Introduction
The Pearl of Great Price, like all books is sacred
scripture given from God to us through His holy prophets. The Pearl of Great
Price is however different than all other scriptural text because it is a
Temple text. The Pearl of Great Price starts out with an experience Moses is
undergoing. The very first verse of this book says, “The words of God, which he
spake unto Moses at a time when Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high
mountain.” That is a very interesting introduction because it appears to jump
right in the middle of an experience of Moses. After reading and looking into
the first Book of Moses one can arrive at the conclusion that the Book of Moses
and the Pearl of Great Price in general is a preface to the Book of Genesis.
We are all familiar with Moses is and his story. When he
was a baby he was found by the daughters of the pharaoh and raised as a prince
of Egypt. Moses was taught as was the Egyptians, he very well could have been a
war general himself of the Egyptian armies and yet at the same time he watched
his true brethren, the Israelites slave away. However there was a time in his
life when Moses’ reality changed. After he had killed an Egyptian slave task
master, Moses feared the wrath of the Egyptians and ran into the desert. Once
free from the Egyptians Moses reality of life changed again. He left his life
of Egyptian royalty behind and became a shepherd of sheep; he married into the
covenant and came to know God. One day Moses had the burning bush experience
where God commanded Moses to return to Egypt and to free his brethren, the
Israelites. In Exodus 3 we read of the experience. God commands Moses several
times to return to Egypt and every time Moses comes up with an excuse as to why
he shouldn’t go, in effect refusing God’s commandments. In these chapters Moses
never truly agrees to free the Egyptians, to story simply jumps to the account
of his return to Egypt and the process that he undergoes there. Moses does not
have a true grip on reality; he does not truly comprehend what God is capable
of doing. However the Book of Moses appears to be the experience Moses has
after the burning bush, where God reveals unto Moses the true reality, the
reality of God.
[1]“Throughout
history God has mediated his knowledge about the Real to humankind through
various means: through dreams, visitations, and various degrees and forms of
revelation to private individuals and to prophets.”
In
the following chapters and books, God reveals unto us His reality and how they
are relevant to the Temple work. The Book of Moses and the Pearl of Great Price
are that preface to the Bible, they are God revealing unto us His reality. They
are teaching us where we have to go to receive His reality and what we have to
do to be prepared to do so. Here we learn of the basic Temple Pattern. We learn
of the Creation, the Fall, the Journey and the Return to God’s presence. These
patterns represent man’s pre-existence, the fall from God’s physical presence,
man’s journey and life here on earth and his return to the presence of God. There is no doctrine taught in
Latter-day Saint Temples which is not taught publicly, but the ordinances and
covenants made within the sanctuary are guarded and kept sacred.
Pre-mortality
[2]We
are taught and we learn from passages in the scriptures that we didn’t only
exist before we came to this earth, but we existed and lived in the presence of
God. God and Jesus Christ Stood amongst us, they were with us. While living in
the presence of God we weren’t senseless beings, we were intelligent.
While living in the presence of God,
our loving Heavenly Father, we were not like Him, nor could we become like Him
if we were to remain in the state we were in. God as a loving Father wanted and
wants, us as His children, to have everything He is capable of having. “[3]God
himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more
intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a
privilege to advance like himself.”
Through God’s laws and plans that
were instituted are now known unto us as the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Before we
came to the earth, while we were with God, He presented this plan to us.
President Spencer W. Kimball said, “[4]A
plan was presented in the great council. Before this earth was created the Lord
made a blueprint, as any great contractor will do before constructing. He drew
up the plans, wrote the specifications, and presented them. We discussed it and
understood it. We accepted it because we knew that it was the only way to
progress and become like unto Him.
