Sacrament Talk: Stand Ye In Holy Places

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Musings on Section 85

At this time in Church History, Kirtland was the headquarters in the Church, but Missouri had somewhat recently been revealed as the location of Zion, the New Jerusalem. This made many eager to move to Missouri. In Section 85, the Lord speaks of many Saints who made that move but did so without abiding by the principles revealed to Joseph Smith (see Section 42). This revelation spurred the ever-evolving understanding of the law of consecration Joseph had throughout his life, specifically in the first several years of the Church's existence. The Lord chastens those Saints who did not follow counsel and reveals further what the Church was to do in those situations.

While the history of how the early Saints understood the law of consecration is interesting, the short of the principles Joseph grew into was that the act of consecration is completely voluntary, but, at the same time, it is a completely necessary act for those who desire an inheritance in Zion.

This is how the Lord explains it:

"It is contrary to the will and commandment of God that those who receive not their inheritance by consecration, ... that he may tithe his people, to prepare them against the day of vengeance and burning, should have their names enrolled with the people of God." (D&C 85:3)

The Lord explains that the purpose of the law of consecration was to "tithe" His people. Anciently, the tithe was a custom used to pay a deity or political protector. In other words, to tithe a people is a mechanism to test covenantal loyalty. It was a way to tangibly show that one had faith in that deity or protector. In our gospel context, Elder Sandino Roman in our most recent General Conference summarized it well: "Faith in Jesus Christ is a bond of trust forged in loyalty and love." (1) In short, the early Saints neglect of abiding by the Lord's counsel showed they were not completely willing to be faithful to the Lord.

In our day, the Lord has not rescinded the Law of Consecration, as it is one of the covenants we make within the House of the Lord. Church Historian, Steven Harper, has said:

"I’m sometimes asked when the Lord will require us to live the law of consecration. The answer is never. It never has been coercive and never will be... The law is quietly kept by many people [today], and their names are recorded in appropriate places." (2)

The intent of that covenant in our day was summarized by Elder D. Todd Christofferson:

"The Lord’s law of consecration (see, for example, D&C 42:32, 53) . . . has an economic role but, more than that, is an application of celestial law to life here and now (see D&C 105:5). To consecrate is to set apart or dedicate something as sacred, devoted to holy purposes. True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives—that is, our time and choices—to God’s purposes (see John 17:1, 4; D&C 19:19). In so doing, we permit Him to raise us to our highest destiny." (3)

"The more common (and sometimes more difficult) application of the [Law of Consecration] ... has to do with how we live day by day. It concerns the words we speak, the example we set. Our lives should be a confession of Christ, and together with our words testify of our faith in and devotion to Him." (4)

The Lord also notes that one of the purposes of this law or tithe was to prepare the Saints against the day of burning. President Nelson succinctly taught, recently, that "[The blessings of the temple] help to prepare a people who will help prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord!" (5)

It could be said, therefore, that one of the major ways the Lord tithes His people today is by asking them to enter His House as often as circumstances permit. The Lord builds us and shows us how to consecrate our entire lives through the temple.

Musings on Section 86

Section 86 is a revelation on the parable of the wheat and the tares. This was something Joseph had translated a year previous to this revelation and something he will go back to for more light and knowledge a year after this revelation (see D&C 101:64-75). It is one of many examples of Joseph learning line upon line.

The major addition or insight we gain from Joseph's revelations on this parable is the order in which the Lord will gather the wicked and the righteous. In section 86, the Lord says:

"... let the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest is fully ripe; then ye shall FIRST gather out the wheat from among the tares, and after the gathering of the wheat, behold and lo, the tares are bound in bundles, and the field remaineth to be burned." (D&C 86:7)

The difference here (and it is reflected in the original JST) is that the wheat will be gathered first, and THEN the tares will be bound together to be burned. The parable in Matthew 13 says that the tares will be gathered first (see Matt 13:30), but Joseph flips that on its head. Why is that significant?

To be upfront, it contributed to Joseph's growing understanding of the temple and the ordinances! Hopefully, this becomes clearer as we go along. The significance of section 86 compared to the JST of Matthew 13 is that section 86 directly connects the meaning of the parable with priesthood and the project of restoration Joseph was called to perform. In verse 10, the Lord explains why the wheat and the tares remain together:

"Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began. Therefore, blessed are ye if ye continue in my goodness, a light unto the Gentiles, and through this priesthood, a savior unto my people Israel." (D&C 86:10-11)

So, the preservation of the wheat to grow with the tares is for the purpose of having the priesthood remain in order to save Israel! Not only does this verse refine how we should understand "The Great Apostasy", but this verse also mentions how this power will link Joseph's LINEAGE to save Israel through the priesthood. Joseph had just learned a few months earlier that within the ordinances, the "power of godliness is manifest" (see D&C 84:20). Today, we call this temple work—linking priesthood power, ordinances, and lineage to save Israel. At this point, in Joseph's mind, it was something he grew to understand, but the Lord gave many nuggets in the revelations to help.

