Thirty-One (1836)unto God, even the Father. And the Father teacheth him of the covenant
which he [the Father] has renewed [thus making it a “new covenant”] and
confirmed upon you for your sakes, and not for your sakes only, but for the
sake of the whole world.^13In the revelation, the people were taught that this covenant embodied the
“priesthood confirmed upon Aaron...which I now confirm upon you who are present this
day, by mine own voice out of the heavens.”^14 Although Joseph approved the words of the
revelation, and accounted it as being directly from the Lord, the people used their eyes to
read it, but they did not see. They heard Joseph speak the words with their ears, but they did
not understand what this “new covenant” (this “priesthood covenant”) was all about.
“The Lord” left them no excuse for not understanding what this “new covenant”
entailed when he explained to the Saints that because they
treated lightly the things [they] received...the whole church [was] under
condemnation. And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion,
even all. And they [were to] remain under this condemnation until they
repent[ed] and remember[ed] the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon
and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but
to do according to that which I have written.^15Without the Bible and then the Book of Mormon to reiterate and verify what these
words were, people would not have the “word[s] that proceedeth forth from the mouth of
God.”^16 The words of the “new covenant” were not the “old things which were done away,
but all the things that became new.”^17 This “new covenant” is “the fullness of the everlasting
Gospel as delivered by the Savior.”^18 It is the “light of Christ,”^19 or rather, the understanding
that Christ gave to the people when he taught them upon earth. Christ gave the “new
covenant” to both the Jews in the Eastern Hemisphere (the “old world”) and to the Nephites
and Lamanites in the Western Hemisphere (the “new world”). The Book of Mormon was
meant to verify what these words were; thus the “new covenant” is given nearly word for
word in chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew in the Bible and in chapters 12, 13, and 14 of 3
Nephi in the Book of Mormon.
The people were promised forgiveness for their sins if they “remain[ed] steadfast in
[their] minds in solemnity and the spirit of prayer, in bearing testimony to all the world of
those things [“the new covenant”] which are communicated unto you.”^20 Because of the
missionary spirit that overwhelmed the people, they were told to “go ye into all the
world”^21 and share the message of the new covenant in the Book of Mormon. They were
promised that if they did this, and others were baptized for the remission of sins, meaning
that they had made an outward promise of obedience to the words of Christ, then they
would “receive the Holy Ghost. And these signs shall follow them that believe—In my
name they shall do many wonderful works.”^22 Following these words was the most
important part of the commandment, something that the Saints by 1836 had completely
forgotten about, thus bringing upon themselves the condemnation and judgment of the
people of Missouri: