Because the Come Follow Me curriculum for the next several months is about revelations received in Kirtland and many Church members would like to understand that period better, Meridian is running this series of articles by Karl Ricks Anderson on this remarkable period in Church history. To read the previous article in the series, CLICK HERE.

Cover image: The School of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio. Photo by Scot Facer Proctor.

During the Kirtland years, surviving documentation attests that at least twenty-three Church leaders saw the Savior or heard Him speak—thus becoming latter-day witnesses of Him. Undoubtedly, even more witnesses than this saw Christ or heard His voice speaking to them, though many did not record their visions. Others did, but their records from the 1830’s deteriorated or were lost.

The 1830’s in Ohio, were a season of unparalleled revelations and over 30 heavenly visions to Joseph Smith. The most significant visions were those of Deity. Imagine living in Kirtland in the 1830’s, when the revered Prophet often communed with the Lord. In this revelatory period, Joseph was repeatedly in the presence of the Lord—seeing Him, listening to Him, and attesting to His specific guidance and instruction. Joseph used words and phrases such as “Pentecost” and “time of rejoicing” to describe this season in Kirtland.

Picture the Saints’ exhilaration and joy as they became aware that the heavens were actually opening to them and their prophet. They heard the Savior speak. They saw visions of Him. They received a divine witness of Him through heavenly manifestations. They powerfully felt His presence in meetings. They experienced the Savior’s love, care, and concern for them and His latter-day Church. Such manifestations gave proof that He was resurrected and lives again. The Saints’ faith was affirmed. The Savior literally was directing the Church in the last and final dispensation of His gospel.

Following are known Kirtland visions of Deity with Joseph Smith:[i]

  • May 1831 – 15 persons attended a meeting at the Smith family home where Joseph announced, “The Savior has been in your midst this night.”[ii]
  • June 3-6, 1831 – 25 Church leaders attended a 4th conference of the Church session where Joseph declared, “I now see God and Jesus Christ at his right hand… I should not feel death as I am now.”[iii]
  • February 16, 1832 – 14 persons were present at the Johnson Home when Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon declared, “He lives for we saw him, even on the right hand of God.”[iv]
  • March 18, 1833 – 20 Priesthood leaders attended the School of the Prophets meeting when Joseph ordained his First Presidency councilors. Joseph announced, “Many of the brethren saw a heavenly vision of the savior.”[v]
  • December 18, 1833 – Many attended a meeting where Joseph Smith bestowed the first patriarchal blessings. Joseph declared, “I saw Adam… and [his children . . .]. The Lord appeared in their midst, & . . . bless them all.”[vi]
  • January 21, 1836 – 16 Church leaders attended in the Kirtland Temple when the first temple ordinances were bestowed on key leaders. Joseph Announced, “I beheld the . . . throne of God, whereon was seated the father and the son.”[vii]
  • January 21, 1836 – 16 Church leaders continued in the meeting when Joseph saw another vision and declared, “I saw the Twelve…and Jesus standing in their midst. . . The Savior looked upon them and wept.”[viii]
  • January 21, 1836 – 16 Church leaders watched as Joseph, in addition, saw a vision of the Twelve Apostles in the Celestial Kingdom and said, “The Savior embraced . . . crowned and kissed each one [of the Twelve].”[ix]
  • January 21, 1836 – 40 leaders assembled in a glorious meeting where Joseph said, “The Visions of Heaven were opened to them. . . Some of them saw the face of the Savior.”[x]
  • January 28, 1836 – 100 high priests, seventies, and elders gathered in the Kirtland Temple and Joseph recorded that “Zebedee Coltrin . . . saw the savior.”[xi]
  • January 28, 1836 – 100 Church leaders heard Joseph announce what He saw when he exclaimed, “I see the Son of God sitting at the right hand of the Father.”[xii]
  • March 30, 1836 – 300 Leaders and Kirtland Stake members attended the Solemn Assembly where Joseph recorded, “The Savior made his appearance to some while angels ministered to others.”[xiii]
  • April 3, 1836 – 1,000 Church members gathered when Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery recorded, “We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit.”[xiv]

