In 1832, Joseph Smith was translating the bible. He had many questions about the scriptures. D&C 77 is a recorded question and answer session where Joseph Smith asked Heavenly Father the meaning behind words in the Book of Revelation.
Being small, it is sometimes difficult for children to understand the ancient language of the scriptures. Explain to your children that if they pray to Heavenly Father, they can receive the same power to understand scriptures.
Read D&C 77:2
2 Q. What are we to understand by the four beasts, spoken of in the same verse?
A. They are figurative expressions, used by the Revelator, John, in describing heaven, the paradise of God, the happiness of man, and of beasts, and of creeping things, and of the fowls of the air; that which is spiritual being in the likeness of that which is temporal; and that which is temporal in the likeness of that which is spiritual; the spirit of man in the likeness of his person, as also the spirit of the beast, and every other creature which God has created.
Activity
Have your children draw an animal. Where does the animal live? Does it live in the jungle? In a house? In the forest? Have them draw where the animal lives.
Explain
D&C 77:2 teaches us that everything on the earth has the ability to be happy, and everything ever created has the ability for eternal happiness.
We also learn that everything has a spirit, and that the spirit looks the same as the body does. This includes people. Teach your children that their spirit looks the same as their body. Bruce R. McConkie said, ““Man and all forms of life existed as spirit beings and entities before the foundations of this earth were laid. There were spirit men and spirit beasts, spirit fowls and spirit fishes, spirit plants and spirit trees. Every creeping thing, every herb and shrub, every amoeba and tadpole, every elephant and dinosaur—all things—existed as spirits, as spirit beings, before they were placed naturally upon the earth” (The Millennial Messiah, 642–43)
