Kolob

Kolob is a term found within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, only in the Pearl of Great Price in the Book of Abraham. Abraham learns of Kolob through revelation. In Abraham 3:2-3 and 9 Abraham learned that Kolob is the star that is nearest to God’s throne. Many people confuse this with thinking that this is where God actually lives. It is not; it is simply the star nearest to where God lives. This is the star that governs all of God’s creations and its name literally means the first creation. Abraham also learned in this chapter that “the Lord’s time is reckoned according to the time of Kolob.” A facsimile from the Book of Abraham also teaches other truths about Kolob (see Facsimile 2). The time of Kolob is very different than earth. According to the facsimile, one day on Kolob is equal to a thousand years on earth.

Many people try to use the Book of Abraham as an example of Joseph Smith’s supposed treachery in making up scripture. But recent research and the discovery of ancient texts point to the fact that the Book of Abraham is authentic. [1] [2] [3] The fact that Abraham was shown and given information about the stars and planets may seem odd to most Christians, because the Bible makes no reference to Abraham being interested in this information. However, as Daniel Peterson explains:

Many post-biblical texts present an image of [Abraham] that [is in accordance] with what we are told in the book of Abraham. The first-century Jewish historian Josephus, for instance, quotes an earlier writer describing Abraham as "a man righteous and great, and skillful in the celestial science." In the Testament of Abraham 9–10, which originated in Egypt and dates to the first or second century A.D., the patriarch is caught up into heaven and given a spectacular view of the earth and all its inhabitants. Both the Jubilees, composed in the second century B.C., and the Muslim Qur’an, from the seventh century A.D., portray Abraham as a meditative contemplator of the skies (Daniel C. Peterson, “News from Antiquity,” Ensign, Jan. 1994, 16).

Kolob is also referenced in a song that was written in the early days of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here is the text from this hymn:

If You Could Hie to Kolob, Latter-day Saint Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1985 book), no. 284

1. If you could hie to Kolob

In the twinkling of an eye,

And then continue onward

With that same speed to fly,

Do you think that you could ever,

Through all eternity,

Find out the generation

Where Gods began to be?

2. Or see the grand beginning,

Where space did not extend?

Or view the last creation,

Where Gods and matter end?

Methinks the Spirit whispers,

“No man has found ‘pure space,’

Nor seen the outside curtains,

Where nothing has a place.”

3. The works of God continue,

And worlds and lives abound;

Improvement and progression

Have one eternal round.

There is no end to matter;

There is no end to space;

There is no end to spirit;

There is no end to race.

Text: William W. Phelps, 1792–1872

Music: English melody, arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872–1958, from the English Hymnal. Used by permission of Oxford University Press. Making copies without written permission of the copyright owner is prohibited

For more information see "A Sci-Fi Connection in LDS Theology?" by Jeff Lindsey