One hundred and ninety years ago, in a remarkable series of visions inside the newly dedicated Kirtland Temple, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the keys of temple work. This series of articles seeks to increase understanding of the priesthood keys restored on that occasion.
It includes excerpts from The Heart of Our Covenants: Temple Principles that Draw Us unto Christ by Valiant K. Jones. Used by permission. See www.valiantjones.com or www.cedarfort.com.
When Jesus Christ visited the Nephites after his resurrection, He recited the words that had been given to the prophet Malachi in the old world. These included a prophecy of the future return of Elijah: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (3 Nephi 25:5-6; see also Malachi 4:5-6). Moroni repeated this prophecy, with some modifications, when he appeared to Joseph Smith (see D&C 2 and JS-H 1:36-38).
This prophecy was fulfilled when Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received a remarkable series of visions in the Kirtland Temple on April 3, 1836. The first was an appearance of Jehovah—Jesus Christ himself—who accepted the newly completed and dedicated Kirtland temple. Following this, visions of three special messengers appeared, in sequence, which Joseph described as follows:
“The heavens were again opened unto us; and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north.
“After this, Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed.
“After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said: Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi—testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come—To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse—Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors” (D&C 110:11-16).
These three heavenly messengers bestowed upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery important priesthood keys. President Russell M. Nelson taught that priesthood keys “refer to the right to preside over priesthood authority in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”1 This series of articles will review the restoration of the keys of temple work that occurred on April 3, 1836, including their meaning and significance.
The Keys of the Gathering of Israel on Both Sides of the Veil
Moses was a fitting custodian of the keys of the gathering of Israel because it was he who led the children of Israel from Egypt as one body before they were dispersed. That dispersion was first into separate lands of inheritance in Canaan and later among all the nations of the earth. The keys that Moses bestowed on Joseph and Oliver authorized global missionary work, imparting priesthood power to those who would spread the gospel under the direction of all the modern prophets who have carried those keys since 1836. Every missionary of this dispensation has preached gospel truths with power and authority because of the restoration of these priesthood keys.
However, the keys restored by Moses were not given solely for the gathering of people into the gospel net of salvation. They were also given for the gathering of people to temples so that all souls born in all time periods can have the opportunity to receive the blessing of exaltation and eternal families. The keys that Moses restored prepare receptive children of God to receive the blessings of the keys of Elias and Elijah that followed. The keys of Moses needed to be imparted before temple work could begin because, as President Nelson has pointed out, the gathering of Israel occurs “on both sides of the veil.”2
When we search out the names of our ancestors, we are functioning within the spirit of the keys of Moses as much as within the spirit of keys of Elijah. The restored keys of the gathering of Israel function both on the earth and in the spirit world.
The final visitor on that important April 3rd was the prophet Elijah. His role in the restoration of the priesthood keys will be discussed in more detail later; however, the Bible Dictionary gives this summary of his keys: “Elijah held the sealing power of the Melchizedek Priesthood. He appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration in company with Moses (also translated) and conferred the keys of the priesthood on Peter, James, and John (Matt. 17:3). He appeared again, in company with Moses and others, on April 3, 1836, in the Kirtland (Ohio) Temple and conferred the same keys upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.
All of this was in preparation for the coming of the Lord, as spoken of in Mal. 4:5–6 (D&C 110:13–16). As demonstrated by his miraculous deeds, the power of Elijah is the sealing power of the priesthood by which things bound or loosed on earth are bound or loosed in heaven. Thus the keys of this power are once again operative on the earth and are used in performing all the ordinances of the gospel for the living and the dead.”3
The keys restored by both Elijah and Moses are clear and beautiful—they make sense. However, our understanding of Elias and the keys he restored is less clear. Frankly, Elias has long been a bit of an enigma for many members of the Church. Part of this is because even his historical identity is unclear. In addition, there is the issue of Elias being both a person and a title. And what is the relationship between the keys of Elias and those of Elijah? Also, at first glance, the keys restored by Elias are not aligned in an obvious way with any particular ordinance. It is all rather confusing. The following discussion will be an attempt to shed some light on all of this.
Who Was Elias?
It is important to recognize that Elijah and Elias are the same name coming to us in English from two other languages. They are like Pedro and Pierre or Carlos and Charles. Elijah is a transliteration into English from the Hebrew form of the name, and Elias is a transliteration from the Greek form of the same name.
