The Main Character in Church History

By Keith A. Erekson

Church History Department

Church history is not just names and dates. If we look for the Lord’s hand, Church history reveals the modern ministry of the living Christ.

What comes to mind when you think about the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Perhaps you remember an inspiring story about someone who lived long ago. Or possibly you think about some names and dates and places. Others may focus on the experiences of their own ancestors. For some, Church history can seem confusing or even challenging.

When you think of Church history, how often do you think about Jesus Christ?

Our living Redeemer is the central figure of the ongoing Restoration, but sometimes we overlook Him there. When we have eyes to see the Savior and His work, we can see Him at the center of Church history and learn about His dealings with the children of God.

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ guided the events of the Restoration, including the First Vision in 1820.

The Sacred Grove, by Greg Olsen

Church History Is His History

I work with Church history records and stories every day, but an experience I had a few years ago helped me see our history in a different light. When President Russell M. Nelson read “The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: A Bicentennial Proclamation to the World” at the April 2020 general conference, I listened like a student in a history classroom. I heard him refer to a series of events: the First Vision in 1820, the visits of heavenly messengers, the translation of the Book of Mormon, and the organization of the Church in 1830.

A few months later, as part of my daily study of the gospel, I sat down to read a printed copy of the proclamation. In my mind, I expected to review a history timeline, so I was startled by what I saw. A flash of insight, almost like lightning, filled my mind and illuminated something totally new to me. I was so surprised that I began to write on the paper, underlining and circling words in astonishment.

What stood out so brightly that day was that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were the subjects of nearly every sentence and primary participants in each event:

In 1820, “God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph.”
Heavenly messengers did not come on their own but “under the direction of the Father and the Son.”
The Lord blessed Joseph Smith with “the gift and power of God” to translate a record of His own “personal ministry” in the Americas.
The Lord authorized Joseph Smith to organize His Church.
“Jesus Christ has once again called Apostles and has given them priesthood authority.”
“God is making known His will for His beloved sons and daughters.”

As I reflected, I began to see the Savior at the center of other Restoration events. Jesus Christ forgave Joseph Smith’s sins (see Doctrine and Covenants 110:5). The Savior’s voice is heard in the revelations now preserved in the Doctrine and Covenants. Thousands of people living in the 1800s found a deeper relationship with Him, made covenants with Him, and followed Him, including by leaving their countries, traversing the seas and plains, and gathering to Zion.

Millions more all over the world today continue to draw closer to Heavenly Father and the Savior through conversion, covenant making, and following Them amid adversity.

Seeing the Lord as the focus of these events can help when we have questions about things said or done by people in the past. For example, in the New Testament Gospels, we sometimes see that the disciples don’t know everything, they fail to cast out evil spirits, and they even deny their faith (see, for example, Matthew 17:16, 19–20; Mark 9:10). But some modern readers may be less troubled by these human shortcomings partly because we can see that Jesus of Nazareth is the main character in the center of the narrative and He makes things right.

By contrast, sometimes when we talk about modern Church history, we leave Jesus Christ out of the center of the story by beginning with names and dates and places. Then, when questions arise, some feel a need to push somebody to the center who can make things right. When this happens, we need to remember that the Lord is also the main character in modern Church history. It is OK that Joseph Smith or Brigham Young—or any of us—are not flawless and don’t know everything, because that is not our role. We are the disciples and the learners, and the Lord is the main character.

Jesus Christ has been ministering to God’s children for thousands of years, including the past 200 years. He is at the center of the story. Church history is His history.

We see the dealings of God in the scriptures and in modern Church history, such as when the Savior appeared in the Kirtland Temple.

The Lord Appears in the Kirtland Temple, by Del Parson

Know the Dealings of God

In the opening scenes of the Book of Mormon, Nephi makes a brief comment about why his brothers failed. Long before Laman and Lemuel tied up Nephi or sought to take away their father’s life, they murmured. Nephi explains, “They did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them” (1 Nephi 2:12).

Four hundred years later, the descendants of Laman and Lemuel had become “a wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people,” which traced back, in part, to Laman and Lemuel being “wroth with [Nephi] because they understood not the dealings of the Lord” (Mosiah 10:12, 14). Failing to understand the dealings of God bears tremendous consequences!

To understand His dealings, we need to know who He is, what He expects of us, and how He treats His children. The history of the Savior’s modern ministry teaches us these things. Joseph Smith taught that we each, individually, need to understand “the designs and purposes of God in our coming into the world.” As we come to understand the dealings of God, we come to know Him, and knowing Him leads to eternal life (see John 17:3). Indeed, “the salvation of Zion” comes in part as we “obtain a knowledge of history” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:53).

The record of God’s dealings is found in the scriptures and the modern history of the restored Church. There we see times in history when God directly interacted with humankind, such as when the Father and the Son answered Joseph Smith’s prayer in the Sacred Grove (see Joseph Smith—History 1:17–20) and when the Savior appeared in the Kirtland Temple (see Doctrine and Covenants 110:1–10).

God also touches our lives in less obvious ways. He describes His indirect dealings with humans through a metaphor of doing His work “without hands” (see Daniel 2:34–35; Doctrine and Covenants 65:2; 109:72). This indirect involvement can occur in many ways. In this light, we can see the dealings of God in “small means” (Alma 37:7), such as when we partake of the sacrament to remember the Lord and renew our covenants (see Doctrine and Covenants 20:77, 79).

God also helps us through tender mercies that deliver and preserve us in “personal and individualized blessings.” One example from Church history is when participants in the Camp of Israel (Zion’s Camp) witnessed healings of the sick, were protected from the elements, and experienced the tender mercies of individuals who volunteered, donated money, and provided food and water.

Members of the Church all around the world are loving and serving each other, acting as the Lord’s hands to fulfill His modern ministry.

To Do His Work, by Kamette Harmer, may not be copied

The Modern Ministry of the Living Christ

Modern Church history offers insight into the dealings of God among His children for the last 200 years. Seeing divine dealings can reduce concerns, help us repent, strengthen unity, and prepare us for ongoing personal revelation.

Instead of seeing Church history as a string of names and dates, we can look to the past 200 years to witness the modern ministry of the living Christ and draw insights from how He has shown love to God’s children, including Latter-day Saints. The modern works of God can truly inspire us to repent and rejoice in Jesus Christ (see Alma 37:9). By seeing the Restoration as a sacred past shared by Saints around the world, we celebrate the goodness of God, feel empathy for the experiences of others, and strengthen our unity (see Mosiah 25:7–9).

Repentance, rejoicing, and unity are among the many reasons that the Savior commanded our latter-day history be kept “for the good of the church, and for the rising generations that shall grow up on the land of Zion” (Doctrine and Covenants 69:8). Our modern history can reveal Jesus Christ as the central figure and can teach us the ways of God and help us draw closer to Him.