This is a profound statement. It connects “hope” to mankind’s eternal inheritance. It requires us to reflect on a host of intersecting teachings. This Chapter will explore these profound implications.
The verse appears within an editorial aside by Moroni as he translated the Jaredite record. Moroni translated the Book of Ether from the 24 gold plates his father left him. He inserted this verse and the surrounding dialogue as an addition to the record. The dialogue is between Moroni and Christ, and in this particular verse he recounts a promise made to him by Christ. Moroni “remembers” what Christ has promised, and reiterates the Lord’s promise. It is the clarity of the promise from Christ to Moroni that makes this verse of such great value. Nowhere else does Christ make the link between “hope” and the afterlife so clear. We will explore that link in this Chapter.
It is apparent Christ is the one who prepares an afterlife for mankind. Because of His atonement, He has made it possible for us to return to life through the resurrection. He has also made it possible for us to receive a “house” in the afterlife. The reference to a “house for man” suggests a kind of homecoming will happen in the afterlife. It suggests mankind will have a home, provided by Christ, when they leave this life. It is comforting.
Beyond a simple “house,” however, the verse goes on to tell us there are “mansions” belonging to the “Father.” Mankind may also receive an inheritance there. The “mansions” are plural, meaning there are different sorts of “mansions” which can be obtained, and not a single “mansion” for everyone. Whatever the sort of mansion given, they are all made available through Christ. This word “mansions,” in addition to “house” is even more comforting. There are good “houses” and there are better “houses” available. Plurality suggests diversity. “Mansions” suggests the afterlife will be varied for mankind, and not everyone will reside in the same place or condition. Some will be better than others.
God has never given instruction, commandments or revelations to guide mankind to receive a Telestial or Terrestrial glory. All that He commands is intended to exaltmankind. As you review Christ’s teachings, keep in mind He is telling us about the Celestial pathway and the final, exaltation of mankind. He is not telling us how to attain some lesser state. Although “few there be that find it,” as we shall see else-where in this book. (See also 3 Ne. 14: 14, 3 Ne. 27: 33, D&C 132: 22, Matt 7: 14 and JST Matt 7: 23.)
When one thinks of “the Father” in eternity, He is associated with power, glory and dominion. He is most often mentioned in connection with a throne. The Father presides over all, and made possible the creation itself. Not only that, He has continued to sustain creation from dissolving back into chaos by using his power to preserve us from moment to moment. As King Benjamin put it, He “created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another.” (Mosiah 2: 21.) Even Christ said, when mortal, “I can of mine own self do nothing.” (John 5: 30.) When we see the Father mentioned, we should think of Him who makes all things possible. It is He whose glory, might and dominion defy all description.
The use of “mansions” for mankind, which will be alongside or among the dwelling place of the Father, suggests we will be welcomed to live with Him. For anyone to be able to endure life in such a setting suggests they will be given access to similar power, glory and dominion. More importantly, both “house” and “mansions” suggest a family. The purpose of such structures is always to house a family. Therefore, use of these words implies all those receiving such an inheritance will be a part of the family of God; His sons and daughters, living in a family relationship. It suggests an intimacy with the Father in the afterlife, which makes this future state something to be cherished. We will be more than just a temporary houseguest. The occupants will keep these mansions, because they have been prepared for them. They will be a part of the family of God. This strongly suggests adoption covenants, marriage covenants, and genealogical connections with Him which would make such an intimate relationship possible.
Overarching this process of inheritance, however, is the language in Christ’s promises about “hope.” The words “more excellent hope” are powerful words. Hope is one of the three bedrock virtues: faith, hope and charity. A “more excellent hope” suggests a qualitative hopefulness, something of a higher sort. We need to determine how anyone can gain hope which is “more excellent.”
The verse includes this wonderful phrase on hope: “man must hope, or he cannot receive.” That phrase is so filled with significance, I have written it in the front of my scriptures. What a delightful link between something within us, to something without. It is a link between our future inheritance, and a present expectation. It is a link between looking forward now, to a reality to come. We see the wonderful intangibility of a present day thought linked to what is to become concrete in the future.
“Hope,” particularly as it is used here, is not well understood. We sometimes view it as a weak virtue; something of a wisp, a phantom. But in this context it is much more. It is a concrete assurance, based upon a promise or covenant.
