Lesson 87: Doctrine and Covenants 76

Doctrine and Covenants 76:50–70

“Made Perfect through Jesus”

In the vision of the kingdoms of glory seen by Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, we gain understanding about the critical role Jesus Christ plays in the lives of all who will inherit the celestial kingdom. This lesson is intended to help students feel hope that they can receive exaltation through Jesus Christ.

Possible Learning Activities

Is the celestial kingdom obtainable?

Consider sharing the following scenario and discussing the questions that follow. Students will be given a chance to more formally respond to the scenario later in the lesson.

Luke is a young man who has faith in God and does his best to live righteously. He wants to be worthy to live with God after this life. However, Luke recognizes he does not always keep the commandments and that he is far from perfect. Sometimes he gets discouraged because of his weaknesses and thinks it is impossible to qualify for the celestial kingdom.

• How might other teenagers be able to relate to Luke’s feelings?

• What part of his thinking feels accurate or inaccurate? Why?

Invite students to think about their own feelings or questions about being able to return to the presence of God and receive the blessings of exaltation. You may want to explain that exaltation means to dwell eternally with Heavenly Father in the celestial kingdom. The scriptures also refer to this blessing as eternal life.

Encourage students as they study to look for truths that can help them feel greater hope that they and others can receive this blessing through Jesus Christ.

Vision of the celestial kingdom

You might remember that Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon saw a great vision as they worked on their inspired translation of the Bible. As part of this vision, they learned that heaven contained different degrees or kingdoms of glory. In this lesson, we will focus on what Joseph and Sidney learned about the celestial kingdom and those who would inherit it.

To help students prepare to study this portion of the vision, invite them to create a two-column chart with the following headings on a page of their study journal.

How people get to the celestial kingdom	Blessings people in the celestial kingdom receive

Read Doctrine and Covenants 76:50–70 and fill out the chart based on what you learn.

You might invite students to work with a partner to read the verses and complete the chart. You could invite students to ask questions they may have about what they read.

Some of the statements in “Additional Resources” may help in responding to students’ questions.

• What did you find in these verses that was meaningful to you? Why?

• How would you describe the influence Jesus Christ has in the lives of those who inherit the celestial kingdom?

  As part of the discussion of the previous question, be sure students understand the following truth: Through Jesus Christ we can be made perfect and receive the blessings of exaltation.

• What do you think it means to be made perfect through Jesus Christ?

• How can this truth help us feel greater hope that we and others can someday inherit the celestial kingdom?

Hope through Jesus Christ

To help students better understand the hope we all have through Jesus Christ, consider inviting them to study the statements found on the accompanying handout. Invite them to mark phrases that are meaningful to them. Rather than having students read the statement by Elder J. Devn Cornish, you could also consider showing them the video “Am I Good Enough?” (3:28), available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Am I Good Enough?

Hope through Jesus Christ

Why do I need Jesus Christ’s help to become perfected?

Elder J. Devn Cornish of the Seventy shared:

Our members often ask, “Am I good enough as a person?” or “Will I really make it to the celestial kingdom?” Of course, there is no such thing as “being good enough.” None of us could ever “earn” or “deserve” our salvation, but it is normal to wonder if we are acceptable before the Lord, which is how I understand these questions. …

Let me be direct and clear. The answers to the questions “Am I good enough?” and “Will I make it?” are “Yes! You are going to be good enough” and “Yes, you are going to make it as long as you keep repenting and do not rationalize or rebel.” The God of heaven is not a heartless referee looking for any excuse to throw us out of the game. He is our perfectly loving Father, who yearns more than anything else to have all of His children come back home and live with Him as families forever. He truly gave His Only Begotten Son that we might not perish but have everlasting life! Please believe, and please take hope and comfort from, this eternal truth. Our Heavenly Father intends for us to make it! That is His work and His glory. (J. Devn Cornish, “Am I Good Enough? Will I Make It?,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2016, 32–33)

What can I do to be “made perfect through Jesus”?

Sister Carol F. McConkie, formerly of the Young Women General Presidency, taught:

Our hope for holiness is centered in Christ, in His mercy and His grace. With faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, we may become clean, without spot, when we deny ourselves of ungodliness [see Moroni 10:32–33] and sincerely repent. We are baptized by water for the remission of sins. Our souls are sanctified when we receive the Holy Ghost with open hearts. Weekly, we partake of the ordinance of the sacrament. In a spirit of repentance, with sincere desires for righteousness, we covenant that we are willing to take upon us the name of Christ, remember Him, and keep His commandments so that we may always have His Spirit to be with us. Over time, as we continually strive to become one with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, we become partakers of Their divine nature [see 2 Peter 1:4]. (Carol F. McConkie, “The Beauty of Holiness,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 10)

Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

God cares a lot more about who we are and who we are becoming than about who we once were. He cares that we keep on trying. (Dale G. Renlund, “Latter-day Saints Keep on Trying,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2015, 56)

After students have had time to study, invite them to discuss what they learned and felt. One way to do this is to remind them of the scenario from the beginning of the lesson. You could invite them to write a response to Luke that can help him feel hope that he can make it to the celestial kingdom. Invite them to include teachings from Doctrine and Covenants 76, as well as something from one or more of the statements they studied, in their response. Students could then share or summarize their response with a partner, or willing students could share it with the class.

