Thus Had They Become Weak

King Benjamin said to his son Mosiah, “Yea, and moreover I say unto you, that if this highly favored people of the Lord should fall into transgression, and become a wicked and an adulterous people, that the Lord will deliver them up, that thereby they become weak like unto their brethren; and he will no more preserve them by his matchless and marvelous power, as he has hitherto preserved our fathers” (Mosiah 1:13). In other words, he taught that we are weak when we are wicked. This was emphasized as well by Mormon as he commented on the state of the Nephites when they were wicked: “And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples— Therefore the Lord did cease to preserve them by his miraculous and matchless power, for they had fallen into a state of unbelief and awful wickedness;… yea, thus had they become weak, because of their transgression” (Helaman 4:24-26). The Holy Ghost gives us strength, and when we choose to reject the Lord’s commandments, we no longer have that strengthening power from the Holy Ghost with us. Wickedness makes us weak. Mormon again highlighted this truth when he described the Nephites of his own time: “Nevertheless the strength of the Lord was not with us; yea, we were left to ourselves, that the Spirit of the Lord did not abide in us; therefore we had become weak like unto our brethren. And my heart did sorrow because of this the great calamity of my people, because of their wickedness and their abominations” (Mormon 2:26-27). When we who have made covenants with the Lord choose to violate those promises and follow after wickedness, we become weak like these Nephites who no longer had the strength from the Lord they had had in the past.

                If sin and wickedness make us weak, so too is the corollary true: faith and righteousness give us strength through Jesus Christ. To me temples are a great symbol of that truth; each temple stands as a bulwark of strength and power ready to take in all those who are worthy. The imposing Salt Lake Temple, for example, looks just like a castle of medieval times if you take off the spires. But instead of providing physical strength and protection like those edifices of old, temples today provide spiritual strength and power against the influence of the adversary. President George Q. Cannon put it this way: “Every foundation stone that is laid for a Temple, and every Temple completed … lessens the power of Satan on the earth, and increases the power of God and Godliness.” Yesterday I had the opportunity to go with the youth in our stake to tour the new Layton Utah Temple. Like all temples, it is a majestic symbol of the power that God is willing to give us as we choose a life of covenants and righteousness. As we sat in one of the instruction rooms, one of the older youth asked me about the veil that was in front of us. I explained that it is through that veil that one enters the celestial room. In our tour we went around and into the celestial room to see this place that “symbolizes the peace and joy of the kingdom of God, where families can live together forever with our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ.” But in reality we must go through the veil to the presence of God, and that is only possible through Jesus Christ who rent the veil upon His death: “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (Matthew 27:50-51). Paul taught, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh” (Hebrews 10:19-20). Jesus Christ gives us power, through our faith and covenants, to part the veil—overcoming all our sins and weaknesses in mortality—and enter into the presence of God. I am grateful for the power that temples give us to face and conquer all the challenges of this life and one day part that veil forever which now separates us from our Father in Heaven and the Savior.