Cover Image from soon-to-be-released "Witness of the Light" DVD. Image photography by Scot Facer Proctor, Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved.

That which the world calls Mormonism was born on a beautiful spring day in the year 1820.  Its birth centers in a story that demands the same kind of faith needed to believe that Jesus of Nazareth is actually the Son of God.

Joseph Smith, then a fourteen year old boy, secluded himself in a grove of trees not far from his families’ log home in upstate New York to importune the heavens.  He sought a remission of sins and to know what church he should join.

The events that followed were destined to revolutionize the world of religion.  In response to his prayer, a theophany virtually unmatched in earth’s history unfolded.  “I was,” he said, “enwrapped in a heavenly vision, and saw two glorious personages, who exactly resembled each other in features and likeness, surrounded with a brilliant light which eclipsed the sun at noon day.

“They told me that all religious denominations were believing in incorrect doctrines, and that none of them was acknowledged as God as His Church and kingdom: and I was expressly commanded ‘to go not after them,’ at the same time receiving a promise that the fullness of the Gospel should at some future time be made known unto me.”  He was also assured that his sins had been forgiven.

Joseph Smith attested that one of these personages called him by name and pointing to the other said, “This is my Beloved Son, hear him!”  So it was that the first words spoken by the God of heaven in ushering in this, the last and greatest of all gospel dispensations was “Joseph,” and the first instruction given was that he in all things give attention to the words of his Beloved Son.

That God addressed Joseph Smith by his given name reminds each of us that he knows us personally.  His announcing the name Joseph, however, reaches far beyond that.

Isaiah, in a prophecy about this latter-day restoration of the gospel, indicated that the Lord would call forth a special witness of his name whose name and ministry would be known long before he would be formed in his mother’s womb (Isaiah 49:1).

Such a prophecy is lost on most Bible readers because they do not have the doctrinal background to give meaning to it.  The King James Translators could have given us a clearer rendering of the verse if they had a clearer understanding of the doctrine involved.  The Jerusalem Bible renders the verse thus, “Yahweh called me before I was born, from my mother’s womb he pronounced my name.”

The Joseph Smith Translation restores to us the key to understanding this text.  From it we learn that Joseph of Egypt made a great prophecy about a latter-day Seer who was to restore both the principles of salvation and to restore or gather the house of Israel.  It was important in this prophecy for Joseph to note that his latter-day counterpart would bear his name and that his father’s name was also to be Joseph.  (JST Genesis 50:33).

Why, we are left to ask, is it so important to the Lord that the prophet of the Restoration bear a particular name and why the name Joseph?  We know that in many cases, names assumed a particular importance in Bible times.  For instance, names were used as reminders of significant evens, to connote character, identify position, and to foreshadow the bearer’s destiny or that of their posterity.

Among the ancient saints, names were used as symbols and as prophecies.  Adam, whose name we are told means, ‘first father’ (Abraham 1:3), was commanded to give names to all things (Moses 3:19-20), this including his wife, Eve whose name means “mother of all living’” (Moses 4:26).

In the pre-earth life Adam, who was destined to be the first of all men, was known as Michael, which means “like God.”  Thus his name affirms that he was in God’s “image and likeness” both as a spirit being and in his physical birth.

So it was from the very beginning that names were used as prophecies, as teaching devices, and as constant reminders of our covenant responsibilities.  The name Melchizedek, which we place upon all who hold the higher priesthood, means “king of righteousness.” 

It stands as a constant reminder that those who hold this priesthood are destined to be priests and kings and that their kingdom is to be one of righteousness.  Thus, should they step outside those bounds, like a king outside his own kingdom, they are without authority.

Abram was destined to become the father of the house of Israel meaning the house of faith.  His name means ‘exalted father.”  When he was united with Sarah in a marriage covenant which was to be for time and eternity, his name was changed to Abraham.  His new name was to be a constant reminder of the covenant into which he had entered.  It means “father of nations” and reflects the promise of the Lord to him of an endless seed or posterity.

We read of many in scripture that were identified by name before their births.  In some instances this was hundreds or even thousands of years in advance.  Among their number are Moses and Aaron (JST Genesis 50:34-35); Cyrus (Isaiah 44:28); Mary, the mother of Christ (Alma 7:10); John the Revelator (1 Nephi 14:27), and of course, Jesus of Nazareth (Mathew 1:21).

