“An Angel and a Promise,” Liahona, Sept. 2023, United States and Canada Section.
An Angel and a Promise
Moroni’s visit to Joseph Smith 200 years ago launched the work of the Restoration, introduced Joseph to the Book of Mormon, and laid the foundation for Elijah’s return and the work of saving Israel on both sides of the veil.
The Angel Moroni Appears to Joseph Smith, by Tom Lovell
Two hundred years ago, the evenings of September 21 and 23, 1823, formed an important turning point in the unfolding Restoration. On the first evening, an angel, sent from the presence of God, visited Joseph Smith, bringing instructions that would guide him over the next several years. On the later evening, Joseph related the experiences to his family, marking the beginning of his many testimonies about his experiences. Understanding these events from the past can help us be more steadfast disciples of Jesus Christ today.
“Joseph Commenced Telling Us the Great and Glorious Things”
On the evening of September 21, 1823, an angel named Moroni visited 17-year-old Joseph Smith three times throughout the night. The following morning, Moroni appeared a fourth time and guided Joseph to a nearby hill. When Joseph returned home that evening, he was excited and exhausted. He started to relate his experiences, but his family noticed he was tired, so they prepared to gather the next evening when they could “all sit down, and listen to [Joseph].”1
On September 23, Joseph warned his whole family—father, mother, five brothers, and three sisters—that the time had not yet come to share the message with the world, but he could tell them “the great and glorious things which God had manifested to him.”2
During his lifetime, Joseph wrote or oversaw the writing of at least four accounts of the angel’s visit.3 Joseph began most of these accounts by stating that he had fallen into errors and temptations that caused “a wound upon [his] soul” such that he “repented h[e]artily.”4 He explained: “No one need suppose me guilty of any great or malignant sins. A disposition to commit such was never in my nature. But I was guilty of levity, and sometimes associated with jovial company, etc., not consistent with that character which ought to be maintained by one who was called of God as I had been” (Joseph Smith—History 1:28).
Then he described that a sudden “brightness burst into the room” that “produced a shock that affected the whole body.” His first thought was that “the house was filled with consuming fire.” Within the light appeared an angel, who “said the Lord had forgiven me my sins.”5 The angel, a resurrected being and authorized representative of Jesus Christ, had been the last custodian of his people’s records and a witness to the downfall of an ancient American civilization.
“An Angel from On High”
Joseph spoke of this experience many times. Elder Parley P. Pratt (1807–57) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles described a meeting in Ohio when Joseph testified of his visions, and “the Spirit and power of God was upon him in bearing testimony insomuch that many if not most of the congregation were in tears.” Elder Pratt later rhapsodized that “an angel from on high / The long, long silence broke” to reveal a record that “shall again to light come forth / To usher in Christ’s reign on earth.”6
Like Elder Pratt, many people who heard Joseph share his experience connected it with the image from the book of Revelation of an “angel fly[ing] in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth” (Revelation 14:6).
Eight years after Moroni’s first visit, Joseph received a revelation announcing that God had already “sent forth mine angel flying through the midst of heaven” (Doctrine and Covenants 133:36). Oliver Cowdery later declared that the Book of Mormon “contains the everlasting gospel, and came in fulfillment of the revelations of John.”7
Sketch of angel weather vane for Nauvoo Temple by William Weeks, 1846
The weather vane placed atop the Nauvoo Temple depicted an angel with its body extended horizontally as if flying, with a trumpet in one hand and an open book in the other.
Moroni Explained Many of the Prophecies
Moroni’s message to Joseph involved more than the assignment to recover the gold plates. Moroni quoted from Malachi, Isaiah, Joel, and Acts, as well as “many other passages of scripture” (see Joseph Smith—History 1:36–41); and he explained many of the prophecies to Joseph.8 These brief accounts leave us wondering: which other passages, which prophecies, and what were the explanations?
Providing almost three times as many words as Joseph’s longest account about Moroni’s visit, Oliver Cowdery named multiple passages from Deuteronomy, Psalms, Isaiah, and Jeremiah as the basis for a sweeping message about the opening of the heavens, the gathering of Israel, the restoration of divine authority and covenants, and the preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.9
“Line upon Line”
Two of Joseph’s accounts referred to Malachi’s promise that Elijah would return to the earth in the last days (see Malachi 4:5–6).10 Elijah was a prophet who used God’s power to seal the heavens against rain, call down fire from heaven, multiply a widow’s food, and raise a young boy from the dead (see 1 Kings 17–18).
In a process that would come to be a hallmark of the Restoration, Joseph learned increasingly more about Elijah over time, “line upon line, precept upon precept” (2 Nephi 28:30):
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The Book of Mormon includes an account of Jesus sharing Malachi’s prophecy about Elijah (see 3 Nephi 25).
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In August 1830, the Lord revealed to Joseph that Elijah held “the keys of the power of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children” (Doctrine and Covenants 27:9).
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A few months later, another revelation referred to Elijah’s eventual coming (see Doctrine and Covenants 35:4).
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In April 1836, Elijah did appear in the Kirtland Temple, declaring that “the time [had] fully come” for his return, both “to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children” and to commit to Joseph Smith the keys of the sealing authority, which “binds on earth and binds in heaven” (see Doctrine and Covenants 110:14–16; 128:9).
On April 3, 1836, Elijah appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the newly dedicated Kirtland Temple to commit the keys of the sealing authority, which “binds on earth and binds in heaven.”
Elijah Restores the Power to Seal Families for Eternity, by Gary E. Smith
The gift given by Elijah constitutes more than its typical connection to temple and family history work. Joseph taught that “the spirit, power and calling of Elijah is, that ye have power to hold the key of the revelation, ordinances, oracles, powers and endowments of the fullness of the Melchizedek Priesthood and of the kingdom of God on the earth” so as to be able to “perform all the ordinances belonging to the kingdom of God.”11 Or, as Joseph summarized on another occasion, “the covenant which God made with ancient Israel was at hand to be fulfilled.”12
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles observed that the two messages delivered by Moroni—about the Book of Mormon and the coming of Elijah—both “established the doctrinal foundation for the work of salvation and exaltation on both sides of the veil.”13
Build on the Rock of the Lord’s Modern Ministry
Remembering the events of September 1823 is one of the ways that we can build our foundation “upon the rock of our Redeemer” (Helaman 5:12). Heavenly messengers were sent to teach Joseph and restore priesthood keys. We can see the Savior’s dealings with the children of men in the connections between ancient prophecies and in the ongoing revelation of important truths. In relating his sacred experiences, the Prophet Joseph became a powerful modern witness for the living Christ.
Two hundred years later, we see even more clearly that the visits from Moroni bore tremendous historical significance by launching the active work of the Restoration, introducing Joseph to the Book of Mormon, and laying the foundation for Elijah’s return and the broader work of saving Israel on both sides of the veil. Our sacred history connects us to the Savior and is an important modern witness of God’s work of salvation and exaltation.