Every year at this time we start off and make goals for ourselves, goals that will help us stretch us in the direction of a slimmer waistline, greater intelligence, higher spirituality or maybe greater devotion to some cause. As we make our goals one of the goals that the Stake Presidency has requested that we make is to increase our temple attendance.
First why do we have temples?
A Commandment from the Lord:
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. (D&C 124:26,27)
And then he gave the saints this sobering thought:
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.
Continuing with verses 31 and 34:
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...
34 For therein are the keys of the holy priesthood ordained, that you may receive honor and glory. ( D&C 124:28-34)
For therein are the keys of the holy priesthood ordained, that you may receive honor and glory.
37 And again, verily I say unto you, how shall your washings be acceptable unto me, except ye perform them in a house which you have built to my name?
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. ( D&C 124:37,38)
Do you remember when the Lord appeared to Moses on mt.. Sinai.
When he descended Moses bore with him the commission to call upon the children of Israel for contributions and offerings of their substance and all their precious things, such as would be suitable for the construction of a sanctuary for service in the wilderness.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying
"Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.
"And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass,
"And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats ' hair,
The response of the people was so liberal and prompt that a surplus of material was soon amassed.
"And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make.
"And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.
"For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it and too much. "
The Tabernacle stood in an outer enclosure or court, walled in by canvas screens with entrance curtains finely embroidered. The curtains that formed the walls of the court were suspended from pillars. The longer walls ran east and west, with the main entrance to the enclosure on the eastern side. Of the two squares within the curtains, the easterly was reserved for assemblies of the people, while the square to the west constituted the more sacred area pertaining to the Tabernacle itself. The entire space was enclosed and covered approximately one hundred and fifty feet by seventy-five feet.
The Tabernacle was but a small structure, entirely unsuited to the accommodation of large assemblies. Within the Tabernacle, only the appointed bearers of the Priesthood officiated; and of these none but the few actually engaged in the service of the day could be admitted.
The Tabernacle was divided into two compartments by a curtain, specifically called the Veil, the outer of which was known as the Holy Place, and the inner as the Most Holy Place or Holy of Holies.Beyond the Veil the enclosure was most holy, and therein was placed the Ark of the Covenant.
On the first day of the second year following Israel's exodus from Egypt, the Tabernacle was set up for the first time, and all the sacred furniture was disposed according to the direct commands of the Lord. The veil was hung, and the place was consecrated as a most holy spot, ineffably sacred as the dwelling place of Jehovah. Then, even as on Sinai a cloud had shrouded the temporary abiding place of God, so was it with the Tabernacle:
The scriptures say:
"Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
"And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation because the cloud abode thereon and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
"And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys:
"But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up.
"For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. "
The children of Israel consider themselves specifically the people of God, and amongst them should be His dwelling. This thought was expressed in the earliest commandment respecting the building of the Tabernacle: "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them."
The Lord had commanded that with everything that the children of Israel would move with them in the desert, they should also make and take a portable temple that he may have a place to dwell with them.
Until Israel had become permanently established in the land of promise, the Tabernacle of the Congregation had but temporary resting places. As the people moved the sanctuary was carried, until it found a somewhat more permanent home at Shiloh. There, at the door of the Tabernacle, the final apportionment of Canaan among the tribes was made. There it remained during the period of the Judges, and until after the Ark of God had been allowed to pass from the custody of Israel to that of the Philistines, because of sin. The glory of the sanctuary was largely lost, and though the Tabernacle continued in existence its sacred service was in abeyance. Sadly was the truth declared,
"The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken."
The Ark was housed in another tent, and finally both were brought into the splendid Temple of solomon.
It is no different today his people are always commanded to build unto his holy name. as it says in
D&C 124:39.
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.
( D&C 124:39)
It is interesting to note the number of times the term "Command" was used as it has to do with the construction of temples.
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. (D&C 124: 40,41)
A place of preparation:
Upon getting fired from his job as a steamship telegrapher, Wayne returned home that evening quite depressed. Weeks later while still looking for a job he was reading the daily newspaper. One of the worlds largest steamship lines had placed an add for a telegraph operator.
Wayne was so excited that he skipped breakfast, caught the subway and headed downtown to the 40 story headquarters of the steamship lines.
