This week’s “Come, Follow Me” study guide covers Doctrine and Covenants 137-138, which includes President Joseph F. Smith’s vision of the spirit world.
Following are a few quotes from past and present leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about these sections of the Doctrine and Covenants.
Doctrine and Covenants 137
“It is not just about what we do — our words and actions — but also why we do what Jesus Christ has asked us to do — our desires and motives. He said, ‘For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts’ (Doctrine and Covenants 137:9). Our Heavenly Father desires more than mechanical acts of obedience and service from His children. He wants us to do those things with real intent because we love Him with all our hearts. He wants us to desire to become like Him.”
— Elder Ronald M. Barcellos, General Authority Seventy, October 2025 general conference, “The Lord Looketh on the Heart”
“To each one of you who may feel you have lagged far behind in this race of life, this journey of mortality, please keep going. Only the Savior can fully judge where you should be at this point, and He is compassionate and just. He is the Great Judge of the race of life and the only one who fully understands the level of difficulty with which you are running or walking or shuffling. He will take into account your limitations, your capacity, your life experiences and the hidden burdens you carry, as well as the desires of your heart (see Doctrine and Covenants 137:9). … Please don’t lose hope. Please keep going. Please stay. You do belong. The Lord needs you, and we need you.”
— Sister J. Anette Dennis, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, October 2025 general conference, “Cheering Each Other On”
“As the Prophet Joseph Smith worried about his brother Alvin, who had died without receiving essential gospel ordinances, he received this comforting revelation: ‘All that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of [the gospel], who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of [the celestial kingdom of God]’ (Doctrine and Covenants 137:8). The Lord then added, ‘For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts’ (Doctrine and Covenants 137:9).
“What matters to the Lord is not merely whether we are able but whether we are willing to do all we can to follow Him as our Savior.”
— Elder Gérald Caussé of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, then the Presiding Bishop, April 2025 general conference, “Compensating Blessings”
“In the Kirtland Temple, the Prophet Joseph Smith saw in vision his brother Alvin saved in the celestial kingdom. The Prophet Joseph marveled, since Alvin had died before receiving the saving ordinance of baptism (see Doctrine and Covenants 137:1-6). Comfortingly, the Lord explained why: The Lord ‘will judge [us] according to [our] works, according to the desire of [our] hearts’ (Doctrine and Covenants 137:9; see also verses 7-8, 10). Our souls bear record of our works and desires.”
— Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2022 general conference, “Happy and Forever”
“‘Desire’ denotes a real longing or craving. Hence righteous desires are much more than passive preferences or fleeting feelings. Of course our genes, circumstances and environments matter very much, and they shape us significantly. Yet there remains an inner zone in which we are sovereign, unless we abdicate. In this zone lies the essence of our individuality and our personal accountability.
“Therefore, what we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity. ‘For I [said the Lord] will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts’ (Doctrine and Covenants 137:9). … To reach this equitable end, God’s canopy of mercy is stretched out, including ‘all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of [the gospel], who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom;
“‘For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts’ (Doctrine and Covenants 137:8-9).”
— The late Elder Neal A. Maxwell, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 1996 general conference, “‘According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts’”
Doctrine and Covenants 138
“Many Church members have beloved family members who do not embrace gospel values and expectations. Such members need our love and patience. In relating to one another, we should remember that the perfection we seek is not limited to the stressful circumstances of mortality. The great teaching in Doctrine and Covenants 138:57–59 assures us that repentance and spiritual growth can continue in the spirit world that follows mortality. More important, as families unite to strengthen one another, we should all remember that the sins and inevitable shortcomings all of us experience in mortality can be forgiven through repentance because of the glorious and saving Atonement of Jesus Christ.”
— President Dallin H. Oaks, then the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2025 general conference, “The Family-Centered Gospel of Jesus Christ”
“The work of salvation in the spirit world consists of freeing spirits from what the scriptures frequently describe as ‘bondage.’ All in the spirit world are under some form of bondage. President Joseph F. Smith’s great revelation, canonized in section 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants, states that the righteous dead, who were in a state of ‘peace’ (Doctrine and Covenants 138:22) as they anticipated the Resurrection (see Doctrine and Covenants 138:16), ‘had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage’ (Doctrine and Covenants 138:50). …
“The spirit-world bondage that applies to righteous converted souls is their need to await — and perhaps even be allowed to prompt — the performance of their proxy ordinances on earth so they can be baptized and enjoy the blessings of the Holy Ghost (see Doctrine and Covenants 138:30–37, 57–58). These mortal proxy ordinances also empower them to go forward under priesthood authority to enlarge the hosts of the righteous who can preach the gospel to the spirits in prison.”
