What's happening
This is the revelation that formally created the office of Church historian, appointing John Whitmer to write and keep a regular history — and it fulfills, in a quiet and practical way, the very first words of the organization-day revelation: there shall be a record kept among you (D&C 21:1).
Given at Kirtland on March 8, 1831 (the same day as Section 46), it is brief — four verses — but it matters out of proportion to its length. From its founding, the Restoration was determined to be a record-keeping people. The Book of Mormon itself is a record about the keeping of records; the Church's first revelation commanded a history; and now, less than a year after organization, a man is set apart to do nothing less than preserve the memory of what God was doing in their generation. John Whitmer was, by his own account, reluctant — but he accepted, and served as Church historian for several years, producing the earliest narrative history of the Church.
There is a small, human detail in the text: the appointment comes to John partly because Oliver Cowdery I have appointed to another office (v. 3). Oliver, who had been Joseph's scribe and would naturally have kept the records, was now away on the Lamanite mission. The work of remembering had to pass to other hands. The Lord simply reassigns it and moves the work forward.
Write and keep a regular history (verses 1–4)
Behold, it is expedient in me that my servant John should write and keep a regular history, and assist you, my servant Joseph, in transcribing all things which shall be given you... — D&C 47:1
Two tasks are joined here: keeping a regular history (the ongoing narrative of the Church) and transcribing the revelations as Joseph received them. John is to be both chronicler and scribe. And the charge is made permanent: it shall be appointed unto him to keep the church record and history continually (v. 3). The word continually is the point — this is not a one-time project but a standing office, the institutionalizing of memory.
And the promise attached is significant:
Wherefore, it shall be given him, inasmuch as he is faithful, by the Comforter, to write these things. — D&C 47:4
Even the writing of history is to be done by the Comforter. Record-keeping is not treated as a merely clerical task; it is a spiritual one, requiring the Holy Ghost. To write the history of God's dealings faithfully — to see what matters, to tell it truly — is itself a gift that must be given by the Comforter, and only inasmuch as he is faithful. The historian needs the Spirit as much as the preacher does.
How the section is built
Four verses, a single appointment with a spiritual frame. Verse 1 gives the dual task: write the history, transcribe the revelations. Verse 2 grants John a voice in meetings. Verse 3 makes the office permanent and explains the handoff: keep the record continually, because Oliver is called elsewhere. Verse 4 supplies the means: it will be given him by the Comforter, inasmuch as he is faithful. The structure is modest but complete — a task, a standing, a reason, and the spiritual power to do it. The placement of the Comforter at the end quietly elevates the whole office: even remembering is a work of the Spirit.
How this sits in the documentary record
Where this lands
It is easy to pass over a four-verse revelation about a record-keeper, but Section 47 expresses something deep in the character of the Restoration: it is a faith that remembers. From the buried plates that started everything, to the command on organization day, to this standing office, the Lord keeps insisting that what He does among His people must be written down — so the next generation can be held by it. A people who forget their own history with God soon lose their bearings; a people who keep a regular history can return, again and again, to the evidence of His hand.
And the closing verse dignifies the work in a way worth carrying into our own record-keeping — our journals, our family histories, our remembering. To write these things by the Comforter is to treat memory as sacred: to ask the Spirit to help us see what truly mattered and tell it truly. The historian's calling turns out to be a version of everyone's: to notice the dealings of God in our days and write them down faithfully, so that they are not lost. John Whitmer was set apart to do for the Church what each of us is invited to do for our own life with God — keep the record, continually, and let the Comforter help us write it.