D&C 95:5-17

95:5-7 - Verse 5 has been said before and was kind of confusing for me for a while. The Lord says, “There are many who have been ordained among you, whom I have called but few of them are chosen.” When it says “few of them are chosen,” it seems to indicate that the person responsible for doing the choosing is the Lord, so we can say, “well he didn’t chose me,” but that’s not the case at all. The Lord has called us to his work and it is us who gets to choose whether or not to accept. The IM asks, “why are some priesthood holders not chosen or accepted by the Lord?” And answers, “It is one thing to be called to labor in the vineyard and another to be faithful in the performance of that work. Only those who faithfully fill their callings are chosen by the Lord for exaltation in the kingdom of God. Those who are called but not chosen ‘have sinned a very grievous sin, in that they are walking in darkness at noon-day,’ for the do not respond to the light of the restored gospel that surrounds them.” By saying that those who are not chosen have “sinned” indicates that it’s not an arbitrary decision, but one that we ourselves control. Interesting commentary in verse six, the Lord says, “They who are not chosen have sinned a very grievous sin, in that they are walking in darkness at noon-day.” He calls them to repentance, to be more vigilant in their duties, “and for this cause I gave unto you a commandment that you should call your solemn assembly, that your fasting and your mourning might come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” The IM teaches, “President Spencer W. Kimball said: ‘Solemn assemblies have been known among the Saints since the days of Israel. They have been of various kinds but generally have been associated with the dedication of a temple or a special meeting appointed for the sustaining of a new First Presidency or a meeting for the priesthood to sustain a revelation, such as the tithing revelation to President Lorenzo Snow… Joseph Smith and Brigham Young were first sustained by a congregation, including a fully organized priesthood. Brigham Young was sustained on March 27, 1846, and was ‘unanimously elected president over the whole camp of Israel…’ by the council. Later he was sustained, and the Hosanna Shout was given. Each of the presidents of the Church has been sustained by the priesthood of the Church in solemn assembly down to and including President Harold B. Lee, who was sustained October 6, 1973.’” Let’s point out that this address was given in 1974, so President Lee was the acting prophet at the time, so it didn’t stop with him, because we’ve had many since then, but it was just the most recent at the time. The IM continues, “The Bible mentions several solemn assemblies held in ancient times. Such assemblies are sacred meetings attended by the priesthood or those who seek to separate themselves from the world by keeping God’s commands. The command to the elders to hold a solemn assembly was given in Doctrine and Covenants 88:70. The purpose for the assembly was to help the elders spiritually prepare to continue their missionary work among the people of the world.” I had no idea that a solemn assembly was anything special, good to know that it is important.

95:8-11 - The Lord puts forth the purpose of the temple, “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.” The endowment ordinance is something pretty unique and complex. With baptism we make covenants with God and have our sins washed away, with confirmation we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. We receive the garment with the initiatory, and are sealed to our families with the sealing ordinance. But when it comes to the endowment, I think that it’s more abstract than the others. I remember when I went through the endowment session for the first time, it wasn’t a clear cut, “this is everything you need to know” message that I received, it was a lot of little messages, lots of little things to think about, and every time that I go back, it’s a new message that I need at that exact moment. It wasn’t a “do this and everything will be great” but the blessings that came afterwards were incredible and totally unexpected. Who I am now vs. who I was then is completely different, and I honestly think that it was because I followed the bishop’s counsel to go to the temple. It’s honestly a miracle, if they’ll let me in, they’ll let anyone in. The IM teaches, “An endowment is a special gift of a bequest. In the Church it usually refers to a temple ordinance in which members make certain promises and receive a gift of knowledge and spiritual power in return. The endowment spoken of here, however, is not the same as the ceremony administered in later temples. Priesthood members in Kirtland did participate in a ‘partial endowment, the full ordinance being reserved for a future performance when a temple designed for ordinance work itself should be built.’ The first complete endowment in this dispensation was given by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo on 4 May 1842. The endowment received in Kirtland included washings and anointings, as well as the washing of feet for official priesthood brethren. The Lord also poured our His Spirit, or in other words endowed them with spiritual power, and many received revelations or other gifts.” Even though it appears that there were some preparations being made to build the temple, the Lord is telling them that they are not doing enough, or that they could be doing more, and I could only imagine an exhausted JS or other Saints thinking “I’m doing my best.” It seems to me that the Lord acknowledges this, that perhaps they are trying and seeing the difficulty that more work will bring by telling them “if you keep my commandments you shall have power to build it.” He recognizes that the task of building a temple is going to take an act of God and so he tells them exactly that, if they are obedient, then they will receive the power of God to complete the temple. But I guess that’s what the message is in all our lives, we are given tasks that seem impossible or completely overwhelming, but we are assured that if we keep the commandments, we will be given the power of God, miracles, to do what we are told. President Nelson gave a devotional address in which he talked about his seemingly impossible task of opening up Eastern Europe for the preaching of the gospel in 1985, and that because he was faithful and diligent, he was able to be used as an instrument in God’s hands to do just that. He told us to prepare ourselves spiritually so that we can be asked to do the impossible, and then we’ll have God’s power to be able to actually do it. The IM quotes President Joseph Fielding Smith as teaching that the temple in Kirtland “was to be erected for other and greater purposes than those made known at this time to the officers and members of the Church. The time had not come for the real purposes and the nature of the endowment to be revealed. The elders, much less the members, were not prepared in 1833 for the fullness of the revelation which the Lord declared would be bestowed upon them. The severe rebuke administered to the Church had its effect and the brethren forgot the need of other buildings and commenced to concentrate their efforts upon this house of the Lord.” I kind of skipped over verse 10 in which the Lord tells them that “my servants sinned a very grievous sin; and contentions arose in the school of the prophets.” We have a room full of alpha males that spend a great deal of time together trying to accomplish a very difficult task, there’s bound to be contentions. The IM comments, “Adding to the ‘grievous sin’ of failing to commence the temple as commanded, the Lord names another serious sin: contention in the School of the Prophets. Members of that special group had been told by revelation before the school was started to ‘cease from all… *their) lustful desires,… pride and light-mindedness, and from all… wicked doing.’”

95:12-17 – The Lord gives a few more specifics on the structure of the temple itself, and it’s interesting because I always thought that it was peculiar that the Kirtland temple had a downstairs portion where people met for church on Sunday, whereas our temples weren’t constructed like that. So I thought that that was interesting.

Overall, this section was about a commandment that seemed overwhelmingly daunting, in which the saints had put minimal effort. The Lord rebukes them and tells them to make the temple a priority because He wants to give them blessings through the temple. He promises them the power to be able to accomplish this task if they keep the commandments. And really, isn’t this the message for all of us? The Lord tells us what we need to do to take our lives to the next level, in this case it was to build a temple, and sometimes in our lives, our next step seems toweringly difficult, but if we make it a priority and try our best to be righteous and keep the commandments, then the Lord promises us his power in order to accomplish the task that he has commanded us, which commandment he gives us so that we can increase our happiness.