The Prophet Joseph Smith, and his brother the Patriarch Hyrum Smith, were murdered 175 years ago today. I wanted to take a break from posting about the Lectures on Faith to take note of their passing, and to recognize some of the potential symbolism to be found in Joseph's life specifically.
Joseph's life began on an auspicious day: December 23rd, 1805, the day after the Winter Solstice. On that date, the light of day was just beginning to grow again after the longest night of the year. Likewise, thanks to the sacrifice and effort on Joseph's part, the Light of Heaven began to return to a darkened world once again.
However, it only began to return.
Joseph's life also ended on an interesting day: June 27th, 1844, six days after the Summer Solstice. On this date, after the day had reached its greatest level of light in the year, the night had increased in length for six days. Likewise, after so much of the Light of Heaven had been returned to the Earth (a Fullness of the Gospel, in fact), a conspiracy among defectors from the Light grew in strength until it snuffed out two great men: Joseph Smith, a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator; and Hyrum Smith, the Patriarch (and by definition, the head of God's Household here on Earth).
It seems to me that, if Joseph's birth was prophetic--and, through hindsight, it appears that it was--his death could likewise be prophetic. And after looking at 175 years of history, and almost 120 different splinter groups and organizations scattered across the globe (some of which only lasted a few years before collapsing), it seems as though we the Church (as defined by the Lord in D&C 10: 67) are no closer to Zion than we were before Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered.
Why is that? Is there anything these men taught, that has since been forgotten? If we remembered what they taught, would we get that much closer to Zion?
Your thoughts?
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