each one and then crowned them in the presence of God the Father. The Prophet also saw all of the Presidency in the celestial kingdom, including many others who were present on that occasion. The company retired at two o’clock in the morning.[30] Oliver Cowdery, reflecting on what he and the others had experienced that evening, wrote that the scenes were “too great to be described . . . therefore, I only say, that the heavens were opened to many, and great and marvelous things were shown.”[31] Heber C. Kimball wrote that this vision left such a powerful impression on the Prophet “that he never could refrain from weeping while rehearsing it.”[32]

9. God the Father and Jesus Christ

Type: Mind vision

Date: January 28, 1836

Location: Kirtland House of the Lord, third-floor attic room, Kirtland, Ohio

Event: Anointing meeting

Witnesses: Harrison Burgess, Roger Orton, Zebedee Coltrin, Hyrum Smith, William Smith, Sidney Rigdon, David W. Patten, and many others

On January 22, 1836, the day following the initial conferral of the holy anointing upon the leading elders of the Church, the First Presidency met to confer the same ordinance on Thomas B. Marsh, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Following his anointing, Marsh anointed and blessed the other members of the Twelve and Joseph Smith sealed those anointings. The Twelve then anointed the seven Presidents of the Seventy, as well as Don Carlos Smith, president of the Kirtland high priests quorum.[33]

Six days later, on January 28, the First Presidency met with the presidents of the Kirtland high priests and elders quorums and anointed them. They in turn anointed their respective quorum members.[34] Joseph Smith also met with the Twelve and instructed them to “seal the anointing” of the seven Presidents of the Seventy, which had taken place the week previous, and authorized them to anoint the other members of their quorum. It was on this occasion—the anointing of the members of the Quorum of Seventy—that several of those present experienced an outpouring of spiritual manifestations. Sylvester Smith saw a pillar of fire resting on the seven Presidents of Seventy while they were being set apart by the Twelve. William Smith (one of the Twelve and Joseph Smith’s brother) saw the heavens open and the Lord’s hosts (angels) protecting the Saints. Zebedee Coltrin received a divine manifestation of the Savior on the cross, and Roger Orton saw an “Angel riding upon a horse of fire with a flaming sword in hand.” The Prophet recorded that he too experienced a “glorious vision” but did not mention any specifics regarding what he saw.[35]

In 1879 Charles Lowell Walker, a resident of St. George, Utah, was present in a ward meeting when Harrison Burgess spoke. Burgess was present during the January 28, 1836, anointing meeting in the Kirtland House of the Lord and was an eyewitness to some of the spiritual manifestations that occurred on that occasion. Walker reported the following:

Br Harrison Burgess spoke of the first Endowments given in the Kirtland Temple and that all the quorums met at one time in the Attic; Joseph and Hyrum met with them. He said that all at once there was a Heavenly and Divine Atmosphere surrounded them, and it seemed as if the rafters and Beams were all gone and Joseph gazing up said, I See the Son of God sitting at the right hand of the Father. Hyrum at the same instant said, I behold the Angels of Heaven, and Roger Orton said, I see the Horses and Chariots of Heaven.[36]

Although Walker indicated that Burgess said Joseph Smith saw both God the Father and Jesus Christ, Burgess’s personal autobiographical memoir published in 1884 (a year after he died) mentions that the only heavenly personage seen by the Prophet was the Savior:

I will here relate a vision which was shown to me. It was near the close of the endowments. I was in a meeting for instruction in the upper part of the [Kirtland] Temple, with about a hundred of the High Priests, Seventies and Elders. . . . The Spirit of God rested upon me in mighty power and I beheld the room lighted up with a peculiar light such as I had never seen before. It was soft and clear and the room looked to me as though it had neither roof nor floor to the building and I beheld the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum Smith and Roger Orton enveloped in the light: Joseph exclaimed aloud, “I behold the Savior, the Son of God.” Hyrum said, “I behold the angels of heaven.” Brother Orton exclaimed, “I behold the chariots of Israel.” All who were in the room felt the power of God to that degree that many prophesied, and the power of God was made manifest, the remembrance of which will remain with me while I live upon the earth.[37]

