Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 124, quite possibly the longest chapter among all our scriptures at 145 verses. This section is the Lord setting the affairs of the church in order. It contains commandments to the Saints, everything from directions to build a temple so that they may perform baptisms for the dead, to building a house for travelers called the Nauvoo house, to setting up the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve.
The first major chunk of the section is on the ordinance of baptism for the dead. As all Saints know, in order to enter into the Kingdom of God, you have to be baptized by the proper authority. Now, this of course presents a problem as there are almost 2000 years where there was no proper authority among the inhabitants of the earth, not openly at least. So, there are millions and billions of people that never even had a chance to be baptized while in the flesh, effectively damning them and keeping them out of God's presence. This is why baptism for the dead is so essential. But all things are done unto the Lord in His way and we cannot just perform these ordinances anywhere we like. They must be done in the Lord's house, or the temple. The Lord during this time, in this section did authorize them to do baptisms for the dead outside of the temple for a certain period of time because the temple was not built yet, but it was only for a certain period of time.
The second chunk of the section was to some of the brethren directly and included commands to serve missions. The missionary efforts were still going on at this point and the brethren of the church were being called upon at a moments notice to go and preach the Gospel to the four corners of the earth. Their families were cared for by the church and they would go forth to do the will of the Lord with little to no preparation.
The third chunk was about about the building up of the city of Nauvoo. They were mainly focused on the Nauvoo house itself and the Lord authorized them to sell stocks in the house. The Nauvoo house was to be a place for both strangers and Saints alike. The Lord told them that Joseph and Emma would reside there and that it would be a place to entertain guests and those who came to see the marvels of Nauvoo.
The last part of the section was a reorganizing of the officers of the church. In some cases it was not a full reorganization but rather a naming of the officers and the positions that they held. Hyrum Smith was called to replace his father, who had passed away, as Patriarch of the church. William Law was called as a counselor in the First Presidency to replace Frederick G. Williams. The Twelve Apostles were also named as was the High Counsel of the church.
No one thing stood out to me in this section other than the marvel that the Lord was truly concerned with the welfare of His people and is very concerned with the way things are done in Zion. There is an order to all things and He desires it to be done that way. It is a comfort to know that He is still the head of our church and He still guides and directs us in all things though His current prophet, Thomas S. Monson. There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord is still in charge. Each General Conference when the prophet announces new temples, it is clear to me that the Lord has whispered to him where they are to be built and ways are opened for the building of those temples. The Lord guides and directs this work. Of that I am certain. Until tomorrow.
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