“Hope” comes from knowing the Lord has promised a person something. As the Lord has assured us, He does not make and then break promises. When He promises something, He will deliver it. As He has said in D&C 1: 38: “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled.” Anyone who receives a promise from Him has an absolute certainty. However, the promises of the Lord are invariably about the future, even if the immediate future. To Abraham, the promise of a son (Gen. 18: 10) preceded Isaac’s birth by many years (Gen. 21: 1–2). To Joseph the promise of his brothers and father bowing to him (Gen. 37: 5–11) was given in a dream many years before he was actually sitting in power in Egypt (Gen. 45: 7–10). From the time of the promise to Moses that Israel would be delivered by his hand (Exo. 8: 10), to the time Israel was delivered out of Egypt (Exo. 12: 31), there were many months, trials, confrontations and difficulties. Between the promise given, and the realization of the promise, there was only “hope.” It was “hope” linked to faith, but hope, nonetheless. This is the kind of “hope” spoken of here. It is not a vague notion, or whimsical possibility. It was trust and confidence springing from a promise given to a person by God. It is something far greater, more profound, more strongly felt, more firmly based than just expectancy from vague desire.
The word “hope” is commonly used to describe unlikely things. We use “hope” to describe what we want the outcome of a contest between the underdog team and the favored team to be. Hope in that context is more of a preference for the outcome. Used in that sense, hope is not based upon anything more than our desire to see the weaker side triumph. Such a preference or desire is not how the word is used in this scripture. As used here, “hope” comes from a promise given by God, and describes the state of mind of the recipient during the time interval after the promise, but before its realization. He or she is in the same position as Abraham was after God’s promise to him prior to Isaac’s birth. They are like Moses after the encounter with the mountainside menorah where God promised him Israel was to be delivered, but before Israel’s actual deliverance had taken place. They are like Joseph when serving Potiphar, knowing God’s promises to him had not yet happened, but certainly would come to pass. This kind of “hope” relies upon the promise as an anchor to their soul. “Hope” means the waiting period. Faith is being tried. But there is every reason to have confidence in the promise because it came from God. Anyone who has the faith to obtain such a promise from God can surely have the faith to trust the promise obtained.
Joseph Smith uses “hope” in a letter which has become a part of the Doctrine and Covenants. As it appears there, Joseph is speaking of the same kind of “hope.” He writes:
And again, what do we hear? Glad tidings from Cumorah! Moroni, an angel from heaven, declaring the fulfilment of the prophets—the book to be revealed. A voice of the Lord in the wilderness of Fayette, Seneca county, declaring the three witnesses to bear record of the book! The voice of Michael on the banks of the Susquehanna, detecting the devil when he appeared as an angel of light! The voice of Peter, James, and John in the wilderness between Harmony, Susquehanna county, and Colesville, Broome county, on the Susquehanna river, declaring themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom, and of the dispensation of the fulness of times!
And again, the voice of God in the chamber of old Father Whitmer, in Fayette, Seneca county, and at sundry times, and in divers places through all the travels and tribulations of this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! And the voice of Michael, the archangel; the voice of Gabriel, and of Raphael, and of divers angels, from Michael or Adam down to the present time, all declaring their dispensation, their rights, their keys, their honors, their majesty and glory, and the power of their priesthood; giving line upon line, precept upon precept; here a little, and there a little; giving us consolation by holding forth that which is to come, confirming our hope! (D&C 128: 20–21, emphasis added.)
The “hope” spoken of here has arisen from a multitude of miraculous events pointing to the reason for hope. He mentions the prior miraculous visits from 1) Moroni, 2) The voice of Christ to the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon, 3) Michael, the archangel, 4) Peter, James and John, who restored Melchizdek Priesthood, 5) God the Father’s voice, 6) Gabriel, another archangel, and finally 7) an unnamed host of angels who were prophets during their mortality and possessed keys during their mortal existence. From among all these were passed to Joseph the keys of the prior dispensations, including all their rights, their honors, their majesty and glory, and the power of their priesthood. These various angelic and Divine visitors had caused Joseph to be “consoled” by “holding forth that which is to come.” Meaning they had given him reason to believe in the promises which have been given. These experiences had the effect of “confirming [his] hope.”
This, then, is the context in which “hope” is used in this verse. It is a lively expectation, based upon the witness from heaven, promising a thing shall surely be. It is because of a person’s confidence in God’s promise to them they enjoy this kind of “hope.” Joseph wrote of “hope” because he has had so many witnesses to him from beyond the veil that his faith was unshakable in the expectation of all the promises to be realized.
