One of the most sacred and special occasions for every member of the Church is the dedication
of a new temple and everything we do when the temple is dedicated from a sacred prayer
to the Hosanna shout to singing the “Spirit of God like a Fire is Burning” comes back
to the very first temple that's dedicated here in Kirtland, Ohio.
In the spring of 1836, the saints had put in a lot of effort and time to construct the
building that you see right behind me, and they were excited for a dedicatory service.
In fact, what happened in the winter and spring of 1836 is really a Pentecostal season and
outpouring.
You could argue that it starts with section 137 of the Doctrine and Covenants where Joseph
Smith while in the Temple on the top floor sees a vision of the celestial kingdom including
Adam and Eve, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and even his brother Alvin, who had passed
away several years before.
And it concludes with the appearance of Jesus Christ, Moses, Elias, and Elijah in the Kirtland
Temple.
So what was the dedicatory service like?
Well, first of all over a thousand people crammed into the Kirtland Temple itself.
The building is three floors, a house of worship, a house of learning, and offices up on the
top floor and just about every spare inch of space was filled with a person who wanted
to attend the temple.
There are stories told about the manifestations that happened at the temple and during the
temple dedication.
For instance, one woman arrived at the temple with a two-month-old baby.
She couldn't find anybody to watch the baby and so she decided she wanted to go to the
temple dedication.
Initially the people at the doors tried to turn her away because they didn't want a baby
crying during the dedicatory service.
When Joseph Smith Senior, the prophet's father, approached the woman and told the people at
the door that he had faith that the baby would be silent and not disturb them during the
dedication of the Kirtland Temple.
The baby did stay silent during the entire dedication which lasted from 8 am until 4
pm with one brief intermission.
There was one moment when the baby made a sound and according to the person that saw
this the baby was nursing from its mother and as they started to do the hosanna shout
the baby stopped and shouted along with the people, stopping at the exact moment that
they stopped doing the hosanna shout as well.
Sidney Rigdon preaches a two-and-a-half-hour sermon on how God has a house and various
other subjects.
They sing the “Spirit of God like a Fire is Burning” and Joseph Smith reads a special
prayer, a dedicatory prayer.
Most of the time in the Church when we say a prayer we do it spontaneously in the moment.
But starting with the Kirtland Temple, dedicatory prayers for temples are always written down
and recorded for posterity.
Joseph Smith recorded the dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland Temple which is now section
109 of the Doctrine and Covenants assisted by Oliver Cowdery.
And Joseph rose to the stand and read the dedicatory prayer where he thanked the Lord
for allowing them to build this house which they did in a relatively short period of time.
Afterwards he let everybody in the first hosanna shout where they shouted hosanna, hosanna,
hosanna to God and the Lamb, waving white handkerchiefs back and forth.
And this is just one of several special events that happened.
The Kirtland Temple today is different from most temples.
It doesn't have a baptismal font.
It doesn't have endowment rooms or sealing rooms, but there are ordinances practiced
in the Kirtland Temple, that the leadership of the church at the time referred to as an
endowment.
These ordinances are similar to the washings and anointings that take place in temples
today, but not exactly the same.
And they were intended to cleanse the saints, to enter into the presence of God.
In fact, a lot of the manifestations of heavenly angels, of the Father and the Son happened
while these ordinances were being performed.
But the culmination of this Pentecostal season happens on April 3,1836, which is the Passover
and also Easter Sunday, where a sacrament service is held inside the Kirtland Temple,
and in the Kirtland Temple there are what they call veils, not the same as veils in
the Temple today.
They're more like partitions that separate the room into smaller rooms.
There's a sacrament service performed and then Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, his
old friend who's been with him from the time the priesthood was restored, lower the veils
around the Melchizedek priesthood pulpits as they're praying to thank Heavenly Father
for the blessing they've had, Jesus Christ appears.
So one special thing about the building behind me is that even if you go to the Holy Land,
you can only get a vague sense of places where Jesus has stood.
This is one place where we can point out almost the exact location where Jesus was.
And Joseph Smith himself notes that the pulpit was changed in appearance by the very nearness
of the Savior to look like it was gold.
The Savior himself is in all his resurrected glory with eyes like the flame of fire and
a countenance that's like lightning and a voice that when he speaks sounds like the
rushing of many mighty waters.
He tells Joseph and Oliver that he has died, that he now lives and that he's accepted the
house and the fame of this house will spread to all nations.
And what happens next is part of the reason why the fame of this house really has spread
to all nations.
Three individuals Moses, Elias, and Elijah appear to Joseph and Oliver and give them
the keys of the priesthood that they need to do all the work of this dispensation.
Moses appears first.
You remember Moses is the man who led the children of Israel out of Egypt so it's fitting
that he appears and gives them the keys of the gathering of Israel.
The next person to appear, we don't know exactly who it is.
The name that Joseph Smith gives is Elias, which makes it possible that it might be the
angel Gabriel also known as Noah.
He's identified as Elias in an earlier revelation given to Joseph Smith.
But other people have speculated that maybe this Elias was Abraham because the keys that
he gives them are the keys of the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham.
Abraham has these wonderful promises made to him by the Lord that his posterity will
number is the sands of the seashore or the stars of heaven and now those same blessings
are given to people who make sacred covenants in temples today.
It's possible that because these blessings were given to Abraham that Abraham may have
been the person that restored them, and Joseph just used the name Elias, or it's possible
that Elias was someone else.
Joseph Smith never clarifies.
Well, the last messenger comes in fulfillment of one of the most cryptic and mysterious
prophecies that's found in the Old Testament.
At the very end of the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi wrote “Behold, I will send
you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And
he shall turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers
of the children, lest I smite the earth with a curse.”
This has puzzled people for generations and thousands of years.
It's one of the very first things that Moroni says to Joseph Smith when he appears to him
in 1823 and it's now section 2 of the Doctrine and Covenants.
And the last messenger is Elijah himself.
Elijah comes to a house, the House of the Lord on Easter Sunday and Passover season
and gives them the keys of this dispensation.
Joseph Smith later clarifies that what Elijah gave to them weren't just the keys of this
dispensation, but the sealing power that allows us to connect families and perform ordinances
for people that have already passed on.
So if you go to the temple and you get married, it's not just till death to us part, because
the sealing power allows your marriage to still be in operation when you die, and the
sealing power also allows us to reach past the veil to people that have already died
and perform baptisms, initiatories, endowments, and sealings for them.
So all the things that allow us to connect eternal families and really make the church
special and help us reach out to people not only here on earth but people that have passed
away that we've loved and cared about, start right here in this building.
Joseph sees a vision of someone that he loves that has passed away, his brother Alvin.
And when the dedication of the Temple is finally completed, he now has the keys, all the tools
and all the powers that he needs to fully set up and initiate and organize the Church
to do all the things that the Lord intends for it to do.