The Seven Levels of Mankind

2020.04.20 - There is a new audio version of this article:

https://soundcloud.com/alaris-abaddon/the-seven-levels-of-mankind

Disclaimer: This article is not an official representation of the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I initially posted this article on ldsfreedomforum.com – From that thread developed further discussion that added layers of understanding that I will include in this second, revised and expanded version. Though these are my interpretations and views, I must testify that even as I write this new version of the article I receive more and more witnesses and evidence that these levels of mankind are accurate and true.  Please pray before reading and pray after for confirmation of truth.

Jacob's Ladder - Bartolome Esteban Murillo

Part I - Introduction

Receiving line upon line expands and reinforces the previous lines and prepares for the next.  The Lord gives a word here, a clue there … but where does the artist first touch the canvas to convey a masterpiece?  The Seven Levels of Mankind requires an understanding of Multiple Mortal Probations.  Multiple Mortal Probations are reinforced by an understanding of The Seven Levels of Mankind.  Both reinforce the understanding of the Davidic Servant, and understanding of the Davidic Servant reinforces Multiple Mortal Probations and The Seven Levels of Mankind.  However, if there were an article that would form a basis of understanding, this is it.

Alma 34:32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.

33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.

The search for answers begins with questions. If we Latter-day Saints believe that a body is necessary to progress and that no work can be performed after this life without a body, then how did the dispensation heads, apostles, and prophets distinguish themselves before this life without a body? 

• Why were the Israelites so terrible at being "Gods people?"
• If Moses lived in 1567 B.C. then why were Israelites confined to the lesser law of Moses for 1500 years based off the mistakes of their fathers?
• Why are there such long periods on earth without the gospel and priesthood present?
• Why was Israel enslaved for four hundred years?
• Why were the twelve tribes of Israel born in the fourth dispensation and not the first, or second, or third?
• Why was there no concerted missionary effort until after Jesus Christ’s ministry?

If you haven't done so already, please pause for a moment and offer a prayer. Ask God to confirm truth as you ponder the truths contained herein. Pray unto the Father in the name of Jesus Christ as to whether these words are true. Joseph Smith did not struggle so much with saints who were too open minded but with those whose minds were closed and set upon tradition.

Part II – The Number Seven

Proverbs 9:1 Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:

There are seven days of creation.  Seven days in a week.  Seven thousand years of probation.  We forgive seventy times seven (D&C 98:40).  The anointed priest was commanded to sprinkle the bullock’s blood seven times before the LORD. (Leviticus 4:6) There are seven days of the feast of Passover.  The menorah of the tabernacle is a seven-branched candelabrum.  There is a seven-year cycle around the years of Jubilee.  Jericho’s walls fell on the seventh day after seven priests with seven trumpets march around the city seven times. (Joshua 6:8) King David had seven older brothers (1 Samuel 16) which I believe is highly symbolic of the Davidic Throne as the eighth dispensation. (See my article For Unto Us A Child Is Born for more information.)

In the Book of Revelation there are seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven candles, and seven thunders.  There are seven colors to the rainbow.  This heavenly sign given after the flood is a symbol that very much aligns with the seven levels of mankind.  More on this later.

There are seven Archangels, seven dispensations, and seven dispensation heads.  The seven archangels and the seven dispensation heads are one and the same:

D&C 128:21 … And the voice of Michael, the archangel; the voice of Gabriel, and of Raphael, and of divers angels, from Michael or Adam down to the present time, all declaring their dispensation, their rights, their keys, their honors, their majesty and glory, and the power of their priesthood; giving line upon line, precept upon precept; here a little, and there a little; giving us consolation by holding forth that which is to come, confirming our hope!

Joseph Smith mentions Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael and divers angels declaring their dispensation, their rights, their keys, their honors, their majesty and glory while giving line upon line.  Each dispensation is a line. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael are often mentioned together as three chief archangels of seven in apocryphal works—a reflection of a Presidency—and here is Joseph Smith the Prophet mentioning them together.

The Seven Dispensations from LDS.ORG

https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/gospel-library/manual/32489/32489_000_004_06_dispensation.pdf

Dispensation just means a period of time where the gospel is dispensed.  Of course, there are more than seven, but there are seven primary dispensations that align with this sacred number.