Reflect on what you have learned

Conclude the lesson by giving students time to reflect on what they have learned and felt today. You could display the following questions and give students time to record their responses to them in their study journals:

• What did you learn or feel today that offered you hope through Jesus Christ?

• How might what you learned or felt impact how you want to live your daily life?

Additional Resources

Why do I need Jesus Christ’s help to become perfected?

Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Seventy stated:

Be Perfected in Him

We may have a tendency to think we have to perfect ourselves, but that is not possible. Following every suggestion in every self-help book in the world will not bring it about. There is only one way and one name whereby perfection comes. We are “made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood” [Doctrine and Covenants 76:69]. Our perfection is only possible through God’s grace. (Paul V. Johnson, “Be Perfected in Him,” Liahona, Nov. 2022, 40)

Is there hope for me to obtain exaltation?

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

The Laborers in the Vineyard

However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.

Whether you are not yet of our faith or were with us once and have not remained, there is nothing in either case that you have done that cannot be undone. There is no problem which you cannot overcome. There is no dream that in the unfolding of time and eternity cannot yet be realized. (Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Laborers in the Vineyard,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2012, 33)

Doctrine and Covenants 76:53. What does it mean to be “sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise”?

Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

The Holy Spirit of Promise is the ratifying power of the Holy Ghost. When sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise, an ordinance, vow, or covenant is binding on earth and in heaven. (See D&C 132:7.) Receiving this “stamp of approval” from the Holy Ghost is the result of faithfulness, integrity, and steadfastness in honoring gospel covenants “in [the] process of time” (Moses 7:21). However, this sealing can be forfeited through unrighteousness and transgression. (David A. Bednar, “Ye Must Be Born Again,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2007, 22)

Doctrine and Covenants 76:54. What does it mean to be a member of the “Church of the Firstborn”?

The Church of the Firstborn is “a term describing those who receive the fullness and glory of God the Father in the afterlife” (Glossary, “Church of the Firstborn,” The Joseph Smith Papers, josephsmithpapers.org).

Doctrine and Covenants 76:64–65. What is meant by the “resurrection of the just” or “first resurrection”?

The Resurrection of the just is also known as the “first resurrection” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:64) and includes all those who will inherit the celestial and terrestrial kingdoms (see Doctrine and Covenants 88:96–99). The First Resurrection began when the graves of the righteous were opened after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (see Matthew 27:52–53; Mosiah 15:21–24; 3 Nephi 23:9–10). The Doctrine and Covenants refers to the First Resurrection as the time when the just will come forth from their graves at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (see Doctrine and Covenants 29:13; 45:54; 88:96–99). The Resurrection of the unjust, or the “last resurrection” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:85), will include those who will inherit the telestial kingdom and those who are sons of perdition, and it will occur at the end of the Millennium (see Doctrine and Covenants 76:85; 88:32, 100–102). (Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual [2018], 400)

Supplemental Learning Activities

An alternative way to study verses 51–53

In addition to showing us the help made available by God to become like Him, Doctrine and Covenants 76:51–53 can help us understand the choices of those in the celestial kingdom. You might invite students to read the verses, looking for the choices made by those described in these verses. Then consider inviting students to work with a partner and come up with a more general description of how they see those described in the celestial kingdom living their lives in mortality. Do they envision these people making mistakes? Do they imagine weaknesses associated with how they went about their daily lives?

Doctrine and Covenants 76:53. “Overcome by faith.”

To help students further understand how they can “overcome by faith,” consider asking them what someone might need to overcome. You might point them to Mosiah 3:19 to see what King Benjamin taught about our need to overcome the natural man. Additionally, share with them how President Russell M. Nelson spoke about the importance of overcoming the world. Consider sharing the following statement or another of your choosing from his talk:

How, then, do we overcome the world? King Benjamin taught us how. He said that “the natural man is an enemy to God” and remains so forever “unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord” [Mosiah 3:19]. Each time you seek for and follow the promptings of the Spirit, each time you do anything good—things that “the natural man” would not do—you are overcoming the world. (Russell M. Nelson, “Overcome the World and Find Rest,” Liahona, Nov. 2022, 97)

Consider inviting students to share any examples of good they have done recently that the natural man or woman would not do.