Light to Them That Sit in Darkness
D&C 45
Joy should be the overwhelming feeling we get from D&C 45, at least according to Joseph Smith. But, for me, the joy is hidden. It only emerges when I “hearken” and “give ear” as the first verse of the section invites. This joy comes not out but by prayer and fasting. It is heard with the ear of faith.
Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, gives us a key to start understanding what God’s goal is in giving us Section 45. After he named his son John and could finally speak again, he said: “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”1
Like Zacharias’ prophecy, the Lord’s intent in Section 45 is to declare his forerunner, provide salvation through the remission of sins, redeem the dead, and bring peace.
And this is what He calls us to. We are all his forerunners. Verse after verse He tells us to “hearken” and “listen together.” This section is addressed to the church as a whole, to those who are disposed to be part of the new and everlasting covenant: “I have sent forth mine everlasting covenant into the world, to be a light to the world… and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way for me. Wherefore, come ye unto it, and with him that cometh I will reason as with men in days of old, and I will show unto you my strong reasoning.”2
And what is the strong reasoning He will show us? “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”3 Or maybe the strong reasoning is the approach He uses as He advocates for us before the Father: “Behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified.”4 His strong reasoning is His life.
And that life was what He promised to those who found Him of old, those who “confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth; but obtained a promise that they should find [Zion] and see it in their flesh,”5 having “power to obtain eternal life.”6 This is the deepest promise, the deepest reason. We can see Zion in the flesh. And not just see, but dwell there eternally. These are the promises made to the fathers and those promises are the reason Jesus will come again: “I shall come in my glory in the clouds of heaven, to fulfil the promises that I have made unto your fathers.”7
So it is to us and to the fathers that He speaks: “For as ye have looked upon the long absence of your spirits from your bodies to be a bondage, I will show unto you how the day of redemption shall come.”8 That is the final promise, the reason for the Second Coming, and the reason for Section 45. Liberty to the captives, light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
So we must all listen together, rejoice together, and declare it together. We and the fathers and the mothers and the house of Israel are one and we are the Lord’s. And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as our bodies must decay and scatter to bless the dust of the earth and give life to the world, so too must the house of Israel decay and scatter to bless all the nations of the earth and be a light to the world. But just as surely must the house of Israel be gathered again from the four quarters of the earth, its garments made spotless in the blood of the Lamb, and so too must our bodies be gathered again, from the four winds, every limb and joint restored, to stand in glory before the pleasing bar of Christ.
Luke 1:76-79; emphasis added
D&C 45:9-10; emphasis added
Isaiah 1:18
D&C 45:4
D&C 45:13-14
D&C 45:8
D&C 45:16
D&C 45:17