After riding the elevator up 32 floors Wayne found himself in the foyer just outside the Presidents office. Wayne looked around and discovered that he was not the only one excited for the chance at such a great job, as a matter of fact there were about 20 hopefuls in the foyer. Wayne looked around the room and viewed everybody working so busy filling out their job questionares.
Finding a comfortable seat Wayne sat down and begun working on his own job questionare. After working for about five minutes Wayne got up and headed toward the Presidents door, opened it and entered. The joking really started outside as the other hopefuls speculated what must be going on behind the door after Wayne bust inside.
Just then the door opened Wayne shook the hand of the President as he received congratulations on getting the job. The mood in the room seemed to change quite drastically as the men outside were not happy the Wayne had burst into the Presidents office in front of them, especially when some had been waiting for about an hour.
To which Wayne replied "I only did as I was instructed, when the message came over the Intercom that the first person to decode this message was to open the door labeled Office of the President and go inside. That is what I did, Opened the door, entered, And got the Job"
so it is with our Father in Heaven He has said "knock and it shall be opened, ask and it shall be given".
President Brigham Young said: "Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the House of the Lord, which are necessary for you after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being able to give
them the key words, the signs, and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain exaltation in spite of earth and hell." In otherwords the temple is the place where we prepare for the life after this
one. There is only one way to receive the signs and tokens of the Holy Priesthood and that is by going to the House of The Lord. That is the preparation that we must make in this life.
While the rich symbolism of the temple provides us with the differences of the various degrees of glory that we can obtain. It also teaches us and prepares us to move in this life from the different states of glory.
The State of Glory being...
Telestial State
Terrestial state
Celestial State
Man struggles against opposition to prove himself.
Man overcomes Satan and prepares to enter God's presence
Man returns to God's presence
What better place on earth to help us sanctify ourselves to move from one state to the other, than
the temple.
And then like anything that the Lord commands there are...
The Promises and blessings that follow:
19 And that all their salutations may be in the name of the Lord, with holy hands, uplifted to the Most High;
20 And that no unclean thing shall be permitted to come into thy house to pollute it;
21 And when thy people transgress, any of them, they may speedily repent and return unto thee, and find favor in thy sight, and be restored to the blessings whic thou hast ordained to be poured out upon those who shall reverence thee in thy house.
22 And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them;
D & C 109:19-22
Armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them;
The blessings continue in the 84 Section of the Doctrine and Covenants:
19 And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God.
20 Therefore, in the ordinances thereof~ the power of godliness is manifest.
21 And without the ordinances thereof~ and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh;
22 For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.
D &C:84:19-22
In the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest. And then the opportunity that we have to know for ourselves, because it is so great that Joseph and others were commanded that they could not write it.
114 But great and marvelous are the works of the Lord, and the mysteries of his kingdom which he showed unto us, which surpass all understanding in glory, and in might, and in dominion;
115 Which he commanded us we should not write while we were yet in the Spirit, and are not lawful for man to utter;
116 Neither is man capable to make them known, for they are only to be seen and understood by the power of the Holy Spirit, which God bestows on those who love him, and purify themselves before him;
117 To whom he grants this privilege of seeing and knowing for themselves;
D&C 76:114-116
And from the mouth of our modern day prophet Ezra Taft Benson the words came: "Many parents, in and out of the Church, are concerned about protection against a cascading avalanche of wickedness which threatens to engulf the world... There is a power associated with ordinances of heaven - even the power of godliness - which can and will thwart the forces of evil if we will but be worthy of those sacred covenants made in the temple of the Lord... our families will be protected, our children will be safe guarded as we live the gospel, visit the temple, and live close to the Lord."
The Third significance is that it is A Place for the Savior to visit the earth.
No different today than in the times of old.
We have seen the example of savior visiting temple in days of Moses.
We have modern day stories of the savior visiting the Salt lake Temple...
Ogden Temple...I tell this that you may remember that when you enter the House of the Lord it really is the House of the Lord for he has been there.
Story of Grandma Green as the Temple Operator
so important were the lasting impressions given by the temples of old that. So great were the blessings of temples that generations carried on building temples with many of the same symbolism but without the priesthood. We see the efforts in the Middle-east, the far east and Latin American countries. They were all taught by their fathers they could see the blessings and desired