According
to Paul, God is a God of clarity and understanding, “[5]He
is not the author of confusion…” He wants His children to understand Him, to
know Him, to love Him and to understand His teachings and commandments. That is
why he presented this opportunity in the heavens to come to earth. After we all
knew and understood His plan, another option was presented unto us. Satan, one
of our own brethren, opposed the plan of God and tried to convince us to follow
him and his ideas. John Taylor said, “[6]It
is evident that at that council certain plans had been proposed and discussed,
and that after a full discussion of those principles, and the declaration of
the Father's will pertaining to His design, Lucifer came before the Father,
with a plan of his own, saying, "Behold I, send me, I will be they Son,
and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I
will do it; wherefore, give me thine honor."
It
is also written in Isaiah that Lucifer rebelled and fell from heaven. The fact
that he fell from heaven implies that he once lived with us in the heavens. It
says,”[7]How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut
down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of
God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the
north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most
High.” Satan wanted God’s power and glory, he wanted to be God.
[8]Most of us rejected Lucifer’s plan;
however he was successful in beguiling and bringing one third of all the hosts
of heaven with him. These souls that followed Lucifer were our own brethren,
our loved ones. We knew them and they knew us. They, with Lucifer were cast out
of God’s presence and down here on this earth where they continue to try and
tempt us; so that we may fall from God’s presence eternally and be like them.
The Purpose of Mortality
We
are all born in different nations, cultures, ethnicities, families and
situations, but we are all born with the same purpose. God said in Moses 1:39
that His purpose for us is immortality and eternal life.
[9]Immortality is defined as the
condition of living forever in a resurrected state, not subject to physical
death. God wants all of His children to receive physical bodies, which is only
possible through a physical birth. Once we receiver our bodies God wants us to
receive our bodies again after this life in their perfected state. When Jesus
Christ came to the earth he performed the atonement, fulfilling part of God’s
plan. Jesus Christ made it possible through his death and resurrection that
every single person who had a physical body will be resurrected, we will all
receive our bodies in their perfected state again, and live in that state
forever.
The
second part of God’s purpose for us is eternal life. That may initially sound
similar to immortality but it is very different. Eternal life connotes the
quality of life, or exaltation; living the type of life God lives Himself. Immortality
is a gift given freely to all of us who made the decision in the pre-existence
to come to this world. Eternal life is dependent upon our faithfulness and
diligence in keeping God’s commandments. In order to attain eternal life and
exaltation we have to participate in ordinances of salvation. Those ordinances
are baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the reception of the Priesthood, the
Endowment and the Abrahamic covenant of that of marriage. Once we make these
covenants, [10]we
then have to live them faithfully until the end of our lives.
Our
purpose in this life is to obtain a body, learn and grow. We are to learn
through our experiences and become more godlike, to achieve godhood. The only
possible way is through the covenants God has given us.
The creation of the earth and man
God
had a plan prepared for us children to become more like Him. We have a purpose
in this life. The next necessity was a physical place in which this grand plan
could take place. That place is this earth we now live on. However a spiritual
plan was created and put into place long before the physical creation ever took
place. Just as we have blueprints perfected and laid out long before we perform
the actual construction of a building, so did God too have a spiritual
blueprint. When that blueprint was perfected, [11]Jesus
Christ created the earth under the direction of God and he did so by the power
of his [12]word.
The creation of the world was said to have been created in six days and on the
seventh day God rested. After the creation of the world, God created man to be
placed in the Garden of Eden.
[13]Man was created in the image of God.
Because of scientific reasoning and discovered fossils, some are led to believe
that Adam was not the first man on the earth. Others also believe that man
evolved from apes, or that man and apes evolved from a like ancestor. Those
teachings are teachings of man and not of God. [14]God
himself said that Adam was the first of men on the earth.
[15]Man is the child of God, formed in the divine image and endowed with
divine attributes, and even as the infant son of an earthly father and mother
is capable in due time of becoming a man, so the undeveloped offspring of
celestial parentage is capable, by experience through ages and aeons, of evolving
into a God.
Eve
was then created following the creation of Adam. She was created to be Adams
other half, to compliment Adam. Adam and Eve were placed in a special place
prepared for them by God. That location was called the Garden of Eden.
The Fall of Adam and its results
upon mankind
After
the creation of Adam and Eve they were placed in the Garden of Eden where God
gave them their agency by giving them commandments. The first commandment given
was to multiply and replenish the earth. The second commandment was to not
partake of the forbidden fruit.
