Dispensation

A gift of divine knowledge, power, and authority from God to humankind; often associated with a prophet and his time period. A revelation published in 1835 identified JS and Oliver Cowdery as the recipients of keys to administer a final dispensation of the gospel in the last days. JS revelations and sermons used the biblical phrase “dispensation of the fulness of times” to describe the final dispensation in which all knowledge, power, and authority from previous dispensations would be restored in preparation for the second coming of Jesus Christ. According to JS’s journal, on 3 April 1836 in the House of the Lord in Kirtland, Ohio, JS and Cowdery experienced visions in which heavenly messengers delivered keys from previous dispensations. A July 1837 revelation stated that the keys of the final dispensation resided with the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. See also “.”