I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to you today. We are happy to have you here and hope your time at BYU–Idaho will be productive and uplifting.
The starting point for my message this morning is a passage from Ezekiel. In powerful words of prophecy, found in chapter 37, Ezekiel describes three processes that define the work of the Lord in the latter days: the gathering of Israel, the establishment of Zion, and preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I love this passage for the way it connects these marvelous processes to the temples of the Lord.
Please listen carefully as I read Ezekiel, chapter 37, verse 21, and verses 26 and 27:
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.[1]
Here the Lord promises that He will do a great work in the latter days in three parts:
- He will gather scattered Israel.
- He will make an everlasting covenant with His people and will establish Zion, and His temples among them forever.
- He will come and dwell with His people.
These three processes – to gather Israel, to establish Zion, and to prepare for the Savior to come again – are the work of the Lord in the kingdom of God on the earth today. But these three processes also represent a pattern for the Lord’s work in the individual heart and soul. Here, too, we gather, we establish Zion, and we prepare for the Savior to come.
I would like to speak this morning about these three processes in the kingdom and in our hearts. The theme that ties them all together is the role of the temple. The temple represents the three processes symbolically and is an essential part of the ongoing work in each one.
I hope and pray that the Lord will bless us with the Holy Ghost today that we might see and understand what He would have us do to move His work forward in our lives and in the kingdom.
Gathering Israel
Let’s look first at the gathering of Israel. In Ezekiel, the prophet says:
I will take the children of Israel . . . and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant . . . .[2]
One of the great themes throughout all of scripture is the gathering of the Lord’s covenant people in preparation for the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. In the great Abrahamic covenant, the Lord promised that the seed of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob would bear the holy priesthood, would be the means of blessing the whole earth, and would inherit lands of promise.
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations;[3]
Though scattered because of wickedness, the Lord promised that the children of the covenant would be redeemed and gathered in. Indeed, as we read in Ezekiel 37:26, the Lord promised that He would make a new covenant with Israel, an everlasting covenant of peace. This, of course, is the gospel of Jesus Christ, restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Thus, the restoration of priesthood keys, sacred covenants, and the ordinances of the holy temple are essential to the great work of gathering prophesied by the Lord’s holy prophets.
This gathering of Israel is both spiritual and temporal. There is a gathering to Christ and to the new and everlasting covenant, a gathering in righteousness to the Church and kingdom of God. But there also is a gathering to temples, and other holy places, and to promised lands set apart for this very purpose.
Speaking to the people of Nephi after His resurrection, the Savior taught the central importance of the spiritual and temporal gathering of Israel into the land of Jerusalem and into the New Jerusalem. But this is not all. The gathering of Israel is to many lands of promise. Jacob prophesied of the spiritual and temporal gathering of “all the house of Israel” in just this way:
And now, my beloved brethren, I have read these things that ye might know concerning the covenants of the Lord that he has covenanted with all the house of Israel—
. . . until the time comes that they shall be restored to the true church and fold of God; when they shall be gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise.[4]
The blessings of gathering are all around us. We see the Church growing all over the earth, including in this very valley. But the work of gathering goes on in our individual lives and hearts as well. Here is a very immediate example: When we go to the temple, we gather. In fact, we gather as covenant people of the Lord to do His holy and sacred work. The work we do there supports the gathering of Israel beyond the veil. The temple is in fact and in symbol a place of gathering, and it is we that gather. All those marvelous blessings of gathering – a place of refuge, a sanctuary, a place of power and preparation, a place of peace and safety and revelation – all of these are available to us personally in the holy temple.
But if we are to gather and to enjoy these wonderful blessings, we must go – we must actually go to the temple. It will not do just to talk about it, or to read about it, or to drive by. We must go. What blessings await us! Let me offer a personal and local example.
Very soon we will have a temple right here among us. I know from my own experience that the building of the Rexburg Temple will change the lives of the people in this valley.
From the time I turned twelve years old until today, I have been eligible, upon conditions of worthiness, to enter the temple either to do baptisms or to participate in other sacred ordinances. When I was twelve I lived in Spokane, Washington. The nearest temple was in Cardston, Alberta – about 350 miles away. Since that day I have lived various distances from temples. On average from 1961 when I turned twelve until the year 2000, I lived 569 miles from a temple. To say the least, I did not attend the temple every week in those years. In fact, for most of that time I was doing well if I got to the temple twice a year.
However, in 2000 everything changed. In that year the Boston temple was dedicated. Our home was exactly one mile from the temple. So, I went from hundreds of miles away to walking distance away almost overnight. That had a profound impact upon me and on Sue.
We made a decision that we would go to the temple every week. We have kept that commitment to this day. It has changed our lives. Being in the temple every week has given us the opportunity to become very familiar with the ordinances and covenants of the Lord’s House. There is no other place on earth where we may feel the presence and power of the Lord like the temple. We have tried to take those feelings and that Spirit with us into our home. The temple has become a place of revelation, a place of service, a place of learning, a place of eternal connections and family relationships, a place of comfort and peace. We love to go to the temple.
