All They Who Receive This Priesthood

The Come, Follow Me manual this week says, “The oath and covenant of the priesthood (see Doctrine and Covenants 84:31–44) has special application for Heavenly Father’s sons who are ordained to a priesthood office, but many of the promised blessings in these verses are available to all of God’s children…. Elder Paul B. Pieper taught: ‘It is interesting that in the oath and covenant of the priesthood, the Lord uses the verbs obtain and receive. He does not use the verb ordain. It is in the temple that men and women—together—obtain and receive the blessings and power of both the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods.’” Indeed, perhaps in the past we have focused too much on ordination to the priesthood when discussing these verses. To me verses 33-34 still seem to be referring to ordination to the priesthood: “For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron.” But then I see a shift in the next verse: “And also all they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord.” If verses 33-34 refer to men who are ordained to the priesthood, then the “also all” must then include more than that group, meaning it includes men and women. With that reading, the subsequent verses then give promises not just to men ordained to the priesthood but to all who receive the ordinances of the priesthood: “For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me; And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father; And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him.” Even though the masculine pronoun is used here, I do not think it was meant to be exclusive to men; the “he” in each of these verses, as I read it, simply refers to the hypothetical person who receives the Lord. Thus, with that reading, “all that the Father” is promised not just to holders of the priesthood but to all men and women who receive the ordinances of the priesthood.

            Those ordinances of the priesthood are received, by both men and women, in the house of the Lord. This revelation on priesthood began with a focus on the temple: “Verily this is the word of the Lord, that the city New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints, beginning at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation. For verily this generation shall not all pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house” (v4-5). His house and His glory to be found therein were the backdrop for the words about priesthood that would follow in the revelation. The Lord also said this directly before the verses we generally refer to as the oath and covenant of the priesthood: “The sons of Moses and also the sons of Aaron shall offer an acceptable offering and sacrifice in the house of the Lord, which house shall be built unto the Lord in this generation, upon the consecrated spot as I have appointed—And the sons of Moses and of Aaron shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, upon Mount Zion in the Lord’s house, whose sons are ye; and also many whom I have called and sent forth to build up my church” (v31-32). So the context was the temple and its glory when the Lord then gave the oath and covenant of the priesthood. The greatest blessings of the priesthood are indeed available to men and women equally through the ordinances of the temple. President Hinckley taught, “The blessings of the temple represent that fulness of the priesthood of which the Lord spoke when He revealed His will unto the Prophet Joseph Smith.” President M. Russell Ballard put it this way: “When men and women go to the temple, they are both endowed with the same power, which is priesthood power.… Access to the power and the blessings of the priesthood is available to all of God’s children.” In his address six years ago in the women’s session of general conference, President Nelson invited women this way: “I entreat you to study prayerfully all the truths you can find about priesthood power. You might begin with Doctrine and Covenants sections 84 and 107. Those sections will lead you to other passages…. As you do so, you will find yourselves better able to help create eternal families that are united, sealed in the temple of the Lord, and full of love for our Heavenly Father and for Jesus Christ.” Doctrine and Covenants 84, designated by the Prophet Joseph Smith as “a revelation on priesthood,” promises both men and women who receive the Savior through the ordinances of the priesthood that they can ultimately receive all that the Father has.