Lessons on the Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ and His Apostles
Lesson No. Forty-Six
The Teachings of Peter and the Preaching of the Gospel to the Dead
The teachings of Peter prompted the vision of the gospel being preached to the dead – A most remarkable vision (recorded in D&C 138) was given to President Joseph F. Smith on October 3, 1918. It came to him as he was “pondering over the scriptures” (Vs 2). “I opened the Bible and read the third and fourth chapters of the first epistle of Peter, and as I read I was greatly impressed, more than I had ever been before, with the following passages” (Vs 6). He then quoted 1 Peter 3:18-20 and 1 Peter 4:6 about the redemption of the dead. (See Vs 7-10). Latter day revelation has greatly expanded our knowledge about the preaching of the gospel in the spirit world and the redemption of the dead.
Redeeming the dead is the responsibility of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on this side of the veil – It is very likely that He taught the doctrine of the redemption of the dead during His resurrected ministry among His apostles, as recorded in the New Testament, and to the Nephites, as recorded in 3 Nephi 11 – 28 or practiced by them during the following centuries as described in 4 Nephi 1. However, any work for the redemption of dead in New Testament times (see 1 Corinthians 15:29, 1 Peter 3:18-20, 4:6) or among the Nephites was very limited in time and place.
In our dispensation the Lord has revealed doctrine concerning the redemption of the dead that has never been revealed before. A wonderful example of this is the doctrine revealed in D&C 138. Children in our dispensation understand things that have been “kept hidden from the wise and prudent” in prior dispensations (D&C 128:18).
Furthermore, the Lord has provided modern technology, communications, and transportation to overcome the limitations of the past and to rapidly move His work forward throughout the earth.
Redeeming the dead is the responsibility of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the other side of the veil – The doctrine revealed to President Joseph F. Smith recorded in D&C 138 was more fully expounded by his son, President Joseph Fielding Smith, at the funeral of Elder Richard L. Evans which can be found in the Ensign for December 1971. President Smith’s sermon is short, but what he said is another one of the great doctrinal sermons given in this dispensation:
“Brother Evans has been taken by the Lord to another field of labor, where his great talents will be multiplied a hundred-fold; where he will continue to use them in the furtherance of the Lord’s work; and where they are now needed even more than they were here among us….
“And may I say for the consolation of those who mourn, and for the comfort and guidance of all of us, that no righteous man is ever taken before his time. In the case of the faithful Saints, they are simply transferred to other fields of labor. The Lord’s work goes on in this life, in the world of spirits, and in the kingdoms of glory where men go after their resurrection….
“The church on earth has lost the services of one of its most able and competent leaders who was endowed with special talents and abilities which are seldom equaled. But the same Church, which has an even more perfect and effective organization among the righteous dead, has gained another pillar of strength to use in the great labors that are performed there….”
The work of redeeming the dead is correlated on both sides of the veil – President Spencer W. Kimball received a very significant revelation on the priesthood on June 1, 1978. (See Official Declaration – 2) In a sermon entitled All are Alike unto God Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained the importance of this revelation. He said it was of “tremendous import and of eternal significance” because it “affects our missionary work and all of our preaching to the world. This affects our genealogical research and all of our temple ordinances. This affects what is going on in the spirit world because the gospel is preached in the spirit world preparatory to men’s receiving the vicarious ordinances which make them heirs to salvation and exaltation….We correlate and combine our activities and do certain things for the salvation of men while we are in mortality, and then certain things are done for the salvation of men while they are in the spirit world awaiting the day of the resurrection.”
We live at the most wonderful time in all of history – In the past new dispensations of the gospel were needed because the previous dispensation fell into apostacy. Ours will not. This knowledge that there will not be a general apostasy in our dispensation is a wonderful blessing. What this means is, that while there may be individual apostasy, if we stay in the mainstream of the Church and follow the prophet our future in this life and the next is certain and secure.