What's happening
This is the crowning revelation of the Doctrine and Covenants — President Joseph F. Smith's vision of what the Savior did between His crucifixion and resurrection, when His body lay in the tomb and His spirit went to the world of the dead. It reveals that Christ did not personally preach to the wicked but organized his forces and appointed messengers from among the righteous dead to carry the gospel to all the spirits in prison — establishing the doctrine of missionary work among the dead and completing the Restoration's vision of a salvation that reaches every soul who ever lived.
It came on October 3, 1918, near the end of President Smith's life (he died seven weeks later), during a time of immense sorrow — the First World War was raging and the influenza pandemic was killing millions, and he had himself recently lost his son. Pondering the scriptures, especially Peter's words that Christ preached unto the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:18–20), the eyes of [his] understanding were opened (v. 11). He saw an innumerable company of the spirits of the just gathered, filled with joy and gladness... because the day of their deliverance was at hand (vv. 12, 15). The Son of God appeared among them, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful (v. 18). But Joseph F. Smith wondered how Christ could reach all the dead in so short a time — and the answer was given: the Lord organized his forces and appointed messengers... and thus was the gospel preached to the dead (v. 30). The vision closes by naming the great spirits engaged in this work — Adam, Eve, the prophets, Joseph Smith and the latter-day leaders — and revealing that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they die, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel... in the great world of the spirits of the dead (v. 57).
The day of their deliverance (verses 11–24)
As I pondered over these things which are written, the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great. And there were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just... — D&C 138:11–12
The vision opens on the righteous dead, gathered and waiting, filled with joy and gladness... because the day of their deliverance was at hand (v. 15). They were awaiting the advent of the Son of God into the spirit world, to declare their redemption from the bands of death (v. 16). And He came:
While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful; And there he preached to them the everlasting gospel, the doctrine of the resurrection and the redemption of mankind from the fall... — D&C 138:18–19
The scene fulfills Isaiah's prophecy that Messiah would proclaim liberty to the captives (Isaiah 61:1) and the spirits rejoiced in their redemption, and bowed the knee and acknowledged the Son of God as their Redeemer (v. 23). Death's long captivity was ending; the Lord had come to His waiting people.
He organized his forces (verses 27–37)
Here is the vision's great revelation, the answer to President Smith's wondering:
And I wondered at the words of Peter—wherein he said that the Son of God preached unto the spirits in prison... and how it was possible for him to preach to those spirits and perform the necessary labor among them in so short a time. And as I wondered, my eyes were opened... and I perceived that the Lord went not in person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them; But behold, from among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness... and thus was the gospel preached to the dead. — D&C 138:28–30
This is the doctrine that completes the Restoration's teaching on the dead. Christ Himself did not go among the wicked; instead He organized his forces — a missionary force drawn from among the righteous — and sent them to preach to all the spirits of men. The dead are taught faith in God, repentance from sin, vicarious baptism for the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost (v. 33) — the same gospel, the same ordinances (performed for them by the living in the temple, Sections 124, 127, 128), that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit (v. 34, fulfilling 1 Peter 4:6).
The faithful elders continue their labors (verses 38–60)
The vision names the great souls in this work — Father Adam, the Ancient of Days (v. 38), our glorious Mother Eve (v. 39), the prophets from every age, and the Prophet Joseph Smith, and... Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and other choice spirits (v. 53). And it reveals that the work goes on:
I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption... among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead. The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God, — D&C 138:57–58
Death does not end the missionary's labor; the faithful continue preaching on the other side. And the promise is complete: the dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God — the work for the dead in the temple and the preaching of the gospel in the spirit world meeting to bring salvation to both small and great, the unrighteous as well as the faithful (v. 35).
How the section is built
Sixty verses. It opens with the pondering (vv. 1–11): President Smith reflecting on the Atonement and Peter's words, until the eyes of my understanding were opened. It shows the waiting righteous and the Lord's coming (vv. 12–24): the joyful multitude, the Son of God declaring liberty. It gives the great revelation (vv. 25–37): not in person to the wicked, but he organized his forces and appointed messengers — the gospel preached to all the dead through commissioned servants. It names the noble and great (vv. 38–56): Adam, Eve, the prophets of every dispensation, Joseph Smith and the latter-day leaders. And it reveals the ongoing work (vv. 57–60): the faithful elders continue preaching beyond the veil; the repentant dead are redeemed through the ordinances of God's house. The architecture moves from one man's grief-touched pondering to the grandest vista in the Restoration — a salvation organized to reach every soul who ever lived, on both sides of the veil.
How this sits in the documentary record
Where this lands
Section 138 is the capstone of the Doctrine and Covenants, and it completes the most generous vision of salvation in all of scripture. The question that has haunted Christianity for two thousand years — what becomes of the countless billions who died without ever hearing the gospel? — finds here its full and merciful answer. Christ Himself, in the three days His body lay in the tomb, went to the world of the dead; and rather than leaving the wicked and the ignorant forever beyond reach, He organized his forces and appointed messengers to carry the gospel to all the spirits of men. The preaching did not stop at the grave; it expanded to fill the whole world of the dead. And it goes on still: the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors on the other side. Joined to the temple work of the living — the baptisms and sealings performed for those who cannot perform them for themselves — this means that no soul who ever lived is finally beyond the reach of Christ's mercy. The gospel is preached, the ordinances are done, and the dead who repent will be redeemed.
There is something profoundly fitting in when and to whom this vision came. President Joseph F. Smith received it in 1918, in a world drowning in death — a global war and a pandemic together killing tens of millions, his own son among the recently lost. Into that ocean of grief the Lord opened a window onto the world of the dead, and what President Smith saw was not darkness but joy and gladness, an innumerable company rejoicing... because the day of their deliverance was at hand. The dead are not lost; they are waiting, and being taught, and being set free. Death is revealed not as a sealed prison but as a guarded waiting-place from which the Redeemer and His servants are even now leading the captives out. For everyone who has stood grieving at a grave, Section 138 is the final word of the whole book: the work of salvation reaches across the veil; the Savior has been there before our loved ones; His messengers are preaching to them still; and the same Christ who proclaimed liberty to the captives will, through the ordinances of His house and the labors of His servants on both sides of the veil, bring home every soul who will receive Him. The dead who repent will be redeemed. And so the Doctrine and Covenants closes not with judgment but with deliverance — the prison doors thrown open, the captives going free, and the testimony of a dying prophet: I bear record, and I know that this record is true, through the blessing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, even so. Amen.