Commenting
on this verse, Stephen Robinson and H. Dean Garrett, in vol. 3 of their A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants,
wrote the following, proposing that the “one mighty and strong” is none other
than Jesus himself in his eschatological role:
7. One
mighty and strong. See Commentary on Doctrine and Covenants 36:1. It should
be noted that in the Old Testament "the mighty One of Israel" is
distinctly and exclusively Jehovah, or the premortal Jesus Christ (Isaiah 1:24;
see also 1 Nephi 22:12; D&C 36:1). Psalm 24:8 uses the title "strong
and mighty" for Jehovah (see also Psalm 89:6, 8), while Doctrine and
Covenants 65:1 refers to Christ as "mighty and powerful." Jehovah, or
Christ, is called "the mighty God of Jacob" (Genesis 49:24),
"the mighty God" (Isaiah 9:6; 10:21; 28:2–17), "a mighty and
strong one" (Isaiah 28:2), "mighty in strength" (Job 9:4), and
one who "goes forth in mighty power" (Mosiah 13:34). Dozens of additional
examples might be cited to support the identification of the archetypical
"one mighty and strong" as the Lord Jesus Christ, for there is none
mightier or stronger than he. Moreover, it is Jesus, the millennial king, who
will "hold the scepter" (v. 7; see also D&C 106:6; Numbers 24:17;
Hebrews 1:8), whose "mouth utters eternal words" (D&C 85:7; see
also Psalm 78:2; Matthew 13:35), and who is described as "a fountain"
in scripture (v. 7; see also Jeremiah 2:13; 17:13; Zechariah 13:1; Ether 8:26).
More telling, however, is the identification
of "the one mighty and strong" here in Doctrine and Covenants 85 as
Jesus Christ. A comparison of verses 7–9 and their parallels elsewhere shows
that the coming of "one mighty and strong" is described in section 85
in precisely the same language used elsewhere to describe the coming of Christ
(see also Joseph Smith–Matthew 1:53–54).
The idea proposed by some that the "one
mighty and strong" is some intermediary character who will arrive prior to
the second coming of the Savior in order to straighten out the Church is
incorrect. This is a distortion that persists only because it allows dissidents
to envision the Church as presently in need of correction—and to declare
themselves or someone else as the "one mighty and strong" called to
steady the ark. But verse 8 makes it clear that the ark needs no one to steady
it, just as it reveals the fate of any who may try. No one may steady this ark
until the coming of Jesus Christ, the One Mighty and Strong, who will settle
all accounts, right every wrong, and reward all his faithful Saints at his
glorious coming. As a First Presidency message on this topic issued in 1905 and
reprinted in 1907 stated very firmly: "Certainly this prophecy does not
allude in any way to any President of the Church, past, present, or to
come."(Clark, Messages of the First
Presidency, 4:107–20; see also Improvement
Era, Oct. 1907, 928–29, 933, 939–42.) Thus, it would be impossible to
interpret the coming of "one mighty and strong" as a change in LDS
Church leadership prior to the second coming of Christ.
Still, though the Savior himself is the
archetypical "one mighty and strong," when the Savior does come, he
will establish an administration over his kingdom, and in that day whoever he
appoints to act with his authority will also, by extension, be "mighty and
strong." In this sense—as an extension of Christ himself—a millennial
presiding bishop might also be referred to as "one mighty and
strong."
On D&C
36:1 (in vol. 1 of the 4-vol set), the authors provide the following
commentary:
1. The Mighty One of Israel. This is one
of the titles of Jehovah in the Old Testament and early Book of Mormon (see
Isaiah 1:24; 30:29; 1 Nephi 22:12), an equivalent phrase to the one
"strong and mighty," who is also Jesus Christ (Psalm 24:8; see also
Psalm 89:6–8, 13). "The mighty one," or the "mighty God,"
or the God with a "mighty hand" or "strong hand" are all
common designations for Jehovah-Christ in the ancient scriptures (see Genesis
49:24; Joshua 14:11; Isaiah 9:6; 10:21; 28:2–17; Mosiah 13:34). He was and is
the Lord of Hosts, Jehovah, the Mighty God of Israel.
The identification of the "one mighty and strong" as the person of the Lord Jesus Christ makes much more sense than many of the other proposals (most of them false prophets who rebelled against the LDS Church) over the years.