Hebrew, Greek, and English are all written in different alphabets or scripts, so when proper names are translated, the best available equivalent letters are typically chosen. However, sometimes adjustments are made because there is no equivalent letter or in order to make the name appear more reasonable in the new language. Thus, when doing a translation directly from Hebrew, early writers chose Elijah in English; but when early translators started with the Greek transliteration of the same name and then anglicized that, they chose Elias. Other KJV Old Testament/New Testament equivalent names include Elisha/Eliseus (Luke 4:27), Isaiah/Esaias (John 12:38), Joshua/Jesus (Acts 7:45), Judah/Judas (Matthew 1:2-3), and Noah/Noe (Matthew 24:38). Additional equivalent names include Miriam/Mary, Hannah/Anna, and Jacob/James.4
When Jesus said, as written in the KJV, “But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land” (Luke 4:25), He was clearly referring to the Old Testament prophet we know of as Elijah the Tishbite. Likewise, when John the Baptist told the priests and Levites that he was not the Christ or Messiah, and they asked, “What then? Art thou Elias?” (John 1:21), they were asking if he was the Old Testament prophet Elijah—for they knew of the prophecy that Elijah would appear before the coming of the Messiah (see Malachi 4:5-6).
It would not be wrong for us to substitute Elijah in place of Elias in our minds wherever the latter is encountered in the KJV New Testament. In fact, most of the other English translations of the Bible use Elijah in all passages in the New Testament where the King James Version uses Elias. So first and foremost, Elias refers to Elijah the Tishbite.
In addition, Jesus referred to John the Baptist as Elias, meaning Elijah (see Matt. 11:13-14). When the angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias and prophesied that his wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son who should be named John, the angel said of him, “And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias [i.e., Elijah], to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:16-17).
Thus, John the Baptist was to be a forerunner of the first coming of Christ “in the spirit and power of Elias [i.e., Elijah]” just as Elijah himself was to be a forerunner of the second coming of Christ. Both would prepare people’s hearts to receive Jesus Christ before He arrived. This provides the basis for the use of Elias as a title, meaning forerunner.
The Prophet Joseph Smith expounded on this second use of Elias. He taught, “The spirit of Elias is to prepare the way for a greater revelation of God…. And when God sends a man into the world to prepare for a greater work, holding the keys of the power of Elias, it was called the doctrine of Elias, even from the early ages of the world.”5
Joseph Smith used Elias in other ways as well. The Bible Dictionary summarizes all of these ways and then states, “Thus the word Elias has many applications and has been placed upon many persons as a title pertaining to both preparatory and restorative functions.”6 Apparently, the duplication of this name in two forms in the King James Bible—Elijah and Elias—provided an impetus for the Lord to inspire Joseph Smith in many ways regarding Elias and the doctrine of Elias.
For Latter-day Saints, the most important event which occurred under the name of Elias took place when the Lord sent a heavenly messenger under that appellation to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland temple on April 3, 1836. The Bible Dictionary says of this messenger, “A man called Elias apparently lived in mortality in the days of Abraham, who committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery…. We have no specific information as to the details of his mortal life or ministry.”7
The lack of specific information regarding this restorer of priesthood keys has led some to conjecture that this angel may have been a prophet known in the Old Testament by some other name. President Joseph Fielding Smith, as an apostle, stated8 that Elias and Noah are the same person.9 President Smith also stated that “some think him to be Melchizedek.”10 Elder Bruce R. McConkie confirmed the uncertainty of the identity of the Elias who appeared in the Kirtland temple, writing, “Whether he was Abraham or Melchizedek or some other prophet, we do not know.”11
Elder McConkie later conjectured, “Apparently this Elias lived in the day of Abraham, and may even have been Abraham himself.”12 It is also possible that the Elias who appeared in the Kirtland temple was none of these, but was a separate prophet who lived in ancient times and whose earthly name was the Hebrew equivalent of Elijah and Elias. The statement on Elias from the Bible Dictionary, cited earlier, seems to agree with this possibility.13
In addition to all these possibilities regarding the identity of Elias, I offer another proposal. It is possible that the two separate visions in the Kirtland Temple, wherein a single messenger appeared each time—the first in the name of Elias and the second in the name of Elijah—were both carried out by the same ancient prophet: Elijah the Tishbite. Perhaps he was directed by God to appear twice under his two separate but related names in order to restore two separate but related priesthood keys, both of which he held.
