The Restoration of the Gospel
A falling away foretold, a restitution promised, and the heavens opened again in the last days.
A Famine Foretold: The Great Apostasy
Before we can speak of a Restoration, we must understand why one was needed. The word restore presupposes a loss. Scripture does not flatter us with the notion that the gospel of Jesus Christ remained unbroken upon the earth from the meridian of time to our own day. To the contrary, the prophets and apostles foresaw and plainly testified that the truth would be darkened, the ordinances corrupted, and the authority withdrawn. The ancient prophet Amos described this loss not as a famine of bread, but as something far more terrible.
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea … they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.”
The Apostle Paul confirmed that this famine would not come at the world’s beginning but as a precondition of the Lord’s return. Writing to the Saints at Thessalonica, who feared the day of Christ was already at hand, he corrected them with a sobering sequence of events.
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”
A falling away first. Paul knew the danger even as he labored among the churches. Bidding farewell to the elders at Ephesus, he warned them that the corruption would arise from within their own ranks — not only from persecutors without, but from teachers within who would pervert the doctrine and draw disciples after themselves.
“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.”
Paul warned Timothy of the same hour, when men would no longer endure sound doctrine but would heap to themselves teachers after their own desires, turning their ears from the truth unto fables (2 Timothy 4:3–4). And the prophet Isaiah saw the deepest wound of all — not merely error in teaching, but the breaking of the very covenant that bound heaven and earth together.
“The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.”
A Restoration Promised
Yet the same prophets who foresaw the famine also foresaw its end. The God of heaven did not abandon His children to wander forever; He promised that what was lost would be restored. Standing in Solomon’s porch, Peter preached that the heavens would receive the risen Christ only until a great work of restoration had been accomplished.
“Repent ye therefore … And he shall send Jesus Christ … whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”
Note the breadth of Peter’s promise: not a partial recovery, but the restitution of all things, testified by all the holy prophets from the foundation of the world. Paul described the same divine design to the Ephesians — a dispensation appointed for the fulness of times, in which God would gather together in one all things in Christ.
“That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth.”
How would this restoration be inaugurated? John the Revelator was shown the answer. He beheld an angel descending from heaven, bearing again the very gospel that had been lost — and a summons going forth to every nation that the hour of God’s judgment had come.
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth … Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.”
An angel restoring the everlasting gospel implies that it was, for a season, no longer upon the earth. And Daniel, centuries earlier, had interpreted the king’s dream to mean that God would establish in the last days a kingdom that no power on earth could ever overthrow.
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed … it shall stand for ever.”
The Heavens Opened: The First Vision
These promises slept in the pages of scripture for centuries until, in the spring of 1820, a fourteen-year-old boy named Joseph Smith, troubled by the warring claims of the churches, took God at His word and asked in faith. What followed was the dawn of the dispensation of the fulness of times — the very heavens were opened.
“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me … When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”
The Father and the Son — two glorified, embodied Personages — stood before the boy and called him by name (see Joseph Smith—History 1:15–20). In that single morning, the long silence was broken. God spoke to man from the heavens once more, and the times of restitution had begun.
What Was Restored
The Restoration was not the founding of one more church among many; it was the return of everything that had been lost in the famine — scripture, priesthood, ordinances, and the living voice of revelation. Through Joseph Smith came forth the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ, joining the Bible as a second witness of the Lord. The priesthood itself was restored by the laying on of hands by those who had held it anciently: John the Baptist conferred the Aaronic Priesthood (D&C 13), and Peter, James, and John conferred the Melchizedek Priesthood and apostolic keys (D&C 27:12–13). In the Kirtland Temple, Moses, Elias, and Elijah returned to commit further keys of the gathering and of the sealing power (D&C 110).
With that authority came the restored Church of Jesus Christ, built upon the same foundation Paul described — apostles and prophets, with Christ Himself as the chief corner stone (Ephesians 2:20). The saving ordinances were restored, and with them the order of heaven that the Lord declared He would never withhold from His prophets.
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”
So living prophets and continuing revelation were restored as well — the heavens no longer sealed, but open, with God still speaking to His servants as He did of old.
What Was Restored
- Scripture — The Book of Mormon and additional revelation, a second witness of Christ
- Aaronic Priesthood — Restored by John the Baptist (D&C 13)
- Melchizedek Priesthood & keys — Restored by Peter, James, and John (D&C 27:12–13); temple keys (D&C 110)
- The Church & its offices — Apostles and prophets, Christ the chief corner stone (Eph 2:20)
- Saving ordinances — Baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and temple ordinances
- Living prophets & revelation — The heavens opened again (Amos 3:7)
The Fulfillment of Prophecy
Lay the prophecies and their fulfillment side by side, and the testimony is overwhelming. Amos foretold a famine of hearing the words of the Lord — and the Restoration ended it. Paul foretold a falling away that must come first — and the Restoration answered it. John saw an angel bearing again the everlasting gospel — and Joseph Smith received it. Peter promised the times of restitution of all things — and the heavens opened to fulfill it. Daniel beheld a kingdom set up in the last days that should never be destroyed — and it now rolls forth to fill the whole earth.
This is the meaning of the Restoration. It is not the invention of a man, nor the reform of a creed, but the deliberate, prophesied act of God Himself, fulfilling the words of all His holy prophets since the world began. The same gospel taught by Christ, the same priesthood held by His Apostles, the same ordinances that open the gate of salvation — all of it returned, in its fulness, for the last time before His coming.
The famine is ended. The covenant, once broken, is renewed. The heavens, once sealed, are open. And the kingdom that shall never be destroyed has been set up among men — for the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth, never to be taken away again.