My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to Doctrine and Covenants 124 in a lesson titled “A House unto My Name.” The lesson was introduced by the following information.
As
difficult as the last six years had been for the Saints, things started to look
better in the spring of 1839: The refugee Saints had found compassion among the
citizens of Quincy, Illinois. Guards had allowed Joseph Smith and other Church
leaders to escape captivity in Missouri. And the Church had just purchased land
in Illinois where the Saints could gather again. Yes, it was swampy,
mosquito-infested land, but compared to the challenges the Saints had already
faced, this probably seemed manageable. So they drained the swamp and drafted a
charter for a new city, which they named Nauvoo. It means “beautiful” in
Hebrew, though it was more an expression of faith than an accurate description,
at least at first. Meanwhile, the Lord was impressing His Prophet with a sense
of urgency. He had more truths and ordinances to restore, and He needed a holy
temple where He could “crown [His Saints] with honor, immortality, and eternal
life” (Doctrine and Covenants 124:55). In many ways, these same feelings of
faith and urgency are evident in the Lord’s work today.
This
scripture block teaches numerous principles including (1) I can invite others
to come unto Christ (Doctrine and Covenants 124:2-11), (2) I can be a disciple
whom the Lord trusts (Doctrine and Covenants 124:12-21), (3) The Lord wants me
to welcome and accept others (Doctrine and Covenants 124:22-24, 60-61), (4) We
build temples unto the Lord to receive sacred ordinances (Doctrine and
Covenants 124:25-45, 55), (5) The Lord blesses people who strive to obey His
commandments (Doctrine and Covenants 124:45-55), and (6) The Lord can guide me
through my patriarchal blessing (Doctrine and Covenants 124:91-92).
This
essay will discuss principle #4 about temples and ordinances. I will begin by
sharing the applicable scripture block.
25 And again, verily I say unto you,
let all my saints come from afar.
26 And send ye swift messengers,
yea, chosen messengers, and say unto them: Come ye, with all your gold,
and your silver, and your precious stones, and with all your antiquities; and
with all who have knowledge of antiquities, that will come, may come,
and bring the box tree, and the fir tree, and the pine tree, together with
all the precious trees of the earth;
27 And with iron, with copper, and
with brass, and with zinc, and with all your precious things of the earth; and
build a house to my name, for the Most High to dwell therein.
28 For there is not a place found on
earth that he may come to and restore again that which was lost unto
you, or which he hath taken away, even the fulness of the priesthood.
29 For a baptismal font
there is not upon the earth, that they, my saints, may be baptized for
those who are dead—
30 For this ordinance belongeth to my
house, and cannot be acceptable to me, only in the days of your poverty,
wherein ye are not able to build a house unto me.
31 But I command you, all ye my
saints, to build a house unto me; and I grant unto you a sufficient
time to build a house unto me; and during this time your baptisms shall be
acceptable unto me….
38 For, for this cause I commanded
Moses that he should build a tabernacle, that they should bear it with
them in the wilderness, and to build a house in the land of promise, that those
ordinances might be revealed which had been hid from before the world was.
39 Therefore, verily I say unto you,
that your anointings, and your washings, and your baptisms for
the dead, and your solemn assemblies, and your memorials for
your sacrifices by the sons of Levi, and for your oracles in
your most holy places wherein you receive conversations, and your
statutes and judgments, for the beginning of the revelations and foundation of
Zion, and for the glory, honor, and endowment of all her municipals, are
ordained by the ordinance of my holy house, which my people are always
commanded to build unto my holy name.
40 And verily I say unto you, let this house be
built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people;
41 For I deign to reveal unto
my church things which have been kept hid from before the foundation
of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fulness of
times.
42 And I will show unto my servant Joseph all things
pertaining to this house, and the priesthood thereof, and the place whereon it
shall be built.
43 And ye shall build it on the place
where you have contemplated building it, for that is the spot which I have
chosen for you to build it.
44 If ye labor with all your might, I
will consecrate that spot that it shall be made holy.
45 And if my people will hearken unto
my voice, and unto the voice of my servants whom I have appointed to
lead my people, behold, verily I say unto you, they shall not be moved out of
their place….
55 And again, verily I say unto you, I command you again to
build a house to my name, even in this place, that you may prove yourselves
unto me that ye are faithful in all things whatsoever I
command you, that I may bless you, and crown you with honor, immortality, and
eternal life.
The Lord desires that all His Saints receive
all the ordinances necessary to return to the presence of Heavenly Father.
However, He wants the ordinances to be performed in temples – buildings erected
unto His holy name and for this purpose.
Since the building of the Nauvoo Temple in the 1840s, more than 300 temples have bene built or announced. President Russell M. Nelson taught: “We know that our time in the temple is crucial to our salvation and exaltation and to that of our families…. The assaults of the adversary are increasing exponentially, in intensity and in variety. Our need to be in the temple on a regular basis has never been greater” (“Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2018, 114).
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