Foreordained of God

I Was Ordained to This Very Calling

Introduction

The Lord Jesus Christ called Joseph Smith as a prophet to prepare the way for His coming in glory. Joseph Smith’s life is a testimony to the reality of that calling. “I was called of my Heavenly Father to lay the foundation of this great work and kingdom in this dispensation,₁ and testify of His revealed will to scattered Israel.”₂

“This ‘dispensation’” is our time—the time prophesied when God will “gather . . . all things in Christ.”₃ Ancient prophets foretold a final gospel dispensation and prophesied of Joseph Smith, who would lead it. Jesus Christ₄ and His prophets Moses,₅ Moroni,₆ and Joseph of Egypt₇ are just a few that spoke of a great prophet to come.

Joseph Smith was foreordained₈ by God to restore His work from all previous dispensations. “Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world,” taught Joseph Smith, “was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council₉ of heaven before this world was. I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that Grand Council.”₁₀

Quotes

Joseph Smith Quotes

“The work of the Lord in these last days, is one of vast magnitude and almost beyond the comprehension of mortals. . . . It is truly the dispensation of the fullness of times, when all things which are in Christ Jesus, whether in heaven or on the earth, shall be gathered together in Him, and when all things shall be restored, as spoken of by all the holy prophets since the world began; for in it will take place the glorious fulfilment of the promises made to the fathers, while the manifestations of the power of the Most High will be great, glorious, and sublime” (History of the Church, 4:185).

“Whenever men can find out the will of God and find an administrator legally authorized from God, there is the kingdom of God; but where these are not, the kingdom of God is not” (History of the Church, 5:259).

Witnesses

Brigham Young, Second President of the Church, 1847–1877

“It was decreed in the counsels of eternity, long before the foundations of the earth were laid, that he, Joseph Smith, should be the man, in the last dispensation of this world, to bring forth the word of God to the people” (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe (1954), 108).

Joseph F. Smith, Sixth President of the Church, 1901–1918

“I come nearer the possession of the actual knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, through the testimony of Joseph Smith[,] . . . that he saw Him, that he heard Him” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. (1939), 495).

Gordon B. Hinckley, 15th President of the Church, 1995–2008

“I know that he [Joseph Smith] was foreordained to a mighty work to serve as an instrument of the Almighty in bringing to pass a restoration of the work of God of all previous dispensations of time” (in Susan Easton Black and Charles D. Tate, eds., Joseph Smith: The Prophet, the Man (1993), 11).

Questions

What do we mean when we say Joseph Smith was a prophet of God?

Joseph Smith was a prophet in the same way that Moses, Isaiah, or Paul were prophets—God spoke directly to Joseph just as He did to the ancient prophets. Then Elder Wilford Woodruff said of Joseph Smith: “He had to be taught, not by man nor by the will of man, but he required the angels of God to come forth and teach him; it required the revelations of God to teach him” (Deseret News, Nov. 26, 1873, 676; see also Doctrine and Covenants 13; 110; 128:20–21).

Was the mission of Joseph Smith foretold in ancient scripture?

Yes. Among the ancient prophets who foresaw the mission of Joseph Smith were Isaiah, who foretold the deliverance of a book to one who is “not learned” (see Isaiah 29:10–14; see also Joseph Smith—History 1:64–65); Ezekiel, who referred to this same book as “the stick of Joseph” (see Ezekiel 37:15–19); and Joseph of Egypt, who prophesied of a “choice seer” who would bring this record to light (see Joseph Smith Translation, Genesis 50:24–33; 2 Nephi 3:6–15).

Readings

Online Resources at ChurchofJesusChrist.org

Doctrine and Covenants 27:5–14
Doctrine and Covenants 135:3
2 Nephi 3:7–18
“Heavenly Tutors Were Sent to Joseph”—in “Chapter 1: Joseph Smith: First President of the Church,” Presidents of the Church Student Manual (Church Educational System Manual, 2004), 8
“Many Angels Visited Joseph Smith”—in “Chapter 1: Joseph Smith: First President of the Church,” Presidents of the Church Student Manual (Church Educational System Manual, 2004), 7
“Prelude to the Restoration”—Church History in the Fulness of Times Student Manual (Church Educational System Manual, 2003), 1–13

Online Resources at BYU

“Parting the Veil: The Visions of Joseph Smith”—Alexander L. Baugh, BYU Studies, vol. 38, no. 1 (1999), 22–69. Survey of Joseph Smith’s visions using the accounts of Joseph and others.

Sources

A gospel dispensation is a period of time in which the Lord has at least one authorized servant on the earth who bears the keys of the holy priesthood. Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, and others have each started a new gospel dispensation. When the Lord organizes a dispensation, the gospel is revealed anew so that the people of that dispensation do not have to depend on past dispensations for knowledge of the plan of salvation. The dispensation begun by Joseph Smith is known as the “dispensation of the fulness of times” (Guide to the Scriptures, “Dispensation,” scriptures.ChurchofJesusChrist.org).
History of the Church, 5:516.
Ephesians 1:10; see also Doctrine and Covenants 27:13.
See 3 Nephi 21:9–11.
See Moses 1:40–41.
See Mormon 8:1–16, 23–25; Ether 5:1–4.
2 Nephi 3:7.
Callings given by Heavenly Father to His children to come to earth at a specific time and place to help with His work in a particular way (see Gospel Principles, 378–79).
The meeting in heaven in which Heavenly Father announced the plan of salvation and chose Jesus Christ as our Redeemer (see Gospel Principles, 377).
History of the Church, 6:364.