“Hope,” involves unshakable faith or confidence. It is the thing Jacob writes about when he records in Jacob 4: 6: “Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope,and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.” The “hope” comes from “many revelations and the spirit of prophecy.” It is based upon “witnesses” coming from beyond the veil to confirm the expectations. It causes faith which is “unshakable,” and can cause mountains to move, trees to bend, and the sea to respond. It is a power within, confirmed by heaven itself, which causes the person to know through their very being that a thing shall surely come to pass. It is “hope” which is powerful, controlling, and causes a thing to come to pass because it is now their right to receive the thing promised. God has conferred that right upon them.
This is not simply a virtue. It is powerful, even controlling. It bends reality as we know it, because it permits a higher power to intervene in the lives of people holding such “hope.” They have the power to seize upon blessings promised to them and bring them down into their lives. It is Godly, because it originates in trust, faith and confidence in God who made the promise.
“Hope” also involves the afterlife. Our expectations for the afterlife are controlled by the faith we acquire here. Some depart this life with the “firm hope” of a glorious resurrection. They have this “hope” because they have made a suitable sacrifice while in this life to obtain the promises here which control the “hope” there. Read again the account of Christ’s visit to the Spirit World following the crucifixion, and pay attention to the role “hope” played in those who were permitted to see Him there:
I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great. And there were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality; And who had offered sacrifice in the similitude of the great sacrifice of the Son of God, and had suffered tribulation in their Redeemer’s name. All these had departed the mortal life, firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection, through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. I beheld that they were filled with joy and gladness, and were rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance was at hand. They were assembled awaiting the advent of the Son of God into the spirit world, to declare their redemption from the bands of death. Their sleeping dust was to be restored unto its perfect frame, bone to his bone, and the sinews and the flesh upon them, the spirit and the body to be united never again to be divided, that they might receive a fulness of joy. While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful. (D&C 138: 11–18, emphasis added.)
The qualifying power within these spirits was their “firm hope” at their deaths. They departed mortality holding a “firm hope” of a glorious resurrection. As a result, they are among those whose “confidence waxes strong in the presence of God” because they feel they belong there. (D&C 121: 45.) They know it is their right. They know this because God has promised it. They got this hope by the kind of lives they lived. They are the ones “who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality; And who had offered sacrifice in the similitude of the great sacrifice of the Son of God.” From this, they obtain the required “hope.”
It is clear the “hope” which controls destiny is a power. It is something greater than a vague desire. It seizes upon and opens up opportunities from God. It is a power from heaven, merited from obedience, given by the grace of God, and gives rise to a covenant which is assured to the recipient. All those having this firm “hope” can seize upon this power and obtain blessings from heaven.
Whatever we hope to receive in the next life must come to us through this process. Whether it is something as concrete as a family relationship or as vague as an expectation, all things in the next life are secured to us only through this kind of promise or hope. It is sometimes referred to as “the Holy Spirit of promise.” For example, in D&C 132: 7 we read: “And verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this law are these: All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into andsealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, …by revelation …are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead.” (Emphasis added.) This is how the power of “hope” is given to men and women. They have obtained, through the “Holy Spirit of promise,” the knowledge they are entitled to receive these associations or expectations in the life to come. The promises are theirs. They have the word of God given to them that they will receive these things. As a result they have “hope” for the next life and can depart this life firm in that hope.
In D&C 132: 8 we read: “And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife, and make a covenant with her for time and for all eternity, if that covenant is not by me or by my word, which is my law, and is not sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, through him whom I have anointed and appointed unto this power, then it is not valid neither of force when they are out of the world, because they are not joined by me, saith the Lord, neither by my word; when they are out of the world it cannot be received there, because the angels and the gods are appointed there, by whom they cannot pass; they cannot, therefore, inherit my glory; for my house is a house of order, saith the Lord God.” (D&C 132:18, emphasis added.) The sealing of these things through the Holy Spirit of promise must come in mortality. When people “are out of the world it cannot be received there.” For this hope is to be gained in mortality as a gift of faith to empower the recipient to be able to claim it in the next life. Mortality is the time and place for obtaining faith and hope. When out of this life, the season for faith has passed, and the opportunity for hope has ended. It cannot be developed there.
The heirs of exaltation are identified in D&C 76: 53 as those “who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true.” (Emphasis added.) Although we speak of “faith,” it is based upon actual knowledge. That kind of knowledge is only obtained through faith great enough for the person to personally receive a promise from God, confirmed through the Holy Spirit of promise, assuring them they are to receive what has been promised them.
