Sacred Texts: Mormons

Doctrine and Convenants: 58. Revelation through Joseph Sm...

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Section 58 of the Doctrine and Covenants is a revelatory scripture from the Latter-day Saint canon, presented as a direct divine address to early church elders gathered in Missouri in 1831. The revelation frames their mission in eschatological terms: present hardships are a necessary prelude to future blessings, and the land they have gathered to is identified as the future site of Zion, a sacred gathering place for God's people. A notable theological claim appears in verses 26–28, which assert that God does not wish to micromanage human behavior — followers are expected to exercise moral agency and act righteously of their own initiative, not merely await specific divine commands. The text issues practical directives to named individuals (Edward Partridge, Martin Harris, William W. Phelps, Sidney Rigdon) regarding land purchases, church governance, financial stewardship, and the writing of a formal description of Zion to solicit funds from other congregations. It also articulates an unusual eschatological banquet sequence in which the wealthy and educated are invited first, followed later by the poor, lame, blind, and deaf — inverting typical expectations of divine preference for the marginalized. Readers interested in early Mormon ecclesiology, the theology of human agency within revealed religion, or the historical project of building Zion in Jackson County, Missouri, will find this section directly relevant.

Doctrine and Convenants: 58. Revelation through Joseph Sm...

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