The First Vision

Three hundred miles northwest of New York City is a 100-acre farm that is visited by more than 100,000 people every year.

Why do they choose to come here?

To remember a prayer that was offered 200 years ago. A prayer that has changed their lives. Millions of people trace the roots of their faith to events that took place on this farm, to the questions a young Joseph Smith asked, and the answers God gave.

Joseph Smith’s journey toward the Sacred Grove began in 1816 with a devastating economic crisis. Frosts every month of the year and snowstorms in June killed crop after crop in Vermont, driving food prices up and thousands of poor, broken farmers—including the Smith family—from the state.

In 1818, after several years of crop failures, the Smith family moved from Vermont to Palmyra, New York, seeking greater success in farming. The family spent their first year in the area working to save money to purchase a hundred acres of forested land in Manchester, New York, just south of Palmyra village. As they worked to clear their land, the Smith family lived in a small log home.

Both Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith held strong Christian beliefs. Joseph Sr. felt that the contention he witnessed between all the different religious sects was confusing and unappealing. As a result, Joseph Sr. did not attend any church regularly but led his family in regular prayer and Bible study. Lucy, on the other hand, attended religious meetings in Palmyra, often taking her children with her, eventually joining a Presbyterian congregation. Joseph Jr. grew up seeing his parents’ differing approaches to religion, as well as the religious discord around him, and wanted to know which church was true.

“From the age of twelve years to fifteen,” Joseph Jr. later explained, “I pondered many things in my heart concerning the situation of the world.” Joseph was concerned both with finding forgiveness of his own sins and with the state of the world “respecting the subject of religion.” After “looking at the different systems taught [to] the children of men, I knew not who was right or who was wrong,” Joseph later explained.¹ Determined to find answers to his questions, Joseph sought privacy in the small area recently cleared on his family’s farm, where he could pray aloud for the first time in his young life. There, in that “silent grove,” God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph to answer his questions.

While pondering his questions about what church to attend, and how to find forgiveness of his sins, Joseph heard a sermon in which the preacher quoted James 1:5. He was struck by the promise: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given to him.”² The verse moved Joseph so much that when he went home, he opened the family bible and continued to read and ponder the verse. Joseph felt as though the message had gone directly to his heart, and he realized, that if he wanted answers, he must pray and ask God for help.³

Soon after, Joseph determined that he would pray to God for guidance, Joseph set out to a small grove he’d been clearing in the days previous, where he knew he’d be left alone. There he knelt, determined to obtain the answer to his questions by praying aloud for the first time in his young life. Joseph began to pray, seeking truth, and asking for guidance. Almost as soon as he began his pleadings, a thick darkness gathered around him, and he found it difficult to speak. The sunlight disappeared, and as the darkness, pain, and threat of destruction pressed down on him, he begged God for deliverance.⁴

Just as Joseph began to feel that all hope was lost, a pillar of light poured down upon him, illuminating the forest and casting away the darkness. Joseph was filled with peace as the spirit of God swept in easing his mind and taking away the pain and turmoil. As Joseph looked up into the light, he saw two people descending, God the Father, and his son Jesus Christ.

The Savior told Joseph that all his sins were forgiven and that he should join none of the local churches. He warned Joseph that the churches taught for doctrine “the commandments of men"(Joseph Smith-History 1:19). In time, the Savior said, the fullness of the gospel would be revealed to Joseph. Hosts of angels surrounded the Savior as he spoke, and the pillar of light continued to blaze brighter and brighter. Christ continued to share further truths with Joseph until he eventually declared, “Behold, and lo, I come quickly…clothed in the glory of My Father.”⁵

After Christ and the Father departed, the light faded, and Joseph found himself lying on the forest floor. Even though the light and the presence of God had left, Joseph was still filled with peace and divine love.

Joseph eventually returned home and continued to ponder his experience. The church Joseph was looking for no longer existed on the earth—but the time would soon come when it would be restored, when old prophecies and covenants would begin to be fulfilled. This “first vision” began a series of revelatory experiences which led to the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the establishment of His church in the Latter-days. Joseph Smith shared this experience with others on several occasions and in many situations, consistently sharing his witness that God does reveal Himself to His children.