The Day of Transfiguration

One revelation describes what happens to the earth and to the people on it at a coming, and it is unusually concrete about the mechanics: who dies, who does not sleep, at what age, and what the earth itself becomes. It also declines, in one clause, to give the reader the account it is drawing on.

What this page maps. Modern revelation, reported as the text gives it. The section speaks in a first-person divine voice. Dates, places, and occasions are not in this wiki’s source text and are not stated, and no timetable is inferred from the text — the section itself declines to give one (“this is not yet, but by and by”, D&C 63:35).

Account

Who is excluded, in borrowed words

Before it describes the day, the section names a class that has no part in it, in a list that runs closely with a vision at the end of the New Testament.

[Textual] — verbatim quotation. () - D&C 63:17: “Wherefore, I, the Lord, have said that the fearful, and the unbelieving, and all liars, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, and the whoremonger, and the sorcerer, shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” - Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Divergences reported: the lists differ in membership and in order. The vision’s list has eight members; the revelation’s has six, dropping “the abominable”, “murderers”, and “idolaters”, moving “all liars” forward to third place, and adding one the vision does not name — “whosoever loveth and maketh a lie” (D&C 63:17). The vision’s plural “whoremongers” and “sorcerers” stand in the singular in the revelation. And the article changes: “their part in that lake” against “their part in the lake”. The revelation then adds a consequence in its own next verse that the vision’s verse has no counterpart for: “they shall not have part in the first resurrection” (D&C 63:18). The run “shall have their part in” stands at exactly two distinct frozen verses in the corpus — these two; the phrase “second death” stands at twelve, of which Jacob 3:11 is already registered against Revelation 21:8 on Atonement for the lake-of-fire clause. That is a different verse pair, and it is disclosed here.

What is promised to those who endure

Against that exclusion the section sets an inheritance, and dates it to the day this page is named for: “he that endureth in faith and doeth my will, the same shall overcome, and shall receive an inheritance upon the earth when the day of transfiguration shall come” (D&C 63:20). The word “transfiguration” stands at four distinct frozen verses in the corpus — 3 Nephi 28:15, 3 Nephi 28:17, D&C 63:20, and D&C 138:45.

The next verse is the section’s most conspicuous withholding. The earth’s change follows “the pattern which was shown unto mine apostles upon the mount; of which account the fulness ye have not yet received” (D&C 63:21). The verse names an event, states that a fuller account of it exists, and says the hearers do not have it — so the wiki reports the withholding and does not supply the account from anywhere else.

A parallel withholding governs the mysteries: they are given on a condition, and described by a figure.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 63:23: “But unto him that keepeth my commandments I will give the mysteries of my kingdom, and the same shall be in him a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life.” - John 4:14: “…but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Divergences reported: the gospel’s “into everlasting life” reads “unto everlasting life” in the revelation, and the revelation adds “living” to the water (John 4:14; D&C 63:23). What is given differs: in the gospel it is water, in the revelation “the mysteries of my kingdom”, with the figure carried over whole. The run “springing up” stands at six distinct frozen verses in the corpus — Alma 32:41, Alma 33:23, D&C 63:23, D&C 86:4, Hebrews 12:15, and John 4:14. Two of those are nearer than the gospel on one point and further on another: Alma 32:41, “it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life”, matches the revelation’s “unto” exactly where the gospel has “into”, but its figure is a tree rather than a well; Alma 33:23 reads “a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life”. The gospel verse is paired because it alone shares the well, which is the revelation’s figure; both Alma verses are disclosed.

The mechanics of the day

The section then states, in five verses, what happens to the living and the dead. The dead who “die in the Lord” rise and “shall not die after, and shall receive an inheritance before the Lord, in the holy city” (D&C 63:49). The living are not exempted from death but are given a term: “it is appointed to him to die at the age of man” (D&C 63:50). And the manner of that death is stated as a change rather than a sleep.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 63:51: “Wherefore, children shall grow up until they become old; old men shall die; but they shall not sleep in the dust, but they shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye.” - 3 Nephi 28:8: “And ye shall never endure the pains of death; but when I shall come in my glory ye shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality to immortality; and then shall ye be blessed in the kingdom of my Father.”

