Joseph Smith’s First Vision Accounts as Models for Revelation

I believe that as we compare Joseph Smith’s First Vision accounts, we learn more about the process of revelation. The different details in the various accounts form a more complete picture of Joseph’s experience, and teach us how we can obtain answers to prayer. As the most unique of the accounts, the 1832 First Vision Account adds details that teach us how we can gain answers to our own prayers.

Comparing the the different First Vision Accounts

The 1838 First Vision Account is found in the Pearl of Great Price as the Joseph Smith-History, and so is the most well-known account among members of the Church.¹ Joseph Smith dictated this account with the intention of proclaiming his experience to the world.² When I first heard the 1832 First Vision Account, I immediately noticed the differences between that account and Joseph Smith-History. I would encourage you to study all of Joseph Smith’s first vision accounts and the differences between them, but this post will only focus on the 1838 and 1832 accounts.

The settings of the two first vision accounts

Dean C. Jessee³ believes that the 1832 Account was “most probably written between February and November 1832.”⁴ During that time period, Joseph Smith lived in Kirtland, Ohio, while making travels from time to time to Missouri.⁵ Chapters 14-15 of Saints, Volume 1 contain a good overview of Joseph’s life during this period.⁶

Joseph Smith dictated the 1838 Account under much different circumstances: “In March 1838, Joseph Smith moved his family and the center of the Church from Kirtland, Ohio, to Far West, Missouri. Only a month later, on April 27, 1838, while engaged in establishing a new gathering place for the Latter-day Saints in Caldwell County, Missouri, he again began writing a history of the Church.”⁷

Although Joseph Smith dealt with challenges throughout his whole life, those challenges increased as time went on. By 1838, the Church as a whole had been forced to leave Kirtland, abandoning the temple that they constructed at much sacrifice.⁸ For years, the Saints in Missouri also faced persecution, and Caldwell County was created as a compromise to provide a place for the Saints to gather. By its very nature, the home of the Saints at that time was almost a symbol of their persecution.⁹

Joseph Smith dictated the 1838 Account in direct response to persecution, and due to “the many reports which have been put in circulation by evil-disposed and designing persons, in relation to the rise and progress of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”¹⁰ In contrast, the 1832 Account was a personal account, written by Joseph Smith in his own hand, with no apparent purpose other than recording the event. It is significantly more intimate, whereas the 1838 Account focuses more on the impact on the Church and the world.

Joseph’s age at the time of the First Vision

The 1832 Account begins, “At about the age of twelve years, my mind became seriously impressed with regard to the all-important concerns for the welfare of my immortal soul. . . . [F]rom the age of twelve years to fifteen I pondered many things in my heart concerning the situation of the world of mankind, the contentions and divisions, the wickedness and abominations, and the darkness which pervaded the minds of mankind.”¹¹

The 1838 Account states, “Some time in the second year after our removal to Manchester, there was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. . . . I was at this time in my fifteenth year.”¹²

The 1832 Account focuses on Joseph’s spiritual journey, and so he wants to emphasize the significant effort that it took to receive forgiveness of his sins. For two years, he searched for an answer to his question, which focused on his own personal salvation. His work and effort resulted in the First Vision. But the 1838 Account focuses more on the impact on the Church, and so the details regarding the time he spent obtaining his answer were not as relevant.

What do I think of these differences?

The First Vision is an example or model of how we can obtain answers to prayers.¹³ Knowing that Joseph spent two years in his search has helped me to better understand revelation.

For most of my life, I struggled to be confident in recognizing and understanding the promptings of the Holy Ghost. I would try to get answers to prayers, but it felt like they came with difficulty, if at all. When I heard the 1832 First Vision Account, it was itself an answer to my prayers. Joseph didn’t get his answer right away. He didn’t think and ponder for a short period of time; instead, it took years. Years. The Lord has often said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”¹⁴ That sounds like revelation is as simple as saying a prayer. But what happens when we struggle to get answers?

