Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Jacob Nelson: The "Elias" in D&C 110 was Isaac

Jacob  Nelson in his The Seven Stages of Exaltation offered the (novel) thesis that the "Elias" in D&C 110 was Isaac:


The other type of angels are those that are Spiritual Beings, either because they haven’t received bodies yet or shed their bodies through death and haven’t been resurrected yet.

 

Do not be tempted to believe that they are limited because of the lack of a body, as our Savior Jesus Christ created the Heavens and the Earth and ruled as Jehovah: all while in the spirit! We are told that Michael, the great Archangel is actually Adam. We know Noah is Gabriel and that he is next in authority to Adam. Through the temple ordinances we have come to learn that Peter, James, and John are also high ranking angels. Additionally, from the records of the prophet Joseph Smith we know that he was visited by Moroni, John the Baptist, Elijah, and Elias . . . the latter whom likely was the man we know as Isaac from the Old Testament, filling in the role of Abraham who had already received his Exaltation.

 

Admittedly D&C 132:37 states that Isaac and Jacob also have now entered into their Exaltation and become Gods, but it stands to reason that before they were exalted, they would have had part in the restoration of all things in representation of Abraham who was the head of their dispensation of Abraham who was the head of their dispensation. As we don’t know Jsaac’s new name (Abram=Abraham, Isaac=?, Jacob=Israel), this too coincides with the theory that Isaac may well be the Elias from D&C 110:12 which reads, “After this, Elias appeared and committed the dispensation o the gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed.” (Jacob Nelson, The Seven Stages of Life to Exaltation: Our Path to Perfection [Lulu Press, 2022], 78)

 

Further Reading:


"Elias" as a "forerunner" in LDS Scripture