D&C 133-134 - The Coming of Christ

Unshaken Saints

Jared Halverson

Religion & Spirituality, Education

5 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2025

⏱️ 103 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If the Doctrine and Covenants is the capstone of the Restoration, how does it conclude? It ends with a booming warning and an urgent political declaration. D&C 133 provides the final marching orders for the Church: prepare for Christ's return. Summary: In this episode, we analyze the urgent call to action in the Appendix (D&C 133) and the foundational principles of religious liberty (D&C 134). D&C 133: The Prophetic Appendix. This section is a restatement of the urgent warnings in D&C 1. The Lord commands the Saints to "prepare ye, prepare ye" and to "go ye out from Babylon" to avoid the destruction of the last days. This involves the call to "be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord." We explore the magnificent, yet terrifying, description of the Second Coming: Christ, "mighty to save," descending with "dyed garments"—red from having "trodden the wine-press alone"—a powerful symbol of both judgment and sacrificial love. The section concludes with the tender reassurance that "in all their afflictions he was afflicted." D&C 134: Church & State. Written in 1835, this declaration defines the Church's stance on civil governance, reflecting the persecution the Saints had endured. Government's Role: We believe governments are "instituted of God for the benefit of man" and should secure the "free exercise of conscience," property rights, and the protection of life. Freedom of Conscience: The central principle is clear: civil magistrates should "restrain crime, but never control conscience; should punish guilt, but never suppress the freedom of the soul." We advocate for a separation of Church and State, believing it is not right to "mingle religious influence with civil government" in a way that fosters one religion while suppressing another. Painful Compromises: We discuss the difficult historical context of verse 12, where the Church states it will "not interfere with bond-servants," revealing the painful compromises sometimes necessary in a fallen world to secure peace and the higher goal of preaching the gospel. Call-to-Action: What aspect of "Babylon" are you striving to leave behind this week? What does it mean to you to "be ye clean"? Share your commitment in the comments! If this message helped you feel Christ's love in your afflictions, please like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay "Unshaken" in your faith. Chapter Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 9:56 Be Prepared 25:27 Leaving Babylon 38:50 The Shortest Verse in All Scripture 46:59 Robes of Reminding Red 1:00:17 The Role of Government 1:13:38 Freedom of Religion 1:25:12 Painful Compromises 1:40:46 One-Liners

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, my friends, welcome back. If you're back, that is. And I guess you are since we're talking now,
0:05.5	but I really hope you came back after last week's lesson on Section 132 and the prior sections.
0:11.6	That was a long one. I tried to make it as quick as I could, but two hours is all we could do.
0:17.2	And it was a hard one, especially at the end when we had to talk about plural marriage.
0:21.4	The, I mean, it's honestly, it's interesting because today we're going to only cover two sections,
0:25.8	so breathe easy. It's going to be an easier week on us.
0:29.0	Section 133 and 134, and in some ways, the doctrine and covenants is coming to its close.
0:35.5	Some would say that today is the official end point because
0:39.3	Section 133 is the appendix of the doctrine covenants. It was intended by the Lord to be the end,
0:45.0	the final revelation. We still have revelations beyond it, but those kind of fit differently.
0:50.3	And some might even say that we should have had the appendix one section earlier because section 132 has kind of a tenuous hold in our canon.
0:59.0	It was added later, though revealed by Joseph Smith, but originally it was revealed for private consumption rather than public distribution.
1:08.0	It was a revelation that came at Hiram Smith's request to try to
1:14.0	help Emma Smith understand plural marriage where it was coming from and who was standing behind it
1:19.4	as lawgiver. But some, I mean, it's, again, a tricky thing. Did it need to be canonized
1:25.7	during a period of intense anti-polligamy legislation on the government's part? Does it still need to be canonized during a period of intense anti-apologamy legislation on the
1:28.9	government's part? Does it still need to be canonized today? Could we pick and choose and canonize or
1:35.4	keep canonized the part on celestial marriage and decanonize the part on plural marriage since it no
1:41.7	longer applies? There's controversy there. There is
1:45.4	wrestling on both sides of the issue and there are wonderful people of good faith on both sides
1:51.7	of this that really wrestle with Section 132's place in the canon of Scripture at all.
1:58.4	I hope we don't throw out the baby with the bathwater and eliminate the doctrine of eternal marriage as we're concerned and wrestle with the doctrine
	...

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