Scripture Commentary — Doctrine and Covenants Section 76
Doctrine and Covenants 76 — Classifications and descriptions of the Three Degrees of Glory and of Outer Darkness
The Celestial Kingdom
- Acts and deeds necessary to obtain the Celestial Kingdom:
- Receive the testimony of Jesus (verse 51)
- Believe on the name of Jesus (verse 51)
- Be baptized after the manner of the burial [baptism] of Jesus (verse 51)
- Keep the commandments of Jesus (verse 52)
- Be washed and cleansed of all sin (verse 52)
- Receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands of him who is ordained unto this power (verse 52)
- Overcome by faith (verse 53)
- Be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise (verse 53)
- Be just and true (verse 53)
- Receive of the fulness and the glory of God (verse 56)
- Be a priest of the Most High after the order of Melchizedek (verse 57)
- Be married and sealed in the temple (Doctrine and Covenants 131:2-4)
- Blessings awaiting those who inherit the Celestial Kingdom:
- Become a member of the Church of the Firstborn (verse 54, 67, 94)
- Be a recipient of all that the Father has given (verse 55)
- Become priests and kings (verse 56)
- Receive of the fulness and glory of God (verse 56)
- Becomes gods and sons of gods (verse 58)
- Recipients of all things [life, death, present things, things to come] (verse 59)
- Become a possession of Christ, even as Christ is possessed by God (verse 59)
- Overcome all things (verse 60)
- Dwell in the presence of God and His Christ forever and ever (verse 62)
- Accompany Christ in the clouds of heaven when He comes again to reign on earth (verse 63)
- Have part in the First Resurrection (verse 64)
- Come forth in the resurrection of the just (verse 65)
- Come unto Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly place, the holiest of all (verse 66)
- Come to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly, and to the church of Enoch and of the Firstborn (verse 67)
- Have your name written in heaven, where God and Christ are the judges of all (verse 68)
- To be a just man made perfect through Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant (verse 69)
- To have a celestial body, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God (verse 70)
- To bow before the throne of God in humble reverence, and give God glory forever (verse 93)
- To be members of the Church of the Firstborn (verse 94)
- To see as they are seen, to know as they are known (verse 94)
- To receive of God’s fulness and grace (verse 94)
- To be made equal in power, might, and dominion (verse 95)
- Characteristics of the Celestial Kingdom:
- It excels all other kingdoms in all things (verse 92)
- Its glory is as the glory of the sun (verse 96)
- There are three heavens or degrees therein (Section 131:1)
- Acts and deeds necessary to obtain the Terrestrial Kingdom:
- To have died without law (verse 72)
- To have your spirit kept in prison (verse 73)
- To have not received the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but to have afterwards received it [spirit prison] (verse 74)
- To be an honorable man of the earth (verse 75)
- To have been blinded by the craftiness of men (verse 75)
- To not be valiant in the testimony of Jesus (verse 79)
- Blessings awaiting those of the Terrestrial Kingdom:
- To receive of the glory of God, but not of His fulness (verse 76)
- To receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fulness of the Father (verse 77)
- To have a terrestrial body, but not a celestial body, differing in glory as the sun differs from the moon (verse 78)
- They will not obtain the crown over the kingdom of God (verse 79)
- Characteristics of the Terrestrial Kingdom:
- The glory of the Terrestrial Kingdom differs from the glory of the Celestial Kingdom as the moon differs from the Sun (verse 71)
- The glory of the Terrestrial Kingdom excels the glory of the Telestial Kingdom in all things, including glory, power, might, and dominion (verse 91)
- The glory of the Terrestrial Kingdom is as the glory of the moon (verse 97)
- Acts and deeds necessary to obtain the Telestial Kingdom:
- To have not received the gospel of Jesus Christ (verses 82 and 101)
- To have not received the testimony of Jesus (verses 82 and 101)
- To have NOT denied the Holy Spirit (verse 83)
- To claim to be a follower of one prophet or another, but NOT of Christ (verses 99 to 100)
- To have not received the prophets of God (verse 101)
- To have not received the everlasting covenant (verse 101)
- These inhabitants include liars, sorcerers, adulterers, whoremongers, lovers and makers of lies (verse 103)
- What awaits the inhabitants of the Telestial Kingdom:
- They will be thrust down to ‘hell’ (verses 84 and 106)
- They will not be redeemed from the Devil until the last resurrection, when Christ finishes His work (verse 85)
- They receive not of Christ’s fulness, but they do receive of the fulness of the Holy Ghost (verse 86)
- They will receive the ministering of angels who have been appointed unto them (verse 86)
- They will be heirs of salvation (verse 88)
- They will not be caught up to join the Church of the Firstborn nor will they be received into the cloud (verse 102)
- They will suffer the wrath of God on the earth (verse 104)
- They will suffer the vengeance of eternal fire (verse 105)
- They will be cast down but every person will bow and confess that Jesus is the Christ (verse 110)
- They will be judged according to their works and they will receive according to their deeds (verse 111)
- They will be servants to God (verse 112)
- Characteristics of the Telestial Kingdom:
- The glory of this kingdom is compared to the stars (verses 81 and 98)
- The glory of this kingdom surpasses all understanding (verse 89)
- There will be many different degrees within the Telestial Kingdom (verse 98)
- The inhabitants of this kingdom will be as numerous as the stars in the heavens or grains of sand (verse 109)
- Acts and deeds necessary to be cast into Outer Darkness:
- To have known God’s power and to have partaken of God’s power (verse 31)
- To have allowed oneself to be overcome by the power of the devil (verse 31)
- To have denied the truth (verse 31)
- To have defied God’s power (verse 31)
- To have denied the Holy Spirit after having once received it (verse 35)
- To have denied the Savior and to have crucified Him anew unto oneself (verse 43)
- To have put Christ to open shame (verse 35)
- Punishments awaiting those of Outer Darkness:
- They are doomed to suffer the wrath of God, and of Satan and his angels (verse 33)
- They will receive no forgiveness in this life nor in the life to come (verse 34)
- They will go away into the lake of fire and brimstone with Satan and his angels (verse 36)
- They will NOT be redeemed in the due time of the Lord after suffering (verse 38)
- They will be led away into eternal, endless, and everlasting punishment (verse 44)
- They will reign with the devil and his angels (verse 44)
- There is no man that knows the extent of their sufferings (verse 46)
- Only those who suffer these things will know of the extent of their torment (verse 48)
- Characteristics of Outer Darkness:
- These are the sons of Perdition (verse 32)
- For these it would have been better for them not to have been born (verse 32)
- They are vessels of wrath (verse 33)
- The second death will have power over them and on them (verse 37)
- They will suffer the sufferings of the ungodly (verse 49)
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