The Keys of the Kingdom of God

President James E. Faust once spoke at BYU and based upon a question that a visitor asked him in SLC: “Where is the church of the Mormons?” He pointed out various buildings associated with the Church and the man went on his way, but it caused President Faust to reflect upon this question. He noted what President Boyd K. Packer had once said when visiting the Kirtland Temple: “We do not have that building. When our people left, they took with them that which was important. They preserved the keys of the ordinances, the covenants, and the sealing power. They took with them all the essentials which we have today.” President Faust then commented, “So the Church cannot, in and of itself, be the temples, magnificent as they are, because the temple buildings alone do not bless. They are the exquisite containers for the pearls of great price administered therein by the priesthood of God.” The Church is not a building, for buildings will come and go but what is essential—the keys of the priesthood to administer the Church—remain. President Faust continued, “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should be in our hearts, and, when it is in our individual hearts, it will also be in our great buildings of worship, in our lovely educational institutions, and in our magnificent temples, as well as in our homes and families. But the keys of the kingdom rest with the president of the Church. It is that authority that activates and governs all Church activities. Without priesthood keys and authority, there would be no church.” President Jeffrey R. Holland remarked after quoting President Faust’s talk, “The priesthood of God, with its keys, its ordinances, its divine origin and ability to bind in heaven what is bound on earth, is as indispensable to the true Church of God as it is unique to it and that without it there would be no Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” Without the priesthood of God with its keys to govern and lead, there would be no Church.

            These keys that were given to Joseph Smith to organize and lead the Church are spoken of multiple times in the Doctrine and Covenants. When the resurrected John the Baptist came to Joseph and Oliver, conferring the Aaronic Priesthood, he said, “Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins” (Doctrine and Covenants 13:1). Later the Lord commented on the bestowal of the Melchizedek Priesthood to the Prophet Joseph with these words: “And also with Peter, and James, and John, whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles, and especial witnesses of my name, and bear the keys of your ministry and of the same things which I revealed unto them; Unto whom I have committed the keys of my kingdom, and a dispensation of the gospel for the last times; and for the fulness of times, in the which I will gather together in one all things, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 27:12-13). In the next revelation the Lord said this of the Prophet Joseph: “For I have given him the keys of the mysteries, and the revelations which are sealed, until I shall appoint unto them another in his stead” (Doctrine and Covenants 28:7). He similarly said, “And I have sent forth the fulness of my gospel by the hand of my servant Joseph; and in weakness have I blessed him; And I have given unto him the keys of the mystery of those things which have been sealed, even things which were from the foundation of the world, and the things which shall come from this time until the time of my coming, if he abide in me, and if not, another will I plant in his stead…. And Israel shall be saved in mine own due time; and by the keys which I have given shall they be led, and no more be confounded at all” (Doctrine and Covenants 35:17-18, 25). Joseph had the keys to lead the Church as the Lord confirmed in another revelation: “My servant Joseph Smith, Jun.; Unto whom I have given the keys of the kingdom, which belong always unto the Presidency of the High Priesthood: Therefore, verily I acknowledge him and will bless him” (Doctrine and Covenants 81:1-3).

Those keys were given to Joseph and were passed on in an unbroken chain through the apostles. The first president of the Church to be recorded audibly was Wilford Woodruff near the end of his life. He carefully prepared what he would say into the “talking machine.” Among a few others things, he said this: “I bear my testimony that in the early spring of 1844, in Nauvoo, the Prophet Joseph Smith called the Twelve Apostles together and he delivered unto them the ordinances of the Church and kingdom of God; and all the keys and powers that God had  bestowed upon him, he sealed upon our heads, and he told us that we must round up our shoulders and bear off this kingdom, or we would be damned. I am the only man now living in the flesh who heard that testimony from his mouth, and I know that it was true by the power of God manifest to him. At that meeting he stood on his feet for about three hours and taught us the things of the kingdom. His face was as clear as amber, and he was covered with a power that I had never seen in any man in the flesh before.” Of all the things he could have said, President Woodruff wanted the world to know that Joseph Smith had given the keys of the kingdom to the apostles. Those keys are still what leads the Church today, and this statement from the Lord is still true today: “The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 65:2).