We also became ordinance workers in the temple in Boston. What a marvelous experience. As an ordinance worker, you get to experience the ordinances and covenants from the other side – from the Lord’s side. You come to know and experience the language of the temple in a very different way. It is a powerful, spiritual experience to officiate in the sacred ordinances of the House of the Lord.
I hope and pray that wherever you live, you will gather to the temple as often as you can and make it a central part of your life.
Establishing Zion
This brings us to the second element of the pattern: the establishment of Zion. The places of gathering are set apart especially for the establishment of the Lord’s covenant people in a holy community, a community where the Lord himself may dwell. Look again at the passage in Ezekiel 37:26,
. . . I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.[5]
In the places of gathering, the Lord will place or establish His people and multiply them – not only in number, but also in power and glory – and will set among them His holy temples and His presence.
The great archetype of these places of gathering is, of course, the City of Enoch, or the City of Holiness, which the Lord called Zion “because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.”[6] In this community the Lord himself “came and dwelt with his people,” and “the glory of the Lord . . . was upon his people,” and “the Lord blessed the land, and they were blessed . . . and did flourish.”[7]
It is this community, this Zion, which must be established in the places of gathering to prepare the earth for the Second Coming of the Lord. This the Lord taught to Moses and to Enoch:
. . . righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem.[8]
But Zion must also be established in all the lands of promise, wherever the covenant people of the Lord are “placed and multiplied.”
Until the day cometh when there is found no more room for them; and then I have other places which I will appoint unto them, and they shall be called stakes, for the curtains or the strength of Zion.
Behold, it is my will, that all they who call on my name, and worship me according to mine everlasting gospel, should gather together, and stand in holy places;[9]
The establishment of Zion is in the stakes of Zion. But Zion must also be established in our hearts and in our personal lives. Listen to the words of Brigham Young:
When we conclude to make a Zion we will make it, and this work commences in the heart of each person. When the father of a family wishes to make a Zion in his own house, he must take the lead in this good work, which it is impossible for him to do unless he himself possesses the spirit of Zion. Before he can produce the work of sanctification in his family, he must sanctify himself, and by this means God can help him to sanctify his family.[10]
In this making of Zion in our “own house,” the temple is a source and a model of holiness. Thus, the temple is not only a symbol. It is also a central part of the way we build Zion, one heart and one home at a time. The temple is the place of intersection between heaven and earth, between time and eternity. It is a place wherein we transcend mortality and learn about and bring into our homes the things of eternity.
If we take the spirit and power of the temple with us into our homes, if we are true to our covenants, if we consecrate our lives and our homes to the Savior, if we give them to Him, He will cleanse us and our homes just the way He cleansed the temple in Jerusalem. Our homes will be holy places where the spirit of Zion may take root, where the Holy Ghost may dwell, and where the Lord will “place us, and multiply us, and put His sanctuary in our midst.”
Where do we start to make our homes holy places? I believe there is much we can do. This is even true of those of you with many little children running around your home. I remember those days. Sue and I have seven children. Numbers six and seven are twin daughters. When they were born, we had seven children under the age of ten. Our home was pretty active, and sometimes pretty noisy; and sometimes it got a little chaotic. But over the years we learned some things about making our home a holy place.
I believe the starting point is the big three – family prayer morning and night, family scripture study every day, and family home evening every week. We believe very much in the power of putting on the wall pictures of the Savior, and the temples, and our eternal family. We know the importance of keeping out of our home anything that would offend the Spirit. We have learned the power of good music to invite the Spirit. Our home is a place for priesthood blessings and for the bearing of testimony. It is a place for hugs and kind words, and sharing and learning. It is a place for work and for obedience and for service to others.
Many years ago Sue and I learned important lessons about homes and holy places when we decided to build a new house. At the time we lived in an older home with a fairly small dining room. In fact, as our children grew the time came when we could not all fit in the dining room for dinner. Our boys simply got so big that we just did not fit. At least three of us would eat dinner at the counter in the kitchen while the rest of us ate in the dining room.
We decided to look for a new house and eventually to build a new house not far away. As we worked on the project, however, we began to feel uneasy. We began to worry about our motives and our desires. The house was going to be a large house, and it was going to sit on a hill in a beautiful wooded area. Was this conspicuous consumption? Was it right to spend so much on ourselves?
We prayed about that house. For many days we got no answer. Then one night the answer came. I remember that moment as if it were yesterday. The impression came very clearly: It is all right to build the house if you share it with other people. Sue and I got up off our knees and sat on the bed and talked. We realized that if we went ahead, we had to open our house to other people.
And so we did. We built the house and opened it up. I believe that what we did with that house reflects in large part the character of my wife. It was her home, and opening it to others was an expression of her innate goodness and kindness and concern for other people. We took in foster children. We hosted early morning seminary for a number of years. Our home became the location for open houses and firesides. The bishop knew that if someone needed a place to stay, our home was always available. Over the years we had the missionaries in our home to teach and share the gospel many, many times. And for a few years we housed missionaries waiting for visas and needing a place to stay for a night or two before an apartment opened up.
