Temples and the covenants made within the temple have been done since the time of Moses in the Old Testament.
Doctrine and Covenants 95
8 Yea, verily I say unto you, I gave unto you a commandment that you should build a house, in the which house I design to endow those whom I have chosen with power from on high;
"All those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy."
“The supreme benefits of membership in the Church can only be realized only through the exalting ordinances of the temple. These blessings qualify us for “thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers” in the celestial kingdom.”
President Russell M. Nelson
Both Men and Women are blessed to become Kings and Queens, Priests and Priestesses. These are blessings and callings that we receive as we receive endowments and are faithful throughout our lives observing the commandments and gospel principles of our Lord.
In the temple you will be washed and anointed by a woman.. this is one of the instances in which women within the church are exercising priesthood power.
“Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell.”
~Brigham Young
Special blessing once you receive your endowments.
1. Power to be endowed with spiritual gifts.
2. Power to become the elect of God.
3. Power to become exalted.
1. Power to be endowed with spiritual gifts.
Through temple ordinances and covenants, in this life we are promised spiritual power; power to receive revelation (“the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven”); power to call upon the heavens and have them hear us (“to have the heavens opened unto them”); power to have the promised ministering of angels to help us (“to commune with the general assembly and church of the Firstborn”); power to truly come to know our Savior, Jesus Christ, and God our Father and to have a personal relationship with them (“enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and Jesus the mediator of the new covenant”).
Through the endowment we are promised power in this life to perform marvelous works and miracles beyond our own abilities;1 power to discern truth from error;2 power to more deeply understand God’s purposes and plans for His children, individually and collectively; power to have increased hope and peace in the midst of the daily demands and difficulties of life.
Doctrine and Covenants 38
32 Wherefore, for this cause I gave unto you the commandment that ye should go to the Ohio; and there I will give unto you my law; and there you shall be endowed with power from on high;
2. Power to become the elect of God.
With so many in the world who are confused about their identity and purpose, as we enter into and follow the holy covenant order of God, we will see more clearly the true purposes of mortality. As we comprehend this exalted vision, we will taste the love of God and be filled with the great gift of charity. As we experience the love of God, we will naturally want to share that love with others. The temple will not absolve us from the challenges of mortality, but it will give us the knowledge, strength, vision, and ability to overcome them through the grace of God. His name is and will be upon us, arming us with power, glory, and angels to have charge over us and help us in our daily lives (see Doctrine & Covenants 109:22).
This power becomes ours through priesthood covenants and how, by virtue of them, we can become the elect, or chosen children of God
3. Power to become exalted.
Thus, if we will live faithful to the holy covenant patterns taught to us in the temple, one day we will receive the fulness of God’s priesthood, or all that He has. We will receive “thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions” (Doctrine & Covenants 132:19). Those thus exalted in the celestial kingdom will be “priests and kings [and priestesses and queens], who have received of his fulness . . . after the order of Melchizedek” (Doctrine & Covenants 76:56–57).
Importantly, this promise of exaltation is familial. There are no solo monarchs in heaven—no king without a queen, or vice versa. While salvation is individual, exaltation is matrimonial.7 One of the crowning doctrinal ideas of the Restoration is that women and men can become like God, but to do so they must “enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]” (Doctrine & Covenants 131:2).
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While there are numerous factors that influence whether someone can have an eternal marriage in this life (many out of one’s own control), prophets have repeatedly taught that all who make and keep their covenants with God will have the promise of eternal life and exaltation afforded to them, including the blessings of eternal marriage and family.8 The purpose of mortality is not to form perfect families. None of us will have or experience that, as all families are fallen to some degree. The purpose of life is to know and become like Christ so one day we can form eternal families. The covenants we make in the endowment ceremony not only prepare us to one day become like our Heavenly Parents, but they prepare us to live in an eternal marriage covenant like they do. We cannot create eternal families without being humble, obedient, chaste, sacrificing, or being dedicated—first to God but also to each other. As the covenant of baptism prepares and points to the endowment, the endowment covenants prepare and point to an eternal marriage.9 And the eternal marriage covenant prepares and points us to progress toward exaltation.
With an eternal marriage, a couple can “pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever. Then shall they be gods” (Doctrine & Covenants 132:19–20). These eternal blessings are promissory, secured upon us if we honor and keep our temple covenants.10 They have not yet taken effect, nor will they until they are “sealed unto [us] by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed” (Doctrine & Covenants 132:19).
Before your visit to the temple, read these chapters:
Moses Chapter 1 thru chapter 5
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/moses/2?lang=eng
During the Washington D.C. Temple open house, something interesting happened for the first time: cameras not owned by the Church were allowed to film inside. Elder David A. Bednar and his wife, Sister Susan Bednar, and Elder D. Todd Christofferson and his wife, Sister Kathy Christofferson, gave CBS News correspondent Ed O’Keefe—and his camera crew—a tour of the temple. As the group walked across the entry bridge to go inside the temple, O’Keefe respectfully posed an interesting question to his tour guides:
“Are we walking into another realm?” he asked.
Without missing a beat, Elder Bednar replied, “Yes—symbolically. We’re leaving the world and entering a more heavenly place where we learn about God.”7
The temple provides the ideal setting to learn and to believe in spiritual things. When all the voices of life get too loud, the temple provides a space to go and believe and be closer to God.
I now know the truth of this statement from President Nelson:
“[The Savior] is the One who wants you to experience fully His sacred ordinances. He wants you to comprehend your privileges, promises, and responsibilities. He wants you to have spiritual insights and awakenings you’ve never had before. This He desires for all temple patrons, no matter where they live.”9
I love this reminder that the Savior, more than anyone else, wants us to receive the blessings of the temple—the first time we enter and every time after that.
May you feel Heavenly Fathers love and that he knows you personally, that he is happy
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