What
we learn of the tree of knowledge and the forbidden fruit are all very
symbolic. Bruce R. McConkie said, [16]“As to the fall
itself we are told that the Lord planted "the tree of knowledge of good
and evil" in the midst of the garden. (Moses 3:9.) To Adam and Eve the
command came: "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, But of
the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless,
thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I
forbid it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
(Moses 3:16-17.) Again the account is
speaking figuratively. What is meant by partaking of the fruit of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil is that our first parents complied with
whatever laws were involved so that their bodies would change from their state
of paradisiacal immortality to a state of natural mortality.”
[17]While living within the Garden of
Eden, Adam and Eve lived in an immortal state, innocent state, they were not
subject to death. Adam and Eve had
knowledge and were able to learn, but they had no knowledge of good and evil.
They did not feel pain because they could not feel good. Their last status
while living in the Garden of Eden was that Adam and Eve had no posterity and
were not able to procreate while living in that state. Adam and Eve dwelt in
the physical presence of God while they lived in the Garden of Eden. We don’t
know how long Adam and Eve resided within the Garden of Eden for.
Satan
also dwelt on the earth and he tempted Adam and Eve to partake of the forbidden
fruit. Adam resisted the temptation however his wife, Eve was beguiled by
Satan. [18]She
partook of the fruit without full understanding. Adam, seeing that he could not
continue to live with his wife if he did not partake of the forbidden fruit
because she would be expelled from the Garden, chose himself to partake.
Because of Adam and Eve’s choice to partake of the forbidden fruit they were
expelled from the Garden of Eden and from the physical presence of God.
[19]The fall had several different
consequences that went with it. Because of the fall, Adam was banned from the
presence of God and thus suffered spiritual death. Upon entering the new world
outside of the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve and everything around them became
subject to physical pain and death. Through the fall, through pain and death
Adam was able to learn, to gain knowledge and experiences, to come to know and
understand good from evil. The last result of the fall was the blessing of
posterity. Adam and Eve were then able to procreate and bring more of God’s
children into this world.
[20]Now because of the fall, God’s
children can now come to the earth, obtain bodies, progress and start that
physical journey of godhood. [21]Through
physical birth, the natural man tendencies of man were then born into man, [22]spirits
were and are contaminated through physical birth; however we are all free
agents with the individual power and ability to choose whether to become
subject to our natural tendencies or to overcome them and strive to become more
godlike. We are capable in this life to choose to follow God, or to follow
Satan.
The Atonement of Jesus Christ
Because
of our natural imperfections, we all sin and because of sin and imperfections,
no man can enter into the presence of God. We and all of humankind needed and
needs a Deliverer, a Savior to save us from our imperfections and sins. Ever
from the beginning, from the foundations of the world God knew Adam would
partake of the fruit and fall from God’s physical presence. God knew of the
imperfections we would suffer from. That is why even before the [23]foundations
of this world, God had prepared a plan with a Savior to come to this world and
save us from our sins. Jesus Christ was selected and prepared from before the
foundations of this world. God knew and had a complete understanding of what
was going to happen.
When
Jesus Christ came to this earth he lived a perfect life and in the end of his
life he performed the atonement. The atonement consists of his suffering in the
Garden of Gethsemane, his crucifixion on the cross and his resurrection three
days later. This [24]atonement
performed by God redeems all mankind from the “curse of Adam”, and for the fall
of each man’s personal fall. We are redeemed from the curse of Adam through the
resurrection of Christ. Unlike the unconditional physical resurrection and
redemption from the fall of Adam, our spiritual redemption is conditional. Our
spiritual redemption is conditional on whether we live and keep God’s
commandments on a daily basis.
The
ancient prophet Abinidi taught that in order to be a [25]partaker
of the atonement of Christ we are to listen and hearken unto the words of the
prophets, believe on their words, have faith on those words and look forward to
the day of their remission of their sins.
