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The Promised Kingdom of God is a narration of the restoration of the Lord's Church to the earth in the latter-days. Read it here at no cost to you."Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price." 2 Nephi 9:50 Read here online the entire book without cost |
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Chapter 1: Foretelling the Kingdom
The
building of temples to the Lord has been a practice of all times by the Lords
people. When the Lord was here on earth He called it His House (Luke 19:46.) and
His Fathers house, (John 2:16.) and it is clearly manifest that the Lord
intended to build temples in the latter-day before His return to earth. The Lord
promised that “in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills;
and all nations shall flow unto it.” (Isaiah 2:2, Micah 4:1) The Lord has shown in
times past by marvelous display, acceptance of His House on earth. This is
recorded of the Tabernacle before the Temple was built in Jerusalem:
“And Moses took
the tabernacle, and pitched
it without the camp,
afar off from the camp,
and called it the Tabernacle
of the congregation. And it came
to pass, that every one which sought the
Lord went out unto the
tabernacle of the congregation,
which was without the camp.
And it came to pass, when Moses
went out unto the tabernacle,
that all the people rose up,
and stood every man at
his tent door, and looked
after Moses,
until he was gone into the tabernacle.
And it came to pass, as Moses
entered into the tabernacle,
the cloudy pillar
descended, and stood
at the door of the
tabernacle, and the Lord talked
with Moses. And all the people
saw the cloudy
pillar stand
at the tabernacle door:
and all the people rose up
and worshipped, every man in
his tent door. And the
LORD spake unto Moses
face to face,
as a man speaketh
unto his friend. And he turned
again into the camp: but
his servant Joshua, the
son of Nun, a young man,
departed not out
of the tabernacle. (Exodus 33:7-11) The Lord promised
Solomon that if the people would build a temple for their God, and “walk in My
statutes” He would dwell among Israel: “And the word of the Lord came to
Solomon, saying, concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt
walk in My statutes, and execute My judgments, and keep all My commandments to
walk in them; then will I perform My word with thee, which I spake unto David
thy father: And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake
My people Israel. (1 Kings 6:11 - 13) As the
Temple in Solomon’s day was completed it is recorded of the display of
acceptance of this House of the Lord: “And it came to pass, when the
priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the
Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for
the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.” (1 Kings 8:10-11.) In
fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah, the latter-day Saints on July
23, 1833 broke ground for the first of many temples to be erected in the latter
days. In Kirtland Ohio this first temple was constructed a House of the Lord for
God to appear and instruct His people, following the pattern of ancient Israel. The temple was
completed and dedicated on March 27, 1836 and this marvelous manifestation took
place. “Brother George A. Smith arose and began to
prophesy, when a noise was heard like the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which
filled the Temple, and all the congregation simultaneously arose, being moved
upon by an invisible power; many began to speak in tongues and prophesy; others
saw glorious visions; and I beheld the Temple was filled with angels, which fact
I declared to the congregation. The people of the neighborhood came running
together (hearing an unusual sound within, and seeing a bright light like a
pillar of fire resting upon the Temple), and were astonished at what was taking
place. This continued until the meeting closed at eleven p. m.” (DHC 2: 428.) One week after the temple was dedicated, the
Lord appeared along with Elijah, and others in His earthly house to instruct and
return keys of the priesthood to the earth, (D&C 110) fulfilling His word:
“Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and
the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of
the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of
hosts.” (Malachi 3:1.) The Lord informed
us that the restored Gospel was that “messenger of the covenant” spoken of “And
even so I have sent mine everlasting covenant into the world, to be a light to
the world, and to be a standard for my people, and for the Gentiles to seek to
it, and to be a messenger before My face to prepare the way before Me.”
(Doctrine and Covenants 45:9.) “…I will
give you a quotation from one of the prophets, who had his eye fixed on the
restoration of the priesthood, the glories to be revealed in the last days, and
in an especial manner this most glorious of all subjects belonging to the
everlasting gospel, namely, the baptism for the dead; for Malachi says, last
chapter, verses 5th and 6th: Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he
shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the
children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
(Doctrine and Covenants 128:17) Jesus spoke of
giving the “keys of the kingdom of heaven,” which would have the power to bind
or loose on earth and in heaven, to Peter, James and John. (Matthew 16:19) Six days after this declaration,
Jesus took Peter, James, and John to a high mountain and “there appeared unto
them Moses and Elias (or Elijah) talking with him.”
