Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Doctrine and Covenants 2025

Doctrine and Covenants 84

Ever since the priesthood was restored in 1829, the early Saints had been blessed by the Lord’s sacred power. They were baptized, confirmed, and called to serve by priesthood authority, much like we are today. But having access to priesthood power is not the same thing as completely understanding it, and God had more He wanted His Saints to understand—particularly with the coming restoration of temple ordinances. The 1832 revelation on the priesthood, now Doctrine and Covenants 84, expanded the Saints’ vision of what the priesthood really is. And it can do the same for us today. After all, there is a lot to learn about the divine power that holds “the key of the knowledge of God,” that makes manifest “the power of godliness,” and that prepares us to “see the face of God, even the Father, and live” (verses 19–22).

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Independence, Missouri, April 30, 1832. This revelation was received as the Prophet sat in council with his brethren.

Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, April 26, 1832. The occasion was a council of high priests and elders of the Church. At the council, Joseph Smith was sustained as the President of the High Priesthood, to which office he had previously been ordained at a conference of high priests, elders, and members, at Amherst, Ohio, January 25, 1832 (see the heading to section 75). This revelation reiterates instructions given in an earlier revelation (section 78) to establish a firm—known as the United Firm (under Joseph Smith’s direction, the term “order” later replaced “firm”)—to govern the Church’s mercantile and publishing endeavors.

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Hiram, Ohio, March 15, 1832. Frederick G. Williams is called to be a high priest and a counselor in the Presidency of the High Priesthood. The historical records show that when this revelation was received in March 1832, it called Jesse Gause to the office of counselor to Joseph Smith in the Presidency. However, when he failed to continue in a manner consistent with this appointment, the call was subsequently transferred to Frederick G. Williams. The revelation (dated March 1832) should be regarded as a step toward the formal organization of the First Presidency, specifically calling for the office of counselor in that body and explaining the dignity of the appointment. Brother Gause served for a time but was excommunicated from the Church in December 1832. Brother Williams was ordained to the specified office on March 18, 1833.

Doctrine and Covenants 81–83

In March 1832, the Lord called Jesse Gause to be a counselor to Joseph Smith in the Presidency of the High Priesthood (now called the First Presidency). Doctrine and Covenants 81 is a revelation to Brother Gause about his new calling. But Jesse Gause did not serve faithfully, so Frederick G. Williams was called to replace him. Brother Williams’s name replaced Brother Gause’s name in the revelation.

That may seem like a minor detail, but it implies a significant truth: most revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants are addressed to specific people, but we can always seek ways to apply them to ourselves (see 1 Nephi 19:23). When we read the Lord’s counsel to Frederick G. Williams to “strengthen the feeble knees,” we can think of people we might strengthen (Doctrine and Covenants 81:5). When we read the Lord’s invitation to members of the United Firm to “bind yourselves by this covenant,” we can think of our own covenants. And we can read His promise, “I … am bound when ye do what I say,” as if He’s speaking to us (Doctrine and Covenants 82:10, 15). We can do this because, as the Lord declared, “What I say unto one I say unto all” (verse 5).

See “Newel K. Whitney and the United Firm,” “Jesse Gause: Counselor to the Prophet,” in Revelations in Context, 142–47, 155–57.

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet to Stephen Burnett, at Hiram, Ohio, March 7, 1832.

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Hiram, Ohio, March 12, 1832.

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Kirtland, Ohio, March 1, 1832. On that day, the Prophet and other leaders had assembled to discuss Church business. This revelation originally instructed the Prophet, Sidney Rigdon, and Newel K. Whitney to travel to Missouri and organize the Church’s mercantile and publishing endeavors by creating a “firm” that would oversee these efforts, generating funds for the establishment of Zion and for the benefit of the poor. This firm, known as the United Firm, was organized in April 1832 and disbanded in 1834 (see section 82). Sometime after its dissolution, under the direction of Joseph Smith, the phrase “the affairs of the storehouse for the poor” replaced “mercantile and publishing establishments” in the revelation, and the word “order” replaced the word “firm.”

Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Hiram, Ohio, about March 1832. Joseph Smith’s history states, “In connection with the translation of the Scriptures, I received the following explanation of the Revelation of St. John.”

Doctrine and Covenants 77–80

Less than two years after the Church of Jesus Christ was restored, it had more than 2,000 members and was growing quickly. In March 1832, Joseph Smith met with other Church leaders “to discuss Church business”: the need to publish revelations, purchase land to gather on, and care for the poor (see Doctrine and Covenants 78, section heading). To meet these needs, the Lord called on a small number of Church leaders to form the United Firm, a group that would join their efforts to “advance the cause” of the Lord (verse 4) in these areas. But even in such administrative matters, the Lord focused on the things of eternity. Ultimately, the purpose of a printing press or a storehouse—like everything else in God’s kingdom—is to prepare His children to receive “a place in the celestial world” and “the riches of eternity” (verses 7, 18). And if those blessings are hard to comprehend right now, in the midst of the busyness of daily life, He reassures us, “Be of good cheer, for I will lead you along” (verse 18).