Part III - He That Overcometh

The foundation of understanding The Seven Levels of Mankind is understanding the eight uses of the word “overcometh” in the Book of Revelation. There are actually eight levels of mankind, but the eighth is reserved for only one being in a creation - the greatest of us all.  The number eight symbolizes renewal and rebirth. Eight is the age of baptism when one is “reborn” spiritually.  The eighth day is the day of circumcision as a sign of the Abrahamic covenant.  This will be important later as we explore the fourth level of mankind.

As I studied the levels of mankind, and to whom each level is attributed, I saw the symbolism clearly of the Lord’s day and why the Sabbath was changed from the seventh day to the first day.  This change was to symbolize not the first day but the eighth day or the first day of the new week, symbolizing again renewal or rebirth.  As I research this article, I have found that the Lord’s day was known as “the eighth day” with early Christians in patristic writings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Fathers#Patristics

However, like the blood sprinkled seven times by the anointed priest in Leviticus 4:6, the blood of Christ only applies to The Seven Levels of Mankind.

Seven represents wholeness—a complete period broken down by phases. Eight symbolizes renewal and rebirth. This is also a symbol of multiple mortal probations – through the blood of Christ are we born again into the first day of the next creation.  This is what every week symbolizes.  We go to work, we produce increase, we rest on the seventh day (first day now.) Then we wake up Monday morning and start again. That is how we travel from grace to grace (see D&C 93 and the King Follet Sermon.)  The Lord’s words to Nicodemus were quite literal.  But I digress…another article for another day.

The first seven levels of overcoming in the Book of Revelation are aligned to the seven angels of the seven churches of Asia.  Churches are bodies, or congregations of people. For each angel, the Lord commands John to introduce Himself to that angel in a unique way. Then there is a unique message for the angel of their respective church, and at the end of the message is a specific promise given upon overcoming.  The promise, in fact, is the only substantive part of these verses that begin with “He that overcometh,” followed by the promised reward.  The first seven levels of overcoming are given by chapter 3 of Revelation.  The eighth promise of overcoming is not given until the end of Revelation where the Bride is presented to the Bridegroom—signaling the Lord’s exclusive level. The eight levels of overcoming:

1. Revelation 2:7 To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

2. Revelation 2:11 He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

3. Revelation 2:17 To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

4. Revelation 2:26-28 And to him who overcometh, and keepeth my commandments unto the end, will I give power over many kingdoms; And he shall rule them with the word of God; and they shall be in his hands as the vessels of clay in the hands of a potter; and he shall govern them by faith, with equity and justice, even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star.

5. Revelation 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

6. Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

7. Revelation 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

8. Revelation 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Each verse defines only the promise of overcoming.  What is being overcome?  This is the mystery we will unlock!

Overcome Definition from Dictionary.com

1. to get the better of in a struggle or conflict; conquer; defeat:

to overcome the enemy.

2. to prevail over (opposition, a debility, temptations, etc.); surmount:

to overcome one's weaknesses.

3. to overpower or overwhelm in body or mind, as does liquor, a drug, exertion, or emotion:

I was overcome with grief.

One either overcomes or is overcome by life. Observe senior citizens.  Have you ever noticed that they are either the nicest or grouchiest persons you have ever met?  You either overcome sin and temptation through hope and faith by enduring to the end through the Atonement of Jesus Christ or are

overcome by sin and by temptation and by despair.

Part IV – The Seven Archangels

Archangel means chief angel – arch meaning “top” like the top of an arch or a rainbow. Seven angels sound their trumpets to announce the events of the second coming of the Savior.  We know that Michael is the seventh angel.

D&C 88:112 And Michael, the seventh angel, even the archangel, shall gather together his armies, even the hosts of heaven.

We know that Michael or Adam is the highest being in Priesthood Authority on Earth next to Christ Himself:

“Christ is the Great High Priest; Adam next.” ~ Joseph Smith HotC 3:385-88

So if Michael is the Chief Archangel, then why is he called the “seventh” angel rather than the first?  I believe "seventh" is a reference both to Revelation and to the level of mankind over which he presides.  The seventh level is the archangels themselves.  And as the chief authority on earth, would he not preside over the dispensation heads themselves?