(Matthew 17:1 - 5) This visit of
Moses and Elijah at Jesus’ day must have been to fulfill an important purpose,
would it not be reasonable that these individuals would be necessary to come
again to fill the same mission in the latter-day? The keys they held
are the directing powers of the priesthood, to authorize when were and who can
perform the ordinances of the gospel. Malachi prophesied that these keys would
also be restored before the return of our Lord to the earth: “Behold, I will
send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of
the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the
heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a
curse.” (Malachi 4:5 - 6) “Edersheim in his work, The Temple, says: ‘To this
day, in every Jewish home, at a certain part of the Paschal service [i.e, when
they drink the 'third cup']-the door is opened to admit Elijah the prophet as
forerunner of the Messiah, while appropriate passages are at the same time read
which foretell the destruction of all heathen nations. It is a remarkable
coincidence that, in instituting his own Supper, the Lord Jesus connected the
symbol, not of judgment, but of his dying love, with his 'third cup.'
“It was, I am informed, on the third day of
April, 1836, that the Jews, in their homes at the Paschal feast, opened their
doors for Elijah to enter. On that very day Elijah did enter-not in the home of
the Jews to partake of the Passover with them-but he appeared in the house of
the Lord, erected to his name and received by the Lord in Kirtland, and there
bestowed his keys to bring to pass the very things for which these Jews,
assembled in their homes, were seeking.”
(Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of
Salvation, 2: 100.) The fulfillment of
this prophecy by Malachi took place in the Kirtland Temple and is recorded as
follows: “We saw the
Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; and under His feet
was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber. His eyes were as a flame of
fire; the hair of His head was white like the pure snow; His countenance shone
above the brightness of the sun; and His voice was as the sound of the rushing
of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying: I am the first and the last;
I am He who liveth, I am He who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father.
Behold, your sins are forgiven you; you are clean before Me; therefore, lift up
your heads and rejoice. Let the hearts of your brethren rejoice, and let the
hearts of all my people rejoice, who have, with their might, built this house to
My name. For behold, I have accepted this house, and My name shall be here; and
I will manifest Myself to my people in mercy in this house. Yea, I will appear
unto My servants, and speak unto them with Mine own voice, if My people will
keep My commandments, and do not pollute this holy house. Yea the hearts of
thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the
blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which My servants
have been endowed in this house. And the fame of this house shall spread to
foreign lands; and this is the beginning of the blessing which shall be poured
out upon the heads of My people. Even so. Amen. “After this
vision closed, the heavens were again opened unto us; and Moses appeared before
us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four
parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the
north. “After
this, Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham,
saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed. “After this
vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah
the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and
said: Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of
Malachi—testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and
dreadful day of the Lord come— To turn the hearts of the fathers to the
children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with
a curse— Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands;
and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near,
even at the doors.” (D&C 110:2 - 16) Included in these
keys are the keys of missionary work or the “keys of the gathering Israel” the
keys for the perfecting of the saints, or the keys of the “gospel of Abraham”
and the keys of the work for the dead or the sealing powers of heaven, which
make possible the binding on earth and in heaven, including the work for those
who have passed from this earth life. We have evidence
that there were temples before the time of Moses, we have only a very brief
history of Gods work among men up to that time but we know that Abraham had the
temple ordinance. In figure 8 of facsimile number 2 from the Book of Abraham we
read: “Contains writings that cannot be revealed unto the world; but is to be
had in the Holy Temple of God.”
“Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise
not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:29) Jesus
foretold of His future mission to the spirit world: “…for the hour is coming, in
the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice.” (John 5:28) Peter also
wrote of Jesus, after being put to death, “…He went and preached unto the
spirits in prison;” (1 Peter 3:19) He also wrote of the need and purpose of this
preaching in the spirit world: “…for this cause was the gospel preached also to
them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but
live according to God in the spirit.” (1 Peter 4:6) Essential
with this preaching in the spirit world would be baptism, for we see that
baptism is vital for our salvation. In Jesus’ final instruction to His
disciples, the Savior taught: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved…” (Mark 16:16) The
question is asked what of those who have departed this life without baptism? From Paul’s
letter to the Corinthians we see that the church was practicing baptism for the
dead and the ordinance was not condemned by the Apostles, so must have been a
universally practiced ceremony by the early Christian Church. As Paul spoke to some who were of the Church that
doubted the resurrection, he used several examples to convince them of the
rebirth of the body and spirit after death. Paul
reasoned: “Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some
among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no
resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain…For if the dead rise
not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain;
ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are
perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most
miserable.” (1 Corinthians 15:12-14, 16-19) Then Paul reasons
“Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not
at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?” (vs. 29) This baptism for
those who have departed this life is performed in the temples and is accompanied
in the spirit world by preaching the gospel so they may benefit from the same
hope as we can enjoy. It is made evident that the saints of their day had been
practicing baptism for those who were deceased, and Paul then uses this as an
example, questioning their contradiction of not believing in the resurrection
yet performing baptism for the dead, which would be worthless if there was no
resurrection, that being an important element of Christ’s atonement. The fall of
Adam and Eve brought death into the world yet Paul declares: “For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (vs. 22)
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