The King of Kings

When I served as a missionary in France, the faithful members there often spoke of their desire to have a temple in their country and their expectation that one day there would be based on a prophetic promise. At that time in the 2000s, members would to travel to Switzerland or England to attend the temple which made for a long and expensive voyage. As a new apostle, Elder Caussé recently traveled to France, and he spoke of the coming of a temple there. A news article reports, “From the moment in 1998 that President Gordon B. Hinckley told the Saints in France that a temple would be built in their country, the Caussés made it a matter of daily prayer for nearly two decades. ‘There was not one day that went when our family didn’t offer a prayer on behalf of the temple project,’ the Apostle said. ‘And what a beautiful experience it was as a family to be able to gather together in the temple once it was dedicated [in 2017].’” I was blessed to have a work trip to England (which was not at all common for me) the week after the dedication, and so my sister and I went to Paris the weekend before my scheduled meetings and were able to attend the dedication from a ward in France where my former missionary companion was the bishop. What a great blessing it was to witness that dream of so many faithful members finally come to fruition, twenty years after a prophet had promised a temple would be built in France. It is a reminder that the Lord’s timing is not usually our timing, and we often need to wait on Him for the greatest desires of our hearts. Surely it was at least in part due to the prayers of the faithful, like the Caussé family, that the Lord bestowed that great blessing to the French Saints.

               One thing that makes the Paris France Temple unique is the Christus statue that is outside in the courtyard. You don’t need a temple recommend to see it—you can just walk on the grounds and find it towering over you as a witness of Latter-day Saints’ faith in the Savior. Elder Caussé commented, “There is such connection between Jesus Christ and the temple. Of course, all the ordinances that we perform in the temple are in the name of Jesus Christ. These are covenants we make with Jesus Christ. But also for our friends, people not of our faith, when they come to the grounds here, the first thing they will see is that statue of Jesus Christ, and it will be for them a confirmation that our Church, our religion, is all about Christ.” At the temple we worship “the King of Kings, the Lord of lords,” even Jesus Christ, who will one day return to the earth (Revelation 19:16). He is the “King of the Jews,” “the King of Zion,” our “heavenly King,” and our “eternal King” (Matthew 27:11, Moses 7:53, Mosiah 2:19, Doctrine and Covenants 128:23). As He declared to His people in the last days, “But, verily I say unto you that in time ye shall have no king nor ruler, for I will be your king and watch over you” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:21). So what a juxtaposition that this temple to our King is located within minutes of the Palace of Versailles, the former opulent residence of King Louis XIV of France. Visitors flock there daily to see the wealth and home of a dead king who will never return, while other visitors less than two miles away quietly enter the house of a Living King to worship Him and prepare for His return. In the Millennium the Palace of Versailles likely won’t remain, but the temple nearby surely will as the faithful enter there to become themselves “kings and priests” more powerful than Louis XIV ever was (Revelation 5:10). Those who make and keep covenants made in temples have this promise of the Lord: “They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things—They are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:55-56). That glory in the eternities will be far greater than the temporary splendor of the royal court of France in the 18^th century.