Following is a listing of eight known witnesses who saw the Savior

  • Joseph Smith: While in Kirtland, Joseph witnessed at least ten visions of Christ, seven of which also included God the Father. In one of his most direct testimonies, Joseph simply said, “I saw . . . Jesus.”[xv]
  • Sidney Rigdon: Sidney, who stood next to Joseph Smith in the First Presidency, was usually present when visions of Deity descended upon Joseph and the other brethren. He saw God the Father and Jesus. Sidney joined Joseph in testifying in Hiram, “We saw [Christ] and . . . we conversed [with Christ].”[xvi]
  • Oliver Cowdery: Oliver, the second elder and one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, stood at Joseph’s side when they received priesthood keys. He saw the Savior and heard His voice in New York and in the Kirtland Temple. He was present in six meetings when the Savior was seen. He testified with Joseph Smith, “We saw the Lord . . . [and heard] the voice of Jehovah.”[xvii]
  • Martin Harris: Martin was one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. He moved from New York in 1831 and remained principally in Kirtland until 1870—longer than any of the other witnesses. Martin attended nearly every meeting where the Savior appeared in Kirtland. In Joseph Smith’s 1832 Kirtland account of his history, he recorded that “the Lord appeared unto him [Martin].”[xviii]
  • Lyman Wight: Lyman was the first high priest ordained in the Church. Lyman eventually became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He probably attended three meetings in Kirtland where the Savior appeared. With Joseph, he saw a vision of the Father and the Son. It is recorded that Lyman “saw the face of the Savior.”[xix]
  • Harvey Whitlock: Harvey was born in Massachusetts in 1809. He attended the fourth conference of the Church on the Morley farm in June 1831 and was ordained a high priest there. Harvey was twenty-two years old when he, with Joseph, beheld a vision of the Father and the Son. The following is documented, “[Harvey] testified . . . he saw . . . Jesus.”[xx]
  • John Murdock: John was converted by four missionaries sent to the Lamanites. Joseph and Emma Smith adopted John’s twins, who survived their mother’s death in childbirth. John gave a detailed account of one of the Savior’s appearances in the School of the Prophets. He said, “I . . . beheld the face of the Lord.”[xxi]
  • Zebedee Coltrin: Zebedee was one of the first seven presidents of the Seventy. He was blessed by the First Presidency to have “heavenly visions and the ministry of Angels.”[xxii] He recorded several visions—at least one of which included both the Father and the Son. In one of Zebedee’s accounts he testified of Christ, “I saw Him!”[xxiii]

Three witnesses who heard the Savior’s voice

  • David Whitmer: David was one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. David was one of the nine men sitting at the prestigious Melchizedek Priesthood pulpits at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. He attended four meetings where Christ appeared and may have been one of whom Joseph said, “saw glorious visions also.”[xxiv] In Ohio, David bore his witness of the Book of Mormon, saying, “The voice of God declared it.”[xxv]
  • Newel K. Whitney: Newel was the second bishop to serve in Kirtland. His store became the first bishops’ storehouse for the Church. Newel attended most of the meetings where the Savior appeared in vision in Kirtland. Bishop Whitney “heard [the Lord’s] voice from heaven.”[xxvi]
  • Warren S. Snow: Warren was called to missions in Delaware and Vermont. He was a captain of the Nauvoo Legion. The Lord gave Warren a divine manifestation in the Kirtland Temple. Warren testified, “I heard the voice of God.”[xxvii]

Additional witnesses

In addition to the eleven witnesses noted above, there were at least twelve more who saw the Savior according to conservative estimates.[xxviii] It is probable that other members of the First Presidency (Frederick G. Williams, Hyrum Smith, and Joseph Smith Sr.) as well as all members of the Quorum of the Twelve were in that number. Virtually all of these were present during multiple visions of Deity in the Kirtland Temple.

