"Many may have supposed that the doctrine of translation was a doctrine whereby men were taken immediately into the presence of God, and into an eternal fulness, but this is a mistaken idea. Their place of habitation is that of the terrestrial order, and a place prepared for such characters He held in reserve to be ministering angels unto many planets, and who as yet have not entered into so great a fulness as those who are resurrected from the dead. See Heb., xi, part of 35th verse, 'Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.'
"Now it is evident that there was a better resurrection, or else God would not have revealed it unto Paul. Wherein then can it be said a better resurrection? This distinction is made between the doctrine of the actual resurrection and translation: translation obtains deliverance from the tortures and sufferings of the body, but their existence will prolong as to the labors and toils of the ministry, before they can enter into so great a rest and glory.
"On the other hand, those who were tortured, not accepting deliverance, received an immediate rest from their labors. See Revelations, xiv, 13: 'And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for from henceforth they do rest from their labors and their works do follow them.'
"They rest from their labors for a long time, and yet their work is held in reserve for them, that they are permitted to do the same works after they receive a resurrection for their bodies."—History of Joseph Smith, Deseret News, Vol. IV, No. 30.
"He [President Joseph Smith] explained the difference between an angel and a ministering spirit; the one a resurrected or translated body, with its spirit, ministering to embodied spirits; the other a disembodied spirit, visiting or ministering to disembodied spirits. Jesus Christ became a ministering spirit (while his body was lying in the sepulchre) to the spirits in prison, to fulfil an important part of his mission, without which he could not have perfected his work, nor entered into his rest. After his resurrection he appeared as an angel to his disciples, &c. Translated bodies cannot enter into rest until they have undergone a change equivalent to death. Translated bodies are designed for future missions.
"The angel that appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos was a translated or resurrected body. Jesus Christ went in body, after his resurrection, to minister to translated and resurrected bodies. There has been a chain of authority and power from Adam down to the present time."—History of Joseph Smith, Deseret News, Vol. V, No. 11.
It would appear that the translated residents of Enoch's city are under the direction of Jesus, who is the Creator of worlds; and that He, holding the keys of the government of other worlds, could, in His administrations to them, select the translated people of Enoch's Zion, if He thought proper, to perform a mission to these various planets, and as death had not passed upon them, they could be prepared by Him and made use of through the medium of the Holy Priesthood to act as ambassadors, teachers, or messengers to those worlds over which Jesus holds the authority. We read in the Times and Seasons:
"Truly Jesus Christ created the worlds, and is Lord of Lords, and, as the Psalmist said, 'judges among the Gods.' Then Moses might have said with propriety, he is the 'living God,' and Christ, speaking of the flesh, could say, I am the Son of Man; and Peter, enlightened by the Holy Ghost, Thou art the Son of the living God, meaning our Father in Heaven, and who, with Jesus Christ His first begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost, are one in power, one in dominion, and one in glory, constituting the First Presidency of this system and this eternity. But they are as much three distinct persons as the sun, moon and earth are three different bodies.
"And again, the 'twelve kingdoms,' which are under the above-mentioned Presidency of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, are governed by the same rules, and destined to the same honor. [Book Doc. and Cov., page 135, par. 13.[A] For, 'Behold, I will liken these kingdoms unto a man having a field, and he sent forth his servants into the field, to dig in the field; and he said unto the first, Go ye and labor in the field, and in the first hour I will come unto you, and ye shall behold the joy of my countenance: and he said unto the second, Go ye also into the field, and in the second hour I will visit you with the joy of my countenance; and also unto the third, saying, I will visit you; and unto the fourth, and so on unto the twelfth.'"
[Footnote A: Page 310, New Edition.]