ordinances

The Premortal Heavenly Temple

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The temples on earth are reflections of the temple in heaven. They mirror each other both in form and content. Consider the following points that I pull from Matthew Brown’s exceptional and classic book on the temple, The Gate of Heaven: ((Matthew Brown, The Gate of Heaven: Insights on the Doctrines and Symbols of the Temple, 6-7))

  • John saw “the temple which is in heaven” (Rev. 14:15, 17; Rev. 15:5-8).
  • Other scriptures also mention God’s heavenly sanctuary (Ps. 11:4; Rev. 7:15; Rev. 16:17).
  • “There are a number of ancient Hebrew traditions that specifically state that God resides in a temple that is located in the center of the universe.”
  • The earthly temples of Israel in ancient times were built after the same manner as the heavenly temple.

There are many more examples, both ancient and modern, that could be given which illustrate the existence of the heavenly temple, and most of them focus on the ascent one takes on their journey from mortality back to and through that temple to return to the throne of God.

The the last few days I’ve been pondering the existence of this temple and its role in our premortal life and journey into mortality. I have found that what we do on earth in the temple has striking parallels and resemblances to what occurred in the heavenly temple before the creation and our passage to this earth: [Read more…]

The Culminating Sealing Ordinance of the Temple

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No, it isn’t being sealed to your spouse on wedding day, although that is a prerequisite (preparatory and required) to receive this highest and most sacred sealing ordinance. The priesthood sealing powers of Elijah, as restored in this last dispensation (D&C 110:13-16) and vested in the presiding high priest of the Church (D&C 132:7), are truly infinite in their application, being enabled to promise eternal life and exaltation to the faithful saints while yet in this life, as Peter explained to the ancient saints (2 Pet. 1; Eph. 1:13-14). Those saints who so receive are they who are of the church of the Firstborn (D&C 76:54, 94), and who may then receive the Second Comforter (D&C 88:3-5).

The Prophet Joseph Smith declared:

After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the laying on of hands), which is the first Comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted.

When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the Saints, as is recorded in the testimony of St. John, in the 14th chapter, from the 12th to the 27th verses. ((TPJS, 149-151.))

I would exhort you to go on and continue to call upon God until you make your calling and election sure for yourselves, by obtaining this more sure word of prophecy, and wait patiently for the promise until you obtain it. ((ibid., 299.))

Dr. Andrew C. Skinner, currently Executive Director of The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU, provides more insight into these sacred principles in his recently published book, Temple Worship: [Read more…]

The Resurrection and The Temple

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On this bright Easter morning I thought we might reflect on the glorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and particularly how this miraculous gift and triumph over death by the Savior has a very central theme and part of our temple. I don’t think we recognize just how inseparably tied are the realities of the resurrection and the temple. We don’t often mention the two in the same sentence, yet this might be excusable given that they represent very much one and the same eternal ideals and principles.

More often than not our thoughts are drawn to and focus on the Lord’s atonement, without spending much time on the other. This is also understandable—the resurrection is an unconditional gift to all who have received bodies in mortality, whereas there are certain laws and ordinances which we must abide by in order to receive a fullness of what the atonement has to offer us. But the atonement and the resurrection are connected principles, both enabling us to return to the presence of God, for no untransfigured or unquickened mortal flesh can withstand God’s presence and live (D&C 67:11, D&C 84:19-22, D&C 76:118, Moses 1:5).
[Read more…]

Specifics of Ordinances Foreknown in Premortality

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Cover of Temple Worship by Dr. SkinnerThis last week I finally swung by Seagull Book and picked up Dr. Andrew Skinner’s new book Temple Worship. I had heard about it before from ads, and from an excellent interview that Carol Mikita had with Dr. Skinner.

I’ve been impressed with the depth that Dr. Skinner approaches the temple subject, and the new insights he gives. It’s been very enlightening.

In the beginning he writes about the Savior’s atonement, and how in the temple we are taught that this sacrifice was established “from the foundation of the world” (Moses 7:47, Rev. 13:8, Moses 6:53-54), meaning it was central part of the plan of salvation that was established long before the earth ever existed. We knew that a Savior would be provided for us when we came to this earth, and that his name would be Jesus Christ, the same being who was the great Jehovah we knew then. We were all very aware of the suffering and sacrifice that he would make for us. We knew in detail how the atonement would work, and we were exuberantly confident in the way by which we could be rescued from the fall of Adam and Eve and our own individuals sins so that we could return to live with God. Dr. Skinner provides this sublime insight:

One ramification of this profound doctrine is that the ordinances of exaltation, including their general symbolism and specific tokens centering on the bodily sacrifice of Christ were in place and likely foreknown by us in our premortal existence. ((Temple Worship, p. 50))

Binding the Human Family Together

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Joseph SmithThe Prophet Joseph gave a sermon just a few months before his martyrdom in which he said:

The Bible says, “I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

Now, the word turn here should be translated bind, or seal. But what is the object of this important mission? or how is it to be fulfilled? The keys are to be delivered, the spirit of Elijah is to come, the Gospel to be established, the Saints of God gathered, Zion built up, and the Saints to come up as saviors on Mount Zion.

But how are they to become saviors on Mount Zion? By building their temples, erecting their baptismal fonts, and going forth and receiving all the ordinances, baptisms, confirmations, washings, anointings, ordinations and sealing powers upon their heads, in behalf of all their progenitors who are dead, and redeem them that they may come forth in the first resurrection and be exalted to thrones of glory with them; and herein is the chain that binds the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, which fulfills the mission of Elijah. And I would to God that this temple was now done, that we might go into it, and go to work and improve our time, and make use of the seals while they are on earth. ((History of the Church 6:184))

D&C 2:3 puts a different twist on why this work must be done, “If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.”

One of the great tasks of the kingdom of God on the earth is to perform the sealing and saving ordinances of the gospel for the entire human family.  The sealing of the priesthood must become as one unbroken chain from Adam and Eve to the latest generation, and as such will bind the entire human family together.  This can only occur in temples of the Lord, which have been dedicated and consecrated for that divine purpose.