What application does this have for us? The Lord directly connects the wheat with the priesthood, as already noted. The tares can choke the wheat, which suggests that priesthood power can be choked by the cares of the world. It can choke and deter us from further consecrating our lives. It can deter us from the work of saving Israel through the work of our lineage (a hint at Family History). 

The idea that the wheat can be choked by tares, but also the Lord, through his wisdom, desires to have them continue to grow together should remind us of Lehi's teaching to his son Jacob about the necessity for "opposition in all things" (see 2 Nephi 2:11). Tares may choke us, but we cannot perform spiritual calisthenics without them. How else can you see the grandeur of a summit without pressing forward through the resistance? Even further, the choking by the tares can be seen as an attempt to cut off the priesthood throughout our generations.

Another question from this parable might be, who are the tares? Wheat and tares look virtually identical as they grow up together in fields. The defining characteristic of wheat, therefore, is that when they grow enough, they produce heavy golden heads that cause them to bend over. What a simple way to discern wheat from tares! A "wheat" receives priesthood power by bending their will to the Lord. They bow over because they are able to bear the "weightier matters" of the gospel (see Matthew 23:23). The tare remains upright and proud - an image of stubbornness. President Eyring has explained that bending our wills allows us to "cross the great gulf between wanting to know what God would permit and trying to do what he would prefer." (6)

As we bend our wills to the Lord, it means we are ripening wheat. We will show forth, figuratively speaking, the golden heads which is the makings of Him who calls Himself "the bread of life," for wheat becomes the flour that feeds and sustains the world. To bend, like the wheat, or consecrate our will "constitutes the only unconditional surrender which is also a total victory." (7)

At some point, the wheat will be gathered. That priesthood that the Lord speaks of at the end of the section will be put to good use. Those who receive priesthood power will be used to become a "savior unto my people Israel" (see verse 11). That effort, as revealed, drop by drop, to Joseph Smith, centers in and through the Holy Temple. Elder Neal A. Maxwell put it succinctly: 

"The great garner into which the sheaves should be gathered is the holy temple." (8)

It is within the Lord's House that we receive and have the promise fulfilled of becoming kings and queens, priests and priestesses (see Revelation 1:6). One wonders if the rich golden heads of wheat can symbolize that rich promise? One wonders if it is a symbol of would-be kings and queens bending in Holy consecration to Jesus Christ, the King of Kings (see Revelation 19:16). One wonders if the wheat is a metaphor for Standing in Holy Places even among the tares?

Musings on Section 87

This gets us to section 87 in which the Lord talks about the outpouring of war and then asks the Saints to "Stand in Holy Places."

Have you ever been weighed down by the reports you see on the news? Well, this section was given on a gloomy Christmas Day in 1832, while Joseph was very weighed down by the national news. Joseph approaches the Lord wanting to know what to make of the "troubles among the nations."

The section begins with 4 verses that become one of the most straightforward fulfillments of prophecies we have from the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants. So much so that a Philadelphia newspaper in 1861 wrote of Joseph:

“... Have we not had a prophet among us?” (9)

Section 87 is a revelation Joseph, like many revelations, kept coming back to in order to understand it. The crisis in 1832 subsided, and perhaps, there was some puzzlement from Joseph on why the prophecy wasn't fulfilled. A few different sermons he gave in Nauvoo a decade later highlight that he received clarification on many of the items in this revelation on War. One of note comes from Orson Hyde, who wrote about it in 1862 (over a year after the Civil War began). He wrote, by way of prophecy, how when "the demon of war shall have exhausted his strength and madness upon American soil, by the destruction of all that can court or provoke opposition, he will remove his headquarters to the banks of the Rhine." (10)

The phrase "the banks of the Rhine" is an appropriate way to foreshadow WWI & WW2; the Rhine being one of the great rivers of Europe that goes through Germany. Various scholars note that Orson Hyde might have gotten this detail from Joseph Smith, as Joseph wrestled with this prophecy often. (9) 

The revelation in section 87 continues after that prophecy to give us various scary and stark language about events of the last days, but it concludes with the following counsel from the Lord:

"... Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord." (see D&C 87:8)

The counsel to "Stand in holy places" originally comes from Psalm 24:3, which directly connects it to the temple. In the New Testament, that phrase is used in Matthew chapter 24 to describe how Jerusalem would be deserted in 70 A.D. and the profane would occupy the sacred space. Interestingly, Joseph Smith changed or corrected the use of the phrase "Stand in Holy Places" in his translation of the New Testament. In a future day, instead of the profane occupying a sacred space, Israel will be called to gather itself in sacred space. It is, frankly, a brilliant reversal of the text in Matthew 24 that would have underscored Joseph's future vision of temples dotting the world. That is the day in which we live.

