Content preview - You need a premium account to view this content.

Unfolding Cumorah's Hidden Treasure
1823-1827

And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, kindred, and tongue, and people. (Rev. 14:6.)

Following the First Vision, three years passed before Joseph Smith received additional instructions from a heavenly being. In the spring of 1820 Joseph learned that the fulness of the gospel would be revealed to him, and after waiting three years he thought his transgressions might have prevented the fulfillment of that promise. On the night of September 21-22, 1823, while the seventeen-year-old boy was seeking forgiveness and petitioning the Lord, the heavens were again opened; and Joseph Smith beheld a series of visions. Moroni, a prophet who had lived on the American continent, appeared to him and told Joseph that an ancient record was deposited in a hill near his home. This religious history, he said, contained the fulness of the everlasting gospel as taught by the Savior and his prophets to the early inhabitants of America. Joseph Smith learned that following Christ's resurrection, the Savior appeared as he predicted to his other sheep living on the American continent, and they heard his voice (John 10:16, 3 Nephi 15:21). This record which had been compiled by Mormon, the father of Moroni, is a new witness for Christ, a fifth gospel, and is a work which unfolds the teachings of Christ with clarity and purity.

The coming forth of the Book of Mormon is in harmony with a divine law of witnesses. Joseph Smith does not stand alone in bearing witness to the restoration of Christ's gospel. In other dispensations, prophets were supported by witnesses. Methuselah proclaimed the same warning message as Noah. Aaron served as a spokesman for Moses. Many witnesses testified of events in the life of the Savior, including his resurrection. The Book of Mormon is a modern witness for Christ, but it is also a witness of the divine calling of Joseph Smith. This work contains predictions of a gospel restoration following the American Revolution by a person named Joseph who was the son of a Joseph. (2 Nephi 3:11-15 and 1 Nephi 13:18-23.) The book itself also serves as a powerful, tangible evidence of the authenticity of this latter-day prophet. Moreoever, the Book of Mormon is a witness of the validity of the basic message of the Bible.

Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?

Wherefore murmur ye, because ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also. (2 Nephi 29:7-8.)