Whether By Mine Own Voice

D&C 1:38 states: “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” This scripture is found in the very first section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the preface to the book. This revelation was given in 1831, but I don't believe that Joseph Smith understood the depth of its verity until after the time he spent in Liberty jail, when the saints lived in Nauvoo. Though Joseph grew up very familiar with the stories of prophets in the Bible, he did not fully understand the role that Latter-day prophets would have in his dispensation until then. Liberty jail, as I, and many others before me, have commented on, was like a temple as well as a prison. Joseph was able to stop and think and listen to God in those terrible, but stagnant times. Before Joseph's time in Liberty Jail, revelations given that were later canonized in the Doctrine and Covenants were usually prefaced with “Thus sayeth the Lord”, or something similar. After Joseph left Liberty Jail, his sermons became scripture, just as we consider the most recent General Conference issue of the Ensign. Joseph realized that he had the same role in today's world as Paul in the New Testament or Moses in the Old Testament or Jacob in the Book of Mormon. As a sustained prophet, seer, translator, and revelator, whatever he spoke while acting in those roles was what the Lord was talking about when he said, “whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”