It is interesting to note that in the New Testament record of a similar occasion—when keys were given to Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration—Moses and Elijah appeared together at the same time (see Matt 17:3 and Mark 9:4). Yet in the Kirtland temple, the three messengers appeared sequentially—an arrangement that would have accommodated a repeat appearance by Elijah. Also, this theory creates a stronger parallel with the New Testament record, which speaks of a visit by only those two messengers (see Matt 17:1-13, Mark 9:2-13, and Luke 9:28-26). Perhaps Joseph and Oliver also received only two messengers, with one of them appearing twice in subsequent visions. Perhaps these modern seers were so taken by the glory of their visions and so focused on the messengers’ words that they did not recognize the equality of the angels’ features in the two appearances.
God often works within the paradigms we hold ourselves to, and if Joseph Smith believed that the references to Elias and Elijah in his KJV Bible were references to two separate prophets (and some of the ways Joseph used Elias suggest that he did), then it is possible that God chose to use that paradigm to emphasize the restoration of two separate but related priesthood keys. God rarely clarifies our misunderstandings unless we ask, and it is possible that Joseph never even considered that Elias and Elijah could have been the same person.
Of course, this proposal is only a conjecture; however, there is nothing in Doctrine and Covenants 110 that is inconsistent with this theory. Joseph’s many and varied references to Elias confirm he was not settled on who Elias was. However, this does not affect his stature as a prophet; it simply makes him human. The Lord stated that the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants “were given unto my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, that they might come to understanding” (D&C 1:24; see also 2 Nephi 31:3). In other words, the revelations were given in the imperfect language paradigms that Joseph comprehended so that the principles God deemed most important could be revealed.
Remember, also, that Jesus himself contributed to the complexity of this issue when he referred to John the Baptist as Elias/Elijah (see Matthew 11:7-14). Regardless of all this, if we were to take the second key-bearer at his word when he said he was Elias and then invoke the simplest interpretation of his name, we would conclude that this messenger was Elijah the Tishbite.
Regarding the identity of Elias, Elder John A. Widtsoe wrote, “When Elias, the man, lived, and what he did in his life, must for the present remain in the field of conjecture.”14 Both the Bible and the Book of Mormon refer to many unnamed prophets, confirming that ancient prophets were not always identified.15 The messenger who came as Elias to the Kirtland Temple was undoubtedly a great prophet when he lived on earth, but when he appeared to Joseph and Oliver, his mortal life and mission were secondary in importance to the keys that he was restoring. Maybe this is why the Lord provided this messenger with some anonymity by having him introduce himself as Elias.
All this aside, we must not be so concerned about the identity of Elias that we overlook his purpose. This is an issue faced by people who become attached to a particular missionary who has been teaching them the gospel. If that missionary gets transferred before their baptism, they must decide if it is the missionary or the underlying priesthood authority that matters for their baptism. So it is with Elias. His specific identity and background were not as important as his priesthood authority. Regardless of who this Elias was in mortal life, the most important thing we need to know about him is that he restored important priesthood keys to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland temple in 1836. That much is certain, and that part is what matters most.
Elias and the Dispensation of the Gospel of Abraham
Regarding the purpose of the heavenly messenger who came in the name of Elias, Joseph and Oliver wrote that he “committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham” (D&C 110:12). To understand this declaration, it is helpful to recognize that the word gospel can sometimes be used as a synonym for the word covenant16 and to understand the word dispensation in the sense of dispensing or bestowing rather than as an epoch of time on the earth. With these clarifications, this passage can be interpreted as saying that Elias “committed the bestowing of the covenant of Abraham.”
Consistent with this interpretation, the 2025 Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual explains: “Elias committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham. This includes the restoration of the Abrahamic covenant.”17 The fulness of this covenant, which includes the promises of endless posterity, priesthood power, and an eternal promised land inheritance in God’s presence,18 is bestowed through the ordinance of temple marriage. Thus, the keys restored by Elias are the keys of eternal marriage.
