Zebedee Coltrin Witnesses the Father and the Son in the School of the Prophets (January 23, 1833)

At one of the meetings of the School of the Prophets organized by Joseph Smith on January 23, 1833, while the brethren were engaged in silent prayer with their hands uplifted, a personage walked through the room from east to west. Joseph Smith asked if they saw him and declared, "That is Jesus, the Son of God, our elder brother." Zebedee Coltrin saw Him.

They resumed their positions in prayer, and another person came through surrounded by a flame of fire so bright and consuming that Coltrin feared it might destroy the tabernacle. Joseph Smith identified this as "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Coltrin saw the Father's hands, legs, feet, eyes, nose, mouth, head and body in the form of a perfect man sitting in a chair. The Father was surrounded by such brilliant light that Coltrin could see nothing else but His person. The sensation was so powerful that it thrilled through his whole system.

Joseph Smith told the brethren: "Now you are prepared to be the apostles of Jesus Christ, for you have seen both the Father and the Son and know that they exist and that they are two separate personages."

This extraordinary vision, witnessed by Zebedee Coltrin in the School of the Prophets, confirmed the reality and distinctness of the Father and the Son as separate, glorified personages — a foundational doctrine of the Restoration.