Line upon Line

By D. Lynn Johnson

February 16, 1832, Hiram, Ohio.  Philo Dibble called at the John Johnson home, knowing that the Prophet Joseph Smith was living there with his family.  He was directed to an upper room where Joseph, Sidney Rigdon, and several other men were seated.  Joseph and Sidney seemed surrounded in magnificent glory, and a sense of power filled the room.  Joseph appeared to be dressed in white, though in fact he wore a black suit. ^[1]   Dibble watched for more than an hour.  Joseph would say, “What do I see?” and describe what he was seeing.  Sidney would reply, “I see the same.”  Then Sidney would make a similar statement, and Joseph would reply “I see the same.”

When the vision closed, Joseph sat erect and calm, “but Sidney sat limp and pale, apparently as limber as a rag, observing which Joseph remarked, smilingly, ‘Sidney is not used to it as I am.'” ^[2]   Joseph and Sidney stayed up late into the night transcribing a portion of the vision, and their impressions, which became Section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

Many regard Section 76 to be one of the grandest revelations recorded in all scripture.  After it was transcribed the Prophet Joseph proclaimed “Nothing could be more pleasing to the Saints upon the order of the Kingdom of the Lord, than the light which burst upon the world through the foregoing vision. Every law, every commandment, every promise, every truth, and every point touching the destiny of man, from Genesis to Revelation, where the purity of the Scriptures remain unsullied by the folly of men, go to show the perfection of the theory (of different degrees of glory in the future life) and witness the fact that the document is a transcript from the records of the eternal world. The sublimity of the ideas; the purity of the language; the scope for action; the continued duration for completion, in order that the heirs of salvation may confess the Lord and bow the knee; the rewards for faithfulness, and the punishments for sins, are so much beyond the narrow-mindedness of men, that every man is constrained to exclaim: ‘It came from God.'” ^[3]

Wilford Woodruff exclaimed, “When I read these solemn, these eternal declarations made through the mouth of Joseph Smith, my heart swells with gratitude and praise to God, my heavenly Father. I consider that the Doctrine and Covenants, our Testament, contains a code of the most solemn, the most Godlike proclamations ever made to the human family. I will refer to the ‘Vision’ alone, as a revelation which gives more light, more truth, and more principle than any revelation contained in any other book we ever read. It makes plain to our understanding our present condition, where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going to. Any man may know through that revelation what his part and condition will be. For all men know what laws they keep, and the laws which men keep here will determine their position hereafter; they will be preserved by those laws and receive the blessings which belong to them.” ^[4]

Initially the revelation was not received well by all members of the church.  Brigham Young explained, “When God revealed to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon that there was a place prepared for all, according to the light they had received and their rejection of evil and practice of good, it was a great trial to many, and some apostatized because God was not going to send to everlasting punishment heathens and infants, but had a place of salvation, in due time, for all and would bless the honest and virtuous and truthful, whether they ever belonged to any church or not”. ^[5]   He himself could not understand it at first, but tells us how he finally came to understand and believe it.  “After all, my traditions were such, that when the Vision came first to me, it was directly contrary and opposed to my former education.  I said, Wait a little.  I did not reject it; but I could not understand it.  I then could feel what incorrect tradition had done for me.  Suppose all that I have ever heard from my priest and parents-the way they taught me to read the Bible-had been true, my understanding would be diametrically opposed to the doctrine revealed in the Vision.  I used to think and pray, to read and think, until I knew and fully understood it for myself, by the visions of the Holy Spirit.” ^[6]

When the revelation was twelve years old, W. W. Phelps wrote a poem “Vade Mecum”, translated as “Go With Me,” and sent it to the prophet Joseph.  Joseph responded with a lengthy poem entitled “A Vision,” ^[7] which reiterates and in some places elaborates upon the revelation.  (The poem and its authorship are discussed by Holzapfel. ^[8] )  It begins

As one reads this poem one wonders whether the Prophet realized that the original text was written in ancient Hebrew poetic style.  This was not recognized until relatively recently.  In 1969, Steven Walker wrote, “Section 76, that grandly eloquent record of the vision of postmortality vouchsafed to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, is without question the epitome of stylistic accomplishment in the Doctrine and Covenants. It is preeminent among the Revelation both in its stylistic majesty and in its sustained spiritual fervor. This is, of course, entirely in keeping with the sublimity and profundity of its subject matter. That it was recorded while the authors were ‘yet in the spirit’ (D&C 76:113) is evident in every line.” ^[9]