In these experiences we were greatly blessed. I know from my own experience our homes can become holy places and we can establish Zion there – we can be of one mind and one heart, and the Spirit of the Lord can dwell among us in our homes.
The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
The gathering of Israel and the establishment of Zion (in all its meanings) are preparatory to the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like His ministry in the meridian of time, His Second coming will be personal. He himself will come again to the earth. Speaking of the great scenes that will usher in His coming, the Lord told the Nephites:
And behold, this people will I establish in this land, unto the fulfilling of the covenant which I made with your father Jacob; and it shall be a New Jerusalem. And the powers of heaven shall be in the midst of this people; yea, even I will be in the midst of you.[11]
But in contrast to His humble birth in a stable, His Second Coming will be in power and great glory. This is the word of the Lord:
For I will reveal myself from heaven with power and great glory, with all the hosts thereof, and dwell in righteousness with men on earth a thousand years, and the wicked shall not stand.[12]
This personal, powerful coming of the Lord will be the beginning of a new time on earth, a new government of all the earth, in which Jesus Christ will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Savior will cleanse the earth of wickedness; Satan will be bound, and the Lord will “subdue[s] all enemies under his feet.”[13] Then shall the words of the 24th Psalm be fully realized:
The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.[14]
Lift up your heads, O ye generations of Jacob; lift up your heads, ye everlasting generations, and the Lord of hosts, the king of kings;
Even the king of glory shall come unto you; and shall redeem his people, and shall establish them in righteousness.[15]
This great millennial day of the Lord surely will come. And He surely will come. But we do not have to wait for His Second Coming to receive the blessing of His presence and His coming. Indeed, we must not wait for those supernal blessings. Just as we must gather now and establish Zion now, so we must seek the blessings of the Millennium now if we are to enjoy them then. In 1863 George Q. Cannon said this about establishing the Millennium in our hearts and in our homes:
By the Saints refusing to be led by the influences of Satan, and not yielding to his seductive temptations, he is virtually bound so far as they are concerned; and, when the head of the family can attain unto this power, and persuade his wife and family to do likewise, the power of Satan will be bound in that habitation, and the Millennium will have commenced in that household; and if all should take this course, man and the earth would soon be prepared for the coming of Jesus and the ushering in of the full Millennial glory, and the complete binding of Satan, of all of which glory they would already have a foretaste.[16]
I believe it is in this great millennial spirit that we should read the marvelous promise of the Lord given in Revelation 3:20,
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.[17]
My dear brothers and sisters, we prepare for the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ by hearing His voice now, by coming unto Him now, opening our doors to Him, repenting of our sins, and inviting Him into our homes and into our hearts now. And then, in His infinite kindness and mercy and grace, He forgives us and sanctifies us and invites us to His House, to His holy temple, where we may enter into His presence and receive the power and blessings of heaven.
Testimony
I began this talk with these wonderful words of the Lord to the prophet Ezekiel:
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.[18]
Brothers and sisters, these prophecies are in fulfillment before our very eyes. I testify of Jesus Christ. These are His words, spoken thousands of years ago. I know He lives. He is our Savior and Redeemer, and He has established the everlasting covenant in the Restoration through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Lord Jesus Christ is gathering Israel; His Holy temples are here on the earth; and His Kingdom has been established. It will never be taken from the earth again. Through the power of the restored gospel, through the ministry of His authorized servants, He is establishing Zion in her strength all across the world. I testify that the promise of His Second Coming is true. Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy One of Israel will come again in power and glory. He will rule and reign. He will be our King!
But if we would be with Him when He comes, if we would come forth in the morning of the First Resurrection, we must not wait until the Millennium to enjoy the blessings of His kingdom. We must have Him for our King now. We must keep His commandments and live in harmony with His will now. We must repent and trust in Him and qualify for the great blessings of the temple now. We must gather often to His holy house and establish Zion in our hearts and in our homes now. And we must prepare for the fullness of His coming by qualifying for and enjoying the great millennial blessings of the Lord now.
These are our privileges. This is our calling. I so testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Ezekiel 37:21, 26-27
[2] Ezekiel 37:21, 26
[3] Abraham 2:9
[4] 2 Nephi 9:1-2
[5] Ezekiel 37:26
[6] Moses 7:18
[7] Moses 7:16-17
[8] Moses 7:62
[9] D&C 101:21-22
[10] DBY, 118
[11] 3 Nephi 20:22
[12] D&C 29:11
[13] D&C 58:22
[14] Psalms 24:1, 3-4
[15] Psalms 24:9-10 JST
[16] George Q. Cannon, 17 July 1864, Millennial Star, XXVI:514; emphasis added
[17] Revelation 3:20
[18] Ezekiel 37:26-27