After God had appointed that death should come to all mankind, and that, likewise, a resurrection of the bodies of men held captive by the grave, He decreed a Day of Judgment in which we, in our resurrected condition, should stand before His Bar and make an accounting of our actions while in mortality.
So that man should be fully informed concerning God's purposes in establishing death, the Resurrection, and a Day of Judgment, in which all men take part, in His wisdom, He saw that it was wise for them to know the reason therefore, and sent holy angels to converse with them.
The Sacred Record says "that it was expedient" that man should know of these things. At the time Joseph Smith translated the Plates of Nephi by the gift and power of God, the word expedient was in good usage as in the sense here. Now, more than formerly, it is used to connote policy, and is used with a derogatory implication, having some motive in view.
These Heavenly Messengers, sent from God's presence, were commissioned by Him to minister unto the children of men, making known unto them the Power and Authority of God, the Plan of Redemption, and His great love. From that moment man began to see the greatness of God, the glorious majesty of His presence, and the wisdom of His Word.