The Know

On June 27, 1839, Joseph Smith gathered with the Twelve Apostles and gave them “a key to detect Satan.”1 He gave similar instruction to Church leaders at least two more times before his death, in 1844.2

The record of one of these moments, delivered in 1843 and recorded in William Clayton’s journal, would eventually be included in the Doctrine and Covenants as section 129. It reads, “There are two kinds of beings in heaven, namely: Angels, who are resurrected personages, having bodies of flesh and bones. . . . Secondly: the spirits of just men made perfect, they who are not resurrected, but inherit the same glory.” Should any Saint be visited by an angel, the prophet offered the following direction: “Offer him your hand and request him to shake hands with you.” If it is a resurrected being, “you will feel his hand,” but if it is simply a spirit of a just man made perfect, “he will not move, because it is contrary to the order of heaven for a just man to deceive; but he will still deliver his message.” But, Joseph goes on to say, if the messengers is an evil spirit or devil appearing as an angel of light to deceive, then “when you ask him to shake hands he will offer you his hand, and you will not feel anything; you may therefore detect him” (Doctrine and Covenants 129:1, 3–8).3

Important in understanding these instructions is the temple context in which Joseph places them during the earlier discourse delivered on May 1, 1842. At that time, Joseph again gave similar instructions as before for detecting spirits but declared,

The keys are certain signs and words by which false spirits and personages may be detected from true, which cannot be revealed to the Elders [generally] till the Temple is completed. . . . The devil knows many signs, but does not know the sign of the Son of Man, or Jesus. No one can truly say he knows God until he has handled something, and this can only be in the holiest of Holies.4

Significantly, three days later, on May 3–4, 1842, Joseph performed for the first time the temple endowment ceremony in the attic of the Red Brick Store, which had been turned into a temporary temple.5

Steven C. Harper observed, “Section 129 is esoteric. It can only be understood by people with temple knowledge. It is also euphemistic. It’s no more about handshaking than ‘kicking the bucket’ is about actually kicking a bucket.”6 Casey Paul Griffiths has similarly observed that based on the discourses and “the timing of the first endowments, it seems clear that Joseph connected the doctrines contained in section 129 to the ordinances of the temple. The instructions recorded in this section must be included as part of the Prophet’s growing understanding of temple theology.”7 Thus, only in the temple is the full import and meaning of this section revealed to the Saints.

Reading this section, one may also naturally wonder why a devil does not simply refuse to give his hand, as would the spirit of a just man made perfect, in order to deceive a person. According to Harper, “It is not safe to draw the conclusion that Satan does not know these keys. It seems more likely, as Joseph taught, that there are boundaries to Satan’s power to deceive.”8 After all, as Joseph taught, “Wicked spirits have their bounds, limits, and laws by which they are governed or controlled.”9 Thus, Griffiths notes that “Satan and his followers do not follow the patterns set forth in section 129 because they want to, but because they are compelled to by the greater power of God.”10 Furthermore, given that both angelic spirits and devils have at various times had physical encounters with the Saints, Alonzo L. Gaskill notes that these limitations specifically stop the devil from utilizing any keys received in the temple due to their sacred nature.11

At this same time, Joseph also taught that a handclasp would be used in another way that was also connected to the temple—specifically, in connection to the Resurrection. The Prophet declared, “God hath shown unto me a vision of the resurrection of the dead, and I saw the graves open and the saints as they arose took each other by the hand, even before they got up or while getting up, and great joy and glory rested upon them.”12 Furthermore, “In the resurrection some are raised to be angels, others are raised to become Gods. These things are revealed in the most holy place in a temple prepared for that purpose.”13 As Spencer Kraus has summarized, handclasps and the closely related sacred embrace are ritual actions with deep roots in antiquity and were images connected to the Resurrection in the ancient world.14

Handclasps and embraces were used in early Judeo-Christian texts, including in the Bible, to depict the Resurrection.15 They were a common motif throughout the ancient Near East and Mediterranean worlds, and examples of handclasps used in this capacity can be found in Christian, Roman, Egyptian, and other Near Eastern art and texts.16 Speaking of ritual handclasps connected to embraces in ancient Egypt, Hugh Nibley, quoting Mayassis, said, “Like the embrace, ‘the rite of “giving the hand” or “rite of the hand” is the expression of familiarity, of equality, of sympathy, of love, of protection. . . . It is the expression of the attribution of kingly rank and vital power to the reborn [resurrected] king.’”17 As such, Joseph’s teachings regarding the handclasp in this context fit neatly into a restored understanding of both the Resurrection and the temple, as the handclasp has been utilized with temple imagery in the Old and New Testaments,18 anticipated in early Christian mosaics,19 and depicted explicitly on the exterior of the Salt Lake Temple20 and in at least one LDS chapel,21 as shown below.

Based on all this information, Kraus summarized:

In short, the sacred handclasp Joseph mentioned would allow temple petitioners to enter God’s presence in the “holiest of Holies,” and thus because of its sacred nature, the handclasp could be revealed only in the temple of the Lord. In addition to allowing Saints to handle God, as it were, this handclap would yet be prominent in the act of resurrection, thereby allowing temple petitioners to enact what they had done only ritually in the past so that they could be raised up to eternal life and exaltation. This ritual act is also used to connect families in some capacity in the Resurrection. Furthermore, temple petitioners could likewise be comforted that this was a sign that the devil did not know, so he could not deceive the Saints.22

The Why

According to Casey Griffiths, at the core of section 129 is a great message regarding the power of God. The beginning of that section emphasizes that angels and humans are simply at different stages in their eternal progression, thus highlighting their mutual ability to progress toward godhood. In connection with that principle, the latter half of this section emphasizes that God has all power.23 That is, “the struggle between God and Satan is not a struggle between equal powers. Satan is still subject to the power of God, and the victor of the conflict is known; God will win in the end. Satan and his followers will lose.”24

This is evident in the way that God has placed limits or bounds on Satan that prevent him from imitating, misusing, or mocking sacred rites and ordinances found in the holy temple. That rule of God stands behind the teachings of Joseph Smith, which enable the righteous to detect Satan and command him to depart. Alonzo Gaskill has observed, “The crux of the message being conveyed in Doctrine and Covenants 129:8 is the doctrinal assurance that Satan may be able to appear to, deceive, and even accost God’s children on the earth, but when it comes to the things conveyed to those endowed in the Lord’s holy house, limitations have been placed upon the devil and his angels.”25

Ultimately, Joseph’s teachings regarding how a handclasp will be used in the Resurrection gives the Saints hope, especially when viewed in the light of the teachings and ordinances of the temple. As biblical scholar Jon D. Levenson observed, the ancient Israelite temple offered petitioners “intimations of immortality”—that is, the “striking perception of the higher and better world” than what we now inhabit, as God has promised to His covenant followers, according to their faithfulness.26 Moreover, as Kraus has observed in regard to the blessings of the Resurrection experienced through the temple ordinances culminating with a sacred handclasp, “petitioners thereby experience a resurrection in micro; while they are yet mortal and will surely die, they can experience for a moment on earth the blessings that await them in heaven.”27 Throughout all of this, the temple stands as a monumental aspect of the Restoration, and the instructions delivered in the culminating years of Joseph’s life prepare the Saints more fully to receive the blessings extended through the temple’s endowment and sealing ordinances.