This link to eternal marriage becomes clearer when we consider the promise given by Elias “that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed.” This statement echoes the promise Abraham received that “in thy seed after thee . . . shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Abraham 2:11). This promise could only be fulfilled through the union of Abraham with Sarah. Likewise, these same blessings are bestowed on couples married in the temple, where they are sealed together eternally and bestowed the blessing of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
President Nelson confirmed this understanding of the keys of Elias, teaching, “In 1836, keys of ‘the gospel of Abraham’ were conferred (D&C 110:12). In 1843 the Lord declared to the Prophet Joseph Smith that ‘Abraham received promises concerning his seed, and of the fruit of his loins—from whose loins ye are. . . . This promise is yours also, because ye are of Abraham’ (D&C 132:30–31). . . . The ultimate blessings of the Abrahamic covenant are conferred in holy temples. These blessings allow us to come forth in the First Resurrection and inherit thrones, kingdoms, powers, principalities, and dominions, to our ‘exaltation and glory in all things’ (D&C 132:19).”19 Of course, these blessings described by President Nelson are the blessings pronounced upon every couple sealed in eternal marriage.
To paraphrase a little differently the Doctrine and Covenants 110 declaration of the keys restored by Elias, we could say that he bestowed upon Joseph and Oliver a dispensing of the same good news that many generations earlier had been given to Abraham. And what was this particular good news or gospel? It was that Joseph and Oliver now had the power to administer a binding, covenant-marriage link for men and women on earth so that all generations that would come after them would be blessed. Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught, “Elias restored the great commission, given of God to Abraham our father, whereby the seed of Abraham has power to gain eternal blessings forever through eternal marriage; that is, Elias restored the marriage discipline that had eternal efficacy, virtue, and force in the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”20
The authority to bind couples in eternal marriage has existed since Adam, but it was strongly associated with Abraham, who was promised that his seed would be as vast as the sands of the sea (see Genesis 22:17, 32:12), so this authority was also called the good news of Abraham or the gospel of Abraham (see Abr. 2:9-11). This approach of naming a divine power after a remarkable prophet is similar to what occurred with the Melchizedek Priesthood, which also existed on the earth since Adam, but which was renamed “because Melchizedek was such a great high priest” (D&C 107:2).
Similarly, the Lord said to Abraham, “For as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father” (Abraham 2:10). So the new and everlasting covenant of marriage is also called the gospel of Abraham or the Abrahamic covenant, and Elias restored the keys of this covenant.
Elder McConkie elaborated further on this role of Elias, “This Elias … ‘committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham’ (D&C 110:12) … meaning the great commission which God gave Abraham in his day. That commission dealt with families, those of Abraham and his seed, who were and are promised continuance ‘in the world and out of the world … as innumerable as the stars; or, if ye were to count the sand upon the seashore ye could not number them’ (D&C 132:30).
As Joseph Smith records it, what Elias actually said to him and Oliver Cowdery was that ‘in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed’ (D&C 110:12). And so, the Lord be praised, the marriage discipline of Abraham was restored; it is the system that enables a family unit to continue in eternity; it is the system out of which eternal life grows.”21
The heavenly messenger who declared himself to be Elias restored the keys of eternal marriage. I believe these keys encompass not only the temple marriage ceremony but also the temple endowment ceremony, since the endowment prepares us for eternal marriage.22
On their own, the keys restored by Elias are limited to ceremonies performed for the living. When Elias bestowed his priesthood keys, he said, “all generations after us should be blessed.” The keys of Elias provide blessing to posterity who come after us, but they do nothing for ancestors who came before us. In order to bring the same blessings to them, additional priesthood keys were needed. The subsequent visit by Elijah restored the keys that extended those sealing ordinances to the dead—to those progenitors in the spirit world who had not entered into gospel covenants with God while they were living on the earth.
To be continued…
Valiant K. Jones is the author of The Heart of Our Covenants: Temple Principles that Draw Us unto Christ. For more information, see www.valiantjones.com or www.cedarfort.com.
Jay BuckleyApril 9, 2026
Besides Abraham and Melchizedek, consider Joseph of Egypt as the possible identity of the Elias sent in 1836 to Kirtland to confer the keys of "the covenant of Abraham.” The Brass Plates were kept by the seed of Joseph. The Book of Mormon is also a record of the seed of Joseph (Lehi from Manasseh and Ishmael from Ephraim). The promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would have passed to Joseph and his sons. Moreover, Joseph of Egypt is also prophesied about in the Book of Mormon connecting him to Joseph Smith Sr and Joseph Smith Jr.
Jan FranciscoApril 9, 2026
This is a subject dear to my heart. Using the commentaries just leads to confusion and vagueness. This article I wrote for the Interpreter Foundation shows a more cohesive and clear picture of who Elias is, all based on the scriptures and the words of Joseph Smith. https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/elias-prophet-of-the-restoration