Come, Follow Me Doctrine and Covenants
Doctrine and Covenants 37–40

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To the early Saints, the Church was more than a place to hear some preaching on Sunday. The revelations used words like cause, kingdom, Zion, and, quite often, work. That may have been part of what attracted people to the restored Church. As much as they loved the doctrine, many also wanted something holy they could dedicate their lives to. Even so, obeying the Lord’s 1830 command to gather in Ohio was not easy. For many, it meant leaving comfortable homes for an unfamiliar frontier (see “Voices of the Restoration: Gathering to Ohio”). Today we can see clearly what those Saints could see only with the eye of faith: the Lord had great blessings waiting for them in Ohio.

The need to gather to Ohio has long since passed, but Saints today still unite around the same cause: to “bring forth Zion” (Doctrine and Covenants 39:13). Like those early Saints, we are invited to forsake “the cares of the world” (Doctrine and Covenants 40:2) and trust the Lord’s promise: “You shall receive … a blessing so great as you never have known” (Doctrine and Covenants 39:10).

D&C 37: Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon, near Fayette, New York, December 1830. Herein is given the first commandment concerning a gathering in this dispensation.

D&C 38: Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Fayette, New York, January 2, 1831. The occasion was a conference of the Church.

D&C 39: Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet to James Covel, at Fayette, New York, January 5, 1831. James Covel, who had been a Methodist minister for about forty years, covenanted with the Lord that he would obey any command that the Lord would give to him through Joseph the Prophet.

D&C 40: Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon, at Fayette, New York, January 6, 1831. Preceding the record of this revelation, the Prophet’s history states, “As James [Covel] rejected the word of the Lord, and returned to his former principles and people, the Lord gave unto me and Sidney Rigdon the following revelation” (see section 39).