10. Jesus Christ, not glorified (possibly)

Type: Visitation

Date: March 27, 1836

Location: Kirtland Temple, main hall, west pulpits, Kirtland, Ohio

Event: Kirtland Temple dedication

Witnesses: Frederick G. Williams, Stephen Post, Edward Partridge, Newel and Lydia Knight

The events associated with the dedication of the Kirtland House of the Lord on March 27, 1836, marked one of the most important days in the history of the Church up until that time. The services, which lasted some seven hours (nine o’clock in the morning to four o’clock in the afternoon, with a twenty-minute intermission), included prayers, scripture readings, addresses by Church leaders, the singing of hymns by both the choir and congregation, the sustaining Church officers, testimonies, the administration of the sacrament, the reading of the dedicatory prayer (Doctrine and Covenants 109), the exuberant and sacred “Hosanna Shout,” and spiritual manifestations.[38]

The dedication was also attended by the presence of heavenly beings. As the meeting was coming to a close, Joseph Smith bore testimony to the congregation “of the administration of angels” during the services.[39] Following the Prophet’s brief remarks, Frederick G. Williams, second counselor in the presidency, also bore testimony of the presence of heavenly personages and said that when Sidney Rigdon was giving the prayer at the opening of the services, “an angel entered the window and took his [seat] between father Smith [Joseph Smith Sr.] and himself, and remained their during the prayer.”[40] Stephen Post was in attendance and wrote a strikingly similar account in his journal on the day of the dedication.[41] Edward Partridge also noted in a journal entry under the date of March 27 that the angelic ministrant was none other than Jesus Christ.[42] Partridge’s statement is confirmed by Newel Knight. In a journal entry under the same date, Knight also said that Joseph Smith identified the personage as Christ, adding, “This was to me a Satisfaction to [know] that the Lord did come in to the house we had labored so diligently to build unto his mame [name] & that he had accepted it of his Saints.”[43] Lydia Knight, wife of Newel Knight, added that Williams gave a description of the personage’s appearance and clothing, after which the Prophet remarked that “the personage was Jesus, as the dress described was that of our Savior, it being in some respects different to the clothing of the angels.”[44] While Frederick G. Williams was privileged to be the primary recipient and eyewitness of the Savior’s divine presence during the temple dedication (although not in a glorified state), it is possible that Joseph Smith also experienced a somewhat similar spiritual manifestation of Christ’s appearance on that occasion.[45]

Interestingly, during a solemn assembly held in the temple on March 30, three days after the dedication, Joseph Smith and the Church’s senior leadership met to wash the feet of the members of the various priesthood quorums. After having spent the entire previous night and the entire day in the temple, at nine o’clock at night the Prophet retired and returned home, leaving the Twelve to conduct additional worship activities. After he left, those present enjoyed another rich spiritual outpouring. “The Saviour made his appearance to some, while angels minestered unto others, and it was a penticost enduement [endowment] indeed.”[46]

11. Visitation of Jesus Christ, in addition to Moses, Elias, and Elijah

Type: Visitation

Date: April 3, 1836

Location: Kirtland Temple, main floor, west pulpits, Kirtland, Ohio

Event: Sabbath meeting (Easter)