Chiasmus, or inverted parallelism, was first reported in this Section by Charles G. Kroupa and Richard C. Shipp in 1972. ^{[10] [11]}   Their work has not attained wide circulation, and was unknown to me when I first discovered chiasmus in Section 88 in 1988.  Not long thereafter I found the beautiful structure of Section 76.  Later H. Clay Gorton ^[12] and  Charles Francis King ^[13] published books on chiasmus in the Doctrine and Covenants.  Each of these authors found some of the poetic structure in this Section, but none found the detail described below and shown on my Web page, ldsgospeldoctrine.net/visualscriptures.html.

Finding the poetic patterns in this Section has opened my eyes to a number of insights, and a much deeper appreciation of the revelation.  Its truly remarkable message is arranged in a truly remarkable fashion.  I found nearly two dozen inverted parallel systems.  One system covers the entire Section.  All of the text is covered by a series of smaller inverted systems, and a quarter of the text is in yet a third level of structure.  The only other places I have found this level of complexity are in Christ’s discourse on Isaiah found in 3 Nephi 20:11-23:3 and in 2 Nephi 12-15 (Isaiah 2-5, though it is better in 2 Nephi) (see my Web site).  Section 76 is second only to Christ’s discourse.

Much could be written about the structure of this Section.  Only some highlights will be considered here.

The overall inverted system provides a useful outline for the Section.  As is usual for such systems, the subject matter progresses in an orderly manner to the central turning point, and then proceeds through similar subjects in reverse order, ending where it began.  The parallels are as follows, with Roman numerals given as guides in the reformatted text (see my Web site for the detailed structure) and verse numbers in parentheses:

I       (1) The Lord is God, and beside him there is no Savior. // (119) To God and the Lamb be glory, honor and dominion forever and ever.

II₁     (2-4) Great is his wisdom and marvelous are his ways. // (114-116a) Great and marvelous are the works of the Lord.

II₂     (5-10) To them will I reveal all mysteries, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and their wisdom shall be great. // (116b-118) To whom he grants this privilege of seeing and knowing for themselves; while in the flesh they may be able to bear his presence.

III     (11-24) Testimony of the Son. // (106b-113) Mission of the Son: I have overcome and trodden the wine-press alone.

IV    (25-38) Vision of Satan and definition and suffering of the sons of Perdition. // (99-106a) Definition and suffering of those in the telestial kingdom.

V     (39-44a) All except sons of Perdition to be saved. // (89-98) Comparison of the glories of the three degrees of glory.

VI    (44b-49) Suffering of the sons of Perdition. // (81-88) Definition and suffering of those in the telestial kingdom.

VII    (50-70) Vision of the celestial kingdom. // (71-80) Vision of the terrestrial kingdom.

The sequence of topics is curious.  Why does it go precipitously from the highest, the vision of the Son, to the lowest, the vision of Satan?  Certainly the Western mind would find D&C 88:22-33 arranged more logically-highest to lowest.  Why was the very positive message of verses 39-44a (the first V, above) plunked down in the middle of the discussion of the sons of Perdition, and likewise the comparison of the three degrees of glory, verses 89-98 (the second V), in the middle of the description of the telestial kingdom?  As can be seen from the parallels shown above, this sequence of topics results in a nice symmetrical presentation so typical of the best of the scriptural poetic passages.  The placement of the two V elements tends to soften the blow to the reader of the negative aspects of the two bottom rungs of the resurrection ladder, which are placed in parallel with each other.

As we read the Section, our attention is drawn to the inverted system in verses 1-10, labeled ABCDEEDCBA.

A     (1) Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, and rejoice ye inhabitants thereof. // (10) By my Spirit will I enlighten them…secrets of my will…even things which eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.

B     (2a) Great is his wisdom. // (9) Their wisdom shall be great.

C     (2b) The extent of his doings none can find out. // (7-8) To them will I reveal all mysteries.

D     (3-4) His purposes fail not…From eternity to eternity he is the same. // (6) Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.

E     (5a) I am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me. // (5b) Delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and truth unto the end.