[26]The holy prophets have taught us in
the scriptures that in order to enter into God’s presence we must repent, be
baptized by immersion, receive the Holy Ghost as a constant companion,
participate in the Abrahamic covenant and endure to the end faithfully. If we
are to these things we will be partakers of the atonement Christ offered unto
us and we will be spotless to enter into the presence of God at the last days. We
will be redeemed from our own spiritual death.
Adam and the Preparatory Gospel
Paul
taught, [27]“For
I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto
salvation…” The Gospel is the plan God gave His children by which they (we) may
be saved from the spiritual and physical death. As we have already stated,
because of the atonement of Jesus Christ we are all saved from the physical
death, but now we have to be active to guarantee our own spiritual redemption. [28]There
is one Gospel by which we can receive spiritual redemption; however we will
receive more or less of that Gospel depending on our faithfulness and
willingness to listen to the Lord’s words and then live them.
The
lesser Gospel or the preparatory Gospel pertains to the Aaronic Priesthood. [29]The
preparatory Gospel is the Gospel of repentance, baptism, the remission of sins
and the law of carnal commandments. These commandments are all preparatory,
they in and of themselves are not sufficient to seal man up to eternal life or
exaltation. [30]In
that sense the Aaronic Priesthood is not eternal in nature but simply goes
beforehand to school and prepare man for the eternal, for the greater
Priesthood.
Adam and the Everlasting Gospel or
the Holy Order of God
A
people can progress only to a certain limit through the Aaronic Priesthood,
which is why God also has given us all the opportunity to receive the greater
Priesthood or the everlasting gospel. [31]The
greater Priesthood or the Priesthood in its fullness, the Holy Order of God is
known as the Melchizedek Priesthood. We receive the fullness of the priesthood
the same way Jesus Christ obtained it, by keeping and obeying all the
commandments and ordinances of God. When receiving this Melchizedek Priesthood
we are released from the bounds of the limited Aaronic Priesthood and can
attain the fullness of the glory of our Eternal Father.
The
Church on the earth is organized and run through the power of the Melchizedek
Priesthood and cannot exist without this Priesthood. Through the Melchizedek
Priesthood we are offered all the saving ordinances of God. We are promised
that if we are obedient to God’s commandments and to holy ordinances we have
made, we will be blessed by God and we will attain true godhood, we will regain
God’s presence. The most important covenant made possible through the
Melchizedek is the marriage covenant or the Abrahamic covenant.
The Abrahamic Covenant
The
Abrahamic covenant is simply the temple marriage covenants we make during the
marriage ceremony and sealing. In the book of Abraham we learn of the life of
Abraham and we can follow his choices of following God. After Abraham chooses
to follow God, God blesses Abraham and in these blessings we can catch a
glimpse of what the Abrahamic covenant consists of and what blessings come from
it. In Abraham 2:6-11 we can read of the specific blessings God grants Abraham
under the Abrahamic covenant. [32]Those
blessings fall under as we call them now, the three P’s.
1. Posterity
2. Prosperity (land)
3. Priesthood
The
covenants of the Abrahamic Covenant are performed and done within the walls of
the holy Temples. All previous covenants are only preparatory covenants to the
Abrahamic Covenant. In the Temples we are married to our spouses and there we
enter into the Abrahamic Covenant. The marriage sealing in the holy Temples is
the only way to enter into the Abrahamic Covenant.
All
are capable of acquiring the promises of the Abrahamic covenant. As stated
earlier, our spiritual redemption is conditional upon our personal actions and
choices. If we receive the Aaronic Priesthood, the preparatory gospel and
prepare ourselves to receive the Abrahamic Covenant, we can attain godhood.
However
we all are subject to death. The blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant extend
after death. We are promised that we will be sealed with our families for the
eternities if we live worthy of those Temple covenants.
The Post-mortal existence of man
After
death our bodies are entered into the earth and our spirits go to the spirit
world to wait for the resurrection. [33]While
waiting in the spirit world the gospel will be taught and preached to all for
another chance to receive the Christ. However we will still be held accountable
if we had that chance to receive Christ in this life and chose to deny him. Alma
teaches in Alma 40 and 42 that when the resurrection occurs, our spirits will
be reunited with our bodies. They will be perfected and never separate again.
