Persecution in Missouri led the early saints to the swamplands of Illinois, and over a year had passed since the last recorded revelation from the Lord. Doctrine and Covenants 124 is a message to the free saints making their way in a new community. It contains blueprints for the important buildings their growing town needs, and instructions for their lives.
Segment 1
Scriptures:
D&C 124:1-2 (The weak things are called to proclaim)
D&C 124:47 (God is bound)
Segment 2
Scriptures:
D&C 124 (Blueprint for the development of Nauvoo and the Church)
Isaiah 52:7 (How beautiful upon the mountains)
D&C 93:36 (Intelligence is the glory of God or light)
Words of the General Authorities:
I am so impressed with their faith, and their spirituality and their happiness and for me, those are inseparable. That’s the feeling that I get, that’s the thing I carry home. I just feel their faith. The image that I carry home, is always their faces, They just are beautiful people. Especially the children, especially these little children. Absolute beauty in their countenance. They just look like the people of God. They are, they just simply are. (Jeffrey R. Holland, “Unto All The World: How Beautiful upon the Mountains”)
Translations:
Beautify - navah (translated: Nauvoo) = to make something beautiful or dwell and abide (Hebrew)
Study Helps:
[The Saints] drained the swamp and drafted a charter for a new city, which they named Nauvoo. It means “beautiful” in Hebrew, though it was more an expression of faith than an accurate description, at least at first. Meanwhile, the Lord was impressing His Prophet with a sense of urgency. He had more truths and ordinances to restore, and He needed a holy temple where He could “crown [His Saints] with honor, immortality, and eternal life” (Doctrine and Covenants 124:55). In many ways, these same feelings of faith and urgency are evident in the Lord’s work today. (Come, Follow Me—For Home and Church: Doctrine and Covenants 2025, “A House unto My Name”)
Segment 3
Scriptures:
D&C 124:22-24,60 (A good house for everyone)
Words of the General Authorities:
As good ministers, that we should be good disciples of Jesus Christ, we should understand and have empathy for every person. (Ulisses Soares, “A Friend to All”)
Study Helps:
The Nauvoo House (Church History Sites)
Segment 4
Scriptures:
D&C 124:25-28,39-40 (Instructions for the temple)
D&C 124:55 (Crowned with blessings)
Words of the General Authorities:
We know that our time in the temple is crucial to our salvation and exaltation and to that of our families…The assaults of the adversary are increasing exponentially, in intensity and in variety. Our need to be in the temple on a regular basis has never been greater. (Russell M. Nelson, “Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints”, October 2018 General Conference)
Study Helps:
Freetown Sierra Leone Temple (Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
Segment 5
Scriptures:
D&C 124:29-36 (Baptisms for the dead)
D&C 138:32-33 (Missionary work for the dead)
Segment 6
Scriptures:
D&C 124:91-92 (Hyrum called as patriarch)
View transcript here.