Lesson 89 Doctrine and Covenants 85–86

Doctrine and Covenants 85

The Lord’s clerk is to keep a record of the people of God

Selfish player

Why might it be difficult for this team to win?

What might need to change so this team can play better?

Many of the Saints in Missouri lived in harmony with the laws the Lord had set forth for building Zion. However, some Church members disobeyed the Lord’s command to consecrate their properties and traveled to Zion without obtaining a certificate from their leaders. Because of this, they did not receive their inheritances.

A similar situation began to arise in 1832 as a growing number of Saints arrived in Missouri. Earlier revelations had stipulated that the city of Zion would be built in Jackson County, Missouri, according to the Lord’s laws and under the direction of the priesthood. According to these laws, Church members were not to travel to Zion unless they received a certificate from the Church leaders. Once they arrived, they were to consecrate all their money and property to the Church and receive an inheritance from the bishop. In addition, they were to keep all the commandments of God. (See D&C 64:34–35; 72:15–19, 24–26.)

Why might it have been difficult to establish the city of Zion under these circumstances?

The Law of Consecration

In response to these difficulties in Missouri, Joseph Smith sent a letter to William W. Phelps, a Church leader who was living in Independence at the time.

Section 85

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Kirtland, Ohio, November 27, 1832. This section is an extract from a letter of the Prophet to William W. Phelps, who was living in Independence, Missouri. It answers questions about those Saints who had moved to Zion but who had not followed the commandment to consecrate their properties and had thus not received their inheritances according to the established order in the Church.

Doctrine and Covenants 85:1–2

1 It is the duty of the Lord’s clerk, whom he has appointed, to keep a history, and a general church record of all things that transpire in Zion, and of all those who consecrate properties, and receive inheritances legally from the bishop;

2 And also their manner of life, their faith, and works; and also of the apostates who apostatize after receiving their inheritances.

What was the clerk instructed to record?

Doctrine and Covenants 85:3–5

3 It is contrary to the will and commandment of God that those who receive not their inheritance by consecration, agreeable to his law, which he has given, that he may tithe his people, to prepare them against the day of vengeance and burning, should have their names enrolled with the people of God.

4 Neither is their genealogy to be kept, or to be had where it may be found on any of the records or history of the church.

5 Their names shall not be found, neither the names of the fathers, nor the names of the children written in the book of the law of God, saith the Lord of Hosts.

What are some things we must do to have our names recorded as faithful members of the Church?

Which people were not to have their names written in the records of the Church?

Please, scan Doctrine and Covenants 85:5, 9, 11 and identify other titles used to describe the record that is kept on earth about those who are faithful.

Please, read Doctrine and Covenants 85:9–11 silently and imagine how it would feel to find their names missing from the Lord’s book of remembrance.

What do you think it means that those whose names are not recorded “shall find none inheritance” with the Saints?

According to verse 11, what can cause Church members to have their names removed from the book of the law of God?

How would you summarize what you have learned about the importance of having your name recorded as a faithful member of the Church?

Doctrine and Covenants 86

The Lord explains the parable of the wheat and the tares

Wheat, tares, the field, sowers of the seed, the enemy.

What do the wheat and the tares symbolize?

Why did the man in the parable want to wait to have the tares pulled out?

Doctrine and Covenants 86:1–6

Based on the Lord’s explanation of the symbols, how would you summarize the meaning of the parable?

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servants, concerning the parable of the wheat and of the tares:

2 Behold, verily I say, the field was the world, and the apostles were the sowers of the seed;

3 And after they have fallen asleep the great persecutor of the church, the apostate, the whore, even Babylon, that maketh all nations to drink of her cup, in whose hearts the enemy, even Satan, sitteth to reign—behold he soweth the tares; wherefore, the tares choke the wheat and drive the church into the wilderness.

4 But behold, in the last days, even now while the Lord is beginning to bring forth the word, and the blade is springing up and is yet tender—

5 Behold, verily I say unto you, the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields;

6 But the Lord saith unto them, pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender (for verily your faith is weak), lest you destroy the wheat also.

Joseph Smith was reviewing and editing the inspired revision of the Bible (the Joseph Smith Translation) when he received this revelation. The revelation in Doctrine and Covenants 86 expands on the parable as it is recorded in Matthew 13:24–30. For example, in Doctrine and Covenants 86 we learn that the sowers in the parable represent the Savior’s Apostles (see verse 2) and that the tares “choke the wheat and drive the church into the wilderness” (verse 3). We also learn that “in the last days,” new blades of wheat will begin “springing up” (verse 4). The sowing of the tares can represent the Apostasy, and the sprouting of new wheat can represent the Restoration.

Please, read Doctrine and Covenants 86:7 silently to discover an insight this revelation provides that clarifies the order of gathering.

How do these pictures relate to the parable of the wheat and the tares?

What do we learn from verse 7 about the order of gathering?

What does this teach about what will happen to the righteous and the wicked in the last days?

Doctrine and Covenants 86:8–10

8 Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers—

9 For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God—

10 Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began.

According to verses 8–10, what are some ways we have been blessed as members of the Lord’s Church?

Doctrine and Covenants 86:11

11 Therefore, blessed are ye if ye continue in my goodness, a light unto the Gentiles, and through this priesthood, a savior unto my people Israel. The Lord hath said it. Amen.

Blessings of the Priesthood