Witness: Shared vision with Oliver Cowdery

On the afternoon of Easter Sunday, April 3, 1836, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery had a dramatic multivision experience in which Jesus Christ, Moses, Elias (whose ancient identity is not precisely known), and Elijah appeared, each of whom was a resurrected being. The manifestations took place during or at the conclusion of an afternoon worship service in the recently dedicated temple when Smith and Cowdery retired to the Melchizedek Priesthood pulpits at the east end of the temple, lowered the curtains (they were called veils), and engaged in “solemn” prayer.[47] Significantly, in the dedicatory prayer given the week previous, the Prophet had prayed that the “Son of Man might have a place to manifest himself to his people.”[48] Furthermore, as early as 1831, Joseph Smith and other Church leaders were promised, “[I]n as much as ye strip yourselves from Jealousies & fears & humble yourselves before me . . . you shall see me & know that I am not with the carnal neither natural [mind] but with the spiritual.”[49] Although the Prophet had experienced other visionary manifestations of the Savior, the personal appearance of the resurrected Lord on this occasion, in all his celestial brilliance and power, was in many ways similar to what Joseph had experienced when both the Father and the Son appeared to him in 1820. “The vail was taken from their minds and the eyes of their understandings were opened,” Warren Cowdery, the scribe for the document, wrote. “They saw the Lord standing upon the breast work of the pulpit bFefore them. and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber: his eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was like the pure snow, his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun, and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters.” The resurrected Lord testified of his divine mission, forgave them of their sins, and admonished them to rejoice, promising that “the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice.”[50] Following this vision, Moses, Elias, and Elijah appeared in succession, each of whom authorized Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to exercise the priesthood keys these earlier prophets held in mortality. This multivisionary experience was one of the greatest heavenly communications ever experienced by mortal individuals.

Conclusion

There are no known additional accounts of any subsequent visions or visitations of the Savior or God the Father to Joseph Smith after April 1836. However, that does not mean no others occurred. After all, in April 1843, the Prophet was reported to have said that visions “continued to roll like an overflowing surge” in his mind.[51] Such a statement suggests he continued to receive visionary manifestations from time to time. He may simply have not recorded them. The same could probably be said of Adam, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Moses, and all the prophets of Israel, as well as the mighty prophets in the Book of Mormon and Jesus’s apostles. There is so much that we do not know simply because they did not record all that was revealed to them.

Like the visionary experiences of prophets of past dispensations, Joseph Smith’s visions of Jesus Christ are a witness of the Savior’s divine nature and his atoning sacrifice and Resurrection. But Joseph also saw and communed personally with God the Father. Thus, this prophet, seer, revelator, and translator may very well hold the distinction of being the ultimate visionary and revealer of the glory, power, and nature of the two Supreme Rulers of the universe.

Notes

[1] Alexander L. Baugh, “Seventy-Six Accounts of Joseph Smith’s Visionary Experiences,” in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844, 2nd ed. John W. Welch (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2017), 281–350.

[2] Willard Chase, in Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed: or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion; From Its Rise To the Present Time (Painesville, OH: by the author, 1834), 241–42.

[3] Although the introductory headings to Doctrine and Covenants sections 6, 7, 11, 14 , and 17 are the only headings that specifically indicate the revelations were received by means of “the Urim and Thummim,” the likelihood exists that a number of other early revelations may have also been received by means of the Nephite interpreters or the seer stone (i.e., Doctrine and Covenants sections 4–5, 8–10, 12, 15–16, 18–19, and possibly others).

[4] Regarding the translation process, Emma Smith reported, “Now the first that my husband translated, was translated by the use of the Urim and Thummim [the Nephite interpreters, or “spectacles”], and that was the part that Martin Harris lost, after that he used a small stone, not exactly black, but rather dark in color.” Emma Hale Smith Bidamon to Emma Pilgrim, March 27, 1870, Community of Christ Library-Archives, Independence, MO.

[5] Doctrine and Covenants 6:36–37 (emphasis added), as cited in Michael Hubbard MacKay, Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, Grant Underwood, Robert J. Woodford, and William G. Hartley, eds., Documents Volume 1: July 1828–June 1831, vol. 1 of the Document series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Dean C. Jessee (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2013), 37; hereafter JSP, D1.

[6] Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (New York: S. Converse, 1828), s.v. “behold.”