— President Dallin H. Oaks, then the first counselor in the First Presidency, October 2019 general conference, “Trust in the Lord”
“In October 1918, 100 years ago, President Joseph F. Smith received a glorious vision. After almost 65 years of dedicated service to the Lord in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and just a few weeks before his death on Nov. 19, 1918, he sat in his room pondering Christ’s atoning sacrifice and reading the Apostle Peter’s description of the Savior’s ministry in the spirit world after His Crucifixion.
“He recorded: ‘As I read I was greatly impressed. … As I pondered over these things … , the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I saw the hosts of the dead’ (Doctrine and Covenants 138:6, 11). The full text of the vision is recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 138. …
“During his lifetime, President Smith lost his father, his mother, one brother, two sisters, two wives and 13 children. He was well acquainted with sorrow and losing loved ones. …
“The revelation he received on Oct. 3 comforted his heart and provided answers to many of his questions. We too can be comforted and learn more about our own future when we and our loved ones die and go to the spirit world by studying this revelation and pondering its significance in the way we live our lives each day. …
“I testify that the vision President Joseph F. Smith received is true. I bear witness that every person can read it and come to know it is true. Those who do not receive this knowledge in this life will surely come to know its truthfulness when everyone will arrive in the spirit world. There, all will love and praise God and the Lord Jesus Christ for the great plan of salvation and the blessing of the promised Resurrection when body and spirit will once again be reunited, never to be separated again.”
— The late President M. Russell Ballard, then the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2018 general conference, “The Vision of the Redemption of the Dead”
“After resurrection, the spirit will never again be separated from the body because the Savior’s Resurrection brought total victory over death. In order to obtain our eternal destiny, we need to have this immortal soul — a spirit and body — united forever. With spirit and immortal body inseparably connected, we can ‘receive a fulness of joy’ (Doctrine and Covenants 138:17). In fact, without the Resurrection we could never receive a fullness of joy but would be miserable forever. Even faithful, righteous people view the separation of their bodies from their spirits as captivity. We are released from this captivity through the Resurrection, which is redemption from the bands or chains of death (see Doctrine and Covenants 138:14-19). There is no salvation without both our spirit and our body.”
— Sunday School General President Paul V. Johnson, then a General Authority Seventy, April 2016 general conference, “And There Shall Be No More Death”
“The early Church leaders and pioneers of the past pressed forward with heroic courage and determined faithfulness to establish the restored gospel and build temples where ordinances of exaltation could be performed. The pioneers of the present, meaning you and me, also press forward in faith, ‘to labor in [the Lord’s] vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men’ (Doctrine and Covenants 138:56). … We join with faithful sisters of the past, of the present and of the rising generation when we join together in the work of salvation.”
— Sister Carol F. McConkie, then the first counselor in the Young Women general presidency, October 2015 general conference, “Here to Serve a Righteous Cause”
“The third aid to learning in the priesthood comes with a shared conviction about why the Lord blesses and trusts us to hold and to exercise His priesthood. It is to labor for the salvation of men. This shared conviction brings unity in quorums. We can begin to learn about this from the scriptural account of how we spirit sons were prepared before birth for this rare honor of holding the priesthood.
“Concerning those given great priesthood trust in this life, the Lord revealed that ‘even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men’ (Doctrine and Covenants 138:56).
“In the priesthood we share the sacred duty to labor for the souls of men. We must do more than learn that this is our duty. It must go down into our hearts so deeply that neither the many demands on our efforts in the bloom of life nor the trials that come with age can turn us from that purpose.”
— President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, April 2011 general conference, “Learning in the Priesthood”
“For me, President Joseph F. Smith set an example of how pondering can invite light from God. It is recorded in the 138th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. He had been reading and studying many scriptures, trying to understand how the effects of the Savior’s Atonement would reach those who had died never having heard His message. Here is his account of how revelation came: ‘As I pondered over these things which are written, the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great’ (Doctrine and Covenants 138:11).
“Repentance, prayer and pondering over the scriptures are essential parts of our qualifying for the gifts of the Spirit in our priesthood service. Further magnification of our power to serve will come as we respond with faith to go forward in our callings with the Holy Ghost to help us.”
— President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, October 2010 general conference, “Serve with the Spirit”
