The original Gospel taught from Adam down to Enoch has not been recovered. Joseph Smith was working backward in restoring the earliest teaching, scripture, covenants and ordinances as part of his brief ministry. That ended abruptly with his death.
The future of the Gospel will return us to the original body of information, covenants and ordinances which were revealed in the beginning to the first fathers, who are now resurrected, and in heaven as a result of their obedience to the covenants and ordinances of God.
This cannot be judged until it is understood. It cannot be understood until it has been returned. There was such haste and foolishness in Joseph’s day, it hindered God’s work. Then fear of what Joseph was doing made even those closest to him wonder if he was “fallen” or egomaniacal and untrustworthy. The ignorance and superstition of his contemporaries were great obstacles. Aspiring men wanted to further their ambitions without comprehending what was really involved with God’s plan for mankind.
The Gospel requires virtue and righteousness. No one can please God with a heart that is not contrite and broken, willing to receive or “suffer” everything God will require of them.
We are nowhere near Zion and only a small fraction of what needs to be recovered has been given. Unless this generation is patient enough to allow God to do His “strange act,” and humble enough to support what He provides as He provides it, another future generation will need to accomplish Zion. The “jarrings, and contentions, and envyings, and strifes, and lustful and covetous desires among” us are no different than what destroyed all hope for Zion in Joseph’s time. (D&C 101:6.)
Why want what is not understood? How can we judge the Gospel taught directly by God to Adam and renewed by God with Enoch face-to-face when it has not been shown unto us? It is as if the only motivation of men is ambition and envy, without stopping to consider how great a price is demanded by God as a sacrifice before anything can be gained. Lectures on Faith really is an accurate description of the burden required for our development to become faithful.
In God’s plan there are provisions made for everyone. Every soul in every state of development will be given what a loving and kind God has made possible. It is vast enough to accommodate the development of each person who has lived in this estate, regardless of the time, location or opportunities they had while here. It is far greater, and more thorough than what we can see.