[7] Joseph Smith Sr. had traveled to Kirtland ahead of the rest of the Smith family in company with Joseph, Emma, Sidney Rigdon, and Joseph and Polly Knight, where they arrived around the first of February. JSP, D1:240. See also Dean C. Jessee, “Joseph Knight’s Recollection of Early Mormon History,” BYU Studies 17, no. 1 (Autumn 1976): 39. Lucy Mack and the rest of the extended Smith family were part of the Fayette branch, which arrived around May 11–12, 1831. See also Larry C. Porter, “‘Ye Shall Go to the Ohio’: Exodus of the New York Saints to Ohio, 1831,” in Milton V. Backman Jr., ed., Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: Ohio (Provo, UT: Department of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, 1990), 13–18.

[8] Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner (Smith), remarks, Brigham Young University, April 14, 1905, typescript, 1–2, MS 833, Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (hereafter CHL). For a similar account see Mary E. Rollins Lightner, “Joseph Smith, the Prophet,” Young Woman’s Journal 16, no. 12 (December 1905): 556–57.

[9] John Whitmer, History, 1831–circa 1847, in Karen Lynn Davidson, Richard L. Jensen, and David J. Whittaker, eds., Histories, Volume 2: Assigned Historical Writings, 1831–1847, vol. 2 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2012), 39–40; hereafter JSP, H2.

[10] Levi Ward Hancock, journal, typescript, 33, M270.1 H234h no. 2, CHL.

[11] JSP, H2:40.

[12] Hancock, journal, 33.

[13] JSP, H2:40.

[14] Doctrine and Covenants 76:19–24, in Matthew C. Godfrey, Mark Ashurst-McGee, Grant Underwood, Robert J. Woodford, and William G. Hartley, eds., Documents, Volume 2: July 1831–January 1833, vol. 2 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, Richard Lyman Bushman, and Matthew J. Grow (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2013), 186.

Philo Dibble was present during part of Joseph and Sidney’s visionary revelation. He later wrote that “Joseph wore black clothes, but at this time seemed to be dressed in an element of glorious white, and his face shone as if it were transparent.” Dibble also observed Smith and Rigdon’s discussion while they were enwrapped in the heavenly vision: “Joseph would, at intervals, say: ‘What do I see?’ as one might say while looking out the window and beholding what all in the room could not see. Then he would relate what he had seen or what he was looking at. Then Sidney replied, ‘I see the same.’ Presently Sidney would say ‘what do I see?’ and would repeat what he had seen or was seeing, and Joseph would reply, ‘I see the same.’” During the vision Dibble noted that “Joseph sat firmly and calmly all the time in the midst of a magnificent glory,” while Rigdon “sat limp and pale, apparently as limber as a rag.” When Dibble asked the Prophet the reason for Rigdon’s flaccid appearance, he mirthfully said, “Sidney is not used to it as I am.” Philo Dibble, “Philo Dibble’s Narrative,” Early Scenes in Church History: Eighth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1882), 81. Reprinted in part 4 of Four Faith-Promoting Classics (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968), 81.

[15] Joseph Smith History, 1838–1856, vol. A–1, March 18, 1833, 281, CHL.

[16] Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, Brent M. Rogers, Grant Underwood, Robert J. Woodford, and William G. Hartley, eds., Documents, Volume 3: February 1833–March 1834, vol. 3 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Ronald K. Esplin and Matthew J. Grow (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2014), 25–26.

[17] Kirtland High Council minutebook,

March 18, 1833, 17, MS 3432, CHL. The entry is in the handwriting of Frederick G. Williams. Also published in Kirtland Council Minute Book, ed. Fred C. Collier and William S. Harwell (Salt Lake City: Collier’s, 1996), 11.

[18] Zebedee Coltrin, remarks, Salt Lake City School of the Prophets, minutes, October 3, 1883, 59, CR 390 5, folder 1, CHL. In another meeting of the Salt Lake School of the Prophets held on October 11, 1883, Coltrin gave some additional details regarding the appearance of the Savior and indicated that “Jesus was clothed in modern clothing, apparently of gray cloth.” Zebedee Coltrin, remarks, Salt Lake City School of the Prophets, minutes, October 11, 1883, 69, CR 390 5, folder 1, CHL.

