Kirtland Temple Pentecost

The following is the beginning of a series of articles about the Kirtland Temple. This was the first temple built by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many reported that the events which accompanied its dedication on March 27, 1836 were similar in nature to the events which transpired on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2.

Pentecost means “the fiftieth day” and is directly related to the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot which commemorates the Lord’s appearance on Mount Sinai fifty days after the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt.¹ Pentecost is also celebrated by many Christian religions since it commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, fifty days after the Savior’s resurrection.²

Those who compiled Joseph Smith’s history recorded the significance of similar events at the Kirtland Temple dedication:

Brother George A. Smith arose and began to prophesy, when a noise was heard like the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the Temple, and all the congregation simultaneously arose, being moved upon by an invisible power; many began to speak in tongues and prophesy; others saw glorious visions; and I beheld the Temple was filled with angels, which fact I declared to the congregation. The people of the neighborhood came running together (hearing an unusual sound within, and seeing a bright light like a pillar of fire resting upon the Temple), and were astonished at what was taking place.³

Writing just a few years after the temple dedication, one participant wrote:

At the same time the saints in Kirtland, Ohio, were actively engaged in building a Temple to the Lord. The branches of the Church in the east were doing all they could to assist them to build and prepare for the day of Pentecost. The news from the west caused sorrow and lamentation, it was a day never to be forgotten. In the spring following, Elders Joseph and Hyrum Smith, in company with two hundred male members of the Church, went up to Missouri, for the purpose of rendering all the assistance they could to the afflicted saints. The dark clouds seemed to break away, the spirit of mobocracy was checked for a short time, and the beams of light once more dawned on the afflicted. After they had done all in their power to do at that time, Elders J. and H. Smith and many others, returned to Kirtland, Ohio. The same fall and winter a large school convened for instruction, composed of Elders, and members of the Church. Elders Smith, Rigdon, and others, acted as teachers. In the course of the winter the Quorum of the Twelve was chosen and ordained, also one Quorum of the Seventies. The next spring many of the Elders went forth to preach the word, to prove themselves worthy of the blessings expected at the day of Pentecost. In the spring of 1836, the lower room of the Temple being finished, some three hundred or over of the official members of the Church, assembled for the purpose of attending to the ordinances of washing and anointing, and the sacraments, that they might be sanctified before the Lord, and prepared for the reception of the Holy Spirit from on High. Prayer and fasting were attended to, the ordinations and anointings were sealed with great solemnity. The Holy Spirit descended in power as in bye-gone days, when it rested on the disciples at Jerusalem, some spoke with tongues and others prophesied—the visions of Heaven were also opened to some, intelligence burst upon their understanding, enabling them to comprehend things past, present and future.⁴

Another participant in the dedicatory events recorded that the gift of tongues and other Spiritual Gifts were given to many:

The succeeding winter, I again went up to Kirtland, to attend the dedication of the temple, and to meet with the solemn assembly that was there convened. There the Spirit of the Lord, as on the day of Pentecost, was profusely poured out. Hundreds of elders spoke in tongues, but many of them being young in the Church, and never having witnessed the manifestation of this gift before, felt a little alarmed. This caused the Prophet Joseph Smith to pray the Lord to withhold the Spirit. Joseph then instructed them on the nature of the gift of tongues, and the operation of the Spirit generally. We had a most glorious and never-to-be-forgotten time. Angels were seen by numbers present, and the first endowments were received. It was during this assembly that . . . Elijah the Prophet appeared, and conferred upon Joseph the keys of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, previous to the reinstitution of the ordinance of baptism for the dead.⁵

Some 33 years after the event, an eyewitness of this Pentecostal outpouring said,

In the Kirtland Temple I have seen the power of God as it was in the day of Pentecost and cloven tongues as of fire have rested on the brethren and they have spoken with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance. I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and frequently through the solemn assemblies. The angels of God rested upon the Temple and we heard their voices singing heavenly music. At another time while consecrating a bottle of oil we saw visibly the finger of God enter the mouth of the bottle.⁶

Drawing upon the journals of another witness to these events, one author recorded:

The early part of April, 1837, Wilford Woodruff devoted himself to the meetings which were held in the Temple during those days. Those who were absent from Kirtland in the spring of 1836, and had not therefore the privilege of receiving their endowments at that time were granted the opportunity to do so in the following spring. This was another blessing that he received with feelings of gratitude and praise to his Maker. The influence of the Temple ordinances is, perhaps, the most potent of any influence in the Church in the establishment of union, in the perpetuity of brotherly love, and in the preservation of a God-like purity. It is not too much to say that one, upon whom the spirit of these ordinances has fastened itself, never escapes in his conscience the sacred obligations they impose upon him.

Referring to the administration of the Temple ordinances on that occasion, he writes in his journal: “The Prophet Joseph arose and addressed the congregation for the space of three hours. He was clothed with the power, spirit, and image of God. He presented many things of great importance to the elders of Israel. O, that the record could be written as with an iron pen, of the light, principles, and virtue that came from the mouth and heart of the Prophet Joseph, whose soul, like that of Enoch, seemed as wide as eternity! That day strikingly demonstrated that he was, indeed, a prophet of God raised up for the deliverance of Israel. He presented to us a plan of the city of Kirtland which was given him by vision. The future will prove that the visions of Joseph concerning Jackson County and concerning the various stakes of Zion will be fulfilled in the time appointed of the Lord. After his remarks, the Sacrament was administered and all were made glad at the table of the Lord in association with apostles, prophets, patriarchs, evangelists, and teachers. In the evening a meeting was held in which many took part by speaking in tongues, giving the interpretations thereof, prophesying, etc., —a veritable feast of Pentecost.”⁷

Sources:

1. See Exodus 19 – 24; cf. D&C 84:19 – 27.↩
2. For an explanation of these events, see Gift of the Holy Ghost a Higher Endowment.↩
3. Roberts, Brigham Henry, ed. History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1912. 2:428.↩
4. Grant, Jedediah M. Collection of Facts, Relative to the Course Taken by Elder Sidney Rigdon in the States of Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking, & Guilbert, 1844. 8-9.↩
5. Brown, Benjamin. Testimonies for the Truth, A Record of Manifestations of the Power of God, Miraculous and Providential, Witnessed in the Travels and Experience of Benjamin Brown, High Priest in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Liverpool: S. W. Richards, 1953. 6. See also his autobiography.↩
6. Coltrin, Zebedee. Minutes of High Priest Meeting, Spanish Fork, Utah, February 5, 1870.↩
7. Cowley, Matthias F. Wilford Woodruff, Fourth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — History of His Life and Labors as Recorded in His Daily Journals. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1909. 66–67. Google Book Search. 16 Feb 2010.↩