Members of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognize four distinct degrees of
glory. These are called the Celestial Kingdom,
the Terrestial Kingdom, the Telestial Kingdom, and Outer Darkness. The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will help us better understand these degrees
of glory. Chapters 76 and 88 contain detailed
revelation given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. specific to these degrees.
I want to start
with the lowest degree of glory and work my way up. For this reason, I will start by focusing on
Outer Darkness.
Outer Darkness carries
a very distinct characteristic separate from the other degrees. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints recognize all other degrees of glory as a part of
heaven. Yet Outer Darkness is considered
separate from the others because there is no glory of God there. Those who find themselves consigned to outer
darkness will not have any glory from God accompanying them throughout all
eternity. Yet the other three kingdoms
have some degree of the glory of God accompanying those who dwell therein.
Doctrine and Covenants 76:31 explains why
those in Outer Darkness do not have any part in the glory of God. It reads, “Thus saith the Lord concerning all
those who know my power, and have been made partakers thereof, and suffered
themselves through the power of the devil to be overcome, and to deny the truth
and defy my power…” A careful study of
this helps you understand that those who are consigned to Outer Darkness know
God and His power, but choose to reject Him.
There are people in this world who gain a
full knowledge of God. These people
become intimately familiar with His power as they see it around them and in
their lives. But everybody always has
their agency no matter how much they learn about God. Those who are wise always follow Him and His
laws, especially as they become more intimately familiar with Him.
Some, however,
grow intimately familiar with the Lord and His power, but still choose to
forsake the path of righteousness in order to pursue temptations of the
flesh. They learn how good, wholesome,
and right the ways of God are, and with full knowledge choose to pursue evil
and not good. This means they knowingly
choose to have no part of God in this life, and so they have no part of God
forevermore.
So who are those that will ultimately dwell in
Outer Darkness? They include the devil
and his angels, who fully knew Jehovah in the Premortal Existence and chose to
reject Him there. They include those who
know the Holy Spirit, but deny it and openly shame Jesus Christ. They include those who intimately know God
and His power, but chose to reject Him, deny the truth, and defy His power. (See Doctrine and Covenants 76:30-38 for more
details.)
Now let’s focus
on the condition of Outer Darkness. Take
a minute and think about what is often taught about Hell. Many think of it as a massive furnace full of
fire and brimstone. It is a place of
misery where your worst nightmares become your living reality for the rest of
forever. It is the worst possible place
you can imagine.
I don’t know how
much of this popular belief is in fact reality.
But it is at least based in fact, as we learn in Doctrine and Covenants
76:30-38, 44-48. These verses proclaim
that those consigned to Outer Darkness will find an endless torment awaits
them, where they will suffer the wrath of God.
It is a place of endless punishment, a lake of fire and brimstone, where
the fires of consequences for their evil actions will not be quenched. Nobody but those consigned to this torment
and misery can understand the depth of misery that will take place therein.
This is the condition of Outer Darkness, where
none of the glory of God is present and full spiritual death takes place. All others have some degree of the glory of
God, and no one else suffers full separation from God.
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