[19] Coltrin, remarks, October 3, 1883, 59.

[20] Zebedee Coltrin, in Utah Stake Minutes, Spanish Fork High Priests, February 5, 1870, CHL.

[21] Coltrin, Remarks, October 3, 1883, 60.

[22] John Murdock, journal and autobiography, circa 1830–1867, 26, MS 1194, folder 4, CHL.

[23] Besides Joseph Smith Sr., blessings were pronounced upon Lucy Mack Smith and Joseph Smith’s brothers Hyrum, Samuel, and William. See Dean C. Jessee, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen, eds., Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839, vol. 1 of the Journal series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2008), 21–24; hereafter JSP, J1.

[24] “Blessing to Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith between circa 15 and 28 September 1835,” in Matthew C. Godfrey, Brenden W. Rensink, Alex D. Smith, Max H. Parkin, and Alexander L. Baugh, eds., Documents, Volume 4: April 1834–September 1835, vol. 4 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, and Matthew C. Godfrey (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016), 488. See also Alexander L. Baugh, “The History and Doctrine of the Adam-ondi-Ahman Revelation (D&C 116),” in Foundations of the Restoration: Fulfillment of the Covenant Purposes, ed. Craig James Ostler, Michael Hubbard MacKay, and Barbara Morgan Gardner (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2016), 165–69.

[25] Joseph Smith, discourse, circa June 26–August 4, 1839, in Willard Richards Pocket Companion, 65–66, MS 1490, CHL; also in Mark Ashurst-McGee, David W. Grua, Eizabeth Kuehn, Alexander L. Baugh, and Brenden W. Rensink, eds., Documents, Volume 6: February 1838–August 1839, vol. 6 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, and Matthew C. Godfrey (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2017), 544.

[26] Oliver Cowdery, diary, January 21, 1836, 7, MS 3429, CHL; in Leonard J. Arrington, “Oliver Cowdery’s Kirtland, Ohio, ‘Sketch Book,’” BYU Studies 12, no. 4 (Summer 1972): 418–19; also in Joseph Smith, Journal, 1835–1836, in JSP, J1:166–67. The “oderous wash” Cowdery described was likely perfumed alcohol (whiskey). Note the following from the journal of George Burket on the occasion when he was washed and anointed: “April 12, on this day at candle lite I received the washing the first time with sope and water and on the 13th received the washing with salt and water and whiskey and with perfume” (George Burket, journal, 75–76, MS 10340, CHL; emphasis added). This is consistent with the injunction given in the Word of Wisdom revelation that “strong drinks are not for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies” (Doctrine and Covenants 89:7; emphasis added).

[27] JSP, J1:167–68; see also Edward Partridge, diary, January 21, 1836, 36–38, MS 892, CHL.

[28] JSP, J1:167–68.

[29] The portion of the vision described was canonized and added to the Pearl of Great Price during the April 1976 general conference. In 1979 it was transferred to the Doctrine and Covenants and published as section 137. See Kenneth W. Baldridge, “Pearl of Great Price: Contents and Publication,” in Latter-day Saint Essentials: Readings from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. John W. Welch and Devan Jensen (Provo, UT: BYU Studies and the Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2002), 70–71.

[30] JSP, J1:168, 170–71.

[31] Cowdery, diary, 7.

[32] Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1974), 93–94.

[33] JSP, J1:171.

[34] JSP, J1:174; see Lyndon W. Cook and Milton V. Backman Jr., eds., Kirtland Elders’ Quorum Record, 1836–1841 (Provo, UT: Grandin Book, 1985), 4.

[35] JSP, J1:174–75. After returning home from the meeting that evening, the Prophet recorded, “I retired to my home filled with the spirit . . . & while my eyes were closed in sleep the visions of the Lord were sweet unto me & his glory was round about me.” JSP, J1:175.

[36] Charles L. Walker, The Diary of Charles Lowell Walker, 2 vols., ed. A. Karl Larson and Katherine Miles Larson (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1980), 1:483; emphasis added.

