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Feel free to comment on what I write. This commentary is my opinion as to what the words mean. This commentary is in no way a full analysis of this scripture.

A Commentary on D and C section 121

Given March 1839

1 O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?

This type of statement concerns God and how He allows the mistakes of men to fester. Those who are believe they are faithful cry out to God for Him to correct the error of man. But God is slow to anger and will let time pass allowing man to correct his own path and return to the ways of God. God will intervene in His good time and when He feels the course has been going too long in the wrong direction and needs to be turned back.

2 How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?

Just who is “thy people” and what wrongs are being done to them? It is normal in scripture for people to cry out when they are oppressed. But God would have prevented the oppression if the people had cried to the lord and been truly His. Those who are indeed righteous and focused on the Lord will be spared. Those who do not have the Lord in their heart will be crushed until the work is done and they turn back to the Lord.

Let us look at Exe 14 and see how God deals with people crushed in judgment.

Eze 14
12 The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,
13 Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:
14 Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.
15 If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:
16 Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.

God will protect those who are righteous. But those who have not followed His words and not followed His commandments are not His righteous people. They are instead people in need of correction. Just who is Joseph speaking for in these verses? It is the people who are being crushed by the world. But it is God who uses the world to bring His people back to Him. This was all done many times in the Old Testament why would anyone think God is now different. He stays the same and in many ways so do we. We drift from Him and ignore His commandments. This has repeated for thousands of years. What happened in the 1800’s is no different than 600 BC. Are these people who are crying out the same ones who failed to establish Zion? Are they the same ones who failed to build His Temple? He promised protection if they built Zion but in their failure they lost the protection of God.

The commandment to build a Temple on the Temple lot was given in 1832 (D and C 84). Then New Jerusalem was to be built. What we read here is a consequence of their failure. The rest of this section must be read with this in view.

3 Yea, O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward them?

This is admitting that God was not happy with “thy people”

4 O Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven, earth, and seas, and of all things that in them are, and who controllest and subjectest the devil, and the dark and benighted dominion of Sheol—stretch forth thy hand; let thine eye pierce; let thy pavilion be taken up; let thy hiding place no longer be covered; let thine ear be inclined; let thine heart be softened, and thy bowels moved with compassion toward us.

The statement that God controls the devil is a topic all of itself. Let me just say here that the world and those ruled by unrighteousness act as the tools of God. The Old Testament is filled with God using the unrighteous to bring judgment on “thy people”. I wish more people read and studied the Old Testament. It brings everything together in the histories.

5 Let thine anger be kindled against our enemies; and, in the fury of thine heart, with thy sword avenge us of our wrongs.
6 Remember thy suffering saints, O our God; and thy servants will rejoice in thy name forever.

Joseph was asking God to turn away the enemies for “thy servants”. Was this just for those in jail or was he asking for the church which was under attack by the world. He clearly was asking for the church when he said “remember thy suffering saints” as separate from “thy servants”.

7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

Now it turns from Joseph speaking to the words of God. It is interesting that Joseph is called “My son”. Here God is bringing comfort to Joseph telling him that soon he shall be free from his adversary. Is this speaking of this event in jail or the bigger picture I can not tell.

8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

This seems to me to be more big picture. Saying that in time you will obtain that which you wish to obtain. To triumph to me means to become a spirit filled creature. To overcome the world. To break the bonds of death. It does not mean Joseph will conquer his enemies in some temporal way.

9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.
10 Thou art not yet as Job; thy friends do not contend against thee, neither charge thee with transgression, as they did Job.

Verse 10 is a key of knowledge that allows us to see many things. I will just ask questions. To obtain the righteousness of Job does it require that your friends contend against thee? Who were the friends that God is talking about? Were they the Free Masons? Was Joseph to obtain the righteousness of Job because God said “yet”?

I believe that when scripture speaks about "famine", that this is not only speaking about food and water for our physical body. It also speaks of spiritual famine; when the heavens close to new light and truth, and we get caught inside of the keeping of law instead.

“President Joseph Smith read the 14th chapter of Ezekiel–said the Lord had declared by the Prophet, that the people should each one stand for himself, and depend on no man or men in that state of corruption of the Jewish church–that righteous persons could only deliver their own souls–applied it to the present state of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–said if the people departed from the Lord, they must fall–that they were depending on the Prophet, hence were darkened in their minds…”
TPJS p.237

Commentary on D and C section 121

11 And they who do charge thee with transgression, their hope shall be blasted, and their prospects shall melt away as the hoar frost melteth before the burning rays of the rising sun;
12 And also that God hath set his hand and seal to change the times and seasons, and to blind their minds, that they may not understand his marvelous workings; that he may prove them also and take them in their own craftiness;

Oh boy, I will not go into this deeply because of the blowback I will receive. Let us just say that blindness given by God is an act of mercy. Because what happens after the blindness is instilled is not imputed to that person. To obtain the true meaning of this one would have to go back and really study all those who received blindness. The surface of these verses state that the people who worked against Joseph would receive some form of intervention from God.

13 Also because their hearts are corrupted, and the things which they are willing to bring upon others, and love to have others suffer, may come upon themselves to the very uttermost;
14 That they may be disappointed also, and their hopes may be cut off;
15 And not many years hence, that they and their posterity shall be swept from under heaven, saith God, that not one of them is left to stand by the wall.

