On October 31, 1918, the dictated manuscript was presented to the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the Church Patriarch in a council meeting. At the time, the prophet was too ill to attend, so he asked his son Joseph Fielding Smith to read the revelation to the gathering. President Anthon H. Lund recorded in his journal, “In our Council Joseph F. Smith, Jr. read a revelation which his father had had in which he saw the spirits in Paradise and he also saw that Jesus organized a number of brethren to go and preach to the spirits in prison, but did not go himself. It was an interesting document and the apostles accepted it as true and from God.” Elder James E. Talmage also wrote about the event in his journal:

Attended meeting of the First Presidency and the Twelve. Today President Smith who is still confined to his home by illness, sent to the Brethren the account of a vision through which, as he states, were revealed to him important facts relating to the work of the disembodied Savior in the realm of departed spirits, and of the missionary work in progress on the other side of the veil. By united action the Council of the Twelve, with the Counselors in the First Presidency, and the Presiding Patriarch accepted and endorsed the revelation as the word of the Lord. President Smith’s signed statement will be published in the next issue (December) of the Improvement Era, which is the organ of the Priesthood quorums of the church.

The text of the vision then appeared in the November 30 edition of the Deseret Evening News. It was also printed “in the December Improvement Era, and in the January 1919 editions of the Relief Society Magazine, the Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, the Young Woman’s Journal, and the Millennial Star.” General Authorities seemed anxious for the Saints to have access to the text of the vision in a timely manner.

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At the April 1976 general conference, President N. Eldon Tanner, First Counselor in the First Presidency, stood at the pulpit and concluded the sustaining of the General Authorities and general officers of the Church by stating:

At a meeting of the Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve held in the Salt Lake Temple on March 25, 1976, approval was given to add to the Pearl of Great Price the following two revelations: First, a vision of the celestial kingdom given to Joseph Smith, the Prophet, in the Kirtland Temple, on January 21, 1836, which deals with the salvation of those who die without a knowledge of the gospel. And second, a vision given to President Joseph F. Smith in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 3, 1918, showing the visit of the Lord Jesus Christ in the spirit world and setting forth the doctrine of the redemption of the dead. It is proposed that we sustain and approve this action and adopt these revelations as part of the standard works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The congregation voted affirmatively, and the two visions were immediately added to the Pearl of Great Price. With that addition, the Pearl of Great Price received its first new scriptures since its own acceptance as a standard work in 1880. Five years later, these visions were transferred to the new 1981 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants as sections 137 and 138.