We know Noah, or Gabriel is not only an archangel himself but also stands next to authority to Michael:

“Noah, who is Gabriel, … stands next in authority to Adam in the Priesthood; he was called of God to this office, and was the father of all living in his day, and to him was given the dominion. These men held keys first on earth, and then in heaven.” ~ Joseph Smith 1839

Next I would like to quote Bruce R. McConkie, LDS apostle and scripture scholar:

An archangel is a chief angel. Michael (Adam) is the only one so designated in the scriptures proper.

(D. &C. 29:26; 88:112; 107:54; 128:21; 1 Thess. 4:16; Jude 9) And certainly he is the chief of all angels,

the head (under Christ) of the heavenly hierarchy.

The Hebrew celestial hierarchy, however, is said to consist of seven archangels. The names of two of

these, Michael and Gabriel, are found in the Bible and in latter-day revelation. (Jude 9; Luke 1:5-38; D. &

C. 128:21.) The name of a third, Raphael, is found in the apocryphal book of Tobias and in the Doctrine

and Covenants. (Tob. 12: 15; D. & C. 128:21.) The names of the other four - Uriel, Raguel, Sariel, and

Jerahmeel - are found in the so-called Book of Enoch, a noncanonical apocalyptic work. (Enoch 21.)

Apocryphal sources give the names of the last three as Izidkiel, Hanael, and Kepharel.

In reality, we know very little about the organization that exists among angelic beings; that a perfect,

proper, and complex organization does exist is obvious, but the positions held by the various ministers in

that celestial hierarchy have not been revealed in our day.

~Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine

I couldn’t have said it better; however I do have more to say than “We know very little about the organization that exists among angelic beings.” He makes some great points, however, the clues to unlocking this mystery were hiding in the Book known as Apokalypsis this whole time.  Also, notice how each archangel contains the Hebrew “El” or God - even the alternative archangels!  

Part V – The Seven Dispensation Heads

There are clues to align the archangels to their respective dispensations. If only I could convey the feeling I had upon discovering these parallels.  The two biggest clues are the third and the sixth uses of “Overcometh.”  Here they are:

3. Revelation 2:17 To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

In the third use, we have reference to eat of the hidden manna.  This is an overt clue to the dispensation of Moses and the manna that was provided to Israel for their physical sustenance.  So, Moses is over the third level of progression. 

6. Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

In the sixth use of “overcometh,” we have a reference to new Jerusalem which “cometh down out of heaven from my God.”  This one is also extremely easy – This is the City of Enoch, so the man whose name the city bears is over level sixth level of progression.

Here again is the PDF on lds.org of the Gospel Dispensations:

The Seven Dispensations from LDS.ORG

https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/gospel-library/manual/32489/32489_000_004_06_dispensation.pdf

Comparing Enoch and Moses’ levels you can clearly see there is an inversion in numbering the dispensations and matching them to the levels of overcoming.  Enoch is the second dispensation over progression level six and Moses is the fifth dispensation over progression level three.  Here is the inverted numbering to help the brain.

·       Dispensation 1 Level 7

·       Dispensation 2 Level 6

·       Dispensation 3 Level 5

·       Dispensation 4 Level 4

·       Dispensation 5 Level 3

·       Dispensation 6 Level 2

·       Dispensation 7 Level 1

D&C 128:21 … And the voice of Michael, the archangel; the voice of Gabriel, and of Raphael, and of divers angels, from Michael or Adam down to the present time, all declaring their dispensation, their rights, their keys, their honors, their majesty and glory, and the power of their priesthood; giving line upon line, precept upon precept; here a little, and there a little; giving us consolation by holding forth that which is to come, confirming our hope!

Remember, the archangels give line upon line, precept upon precept. This is an important concept to understand as we align the Dispensation Heads to their respective levels of overcoming, and the promised rewards.

In the next article, The First Four Levels of Mankind, I will delineate each level and explore the promised rewards of overcoming each level.