Names and their meanings play such an important part in the scriptural story that it is a common practice to state a name and then give its meaning.  For instance, of Mary, our text says, “She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sin” (Mathew 1:21).  That is, in Hebrew the name Jesus [Joshua] means “Jehovah saves” or that salvation is found in Jesus.

Similarly, when Peter first met Jesus, the Christ said, “Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone” (John 1:42).  We would not suppose that Christ needed to give Simon the interpretation of his new name but rather the writer of the text has supplied this for our information because it is so important to the story.

Simon is to be named Peter, “Cephas” being the Aramaic form of the name, that being the common language.  The name means rock or more precisely, pebble or small stone.  In the JST the next reads thus: “Cephas, which is, by interpretation, a seer, or a stone.”

So it is in their initial meeting Christ prophecies that Peter will be a seer and lays the foundation for a future occasion when he will liken Peter’s role as a seer (i.e. stone) to the fact that the Church is found on the bedrock of revelation or more particularly the Rock of Revelation which is Christ.

A host of like illustrations could be given, each having containing layers of understanding.  So it is with the name Joseph and its place in the story of the Restoration.  The story begins in the book of Genesis where Rachel, Jacob’s wife, gives birth to Joseph.  The text reads, “And she called his name Joseph; and said, The Lord shall add to me another son” (Genesis 30:24).

The footnote to this story explains, “’Joseph’ relates both to the Heb. Root yasaph, ‘to add,’ and to asaph, meaning both ‘to take away’ and ‘to gather.’”

Traditionally the etymology of the name Joseph is given as “the Lord addeth” or “increaser.”  Though appropriate, such renderings have veiled a richer meaning in the name as it is associated with the biblical story.  The Hebrew text reads, “Asaph” which means “he who gathers,” or “he who causes to return,” or perhaps most appropriately “God gathereth.”

Thus Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel, bore a name that was prophetic of his destiny which centered in saving the house of Israel from the famine which covered the earth and gathering them in Egypt.  In like manner, his latter-day counterpart would also be called on to save the gathering of Israel.

The ancient Joseph was promised that his latter-day counterpart would bring his posterity “to the knowledge of the covenants” which the Lord had made with him and his fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  “His name, “ the Lord said, “shall be called Joseph, and it shall be after the name of his father; and he shall be like unto you; for the thing which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand shall bring my people unto salvation” (JST Genesis 50:28-33).

Again, it is significant that the prophet that was to stand at the head of the dispensation of the gathering would bear a name meaning he who gathers or he who gathers for God.  It is equally significant that this was to be the name of his own father for it was to be through the father’s or the patriarchal order that all the blessings of salvation were to come.

Joseph Smiths’ father was destined to be the first patriarch of our dispensation because the Prophet said, he had learned by revelation that the office belonged to “the oldest man of the blood of Joseph,” meaning direct lineal descendant of Joseph of Egypt.

While Joseph Smith was yet seventeen years of age, an angel of the Lord appeared to him.  “He called me by name,” the Joseph recounted, “And said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people” (JSH 1:33).

Thus it is that the Restored gospel cannot go forth independent of the testimony that Joseph Smith is the great prophet of the Restoration.  Joseph Smith is the great revelator of Christ for this dispensation and as Christ himself said, “Whosoever will not believe in my words…which the Father shall cause him [Joseph Smith] to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant” (3 Nephi 21:11).

So it is that the Lord promised Joseph Smith that, “The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools shall have thee in derision, and hell shall rage against thee; while the pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the virtuous, shall seek counsel, and authority, and blessings constantly from under thy hand” (D&C 122:1-2).

In compliance with the law of witnesses, it was necessary for the two prophets who stood at the head of this dispensation, the great dispensation of gathering, to seal their testimony with their blood.  Joseph Smith and his older brother, Hyrum, with whom he held “in concert” all the keys of the kingdom (D&C 124:95), had to die at Carthage.  It is significant that Hyrum is also a Hebrew name.  It means “my brother is exalted.”  No more appropriate name could have been borne by the man who stood at the side of the Prophet of the restoration, for it too bore witness of his great mission.

In his patriarchal blessing given by his father, Joseph Smith, Sr., he was told, “Behold thou art Hyrum, the Lord hath called thee by that name, and by that name He has blessed thee.”