Put on the Armor of God

In the final session of the most recent general conference, President Nelson again announced the plans to build many new temples. After announcing 14 individual temples, he said this: “We are also planning to build multiple temples in selected large metropolitan areas where travel time to an existing temple is a major challenge. Therefore, I am pleased to announce four additional locations near Mexico City where new temples will be built in Cuernavaca, Pachuca, Toluca, and Tula.” These four cities are in the general proximity of Mexico City with distances from it of approximately 86, 90, 63, and 12 kilometers. So they are still relatively spread out—much further apart in general than those temples across the Wasatch Front—but it appears from President Nelson’s comments that we may see more major cities (“selected large metropolitan areas”) with multiple temples like this announced. Of course, what matters most for each of us individually is the focus that we put on the temple and our time spent there. President Nelson said this after showing the new Book of Mormon video where the Savior appeared at the temple at Bountiful among the Nephites: “It is significant that the Savior chose to appear to the people at the temple. It is His house. It is filled with His power. Let us never lose sight of what the Lord is doing for us now. He is making His temples more accessible. He is accelerating the pace at which we are building temples. He is increasing our ability to help gather Israel. He is also making it easier for each of us to become spiritually refined. I promise that increased time in the temple will bless your life in ways nothing else can.” It was at the temple that the Savior taught the Nephites, and it is there that He will teach us.

                President Nelson’s final invitation in the conference was this: “My dear brothers and sisters, may you focus on the temple in ways you never have before.” We can certainly seek to follow this by being physically in the temple more often. Perhaps another way we might focus our thoughts more towards the temple is to remember more frequently the covenants we have made there. And for those who have been endowed we have a daily reminder of those covenants in the wearing of the temple garment. Elder Carlos E. Asay suggested that the temple garment we wear after receiving our endowment is a way in which we put on the armor of God: “We must put on the armor of God spoken of by the Apostle Paul and reiterated in a modern revelation (see D&C 27:15–18). We must also ‘put on the armor of righteousness’ (2 Ne. 1:23) symbolized by the temple garment. Otherwise, we may lose the war and perish.” He continued, “The piece of armor called the temple garment not only provides the comfort and warmth of a cloth covering, it also strengthens the wearer to resist temptation, fend off evil influences, and stand firmly for the right.” The garment orients us “toward the gospel principles of obedience, truth, life, and discipleship in Christ,” and as we put on that armor we might seek to focus more on the covenants it represents, remembering the Savior’s invitation: “Wherefore, lift up your hearts and rejoice, and gird up your loins, and take upon you my whole armor, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, having done all, that ye may be able to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, which I have sent mine angels to commit unto you” (Doctrine and Covenants 27:15-16). The temple garment, and keeping the covenants that it symbolizes, can be that armor as we focus on the Savior and His house. Isaiah’s invitation is surely for all those who have been endowed with power in the house of the Lord and who have covenanted with Him there: “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean” (Isaiah 52:1).