THE TEMPLE ORDINANCES ARE SYMBOLIC
Before going to the temple for the first
time, or even after many times, it may help you to realize that the teaching in
the temples is done in symbolic fashion. If you will go to the temple and
remember that the teaching is symbolic, you will never go in the proper spirit
without coming away with your vision extended, feeling a little more exalted,
with your knowledge increased as to things that are spiritual.
The teaching plan is
superb. It is inspired. The Lord Himself, the Master Teacher, taught His disciples
constantly in parables—a verbal way to represent symbolically things that might
otherwise be difficult to understand.
In the temple we
receive an endowment, which is, literally speaking, a gift. In receiving this
gift, we should understand its significance and the importance of keeping
sacred covenants. Each temple ordinance “is not just a ritual to go through, it
is an act of solemn promising.”6
The temple endowment
was given by revelation. Thus, it is best understood by revelation, prayerfully
sought with a sincere heart.7 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, … and gain your
eternal exaltation.”8
Each temple is a house of learning. There we are
taught in the Master’s way. His way differs from modes of others. His way is
ancient and rich with symbolism. We can learn much by pondering the reality for
which each symbol stands. Teachings of the temple are beautifully simple and
simply beautiful. They are understood by the humble, yet they can excite the
intellect of the brightest minds.
Spiritual preparation is enhanced by study. I like to
recommend that members going to the temple for the first time read short
explanatory paragraphs in the Bible Dictionary, listed under seven topics:
“Anoint,” “Atonement,” “Christ,” “Covenant,” “Fall of Adam,” “Sacrifices,” and
“Temple.” Doing so will provide a firm foundation.
OVERVIEW OF THE TEMPLE ORDINANCES
The ordinances we perform in
the temples include washings, anointings, the endowment, and the sealing
ordinance—both the sealing of children to parents, and the sealing of couples,
spoken of generally as temple marriage. Here is a brief summary of the information that is available in print with reference to the temple ordinances.
The ordinances of washing and anointing are referred to often in the temple as initiatory ordinances. It will be sufficient for our purposes to say only the following: Associated with the endowment are washings and anointings—mostly symbolic in nature, but promising definite, immediate blessings as well as future blessings. Concerning these ordinances the Lord has said, “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?” (D&C 124:37).
In connection with these ordinances, in the temple you will be officially clothed in the garment and promised marvelous blessings in connection with it. It is important that you listen carefully as these ordinances are administered and that you try to remember the blessings promised and the conditions upon which they will be realized.
To endow is to enrich, to give to another something long lasting and of much worth. In the temple endowment ordinances, “recipients are endowed with power from on high,” and “they receive an education relative to the Lord’s purposes and plans.”2
President Brigham Young (1801–77) said of the endowment: “Let me give you a definition in brief. 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 enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell.”3
UNDERSTANDING THE ENDOWMENT
Christ’s life is the story of
giving the Atonement. The life of Adam and Eve is the story of receiving the
Atonement. [We learn] through the
story of Adam and Eve about life’s purpose and how to return to God’s presence
through obedience and the Atonement.
John A. Widstoe: The Temple endowment relates the story of man's eternal journey; sets forth the conditions upon which progress in the eternal journey depends; requires covenants or agreements of those participating, to accept and use the laws of progress; gives tests by which our willingness and fitness for righteousness may be known, and finally points out the ultimate destiny of those who love truth and live by it (Priesthood and Church Government, p.333).
The basis for every temple ordinance and covenant—the
heart of the plan of salvation—is the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Elder James
E. Talmage, formerly of the Council of the Twelve, has given a clear
description of the endowment:
“The Temple
Endowment, as administered in modern temples, comprises instruction relating to
the significance and sequence of past dispensations, and the importance of the
present as the greatest and grandest era in human history.
This course
of instruction includes:
·
a
recital of the most prominent events of the creative period,
·
the
condition of our first parents in the Garden of Eden,
·
their
disobedience and consequent expulsion from that blissful abode,
·
their
condition in the lone and dreary world when doomed to live by labor and sweat,
·
the
plan of redemption by which the great transgression may be atoned,
·
the
period of the great apostasy,
·
the
restoration of the Gospel with all its ancient powers and privileges,
·
the
absolute and indispensable condition of personal purity and devotion to the
right in present life,
·
and
a strict compliance with Gospel requirements. …
“The
ordinances of the endowment embody certain obligations on the part of the
individual, such as:
·
covenant
and promise to observe the law of strict virtue and chastity,
·
to
be charitable, benevolent, tolerant and pure;
·
to
devote both talent and material means to the spread of truth and the uplifting
of the race;
·
to
maintain devotion to the cause of truth;
·
and
to seek in every way to contribute to the great preparation that the earth may
be made ready to receive her King,—the Lord Jesus Christ.
“With
the taking of each covenant and the assuming of each obligation a promised
blessing is pronounced, contingent upon the faithful observance of the
conditions.”
“No jot,
iota, or tittle of the temple rites is otherwise than uplifting and
sanctifying. In every detail the endowment ceremony contributes to covenants of
morality of life, consecration of person to high ideals, devotion to truth,
patriotism to nation, and allegiance to God.” (The House of the Lord, pp. 83–84.)
The Creation required the Fall. The Fall required the Atonement. The Atonement enabled the purpose of the Creation to be accomplished. Eternal life, made possible by the Atonement, is the supreme purpose of the Creation. To phrase that statement in its negative form, if families were not sealed in holy temples, the whole earth would be utterly wasted. 42
The purposes of the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement all converge on the sacred work done in temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The earth was created and the Church was restored to make possible the sealing of wife to husband, children to parents, families to progenitors, worlds without end.
This is the great latter-day work of which we are a part. That is why we have missionaries; that is why we have temples—to bring the fullest blessings of the Atonement to faithful children of God. That is why we respond to our own calls from the Lord. When we comprehend His voluntary Atonement, any sense of sacrifice on our part becomes completely overshadowed by a profound sense of gratitude for the privilege of serving Him.
With each ordinance
is a covenant—a promise. A covenant made with God is not restrictive, but
protective. Such a concept is not new. For example, if our water supply is not
clean, we filter the water to screen out harmful ingredients. Divine covenants
help us to filter out of our minds impurities that could harm us. When we
choose to deny ourselves of all ungodliness, we lose nothing of value and gain
the glory of eternal life. Covenants do not hold us down; they elevate us
beyond the limits of our own power and perspective.
These temple
blessings include our washings and anointings that we may be clean before the
Lord. They include the … endowment of obligations and blessings that motivate
us to behavior compatible with the principles of the gospel. They include the sealing
ordinances by which that which is bound on earth is bound in heaven, providing
for the continuity of the family.
President Brigham Young - Opposition to Temple Work
We cannot … administer the further ordinances of God, in the fullest sense of the word, legally unto the people … until we have a temple built for that purpose (DBY, 394–95).
Some say, “I do not like to do it, for we never began to build a temple without the bells of hell beginning to ring.” I want to hear them ring again. We completed a temple in Kirtland and in Nauvoo; and did not the bells of hell toll all the time we were building them? They did, every week and every day (DBY, 410).
President Brigham Young - Opposition to Temple Work
We cannot … administer the further ordinances of God, in the fullest sense of the word, legally unto the people … until we have a temple built for that purpose (DBY, 394–95).
Some say, “I do not like to do it, for we never began to build a temple without the bells of hell beginning to ring.” I want to hear them ring again. We completed a temple in Kirtland and in Nauvoo; and did not the bells of hell toll all the time we were building them? They did, every week and every day (DBY, 410).
