D&C 84:20-26

84:20-25 - I feel like the Lord is describing some of the blessings that come with the administration and righteous holding of the priesthood, in verse 19 he talks about the “mysteries of the kingdom,” and verse 20 bridges to the importance and power of ordinances. The Lord says that “without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh; For without his no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.” We need the priesthood ordinances in order to “walk back into the presence of the Father.” Ordinances are one of those concepts that are kind of difficult for me to understand. I always wondered why we couldn’t just decide in our hearts to be faithful to Jesus, and then live our lives from there, but now that I think about it, by having him set the terms for our salvation, we begin our spiritual journey in a mental place of submission, we are not trying to set our own terms, and that way we recognize him as the leader and his instructions as good for us. It’s the commitment, but the more that I read about this here, it seems to me that there is some type of spiritual addition that we receive when we receive ordinances, but that we don’t understand right now because we are in the body. It’s interesting the way that the Lord gives us some background, he tells us that these ordinances “Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God’ but they hardened their hearts and could not endure his presence; therefore, the Lord in his wrath, for his anger was kindled against them, swore that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fullness of his glory. Therefore, he took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priest-hood also.” The IM asks “Was there no Melchizedek priesthood in ancient Israel?” Elder Bruce R. McConkie answers: “When Israel, as a people and as a whole, failed to live in harmony with the law of Christ as contained in the fullness of his everlasting gospel, the Lord ‘in his wrath’ withdrew the fullness of his law from them. Because ‘they hardened their hearts’ and would not ‘enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fullness of his glory,… he took Moses out of the midst, and the Holy Priesthood also.’ That is, he took the Melchizedek priesthood, which administers the gospel, out of their midst in the sense that it did not continue and pass from one priesthood holder to another in the normal and usual sense of the word. The keys of the priesthood were taken away with Moses so that any future priesthood ordinations required special divine authorization. But in place of the higher priesthood the Lord gave a lesser order, and in place of the fullness of the gospel he gave a preparatory gospel- the law of carnal commandments, the law of Moses- to serve as a schoolmaster to bring them, after a long day of trial and testing, back to the law of Christ in its fullness. There is the fullness of the gospel, and there is the preparatory gospel. There is the full law of Christ, and there is partial law of Christ. The Mosaic system was the partial law, a portion of the mind and will of Jehovah, a strict and severe testing arrangement that would qualify those who obeyed its terms and conditions to receive the eternal fullness when the Messiah come to deliver and to restore it.” I think that this is an excellent example of the Lord working with us where we are. Does he want us to be perfect? Yes, because that would ensure our happiness. But are we perfect? No. Does he tell us that we need to be at a certain point spiritually before he will help us? Not at all, he meets us where we are. With the Israelites, he gave them the opportunity to live the ultimate law of happiness, but when they rejected it, he didn’t give up on them and tell them that they are doomed. No, he gave them the law that they could handle, and he did that so that they could build themselves up to be ready to accept the full gospel when they were presented the opportunity again. I know that I’ve seen the “line upon line” hand of the Lord in my life, where I’m slowly, so very slowly, inching my way forward, and he knows exactly what I need in order to take the next step. I had a friend once who asked me if I ever get overwhelmed with too much information from God, like too much to do, and I honestly answered, “no, because God knows everything and only gives me the next step. It’s never too much.”

84:26- - The Lord teaches that the Aaronic priesthood is “the gospel of repentance and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments among the children of Israel until John, whom God raised up, being filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb.” I’ve heard that the Aaronic priesthood is for the physical aspect of life and that the Melchizedek priesthood is for the spiritual aspect. That’s why the Aaronic priesthood can baptize but not confirm, I thought that that was interesting. It’s interesting