The Sixth Lecture on Faith tells us how this kind of faith is gained. It requires someone to go through this process:
This description is akin to the language in Section 138, above, describing the lives of those who met Christ in the Spirit World. They “had had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality; And who had offered sacrifice in the similitude of the great sacrifice of the Son of God.” (D&C 138: 12–13.) It is all one. However described, holy men and women use the same concepts to speak of what they know to be true.
There is a direct relationship between “faith, hope and charity.” Faith comes from obedience and sacrifice. Hope comes from the promise given to a person by God which their faith has secured for them. And charity comes as those holding faith and receiving hope seek to have all others share in the same promises. The greatest gift you can give to another is eternal life. All those who have such a promise from God want everyone else to have a similar promise for themselves. They teach, preach, exhort and write to share with everyone else that same opportunity. They understand how rare a thing it is to bring a soul to salvation. They are not interested in merely making a bad person good, or a good person better. Nor are they content to move souls from a Telestial destiny to a Terrestrial destiny. Those who have such promises for themselves long, hope, pray and preach to bring every other soul back to God to dwell with Him in Celestial glory. They seek the eternal life of all mankind. They participate with God in His great work. They join Christ in His great declaration: “For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him. And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance. And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth! Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people. And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!” (D&C 18: 11–16.) It is a rare thing when any person acquires the firm hope of a glorious resurrection, secured through the voice of the Father, declared by the Holy Spirit of promise. The wonder is that it happens at all. But it does. And for those to whom such hope has come, they want all others to receive the same promise.
Joseph Smith, who had such a hope in him, spoke openly of these things. He wanted all mankind to be exalted. To some extent we have quieted our voices on this subject, and must raise them again. We are not a part of Historic Christianity. We have a better hope. We offer a far greater understanding of God’s plan for mankind. We cannot be content in merely becoming part of mainstream Christianity. The Restoration was not intended only to create another denomination. The world had enough of those already. The Telestial and Terrestrial estates are available to mankind without the Restoration. Unless we offer exaltation, we offer nothing.
The Restored Gospel requires too high a price to ever succeed as a popular, mainstream church. In turn, it offers too great a reward to merely be another Christian denomination. Any attempt to make it just another Christian faith would be disastrous. Such a change would reduce activity among members, lose potential converts and reduce Church economic strength. Because of tithing, a lay ministry, and the obligation to hold callings and teach each other, devotion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cannot be undertaken with the same kind of lukewarm attention popular mainstream Christian churches allow. The programs of the Church fail, inactivity soars, and conversions stop when the Church does not distinguish itself as a new, authentic restoration of an ancient Gospel, in direct conflict with false traditions gripping modern Christianity. The Restored Gospel is necessarily radical. Unless its message is kept radical it cannot survive. As soon as it is tempered, dumbed-down or diluted from its revolutionary origin, it ceases to attract converts and command devotion. Furthermore, it will never be able to hold onto its members when its radical message is abandoned. The Gospel of Christ is necessarily combative. When it is restructured to become another mainstream Christian church, it ceases to have a reason to exist. Unless it offers something entirely unique, it has no purpose. This imposes a continuing obligation to preach the message of a new, authentic and unique return of Gospel authority, power, and revelation. It must not only proclaim its unique position, but must also defend the proposition that it alone offers the means of salvation. Without the claim of exclusive right to practice the ordinances and teach the doctrines of salvation for mankind, the Gospel lacks any purpose for existing. If others offer as much, then there is no need for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to exist.
In this verse we see how the great plan of happiness is one consistent whole; all one. In just a few words, the author takes us to faith and hope, with the necessary corollary of charity with just a brief statement. “Man must hope or he cannot receive.” Hope comes from faith. When men have obtained “hope” for themselves, they want that hope to be shared by men and women everywhere. Concern for the salvation of others lies at the foundation of charity.
If you do not have a “firm hope” within you, secured by the Holy Spirit of promise, given you by God, then this verse should awaken your desire. It should rally you. Jacob hoped his preaching would cause us to “arouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may awake from the slumber of death;” and repent. (Jacob 3: 11.) Joseph Smith was similarly hoping to exalt others. We cannot be content with less.
The commandments from God are given to mankind to exalt us. They are not burdens, but privileges. He does not expect any of us to follow another man. He expects all of us to follow Him. To the extent you hear His voice in the words of His prophets and apostles, you are hearing Him. Follow Him, and not men. Any man who would want you to follow him will lead you to hell anyway. Secure from Him a promise of your own mansion, your own exaltation. Become His sons and daughters.
May we all receive such “hope” for the next life. Man must hope, or he cannot receive an inheritance with the Father. This verse is a shout of joy for all who are willing to hear it.