Episode 34: The Vision

On February 16, 1832, Joseph Smith, Jr. and Sidney Rigdon were studying John 5, and while they “meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about” (D&C 76:19). This vision and the way of understanding Heaven it revealed, and which we now refer to as “the three degrees of glory,” was the result of Joseph and Sidney’s experience of Lectio Divina (Divine Reading) of John 5. In this episode Riley and Christopher approach John 5 and Doctrine and Covenants 76 from a present-moment perspective and use them as guides for ascent out of the spiritual malaise referred to as “death” or “hell” into an awareness and embracing of the “everlasting life” that comes from hearing and believing in Christ.