One of my favorite scriptures about getting answers to prayers is a revelation received by Joseph in 1829. During the translation of the Book of Mormon, Oliver wanted to try and translate, but he wasn’t able to do it.¹⁵ Through Joseph, the Lord explained why:

“Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.

“But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

“But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me.”¹⁶

Study it out. Receiving answers to prayers is not always simple. It can be a struggle, even a wrestle.¹⁷ While we search, we need to understand that it can take work, effort, study, and sacrifice for a significant amount of time.

The First Vision, the experience that ushered in this last dispensation, was not just an afterthought. It was not the casual whim of a 14-year-old boy. It was the product of years of study and soul searching. Years.

I have felt considerable peace by comparing the 1838 Account and the 1832 Account, and learning that it took Joseph years of searching to receive his answer. When I find it challenging to get answers to my questions, I think of this experience and I trust that in time the Lord will reveal His will to me. I have learned to recognize that the most frequent answer to my prayers is the Lord telling me to keep searching.

I am grateful for the example of the 1832 First Vision Account. Through that account, I have learned to have much more patience as I continue to search for answers, even if that process takes a very long time.

References

1. Joseph Smith-History, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng. ↩︎
2. Joseph Smith-History 1:1. ↩︎
3. BYU Religious Studies Center, “Dean C. Jessee,” https://rsc.byu.edu/author/jessee-dean-c. ↩︎
4. Dean C. Jessee, “The Earliest Documented Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision,” in Exploring the First Vision, ed. Samuel Alonzo Dodge and Steven C. Harper (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, 2012), 1–40, https://rsc.byu.edu/exploring-first-vision/earliest-documented-accounts-joseph-smiths-first-vision. ↩︎
5. Latter-day Saint History: 1815–1846 Teacher Material, Lesson 10, “Joseph Smith Travels between Ohio and Missouri, Continues Translating the Bible, and Moves to Kirtland,” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/latter-day-saint-history-1815-1846-teacher-material/lesson-10?lang=eng. ↩︎
6. Saints, The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days, Volume 1: The Standard of Truth, 1815–1846, chapters 14-15, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/saints-v1/14-visions-and-nightmares?lang=eng. ↩︎
7. Jessee, “The Earliest Documented Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision.” ↩︎
8. D&C 127:2, “And as for the perils which I am called to pass through, they seem but a small thing to me, as the envy and wrath of man have been my common lot all the days of my life; and for what cause it seems mysterious, unless I was ordained from before the foundation of the world for some good end, or bad, as you may choose to call it. Judge ye for yourselves. God knoweth all these things, whether it be good or bad. But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in. It all has become a second nature to me; and I feel, like Paul, to glory in tribulation; for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all, and will deliver me from henceforth; for behold, and lo, I shall triumph over all my enemies, for the Lord God hath spoken it.” See also Church History, Church History Topics, “Kirtland Temple,” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/kirtland-temple?lang=eng. ↩︎
9. Caldwell County, Missouri, “The History of Caldwell County,” https://www.caldwellco.missouri.org/about-and-history-of-caldwell-county/. ↩︎
10. Joseph Smith-History 1:1. ↩︎
11. Circa Summer 1832 History, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/first-vision-accounts/1832-account?lang=eng; “The 1832 First Vision Account,” https://discoverfaithinchrist.com/the-first-vision-1832-account/. ↩︎
12. Joseph Smith-History 1:5, 7. ↩︎
13. Henry B. Eyring, “The First Vision: A Pattern for Personal Revelation,” (“Joseph Smith’s experience is a pattern we can follow to recognize personal messages from God.”) Ensign, February 2020, p. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2020/02/the-first-vision-a-pattern-for-personal-revelation?lang=eng&id=p13#p13. ↩︎
14. Matthew 7:7. ↩︎
15. Doctrine and Covenants 9. ↩︎
16. Doctrine and Covenants 9:7-9. ↩︎
17. Enos 1:2, “I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins.” ↩︎