Those of the world really think they are doing well when in fact God is against them. Once you embrace the temporal world against the message of God as delivered by His servants you fall completely. So great care should be used when declaring anyone a transgressor. It seems to me that blindness was imparted to some because of their errors. In a similar way blindness was given to the Jews who did not accept Christ at His first coming. These patterns keep repeating and we can obtain a lot of information from prior acts of blindness. Again spiritual blindness is an act of mercy.

16 Cursed are all those that shall lift up the heel against mine anointed, saith the Lord, and cry they have sinned when they have not sinned before me, saith the Lord, but have done that which was meet in mine eyes, and which I commanded them.
17 But those who cry transgression do it because they are the servants of sin, and are the children of disobedience themselves.

All of this is the result of people not going to God for guidance. They instead went to men for guidance. The Holy Spirit is of God and is our reference. We even use it to check prophets. This lesson is for all of us. If we jump to conclusions like these people did then we run the risk of kicking against God. Saul kicked against God as well when he chased down those who believed in Christ. But in his case his faith in God was strong but misdirected. Paul / Saul was also under the prior blindness declared by Jesus on the Jews. So Paul’s error was not imputed to him because of blindness but his faith was counted for righteousness. That is why Paul received his Damascus moment. The people who lifted up their heel to Joseph Smith were not in spiritual blindness when they started to go against Joseph. So in that sense they are vastly different than Paul.

18 And those who swear falsely against my servants, that they might bring them into bondage and death—
19 Wo unto them; because they have offended my little ones they shall be severed from the ordinances of mine house.
20 Their basket shall not be full, their houses and their barns shall perish, and they themselves shall be despised by those that flattered them.
21 They shall not have right to the priesthood, nor their posterity after them from generation to generation.
22 It had been better for them that a millstone had been hanged about their necks, and they drowned in the depth of the sea.
23 Wo unto all those that discomfort my people, and drive, and murder, and testify against them, saith the Lord of Hosts; a generation of vipers shall not escape the damnation of hell.

I will spend some time here because many view this as those guys and don’t apply the lesson to themselves. They think that they can do no wrong. That they know the truth. But these men who fought against Joseph thought they were on the side of God. Their error was in believing other men who told them what God desired of them. This was a fight just like the Jews against the early Christians. Both groups thought they were doing God’s work. But one group followed truth and one group followed men. These men assumed that their leaders spoke for God. These men were not spiritual because had they been spiritual they would have known that Joseph was a prophet of God.

All men must stand on their own with God. All men must sort out truth from error using the spiritual tools provided by God. When man leans on other men and assumes that those leaders speak for God then huge errors can occur. In fact men can think they are working for God when in fact they are working for Satan. Those who embrace the world do err and they teach their children the way of the world as well. Those who do teach the world are condemned to the world. They can not leave. As they have judged another to bondage and death then that judgment falls on them. They experience bondage to the flesh and death from one probation to the next.

God is not happy with those who use His name to condemn the righteous. So it is our personal responsibility to form that communication path with God directly and check all men that declare themselves messengers of God. God will not forgive those who are not blinded if they follow men instead of the Spirit of God.

Commentary on D and C section 121

24 Behold, mine eyes see and know all their works, and I have in reserve a swift judgment in the season thereof, for them all;
25 For there is a time appointed for every man, according as his works shall be.

God continues to declare judgment for those who do not follow His voice. We must be certain that we follow the voice of God and not of men. In Romans it states that we are without excuse in failing to see God in the creation. In these verses we see that we are without excuse in failing to hear the voice of God. If we instead listen to the voice of man then we will receive the righteous judgment of God.

Since God blinded these men who acted against the church there must be more to the story. God does not instill blindness in random ways. I will suggest that some or all of the events around the church after this time was due to righteous judgment of God. The men who were spiritually blinded that threw out the church from the State did not have that sin imputed to them. I will not dwell on this point but we should each one of us ponder what this means.

Blindness is something we can instill on ourselves. We can choose to believe what feels good to us. We can follow blindly other men who tickle our ears with great flatteries. It is our responsibility and no one else how we run our life. We can not in the day of judgment point to another and say I did what they said to do and have that counted for righteousness. We can not stand before God and point to a prophet and tell Him we followed the prophet. He will say He never knew us. We must have the relationship with God directly. If we seek God and find out that what a prophet said came from God then by following the prophet is following God and is righteous. But if we assume the prophet speaks for God and we do not seek God then following or not is not righteous. Saul had his faith counted for righteousness even though it was against God’s plan. It is the seeking of God and not man that changes the way God views what we do. A righteous man is very different than one counted for righteousness. A man counted for righteousness may avoid punishment but a righteous man listens to God.

26 God shall give unto you knowledge by his Holy Spirit, yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, that has not been revealed since the world was until now;
27 Which our forefathers have awaited with anxious expectation to be revealed in the last times, which their minds were pointed to by the angels, as held in reserve for the fulness of their glory;
28 A time to come in the which nothing shall be withheld, whether there be one God or many gods, they shall be manifest.
29 All thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, shall be revealed and set forth upon all who have endured valiantly for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It seems that Joseph received many truths that were held back until these last days. But he did not give all that he knew out as doctrine. The laity had to demonstrate that they were ready. But they demonstrated they were not ready. But verse 28 tells us that in time all will be revealed. And to make sure we don’t mistake this event it talks of God or many gods will manifest. In verse 29 it says that this will happen to all who have endured valiantly so this is not just Joseph Smith who will have the fullness given to them. In my opinion verse 28 applies to those who have endured as well.