Sunday, February 23, 2020

Janne Sjodahl and George Reynolds on Revelation 10 as a Prophecy of the Book of Mormon


In Janne M. Sjodahl and George Reynolds, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 4, we find the following purported prophecy of the Book of Mormon from chapter 10 of the book of Revelation. I have not encountered any LDS before appealing to this text. Note: I do not believe this is a legitimate interpretation of the text; In reproducing it here as it is an example of LDS appeals to the book of Revelation in their apologetic works (so more out of interest):

A Little Book Open

Turning, now, to the great prophetic book of the New Testament, the Revelation by John, we pause at the tenth chapter.

In the preceding chapter John saw the countries where the church of our Lord was first established swept as with a besom of destruction, because of the general apostasy. The children of men were destroyed by the terrible weapons of the invading hordes, but the rest of the men, which were not killed, "yet repented not," but continued to worship "idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood." Naturally, the question arose in the mind of the seer, What about the church? Is this the end of it? Was the glorious structure that was filled with the Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost to be destroyed in a flood of apostasy and carnage? In answer to such questions, John received the wonderful vision recorded in chapter ten.

In this vision, John saw a mighty angel, or messenger, come from heaven. This messenger was clothed with a cloud. A cloud was, in the Mosaic dispensation, the visible sign of the presence of God, as on Mount Sinai. John, therefore, by this symbol, was given to understand that the messenger he saw was surrounded by the divine influence, as was Moses on the Mount. There was a rainbow upon or over his head. That was the visible symbol of the covenant of God with Noah. His face was, as it were, the sun. Christ is the "sun of righteousness," and his glory was reflected in the countenance of the messenger, as was the glory of Jehovah in the face of Moses, when he came from the divine presence. His feet were as "pillars of fire." This is, most probably, an allusion to the temple service. Outside the temple of Solomon there were two pillars, called Boaz and Jachin, from each of which chains, in all probability, extended into the interior of the temple, if that is what Paul alludes to ( Heb. 6:19), when he speaks of our hope as an "anchor," or chain, which "entereth into that within the veil." This messenger, therefore, comes with the power and authority of all the dispensations of former ages—that of Noah, the Mosaic, and that of the meridian of time, and, in addition, the last dispensation with its temple service.
Furthermore, this messenger had in his hand a "little book open." Fortunately, the explanation of this prophetic language is given in the Doctrine and Covenants. We read:
"What are we to understand by the little book which was eaten by John, as mentioned in the tenth chapter of Revelation? We are to understand that it was a mission and an ordinance for him to gather the tribes of Israel; behold, this is Elias, who, as it is written, must come and restore all things." ( D&C 77:14)

According to this, the messenger John saw, was, or represented, the Elias who was to come and restore all things, and Parley P. Pratt, in his Key to Theology, p. 70, tells us that the Prophet Joseph was the Elias, the Restorer, the Presiding Messenger, holding the keys of the dispensation of the fulness of times * * * to prepare the way of the Lord. If, then, the Prophet Joseph was the messenger described in the vision of John, and the little book was his "mission and ordinance" to gather the tribes of Israel, which mission was committed to him by Moses in the Kirtland Temple (D&C 110-11), the great latter-day work of which the coming forth of the Book of Mormon was the beginning, is foretold in this chapter with all the clearness that prophetic language can convey. There is no clearer prophecy in all the Bible.

In a communication to a Rochester paper, dated Jan. 4, 1833, the Prophet Joseph, speaking of the Book of Mormon, says in part:

"By it we learn that our Western Indians are descendants of that Joseph who was sold into Egypt, and that the land of America is a promised land unto them, and unto it all the tribes of Israel will come, with as many of the Gentiles as shall comply with the requirements of the new covenants. But the tribes of Judah will return to old Jerusalem. The city of Zion, spoken of by David in the 102nd Psalm, will be built upon the land of America, 'and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads' ( Isa. 35:10), and then they will be delivered from the overflowing scourge that shall pass through the land. But Judah shall obtain deliverance at Jerusalem. See Joel 2:32 ; Isa. 26:20-1 ; Jer. 31:12 ; Ps. 1:5 ; Ezek. 34:11-13 ." (Hist. of the Church, Vol. 1, p. 315)

From which it is clear that the Book of Mormon is very much a book of gathering of the children of Israel.

The messenger with his little book "set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth." Remember that in the days of John the geography of the world was not what it is today. At that time it was thought that all beyond the western coast of the Old World was water. That the messenger was standing upon the sea and the earth means, in modern language, that he was standing on both hemispheres, the eastern and the western; that is, in other words, he was delivering a message in which all the world was concerned. That his right foot was on the sea and his left on the earth may indicate that he came from the western hemisphere, or that his message was first heard there.

John heard the message this angel had to deliver. It was that there should be no more "time" now; that is, no more delay, but that, as soon as the seventh angel begins to sound, "the mystery of God shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants, the prophets." (vv. 5-7) That is, his message was that the time has now come for the completion of the plan of salvation—God's mystery (1 Cor. 2:7 ;1 Cor. 15:51Eph. 5:32 ; Col. 1:26 ; 1 Tim. 3:16)—by the establishment of the kingdom of God, as promised through the holy prophets.

At the time this messenger appeared, seven thunders were heard (v. 14) John was not permitted to write what they uttered, but that they were messages concerning wars and other calamities is more than likely. These thunders, in all probability, began rolling with our own Civil War. Such calamities we certainly are led to expect as signs or indications that the second advent is near at hand.

John was told (v. 9) to "eat," that is to say, to read, or, as we should say, to "digest" the contents of, the little book. He did so, and found it sweet in his mouth. But the sweetness was mixed with bitterness (v. 10), which expression may indicate that the seer was given to understand that the acceptance of the Message of the angel would be accompanied by bitter struggles, and even martyrdom, among the faithful Saints.

The chapter closes with the assurance that the coming of that mighty messenger begins a new prophetic era in the history of the world; for that is the evident purport of the words of the angel: "Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings."

Every detail in this prophetic pen-picture is easily recognized in the life-work of the Prophet Joseph and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. It is as plain as if the name itself had been written across the sacred page.