Divergences reported: the promise in 3 Nephi is made to named disciples and removes death entirely (“ye shall never endure the pains of death”, 3 Nephi 28:8); the revelation applies the change to all who live to the appointed age and keeps death in place, replacing only the sleep (“old men shall die; but they shall not sleep in the dust”, D&C 63:51). 3 Nephi adds a destination the revelation does not, “from mortality to immortality”. The run “twinkling of an eye” stands at five distinct frozen verses in the corpus: 1 Corinthians 15:52, 3 Nephi 28:8, D&C 43:32, D&C 63:51, and D&C 101:31. 3 Nephi is paired because the eight-word run “shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye” stands verbatim in both; the epistle’s “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump” (1 Corinthians 15:52) separates its “we shall be changed” from the phrase by a clause, and it and the two other Doctrine and Covenants verses are disclosed.

The section states what follows as a separation with a stated time: “until that hour there will be foolish virgins among the wise; and at that hour cometh an entire separation of the righteous and the wicked” (D&C 63:54). The words “foolish virgins” stand at exactly one distinct frozen verse in the corpus — this one; the parable the phrase points toward is named nowhere in the verse, and the wiki does not name it either. With no naming in the verse text, no source-asserted record arises under the named-parable ruling of the 2026-08-10 editorial review; the phrase is reported, not paired.

The reward, in an apostle’s words

The section’s last verse states the outcome of endurance in wording that runs with an epistle.

[Textual] — distinctive shared phrasing. () - D&C 63:66: “These things remain to overcome through patience, that such may receive a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, otherwise, a greater condemnation. Amen.” - 2 Corinthians 4:17: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;”

Divergences reported: the epistle’s cause is affliction, “which is but for a moment” (2 Corinthians 4:17); the revelation’s is patience under things that “remain to overcome” (D&C 63:66). The epistle’s “a far more exceeding” is shortened to “a more exceeding”. And the revelation attaches an alternative outcome the epistle has no counterpart for — “otherwise, a greater condemnation”. The run “eternal weight of glory” stands at three distinct frozen verses in the corpus: these two and D&C 132:16, “a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory”, whose inserted articles and commas break the run and which is disclosed, not paired.

Significance

The section’s account of the day is notable for how much of it concerns bodies and how little concerns judgment. It fixes a term of life (“the age of man”, D&C 63:50), replaces the grave with a change (D&C 63:51), transfigures the earth on a pattern it will not describe (D&C 63:21), and states the separation of righteous and wicked in a single clause without elaborating it (D&C 63:54).

The withholding at verse 21 is the most reportable feature. A text that is otherwise willing to be specific about mechanics stops at the one place a reader would most want detail, and says so explicitly rather than passing over the gap. What the fuller account contains is not available to this wiki, and nothing here fills it in.

Key references

D&C 63:17–18 — the excluded class, and the first resurrection
D&C 63:20–21 — the inheritance, the pattern on the mount, and the withheld account
D&C 63:23 — the mysteries as a well of living water
D&C 63:49–52 — the dead who rise; the age of man; the change
D&C 63:53–54 — the hour, and the entire separation
D&C 63:66 — the weight of glory, or the greater condemnation

The Resurrection · Degrees of Glory · Sons of Perdition · Three Nephites · Sign-Seeking · Index · Connections

Sources

Doctrine and Covenants section 63, verses 17–23 and 49–66 (verse text only; headnotes excluded). Revelation 21, John 4, 3 Nephi 28, and 2 Corinthians 4 quoted alongside it; Alma 32, Alma 33, 1 Corinthians 15, Jacob 3, D&C 43, D&C 86, D&C 101, D&C 132, D&C 138, and Hebrews 12 are cited, and several quoted, inside disclosures.

Every quote is verbatim from the frozen source text, cited to its exact reference and checked character-for-character; no quote crosses a verse boundary. Four connection records are registered on this page, all [textual] and all submitted asserted_by: wiki. Phrase distributions are counts of distinct frozen verses in the corpus, derived by script at the time of writing on the stated basis.