“This Shall Never Be Taken Again from the Earth, until the Sons of Levi Do Offer Again an Offering unto the Lord in Righteousness”
Doctrine and Covenants 13:1
1 Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.
Elder Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjödahl wrote:
“[When John the Baptist said, ‘This shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness,’] this does not mean that the Aaronic Priesthood will be taken from Earth when the sons of Levi are reinstated in their calling, but that, as a result of the restoration of that priesthood, the sons of Levi would again offer sacrifices, as of yore. Oliver Cowdery, in an article in the Times and Seasons, reproduced in the Pearl of Great Price, quotes John the Baptist thus:
“‘Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood and this authority, which shall remain upon Earth, that the sons of Levi may yet offer an offering unto the Lord in righteousness,’ giving the true sense of the words of John [the Baptist] in this revelation [D&C 13].”
(The Doctrine and Covenants Commentary, rev. ed. [1951], 70.)
