Doctrine & Covenants Lesson 36 (D&C 94–97)
August 28–September 3
INTRODUCTION
A temple is a house of the Lord—a place of revelation where we learn the ways of God, a building wherein sacred ordinances are performed. The purpose of the ordinances of the temple are to prepare us to live the kind of life God lives and to become like him. We cannot become like God without going to the temple because eternal marriage and other sacred ordinances required for both the living and the dead are found only in temples.
The Prophet Joseph Smith said, “The question is frequently asked, ‘Can we not be saved without going through with all these ordinances?’ I would answer, No, not the fulness of salvation. . . . Any person who is exalted to the highest mansion has to abide a celestial law, and the whole law too.”1
— This pertains to all accountable people, both living and dead. Whereas the living who have the opportunity can comply with their own ordinance requirements, the dead cannot. This is one of the reasons we build temples.
— During the Prophet’s fourteen-year presidency only one chapel was built in the entire Church:
• Ramus, Illinois
— During that same period, five sites were selected for temples:
• Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri
• Independence, Missouri
• Far West, Missouri
• Kirtland, Ohio
• Nauvoo, Illinois
— Actual construction was started on two of the temples (Kirtland was completed and Nauvoo was under construction at the time of the Prophet’s martyrdom).
— Temple building has been expanded greatly in our generation. We have the tremendous task of providing temple blessings for the entire human family. We need many unpolluted sanctuaries in this increasingly polluted world.
THE COMMANDMENT TO BUILD A TEMPLE
● D&C 88:119; D&C 95:8 “Establish a House . . . of God.”
— In December 1832, the Lord commanded the Saints to build a temple in Kirtland, Ohio.
— On 23 March 1833 a committee was appointed to purchase land in Kirtland upon which to build a stake of Zion. Some large farms were purchased. The Kirtland Temple was later built on a part of the Peter French farm.
● D&C 94–96 In May and June of 1833, the Lord gave further instruction regarding the building of this house of the Lord, the first temple to be built in the last dispensation.
● D&C 94 The Lord. . .
— Underscores the importance of the house of God as the center of the city of the stake of Zion, here in the land of Kirtland (vv. 1–2).
— Gives instructions concerning two other special houses or Church buildings, including a house for the presidency (vv. 3–7).
— Says no unclean thing should come into dedicated buildings, including the temple, so that the Lord’s house will not be defiled and the outpouring of the Lord’s Spirit will not be inhibited or restrained (vv. 8–9).
— Commands that a house for printing to be built on lots adjacent to the lot on which the temple was to be built (vv. 10–12).
— Assigns lots near the temple site to Hyrum Smith, Reynolds Cahoon, and Jared Carter—the building committee appointed to build the houses that the Lord wanted built (vv. 13–17).
Chastisement for Delays in Building the Temple
The Prophet Joseph Smith said, “June 1.—Great preparations were making to commence a house of the Lord; and notwithstanding the Church was poor, yet our unity, harmony and charity abounded to strengthen us to do the commandments of God. The building of the house of the Lord in Kirtland was a matter that continued to increase in its interest in the hearts of the brethren.”2
The Prophet Joseph Smith also said, “It now being the last of the month, and the Elders beginning to come in, it was necessary to make preparations for the school for the Elders, wherein they might be more perfectly instructed in the great things of God, during the coming winter. A building for a printing office was nearly finished, and the lower story of this building was set apart for that purpose, (the school) when it was completed. So the Lord opened the way according to our faith and works, and blessed be His name. No month ever found me more busily engaged than November; [1834] but as my life consisted of activity and unyielding exertions, I made this my rule: When the Lord commands, do it. . . . “3
● D&C 95:1–2 Chastening from the Lord is a sign of love.
D&C 101:4–5
● D&C 95:3–6 The Saints were chastened for their failure to begin building the House of the Lord.
● D&C 95:7–9 The Lord desired to use his house to “endow” his people with power from on high. An “endowment” is a significant gift. Among Latter-day Saints, receiving an endowment means obtaining special knowledge and priesthood blessings which are usually only given in temples dedicated unto God.
Elder Joseph Fielding Smith said, “In the revelation given on Fishing River (D&C 105) the Lord had said the elders must be endowed with power from on high before they would be fully prepared to go forth to build up the Church and “prune” his vineyard.”4
Elder Bruce R. McConkie said, [The endowment spoken of here was only] “a partial endowment, the full ordinance being reserved for a future performance when a temple designed for ordinance work itself should be built [at Nauvoo].”5
● The endowment received in Kirtland included washings and anointings, as well as the washing of feet for official priesthood brethren. The Lord also poured out his Spirit— that is, endowed them with spiritual power, and many received revelations that were also part of the promised endowment.
● The first complete endowment in this dispensation was given by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo on 4 May 1842.
● D&C 95:10 Contention in the School of the Prophets. Adding to the “grievous sin” of failing to commence the temple as commanded, the Lord named this other serious sin.
BUILDING THE KIRTLAND TEMPLE
Sacrificing to Build the Kirtland Temple
● D&C 95:11 The Lord promised that if they would keep the commandments they would have power to build the temple. Given the difficult circumstances under which the temple was built, this provided great comfort to the Saints.
Eliza R. Snow said, “At that time . . . the Saints were few in number, and most of them very poor; and, had it not been for the assurance that God had spoken, and had commanded that a house should be built to his name, of which he not only revealed the form, but also designated the dimensions, an attempt towards building that Temple, under the then existing circumstances, would have been, by all concerned, pronounced preposterous.”6
● The cost of the building, estimated at about $40,000, was a staggering sum for the 1830s. Relative to the meager resources of the Saints at the time, the Kirtland Temple is probably the most costly temple ever constructed by the Church.
