"Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness."
I can't stress enough how mind-blowing this angelic visit must have been--to Oliver Cowdery, certainly, who expresses surprise in his account of the event, but even to Joseph Smith who had seen heavenly messengers aplenty by this point. The Biblical concept of a Priesthood was clear. But two??!! Who would ever have imagined such a major, defining thing would have been so lost over time that neither Protestants nor Catholics would even conceive of such a possibility. It makes total sense: a "lesser" law of Moses of outward rituals and performances for the body paired with a "higher" law of spirit and inward principles when Christ comes, each requiring separate authorities. But theorizing this, understanding how, why, and where this split applies will only come by revelation to Joseph Smith years after this angelic demonstration that there are, in fact, two branches of Priesthood, of which the Aaronic is only one. In fact, Smith had been told in his first angelic visitation that the Priesthood would be restored by the hand of Elijah, but here came a different prophet to confer the Lesser.
The last of the Old Testament prophets, and first of the New himself came to confer this Aaronic line of authority upon the two inquirers after its Source--each taking time out of critical translation work to let principles sink in, drive them to curiosity, and faithfully ask, seek, and knock, to obtain the blessings of knowledge and power from on high. This John, the greatest of all the prophets, as his Exalted Cousin once called him, was an "Elias" or forerunner, not just for preparing the people of his mortal generation to receive Christ, but for ours as well. He came in angelic form to grant Cowdery and Smith the information and authorities they faithfully desired by the laying on of hands, and also to let them know new truths--that there was a second entire Priesthood, and that it too would be forthcoming, and that it, too, was not yet the key-holding portion that Elijah was prophesied to bring.
Nearly a year after this Restoration event, Smith received another revelation outlining, in "constitution" fashion, the offices and duties of the Aaronic Priesthood, which include: "to warn, expound, exhort, and teach, and invite all to come unto Christ." Understanding that the function of angels is to speak the words of Christ and specifically to warn of the consequences of failing to prepare to meet Him, to expound and teach on His doctrine (of faith in Him, repentance, Baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and endurance to the end), and to exhort and invite all to receive Him by covenant, this charge to all Aaronic Priesthood officers seems like a tight parallel to the "ministering of angels" to which this Priesthood holds the keys. But this, too, must have been a surprise to Smith, whose experience with angels and with Biblical Priesthood could not have led him to this explicit conclusion: that angelic ministry was directed through the Levitical Priesthood.
It's important also to note that this idea of the remission of sins--made possible by the Atoning Sacrifice of Christ--is not paired in this verse with its next step in the Gospel: the Gift of the Holy Ghost. This Priesthood has limits to its functions, and it corresponds only to the ritual "new beginning" or "new birth" of new covenantal relationship that Christ taught. It's clear that He also taught everyone from Nicodemus to his disciples that there was a two-step process involved--a evacuation of sin so that a filling with the Spirit could occur; a purification by His blood, followed by a life walking as He walked; a purging of our "natural man" tendencies in preparation for a process of becoming joint-heirs with Christ. This differentiation of Priesthood functions makes more and more sense, the more you think about it and connect it to scriptural practices, doctrines, and examples.
Finally, a point my daughter raised as she noted in her own study that Oliver Cowdery remembered the words of the angel differently. Compare the implications of the words canonized in the Doctrine and Covenants with those canonized in the Pearl of Great Price:
"and this [Priesthood] shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness." - D&C 13:1
"this authority, which shall remain upon earth, that the Sons of Levi may yet offer an offering unto the Lord in righteousness!" - JSH, Cowdery remarks after verse 75
While Smith's version suggests that after Levites fill the condition, this Priesthood will be removed from the earth, Cowdery's version flips the causality, suggesting that the authority won't be removed at all, but instead connects that its purpose is to re-integrate worthy Levitical service. I would suggest that since the order of Aaronic Priesthood at the time of Moses was an inherited authority, the "taken from the earth" phrasing in the D&C may mean that the need for Aaronic offices may be obviated when the worthiness of all families allows for the Higher, Melchizedek Priesthood to be among them. Before Moses, the Patriarchs held the Higher Priesthood, and passed it from father to son, but because of the Israelite wickedness--as we will learn in Section 84--they were given not only a lesser law, but a lesser authority to go along with it until Christ's ministry. The two variations therefore can easily reconcile once the context and explanation for the need for the split factors in, even though the reconciliation, context, and explanation won't be available until new revelation three years later comes down the pike.
The Lord and His Father had come nearly a decade prior to this angel's visit, and had demonstrated the doctrine of the Godhead--3 distinct persons rather than the Trinitarian notion of 3 combined essences with separate manifestations--in a way that was clear and unequivocal, but which would require later revelation to unpack the explanation of. This seems to be God's pattern--He reveals truth, grants authority, offers blessings, commands obedience, and directs action before we get the understanding of the how and why. Following God means leaping forward in faith, trusting that the explanations will come after the obedience. It means walking in the path of the blown mind, in the discomfort of the as-yet-unexplained wonder of His light.
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