Today marks 164 years since Joseph and Hyrum were martyred. The air was muggy and humid, and the roads were turned into mud because of torrential summer rains. A tent capable of shading 5000 saints was in the works when Joseph died. It would have been erected in front of the Nauvoo Temple. Instead, the yards of Russian duck canvas intended for this proposed tent were used to cover the wagons that carried the saints across the plains.
I envy the early saints their access to Joseph. You could ask him anything, and he could then hand over to you an answer, even a written statement, beginning "Thus saith the Lord." There were many such revelations recorded; the cream, the ones with broad application to the Church and the world, made it into the Doctrine and Covenants. As the number of written revelations tapered off, the number of sermons to the saints in Nauvoo rose. Joseph revealed Temple ordinances, premortal existence, the potential for eternal marriage and eternal families, and ultimate exaltation, all in the brief seven year stay in Nauvoo. He mentioned feeling low in spirits to Dan Jones the night before he was martyred: "I would to God that I could preach to the Saints in Nauvoo once more." "Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together" (D&C 50:22).
"For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth" (Heb. 9:17). Why is it that the testimony of the testator is not "of force" until after his death?
I suspect it is because in this life, things are temporary. People can, and have, changed their minds, fallen from the truth, apostatized. This life is like walking a tight rope while Satan throws rotten tomatoes at you. Anyone can fall, especially when pride creeps in. Joseph and Hyrum were consistent in their witness and adherence to what they had learned from God, faithful to death. As Elder Holland recently pointed out, Joseph and Hyrum were still reading the Book of Mormon to comfort themselves in Carthage jail. They were teaching the prison guards about the Book of Mormon shortly before they were killed. The guards became unwilling to cooperate with persecutors of the Prophet and Hyrum.
Once you have died, there is no way to go back and erase your words, retract your statements, or update your stance in the presence of others. That is one edge of the two-edged sword that this sphere of mortal life presents us: That which is bad can be erased and lost, while that which is good can be resurrected and restored to eternal fulness later on, if covenants are kept. The impermanence we bemoan saves us from being permanently chained to our sins. Lehi noted that Adam and Eve were kept from the Tree of Life to prevent such a tragedy.
There was no retraction, no recanting on their part. Joseph and Hyrum accept death over recalling what they had taught, and so became martyrs. The parallels to the life of Jesus are comforting at this distance. Jesus was liberal in His theology, smashing old orthodoxy in a way that aroused violent sympathies in the teachers and learned men of His day; Joseph did too. Jesus' followers recorded His words, which later became scripture; almost everything we have from Joseph was written by scribes. The Temple was of utmost concern to Jesus; Joseph presided over the construction of two Temples, and revealed the actual significance of such structures to the Church.
I do not have the privilege of asking Joseph about life's mysteries, or what lies beyond death in the eternities, but I feel like he has left behind a decent map and compass for the rest of us in the wilderness of eternal ideas. Everything I read from Joseph seems to indicate that he has been where I have been in my spiritual progress, and beyond. You cannot come back from a place where you have not been; Joseph is familiar with the next step, whatever it may be, in my spiritual progress. He has come back from the Mountain, through the Forest, and across the River, like the early trappers who explored the Rockies, filled with guidance for those who will come afterward to those same places. "What is the purpose of life, of the earth? Why was it created? Where do we go when we die?" These and other monumental questions Joseph answered, and answered them satisfactorily. Other religions were bereft of sufficient answers to such fundamental lines of inquiry; Joseph could answer them.
Jesus suffered, died, and was resurrected—how do we benefit from His sacrifice? Joseph's answer was lost in the centuries of apostasy: Faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, were each identified as the steps, the collective way, in which we benefit from His atonement. Not only did Joseph receive these instructions, he also received authority and keys necessary to implement the ordinances. A true and living Church, with living ministers chosen by God and ordained under proper authority.
Why the emphasis on Joseph Smith? Because he emphasized Christ, and reintroduced anyone who would listen to the true and living God. His mission was to testify of Christ, and to restore what the centuries and creeds and apostasy and murderers had combined to squelch: the fulness of Christ's message. Instead of the constant mantra that "the heavens are closed," Joseph taught that anyone can communicate with God, if they are willing to pay the price. Joseph and Hyrum paid that price. Hopefully, we will have he nerve to follow suit, whether in giving up life for God, or living for God.
