The Temple: Preparation for the Second Coming

As I’ve listened to the new Saints book describe the period of church history directly after the death of the prophet Joseph Smith, I’ve been impressed by the focus that the Twelve placed on finishing the temple.  The dissenters—those who opposed the Twelve and tried to take over the leadership of the Church—dismissed the temple and the endowment, but the Twelve knew they had to stay in Nauvoo until the people could receive their ordinances in the House of the Lord.  For example, after Sidney Rigdon was excommunicated for apostasy, he “left Nauvoo soon after, predicting that the Saints would never complete the temple.”  But the Twelve placed their main focus on the temple.  As the dangers around them mounted with threats of more mob violence, “Brigham went to his knees and prayed to know what the Saints should do.  The Lord responded with a simple answer: stay and finish the temple.”  This is exactly what they did, literally performing ordinances in the temple around the clock until they fled the city to head west.    

               A hallmark of the restored Church has always been temple work, and this is one of the major differences that sets the Church apart from other Christian organizations.  Many churches believe in the Second Coming of the Savior, but they do not know fully how to prepare for it.  When the angel Moroni visited the boy Joseph, he told him, paraphrasing Malachi, that if the children and fathers were not turned together, “The whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming” (JSH 1:39).  So how do we prepare for the Second Coming?  We build temples, gather out the records of our dead, and perform ordinances for them—without that work, the whole earth will have been wasted.  Joseph too wrote that this is the means that we prepare for “the great day of the Lord.”  He wrote the Saints, “Who can abide the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appeareth?...  Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:24).  The records of our work in the temple that we will present to the Lord is a most crucial part of our preparation for His return. 

            And just as Brigham Young and the Twelve hastened the temple work in their time in Nauvoo, even at the peril of their lives, so today the focus has not changed.  President Nelson announced twelve new temples in this most recent general conference, “the largest number of temples ever announced on the same day.”  This puts the total number of temples operating, under construction, or planned at 201, a staggering number considering that when Elder Nelson became an apostle there were only 21.  He said as he announced these new temples, “Our need to be in the temple on a regular basis has never been greater. I plead with you to take a prayerful look at how you spend your time. Invest time in your future and in that of your family. If you have reasonable access to a temple, I urge you to find a way to make an appointment regularly with the Lord—to be in His holy house—then keep that appointment with exactness and joy.”  It was crucial for the Saints in Nauvoo to receive their endowments and sealings in the House of the Lord before they made the difficult journey to the Salt Lake Valley, and in like manner it is of paramount importance for us to have the protection of the ordinances of the temple as we deal with the challenges of today.