A statement by one of the Twelve, David Patten may bear out this assertion. Within a few weeks after the Kirtland Temple dedication, David told Abraham Smoot, possibly referring to the Twelve Apostles, that “Jesus Christ was seen of them.”[xxix] As a result of these visions, at least twenty-three latter-day witnesses of Christ walked again among people on earth. In addition, hundreds of others who were present in rooms where these visions occurred, witnessed seeing outward manifestations including seeing Christ’s glory or feeling an overwhelming power. They bore testimony of events not seen or heard on earth since the time of Christ’s resurrection, when He appeared to so many of His disciples.

In 1884, George Q. Cannon, first counselor in the First Presidency, firmly established that large numbers of early Saints saw the Savior. While still a youth, George met many of the Kirtland witnesses of Christ. Speaking of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery beholding the Savior in the Kirtland Temple, he said, “These witnesses are also supplemented by hundreds of ­others who have beheld in vision and otherwise, glorious personages in these last days.”

He then described the increased faith that came to the Church through their testimonies: “There are men alive who have beheld the Son of God, who have heard His voice, and who have been ministered unto by Him in this our day and generation. In the face of these testimonies, which cannot be impeached successfully, is it any wonder that faith grows in the hearts of the people of God, the Latter-day Saints?”[xxx]

Many more than just a few, then, stand as witnesses that the Lord again appeared in vision and spoke to men personally in Kirtland as He did anciently. The named and the unnamed, the faithful and those who faltered have all agreed that indeed Deity was there, and the restored work was divinely ratified.

[i] Some attendance estimates are approximations.

[ii] Mary Elizabeth Lightner, typescript, April 14, 1905, 1, BYU Special Collections.

[iii] Levi Hancock, Autobiography, copied by Clara E. H. Lloyd, typescript, 33. BYU Special Collections.

[iv] Doctrine and Covenants 76:23

[v] https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/minutes-18-march-1833/2

[vi] https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-c-1-2-november-1838-31-july-1842/546

[vii] Doctrine and Covenants 137:1,3

[viii] https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/visions-21-january-1836-dc-137/2

[ix] Heber C. Kimball, in Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1945), 93–94.

[x] https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-1835-1836/140

[xi] https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-1835-1836/145

[xii] Diary of Charles Lowell Walker, ed. A. Karl Larson and Katharine Miles Larson, (Utah State University Press, 1980), 2:483

[xiii] https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-b-1-1-september-1834-2-november-1838/180

[xiv] Doctrine and Covenants 110:2

[xv]https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-b-1-1-september-1834-2-november-1838/150

[xvi] Doctrine & Covenants 76:14.

[xvii] Doctrine & Covenants110:2–3.

[xviii]https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-circa-summer-1832/5

[xix] George A. Smith, in Journal of Discourses, 11:4.

[xx] Zebedee Coltrin, They Knew the Prophet, ed. Hyrum L. Andrus and Helen Mae Andrus, (Deseret Book, 1999), 30.

[xxi] John Murdock, “John Murdock Journal, 1792–1871,” typescript, BYU Special Collections, 164.

[xxii] Kirtland Council Minute Book, typescript by Lyndon W. Cook, 1978, Church History Library, 178.

[xxiii] Zebedee Coltrin, in Salt Lake School of the Prophets Minute Book, 1883 (Salt Lake City: Pioneer Press, 1992), 54.

[xxiv] https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-1835-1836/139.

[xxv] In Ezra Booth to Ira Eddy, October 24, 1831, “Mormonism—No. III,” [Ravenna] Ohio Star 2 (October 27, 1831):

[xxvi] Orson F. Whitney, in Conference Report, June 1, 1919, 47.

[xxvii] Warren Snow, in Millennial Star 26 (January 23, 1864): 51.

[xxviii] Karl Ricks Anderson, The Savior in Kirtland, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012], 138-42.

[xxix] Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 1833–1898, ed. Scott G. Kenney, 1:67.

[xxx] Cannon, in Journal of Discourses, 25:158.