[37] Harrison Burgess, “Sketch of a Well-Spent Life,” in Labors in the Vineyard: Twelfth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1884), 67; emphasis added.

[38] For the two most complete accounts of the Kirtland Temple dedication see JSP, J1:200–211, and Oliver Cowdery, letter, March 27, 1836, in Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate 2, no. 6 (March 1836): 274–81. Two spiritual manifestations accompanying the dedication are worth noting. In order to maintain reverence, members had been informed that no small children would be permitted. However, one woman, unaware of the rule, came to the meeting with her two-month-old baby and was denied entrance. Determined, she promised the doorkeepers that her infant would not make a fuss, and she was permitted to enter. The child never cried or made a disturbance during the entire service. However, following the dedicatory prayer, when the Prophet led the entire assembly in the hosanna shout and the congregation shouted “hosanna” three times, the baby shouted three times as well, and when the audience paused, it paused. When the audience shouted “amen” three times, the infant also shouted three times. At the end of the entire shout, the baby resumed nursing without causing any disruption (see Benjamin Brown, letter to dear wife [Sarah M. Brown], circa 1836 April, 3, MS 17646, CHL; published in Steven C. Harper, “Pentecost Continued: A Contemporaneous Account of the Kirtland Temple Dedication,” BYU Studies 42, no. 2 [2003]: 19; also in Steven C. Harper, “‘A Pentecost and Endowment Indeed’: Six Eyewitness Accounts of the Kirtland Temple Experience,” in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844, ed. John W. Welch, 2nd ed. [Provo, UT: BYU Press; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2017], 262–63). During the services Apostles Brigham Young and David W. Patten both sang a “song of Zion” in tongues and gave short addresses exercising the gift of tongues as well, which Patten interpreted for the congregation (see Stephen Post, journal, March 28, 1836, 17, MS 1304, Stephen Post papers, CHL; published in Harper, “‘Pentecost and Endowment Indeed,’” 378). Post added the information about Young and Patten both singing and speaking in tongues in a journal entry the day after the dedication. Oliver Cowdery mentions Young and Patten speaking in tongues but not singing in tongues (see Cowdery, letter, 281).

[39] JSP, J1:210.

[40] JSP, J1:211 (transcription symbols omitted); also in JSP, D5:209. A strikingly similar account appears in Post, journal, March 27, 1836, 15–16, also in Harper, “‘Pentecost and Endowment Indeed,’” 377. A few days after the dedication, W. W. Phelps made reference to the same personage in a letter to his wife Sally in Missouri. See W. W. Phelps to Sally Phelps, April 1–6, 1836, 1, William Wines Phelps papers, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.

[41] See Post, journal, March 27, 1836, 15–16, also in Harper, “‘Pentecost and Endowment Indeed,’”377.

[42] Partridge, diary, March 27, 1836, 41; also in Harper, “‘Pentecost and Endowment Indeed,’” 373.

[43] Michael Hubbard MacKay and William G. Hartley, eds., The Rise of the Latter-day Saints: The Journals and Histories of Newel Knight (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2019), 89.

