One of the more reassuring doctrines of the Gospel is the idea that we can resist Satan’s power. As this talk puts it, “the adversary can go no further than the transgressor permits him to go.”
What, then, are we to make of the First Vision?
In the most popular version of the First Vision, Joseph Smith says, “thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.” Joseph said there was some “actual being” who had “marvelous power as I had never felt before in any being.”
This raises a conundrum. We are told that Satan’s power is limited. One important doctrine says Satan will have power to bruise our heel, but we will have power to crush his head. But during the first vision Satan is described as having “marvelous power.” (The 19th century definition of “marvelous” is a bit different than our current definition — I don’t think we should assume Joseph was saying Satan’s power was a good thing but rather an overwhelming force). In fact, Satan’s power was so overwhelming that Joseph felt he was doomed to destruction.
In Job, we read that Satan can bargain for power to hurt the righteous and kill family members. Even if we read the book of Job as a parable, it raises interesting issues. In the Book of Moses, Satan is able to make Moses “fear exceedingly” and “see the bitterness of hell.” (Moses 1:20).
I have a possible solution to the puzzle of Joseph Smith’s account of Satan’s power, but it raises more questions than it resolves. It is likely that Joseph Smith was about to be “quickened” or “transfigured” before being able to see Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. The doctrine that our bodies must be changed before we can bear such heavenly presences is sprinkled throughout the scriptures (see Moses 1:11 and D&C 67:11 for examples). Is it possible that Satan knew the transfiguring process was about to start and pounced at a time of particular weakness?
As I mentioned, this raises a host of other questions. If Satan cannot read our thoughts, how did he know Joseph Smith was about to have the First Vision? For all he knew, Joseph was just taking a walk through the forest. And of course it raises the question of why God would allow this period of weakness right before His appearance.
That of course may be the answer: just as God allows us to be tested in many ways on Earth (when we know He has the power to save us from harm), Heavenly Father wanted Joseph Smith to be tested in just this way so he could easily discern the power of Satan (which, although frightening, can be overcome by appealing to God to be saved) from the power of God, which is filled with sweetness, light and love. It could be that just as Joseph alone was the only person to see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, he was also the only person (or one of the few) to feel the “marvelous power” of Satan. In the end, all of God’s actions have a purpose. It is up to us to try to figure out what that purpose is.
Interesting post, Geoff.
I had Stake Conference this weekend and the visiting area 70, Elder Fluckiger, spoke in great detail about “becoming Sons of God” in the priesthood leadership session. He discussed how the natural man is an enemy to God and that our mortal flesh makes us able to be tempted by the devil. He spoke about the 3 Nephites being translated–bodies changed–and now are unable to be tempted by Lucifer.
Your point about Joseph being attacked just prior to transfiguration is an interesting one. Perhaps God wanted him to know the difference between Satan’s power and His power…just like Moses in PGP.
I love this quote and think that it answers some of the questions you may have raised.
“All the assaults that the enemy of our souls will make to capture us will be through the flesh, because it is made up of the unredeemed earth, and he has power over the elements of the earth. The approach he makes to us will be through the lusts, the appetites, the ambitions of the flesh. All the help that comes to us from the Lord to aid us in this struggle will come to us through the spirit that dwells within this mortal body. So these two mighty forces are operating upon us through these two channels.”
Elder Ballard then suggested that we think “of spirit and body as ‘me’ and ‘it.’ ‘Me’ is the individual who dwells in this body, who lived before I had such a body, and who will live when I step out of the body. ‘It’ is the house I live in, the tabernacle of flesh and the great conflict is between ‘me’ and ‘it’. …
“Our weak [point] is in the flesh … and when [the devil] undertakes to capture a soul he will strike at the weak point. …
“It is not bodies, it is immortal spirits that the devil wants. And he tries to capture them through the body, for the body can enslave the spirit, but the spirit can keep the body a servant and be its master.” (“The Struggle for the Soul,” Address delivered in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, 5 May 1928, in Melvin J. Ballard—Crusader for Righteousness, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966, pp. 178–79, 181.)
I believe that the binding that Joseph felt must have been caused because of his body..or unredeemed earth. This fight needed to take place because of the transfiguration process.
@Inthedoghouse
Great quotes!
Inthedoghouse, I hope you’re out of the dog house now so you can send us more good comments!
This is the way I see it…
The First Vision was virtually the gate, the floodgate in fact, that would unleash the greatest of all dispensations, OUR dispensation, that would pave the way for the Savior’s return. Now if you were Lucifer and you already know that this is going to be THE dispensation of all dispensations–and which will eventually defeat all your efforts–wouldn’t you unleash the all the power you have to stop it?
Every great thing is always preceded by the most intense struggle–that’s the way it has always been and will always be. The great Atonement in Gethsemane was preceded by the most intense struggle–remember the shedding of blood, the angel that had to come to comfort? And so it is with the First Vision…
I like that handel. Great thoughts all. I have enjoyed reading and thinking about this post. Thanks Geoff B.
Regarding the scripture cited out of context (as Mormons tend to do more than other denominations), it helps to be an evangelical Mormon. It is the seed of the woman (Jesus) that will crush the serpent’s head. No one else can.