The Disciples Are Granted Their Desires

After saying these things to His disciples, Jesus asked each of them, one by one, “What is it that you desire of me after I have gone to the Father?” Nine of the disciples answered, “I desire that after I have lived to an old age, my ministry will come to an end, and I will quickly come to Thee in Thy kingdom.” Jesus’s response to each of them was, “You are blessed for desiring this, so when you are seventy-two years old, you will come to me in my kingdom and rest with me.”

Then Jesus turned to the remaining three disciples and asked them, “What is it that you desire of me after I have gone to the Father?” They sorrowed, not daring to ask Him for what they wanted, thinking that it was too great a request. Jesus said to them, “I know your thoughts. You desire what John, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry before I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me. You are more blessed, for you will never experience death. You will live to see all of the Father’s work among His children, even until all things are fulfilled according to His will, when I come in my glory with the powers of heaven. You will never endure the pains of death, for when I come in my glory you will be changed in an instant from mortal to immortal beings. Then you will be blessed in my Father’s kingdom. Again I say, you will not have pain as mortals, nor sorrow, except over the sins of the world. I will do all this because your desire is to bring souls to me in this world.

“Because of this, you will have a fulness of joy—just as my Father has given me. You will sit down in His kingdom and be like me, for I am like the Father, and we are one. The Holy Ghost bears record of the Father and me, and the Father gives the Holy Ghost to His children because of me.”

After saying this, Jesus touched each of the nine disciples with His finger. Then He departed into heaven with the remaining three. They were caught up into heaven, seeing and hearing unspeakable things— and the power to even speak about what they had seen and heard was not given to them.

At the time they were caught up, the three disciples could not tell if they were in or out of their bodies, for it seemed as if their bodies had become immortal, enabling them to see the things of God. Afterward, when they spoke to the people on earth, they did not tell them of what they had seen and heard, for they had been commanded not to. Whether or not they were mortal or immortal from that day on, I do not know. But I do know, according to the record, that these three disciples went throughout the land, speaking to all the people. They united the believers with the church by baptizing them and giving them the Holy Ghost.

These disciples were thrown into prison by those who did not belong to the church, but the prisons broke apart and fell down. They were thrown into pits, but they struck the earth with God’s word, and by His power they were delivered out of the pits. Because of this, the unbelievers could not dig pits deep enough to hold them. Three times they were thrown into a very hot fire and received no harm. Twice they were thrown into a den of wild beasts, but they played with the beasts like children playing with lambs, and received no harm.

These three disciples went among all the Nephites, preaching the gospel of Christ to everyone in the land, converting them to the Lord and uniting them with the church of Christ. This is how the people of that generation were blessed according to Jesus’s words.

And now I, Mormon, make an end of speaking about these things for a time. I was about to write the names of those three disciples who will never die, but the Lord forbade me so that their identity would remain hidden from the world. However, I have seen them, and they have spoken to me. They will also be among the Gentiles and the Jews, but they will not be known by them.

When the Lord sees fit in His wisdom, they will minister to all the scattered tribes of Israel, and to all nations, bringing many souls to Jesus. They will fulfill their desires as they use God’s convincing power within them. They are like God’s angels, and if they pray to the Father in the name of Jesus, they can show themselves to whomever they desire. Great and marvelous works will be performed by them before that great day to come, when all people must surely stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.

There will even be a great and marvelous work performed by them among the Gentiles before that judgment day. If you had all the scriptures that gave an account of all the marvelous works of Christ, then you, too would know that these things must surely come.

And cursed are those who reject the words of Jesus and the words of His chosen servants, for they will be rejected by Him at the last day. It would be better for them if they were never born, for they will not be able to escape the justice of an offended God and be saved after rejecting His words.

Earlier I wrote that I did not know whether or not the three disciples had become immortal after going up into heaven. Since then, I have asked the Lord, and He has shown me that their bodies were changed. Otherwise, they would have died like other men. Therefore, their bodies were changed that they might not die and suffer pain nor sorrow except for the sins of the world. Their change was not the same kind of change that will come upon everyone at the last day, but because of it, Satan has no power to tempt them. They are sanctified in the flesh and are holy. This is why the powers of the earth cannot hold them. They will remain in this condition until Christ’s judgment day, when they will receive a greater change, and will be received into the Father’s kingdom, never to leave again.