Of Holy Writings and Universal Messages

Throughout the ages a prominent expression of the living church of Christ has been the emergence of new revelation and new scripture. The Bible, progressively produced over the ancient centuries, is a powerful testimony to the pattern of continuous and new revelation from God. Each era in the history of the Bible witnessed new and living prophets pronouncing the word of God, and their words were written down for the people in their day as well as for those who would come afterward.

Not only have we been blessed through successive generations of prophecy and revelation preserved in holy scripture, but we have been blessed by the harmony of the message of God, the testimonies of holy witnesses building upon and reinforcing each other. Through a variety of mouths and in a great variety of conditions, the message of God—particularly the message of redemption through Jesus the Messiah—as recorded in the scriptures has been consistent and congruous.

There have been times when the authority of God had departed from among men, and in each case revelation ceased and the accretion of new scripture paused. Indeed, not only did new scripture cease but too often some of the past scripture was lost. Thus the Bible makes reference to such sacred writings as the Book of the Wars of the Lord, the Book of Jasher, the Book of Nathan the Prophet, the Visions of Iddo the Seer, the Sayings of the Seers, and several others. All of these books are mentioned but none of them are contained in the Bible of today nor currently found anywhere else. At least for now, they are missing, but they were once well known.

A careful reading of the Books of Moses, especially the Book of Genesis, can lead to the conclusion that much of what Moses wrote by inspiration was restoring what had been known of God and His doings in previous times but which had been lost during the captivity in Egypt. Moses restored much of what was then gone and provided new revelation, which was written down and passed down.

Joshua took up where Moses left off, Elisha followed Elijah, Jeremiah prophesied not long after Isaiah, and Daniel and the prophets of the Babylonian captivity came after Jeremiah. All pointed to the Savior, Jesus Christ, in their testimonies. Their words were written and later quoted by the Savior Himself during His mortal ministry. The Savior’s words were preserved by His apostles, who in turn received revelation from God and added to the canon of scriptures—until there were no more apostles and no more revelation and no new scripture as the church founded by Christ fell into decay.

Today, with the church of Jesus Christ once again established on the earth, with all of the authority of God once given to apostles and prophets of antiquity again bestowed by God on living apostles and prophets, new scripture again is flourishing. As was done for thousands of years in the past, in our day the inspired words of modern prophets are written down for our benefit and the benefit of our posterity. Moreover, ancient scriptural testimony of the visit of Jesus Christ to yet another continent has been recovered and published as The Book of Mormon.

A key difference of these latter days—as prophesied by many ancients—is that these fountains of divine revelation will never cease until the Savior Himself returns to the earth. The disciples of Christ today declare—

We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
(The Articles of Faith 9)

Very importantly, as with all scripture, the words of the modern prophets harmoniously blend with those of the ancient prophets. They give united and universal witness of the central mission of Jesus Christ as the Savior of all men, in all places, and in all ages.