D&C 43 — The Single Channel for Revelation and the Call to Repent
I was roughing out a mortise last Sunday when I noticed the chisel was tracking left. Not by much. Maybe a sixteenth of an inch over the length of the cut. But if I had kept going, the tenon would have been loose in the joint, and I would have had to start over or shim it. I stopped to square the chisel, then cut straight again.
That is the kind of thing you only learn the hard way. You think you are cutting straight. You feel the chisel hit the line. But if you do not stop and check, the error compounds.
D&C 43 is about the same problem at a different scale. The elders were gathering in Kirtland, full of excitement and spiritual energy, and the question was already surfacing: who gets to speak for the Lord? Whose revelation counts as the Church's revelation? The answer the Lord gives in this chapter is direct and it is structural. There is a single appointed channel for commandments that bind the whole body. Everything else is personal, local, or just noise.
Who Receives Commandments for the Whole Church
The opening verses of the chapter are about as clear as scripture gets. Verse 1 calls the elders to hearken and give ear. Then verse 2 says they have received a commandment through him whom the Lord appointed to receive commandments and revelations from his hand. Verse 3 names the principle: there is none other appointed to receive commandments and revelations until that man be taken, if he abide in the Lord.
That phrase sets up the structure for the rest of the chapter. Not every elder is ordained to the same work. Joseph Smith is the one appointed to receive commandments for the whole Church. Verse 4 says none else shall be appointed unto this gift except it be through him. The gift is specific to the office, and worthiness is not the point here. Order is.
I have spent years watching people confuse personal inspiration with binding direction. It is natural to feel strongly about something and assume everyone else should feel the same way. But the chapter draws a hard line. Your sense about what your family needs is real. Your sense about what the Church needs runs through a different channel.
The Difference Between Personal Revelation and Church Revelation
Verse 5 gives the practical rule. The elders are commanded to receive not the teachings of any that come before them as revelations or commandments. Verse 6 says this is given so they may not be deceived. It is a safeguard.
Revelation does not stop with the prophet. The elders teach what has already been revealed, each within their own stewardship. Verse 7 says the one ordained of the Lord comes in at the gate and teaches those revelations which have been received and will be received through him whom the Lord has appointed. The prophet receives while the elders teach what has been revealed. That is the order.
I like that the chapter does not treat this as a limitation. It treats it as a boundary that protects. If everyone in a congregation can declare binding revelation, there is no way to verify it. The whole point of a prophet is to hold the line so that everyone else can act freely within their own stewardships without wondering who is actually speaking for the Lord.
Verse 8 says when the elders assemble they are to instruct and edify each other, that they may know how to act and direct the Church. It is not a room full of independent prophets all declaring their own revelation. It is a room where people teach what has been given and the Spirit confirms it.
I wrote about this idea in a different form in an earlier article about D&C 42 and the framing square for a Zion people. Order is not the opposite of freedom. It is the structure that makes freedom usable.
Supporting the Prophet as a Practical Calling
There is a part of this chapter that I almost skipped over because it seemed minor. Verse 12 says the elders are to appoint Joseph Smith and uphold him before the Lord by the prayer of faith. And verse 13 connects this to something even more practical: if they desire the mysteries of the kingdom, they should provide for him food and raiment.
Here is a man who is receiving revelations from the Lord, commanding the elders, calling them to repentance. And the Lord says give him a meal. Give him clothes. The most spiritual work in the Restoration rested on people remembering that the prophet needed to eat.
I have been thinking about that all week. We tend to treat spiritual authority as something abstract. But the person holding it has a body and gets hungry. He wears out his boots. Faith shows up in a grocery list. A warm coat is doctrine in a different register.
Verse 14 warns that those who do not support the appointed servant will not remain among those who have received him. The pure people are reserved. That is a strong statement. But I read it as less about punishment and more about consequence. If you are not willing to help feed the person God called, you have missed the point of what it means to be part of a covenant community.
The Sorrow Behind the Warning
The chapter shifts in the second half. The tone moves from instruction to urgency. Verse 15 says the elders are not sent forth to be taught but to teach. Verse 16 says they are to sanctify themselves and they will be endowed with power. The call is clear. Prepare yourselves and then go.
Verse 20 tells them to lift up their voices and spare not. The message is repentance. They are sent to call the nations to prepare for the great day of the Lord.
And then verse 24 gives us one of the most tender images in scripture.
O, ye nations of the earth, how often would I have gathered you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not!
I read that and I feel the ache in it. The verse is not angry. It is grieving. The Lord wanted to save them, to gather them.
Verse 25 says he called upon them by the mouth of his servants, by the ministering of angels, by his own voice, by thunders and lightnings and tempests and earthquakes and famines and pestilences. The list of dramatic warnings is long. But the verse finishes with something quieter. "And would have saved you with an everlasting salvation, but ye would not."
The Lord has done everything. He has shouted from the heavens and whispered in the heart. And the response is the same. The people would not.
The elders are sent out knowing that most people will not listen. The chapter does not hide that. It tells them to go anyway.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are revelations received in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
Revelations for the whole Church are received through the prophet, who is appointed and ordained to that specific calling. Personal revelation for your own life and family and stewardship comes through the Holy Ghost. The chapter draws a clear line between these two channels so that members can receive personal direction without confusion about what binds the whole body.
Who receives commandments for the Church?
Only the person appointed by the Lord to that calling. In D&C 43, that is Joseph Smith. Verse 4 says none else shall be appointed to this gift except through him. The principle continues with each prophet in succession. This maintains order so that members are protected from deception.
What does the hen gathering her chickens mean in D&C 43?
It is the Lord describing his desire to protect and save his people. The image is maternal and vulnerable. A hen cannot fight, so she can only shelter what she loves. The tragedy in the verse is that the chickens would not be gathered. The Lord has the power to save, but he refuses to force anyone into the shelter.
What does it mean for elders to be endowed with power?
Verse 16 says the elders must sanctify themselves to be endowed with power before going out to teach. The endowment of power is tied to personal holiness, not just to a calling or an office. It means the effectiveness of your teaching depends on the state of your own soul. You cannot give what you have not received.
I went back to the mortise later that afternoon. I squared the chisel and took the cut again, and this time the wall was straight. The tenon fit like it should.
It is a small thing, a chisel cut in a piece of oak. But getting the order right in a joint is the difference between a joint that holds and a joint that breaks. The same is true for how the Church receives revelation. The order matters. It is not bureaucracy. It is a wall that keeps the structure from collapsing.
The chapter ends with a simple instruction in verse 35. "Be sober." It is not dramatic or complicated. Pay attention. Keep your head and do the thing you were told to do.
Fair enough.
— D.