To stand in holy places does have a much more robust meaning than just going and staying in the Lord's House. Elder Kevin J. Worthen has said:

"As followers of Christ, we are capable of doing more than standing in holy places. We can make any place holy—not just our temples and chapels but also our homes, our workplaces, and our locker rooms. We have the ability to change the areas in which we stand from haunted places to holy places." (11)

In my opinion, what we don't appreciate enough about temples is that we attend to receive more of the power of Jesus Christ. I had a close friend point out to me one time that in the temple endowment, there is no mention of death. When we ritually ascend the mountain of the Lord, the temple, we then descend from the ritual presence of the Lord to put our regular clothes back on and venture out into the world, having experienced heavenly things. It is as if the temple endowment is a ritual reenactment of things that Enoch, Moses, Nephi, and many others experienced when they trekked up holy mountains and then descended to perform the work they were called to do.

All this is to say that to stand in holy places is meant to be an act of creation. As Elder Worthen said, when we have the power of Christ, we can make a place holy. The power of the temple is meant to flow out into our everyday life as an act of "making all things new" (see Revelation 21:5).

One can, therefore, impose upon the command to "stand in holy places" the similar counsel given by Alma at the waters of Mormon. Namely, "to STAND as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in ALL PLACES that ye may be in..." (see Mosiah 18:9). To be that witness or to stand that way in all places also assumes that we can make the darkest places in our lives holy ground. We have countless examples of this in scripture:

Joseph in Liberty Jail, many of the brethren have called Liberty Jail a "Prison Temple". It was also the seedbed where our modern-day temple ordinances were conceptualized

Job had the longest one-on-one discussion with the Lord in scripture amid excruciating trials

The Good Samaritan turns the horrid scene on the road to Jericho into a holy place of service

Moses, having his back against the Red Sea as all Israel watched the incoming Egyptian army in horror, parts the Red Sea

Peter escapes from Prison with the divine help of an angel.

Nephi, writing his lamenting psalm after the death of his father and the breakup of his family he tried so long to keep together, rehearses sacred experiences in the midst of when he probably felt most like a failure.

Later, another Nephi & Lehi, through the power of Christ, convert an extremely abusive prison experience into the conversion of thousands of Lamanites. The heavens literally break forth within that dark place!

Jesus Christ, turning Gethsemane and Calvary, the ultimate places of suffering, into holy places.

New Testament scholar, N.T. Wright comments on how Jesus Christ turned the climax of atonement into something holy:

“Jesus is the place of atonement, the place where heaven and earth meet. That is why... he goes out to face the consequence of bringing together the utter holiness of heaven and the utter wickedness of earth, the utter joy of heaven and the utter misery of earth. That is what priesthood is all about: standing at the painful, holy place where the great fracture in creation is healed, the great gulf bridged, where the Word has become flesh and pitched his tent in our midst, revealing God’s glory as the Father’s only Son whose very nature is love." (12)

Just like the wheat that is asked to endure the choking of the tares, we are asked to consecrate our lives to not just endure but to heal the broken rifts in mortality. Even further, we are called to heal the broken links of our lineage by bringing the ordinances of the priesthood to our ancestors, friends, family, and posterity! This is our vocation as disciples of Jesus Christ. It is the purpose and the reason we are given priesthood power through the ordinances of the gospel. Through our personal ministry, we can gather Israel, even turn the tares into wheat, perhaps.

Not just that, but we continually draw upon or "recharge" ourselves for such acts of "standing" as we, as often as circumstances permit, seek admission into the House of the Lord. Perhaps this is one of the reasons President Nelson gave this counsel with a promise:

"Our need to be in the temple on a regular basis has never been greater. I plead with you to take a prayerful look at how you spend your time. Invest time in your future and in that of your family. If you have reasonable access to a temple, I urge you to find a way to make an appointment regularly with the Lord—to be in His holy house—then keep that appointment with exactness and joy. I promise you that the Lord will bring the miracles He knows you need as you make sacrifices to serve and worship in His temples." (13) 

In closing, I bear witness that I’ve felt the Lord change me as I’ve made the temple a priority in my life. I know He’s inviting each of us to be sanctified through our crescendoing consecration, to become His wheat, and to help gather others into His garner.