[44] Susa Young Gates, Lydia Knight’s History: The First Book of the Noble Women’s Lives Series (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1883), 33. Speaking in 1864, George A. Smith remarked that Frederick G. Williams “bore testimony that the Savior, dressed in his vesture without seam, came into the stand and accepted of the dedication of the house” (George A. Smith, in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854–86], 11:10 [November 15, 1864]). Heber C. Kimball described the personage as being “a very tall personage, black eyes, white hair, and stoop shouldered, his garment was white, extending to near his ankles, on his feet he had sandals” (Heber C. Kimball, journal, in Helen Mar Whitney, “Life Incidents,” Woman’s Exponent, February 1, 1881, 130; also in Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, 103). In an autobiographical account about the dedication, written nearly fifty years after it occurred, Truman O. Angell recalled that Joseph Smith identified the heavenly messenger as Peter: “When the afternoon meeting assembled Joseph feeling very much elated, arose the first thing and said the Personage who had appeared in the morning was the Angel Peter come to accept the dedication” (Truman O. Angell Sr., autobiography, 1884, typescript, 5, MS 5688, CHL; see Truman O. Angell Sr., “His Journal,” in Our Pioneer Heritage, comp. Kate B. Carter, 20 vols. [Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1967], 10:198). An editorial note by the editors of Journals, Volume 1 of The Joseph Smith Papers suggests that Partridge conflated “Williams’s vision of an angel with the vision of Jesus Christ shared by JS and Oliver Cowdery a week later” (see JSP, J1:211n439). However, in an excellent historiographical examination of Williams’s account of the visit of the heavenly ministrant, BYU emeritus professor Frederick G. Williams—a descendant of Frederick G. Williams (1787–1842)—argues convincingly that it was the Savior, not Peter, who appeared during the dedicatory services (see Frederick G. Williams, “‘An Angel or Rather the Savior’ at the Kirtland Temple Dedication: The Vision of Frederick G. Williams,” BYU Studies 56, no. 1 [2017]: 119–34). In an article I published in 1999, I indicated the angel was Peter (see Alexander L. Baugh, “Parting the Veil: The Visions of Joseph Smith,” BYU Studies 38, no. 1 [1999]: 40–41, reprinted in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844, ed. John W. Welch [Provo: BYU Press, 2005], 286). However, in the second edition of Opening the Heavens (2017), I changed my position to acknowledge that the visitor was more than likely the Savior (p. 307).

[45] Later on the evening of March 27, over three hundred men attended another meeting in the temple where they received instruction by Joseph Smith in the ordinance of washing of feet, which they were informed would take place four days later on Wednesday, March 30 (see JSP, J1:211). Following this instruction, the Prophet invited those present to speak and admonished them to exercise the gift of prophecy, which they did, young eighteen-year-old George A. Smith being the first (see Joseph Smith History, 1838–1856, vol. B–1 addenda, note J, 3–4). As the young man spoke, Oliver Cowdery wrote, “the glory of God, like a great cloud . . . rest[ed] upon the house, and fill[ed] the same like a mighty rushing wind.” He continued: “I also saw cloven tongues, like as of fire rest upon many . . . while they spake with other tongues and prophesied” (see Cowdery, diary, March, 1836, 21–22; also in Arrington, “Oliver Cowdery’s Kirtland, Ohio, ‘Sketch Book,’” 426). Stephen Post provided a similar testimony: “Cloven tongues like unto fire rested upon those who spake in tongues . . . [and] when they ceased to speak the tongues ascended.” He also noted that “angels were in our midst, & appeared unto many” (see Post, journal, March 28, 1836, 18). Some present also saw glorious visions (see JSP, J1:211). The transcendent glory associated with the spiritual manifestations that took place did not go unnoticed by those who were not present. Benjamin Brown reported that the west end of the temple was illuminated by a light that was seen by people on the outside of the building. Speaking of both the dedication and the evening service, Brown said the events of the day were “even greater than at the day of Penti[cost]” (see Benjamin Brown, letter to dear wife; also in Harper, “Pentecost Continued,” 21; and Harper, “‘Pentecost and Endowment Indeed,’” 363). Nothing in the historical record directly indicates that Joseph Smith experienced a manifestation of Deity of some type during the events of the evening, or any other type of visionary experience or encounter at that time, but given that many who were present did, it is certainly possible.

[46] JSP, J1:215–16.

[47] JSP, J1:219; see “Historical Introduction,” JSP, D5:225.

[48] JSP, D5:199; see JSP, J1:205 (Doctrine and Covenants 109:5).

[49] JSP, D2:109–10 (Doctrine and Covenants 67:10).

[50] Joseph Smith, Journal, 1835–1836, in JSP, J1:191–92, 219–20; see Doctrine and Covenants 110:1–9.

[51] Joseph Smith History, 1838–1856, vol. D–1, April 16, 1843, 1534, CHL.