The Kolob System

The capital of our universe lies at its center, the source of creation and intergalactic government—it is God Himself upon His throne. God's throne sits upon a perfected sphere called simply "the celestial, or the residence of God." The facsimile from the book of Abraham explains, "The celestial [is] the place where God resides" ("A Facsimile from the Book of Abraham, No. 2, Fig. 1"). John the Revelator described the surface of this world as "a sea of glass like unto a crystal . . . [with] a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald" (Revelation 4:3, 6).

"The angels do not reside on a planet like this earth," Joseph Smith said in the Doctrine and Covenants. "But they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord. The place where God resides is a great Urim and Thummim" (D&C 130:6–8).

John revealed that the celestial sphere where God lives is also filled with wonderful, intelligent animals that are there to give God praise: "And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them." The animals can talk there, and John heard the creatures of our God and King lifting up their voices and saying, "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever" (Revelation 5:13). John also saw strange beasts around the throne of God praising Him, including some six-winged creatures with multiple eyes. Some of them resembled a lion, another a calf, another a man, and another an eagle (see Revelation 4:6–9). The scriptures note that these were "four individual beasts . . . in the enjoyment of their eternal felicity" (D&C 77:3).

"I suppose John saw beings there of a thousand forms, that had been saved from ten thousand times ten thousand earths like this,—strange beasts of which we have no conception: all might be seen in heaven," Joseph Smith explained. "The grand secret was to show John what there was in heaven. John learned that God glorified Himself by saving all that His hands had made, whether beasts, fowls, fishes, or men; and He will glorify Himself with them."

Latter-day Saints often believe God lives on Kolob, but He doesn't. The scriptures teach us that God and the angels dwell on the celestial planet in the Kolob star system. Kolob is the "great one" of all the stars (Abraham 3:3). It was the "first creation" and is "nearest to the celestial" (Facsimile No. 2, Fig. 1), even "nigh unto the throne of God" (Abraham 3:9). Kolob is "first in government" (Facsimile No. 2, Fig. 1), and Elohim has "set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as" our planet, earth (Abraham 3:3). Kolob is also "the last pertaining to the measurement of time" (Facsimile No. 2, Fig. 1), which principle Jehovah explained to Abraham this way:

The moon of our earth "is above or greater than" the earth "in point of reckoning" (Abraham 3:5), for "it rotates on its axis more slowly" (Abraham 3:5, footnote a); however, "there shall be another planet whose reckoning of time shall be longer still; And thus there shall be the reckoning of the time of one planet above another, until thou come nigh unto Kolob" (Abraham 3:8–9). This makes sense considering earth rotates on its axis in 24 hours, the moon in 29.5 days, Mercury in 58 earth days, Venus in 243 earth days, etc. Kolob is the universe's standard of time. Her "times and seasons [are] after the manner of the Lord, [for] one revolution [of Kolob is] a day unto the Lord . . . being one thousand years" of earth's years. "This is the reckoning of the Lord’s time, according to the reckoning of Kolob" (Abraham 3:4). Technically, however, "all is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men" (Alma 40:8).

The Lord taught Abraham that "Kokaubeam . . . signifies stars, or all the great lights, which were in the firmament of heaven" (Abraham 3:13). "Kolob is the greatest of all the Kokaubeam," the Lord God explained, "because it is nearest unto me" (Abraham 3:16).

The Governing Stars

"Next to Kolob [stands] the next grand governing creation . . . called by the Egyptians Oliblish." It is not clear as to whether Oliblish is a binary star system with Kolob; however, we do know that Oliblish is the next one "near to the celestial, or the place where God resides" (Facsimile No. 2, Fig. 2).

Surpassed only by Kolob in the intergalactic hierarchy, Oliblish has the privilege of "holding the key of power . . . pertaining to other planets" (ibid.); while Kolob has the seemingly superior jurisdiction "to govern all those planets which belong to the same order as" the earth (Abraham 3:9). The "measuring of time" of Oliblish is "one thousand . . . which is equal with Kolob in its revolution and in its measuring of time" (Facsimile No. 2, Fig. 5).

Two other governing stars appear to be Kli-flos-is-es and Hah-ko-kau-beam. They each receive "light from the revolutions of Kolob" (ibid.). It is not entirely clear by the scriptures what their role is, but they seem to help amplify and distribute the light and power emanating from Kolob. It has been revealed that "this planet receives its power through the medium" of these two stars (ibid.).

Sixteen other governing stars seem to be part of the upper echelon of ruling heavenly bodies. These borrow their light from Kolob "through the medium of Kae-e-vanrash, which is the grand Key, or, in other words, the governing power."

One of these "is called in Egyptian Enish-go-on-dosh," which "is said by the Egyptians to be the Sun" (ibid.). Elsewhere, the Lord also reveals another name for the sun: "This is Shinehah" (Abraham 3:13). The sun obeys the will of God, as evidenced by the day "the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hastened not to go down about a whole day" so Joshua and his armies had time to defeat their enemies. "And there was no day like that before it or after it" (Joshua 10:13–14). On another occasion, God commanded the sun to go backward ten degrees in the sky: "So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was done down" (Isaiah 38:8).

Hence, we see 20 primary Kokaubeam (stars) among the stellar hierarchy that light and power our universe. They are Kolob; Oliblish, Kli-flos-is-es; Hah-ko-kau-beam; our sun, Enish-go-on-dosh; and 15 other whose names are not yet revealed to man. Perhaps it was these ruling stars that Lucifer referred to when he made the follow threat, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God" (Isaiah 14:13).