After the resurrection we will all be brought before God to be judged according
to our works here on this earth. Depending on our works on the earth we will be
blessed with a degree of glory.
[34]Paul
taught that there are three different bodies or degrees of glory. In this
sermon by Paul, he teaches that there are different types of bodies and he
compares them to the brightness of the stars, the moon and to the brightness of
the sun. The brightness of these different bodies is symbolic of the degrees of
glory.
In
D&C 76 we learn that those three different bodies Paul is teaching about
are the Telestial Kingdom, the Terestial Kingdom and the Celestial Kingdom.
The
Telestial Kingdom is a kingdom prepared for the wicked, for those who chose
evil works in this life. This Kingdom is for those who rejected the gospel in
this life and in the spirit world. The Terestial Kingdom was prepared for those
who didn’t accept the gospel here on this earth but received it in its fullness
in the spirit world. It is also prepared for those who were not wholly faithful
to their covenants in this life. The last kingdom is the Celestial Kingdom. The
Celestial Kingdom was prepared for those who participated in the Abrahamic
Covenant and were faithful until the end of their lives. In the Celestial
Kingdom we are partakers of the fullness of the blessings of God, here we have
attained true and full godhood.
In the beginning of this paper we talked about the
experience Moses had in the first verse and in the first chapter of the Book of
Moses. We spoke about how over the course of Moses’ life, his view on reality
changed until he caught the reality of God. The Pearl of Great Price is simply
the reality of God given to us in scriptural text. This book is a temple text
preparing us to receive God’s true reality and to participate in His
everlasting gospel and in the Abrahamic Covenant in the Temple.
[1]
John Lundquist, "What is Reality" in By Study and By Faith, 428-438
[2]
Abraham 3:22-23
[3]
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Pg. 354
[4] From
The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p.29
[5] 1st
Corinthians 14:33
[6] From,
Mediation and Atonement, pp. 93-98
[7]
Isaiah 14:12-14
[8]
Revelations 12:3-4; Moses 4:6
[9]
Marion G. Romney; Conference Report, Oct. 1978, p. 19; or Ensign, Nov. 1978, p.
14-15
[10]
Mosiah 18:9
[11] 1st
Nephi 17:36
[12]
Abraham 4; and the Gods said….and so it happened
[13]
Genesis 1:27; Ether 3:15
[14]
Moses 1:34
[15]
The Origin of Man; By the First Presidency of the Church; Messages of the First
Presidency, 4:200-206
[16]
“Christ and the Creation,” Ensign, June 1982, p. 15
[17]
Doctrines of Salvation 3 Vols. Ed. Bruce R. McConkie (1954-56), 1:107-108
[18] A
New Witness for the Articles of Faith (1985, 85-86
[19]
Doctrine of Salvation 3 Vols. Ed. Bruce R. McConkie (1954-56), 1:111-112
[20] 2nd
Nephi 2:27-29
[21]
Alma 42:10; Moses 6:55
[22]
“The Pre-existence of Man,” The Seer, Vol. 1, No. 7 (July, 1853). Republished
by Eugene Wagner, Salk Lake City, p. 98
[23] 1st
Nephi 10:18, Mosiah 4:6-7; 15:19; 18:3 Alma 12:30; 22:13; 42:26; Ether 3:14,
[24]
Gethsemane and Golgotha: Why and What the Savior Suffered by Bruce Satterfield
[25]
Mosiah 15:11-12
[26] 3
Nephi 27:19-20
[27]
Romans 1:16
[28]
The Mortal Messiah, 1:73
[29]
D&C 84:26-27
[30]
The Promised Messiah, p. 404
[31]
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 338
[32]
The Necessity of for Receiving the Priesthood Ordinances and Salvation by Bruce
Satterfield
[33]
D&C 138
[34] 1st
Corinthians 15:40-41
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