● In addition, there were only a handful of experienced builders among the Saints, and certainly none had constructed anything as huge and complex as the temple.
● The Saints also faced great opposition from the community. Townspeople thought it foolhardy for them to build such a structure; some vowed “that the walls should never be erected.”
President Brigham Young said, “The Church members were too few in numbers, too weak in faith, and too poor in purse, to attempt such a mighty enterprise. But by means of all these stimulants, a mere handful of men, living on air, and a little hominy and milk . . . the great Prophet Joseph, in the stone quarry, quarrying rock with his own hands; and the few then in the Church, following his example of obedience and diligence wherever most needed; with laborers on the walls, holding the sword in one hand to protect themselves from the mob, while they placed the stone and moved the trowel with the other.”7
The Heavenly Design of the Kirtland Temple
● D&C 95:13–17 The Lord gave further specifications for the construction and use of the temple. He promised to show to three persons appointed by the conference the manner after which the temple should be built. Those three persons were the First Presidency.
● The Prophet Joseph Smith said, “The Conference appointed Joseph Smith, Jun., Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams to obtain a draft or construction of the inner court of the house.”8
● Lucy Mack Smith said, “Some of the workers suggested they build the temple with logs or boards. But Joseph Smith replied: ‘shall we . . . build a house for our God, of logs? No . . . I have a plan of the house of the Lord, given by himself; and you will soon see by this, the difference between our calculations and his idea of things.'”9
● Frederick G. Williams said, [We knelt together in prayer, and a model of the building] “appeared within viewing distance. . . . After we had taken a good look at the exterior, the building seemed to come right over us.” When the temple was completed, it looked exactly as it had in the vision.10
● Still today, the First Presidency, through revelation, determines when, where, and how to build our temples.
Construction of the Kirtland Temple Begins
● The chastisement given in D&C 95 had the intended effect.
— On June 5, 1833, “four days after the Lord had rebuked the brethren for their neglect, without waiting for subscriptions, the brethren went to work on the Temple. Elder George A. Smith, a recent convert, hauled the first load of stone for the Temple. Hyrum Smith and Reynolds Cahoon commenced digging the trench for the walls, and . . . finished the same with their own hands.”11
— On July 23, 1833, the cornerstone of the temple was laid.
● All the materials, except glass for the windows, were locally obtained.
— Logs came from nearby forests, and the Saints built their own kiln to season the lumber.
— Stone was quarried in the area around the temple site.
— Labor was the most important local resource and all men and women were called upon to contribute.
— In Spring 1834, progress slowed down when Zion’s Camp took approximately 100 men away from the temple construction. President Sidney Rigdon then coordinated the efforts of very young and old men, and of the sisters.
— Spring 1834 Progress slowed down when Zion’s Camp took approximately 100 men away from the temple construction. President Sidney Rigdon then coordinated the efforts of very young and old men, and of the sisters.
Heber C. Kimball said:
“How do you think we went to work when we were building the Temple in Kirtland?” While we [the men] were absent on that Mission [Zion’s Camp], the sisters went to work and made stockings, pantaloons and jackets, and when we came back they put in those various articles of clothing for the benefit of the men that went to work on the Temple, and this was a universal thing with the sisters. . . .
“When we arrived in Kirtland [after Zion’s Camp], Joseph said, ‘come brethren, let us go into the stone-quarry and work for the Lord.’ And the Prophet went himself, in his tow frock and tow breeches, and worked at quarrying stone like the rest of us. Then, every Saturday we brought out every team to draw stone to the Temple, and so we continued until that house was finished; and our wives were all the time knitting, spinning and sewing, and, in fact, I may say doing all kinds of work; they were just as busy as any of us.”12
— January 1836 Plastering of the outside of the temple commenced. Many of the sisters donated their glassware to be worked into the coating to make the temple exterior glisten.
“ZION” IS THE PURE IN HEART
● D&C 97:1–2 Many of the saints in Zion (Jackson County) are blessed for their faithfulness.
● D&C 97:6–9 Those who observe their covenants are accepted by the Lord; for those who do not keep their covenants, that “axe is laid” for their destruction.
● D&C 97:10–17 A house is to be built in Zion in which the pure in heart shall see God
● D&C 97:18–21 Zion is the pure in heart, and eventually Zion will become very great and glorious.
— v. 21 Zion is not only a location but a condition as well. The Lord declares a person worthy of Zion is one who is “pure in heart.”
— Hyrum Smith described Zion as “the honest and pure in heart that will harken to the everlasting covenant.”13
● D&C 97:22–28 Zion shall escape the Lord’s “scourge” if she is faithful.
Notes:
1. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 331.
2. History of the Church, 1:349–350.
3. History of the Church, 2:169-170.
4. Essentials in Church History, 27th ed. [1974], 161.
5. “A New Commandment: Save Thyself and Thy Kindred!” Ensign, Aug. 1976, 10.
6. Eliza R. Snow, an Immortal: Selected Writings of Eliza R. Snow, 54.
7. In Journal of Discourses 2:31.
8. History of the Church, 1:352.
9. History of Joseph Smith, 230.
10. Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 198.
11. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, Church History and Modern Revelation, 4 vols. [1946–1949], 1:407.
12. In Journal of Discourses, 10:165.
13. History of the Church, 6:320.