The Holy Temple - A Beacon to the World

I pray that I may be guided by the Spirit as I write to you on the very sacred subject of temples.

 

The most holy places on this earth are the temples. In the temple, worthy members of the Church receive the greatest blessings anyone can desire to as we make sacred covenants with God. We also help make those same blessings available to our ancestors who died without receiving the essential ordinances of salvation.

You may ask… Why do members of the Church so willingly and happily build and go to the temple?

The Lord has always asked His people to build temples. The Lord commanded Moses: “Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” The portable tabernacle they built served as the central place of Israel’s worship during their journey to the Promised Land. Its design and assembly were revealed by the Lord to Moses. It was to be the Lord’s holy house.

Later, King Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem using the best building materials obtainable.

During the Savior’s earthly ministry, He considered the temple as a sacred place and taught reverence for it.

The Nephites also built temples to the Lord in the Americas. They were gathered around the temple when Christ appeared to them after His Resurrection.

After the Church was restored in this dispensation, the Lord commanded the Saints to build a temple: “Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.”  Doctrine and Covenants 88:119 (One of my favorite scriptures of all time)

In response, the Saints built the Kirtland Temple; a great sacrifice. In this holy temple, important priesthood keys were restored and the Savior Himself appeared.

At the moment, there are 141 temples in operation throughout the world, and many more are being built.

We have been commanded to build temples so that holy ordinances may be performed for both the living and the dead. These ordinances include initiatory ordinances, endowments, marriages, sealings, baptisms for the dead, and ordinations.

President Brigham Young defined the endowment the following way:

“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 … and gain your eternal exaltation.”

The covenants we make with the mentioned ordinances we receive in the temple become our qualifications for admission into God’s presence. These covenants raise us beyond the limits of our own power and perspective. We make covenants to show our devotion to build up the kingdom. We become covenant people as we are placed under covenant to God. All the promised blessings are ours through our faithfulness to these covenants.

The temple is a house of learning. Much of the instruction imparted in the temple is symbolic and learned by the Spirit. This means we are taught from on high. Temple covenants and ordinances are a powerful symbol of Christ and His Atonement. We all receive the same instruction, but our understanding of the meaning of the ordinances and covenants will increase as we return to the temple often with the attitude of learning and contemplating the eternal truths taught.

Temple worship provides opportunities to serve the dead by performing vicarious ordinances for them. Family history research may be done by anyone outside the temple walls, but the sacred ordinances our dead ancestors need for their exaltation can be administered only in the temple. The temple is the house of the Lord. He directs the conditions under which it may be used, the ordinances that should be administered, and the standards that qualify us to enter and participate in temple worship. The Lord told Moses, “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” In Psalms we read: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?

“He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”  His house is holy, and no unclean thing may enter it.

I’ve had the wonderful privilege, to go inside 7 different temples! I’ve been truly blessed.
I was very blessed to live 15 minutes away from one in Logan, Utah. And less than 3 hours from others!
I love the temple!! I can’t tell you enough.

The beautiful Temples I’ve been to...

Logan, Utah

 

Brigham City, Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah

 

 

Rexburg, Idaho

Idaho Falls, Idaho

Provo, Utah

Washington D.C.

I’ve gone to the temple 18 x’s since receiving my endowment! I can’t believe it’s been a year since I went inside for the first time! One of my ambitions in life is to be a temple worker. :) Well in a sense, I already am one! Again, temples are awesome! Always strive to be working towards being able to enter!

I testify to you that the temples are sacred, holy places. They are a source of spiritual power and strength. They are a place of revelation. They are the house of the Lord.

In the sacred name of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Falslev