face – Temple Study

Seeing the Face of God in the Temple – Part 2

April 24, 2011 by Bryce Haymond 9 Comments

Moses Seeing Jehovah, by Joseph Brickey

In the last part of this post we explored what it means to see the face of God in the temple. Seeing the face of God is promised to us in the scriptures, and as we showed, it was one of the foremost purposes of the prophet Joseph Smith in building up temples. Such a witness was key to what was called the endowment. As Joseph described the endowment,

All who are prepared, and are sufficiently pure to abide the presence of the Savior, will see him in the solemn assembly. ((DHC VII p. 308-310))

In the first part we discussed one interpretation of seeing the Lord – in a physical sense. Many early members of the Church literally saw the Lord, Jesus Christ, and even God the Father, within the walls of the temple on several occasions, and have seen Him since in the temples of the Lord.

What else might “seeing God” mean? [Read more…]

Seeing the Face of God in the Temple – Part 1

April 10, 2011 by Bryce Haymond 23 Comments

The Israelite high priest sees God face-to-face upon the Ark of the Covenant

The Doctrine and Covenants section 93 verse 1 reads:

Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am; (D&C 93:1)

This superlative promise was one of the foundations of Joseph Smith’s restoration, and whose revelations repeated throughout his calling as God’s prophet: [Read more…]