Psalm 85:11
Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
To everyone in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this line ought to have a wonderfully familiar ring to it. In the seventh chapter of the book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price, the Lord speaks of the last days, saying, “And . . . the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of darkness shall cover the earth; and the heavens shall shake, and also the earth; and great tribulations shall be among the children of men.” But then this wonderfully reassuring promise, “But my people will I preserve.”158 How will He preserve them? He will preserve them by restoring the gospel of Jesus Christ. Predating the prophecy of Psalm 85:11, the Lord says of such latter-day troubled times, “And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth.”159
Obviously so very much that we enjoy in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ features truth that sprang out of the earth in the form of the Book of Mormon and righteousness that has looked down from heaven in the form of divine visitations and recurring revelations. The Father and the Son appeared to the boy prophet and ushered in the greatest of all dispensations—our dispensation. The angel Moroni came to restore “another testament of Jesus Christ”—the Book of Mormon. Ancient prophets and apostles left heaven to visit the earth and restore priesthood keys, including keys for the gathering of Israel from across the earth, keys of the dispensation of Abraham through whom all the families of that grand patriarch will be blessed, keys employed in all priesthood work, including the temple, by which the hearts of the fathers would turn to the children and the hearts of the children would turn to the fathers. The story of the restored gospel is a long, happy sequence of eternal truth springing out of the earth and continual righteousness coming down from heaven. Little wonder the Prophet Joseph Smith would cry out in poetic zeal:
“Shall we not go on in so great a cause? . . . Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!”160
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