February 17, 1834

This week we read about an important set of meeting minutes (now found in D&C 102) in the Joseph Smith Papers book. In 1833, Saints had begun to flee from mobs in Missouri (and the Book of Commandments, a forerunner to the Doctrine and Covenants had been published), and just a few months after this revelation, in May of 1834, Zion's Camp, headed by the Prophet himself, left to try to relieve their suffering. The Quorum of 12 Apostles wasn't officially organized until the next year, when the First Quorum of Seventy was also established. Thus, the year 1834 marked an important point in the development of Priesthood lines of authority and the standardization of Church practices.

In this revelation, we learn how the first high council of the Church (in the Kirtland, Ohio stake) was founded. The writing was specifically marked to go into the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants and therefore carefully edited by the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was even presented to the high council to be accepted by that body. Verses 30-32 (which relate to the twelve apostles) were added in later (as we can possibly tell from a pin mark on the originally copied revelation pages).

The most important thing I learned from reading these manuscript revelations is the importance of procedure to God's work moving forward appropriately. The Church is built on carefully designed systems of order that prevent a body of so many members from quickly devolving into mass chaos. The power of the Priesthood provides for groups to be organized as governing bodies for Church units, and precedent is clearly established by revelation so that our procedures are standardized throughout the world. The process of approving these meeting minutes demonstrates the principle of common consent, a very important aspect of our Church organization. Another Doctrine and Covenants revelation shows that:

All things must be done in order, and by common consent in the Church, by the prayer of faith. (D&C 28:13)

One change to the revelation I found interesting was the revision from "by the voice of the Savior" to "by revelation"; this seems to indicate to me the fact that revelation doesn't always come in the voice of Christ, or even in an explicitly spoken voice at all. In many ways, this section resembles an official government document in its statement of a next meeting time and listing of the official clerks. God works through a careful system of procedures to ensure that all things are "acknowledged in... administration by the voice of the Church" (D&C 102:9).

God exhibits perfect justice in all of his designs. The high council system provides a way for cases of important business to be handled and then routed on to higher authority if necessary. This agrees with the principle of stewardship and allows responsibility to be appropriately delegated. He trusts his sons and daughters in their capability to imitate his own just nature and demonstrates this confidence by allowing us to work through problems by our own means. Clearly, this meeting was an important one to Church history if Joseph Smith specifically selected it to be published. It's intriguing to see the interior workings of higher bodies of Church authority. Since the Lord is unchanging, the idea of high councils (and their responsibility as disciplinary councils) in each stake continues today.