Happy 40th Anniversary to us! (LDS Temple Blessings)

Family Photo

Forty years ago, my sweet husband and I drove to the Salt Lake LDS Temple on a beautiful, snowy morning to make sacred commitments to each other. We were sealed together for time and all eternity in a covenant that would include our children and their children and so on. The knowledge that our family is an eternal family comforts me and gives me courage to press forward through the next weeks and months of lost abilities and good health.

"In the temple husbands, wives, and children are sealed so that they can remain a family even after this life. It is this desire for united, enduring relationships with loved ones and with God that draws people to the temple and its eternal, binding promises."

https://www.mormon.org/beliefs/temples

Photo by Lance Bertola
https://www.ldstemple.pics/store/salt-lake-temple-glimmer-of-hope/
https://www.mormon.org/beliefs/temples

My wise and deeply spiritual friend, Mary McConkie Donoho, taught me that the best way to learn is by asking basic questions before you begin studying. I was preparing a lesson on temples for Relief Society and asked the basics: Who? What? When? Where? and Why? 

If you've been to the temple and made those specific promises you will find the parallels interesting and reassuring. It has ever been thus... the principles and covenants we make have been everlasting and eternal. 

1) Who built the first temple? What? When? Where?

The very first people commanded to build a place to worship were Adam and Eve when they were cast out of the Garden of Eden. They built an altar to make "offerings" on. We know that they were not able to see God physically. 

And Adam and Eve, his wife, called upon the name of the Lord, and they heard the voice of the Lord from the way toward the Garden of Eden, speaking unto them, and they saw him not; for they were shut out from his presence. And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. 

Pearl of Great Price: Moses 5:4-5

2) Why did Adam build the altar?

Because he was obedient.. We read in Moses 5:6  

"And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me."

Adam's answer reveals his commitment to obedience. He sacrificed for "many days" before an angel of the Lord appeared unto him. In fact, we know that Adam was a grandfather before he even knew WHY he was sacrificing!

The first two principles of temple worship are 

SACRIFICE and OBEDIENCE.

Operationterra.org

When the children of Israel were traveling in Egypt the Lord commanded them to build a "moveable" place to worship, a "house built to the name of the Lord" and they called it a sanctuary. It served as their temple for 500 years.

In Exodus 25:8 "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them."

1 Chronicles 22:19 "Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the Lord."

The third principle of temple worship is SANCTUARY.

I love these quotes from different prophets in S. Michael Wilcox's book about the House of The Lord speaking of the temple as a house of protection, healing and refuge: 

Ezra Taft Benson said "Let us make the temple a sacred home away from our eternal home. This temple will be a standing witness that the power of God can stay the power of evil in our midst. Many parents within and without the church are concerned about protection against a cascading avalanche of wickedness which threatens to engulf Christian principles. There is a power associated with the ordinances of heaven, even a power of godliness, which can and will thwart the forces of evil if we will be worthy of those sacred blessings. 

This community will be protected. Our families will be protected. Our children will be safeguarded as we live the gospel, visit the temple and live close to the Lord. 

Boyd K Packer said, "No work is more of a protection to this church than temple work and the genealogical research which supports it. No work is more spiritually refining, no work we do gives us more power, no work requires a higher standard of righteousness, but the work, although demanding carries with it wonderful benefits.

Our labors in the temple cover us with a shield and a protection, both individually and as a people. 

George Q Cannon promised that when other temples will be completed an increase of power will be bestowed upon the people of God and they will be better fitted to cope with the powers of darkness and the evils that exist in the world. I do not think it is coincidental that as we see the powers of the adversary increase, that also the number of temples is increasing. 

Widstoe: Men and women grow mighty and more powerful through temple service until the devil has less influence than he ever had before.

All those who faithfully attend to temple work will have unseen angels to watch over their loved ones when satanic forces tempt them. 

Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone

"Recognize that when you left the temple on the day you were endowed, you left with promises from the Lord directly to you. Not promises made to some ancient prophet or people, but promises made to you. The temple’s purpose is to bring us unto Christ so that we might be redeemed."

http://www.ldsliving.com/3-Things-to-Understand-About-Your-Temple-Endowment/s/79806

"Let us be a temple-attending and a temple-loving people. Let us hasten to the temple as frequently as time and means and personal circumstances allow. Let us go not only for our kindred dead, but let us also go for the personal blessing of temple worship, for the sanctity and the safety which are provided within those hallowed and consecrated walls. The temple is a place of beauty; it is a place of revelation; it is a place of peace. It is the house of the Lord."

Howard W. Hunter Ensign Mar 2004

"The temple helps us understand God’s expectations for His children from an eternal perspective. In temples baptisms are performed for ancestors to give deceased relatives the opportunity to accept blessings of eternity. In the temple, husbands, wives, and children are sealed so that they can remain a family even after this life. It is this desire for united, enduring relationships with loved ones and with God that draws people to the temple and its eternal, binding promises."

https://www.mormon.org/beliefs/temples

Spokane, WA Temple - lds.org

Manti, UT Temple - Instagram @housesofthelord