Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Comfort in the Promises of the Last Days


“Despite the lack of righteousness in the world today, we live in a sacred, holy time. Prophets, with loving and longing hearts, have described our day for centuries.” (Cook)

Jeremiah said, “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt…but this shall be my covenant…I will put my law in their inward parts…” (Jer 31:31-33)

Ezekiel said, “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.” (Ezek 37:26) “And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.” (Ezek 44:23)

Hosea said, “For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.” (Hosea 3:4-5)

Isaiah said, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” (Isa 2:2)

The covenant of the Lord will clearly divide the holy from the profane and people will return to it and seek the Lord’s goodness. In our day we will see it and wonder how it is possible after watching the world’s unrelenting profanity engulf us.

The new covenant is the “restored gospel of Jesus Christ, [whereby] we understand the purpose of life, the Father’s plan of salvation for His children, the Savior’s redemptive sacrifice, and the central role of families in the organization of heaven.” (Cook)

The mountain of the Lord’s house, which has been established, is the holy temple (click for a definition) and there are 150 of them in many countries of the world.

“The primary blessings of the temple are the ordinances of exaltation. The gospel plan is about exaltation and encompasses making and keeping sacred covenants with God. Except for baptism and confirmation, these ordinances and covenants are performed and received in the temple for the living. For the dead, all the saving ordinances and covenants are received in the temple.”

“The temple is also a place of refuge, thanksgiving, instruction, and understanding, ‘that [we] may be perfected … in all things pertaining to the kingdom of God on the earth.’” (Cook quoting D&C 97: 13-14)

I feel a strong conviction that the wickedness of this world will play out with great destructions AND that the humble and pure in heart will find salvation in the Lord’s house. I believe that everything that happens today will lead to an epic confrontation between good and evil. Good will win but only because the day is cut short. (D&C 84:97) Despite the shock of it all, we will be comforted by the power and promises of the Lord. (Ezek 14:22-23)

To learn more about temples click HERE.

Source: 

Cook, Quentin. “See Yourself in the Temple.” April 2016.

image credit: Wikimedia commons
SaveSaveSaveSave

No comments: