I missed church yesterday because my family has the dreaded cold and HFM disease going around. But I still read the lesson and would like to mention my favorite quotes. You can find the full lesson HERE
Many times the gospel [has] been given to the world through
the prophets, and each time [it has been] lost because of disobedience. In the
year 1820 the silence was broken, and the Lord again appeared to a prophet.
This prophet, Joseph Smith, could testify of his own positive knowledge that
God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, a Resurrected Being,
separate and distinct from the Father. He did not testify as to what he
believed or what he or others thought or conjectured, but of what he knew. This
knowledge came to him because God the Father and the Son appeared to him in
person and spoke to him.
God … revealed himself [to Joseph Smith] as a personal
being. Furthermore, the Father and the Son demonstrated the undeniable truth
that they are separate and distinct personages. Indeed, the relationship of the
Father and the Son was reaffirmed by the divine introduction to the boy
prophet, “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” [Joseph Smith—History 1:17].
Those who rejected the Savior when he came to earth with
the declaration that he was the Son of God said of him: “Is not this the
carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:55.) When Joseph announced that he had seen a
vision and had seen the Father and the Son, the query came to the minds and
lips of the neighbors, the ministers, and the townspeople: “Is not this the
farmer’s son?” Christ was persecuted and put to death, but time has been his
vindicator. As with the carpenter’s son, so it has been with the farmer’s son.
I testify that the boy prophet, who in so many ways remains
the central miracle … of this church’s experience, is living proof that, within
God’s hands and under the direction of the Savior of the world, weak and simple
things should come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones.
Through [Joseph Smith] and by subsequent events, the
priesthood and the gospel in its fulness were once more restored to the earth,
never again to be removed [see D&C 65:2]. The Church of Christ, the kingdom
of God on earth, was reestablished and destined, according to scripture, to
roll forth and fill the whole earth [see Daniel 2:35].
The coming of the Prophet Joseph into the world was the
fulfillment of a prophecy uttered many centuries ago by Joseph who was sold
into Egypt:
“A seer shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be a
choice seer unto the fruit of my loins. … And his name shall be called after
me; and it shall be after the name of his father” (2 Nephi 3:6, 15).
Joseph Smith, Jr., was called after the name of Joseph of
old who was carried captive into Egypt, and also after the name of his father,
Joseph Smith, Sr., thus fulfilling this prophecy. He is known as the Prophet
Joseph Smith and is called “Joseph the Seer.” He is often referred to as
“prophet, seer, and revelator.”
It's explained in the chapter that prophet, seer and revelator have different meanings. A prophet is a teacher who expounds truth as revealed to him by God. A seer is one who sees and knows of things which are past, and also of things which are to come. A revelator is one who receives divine messages and can reveal truth through the spirit.
We praise Joseph not only for his capacity to endure but to
“endure it well” (D&C 121:8). Early on, as a boy, there was the painful
operation on his leg—without which surgery he could not have made the later
arduous Zion’s Camp march from Ohio to Missouri. During the march Joseph
“walked most of the time and had a full proportion of blistered, bloody, and
sore feet” [Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, 287].
Likewise, we praise him and Emma for enduring the sorrowful loss of six of
their natural and adopted children to early death. Parents who have lost even
one child are filled with empathy.
We praise Joseph for enduring bitter and repeated betrayals
and disappointments. Thus, he went to Carthage “like a lamb to the slaughter,”
“calm as a summer’s morning,” and “void of offense towards … all men” (D&C
135:4). He did not go to Carthage bitterly. He did not go to Carthage
complainingly. What a marvelous capacity to endure well!
Joseph knew which way he faced. It was toward the Savior
Jesus Christ to whom he listened ever since our Heavenly Father first
instructed young Joseph, saying, “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” [Joseph
Smith—History 1:17]