Note that the first A through D refer to the Savior, while the second pertains to those who fear and serve him.  No one can find out the extent of his doings (first C, verse 2b), but he will reveal all to the faithful (second C, verses 7-8).  The Lord’s wisdom is great (the first B, verse 2a), and so will be that of the faithful (second B, verse 9).

Joseph and Sidney’s testimony of the Christ, found in verse 22, is at the center of an inverted system, the traditional point of emphasis of a chiasm.  It is in the form of another Hebraic parallelistic form, simple alternate (ABAB), here with a single third element of emphasis.

       And now, after the many testimonies
                      which have been given of him,
               this is the testimony, last of all,
                      which we give of him:
                             That he lives!

The discussion of the adversary in verses 25-29 shows both inverted and direct parallel structure and, at the same time, bears the stamp of number symbolism described by E. W. Bullinger in Number in Scripture.. ^[14]   There are six names and appellations of the adversary here (six is the number of evil according to Bullinger).

A     (25a) And this we saw and bear record. // (30a) And we saw a vision.

B₁    (25b) An angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God. // (28b) Even the devil.

B₂    (25c) Who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son whom the Father loved. // (28c) Who rebelled against God, and sought to take the kingdom of our God and his Christ.

B₃    (25d) Was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son. // (29) He maketh war with the saints of God.

C     (26a) And was called Perdition. // (28a) We beheld Satan, that old serpent.

D     (26b) A son of the morning. // (27c) A son of the morning.

E     (27a) He is fallen! // (27b) Is fallen.

The vision of the celestial glory is given in a series of five linked inverted systems (marked with capital letters) where the last element of the first is the first element of the second, and so on (I’ll not discuss them here, but they can be seen on the Web site).  At the same time, the text also is represented as a single inverted system (marked with double capital letters) that pays no attention to the smaller units.

AA   (50) Testimony concerning those who shall come forth in the resurrection of the just. // (70) These are they whose bodies are celestial.

BB   (51-53) They are they who received the testimony of Jesus and made and kept covenants. // (68-69) Just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.

CC   (54-57) They are they who are the church of the Firstborn, priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchizedek, Enoch, the Only Begotten Son. // (67) They who have come to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of Enoch, and of the Firstborn.

DD   (58-60) They are gods, even the sons of God.  Wherefore, all things are theirs. // (62-66) These shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever, etc.

EE   (61) Wherefore, let no man glory in man, but rather let him glory in God.

We find another symbolic number here-there are twelve “these are they” and “they are they” statements regarding the inhabitants of the celestial kingdom.  Bullinger defines 12 as “perfection of governmental order.”  We would say “priesthood,” and the priesthood is an obvious factor in this kingdom.

Having found these two symbolic numbers, I eagerly searched the descriptions of the other kingdoms.  There are seven “these are they” descriptors of the inhabitants of the terrestrial kingdom (one says “also they”).  The symbolic meaning of seven is spiritual perfection and completeness.  This seems consistent, to a degree, with the description of the candidates for this kingdom.

I anticipated finding six with respect to the telestial kingdom, but was stunned to find something entirely unexpected.  In verses 81-86 there are five “these are they” statements, and in 99-106 there are seven.  Moreover, there are seven “some of” statements in 100 and five descriptors in 103.  Bullinger says five signifies mercy and grace, and there are many examples of lists containing five members in all standard works that are consistent with this definition.  This finding caused me to reconsider the telestial glory.  It is, after all, a degree of glory which “surpasses all understanding” (verse 89).  The candidates, by the time they are resurrected, will have reached a degree of perfection consistent with that kingdom, will acknowledge Jesus as their Savior (verse110), and will be recipients of his mercy and grace.

As I contemplate the structure of this Section I wonder what level of brilliance would be required to write in such a way that the text simultaneously fits three levels of structure, and where the higher levels pay little or no attention to the lower ones.  While Joseph and Sidney might have done it deliberately, such cannot be the case for the even more brilliant case in 3 Nephi 20:11-23:3 alluded to earlier.  This was given by dictation and recorded by a scribe as Joseph translated the plates.  I think the same thing happened here.  I can only conclude that the Lord is the source not only of the content, but also of the structure in which it is delivered to us.

As I commented earlier, much more could be said.  I have only scratched the surface of this revelation.  But the structure has helped me gain a fuller understanding of, and appreciation for, this sublime account of the vision, and the stunning knowledge revealed therein.

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Notes